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Be the change!

by Kathy Gilbert January 18, 2009
Rev. Dean Snyder, Bishop Gregory Palmer and Bishop John Schol stand together at the end of worship service at Foundry United Methodist Church on Jan. 18.
Rev. Dean Snyder, Bishop Gregory Palmer and Bishop John Schol stand together at the end of worship service at Foundry United Methodist Church on Jan. 18.

Bishop Gregory Palmer urged the congregation at FoundryUnited Methodist Church in Washington, DC to “be the change you want to see.” The Baltimore-Washington Conference has taken the quote from Gandhi as their theme during the inauguration of Barack Obama. About 40 churches in the conference are opening their doors to show “radical hospitality” to the millions flooding into the city. At Foundry, more than 90 United Methodists from New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia are sleeping on the Sunday school classroom floors. At the moment, they are enjoying oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and chocolate cake in their red, white and blue decorated fellowship hall. Watching over them is a life-size cardboard cut-out of a smiling Obama. As one young man said, “I’m here to see history.” United Methodist News Service will be in DC throughout the MLK holiday and inauguration, stay tuned for more details.

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