Our summer district day was held at Wesley Memorial Church, Epworth on 12th June and we were delighted to welcome Madeleine Reed to lead our day. After welcome refreshments served by gentlemen from the church, the minister Rev Deborah Caulk led our opening devotions and introduced Madeleine.
Madeleine began by explaining about the Helen Kim Memorial Scholarship and how she has benefitted from the program. The theme for the day was ‘The Challenge of Comfort’ and madeleine had divided her day into 4 sections. We began with ‘an introduction to comfort: Jesus’ and reflected together on what kind of man Jesus was – radically generous, extreme in hospitality, radically extreme. Discussion in breakout groups considered the question: How has God challenged you? in light of thoughts that we are ambassadors for Christ and the world is watching us to see how we react to situations.
Madeleine continued with ‘an introduction to challenge: Jeremiah’ leading our thinking with thoughts about how quotes are often offered for every situation but considering whether they are helpful or not. Citing the example of Jeremiah 29:11 – a verse often used to give comfort but it is used out of context if you actually read the preceeding chapter and verses – there was not a quick fix. Encouragement and conviction are twins that are not alike. The hymn ‘God grant us words to speak’ (StF 647) ended the morning.
Lunch was as usual a time of fellowship, sharing and shopping at the MWiB and Fairtrade stalls, again admirably looked after by the gentleman from church – how lovely for the ladies to be able to relax and join in the whole day.
Our afternoon began by singing ‘I, the Lord of sea and sky’ (STF 663) before Madeleine talked ‘On Suffering: Sin’ and ‘On Suffering: Sacrifice’. With confidence and empathy Madeleine led our thinking through these two challenging topics, sharing personal testimony, biblical examples and referencing real life stories such as David Livingstone. She reminded us that often accepting a situation is better than railing against it; that God enters into our suffering with us; he sits with us in the form of Jesus. that prayer is powerful and that coming alongside people in their suffering is sacrifice, living sacrifice.
The afternoon breakout groups saw honest and poignant sharing as we considered the questions: How have you entered into suffering alongside someone to comfort them? How has someone done this for you?
With words from Shakespeare, ‘Much ado about nothing’ (Act 5, scene1), Paul’s letter to the Romans and Jesus’ words known as The Beatitudes, Madeleine brought the day to a close, leaving us with some challenging thoughts to ponder on further:
In the church we stand in the light and beckon people to come in out of the darkness but they can’t get out by themselves, we need to go and get them from the darkness.
The only way to truly comfort people is to make ourselves uncomfortable.
The Methodist Church loves to talk about making room at the table but sometimes the only way to make room is to give up your seat.
Our model, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, died that we might live; we are signposts to the Saviour, we are not saviours ourselves.
Thank you to Madeleine for being inspiring and challenging in equal measures. We were delighted to welcome her to Lincolnshire and to Epworth. After leading the day Madeleine joined some of the ladies on a visit to Epworth Old Rectory where they embarked on the full tour, learning all about the lives of Susanna, John and Charles Wesley and the rest of the family at their family home.
Bronwen Braisdell
