It will be a first for me this weekend, the first time in my career that I will have the opportunity to preach for United Methodist Women's Sunday. In a world where we are told that everything needs to change, that keeping up with the times (or, more accurately, being ahead of the times) is crucial to how we can stay 'relevant' in the world, that it will take boldness on the part of everyone in every aspect of society to 'think outside the box' (although you could make the case that using that cliche is NOT 'thinking outside the box'), there is no more relevant lesson to draw upon than the lessons of the founding of the ministry of the United Methodist Women.
Few people realize, or even care, that if you want to talk about the courage of being cutting-edge and doing things beyond societal norms, exceeding expectations and causing a little controversy in the process, the United Methodist Women have been pioneers for well over a century. Some of the earliest roots of this movement can be traced back to 1869 when The Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society is formed in Boston, MA at the Tremont Methodist Episcopal Church. These ladies gathered for missional purposes, and in November of that same year sent Isabella Thoburn and Clara Swain to India as the Society’s first missionaries.
As part of the message from Jeremiah 1:4-10 this Sunday, we will be looking at why we allow ourselves to think that God cannot use us for mighty things. Come and worship with us as we draw upon the historical example of the ministry of the United Methodist Women to hear what God has to say to us from the prophet Jeremiah. I promise you this: It will be a UMW Sunday to remember. If you think you know what UMW Sunday is like, think again.
See you Sunday!
Lamar
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