Online Archives

By Melissa Lauber

At the recent session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the Rev. Kimberly Hall of Mt. Zion UMC in Clarksville was on stage teaching people about the second element of the Discipleship Adventure: connecting.

She offered a number of practical tips to the 1,939 members seated in the Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Marriott Hotel in Baltimore. Then she had them turn to one another for some role-playing. People welcomed the imaginary visitors to their make-believe churches.

But then Hall instructed them: 'Now smile like you really mean it.' They did.

And the result was astonishing. Faces were transformed. One genuine, from-the-heart smile created another and that new one reproduced itself on the face of yet another. They were just smiles, but the call for authenticity made them something more. Masks were dropped and people stood undistracted in that moment as tiny sparks of connections created space for the Holy Spirit to enter.

But then, in almost a flash, the moment passed.

It did, however, resurface in many flashes of connection throughout the three days the conference met.

The Holy Spirit was present in the Prayer Room, at 11 p.m. Thursday night, when many members were turning to their beds Harrison Johnson picked up the telephone to field calls from all over the country.

The conference prayer room had been patched into the Upper Room Prayer Line. In the corner of a room, Johnson prayed with, and for, strangers, offering them the presence of God.

His voice was soft and comforting as people spoke of illness, divorce and loneliness. He prayed with confidence, certain that God was great enough to work through the connections he made over the phone.

In between calls, he admitted he sometimes feared he was getting too old and tired to continue his ministry of prayer; which he also performs as director of the Prayer Center at the Conference Center. But then the phone rings again, and new connections were made. He can?t help but give people all he has in that moment as they turn to him for hope and to help them speak to God.

The Rev. Dellyne Hinton of Sharp Street Memorial UMC, might recognize that sense of weariness mixed with the urgency of vital ministry. On Wednesday afternoon, before the conference even began, she led a group of volunteers in an opportunity for mission at Mt. Auburn cemetery, a graveyard for African Americans.

Once called the City of the Dead for Colored People, Mt. Auburn is 33 acres of sacred ground that holds the remains of many prominent personalities, along with infants and 48,000 local African Americans from every walk of life.

The cemetery is grown over. Weeds, honeysuckle, wild roses, poison ivy, grasses and a tangle of flora brought by families visiting their loved ones has overtaken the plot of land in a way that feels almost untamable.

A lack of funding makes regular upkeep impossible. Just $3,000, for instance, would replace a commercial lawnmower that recently broke down. But that money just isn?t at hand.

Hinton prays for the cemetery. She remembers a time when the dead were honored, when families used to visit the gravesites and stay for a picnic lunch. Death did not diminish love.

As she picks up trash from around the tombstones, Hinton connects with the saints and sinners that lay in the ground around her in a fervent wish to respect the sacredness of the cemetery by maintaining its upkeep.

She is a pastor who honors justice and discipleship, but for her that doesn?t end with death because the past and present are connected in ways that shouldn?t be untangled.

The clergywomen at annual conference this year were also connected with the past as they led those gathered in a celebration of the 50-year anniversary of full clergy rights for women.

That celebration culminated in a worship service Thursday evening in which the women told of their struggle for equality within the church through music, dance, preaching and poetry.

As they remembered their journey, many of the conference?s 267 clergywomen gathered on the stage, and invited other women present to come forward if they felt God calling them to enter the ordained ministry.

The service coaxed tears from many of the women, but as the Rev. Laura Easto explained, it wasn?t as much about claiming the authority of Word, sacrament and order, but celebrating the fact that women were finally allowed to be their authentic selves, to live as God called them to be.

In the booklet 'A Bridge to Now: Her-Story,' compiled by the Revs. Peg Click, Charlotte Hendee and Andrea King, several clergywomen expressed this same sentiment.

The Rev. Peggy Johnson wrote about being five years old and pulling scissors, paper and scotch tape out of a drawer to make herself a mustache and beard, then, taping it to her face and preaching to her dolls, teddy bears and anyone else who would listen.

Her fellow clergy women had to break through barriers large and small to be able to stand in their pulpits and have people connect with the Gospel message, through them, rather than in spite of them.

'It continues to be a struggle to claim and contain and offer all that is me without apology,' said the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli.

But 'it is amazing what God can do when you?re busy just being who God has created you to be,' said the Rev. Patti Marye Fenske. The Rev. Sharon Borgeois agreed: 'I am filled up with gratitude that my life work can include the things that I love.'

Connecting with themselves and God in a way that enabled them to 'be unapologetic' about what God has created them to be, and to 'never settle for less than God intended,' was cause for celebration.

On the stage, the women smiled like they 'really meant it.' They also laughed, cried, danced, remembered, prayed and celebrated that way too.

Connections were made and the Spirit descended in their song.