Illinois Great Rivers Conference 2025 Journal-Yearbook
Leadership Reports
Episcopal Address Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai Rivers of Grace: Hope that does not disappoint (Editor’s note: The following is a transcript of the Opening Worship message of the 2025 Annual Conference delivered by Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai on June 5, 2025, in Peoria) Scripture: Romans 5: 1-5
The State of Illinois is bordered by 880 miles of river and has nearly 90,000 miles of streams and rivers within its borders. Glaciers carved some of those rivers into the earth eons ago. New rivers formed, as old ones faded away by the powerful movement of water. And now, we have the Sangamon and the Spoon; the Cache and the Embar- ras; the Illinois, the Vermilion and the Iroquois; the Kaskaskia River and the LaM- oine; the Little Wabash and the Okaw; and, of course, the great Mississippi. Rivers have shaped this region. They have defined its borders, influenced its history and culture. They have given it life, and its people hope. Rivers of God’s grace have done the same for us. Indeed, according to Wesley, who surely read these passages in Romans, our identity as baptized believers is grounded in God’s grace. God’s grace has wooed us into a rela- tionship with Christ. By God’s grace, we have been set free from sin and made right with God through Christ. God’s grace continues to flow over us like living waters. And, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s grace cleanses us, grows us, and carries us on to perfection--a perfection, said Wesley, in which the love of God covers us and the hope of God’s glory carries us. My question for us today, at the 2025 annual conference is this: do we know who we are? These past few years, The United Methodist Church has been having an identity crisis. We have struggled with defining ourselves rather than allowing others to define us. We have struggled with listening to our own hearts rather than the social media feeds of others. We have struggled with looking at ourselves in the mirror and being proud of who we are rather than believing caricatures of ourselves. I know that these years of conflict have been painful. But, through the struggle and the pain, God has brought us to a greater knowledge of our own identity and helped us to claim it. We have decided to #BeUMC and to declare boldly what it means to be Wesleyan Christians and a part of this United Methodist connection. As United Methodists, we have claimed an understanding of ourselves as followers of a Jesus who emphasized grace over judgement, love over hatred, forgiveness over con- demnation, and reconciliation over winning. We have grabbed hold of our identity as followers of a Jesus who proclaimed the dictates of the Shema as the center of the
216 Leadership Reports
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