First Friday Letter The World Methodist Council
June 2022
Greetings from the General Secretary Dear Friends, It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming the new year. Now we are at the mid-point of 2022 with the advent of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere. Seasonal changes remind us that time is moving on and that we need to make the best of every precious moment. On 24 May, Methodists celebrated Aldersgate Day. It was this day that John Wesley, the father of the Methodist Movement, experienced his “heart strangely warmed” and had assurance of salvation. He writes in his journal, “I felt I did trust Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Africans across the World celebrated Africa Day on 25 May, which marks the founding of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The goal of the OAU is to “defend the sovereignty of African countries, uphold human rights and restore the dignity of African people.” This year the theme was “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development.” Covid-19 exposed the economic vulnerability of many of the African countries and the risk of eroding the human capital and nutritional gains made over the last decade. Sub-Saharan Africa ranks the highest in the world when it comes to illicit financial outflows and has been left behind with accessibility to coronavirus vaccines, with only 15.9% of the population of 1.2 billion on the continent fully vaccinated. Covid-19 has exposed the deep fault lines in global healthcare. As we begin to contemplate a new “normal” in a Post-Covid world, great care must be given to building a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world. If one person in the north or south sneezes, everyone can potentially catch a cold. We live in an interconnected world, where no recovery will be possible if we don’t care for the most vulnerable in society. Later this month, our focus shifts to the plight of refugees around the world. I am reminded of a Sunday School teacher who asked her class to draw a picture of a Bible story. When examining the drawings, she was surprised to see one of an airplane and some people in it. She called the little girl who drew the picture to explain which Biblical story it was. She replied that in the cockpit was Pontius the pilot and at the back was Jesus and his family taking a flight to Egypt. It is important to remember that our Lord and Savior “became human in every way so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.” It is a reality that Jesus and his family were refugees in Africa. The European Methodist Council prepared some resources for World Refugee Day, Sunday 19 June 2022, which speaks particularly on persons who lost their lives in attempting to cross the Mediterranean, but it can be adapted to your situation. See: https://www.methodist.eu/resources This edition of the FFL contains prayer requests for violence in Nigeria, the US, and Ukraine. Shalom, Ivan
World Methodist Council
First Friday Letter page 1