Know Christ, Make Christ Known
Bishop Fairley leads Fall Clergy Orders gathering
By Dan O’Mara
WEST COLUMBIA – More than 300 clergy members of the South Carolina Conference gathered Nov. 14 at Mount Hebron United Methodist Church for worship, a celebration of ministry and a time of fellowship.
The Gathering of the Order of Elders, the Order of Deacons and the Fellowship of Local Pastors and Associate Members also served as another opportunity to welcome Bishop Leonard Fairley, who began his tenure as resident bishop in September.
Touching upon the theme of the semiannual gathering, “Know Christ, Make Christ Known,” Fairley centered his message on Jesus’s prayer for unity among his disciples in John 17.
“Listen to him pray,” Fairley said. “‘Father, I ask that they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe. So that the world may know that you sent me.’ And this was not the end of the prayer, but Jesus moved beyond the disciples and prayed for the generations to come.
“Jesus shows us a unity that is worth dying for, a unity that stretches beyond the passage of time and space. That unity is something given, not achieved by our own power. Maybe that’s been the problem: We’ve been trying to do this thing on our own power. … Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we have to learn to get out of God’s way.”
Fairley pointed out that Jesus did not pray for what his disciples might do; he prayed for what they might be.
“Jesus prays that they might be one,” he said. “Something in me tells me that Jesus understood clearly that before we can do anything, we must be rooted and grounded in Jesus. That’s the only way. To know Christ is to live in unity, and unity is one of the great witnesses of the power of the Holy Spirit among us, doing what we cannot do on our own.
“To know Jesus is to know a unity that sounds and looks like Pentecost. That’s what we need in the church—a new Pentecost.”
Fairley acknowledged the pain and heartache clergy have endured as churches have separated from The United Methodist Church. He challenged them not to see their ministry during this difficult season as “an overwhelming burden” but as “an opportunity to see the possibilities and live the promises.”
“Brothers and sisters, this is what I’m asking of you: Let us choose to see all that has happened in the world through different eyes; through the eyes of Jesus who prayed for us; through the eyes of Jesus who stood in the temple and said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, release to the captives, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
“That’s your work. That’s my work. And I join you not as a bishop, but as a colleague in Jesus Christ.”