"When you are willing to take Jesus's hand, all heaven breaks loose," Bishop Karen Oliveto said in her sermon during the Celebration of Ministry Service on June 9.

She started by asserting that we have been living through "multiple pandemics"--COVID-19, racism, gun violence, the climate crisis, the shameless expressions of hate that have emboldened some to marginalize others based on politics, ethnicity, ability, gender identity, and more.

"Perhaps that leads us to the biggest pandemic of all: the breakdown of community, a dis-ease that ironically has us feeling less connected and more isolated at a time when technology connects us instantly with people all over the globe," she said.

She drew on the gospel story of the woman who, in faith, touched the hem of Jesus's robe and is healed of a flow of blood that plagued her for years and made her a pariah in her community.

"Touch is powerful," Bishop Oliveto said. "In my forty years as a pastor, I have seen the life-giving power that happens when we join our hands together, when we are willing to connect with. one another."

So many are discouraged and seem almost dead in their discouragement and hopelessness she observed.

Yet renewing our connection to Christ and reaching out to others can bring us back to life.

"We are not meant to walk this road of faith alone," she said, "We are not called to be a lone wolf in ministry. And in United Methodism, no church stands alone.

"Are you willing to give your hand to another--to those whose lives are so different from your own and may even seem a bit strange?"

She invited all present to strengthen our Methodist connection that helps us join hands "and allows the Holy Spirit to lead us to a place we can't even imagine.

"Let's lean on Christ and with one another as we create beloved community," she concluded.