“Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.”
—Mark Buchanan

Today is a day of worship and sabbath rest for the General Conference delegates and volunteers. Thus far, I have experienced an authentic day of sabbath in the presence of beloved friends—the kind of friends that help my soul to breathe, pray, and rest. 

After a good night’s sleep (and a later wake-up time!), I joined Mallory Miles and Liz Lennox in experiencing worship at Myers Park United Methodist Church. Mallory is a member of Western Pennsylvania’s General Conference delegation and Liz is the Director of Communications for both the Western Pennsylvania and Susquehanna Annual Conferences. The three of us have been friends for years and have stood together in various portions of significant territory. We’ve laughed together at life’s absurdities, wept together over life’s pain, and pondered together over life’s profundities. To experience a beautiful time of worship with these two friends today immediately became my favorite moment of General Conference. 

When we sat down in one of the pews in the beautiful sanctuary today, the man sitting next to us, whom I did not know, stood up, pointed at me, and said, “You’re Eric Park, right?” It turns out that he is a regular online attender of our Sunday morning worship services at Christ Church NYC! “I love your church’s worship,” he said to me, “and it always speaks to my heart. Keep up the good work, and we’re praying for you and the other delegates at General Conference.” 

Today’s guest preacher at Myers Park UMC was Rev. Magrey deVega, the Senior Pastor of Hyde Park UMC in Tampa Florida. (Interestingly, Hyde Park UMC was where I attended worship during the General Conference of 2012 in Tampa.) Rev. deVega’s sermon, which focused on the John 15 text about Jesus being the true vine, was as tender as it was teleological and as pastoral as it was deeply theological. The sermon challenged me (us) to consider the pain of pruning, the urgency of abiding, and the joy of bearing fruit. I continue to hold Rev. deVega’s sermon in my thoughts as I reflect upon what it means for the United Methodist denomination to be pruned, to abide in the presence of the Christ who calls us, and to bear the kind of fruit that bears witness to the priorities of God. 

It was a truly inspiring time of worship. The ministry of music and liturgy were richly beautiful.

Following worship, Liz and Mallory dropped me off at a restaurant entitled “Easy Like Sunday,” where I met another friend whose presence in my life requires a bit of explanation. Since February of 2023, I have participated in an online morning prayer ministry offered by the church I serve (Christ Church NYC). Most of the participants in this Monday through Friday ministry are Christ Church members. There are some participants, however, who live in other parts of the country but connect virtually almost every weekday morning with the prayer ministry. One of those persons is Dawn, a deep-hearted, wise-minded, and sensitive-spirited Christ-follower who lives about 90 minutes away from Charlotte. I have seen Dawn’s face on my computer screen most mornings for a year-and-a-half. Today, I met her in person for the very first time—at the “Easy Like Sunday” restaurant in Charlotte! What a sweet gift to my spirit it was to spend some time with Dawn, as we allowed our hearts to connect in encouraging and restful ways. In a sense, I met a longtime friend for the very first time! 

In a little while, I will head to a social dinner, at which will be present all the delegates, volunteers, and family members from Western Pennsylvania who are here in Charlotte for General Conference. The only agenda for the evening will be to enjoy one another’s company. The people at those tables will be souls I have known and loved for decades. They have mentored, shaped, and nurtured me throughout the years of the journey. While we do not all land in the same places theologically all the time, we share a love for Jesus and his church that has taken many of us into multiple places of ministry—including multiple General Conferences. As much as I love ministry in New York City, I never stop missing the presence of my Western Pennsylvania friends and colleagues. It will elevate my spirit to be in their collective presence tonight.

As I spent some quiet time in my hotel room this afternoon, I did a bit of searching through social media, simply to see what other United Methodists in my various networks are saying about General Conference. It was a powerful reminder to me of one of the greatest challenges of authentic Christian community: The intensity of divergent perspectives. What one person sees as healing, another sees as hurtful. What one person discerns to be beautiful, another experiences as broken. What one Christ-follower interprets as God-honoring, another interprets as apostasy. I have steadily and honestly described my first six days of General Conference as encouraging, hopeful, inspiring, and downright joyful at times. My little trip through the highways and byways of social media, though, helped me to understand afresh that my voice is only one, and it does not speak for everyone. I acknowledge my own limitations in this regard. I also reaffirm my love for those whose experience of General Conference and whose hopes for its outcomes are significantly different than mine.

That is the beauty of sabbath, I suppose. It allows minds to rest in the sufficiency of God’s grace, and it permits hearts to soften in the abiding goodness of divine love. 

Sabbath peace to all of you.