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By GWEN SISSON
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In a very special worship service for Pentecost Sunday, Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church said Pentecost was a great “airing out” moment.
With the sound of wind rushing through streamers, Ward encouraged the children of local United Methodist Churches to remember the sounds of the wind and the colors of fire as we remember the story of Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit to the early church.
“Pentecost Sunday was a time of coming full circle,” Ward said, “God breathed life into humanity in the Garden of Eden, then He breathed life into the early Christians.”
Bishop Ward presented the worship service at Eupora First United Methodist Church, in a rare visit to Webster County. In honor of her visit, Maben UMC, Bellfontaine UMC, Lebanon UMC and Liberty UMC in the area did not hold services in order to join with the Eupora UMC congregation for the special event.
Ward shared her thoughts on Pentecost, which is also called the “birthday of the church.”
Pentecost Sunday is the remembrance of the original Pentecost recounted in The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 2. According to Acts 2, Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. On that Sunday, Jesus’ disciples and others were gathered into an upper room, where they had shared communion with Christ before His death on the cross. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. [Acts 2:2-4]
Christ had promised His Apostles that He would sent His Holy Spirit, and, on Pentecost, they were granted the gifts of the Spirit. The Apostles began to preach the Gospel in all of the languages that the Jews who were gathered there spoke, and about 3,000 people were converted and baptized that day, according to Acts 2 of the Holy Bible.
Ward said today, Pentecost represents a great renewal and great giftedness.
“People ask, ‘what does this all mean?’” Ward said, “but it is a proclamation of a mystery our minds can not conceive.”
Ward said she believed the miracle of Pentecost wasn’t just the capacity for everyone in the room of different nationalities to understand one another, though they were speaking their own language. Ward said she agreed with John Wesley who wrote the miracle of Pentecost was that all of these different people were praising God in the myriad of languages.
“Every tongue was giving praise to Jesus Christ,” Ward said. “And it is a foretaste of what is to come, when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.”
She said Jesus challenges us to “go and teach all nations” about Him and His Word.
“But how can we possibly measure up?” Ward said. “The truth is, it is not about us. God delivers His message through us. We always say “the world is our parish.’ Where you find yourself — that is your parish.”
Ward also said Pentecost was a clear and concise message, and with all our diverse gifts and abilities, it is so important to deliver those gifts to the world clearly and simply.
“The miracle is the capacity of faithful believers to live as a clear and concise witness for Christ,” Ward said. “We can all do that.”
She said living to share a clear and concise message for the love of Christ is so important right here.
“Right here in this community, there are children who haven’t heard the stories of Jesus, and there are families in a financial bind,” Ward said. “There are people who have been diagnosed with a health problem and are scared. There are people looking for a church home. And they need you to live a clear and simple witness for Christ, right here.”
“We are so very honored to have Bishop Ward worshipping with us, and that she was here for Pentecost, the ‘birthday’ of the Church, made it even more special,” said Rev. Trey Harper, pastor of Eupora First United Methodist Church. “The Bishop’s schedule is so busy, and there are well over 1,100 churches in the Mississippi Conference, so to be able to host her is truly an privilege. When we confirmed that she would be coming, we immediately saw this as an opportunity to worship with our other United Methodist brothers and sisters. This service developed into a real celebration of the unity of the Body of Christ. We are so blessed to be a part of it.”
Hope Morgan Ward was elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church and appointed to Mississippi in 2004. She is believed to be the first woman to lead a mainline denomination in Mississippi and is only the second female bishop elected to serve in The United Methodist Church’s Southeastern Jurisdiction, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.
As resident bishop, she is the shepherding leader of 190,000 United Methodists in 1,147 congregations across the state of Mississippi.
Before coming to Mississippi, Ward was superintendent of the Raleigh District in the North Carolina Annual Conference. She previously served as North Carolina Conference director of Connectional Ministries and as a local church pastor. In 10 years as pastor of Soapstone United Methodist Church in Raleigh, the church grew from 35 members to 600.
Her approach to ministry is to “take the next faithful step.” She has been called a shepherd, teacher, evangelist, church builder, missioner, and connector.
Bishop Ward grew up in rural eastern North Carolina. She and her four siblings were the seventh generation to grow up on the Morgan family farm in Corapeake, N.C. She was nurtured in Parkers Methodist Church, one of three churches on the North Gates Charge. The Morgan family life was centered in the Wesleyan tradition with weekly worship, Sunday school, vacation Bible school, youth choir, youth fellowship, covered dish dinners, and mission projects.
Ward attended Duke University, earning her undergraduate degree in English. Upon graduation from Duke, she became youth director of Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C., where she discovered love of ministry and mission. In 1974, she participated in her first volunteer in mission experience in Cochabamba and Montero, Bolivia. The next year, she returned to Bolivia with other work team volunteers, including Mike Ward!
In this work team experience, they established a strong and lasting friendship that grew into a deep and lifelong love. They were married in 1977, and both continued to pursue graduate study, Mike at North Carolina State University and Hope at Duke Divinity School. Married eight months, they became teaching parents for a group of children in residence at the Methodist Home for Children.
The Wards count their own children, Jason and Brooke, as their greatest blessing. Jason graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 2001. He taught third and fourth grade in Ruleville, through Teach for America for two years before entering graduate school. Jason is working toward a Ph.D. in American History at Yale University. Brooke earned M.A. and M.A.T. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and teaches English at Pender High School, near Wilmington, N.C.
Mike Ward has been a public school teacher, coach, principal, superintendent, and the founding director for the North Carolina Standards Board for Public School Administration. He served two four-year terms as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of North Carolina and is currently a professor of educational leadership in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
The Wards have deep roots in eastern North Carolina, loving the dark soil and watery coastal areas of the state. They also count the world as their home, serving together and individually in work team and mission endeavors in Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East as well as in Appalachia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. In 2005, they traveled with a group of Mississippians to Zimbabwe.
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