A year on, I'm again sitting, waiting for the start of The Methodist Conference 2025, full of mixed emotions as I remember and relive last year, 2024, with joy and sadness, thinking of the family members I miss physically and could only share my day and the journey spiritually. The sound of a Bell states the Conference has begun!

Every Conference begins with Charles Wesley's stirring hymn, "And Are We Yet Alive?" (StF 456) — a line that always makes me smile. It's a profound theological question: Are we alive to each other, to the Spirit, to the world's pain and promise? Are we truly seeing one another's faces?

Our Church is not perfect, but God is not finished with us. As disciples, we're called to keep showing up, to keep singing our song, and to keep telling the story of God's redeeming grace.

I would like to introduce you to Revd Richard Andrew and Mr Matt Forsyth, who were elected and inducted as President and Vice-President for the 2025/26 term. Their addresses introduce us to this year's Presidential theme: "Our Story, Our Song",  reminding us that we are each part of God's ongoing story of love, and invited to live and sing that story with joy and purpose. Are you singing "this is my story, this is my song praising my Saviour all the day long"? Well, I did, in my head, yes; it's StF 548. We sang it after the President's address.

In his address, Matt Forsyth said, "Our theme, 'Our Story, Our Song,' reminds us that we are part of something far greater than ourselves. We are woven into the ongoing story of God's love in the world, and invited to sing that story with our lives."

Revd Richard Andrew reminded us:

"Maybe we need to learn to dance again, to tell our story in a different way, to sing our song as a great testimony of God's love for us and of our calling to respond to that in love of neighbour and in seeking a new heaven and a new earth. Someone once said that hope is hearing the melody of the future and faith is dancing to that melody now."

Or as Bruce Springsteen put it — and perhaps Methodists can take this to heart:

"The future is not yet written. So lace up your dancing shoes and get to work."

Have a fabulous summer!

Yours in Christ

Marcia

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