On our last Sunday at the little United Church of Kanab, Rev. Marv Vose was the guest preacher.  Rev. Vose is an Elder in the United Methodist Church and serves as the District Superintendent of Utah and Western Colorado District.  Imagine that – a district that is the entire state of Utah plus some of Colorado!  And only 50 United Methodist Churches.  He serves in Mountain Sky Conference which encompasses Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho.  That’s HUGE!

Tom and I talked to Rev. Vose after the service.  He asked us how we got all the way to the little church in Kanab.  Rev. Vose retired about six years ago and he and his wife were RV full-timers for a couple of years.  Then the Bishop called and asked him to be a District Superintendent for the third time.  I asked him how he got around to the churches.  He replied that they did a lot of teleconferencing.  In fact, most of their Conference meetings were by teleconference.  The only time they really got together to meet face to face was Annual Conference.

Rev. Vose did a nice job of leading the service.  He was relaxed and let one of the lay people in the congregation do most of the service.  He confessed that it was his first time at the United Church of Kanab, but also mentioned that he wasn’t able to visit a lot of the churches because of geographic distance.  Maybe he should have kept his RV – he could live in that and travel from one church to another through the year.

The sermon was good:  well-organized and the right length.  He highlighted several passages from the Gospel of John.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him might have eternal life.”  John 10:10b, “  John 17:3, “  Rev. Vose said that eternal life was better than sitting on a cloud playing a harp.  Instead, eternal life is fully knowing God, more and better life than we have ever imagined.  He also said “Some people read the Bible for the rules and when they find one they figure out why it applies to everyone except them.”

Having Rev. Vose as the guest preacher was a good ending to our time with the United Church of Kanab.  He is a gifted preacher and obviously has some skills at being a District Superintendent.  All the people who have welcomed us so warmly made sure we knew we were welcome anytime.  They offered me the job as their pastor again.  And were gracious as we said goodbye.  I will keep them in my prayers as they try to find a way forward for their church.  They are large in faith even though small in number.