2016ustrip

Report on Thursday, 1 September, 2016 World Methodist Conference
Morning Worship
by Rev Rudy Rasmus 1
T his was the important first official session of the WMC which
set the tone and direction for the remainder of the messages in the days
to come.
Rev Rasmus shared about the unfortunate
experiences of racial discrimination which he
experienced during his childhood.
He described the practice of segregation during his
youth where at school the “Native African” students
were required to drink from one simple
fountain while the “American” students drank from the more sophisticated one.
At that time, he thought the water from the 'fountain for the white’
carried some magical power. He made many attempts to drink from the
‘fountain for the white’ secretly to acquire the special power from the
water.
In any event, he loved the one and only
fountain in the zoological park where
every student, regardless of race,
could drink from.
At this point of his message, many African-American participants
responded with enthusiasm. Even some of the Caucasian participants
responded. Perhaps they were in solidarity against racism, that both groups
of participants cried out repeatedly, “Amen! Hallelujah!”. Many began to
applaud. Roughly a third participants gave a standing ovation. It seemed
that only the Asian participants were more conservative and did not react in
such a manner. Maybe they had not been so terribly treated in the past
and did not quite feel the “pain”.
In his talk, Rev Rasmus stressed two important points. Firstly, everyone is
God’s creation, and all should be treated equal.
Secondly, love everyone (He remarked, “Love is the ultimate theology and ethical category.”).
He also displayed the following slide. It read: “Love is …
Allowing a person to be who they choose for themselves without any insistence that they meet your
expectations." (emphasis added)
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Rudy Rasmus is a pastor of the St John’s United Methodist Church located on two campuses in Downtown and
Northwest Houston. He is known for his outreach efforts to the world’s poorest citizens. St John's began with 9
members in 1992 and in 22 years grew to over 9,000 members. It is one of the most culturally diverse congregations
in the country. He attributes the success of the church to a compassionate group of people who embraced the vision
of tearing down the walls of classism, sexism and racism, and building bridges of unconditional love, universal recovery
and unprecedented hope. An in-house poll revealed that the number one reason people attend St John’s is because
they can “feel the love” from the parking lot to the pew.
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