| Strangely, strangely, strangely Dear John: Happy 300th birthday, Mr. Wesley! I hope this letter finds you well, and that everything is going, well, methodically for you in heaven. In my earlier correspondence, I had mentioned that I would give you a full accounting of the 219th session of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. I think you would be pleased. All I can say is wow. As your heart was strangely warmed on that day in May long ago, so was my heart strangely warmed, affected, lifted-up, inspired and challenged during this past four-day conference in June. I mean, Brother John, there was an altar call during the laity session, for Gods sake! Can you imagine? An altar call, strangely issued by the Rev. Rodney Smothers, amid the conferences lay leadership! As if, somehow, these people had not already committed their lives to Jesus Christ. A re-confirming of the Spirit was had by all. One reported back to me that the session was, in a word, exuberant. Verily I tell you, the words exuberant and laity session have never been uttered in the same sentence before. And again, good Sir, the call was issued at the close of the ordination service by Bishop Felton Edwin May (I think you would like him, even though you dont care for the title bishop). Bishop May, sensing the moving of the Holy Spirit, invited those who might have felt the Spirit tugging during the worship, to come forward. I was sitting in the front row of that magnificent cathedral, and nearly 20 people came forward! And the music, good Sir, the music. From choirs of youth to Praise Zydeco bands to soloists to groups from Bermuda, the Lord was praised in song mightily at conference. Have no fear, the people called Methodist in this, the home conference in America, have not ignored your instructions on singing. Perhaps the highlight of these conferencing days was the worship service and Bible study on Saturday morning. It was called, Brother John, a service of Repentance and a Call to Healing. You are aware, as you have indicated to me in other correspondence, of the terrible schisms that have occurred in the Methodist family over the years. The Baltimore-Washington Conference took tiny but hugely important steps in repairing that breach at conference. We were reminded that racism is the churchs unfinished agenda by James Salley, an administrator at our United Methodist college in Zimbabwe, Africa University. Oh, we were strangely moved, my Brother. Strangely convicted, strangely stirred. The table had been set by a powerful Bible study from two of our own clergy, the Revs. HiRho Park and Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz. Fertile soil for repentance and reconciliation was prepared by their teaching. Remembering is not just for the sake of knowing superficially, but the sake of living again the past and learning from it in such a way that we can face our own present situation with new understanding, we were taught. By the end of the service, which featured words of comfort and challenge from colleagues in three pan-Methodist churches, people were hugging one another and openly weeping. Bishop May, visibly moved by the service, even went so far as to pronounce an almost heretical thought for a church leader: Im not interested from this moment on in shuffling paper, he said. We are not dealing with the things of God by dealing with the minutia of annual conference. Strangely, Mr. Wesley, strangely. And so whither the future, I can almost hear you ask. We have been challenged in more ways than one to be the maternity ward of a new movement in this church; a birthing of something new, something spirit-filled, something life-changing. The Rev. David McAllister-Wilson, president of the seminary in Washington that bears your name (did you ever think?) prophesied to the conference about this. He said that the home conference of American Methodism would be the seat of this new movement where healing and reconciliation between the historic Methodist branches would begin, where once and for all, the people called Methodist in this country could begin to join together as one. From his lips to Gods ears. And so, as you see, my good Sir, it was an interesting conference. Interesting in the amount of Spirit God can fill a people with and still find room to pour in more. Interesting in the ways the Spirit moves where it will, lifting up new leaders, new convictions, new directions, new life. This is a most interesting place to be in ministry. Strangely exciting, strangely dangerous, strangely warmed. I shall endeavor to give a more full accounting of this new movement aborning in letters yet to be written as I continue to be, Your faithful servant, Erik | 
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