 Honored families and beloved community, when Irish poet Seamus Heaney died in 2013, he texted three last words to his wife, be not afraid. When news spread of Heaney's death and his last message to his wife, an Irish graffiti artist painted, don't be afraid and block letters on the side of a building in a gritty part of Dublin. When asked why he did that, he said simply, for good people in hard times. Tonight is a time of remembrance. And so, beloved, tonight we open this annual conference session under the theme of witness as we give thanks for our departed companions in faith who dedicated themselves to the ordained and lame ministries of the Church, believing that God had called them to be not afraid, but confident that their witness, their courageous living and compassionate loving, their joyful sacrifices and tireless service could in truth become the very gifts of God, a witness that continues to guide and inspire us even in hard times of loss and bereavement, even fear. As we pause in this glorious worship to honor them, let us remember that although there is yet much to be done, these saints have already shown us that love done right can cast out fear. Indeed, it can change the world. Let us pray. Eternal God, from whom we come, to whom we belong, and in whose service is our peace, we gather this night to thank you for the memory of these loved ones now departed in whom we have seen the light of your presence. You are the God of the living, and we believe that with you there is no death. Deepen us in this faith, O Lord, that from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Let your mercy rest upon these whom we remember with abundant affection this night and receive our grateful praise for the strength of their faith, the depth of their commitment, and the witness of their love. For we pray in the name and spirit of our risen Lord Jesus the Christ. Amen. Friends, now as we remember each of these saints, if there are individuals among them whose lives and ministry have particularly touched your life, you are invited to stand in sacred memory of those persons. Let us give thanks to God for Jefferson E. Davis Jr. Let our prayers ascend for James Marion Gatlin. Let us thank God for the life and witness of Jimmy H. Mobley. Let our prayers ascend for the life and witness of Lewis N. Stokes. Let us praise God for the life and faith of Billy Wilder. Let our prayers ascend to God in gratitude for the life and faith of Patty Evans. Let us give thanks to God for the steadfast faith of Vernice Funk. Let our prayers ascend for the life and faith of Margaret A. Hoak. Let us give thanks to God for the steadfast faith of Denise Johnson Stovall. Let our prayers of gratitude ascend for the compassionate life of Lanell Thompson. Let us thank God for the life and faith of Marcia Wilson. Together, Almighty and everlasting God, today we pause to celebrate the memory of loved ones. What happiness we shared when they walked among us, what joy when loving and being loved, we lived our lives together. Their memory is a blessing forever. This time passes, our hearts still yearn for them. The place where once they stood is empty now. Remind us that love leaves behind more than death can ever take away. Their lives are bound up and ours forever. Today we remember the members who but yesterday were part of our North Texas annual conference family. Keep us grateful for their witness and like them eager to follow in the way of Christ. Their witness will inspire and encourage us forever. Give us faith to look beyond sight or touch to the reality that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Enable us to run with perseverance, the race that set us before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Amen. So, and to introduce our musical leadership and our preacher for the evening, I really want to do it by saying some personal words instead of reading their biography to you. First of all, I want to say a word of appreciation to Mania Logan, who has been leading the St. Luke community, the St. Paul, and the Hamilton Park Choirs and Worship this evening. And let me say this about Mania. She has just finished 25 years as the Minister of Music at St. Luke Community. She's a Logan fan. I want you to know that. I also want to say a word of appreciation also for Tawana Sargent, who is Director of the Hamilton Park Choir Music. So, Tawana, thank you. Then I want to say a couple of words about a longtime friend of mine and a friend of mine of the last four or five years. First of all, let me say a word about Dr. Cynthia Wilson. She and I both served churches and administering the Central Texas Conference, and she later came to the North Texas Conference to be the Music Minister Hamilton Park. And I'm going to say some more things about her in detail later as the week goes on, but I want to share a memory with you. So, in February of 1987, Cynthia and I were on a trip along with 30 or 40 other clergy from the Central Texas Conference. Cynthia has not aged since 1987, but I had a wonderful experience, and I trust that Cynthia did as well. But to this day, the most important moment of the trip for me was when we were in Caesarea by the sea in a Roman amphitheater. And we're all walking around the amphitheater, and it's well preserved, and there were people from other nations, and you heard different languages in which people were speaking. And Cynthia went to the stage, and this had the best acoustics of any place I've ever been, and some people who've been there are nodding, and she began to sing who will be a witness for my Lord. And what I want to say to you is, is even every time I've told this story for almost 30 years, I chill still come over me. Because it was truly not anything I saw, but it was being in that place and with people from all over the world, and people just stopped. And it was like a piercing into the deepest recesses of my soul that reminded me once again, I will be. And I remember that moment, and will remember that moment every day of my life. Cynthia and I have been able to work on something together since then, in Chicago, where she is on the faculty at Garrett, and I'll talk more about that, but we are going to be inspired, moved, and our souls will be stirred by her presence and our ministry of music with us over the next couple of days. I want to say a person word about Bishop McAulay, Bishop McAulay and I met, he still does not remember us meeting in 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which means I made a wonderful memorable impression upon him but I will tell you that he made a memorable impression on many people who were delegates at that General Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, because he rose and spoke about something that is so very dear to all United Methodists, and this is about our own witness and about what it means to hold this church together. And so in January of 2012, I met Bill McAulay, again, he talks about meeting me for the first time. I'll get over this someday, I promise. We both acknowledged that we were candidates for Bishop and I will not share with you what I said to him, it's not important, but we were both elected Bishop in July 2012, and we met, you know, formally, both as newly elected consecrated bishops assigned for Bishop McAulay to the Nashville area of the United Methodist Church and for me to the Dallas area. I think that he and I became fast friends as quickly as I remember becoming a friend to anyone. It helps because in the alphabet we are next to each other, I guess, but it also helps because we share a common purpose and a common mission and we just are deeply, deeply enriched by our friendship together. With that I would say to you that also Lynn McAulay and my wife Joan are deeply enriched by their friendship with each other, and so I am overjoyed that Lynn could be with us these two days as well, so Lynn welcome to the North Texas Conference, but in a few moments Bishop McAulay will be preaching and he'll be our preacher for the next two evenings, and I can think of no one that I would rather call friend than Bill McAulay. Now ain't there a witness for my Lord? Ain't there a witness for my Lord? There was a man from the Pharisees. His name was Nicodemus and he didn't believe. The same came to him by night. He wanted insight. Nicodemus was a man desired to know how one could be borne his own Christ. He said, Marvel not man, if you want to be wise, repent, believe, and be baptized and in unison for my Well there to wondering about and Samson's strength was never found out until she said Samson's wife, she talked so fair. Samson said, just as clean as your hand, well my strength that you meant your Samson was a witness for my gospel of John chapter 20 verses 19 through 23. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. After this, after he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, so I send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. When it was evening on that first day of the week and the doors of the house were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. After this, he showed them his hands and his side. When he saw the Lord, the disciples rejoiced. Peace be with you, Jesus repeated. As the father sent me, so I send you. After this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Those who forgive their sins will be forgiven and those who do not forgive them will not be forgiven. This is the word of God for the people of God. I may be seated. Where I come from, after a song like that, we'd say, my Lord. What a joy it is to be with you this evening and tomorrow evening to worship with you and to offer a word from the gospel. I do want you to know what Bishop McKee did say to me in 2004 after I made the speech. He said, you'll never get elected anything. Thank God he wasn't a prophet. I call him my brother from another mother. We have indeed entered a journey together that is what I call a dangerous opportunity to serve the church. And we are in a dangerous time in the United Methodist Church. And we need the power that Christ can offer us and all that we are and all that we have been and all that we hope to be for the living of these days. And it is in that spirit that I invite you to pray with me and for me now. How deeply we need you, O God, to pour out your spirit upon this place and upon us and upon your church, the people called United Methodist in the North Texas Conference. Indeed, across the world. How deeply we need to hear you say, be not afraid. How deeply we need to hear you say peace be with you. And so we come this night asking, O God, that you allow us to receive your spirit, that we might indeed be your witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. So that the world might know you and your grace and your mercy and your love and your power. We ask that you grant it at least for a little while this night in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. When our daughter, Lara, was six years old, she decided she wanted a Disney birthday party. And so we went all out. We got the cake. We got a Minnie Mouse and a Mickey Mouse, whatever it was. And we had the tablecloth and we had the cake decorated. And there was, it was July. She was born on July the 5th. So there was lots of ice cream. It was outside and the ice cream was melting. And the helium balloons were deflating. As the end of the day rolled along, Lara began doing what Lara does. And she went does best, which is barging with you for the things she wants next. You know this child, I'm sure. And the thing that she wanted most that night was for the helium balloons to sleep in the room where she was sleeping in her bedroom. This would not have been a good idea, for we knew that if Lara had the balloons in her bedroom, she would be playing with them until the wee hours of the morning. And so we struck a compromise in which her mother and she agreed for them to sleep in our bedroom. And if Lara got up in the night and needed to find one, she would know where they were. I had a bad dream that night and I awakened and looked on the edge of my bed and there was a figure staring me right in the face. And I grabbed my seven iron and I started flailing until Lynn heard me and flipped on the light only to discover that it was a deflating Mickey Mouse face. Now fear, fear is a strange thing. I don't know if you've ever been afraid, but fear is a strange thing. It can grip you in ways that sometimes will make you do things you'd rather not admit. We were on a youth group, a youth trip to St. Simons Island, Georgia, when I was a seminary student. We had a great week. We had had a powerful experience at Epworth by the Sea. The last day of the trip, we wanted to go one more time to the beach and so the kids finished lunch and they rushed out to the vans and we loaded up and we headed to the beach. About two hours into our experience where everybody was having a great time, Margaret Ann came walking up with tears streaming down her face saying, you left me. We did. The bigger problem was that she was the daughter of my senior pastor and Jim Thompson was a big man and I called him Big Jim and I just knew that my career as a pastor, as a seminary student, as an associate youth pastor was over that day. Jim was a good parent. It was Margaret Ann who got in trouble, not me. I love that man. Fear, have you ever been frightened out of your mind? Have you ever gone over an icy bridge in the winter and the news control of a vehicle? Have you ever heard the doctor say the dreaded C word? The phone rings. It's the middle of the night. Your daughter has been in an automobile accident. Have you ever been afraid? Do you know about which I speak? Do you know fear? Have you met fear face to face? Bishop McKee mentioned going to the Holy Land. Lynn and I went to the Holy Land a couple of years ago and she saw me fall several feet off of one of the rock ruin walls out of sight. Fear. It was pretty frightening. What was more frightening when I went to the hospital in Jerusalem? My Lord. But fear comes in a variety of forms and many of us have fear's names where we find ourselves. In this body of Christ we know as the United Methodist Church, we know a little bit about what it is to be afraid in this season. We're living in an age of anxiety. We're afraid that our churches are diminishing in many corners of the annual conference. We walked right up to the edge at General Conference of Schism. We walked right there. We saw it and we took a deep breath. Can I get a witness about that? Can I get a witness? But here's the truth. We are wiser together than we are separate. Now, I don't know if you're a fan of Krista Tippett. She has a new book out called Be Coming Wise, An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. She says this, the crack in the middle where people on both sides absolutely refuse to see each other as evil is where I want to live and what I want to widen. Is that not a word for the church right now? Oh, we're afraid. Many of us, we're concerned about our financial stability. I suspect Bishop McKee from time to time looks at the apportionment payout and wonders about some of you. We fear we're losing our youth, but we're not sure we even understand them. Greg Barnes, President of Princeton Theological Seminary says it's always been hard to reach them, but they're new threats. Now, when we were young, those of us, I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but I'm not as old as your Bishop. He says there's a new threat on my life. But when we were young, we did not have the fear being shot at a killing spree at our school or running into a terrorist threat while we were running a marathon. We're way beyond the threat of school bullies, brothers and sisters, because bullies now show up at church debates. Can I get a witness? So many of us, even our young people are not so young. People are afraid of being alone. And so we're not alone, really, because we're plugged into Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or interactive video games all on a phone. I mean, anybody already tweeted a few things I've said tonight? Well, maybe. We do have the project transformation team here. I know they're on it. But when will we stop? When will our young people stop and long enough to listen for the still small voice of God? What happens to the soul that doesn't know how to live with desire or hope or saving or waiting? And the flip side of the coin is that there's a whole generation of young people who do not have everything they need and they never will. Our children see this and they have no idea, no idea how to fix it. I won't even mention the mountain of debt. Young people incur as they head off to college in graduate school with little hope of finding a job that will service the loan. Our teens have never seen a federal government that does more than engage in government stalemates. Have you thought about that? And I won't even go down the road of the current presidential debates. They have never seen a Kennedy even inspire them to ask what they can do for their country. No king who can make them want to march in the street for a dream. As a country I'm afraid as a church we've lost our confidence and since 9-11 we live in a culture that does little more than keep our young people afraid. And some of us that aren't so young are also afraid. And we long for answers, we long for help, we long for direction. In his book, Never Called Them Jerks, author Paul Bohr's comments, anxiety is meant to function as an alarm or a warning signal but chronic anxiety keeps crying wolf. You remember the three little pigs? Maybe we've become the three little pigs, fear and anxiety show up. And the big bad wolf who wants to huff and puff and blow our house in. Have you ever been afraid, did I ask you, have you ever been afraid? Sometimes when I am afraid I turn to those last moments of Jesus' earthly life. Can I get a witness about that? Turn into Scripture when you're afraid. It's not a bad thing to do, brothers and sisters. It's really okay for a Methodist to lose the book. I'm fond of reading John 13 and on in John's Gospel. I'll preach tomorrow night in the Ordination Service from John 13. Love one another, wash some feet. But you'll remember in chapter 13 it's Thursday night of Holy Week. And Jesus, Jesus needed somebody, just somebody, someone of his closest friends, his brothers, his sisters, to somebody. He just wanted somebody to stand up and say, I'll be a witness, somebody please, Jesus stand up. Nobody, nobody. And his disciples realized after the arrest that this thing, this thing that they had been a part of, this journey they'd been on for three years was not going to end well. And then on Friday the whole thing went south and the disciples were huddled up in this room and they were afraid. And they were trapped inside a room with open doors inside their own fear. Well, we can, we can understand that. I mean, they were only human, right? Isn't that what we say about ourselves? Well, you couldn't expect more than that from me. I'm only human, but you are made in God's image. I'm just saying, on some level every pastor that will move in a couple of weeks is afraid that he or she will not succeed. In every church that's receiving new pastor wonders, will you be the one or shall we look for another? Can I get a witness? So we understand all too well the fear of failure. Disciples that just experienced their worst failure in their discipleship journey. They had just failed the witness test. We don't blame them. We can feel what they were feeling. To be left without a leader is one of the most devastating moments a person can endure. That fear, that feeling of aloneness goes deeper than the surface that goes in fact all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Our struggle is not a new one. And we turn to Scripture to the moment in the disciples lives where fear had gripped them and they were locked inside this room fearful of the principalities and powers of the world. They were huddled together and hunkered down and Jesus came into the room, breathed on them the Holy Spirit and an amazing thing happened. There was transformation. Can I get a witness? Peter went from the denier to the rock. Thomas went from the doubter to the believer and in the book of Acts the Holy Spirit started an amazing movement that turned the world upside down. Fear, fear brothers and sisters is not a new emotion for the people of God. In their fearfulness and brokenness Jesus appears and speaks a word of peace to them. And without a great deal of fanfare and very little instruction he sends them out. He just sends them out with the power of the Holy Spirit. Now granted their witness training under the Master had been taking place for these three years and yet they had no idea what this would mean for them. On Friday everything was lost on Sunday morning. The power of death itself was defeated. Jesus Christ was Lord over heaven and earth. The power of sin was broken and transformation was offered to all who would believe the good news of the gospel. Now we followed Jesus on this New Testament journey. They're following him on the way. They've seen him teach. They've seen him preach. They've seen him feed the multitudes. They've seen the breaking in, breaking of the kingdom, a world transformed through the sending of the disciples even as they were afraid. What do we need to do to prevent fear from keeping us hunkered down and huddled up? We need the power of the Holy Spirit given to the disciples where they found the power and courage to move. Yet we do not live church. We do not live as though we believe that we have this power and we certainly do not live as though we believe we have this much courage. When I was a child, when I was a child I loved the water. My parents took me to the water, to the lake, to the pool regularly. I remember when it was just a youngster barely four years old trying to muster up the courage to jump off the diving board and there my father was. His arms opened wide encouraged me, just jump, Bill. Just jump, I'll catch you. And what joy and comfort I felt as I flew through the air in the comfort of his arm as they wrapped around me when I landed in the water. That's the power of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, as a comforter who gives us peace in the midst of our fears. The challenge of this moment is that our greatest fear is the fear of death. We're afraid that the United Methodist Church may be on its last breath. We're afraid that we are facing the death of a particular way of life and we are living into a fear that keeps us from living in the hopes of Acts 1.8 where Jesus says, when the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses and say you might be my witnesses. If you get around to it, you'll be my witnesses. He says, you shall be my witnesses. I love the way the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says it. He speaks of death this way. He says, we're not told that Jesus survived death. We're not told that the story of the empty tomb is a beautiful, imaginative creation that offers inspiration to all sorts of people. We're not told that the message of Jesus lives on. We are told that God did something. That is, this bit of the human record, the things that Peter and John and Mary Magdalene witnessed on Easter morning is a moment when to borrow an image from the 20th century Catholic writer Ronald Knox, the walls turned into windows. Can I get a witness? But for the Christian, the basic fact is this compelling vision is only there. It's only there because God raised Jesus from the dead. And Jesus and for all of us with him, the possibility, the possibility of a human life together in which reconciled love between us, that's like between us and God could not have been imagined. And if the resurrection is about all that important decisive central moment around which the whole history of the world pivoted turned into an e-direction, something has happened within history that has altered what is possible. God has made an irreversible breakthrough in the definition of humanity, which can never be undone, my brothers and sisters, to believe that the world can change, that God can turn history on its pivot is to believe in all sorts of human situations that it is possible for things to be different. Turn to your neighbor and say, can I get a witness? I believe that what's happening across the North Texas conference is just that. I believe that the transformative power of Jesus Christ is transforming the world through the United Methodist Church. And I believe that the power of God through the power of God, all things, not just some things, but all things can be made new. Now let's be honest, some of us gathered here don't believe that. Some of us are like the disciples huddled up and hunkered down. Some of us come with fear and some of us have come today needing a word of hope, a word of healing. We need forgiveness. We need healing. We need to find the courage of our young people who are willing in spite of their fears and the lack of prospects for employment to head into the mission field like our project transformation students will do this summer. Our young people have little time for our debates about sexuality and church property, and they're comfortable with diversity in people of different colors, religions, and orientation. They are not sure they trust us, but they believe strongly in the small and winsome communities where they can go, and everybody knows their name. Ms. Craig Barnes that goes, our youth today seem to get it that our future is filled with obstacles, but I'm going to keep moving forward. Can I say this, brothers and sisters? There's some folk in here tonight that need this power. We need to desperately believe that the world can change to believe that God can turn history on its pivot. We desperately need to believe that in all sorts of human situations that it is possible. It is possible for things to be different, but not just in my personal life, but in the life of our churches. Can I get a witness? I'm convinced that if we're going to be relevant in this post-modern world, we'll have to make some changes and give the church back to Jesus Christ, and walk boldly where we have not gone before. Can I get a witness? Brothers and sisters, I came here to tell you tonight I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to bring my scars and my brokenness to God. I'm not afraid to tell you that I walk with a limp because God has redeemed those scars and is redeeming my brokenness. I came here to tell you tonight that I'm not afraid of what's going to happen to the United Methodist Church because Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life. I am not afraid because Jesus said where two or three are gathered I will be present. I'm not afraid, brothers and sisters, because Jesus said I have gone before you and I will be with you till the end of the time. Can I get a witness? One of the great writers of the 19th century was Soren Kierkegaard, a prolific writer. He had his finger on the pulse. He understood humanity, and he understood the brokenness of the church, and one day he observed a child parading in Copenhagen followed by three blind musicians begging for money, and all sorts of people watched them go by, and he wrote, there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who are willing and cannot, and there are those who are able and will not. Fred Craddock, my professor of preaching in Cantaloupe School of Theology, said of this particular part of Kierkegaard's writing, he's wrong. There are three groups of people. There are those who are willing and cannot, and there are those who are able and will not, and then there is you, and then there is you. And so church, tonight, I leave you with one question. Can Jesus get a witness? In Scripture and in sermon, we have remembered those who have led us in faith and whose legacy calls us to live as witnesses in our world. Through the camping ministries of the conference and the work of project transformation, our offering tonight will be split between these two wonderful ministries. I know you will support them as we all seek to live in our witness to the world and continue our commitment to the younger generations who share in ministry with us. Will the ushers come forward to accept our offering? Tradition in the North Texas annual conference for a number of years, last and commissioned summer interns who will be in our midst this summer, serving in a variety of ministries. So there are five groups of young people who are being commissioned this evening, project transformation who are in the green shirts, so if you'll raise your hands, will I say so? So these 122 young adults are dedicating their summer to building relationships with over 1100 children, youth, and low-income neighbors and churches in our annual conference. They provide summer day camp programs at 10 UMC churches located in underserved communities and as a result we expect 99% of these children and youth whom we serve who will maintain or improve their reading skills over the summer. And through their service, these young adults will also meet with church and community leaders as they explore their own calls either to ministry or to service. And standing with them is the new Executive Director Project Transformation of the Greater Dallas Area, Allison Gregory Richter. Allison, would you connect to the Kingdom or C2K? These 10 college interns and will you raise your hands in the back, up high. Seed Mission-Oriented Ministry Weekly for youth groups across the South Central jurisdiction. The C2K interns represent about half of the interns for the summer. They will serve more than 12,000 volunteer hours as they paint and repair houses in the urban areas of Dallas this summer. And standing with them is the Director of C2K, Jamie Nelson. Jamie, will you raise your hand so America can manage you? Jamie was hidden. Lydia Patterson Institute or LPI. Lydia Patterson is United Methodist School in El Paso. They graduated over 95 students last year with all of them enrolling in a college or university. The class of 2015 earned $1.6 million in scholarships and this is a great return on our investment as United Methodist. The interns have expressed an interest in going into ministry and will work at University Park, UMC this summer. There's one intern standing with them is Candy Hearn who's the co-coordinator with Richard Hearn of the summer intern program Candy and the LPI Institute. Can you raise your hand? Bridgeport Camp, these seven young adults will serve as Bridgeport's program staff for our conference seek and urban camps that will be happening not only at Bridgeport but in other areas of the annual conference. They will serve over 1,500 campers, 500 volunteers this summer and standing with them is the Director of Bridgeport Conference Center Staff Boat Taff. Will you raise your hand? And SIM, the Summer Intern and Ministry Fellowship of the North Texas Conference is designed to challenge and nurture young adults as they explore their vocational and baptismal callings. These six young adults will be working with pastors in six different ministry settings throughout the North Texas Conference this summer and standing with them is Becky Hensley who's the Associate Director for our Conference Center for Leadership Development and the Seminterns are where? There. So it's important for us to be resurrection people and to engage in the witness of Jesus Christ not only in the North Texas annual conference but beyond that we encourage young people in their commitments to serve and explore God's own calling in their lives. During these summer experiences many young adults discern and respond in different ways to the calling of God upon their lives and you make much of this ministry and these internships available. So I hope that you like I am should be are encouraged and inspired by the commitment and witness and that we will support and pray for them. Will you pray with me? Holy God we ask you to continue your calling on each one of our lives but for these young adults who will be serving this summer in a variety of ways they will serve where we will not go this summer but they will be the presence in the face of Christ and for the way in which you will work in their lives and work through the lives of others we give you thanks and may these months be filled with their blessings that they experience from you and from those with whom they serve and whom they serve and wait may we be reminded oh God that we are all called to serve you but especially bless these before us and all God's people said amen will you stand as we sing and so I hope that you'll be present as we begin our time together with service of baptismal renewal which I'll be speaking and giving the fiscal address tomorrow evening worship at seven o'clock here as service of commissioning and ordination I hope that you'll be present following the benediction you're invited to go you'll be directed by the ushers you'll turn out you'll go left you'll go east and you'll go to a hall in which we will honor and remember those who've died that we've celebrated their lives this evening and also reception honor of bishop and mrs. mackily so we'll be in the hall for a reception I invite you to come there following the benediction bear witness bear witness to the life of christness world and the love of christness world so that the stranger you meet may find in you a generous friend and now by the grace of our lord and savior jesus christ the love of our god and the fellowship of the holy spirit rest and be with all of you forever and all god's people said amen