At opening worship, BWC 'dwells in joy'
Joy – deep, abiding, soul-soaring joy – rolled through the Hilton Hotel in downtown Baltimore on May 13, as members joined in worship to celebrate the opening of the 241st session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
Preaching to the more than 1,200 members, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling spoke on Philippians 4:4-9. Paul wrote this letter from prison, the bishop said. He was being tortured and was on his way to death, and yet he commanded the Christ-followers to “rejoice in the Lord.”
The bishop acknowledged that joy and pain often stand shoulder-to-shoulder in our lives today. But she advised that the apostle Paul – and author Alice Walker – both suggest that “hard times require furious dancing.”
She shared with conference members, visitors, and guests how to manifest joy in the cauldron of pain, and acknowledged that, in today’s world, joy can feel like an act of sacred resistance.
“Joy,” Bishop Easterling stressed, “is rooted in the presence of the Lord.” Christian joy “is not a momentary milieu or a fleeting fancy. It is a mindset, a discipline, and a way of life.”
But why do we rejoice in the Lord, the bishop asked. “Because the Lord is near,” she said. “To state that the Lord is near is a theological and political statement. It proclaims an incarnate intimacy over an imperial distance.
“Joy,” she continued, “is not an escape from life; rather, it is a declaration that we will not succumb, surrender, secede, nor submit. What we will do is rejoice, dance, sing, and shout of the goodness of God.”
Throughout the opening worship, the theme of joy and pain were woven together. As the church now stands at a cultural and political crossroads, Easterling asked members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference to decide, “Where do you dwell?”
“What you think on, you dwell in,” Easterling said. “And what you dwell in, you become.”
God is near, and God is telling us to lift our gaze, the bishop said. So, “dwell not in despair, but in joy. Dwell not in cynicism, but in hope. Dwell not in the echo chamber of anger, but in the holy cadence of truth and beauty. Dwell not in death, but in resurrection,” she said.
“Joy is always a courageous counterpoint,” the bishop concluded. “Let the world see a church unshaken, not because we’re blind to the pain, but because we’re rooted in a deeper promise.
“The God of peace is with us, and that’s why we dwell in joy,” she said. “There will always be an interlude between joy and pain, and yet, those who have given their lives to Christ can dwell in joy because the God of peace is with us.”
And the people danced.
During the opening worship service, $9,073 was collected for the Just Neighbors offering to support ministries with immigrants. If you didn't get a chance to give, you can contribute on the Annual Conference offering page.