Give Me Your Hand
by Rev. Cara Stultz Costello, UMHEF President & CEO
Beneath this moment lies a truth that the array of thoughts and feelings regarding recent election results cannot alter: before we have accomplished anything, invested ourselves in anything, or chosen a side about anything we are already known and loved by God. Then, in belonging to God, we are called into relationship with one another.
In 2 Kings 10:15, Jehu asks Jehonadab (2 people significantly at odds with one another) whether they could be united in heart. When Jehonadab answers yes, Jehu extends an invitation: “If it be, give me thine hand.”
John Wesley found in this encounter a question that still reaches across the centuries: “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?”
Wesley was no stranger to strong convictions. Yet he understood that our differences need not prevent us from recognizing God’s work in one another or joining hands in service to something greater than ourselves.
There is humility in such an invitation: the humility to acknowledge that our own understanding is never complete. And there is courage: the courage to remain faithful to our convictions while extending a hand to another.
This is part of our inheritance as United Methodists. We are a connectional people, bound together not simply by denominational structures, but by a shared calling to love God and neighbor. We offer our gifts and receive the gifts of others. We learn from one another and bear one another’s burdens, trusting that God’s work is larger than any one of us.
This is the faith that animates the work of the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation.
At its best, higher education invites students to wrestle with difficult questions, encounter unfamiliar ideas, and discover how their particular gifts might serve the world. It cultivates conviction alongside curiosity, knowledge alongside wisdom, confidence alongside humility.
We do not know all the places our students’ callings will lead. They will enter different professions, serve different communities, and bring different perspectives to the questions of their time. They will not always think alike. Nor should we expect them to.
We trust that each has something to offer, and that our common life is enriched when more people have the opportunity to develop and share their gifts.
Every scholarship is an act of faith in the God who is already at work in the lives of our students, and in the gifts they will bring to a world that needs them.
The future of our common life is a responsibility we share. So, to our students, to our generous donors, and to our higher education and annual conference partners, I say, “Let us extend our hands. Let us nurture the gifts entrusted to our care, make room for the gifts of others, and meet the days ahead with open hearts and steadfast hope.”
We belong to God. We belong to one another. And there is good work for us to do.
