Proud to be a United Woman in Faith

It always gets a laugh when I tell people that, by the Discipline of the United Methodist Church, every UMC pastor is a United Women in Faith member—and that I am proud to be one! More seriously, it has been the UWF (formerly UMW – United Methodist Women) who have long led our denomination in serious study and reflection on issues that impact God’s children globally.

One of my most enjoyable teaching experiences was teaching a class on global economics at the (then) UMW Missionary School in the mid-90s. Women of all ages from churches around the region gathered to learn about how an “American” car was actually a composite of parts and processes from around the world, often using labor at countries’ borders where workers could be paid a sub-living wage. It was the United Women in Faith who began to raise awareness that the much-touted North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States, and Mexico had a dark underbelly for poor families who had few options. While this was certainly an economic and political issue, for these faithful women it was first a moral, Christian, and human rights issue that needed voice and advocacy. Those women are still speaking out wherever God’s children are being unjustly trampled upon … just as Jesus did.

We will not hear of anything so dramatic this Sunday as we lift up our United Women in Faith. But what will remain the same is the boldness of faithful women (and men) to speak up for the grace of Jesus Christ and for those in our world who most need it. “When you did it for the least of these, you did it for me,” Jesus said. We are committed to that at FUMC Plano. Our women will remind us of that as we share communion this Sunday. I am proud of their witness and proud to be one of them!

Summer is over; it’s time to be back in church together and start the fall well together. See you Sunday!

Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,