I'm Writing Again!

I have not written a blogpost for a while. Two years and five months to be exact. The last piece I wrote was on May 24, 2016 shortly after the adjournment of the 2016 UMC General Conference. I'm sure there are a myriad of reasons why I haven't been writing, but its nothing I've been able to put my finger on. As life and work went on, I just lost the desire, the impetus, and consequently even the time, to write.

 That changed a month or so ago when our Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky invited all of us in the Greater Northwest Area to a "year of Crossing Over to LIFE" using Brian McLaren's book, We Make the Road by Walking, as our roadmap. It is an invitation to spiritual renewal and alignment with Christ. This call to journey resonated with me vocationally as a pastor and in my role as Superintendent of the Alaska Conference but even more so personally as husband, parent, son and friend. I'll be sharing more about the personal impacts later.

 As a pastor, I realized that this is what I am called to do, to walk with people "from death to life, from strife to peace, from prohibition to permission, from fear to faith, from isolation to community, from wandering to promise, from scarcity to abundance, from sorrow to joy!" This is what Jesus was and is all about and so this is what I should be all about!

 So, with this in my mind and in my heart, I have committed to two crossover action points ministerially:

 First, I am bringing this theme of "CrossOver to Life" to all of the charge conferences this season. Many of our churches are stuck and many people in our churches are stuck and are desperately in need of a crossover whether they acknowledge it or not. Charge conferences are our United Methodist system's way of looking back at the past (year or so) and what has been and into the future and what God is calling us to be. The crossover conversation is very relevant and I look forward to having them with all of you!

 Second, I am crossing my blog over from dormancy into activity! The invitation to a CrossOver Year has given me the necessary "spark" to write again. The theme of crossovers is very rich. I believe that life in the church and life in general is made up of a series of crossovers. Scriptures bear witness to story after story of how people of God crossed over into newness of life. Even running is a constant crossing over!

 So, consider this my personal invitation to you, joining Bishop Elaine's invitation, to go on a year of Crossing Over to Life. Subscribe to the CrossOver blog. Subscribe to my blog as I promise to write more often. Order the book, We Make the Road by Walking and read it personally and with a group. Let's crossover into the fullness of life that Jesus promises each one of us.

 Your fellow disciple,
Carlo

Comments

  1. Pastor AndyOctober 23, 2018 at 2:50 PM

    Glad to see you writing again. Looking forward to future pieces.

    ReplyDelete

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