Saturday 5 July 2008

At last the 2008 Methodist Conference has begun here in Scarborough - let down only by the wet Yorkshire weather! But this didn’t dampen our spirits or the proceedings as we were in exceptionally good voice as we raised the roof with our opening hymn: ‘And are we yet alive?’ (Hymns and Psalms 707). I had never sung it before I first came to Conference and I have never sung it anywhere else! It’s particularly meaningful if you were at Conference the previous year and can look back at God’s grace in bringing us back together again – once again it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as we sung it.

It’s hard to ‘sum up’ the opening of Conference in just a word or two so I asked those around me what they thought: ‘Pageantry’, ‘informal formality’, ‘a celebration of who we are’, ‘moving’, ‘an inclusive family’ are what they came up with – in many ways, it is Methodism at its best as we celebrate our connectedness to one another and the wider world.

We were reminded of our connectedness to our rich Methodist heritage through singing ‘And are we yet alive’ but also through the passing on of John Wesley’s Field Bible from President to President. It gets its annual outing at the Conference for this purpose and all I can say is that John Wesley must have had very good eyesight since the Bible and therefore its print is so small!

We were reminded of our connectedness within the Methodist Church in particular – as the proceedings were about to begin we were joined in the hall by past Presidents and Vice-Presidents who were able to make the journey to be with us - and of our connectedness with the wider Church family in the welcome and greeting of ecumenical guests and representatives and those from the world church family overseas.

Our connectedness with the wider society was marked particularly through the welcome of civic guests, the greeting brought to us by the deputy mayor of Scarborough and the loyal greeting sent to the Queen. The deputy mayor also graciously received from the President a certificate marking Scarborough’s ‘fair-trade status’ which has recently been achieved and promised he would present it to the council meeting on Monday evening.

And in the midst of this distinctively Methodist blend of welcome, worship and business we inducted the new President of the Conference (Revd. Stephen Poxon) and the new Vice-President of the Conference (Mr. David Walton). Both were well received by the Conference and they gave thanks on our behalf to the outgoing President and Vice-President (Revd Martyn Atkins and Ruby Beech) – we joined in with overwhelming rapturous applause, a sign of the regard in which we have received them and their ministry throughout the year. And as we broke for our tea break the sun had come out – merely a bonus!

After tea, the only item of ‘business’ was the President’s address. Stephen took as his theme ‘Grace’ and challenged us to be a people of grace – to think about how we might live in grace and how the grace of God might transform the world. He reminded us of the distinctive Methodist understanding of grace that is ‘for all’ and how we might offer it particularly though gospel hospitality and a transforming spirituality. Throughout the address he drew on illustrations from his experiences in ministry in Britain and overseas and introduced us to a gospel trio ‘Anonymous Harmony’ (‘from South Africa via Blackburn’) who interspersed his address with a couple of songs. You will be able to read his full address on this website very soon. No doubt all a foretaste of things to come in the year ahead.

As the proceedings were concluded, my neighbour said to me “‘And are we yet alive?’ – yes, very much so!” Let’s hope that we are still saying that at the end of the week!