Accountable Discipleship

The Lord's Supper is a powerful means of grace ...

2010-04-18T08:24:00.002-05:00

Most United Methodists agree that the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion, the Eucharist) is an important ritual of the church. Many also agree that it is a powerful means of grace. John and Charles Wesley certainly believed the Sacrament to be one of the most important and powerful means for Christians to connect with the healing and redeeming power of God's grace. This is why both brothers communed frequently throughout their lives. It is why Charles wrote a collection of hymns on the Lord's Supper, about 160 hymns, that is one of the best volumes on Eucharistic theology ever written. John encouraged the Methodists to participate in the Sacrament as often as possible, at least once a week. The worship book he developed for the new Methodist Episcopal Church in America contained an order of worship for Sunday morning that included weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper.

The recent document approved by the 2008 General Conference, This Holy Mystery, encourages United Methodist congregations today to re-tradition the practice of weekly celebration of the Sacrament.

My friend Andrew Thompson has done some very good thinking and writing on this topic in a recent column for the United Methodist Portal. It is well worth reading and discussing in your church: Recommit to Communion as Means of Healing Grace

Is social holiness the same as social justice?

2010-03-12T13:59:00.002-06:00

Here's an excellent post by Kevin Watson at his blog, Deeply Committed, warning United Methodists against conflating the social justice with social holiness: Prooftexting Wesley

The Gospel according to Rob Bell

2010-03-11T10:59:00.001-06:00

This is a very good explanation of the gospel as good news for the world by Rob Bell.

The simple explanation of the missional church

2010-03-07T17:28:00.002-06:00

The movement called today "missional church" is also very similar to the essence of Methodism. I am convinced that the future of The United Methodist Church is in becoming once again a denomination populated by missional congregations.

Wesley Pilgrimage in England - May 11-21, 2010

2010-01-13T12:59:00.003-06:00

For details go to:
http://www.gbod.org/wesleypilgrimage

To register, please call toll free: 877-899-2780, ext. 7075

You are invited to participate in a ten-day pilgrimage into the early roots of The United Methodist Church. The General Board of Discipleship and General Board of Higher Education and Ministry are sponsoring an opportunity to:

Immerse yourself in the ministry, theology, and spirituality of John & Charles Wesley
Learn and pray where the Wesley’s prayed and served
Reflect, pray, and build relationships in small groups
Make connections between the Wesleyan heritage and the ministry of your home congregation today
Make new friends and have fun!

If you are a Provisional Member …
Now is the time to register for this important continuing education opportunity. We have just a few $500 scholarship discounts remaining. We need to hear from you today!

Pilgrimage Leaders
Pilgrimage leaders are Dr. Paul Chilcote (Professor of Historical Theology and Wesleyan Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary), Dr. Steven Manskar (Director of Wesleyan Leadership, GBOD), Rev. Anita Wood (Director of Professional Ministry Development, GBHEM), and Dr. Tim Macquiban, British Methodist Wesley scholar and minister of Wesley Methodist Church in Cambridge, England.

The Itinerary
Tues., May 11 — Salisbury
Arrival at Sarum College around 1:00 pm for lunch and introductory learning time with Tim Macquiban: “Characteristics of Methodism” & “John Wesley and the Church of England”

Wed., May 12 — Salisbury
Lectures on history and theology with Dr. Tim Macquiban and Dr. Paul Chilcote

Thurs., May 13 — Oxford
Visit Christ Church College & Cathedral, Lincoln College, St. Mary’s Church, & free time. Depart Oxford by 3:30 pm to arrive at Bawtry Hall in time for supper.

Fri., May 14 — Epworth
Visit St. Andrews Church and church yard, the Market Cross, the Old Rectory, & Wesley Memorial Methodist Church. Leave by 3:00 pm for Bawtry. Brief group session with Eucharist after supper

Sat., May 15 — Salisbury
Travel from Bawtry to Sarum College. Free day

Sun., May 16 — Salisbury
Worship at Salisbury Methodist Church (10:30 am)
Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral – 3:00 pm (optional)

Mon., May 17 — Bristol
Visit Charles Wesley House, The New Room, Bristol Cathedral, & free time
(focus on the development of the class meeting and field preaching)

Tues., May 18 — Salisbury
Closing lectures, Chapel worship with college community, Cathedral Tour, evaluation, & banquet

Wed., May 19 — London
Visit London area churches and ministries, free evening in London.
Lodging at The Royal Foundation of St. Katharine in East London

Thurs., May 20 — London
Tim Macquiban will lead us on a historic tour of Wesley’s Chapel & Home at City Road, Bunhill Field, the Aldersgate Street monument, Charterhouse School, Westminster School, & Methodist Central Hall, concluding with evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Return to St. Katharine’s for group dinner and closing worship.

Fri., May 21 — London
Breakfast & departures for London airports
[Each day will begin with a brief service of Morning Prayer and end with evening Eucharist.]
The days in Oxford, Epworth, Bristol, and London will be filled with vigorous walking. Pilgrims are strongly encouraged to bring comfortable shoes for walking on hard pavement.]

This event qualifies for 3 CEUs.
For details and cost go to http://www.gbod.org/WesleyPilgrimage. To register, please call toll free: 877-899-2780, ext. 7075.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Grace & Peace,

Steven Manskar, D.Min.
Director of Wesleyan Leadership
GBOD
smanskar@gbod.org
(877) 899-2780, ext. 1765 (toll free)
(615) 948-0650 (mobile)

John the Bell Ringer

2009-12-12T09:24:00.005-06:00

Reflections on the Gospel lesson for the Third Sunday of Advent: Luke 3:7-18--

I think John the Baptist is alive and well today. He is easy to spot this time of year. You will find him outside of stores or in the mall. He usually has a bell in his hand.

He stands all day and night, during shopping hours, next to a black kettle ringing his bell. Many people drop their spare change into his kettle. Some even give 10s, 20s and the occasional check; while many hurriedly walk past trying to avoid making eye contact.

Yes, John the Baptist is alive and well. His incarnation is the many volunteers who ring bells and shake tambourines to collect money for the Salvation Army and its ministry with the poor and homeless people of our world.

Just like John, who preached in the wilderness of Judea so long ago, the bell ringers of the Salvation Army are witnesses today that all is not right with the world. That there is a sickness in this world called sin.

This sin-sickness manifests itself in systems of greed, domination, violence, and oppression. Everyone suffers from this sickness; no one is immune. The good news, given to us by John and the bell ringers, is that God has given the world the only cure that is effective against the ravages of sin.

That cure is Jesus Christ, God's son whose birth we celebrate this month. John introduced him to us. He told us how to be cured of our sin-sickness.

Repentance; turning away from the sin-sick systems of greed, materialism, fear and violence. And turning toward the One who loves the world, who forgives, and accepts you as you are, without price or merit; that One is Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the world.

Jesus will show you the way to healing, abundant life, and freedom. The way to begin the cure is to do what John told those who came to see him in the wilderness to do: "If you have more clothes than you need, give the stuff hanging in your closet and laying around in your drawers to those who have nothing. If you have more food than you need, give food to those who are hungry and have no money to buy food to feed themselves and their children."

When you move from a life of getting and holding on, to new life in Christ, the life of grace, the life of openness to the world and giving freely, your healing has begun.

The next time you hear and see a Salvation Army bell ringer, give them a smile, wish them a merry Christmas, and drop a generous gift in their kettle. Better yet, volunteer to be a bell ringer or to help distribute food, clothing, and love to the growing numbers of hungry, ill-clad, and neglected neighbors among us today. Be and witness to the good news that is Christ.

And remember John in the wilderness who came to point us to the source of our healing, and the healing of the world, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Advent is like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

2009-12-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is the story of a man who lives his life backwards. He begins life in the body of an old man and dies in the body of a newborn infant. Its an amazing, well-crafted story that is well worth seeing.

I mention this film because it is a good way to understand the season of Advent that began this past Sunday. When we read the lectionary lessons for the four Sundays of Advent we see that they move backward through time. They begin with the adult Jesus, near the end of his earthly life, teaching about the coming end of time and the reign of righteousness and justice that characterize the reign of God he inaugurates with his life, death, and resurrection. By the fourth Sunday of Advent we encounter the unborn Jesus in Mary’s womb.

Advent begins the Christian calendar year by giving us a glimpse of God’s destination for history. This is done because we cannot really make sense of the story of Christmas unless we see where it is taking us. Advent is the season for hearing, reflecting, praying, and preparing for the coming again of Christ the crucified and risen King, Prophet, and Priest. Only when the church takes time to deal with God’s destination for history can we truly begin to understand the meaning of the incarnation we celebrate at Christmas.

Laurence Hull Stookey gives a wonderful explanation of the meaning of Advent in his book, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church:

“The First Sunday of Advent is regarded in the Western Church as the beginning of the liturgical year. But Advent is first of all about the end of time. Because the term itself means “coming” or “arrival,” and because it precedes Christmas, many have misunderstood Advent to be exclusively a time to get ready to celebrate the coming of a child at Bethlehem. In fact, the primary focus of Advent is on what is popularly called “the second coming.” Thus Advent concerns the future of the Risen One, who will judge wickedness and prevail over every evil. Advent is the celebration of the promise that Christ will bring an end to all that is contrary to the ways of God; the resurrection of Jesus is the first sign of this destruction of the powers of death, the inauguration and anticipation of what is yet to come in fullness. As such, the opening Sundays of Advent bring to sharp focus themes that in the lectionary system have been accumulating for some weeks; for as the lectionary year closes, the Gospel readings, in particular, deal with signs of the end.

“…the sacred story, to be understood aright, has to be read backward. Just as the birth and ministry of Jesus are incomprehensible until we know of the Lord’s death and resurrection, so too the whole of the past is muddled unless first we have a grasp on the nature of the future” (Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, pages 121-122).

Embracing and living the season of Advent is a powerful way for the church to be a living witness to Jesus Christ who is the crucified and risen King, Prophet and Priest; the One who came as a helpless infant born to poor peasants of a conquered and oppressed people and the One who is coming as judge and ruler of God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. Living Advent will help the church to be more than a mirror image of the culture of consumerism and self-indulgence in which it is called to witness and to serve. How can the church “transform the world” when it is, particularly during this season, a reflection of that world?

The Mission Has a Church

2009-11-20T21:31:00.001-06:00

“The church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church.”

It is very difficult to be a Christ-centered church in a culture that is steeped in consumerism and individualism. It is much easier to fit in and go with the flow. It is much easier to be a “bless me” club that focuses its energy and resources on serving its members. To attract the maximum number of people churches offer attractive programs designed to help members to feel good about themselves and to be successful in life. They offer services such as coffee shops, book stores, sports teams, and others that appeal to member interests. The church that is successful in the market focuses on the customer and strives to keep the customers happy.

It is very difficult to be a Christ-centered church in a consumer culture because its mission is to transform, not fit into and accommodate, the world as it is. When the church becomes a distributor of religious goods and services its focus is in the wrong place. Such churches tend to adjust the gospel of Jesus Christ to match what ever the culture deems to be important. When people come to most North American churches they expect to be served, comforted and blessed. The church, therefore, responds by focusing its energy and resources upon the work needed to serve, comfort and bless more and more people. Leaders expend all their time and energy to find more and more creative ways to attract more and more people to the church. I say the focus in such a church is in the wrong place because it is upon the people in the church itself. God becomes little more than a marketing tool that attracts people to a “bless me club.” This is described by U2 in their song “If God Will Send His Angels”

Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score.
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it's hard to get in the door

The real mission of the church is doing all in its power to get more people to join and to give so that it can develop more programs to attract more people. In a culture that measures success by numbers and dollars, it is very difficult to be the church of Jesus Christ.

The Christ-centered church is not a “bless me” club. Certainly, the people who come to its worship services and participate in its programs and ministries are helped, comforted and blessed. The key, however, is that is not the focus of its programs and ministries. The church’s focus is on participating in God’s mission in the world. Christ-centered churches understand that they exist for the benefit of Christ and his mission.

“Bless me” club churches are shaped by the General Rule of Pastoral Prudence, “The absolute minimum in obligation in order to keep the maximum number of people.” Christ-centered congregations are shaped by the General Rule of Discipleship: “To witness to Jesus Christ in the world, and to follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” The majority of energy and resources are directed outward, toward the world that God loves and not so much on the church. This is because Christ-centered congregations know that the church is a means to God’s end and not the other way around. The church is a living, breathing flesh and blood organism, Christ body in, with, and for the world. Its members are connected to one another in order to be sent into the world as Christ’s ambassadors who use their spiritual gifts in ways that contribute to the body’s mission in the world.

Christ-centered congregations understand “The church does not have a mission. The Mission has a church.” The mission of the church is to cooperate with, be a channel for, and be a participant in God’s mission in the world. This means the Christ-centered congregation is missional, just as Jesus Christ is missional. The life of a missional church is centered in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Members are equipped to live lives that are good news to the poor, open the eyes of the blind, and proclaim liberty to prisoners and the oppressed. Christ-centered, missional congregations are sign communities of the reign of God that is among us and is coming. It doesn’t exist to point the world towards itself. Rather it lives to point the way to God and to welcome the world to life in God’s household.

In Memory of Dr. James C. Logan

2009-10-19T09:51:00.002-05:00

Dr. James C. Logan was for many years a fixture at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Jim died on Saturday night, October 17. He was 77 years old.

Jim was a gifted teacher, theologian, and scholar. He was generous with his time and energy, especially on behalf of his students. He served as the first E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Wesley. The evangelism chair is now named for him.

Jim was the teacher who introduced me to John and Charles Wesley in a way that changed my life and the trajectory of my career. He made me, and many of my classmates, proud to be Methodists. I am saddened by news of his death.

Eternal God, you have shared with us the life of James Logan.
Before he was ours, he is yours.
For all that James has given us to make us what we are,
for that of him which lives and grows in each of us,
and for his life that in your love will never end,
we give you thanks.
As now we offer James back into your arms,
comfort us in our lonliness,
strengthen us in our weakness,
and give us courage to face the future unafraid.
Draw those of us who remain in this life closer to one another,
make us faithful to serve one another,
and give us to know that peace and joy which is eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Discipleship is Like Riding a Bicycle

2009-10-16T08:20:00.003-05:00

This past September I rode my bike in the FedEx ‘Rock-n-Roll’ MS 150 Bike Ride. 430 people rode 74 miles from Graceland in Memphis to Tunica, Mississippi on Saturday. On Sunday morning we rode 76 miles back to Graceland. It was a great event that raised over $410,000 to fight and treat Multiple Sclerosis.

My goal for the Sunday ride was to simply finish. As we set out in the morning I rode alone, trying to maintain a stead speed at around 15 miles per hour. After about ten miles a paceline of about 20 men and women passed me. Near the end of the line one of the guys asked, “Do you want to jump in here?” I said, “Yeah! Thanks.” With that I shifted into a bigger gear and took my place in line.

Riding with that paceline enabled me to increase my speed from 15 mph to 22 mph with relatively little effort. We rode as a group for about 25 miles and broke up when we came to “the wall,” the one big hill climb of the day.

A paceline is a small group of riders riding in single file. They try to stay as close as possible to each other. Each rider tries to keep his or her front wheel inches from the rear wheel of the rider in front of him or her. Each rider takes turns in the lead. Riding this way reduces wind resistance and saves as much as 15% in energy output. A small group of riders in a paceline will go faster with less effort than riding individually.

Riding in a group also means that each rider must communicate clearly with the group. The leader must tell the riders behind him or her when he or she is slowing down by shouting, “Slowing” before applying his or her brakes. The rider behind repeats the warning so that everyone knows what is about to happen. This is done to prevent any rider from touching the slowing rear wheel of the rider in from of him or her with his or her front wheel and causing a both riders to fall.

Paceline riders also warn one another about hazards such as potholes, gravel on the road, railroad tracks, and approaching automobiles. This is done to protect one another from harm and to preserve the integrity of the paceline.

As I reflected on my experience I realized riding in a paceline is a lot like discipleship. The journey of discipleship is best taken with others. It can be done alone, but not very well, and with great difficulty. This is why the congregation promises to surround each member with a community of love and forgiveness.

Christians who travel the journey of discipleship together listen to and watch out for each other. They warn one another about hazards and dangers along the way. They offer encouragement and watch over one another in love. Disciples share a common destination (the reign of God) and do all in their power to help one another get there. Riding in a paceline can teach us a lot about discipleship.

U2 - Evangelists of the Reign of God

2009-10-09T09:36:00.003-05:00

I experienced U2 live for the first time on Tuesday night (October 6) with my 15 year old son, Noah. We made the four hour drive from Nashville to Atlanta, arriving at the Georgia Dome about an hour before show time. We had floor tickets so we took up positions very near the outer catwalk of the immense “Space station” stage designed for the 360 Tour. There was a festive spirit in the crowd. Some of which was fueled by the ubiquitous beer vendors.

U2 took the stage after an impressive set by their opening band, the British trio, Muse. Larry Mullen, Jr. walked onto the stage, took his seat behind his drum kit and began to play a driving solo. He was soon joined by Adam Clayton’s bass and the Edge on guitar. Last on the stage was Bono. He walked to his microphone like a boxer ready for a fight. As soon as he grabbed the mike the band broke into an impressive performance of “Breath” from their latest record, “No Line on the Horizon.” This was followed by “Get On Your Boots” and the classics “Mysterious Ways,” “Beautiful Day,” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Bono concluded “Beautiful Day” with a stanza of the Lennon & McCartney “Blackbird.”

The stage, which looks like a giant space ship, gives the band the ability to get close to the audience. It offers excellent sight lines and a catwalk that extends out into the audience. Several times during the show all the band members walked around the catwalk and interacted with their fans. Even Larry Mullen was liberated from the drum kit during the performance of a re-mix version of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” He walked around playing a handheld drum. I also noticed that the drum kit platform rotated to allow Mullen to occasionally see the fans behind him. Bono, of course, used the entire stage. He was everywhere; running, jumping, singing. At one point he pulled a woman out of the crowd and danced with her.

U2’s set list that covered most of their recording career. They closed the main set with Bono talking about the importance of non-violent resistance to oppression, acknowledging the people of Iran protesting a stolen election. The stage was enveloped in green light while images of the recent struggle in Iran were projected on the huge video display above the band as they played “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

Bono then acknowledged that Atlanta was the home town of one of the greatest leaders of non-violent resistance, The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. In honor of Dr. King, he sang MLK (from the “Unforgettable Fire” album). Finally, an appeal was made for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader who has been under house arrest for over five years. Bono sang “Walk On” while about 50 people walked onto the catwalk holding a mask of Aung San Suu Kyi in front of their faces. This marked the end of the main set.

Immediately before the band came onto the stage for the first encore, an image of Bishop Desmond Tutu’s smiling face appeared on the 360º video screen. He told us that we are all “One” in our common humanity. We are responsible for one another. Tutu joyfully told the crowd of the thousands of lives that have been saved in Africa with the advent of HIV/AIDS drugs and mosquito nets. Many of those children who are alive today will become doctors and scientists and leaders who will solve many of the world’s big problems. Tutu told us that anything is possible when we all work together as “One.” Then the band returned to the stage and played “One,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

U2 played two three-song encores. It was a great show. Noah and I had a wonderful time. It was worth all the effort to get there.

As I reflect upon what happened that night, as I look at the set list, and Bono’s appeals for non-violence and inviting his fans to participate in non-violent resistance of oppression, saving lives and helping to prevent disease, it dawned on me that we had been part of an evangelistic event. Certainly, on the surface the evening was a very good rock concert. But when you look below the surface through the words of the songs, the talk of non-violence and an invitation to participate in the work of saving lives, ending war, and resisting oppression I realized that U2 is a powerful evangelist for the reign of God.

U2’s songs tell stories about faith, doubt, hope, suffering and love. They sing about the world as it is and the world as it will be. At several points in the show Bono segued from one of his songs into a gospel song (I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me & Sunday Bloody Sunday - People Get Ready). Near the end of the show, following his performance of “One,” he sang the great gospel hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Many in the crowd joined him. The entire concert was a powerful presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ: the good news of the coming reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. It concluded with an invitation to participate in the work of preparing this planet for the coming reign of God.

Bono tells us that the kingdom of God is breaking out all around us. We can see it if we have eyes to see and hear it if we have ears to listen. It is in the Iranian people protesting a corrupt authoritarian government through non-violent demonstrations. It is in the gentle witness of Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Myanmar for the crime of winning an election. It is in the work of countless people distributing life-saving drugs to fight HIV/AIDS and mosquito nets preventing Malaria in Africa.

U2 is proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don’t sing love songs about Jesus. While it is clear in the words of many of the songs that Bono has a deeply personal and intimate relationship with Christ, he doesn’t sing about accepting Jesus as a personal savior. On the contrary, his songs are more genuine evangelism because they tell stories that emerge from the gospel Jesus himself preached and lived, the reign of God. The relationship with Jesus comes when people respond to the good news and participate in the way of Jesus, which is the way of self-giving love. People will meet Jesus when they open themselves to their neighbor, especially the neighbor who is poor or sick or oppressed or mourning.

Jesus was the evangelist of the kingdom of God. The kingdom broke out everywhere he went: people were healed, sight was restored, the oppressed were set free, and the dead were raised. Jesus’ life is love incarnate; loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. This love is the good news at the heart of U2’s music and their live performances. It is the character of God and of God’s kingdom.

If evangelism is proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that it is good news to those who hear it, and inviting people to participate in Christ work of preparing this planet for the coming reign of God, then U2 is an evangelist.

U2 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA
October 6, 2009

Main Set:
Breathe
Get On Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day - Blackbird
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me
Stuck In A Moment
No Line On The Horizon
Magnificent
Elevation
Until the End of the World
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday - People Get Ready
MLK
Walk On

Encore(s):
One
Amazing Grace
Where the Streets Have No Name
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Join the John 10:10 Challenge

2009-08-11T09:33:00.004-05:00

As Christians and as United Methodists we have a moral obligation to be involved in the struggle for universal health care for the people of the United States. This is a way for the UMC to show its true Wesleyan spirit. John Wesley believed that God is concerned for the souls and the bodies of all people. Salvation is for the whole person. Sanctification is a process of spiritual and physical healing restoring each person, society, and creation to wholeness; to become fully the people and world that God created us to be.

To that end Wesley published his Primitive Physic to provide the poor with simple, home remedies for common ailments. He also established free medical clinics for the poor. Wesley believed that all people should have access to health care. Health care ought not be a commodity that is bought and sold, available only to those who have the ability to pay.

I invite you to join the John 10:10 challenge. Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Let's bring good news to the poor who are uninsured and under-insured.

Teaching the Quadrilateral

2009-07-21T14:21:00.001-05:00

If you are a member of The United Methodist Church you have probably heard of the Quadrilateral. It is some times called “John Wesley’s Quadrilateral,” despite the fact that John Wesley never used the word. The more accurate adjective to use is “Wesleyan.” This strange word is shorthand for the four ingredients used by people in The United Methodist Church when we study, teach, discuss, argue about, and interpret God and God’s action and involvement in the world, the church, and in our individual lives. The Wesleyan quadrilateral contains the four ingredients of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. All four of the ingredients are essential. God reveals God’s self to us through each one. And each contributes to our understanding and experience of who God is and how God has acted in the past is acting now and will act in the future. Understanding and teaching the quadrilateral is important because it is gives us a proven way of exploring, growing in, and living our faith in Jesus Christ. It is also a characteristic that distinguishes The United Methodist Church from other Christian denominations.

In this article we will explore what the Wesleyan quadrilateral is, why it is important, and how to understand and use it in your teaching. My goal here is to equip you to interpret and teach this important part of the Wesleyan/United Methodist tradition to the children of your congregation.

What is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral?

Theological reflection is one of the church’s most important tasks. When I use the word “church” I am not referring to an abstract institution. Rather, I am referring to the gathered community of people who have been baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” If you look closely at the Baptismal Covenant in The United Methodist Hymnal (pages 33-39) you will see the church described as “Christ’s body”, “the family of Christ”, and “the household of God.” These terms are used deliberately so that all who hear them understand who the church is; that it is a “community of love and forgiveness.” They also reveal that the God who became one of us in Jesus Christ is the source of the love and forgiveness given and received. All this is to say that the church is not an “it”, it is “us”, you and me together with Christ. Church is not something we do on Sunday morning. Church is the community of the baptized dispersed in the world every day of the week. The church comes together to worship, learning, and fellowship on Sunday. At the close of worship Christ sends his brothers and sisters (Romans 8:12-17) into the world as people who are forgiven, loved, and free. In worship we are fed on his word in prayer, hymns, Scripture, and sermon. He invites us to his table where sins are forgiven and he gives himself to all who will receive him in the bread and cup. Christ then blesses and sends his sisters and brothers, the church, into the world to be his witnesses and channels of his grace for a hurting and broken world. Theological reflection helps the people of the church understand more clearly who and whose they are.

The Wesleyan quadrilateral provides a method for doing theology. It is a way of exploring God, ourselves, and our relationship with God. Let’s stop briefly here to dispel any anxiety you may have about “doing theology.” Many Christians are suspicious of theology. Many more are intimidated by it, believing that only the “professionals” are qualified to “do theology.” Of course, the “professionals” are the clergy and seminary and college professors. If this article does one thing for you, I hope it helps you realize that whenever you talk about, teach, and write about God you are doing theology. In God’s reality, all of God’s people are theologians. Theology and doing theology is the work of the whole people of God. It is not, and was never intended to be, the preserve of the “professionals.” The Wesleyan quadrilateral is the method given to the people called Methodists to help us to do theology.

It’s also important to understand that doing theology in the Wesleyan theology is not an exercise in naval gazing. It is not to do theology for theology’s sake. The purpose and goal of doing theology is to lead people and the church toward holiness of heart and life. In other words, theological reflection is one of the means through which individuals and the baptized community grow in loving God, loving neighbors, and loving one another as Christ loves us. Love is the guiding principle and goal.

The emphasis on love means that there is no doctrinal test that people must pass before they are admitted as members of The United Methodist Church. We see this in the fact that we do not have a catechism or doctrinal confession that guards the entrance of the church. “There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admission into these societies: ‘a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins.’… Such a society is no other than a ‘company of men [and women] having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other work out their salvation’” (The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2004, ¶ 103, page 72). Granted the language here sounds strange to our 21st century ears. It means all that was required to become a Methodist was a desire for faith in God and a willingness to live that faith out in their daily lives. The Methodists historically have been Christians who sought to know and love God through loving those whom God loves as God loves them. They were, and are, more concerned with how people live than with what they believe. For the Methodists, the purpose of doing theology together is to grow in knowledge and love. A Scripture text that John Wesley often quoted to summarize the Methodist approach to theology is Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus … the only thing that counts is faith working through love.”

The quadrilateral, therefore, is an expression of this uniquely Methodist approach to Christian faith and life. We take doctrine seriously but we do not allow it to determine who is in and who is out. We leave that up to God and God’s grace given freely to the world in Jesus Christ. While other denominations are confessional (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed). This means that members of each of these traditions must learn a catechism which is a summary of belief and doctrine in question and answer form. The United Methodist Church is not a confessional church. It does not require its members to memorize a catechism. In its place The United Methodist Church has doctrinal standards. These are contained in a collection of documents that include the Articles of Religion of The Methodist Church, The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, John Wesley’s Standard Sermons, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, and The General Rules of The Methodist Church. You will find these listed in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2004, ¶ 103, pages 59-74. We see here that, historically, becoming a Methodist emphasizes both belief and behavior, faith and life. This balance is one of the distinctives of the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition.

The sources for United Methodist theological reflection are Scripture, the Works of John Wesley (sermons, writings, journal, and letters) the Hymnal, the Book of Worship, and the Book of Discipline. It is important to notice one of the sources for our theological life together is the Works of John Wesley. His sermons, writings, journal, and letters emerged from his pastoral ministry. Wesley was not a “systematic” theologian. He was a practical, pastoral theologian. His writings and preaching reflect the depth and breadth of his reading and study. But he applied all his learning toward interpreting the gospel of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in light of the needs and experiences of real people’s lives. Wesley engaged the culture and reached out to all in a language they could understand and to which they could respond. The sources for United Methodist doctrinal standards and theological reflection reveal an emphasis holiness and an emphasis on balance between faith and life. In other words, United Methodist/Wesleyan theology all boils down to knowing and experiencing the love of God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength and living out that love by loving the neighbors as ourselves.

Ingredients of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral?

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is composed of the ingredients of theological reflection, teaching, and practice: Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. The goal of doing theology in the Wesleyan spirit is “holiness of heart and life.” This means that our thinking, studying, talking, and writing about God are all directed toward finding ways to grow in our love of God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to live out that love of God through loving our neighbors as ourselves. A life guided by and filled with the unconditional, self-giving love of God is the “outcome” we desire. The ingredients of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience work together toward helping the church live out its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ who seek to grow in holiness of heart and life.

This desired outcome of “holiness of heart and life” leads us to understand that the Wesleyan quadrilateral is a lot like the recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits. If you mix together the proper amounts of flour, baking powder, salt, shortening, and milk, divide the mixture into smaller bits on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 450° F for 12-15 minutes and you will end up with good tasting, nourishing biscuits.

When I was given the assignment to write an article to help Sunday School teachers understand and teach the quadrilateral with children, I was stumped. After all, the quadrilateral is not the most exciting or interesting topic to try to teach to children; or to adults. When I told my wife about my problem, she thought for a minute and told me “That’ll be easy. Tell them using the quadrilateral is like making baking powder biscuits.” After thinking about her idea I realized she was right. Using the quadrilateral is like making baking powder biscuits.

The first thing you realize when you study the recipe for baking powder biscuits is that it calls for differing quantities of each ingredient:

Baking Powder Biscuits
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup shortening
¾ cup milk

Flour is the primary ingredient. It provides the bulk and nutrients of the biscuits. All the other ingredients serve to hold the flour together and, when it is baked, make it pleasant to taste and smell. The shortening and milk bind the flour together. They also add protein and fat that contribute to flavor, texture, and nutrition. The baking powder give life to the biscuits by making them fluffy and light. If we forget to add this important ingredient we end up with little bricks that might make good hockey pucks but certainly do not make for good eating. The little bit of salt works with the baking powder to make the biscuits fluffy. It also enhances the flavor provided by the shortening, milk and flour. If we forget the salt, we end up with biscuits that are bland and tasteless. All the ingredients, when added in the proper proportions, work together to create good food that nourishes the body.

Now that we know how to make delicious baking powder biscuits, we can understand the Wesleyan quadrilateral and teach it to our children. The Quadrilateral has four ingredients that (Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience), when used together in proper proportion, helps Christians to understand and grow in their love of God, neighbors, and one another. It helps us recognize how God is working in the world, in the church, and in our individual lives.

A common mistake is to see the quadrilateral as a four-legged stool or table; each leg being equal and bearing the same weight. This is not an accurate way of looking at the quadrilateral because, while all of them are important and essential, the four ingredients are not equal in weight. This is why the metaphor of making biscuits gives us a more accurate way of understanding and interpreting the nature and function of the Wesleyan quadrilateral. Scripture is like the flour, Tradition is like the milk and shortening, Reason is like the baking powder, and Experience is like the salt.

Scripture is like Flour

Scripture is the primary source for Christian theology. It is where God reveals God’s self to the world. Scripture contains the witness of God’s work and relationship with the world through the Hebrew people, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the witness of the apostles and the early church. The Bible contains God’s word of love, freedom, healing, compassion, justice and hope for a world that is hurting and oppressed by the powers of sin and death. It is God’s story of love and justice for the world into which God invites us to find our story, where it intersects with God and God’s project of forgiveness, healing, and liberation.

Scripture is like the flour in the biscuit recipe because, as flour provides the “stuff” of the biscuits, the Bible provides the foundation for understanding Christian faith and life. Christian theology begins and ends with and within the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. This is what John Wesley meant when he proclaimed himself to be a “man of one book.” He did not mean that Scripture was the only source that leads us to God and exploring God’s mystery, presence, and power. Wesley read widely in his exploration of God, from his contemporaries in the Church of England and other traditions such as the Quakers and Moravians. He also studied the writings of the early fathers and mothers of the early church, including the Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) and Eastern (Greek Orthodox) traditions. All of which began and ended with Scripture. It is the foundation for understanding and interpreting Christian faith and life.

Tradition is like Milk & Shortening

Tradition helps us to read and understand Scripture. Through it we are connected to those who have gone before; who have read, struggled with, and prayed Scripture. Tradition is the living witness of the good news of God given to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through the witness of the vast tradition of the one holy universal church of Jesus Christ we can know who and whose we are: children of God by adoption through the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:12-17). The tradition also teaches that the church is the living, breathing, witnessing body of Christ in the world. The baptized are members of this body each given a unique gift that contributes to the body’s life and mission of being a sign community for the kingdom of God. The church is not the kingdom but the world should get a glimpse of what it is like when it encounters the church. Tradition brings the witness of Scripture to life and makes it visible as a living, breathing presence and witness in the world.

The primary sources for learning and participating in Wesleyan Christian tradition are The United Methodist Hymnal and Book of Worship. The tradition of the church is contained in its liturgies, prayers, hymns, creeds, and affirmations of faith. These provide the context for people to encounter God and to make themselves available to the transforming, liberating, healing power of grace in sacraments, worship and prayer. Tradition brings us into God’s presence and sends us into the world to walk and serve with Christ in his work of bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, opening the eyes of the blind, let the oppressed go free (Luke 4:18).

Other important sources for engaging tradition are John Wesley’s standard sermons, his notes on the New Testament, and The Book of Discipline. All of these are, to some degree, interpreting Scripture and helping us to apply its message to life today. Wesley is a helpful guide for us today because in him we have a masterful synthesis of both the Western (Catholic and Protestant) and Eastern (Orthodox) traditions. His interpretation of the gospel was informed by a wide variety of sources from both major expressions of the Church. In the Book of Discipline we have the historic expressions of The Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren traditions (Articles of Religion, Confession of Faith, and the General Rules). These provide a summary of Christian faith and life for the church. The Book of Discipline also contains the polity, or structure and discipline around which the life of The United Methodist Church is organized. This is an interpretation of what the Scripture has to say about ordering the life of the church for mission and ministry. Its purpose is to help the church to live out its Scriptural mandate to make disciples of Jesus Christ, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that (Christ) commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20a).

Tradition is like the milk and shortening because it is the living expression of Scripture. It helps us read, struggle with, and live the promises, commands, and hope contained in Scripture.

Reason is like the Baking Powder

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind” (Matthew 22:37). God sheds light on God’s word through the gift of reason. God gives us the freedom to question, think, and teach in order to watch over one another in love. As the baking powder makes the biscuits light and fluffy, reason allows the light of God to illuminate and animate Christian faith and life. Reason opens our minds to interpret and understand God’s word in Scripture and through tradition. Reason helps us to perceive and recognize God’s presence at work in the world and in human lives. Most importantly, it helps us to be aware of God’s majesty and mystery. In other words, reason equips us to know how much we don’t know which leads to humility.

Finally, reason helps to prevent us from making Scripture an idol and tradition into traditionalism. Reason, tempered with humility, helps us to relate to Scripture and tradition as means of grace, as places where God promises to meet us in order to form our character more and more into the character of Christ. It helps to prevent us from making them into the end of and sources of faith and life in Christ. In other words, reason, with humility, helps us to make sure we are worshipping and serving the living God and not Scripture and tradition.

Experience is like the Salt

The little bit of salt in the biscuit recipe is there to do two things. It reacts with the baking powder to help the biscuits to rise, to give them a light and fluffy texture. And it enhances the flavor provided by the flour, milk, and shortening. The salt doesn’t create the flavor; it brings it out and magnifies it. That is what experience does for Christian faith and life.

Experience is our real-life encounter of God-with-us in our ordinary, every-day life. These encounters with the divine bring us to, and keep us with God. They inform our thinking and understanding of who God is and how God works in the world (reason) and breathes life into our reading of Scripture and living out of the tradition. Experience is the Holy Spirit’s work in, with, and through us that gives life and meaning to the good news of God for the world in Jesus Christ. Experience allows the Holy Spirit to work in us to make faith vital and life-giving. It forms us into channels of God’s grace for the world. We become living witnesses for Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Experience is like salt because it adds flavor to Scripture, tradition, and reason and makes them taste good. “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).

Conclusion

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral gives us a rich and vital way for seeking truth, knowing, loving, and serving God, and for making disciples of Jesus Christ who have the form and the power of godliness. The four ingredients (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience) work together to help Christians grow in holiness of heart and life. However, it’s important for us to understand how the four ingredients work together. This is why comparing the quadrilateral to making biscuits works well. All the ingredients (flour, milk, shortening, baking powder, and salt) work together to create something that is good to eat. However, it is only good to eat if each ingredient is used in proper quantities.

This is to say that the quadrilateral is not equilateral. Each ingredient is essential and plays a vital role. But the desired outcome (holiness of heart and life) is only possible when the components are used and combined in correct proportion and relationship to one another.

Church experts liken emergent movement to early Methodism

2009-06-12T09:45:00.002-05:00

Here's an excellent article from the United Methodist Portal that features two of my good friends, Dr. Paul Chilcote and Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards. They discuss the similarity between the contemporary "emergent" missional church movement with the early Methodist movement that developed in Britain and America: Reminiscent of our roots: Church experts liken emergent movement to early Methodism

Remembering

2009-05-25T12:34:00.004-05:00

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

I’ll begin by saying "Thank you" to all whom we remember and honor today.

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who fought and died for their country. They fought and died for what their country stands for--freedom and justice for all people. They answered the call to service. Their answer to that call was witness to their commitment to a noble cause. In service to that call, they sacrificed their lives. They are part of the great cloud of witnesses we honor and remember today.

Remembering, or remembrance, in the Bible is what forms identity and determines conduct of the people of Israel and the early church. When the people of Israel remembered how they were freed from slavery in Egypt and the God who gave them their freedom, they remembered who they were and whose they were. They remembered God is a God who loves righteousness and justice. When they remembered, they knew God expected them to treat one another and the stranger with righteousness and justice, kindness and mercy.

The early church was built on remembering Jesus Christ--his life, death and resurrection. Every Sunday was (and is) a memorial day in which all that God has done for the church and the world in Jesus Christ is remembered. This remembering is how God reminds us who we are and whose we are. Our remembrance causes us to witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In like manner, when we remember our fallen brothers and sisters, we remember who we are and whose we are. We honor their memory when we honor the cause for which they fought and died--the principles upon which our country was founded, namely freedom and justice for all people. We honor their memory when we work for justice and peace in the world; when we become a non-violent and peaceful people who lives justly with kindness and mercy for all.

We honor their memory when live in such a way that violence and war will be prevented and eventually abolished from the face of the earth. We have a responsibility to our fallen brothers and sisters, a responsibility that calls us to be good stewards of the freedom we enjoy and often take for granted. One of the responsibilities of freedom is to love justice by seeing to it that all people are treated justly. To work for justice and honor their memory is to be advocates for peace and non-violence.

In May 1995 I was in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend for a meeting. Because I had been asked to give the address for the annual Memorial Day ceremonies in the small town I was living in at the time, I visited the Vietnam Memorial. While there I had the good fortune to stumble upon the Memorial Day Writers Festival. It is an annual gathering of veterans who share stories and poetry with one another and the public. I visited several tents and listened in on many stories and poems. I walked over to a Marine who had just finished reading some of his poetry. I introduced myself to him and thanked him for his words and his witness and his courage. Then I asked him if he could give me any advice about what I could say to the people of my small Minnesota town on Memorial Day. He told me the one thing that should be said :

“The greatest honor and witness and memorial we can give to our fallen brothers and sisters would be to live our lives in such a way that war will never again be an option for nations to resolve their conflicts. The greatest honor we can give to their memory would be to give our children a world in which justice and peace are honored and war is no more; the greatest memorial we can build is a world in which young men and women will never again have to suffer and die on battlefields.”

That is the word I want to leave you with this morning. Let us be a people who love justice and make peace for our children and grandchildren.

Collect for John & Charles Wesley

2009-05-24T08:49:00.002-05:00

Lord God, you inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

"The Church's First Mission"

2009-05-20T13:40:00.002-05:00

Andrew Thompson has written another excellent column for the United Methodist Portal titled, "The Church's First Mission." Read it here.

8 Ways to Easily be Missional

2009-05-11T14:29:00.002-05:00

Today I stumbled across Jonathan Dodson's blog, Church Planting Novice. The title of the blog is a how he describes himself and his current vocation. Dodson is involved in planting a congregation in Austin, TX with a group of "imperfect Christians." I wish him well.

He says in an April post that "Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prepared to give a defense for your hope”. We can be missional in everyday ways without even overloading our schedules." He then gives 8 practical ways to live a missional life:

8 Ways to Easily be Missional

Bishop Willimon on theological education and pastoral leadership

2009-05-10T22:02:00.002-05:00

Bishop Will Willimon is usually a provocative and thoughtful writer and speaker. He has posted an important article on his blog. "Between Two Worlds" is an extended reflection on the challenge faced by seminary graduates as they try to make the shift from the world of the academy to the world of the church. In the first they learn and talk and write about the church as it ought to be. In the second they are confronted with the church as it is. Of course, the two are irreconcilably different.

I particularly appreciate this comment on the disconnect between the academy and church with regard to Biblical studies:

"I recently heard Marcus Borg of the errant “Jesus Seminar” chide us pastors for protecting our congregations from the glorious fruits of “contemporary biblical scholarship.” There’s a brave new world of insight through the historical-critical study of Scripture! Don’t hold back from giving the people in the pew the real truth about Jesus as it has been uncovered by contemporary biblical scholarship and faithfully delivered to you in seminary biblical courses. He implied that even the laity, in their intellectual limitations, can take the truth about Jesus as revealed by Professor Borg and his academic friends.

"Yet it seemed not to occur to professor Borg that contemporary biblical scholarship, because it is asking the wrong questions of the biblical texts, and even more because it is subservient to a community that is at odds with communities of faith, may simply be irrelevant both to the church and to the intent of the church’s Scripture. Sometimes the dissonance between the church and the academy is due, not to the benighted nature of the church, but rather to the limited thought that reigns in the academy.

"It took me a long time to learn this. As I said, I remember experiencing that dissonance in my first days in my first church in rural Georgia. I was the freshly minted product of Yale Divinity School now forlorn and forsaken in a poor little parish in rural Georgia. My first surprise was how difficult it was to communicate. If was as if I were speaking a different language. As I preached, my congregation impassively looked at me across a seemingly unbridgeable gulf."

A Jazz Theologian and the Methodist Review

2009-05-05T09:19:00.003-05:00

I found two excellent resources for theological reflection on mission and evangelism this week. The first is Robert Gelinas' blog, Reflections of a Jazz Theologian. According to information on his blog, Rev. Gelinas is lead pastor (and resident Jazz theologian) of Colorado Community Church in the Denver area. He is also the author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz Shaped Faith.

I appreciate his use of the metaphor of Jazz as a way of understanding Christian faith, discipleship and mission.

The other exciting resource is a new web site and online journal started by Ted Campbell, Rex Matthews, Henk Pieterse and others. It is called Methodist Review: A Journal of Methodist and Wesleyan Studies. The first issue was "published" late last week. It's free! If you are interested in scholarly investigation of the what it means to be Wesleyan, check it out.

"The Spirit and Discipline Make a Christian"

2009-04-21T10:25:00.001-05:00

The following is the introduction to the presentation I'll give at the Wesleyan Institute this week. The Institute will be held at Faith Community UMC in Xenia, OH. My presentation will the the third of three plenary sessions on Friday. Paul Chilcote, Daniel Flores and I will provide some reflection on the meaning of the famous quote from John Wesley's "Thoughts Upon Methodism": "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out."

Paul will speak on the meaning and role of doctrine in disciple-making, Daniel will address the spirit of Methodism and the work of the Holy Spirit, and I will give a presentation on the nature and role of discipline in the United Methodist way.

Here's the introduction to my remarks:

“Members of the household of God,

I commend these persons to your love and care.

Do all in your power to increase their faith,

confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.”1

John Wesley knew Christians, the people we call today disciples of Jesus Christ, are not born. They are made. Making disciples requires generous doses of grace and discipline. Wesley says in a couple of his sermons, “It was a common saying among the Christians in the primitive church, 'The soul and the body make a man; the spirit and discipline make a Christian'—implying that none could be real Christians without the help of Christian discipline.”2

Today God continues to provide an ample supply of grace and the Holy Spirit. The church has, however, been somewhat lacking in providing the discipline needed to open sin-damaged hearts to the healing, reconciling power of that grace. The result has been a church that is in decline in numbers and in mission.

Methodists have historically been people whose lives are guided by three books: The Bible, The Hymnal, and The Discipline. The Bible is the word of God containing all that is needed for salvation and life in the reign of God. The Hymnal contains tradition that has been handed down and lived by faithful disciples since the time of the Apostles. The Book of Discipline provides the guidance for living the life laid down in Scripture and tradition. It has been developed and changed over the years. The changes have been shaped by the church’s experience as it seeks to be a faithful witness to Jesus Christ and his coming reign on earth as it is in heaven.

Today the Bible continues to be primary as a source of faith and practice. The Hymnal is receding in importance and influence as more and more congregations turn to projection screens, praise music, and other sources for worship. The Discipline has become equated with church bureaucracy. It is the last place most people look for guidance for living as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world.

All this is to say that discipline is not generally associated with discipleship today. Today discipline is often more closely associated with polity and punishment. If you ask a typical member of a United Methodist congregation about what comes into their mind when they hear the word “discipline,” I suspect he or she may say something about the Book of Discipline. Or he or she may recount some memory of punishment for some childhood misbehavior. Neither of these likely bring to mind fond thoughts or memories. It’s fair to say that discipline has an image problem.

It’s also fair to say that if The United Methodist Church is going to take seriously its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, then we must wrestle with the need for discipline. I say this because we know from Scripture and tradition that disciples cannot be made apart from discipline. This is why John Wesley wrote the lines at the beginning of his tract, “Thoughts Upon Methodism” we have heard today:

“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”

What does Wesley mean by “discipline”? To get at this we need to understand that for Wesley discipline is closely related to doctrine and the spirit of Methodism. For him, as you have heard from Paul and Dan today, discipline is the practical application of the doctrine and spirit of the Church and of Methodism. Wesley believed that doctrine is meant to be lived. This means that for the Methodists being a Christian meant much more than simply believing or giving assent to the creeds and the Articles of Religion. Christianity is both a religion and a relationship with the living God. It is a system of belief and a way of life. Wesley believed you can’t have the one without the other.

Discipline, therefore, is how you hold the two together. Charles Wesley puts it this way:

Unite the pair so long disjoined,

Knowledge and vital piety:

Learning and holiness combined,

And truth and love, let all men see

In those whom up to thee we give,

Thine, wholly thine, to die and live.3

Knowledge is gained through the study of doctrine. Vital piety is seeking after God and striving toward holiness guided by the spirit. Without discipline the two tend to go their separate ways.

Some pursue knowledge about God. But without piety they end up know about God without actually knowing God. They turn God and faith in to objects of study. This is a way of treating God like a thing and keeping God at a distance that can be managed and controlled.

Others pursue intimacy with God. These are the folks who, in Wesley’s time, were known as “enthusiasts.” Today we call them “religious fanatics.” They emphasize emotion and feelings and are suspicious of scholarship.

Both claim to “know” God. But the God they “know” is a God of their own creation. Those who emphasize learning tend to turn God into a distant character of history who has very little to do with the world as we know it. Those who emphasize holiness tend to see God as their good buddy who is intimately involved in their lives and the world. Both have glimpses of who God really is, but because they lack discipline and tend to act according to their own temperament and prejudices, this God is of their own creation. Because they do not practice the discipline of holding learning and holiness together, they cannot know the fullness of God revealed in Scripture, tradition, and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[1] The United Methodist Hymnal, in “The Baptismal Covenant,” §16.

[2] Sermon 122: Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity, § 7

[3] A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists, #461:5, The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley. Vol. 7:644.

50 Ways to Love Your Neighbor

2009-04-17T10:53:00.002-05:00

Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you rsoul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31).

Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove have developed an excellent list of 50 ways you can love your neighbor. Check it out here: Fifty Ways to Love Your Neighbor

Wednesday in Holy Week

2009-04-15T09:23:00.002-05:00

This hymn is #13 in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for Our Lord’s Resurrection published in 1746.

Break forth into praise!

Our surety and head,

His members to raise,

Hath rose from the dead:

The power of his Spirit

Hath quickened our Lord,

That we by his merit

May all be restored.

Our Captain and King

With shouts we proclaim,

And joyfully sing

The wonderful name;

The Name all-victorious

We publish, and feel,

Triumphantly glorious

O’er Sin, earth, and hell.

The Power of his rise

We know and declare,

And rapt to the skies,

His happiness share;

In heavenly places

With Jesus we sit,

And Jesus’ praises

With angels repeat.

We sing of his Love

While sojourning here,

Till Christ from above

Our Savior appear;

The heirs of salvation

With triumph receive,

In full consummation

Of Glory to live.

Collect for Wednesday in Easter Week

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Re: Are There Wesleyan Basics Worth Reclaiming

2009-04-14T15:01:00.002-05:00

Kevin Watson has an excellent post in response to John Meunier's excellent post. Check it out: Deeply Committed

Tuesday in Easter Week

2009-04-14T08:36:00.002-05:00

This hymn is #11 in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for Our Lord’s Resurrection published in 1746.

Come ye that seek the Lord,
Him that was crucified,
Come listen to the gospel-word,
And feel it now applied:
To every soul of man
The joyful news we show,
Jesus for every sinner slain,
Is risen again for you.

The Lord is risen indeed,
And did for us appear,
He hath been seen, our living Head,
By many a Peter here:
We, who so oft denied
Our Master and our God,
Have thrust our hand into his side,
And felt the streaming blood.

Raised from the dead we are
The members with their Lord,
And boldly in his name declare
The soul-reviving Word;
Salvation we proclaim
Which every soul may find,
Pardon and peace in Jesus’ name,
And life for all mankind.

O might they all receive
The bleeding Prince of Peace!
Sinners, the glad report believe
Of Jesus’ witnesses:
He lives, who spilt his blood;
Believe our record true,
The arm, the power, the Son of God
Shall be revealed in you.

Collect for Tuesday in Easter Week:

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

A Wesley Hymn for the First Week of Easter

2009-04-13T09:38:00.003-05:00

This hymn is #7 in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for Our Lord’s Resurrection published in 1746.

Jesus, show us thy salvation,

(In thy strength we strive with thee)

By thy mystic incarnation,

By thy pure nativity,

Save us thou, our new-creator,

Into all our souls impart,

Thy divine un-sinning nature,

Form thyself within our heart.

By thy first blood-shedding heal us;

Cut us off from every sin,

By thy circumcision seal us,

Write thy law of love within;

By thy Spirit circumcise us,

Kindle in our hearts a flame;

By thy baptism baptize us

Into all thy glorious Name.

By thy fasting and temptation

Mortify our vain desires,

Take away what sense, or passion,

Appetite, or flesh requires;

Arm us with thy self-denial,

Every tempted soul defend,

Save us in the fiery trial,

Make us faithful to the end.

By thy sorer sufferings save us,

Save us when conformed to thee,

By thy miseries relieve us,

By thy painful agony;

When beneath thy frown we languish,

When we feel thine auger’s weight,

Save us by thine unknown anguish,

Save us by thy bloody seat.

By that highest point of passion,

By thy sufferings on the tree,

Save us from the indignation

Due to all mankind, and me

Hanging, bleeding, panting, dying,

Gasping out thy latest breath,

By thy precious death’s applying

Save us from eternal death.

From the world of care release us,

By thy decent burial save us,

Crucified with thee, O Jesus,

Hide us in thy quiet grave:

By thy power divinely glorious,

By thy resurrection’s power

Raise us up, o’er sin victorious,

Raise us up to fall no more.

By the pomp of thine ascending,

Live we here to heaven restored,

Live in pleasures never ending,

Share the portion of our Lord:

Let us have our conversation

With the blessed Spirits above,

Saved with all thy great salvation,

Perfectly renewed in Love.

Glorious Head, triumphant Savior,

High enthroned above all height,

We have now thro’ thee found favor,

Righteous in thy Father’s sight:

Hears he not thy prayer unceasing?

Can he turn away thy face?

Send us down the purchased blessing,

Fullness of the gospel-grace.

By the coming of thy Spirit

As a mighty rushing Wind,

Save us into all thy merit,

Into all thy sinless mind;

Let the perfect gift be given,

Let thy will in us be seen,

Done on Earth as ‘tis in Heaven:

Lord, thy Spirit cries Amen!

(Meter: 87.87 D, Tunes: austria, beach spring, hyfrydol)

Collect for Monday in Easter Week (BCP)

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

N.T. Wright: "The Church Must Stop Trivialising Easter"

2009-04-13T08:43:00.003-05:00

Here's an excellent essay by one of my favorite writers, Bishop N. T. Wright:

The Church Must Stop Trivialising Easter

"It is finished." (John 19:30a)

2009-04-10T16:25:00.002-05:00

Tonight Blakemore UMC will observe Good Friday with a worship service featuring the Seven Last Words of Jesus. Each of seven people will give a 5-7 minute homily on one of the words. I'll be speaking on the sixth word, "It is finished." It's challenging to speak about this verse in only seven minutes. It feels like I'm not finished. I suppose my message won't be finished until I acually preach tonight. Here is what I'm going to say:

“It Is Finished.”
John 19:30a

What does “it” mean? Is “it” Jesus’ life? Certainly these words from his lips mark the end of his life. But is his life finished? Well, because we read these words from a post-resurrection perspective, we know that his death on the cross is not the end of his life. His life is certainly far from finished. He is very much alive and well and active in this world. No. Jesus’ life is not finished.
Is “it” Jesus’ suffering? Certainly these words mark the end of his suffering on the cross. His death was real. His body and all of its systems ceased to function. His heart stopped beating. His breathing stopped. His brain shut down. The incredible pain he suffered on the cross was finished. But because the risen Jesus is very much alive, his suffering continues. He suffers with and for the world that he loves that is broken and inflicted by injustice, violence, disease, hunger, and greed. No. Jesus’ suffering is not finished.
Is “it” Jesus’ unjust death sentence? Certainly Jesus’ sentence was dutifully executed by the Roman soldiers, with the cooperation of the religious authorities. But as long as religious and government authorities believe it is right and just to take life, to kill in the name of God or of the state, Jesus’ death sentence is not finished.
Is “it” Jesus’ relationship with his disciples? Certainly on that terrible day his male disciples thought so. They all deserted him in his hour of greatest need. They fled and hid from the authorities they feared would do the same to them. The women were the disciples that stayed with Jesus to the end. They wept and prayed for him at the foot of they cross. They cared for his body and helped put it in the tomb. And they were the first witnesses to his resurrection. We know from the perspective of Easter that Jesus’ relationship with his disciples was not finished on the cross.
What does “it” mean? When Jesus said “It is finished” he told those present at Golgotha and us today that God’s work of salvation was accomplished. It is finished. There is nothing more to do.
Jesus’ proclamation from the cross of “It is finished” connected his work with God’s completing the work of creation described in Genesis 1:31-2:2

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

It’s important to understand that the Greek and Hebrew words translated in English as “finished” do not mean that creation and salvation are static or inactive. Rather they mean that creation and salvation are complete and dynamic processes that invite human participation. We also need to be reminded that both are accomplished by God alone. In other words we cannot create ourselves, nor can we save ourselves. Creation and salvation are God’s work and are pure gift.
The Apostle Paul describes salvation in Ephesians 2:8 where he writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” And in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Salvation is pure gift. All we need to do to get it is to accept it and then to live it. That’s what Paul means by “faith” and “in Christ:” Salvation is a new way of life, lived with Christ and participating with him in his working of preparing this world for the coming reign of God.
Before we can accept this gift of life as it was meant to be lived in the world that God is restoring to wholeness we need to die to the old life ruled by sin and death. Jesus described salvation life in Matthew 11:4-5, “… the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
“It is finished.” What are you going to do about it? I’ll close with these words from Charles Wesley. You can find them at #346 in the Hymnal:

Sinners, turn: why will you die?
God, your Maker, asks you why.
God, who did your being give,
Made you himself, that you might live;
He the fatal cause demands,
Asks the work of his own hands.
Why, you thankless creatures, why
Will you cross his love, and die?

It's Time to Correct Our Eschatology

2009-04-08T10:52:00.002-05:00

Here's an excellent piece from The United Methodist Portal:

Heavenly minded: It’s time to get our eschatology right, say scholars, authors

Reflections on the person of Jesus for Monday of Holy Week

2009-04-06T09:51:00.003-05:00

Jesus, thy far-extended fame
My drooping soul exults to hear;
Thy name, thy all-restoring name,
Is music in my sinner’s ear.

Sinners of old thou didst receive
With comfortable words and kind,
Their sorrows cheer, their wants relieve,
Heal the diseased, and cure the blind.

And art thou not the Savior still,
In every place and age the same?
Hast thou forgot thy gracious skill,
Or lost the virtue of thy name?

Faith in they changeless name I have;
The good, the kind physician, thou
Art able now our souls to save,
Art willing to restore them now.

Wouldst thou the body’s health restore,
And not regard the sin-sick soul?
The soul thou lovest yet the more,
And surely thou shalt make it whole.

My soul’s disease, my every sin,
To thee, O Jesus, I confess;
In pardon, Lord, my cure begin,
And perfect it in holiness.

-- Charles Wesley

… What is the righteousness of Christ? It is twofold, either his divine or his human righteousness.

1. His divine righteousness belongs to his divine nature, as he is 'He that existeth, over all, God, blessed for ever': the supreme, the eternal, 'equal with the Father as touching his godhead, though inferior to the Father as touching his manhood'. Now this is his eternal, essential, immutable holiness; his infinite justice, mercy, and truth: in all which 'he and the Father are one.'

But I do not apprehend that the divine righteousness of Christ is immediately concerned in the present question. I believe few, if any, do now contend for the imputation of this righteousness to us. Whoever believes the doctrine of imputation understands it chiefly, if not solely, of his human righteousness.

2. The human righteousness of Christ belongs to him in his human nature, as he is 'the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus'. This is either internal or external. His internal righteousness is the image of God stamped on every power and faculty of his soul. It is a copy of his divine righteousness, as far as it can be imparted to a human spirit. It is a transcript of the divine purity, the divine justice, mercy, and truth. It includes love, reverence, resignation to his Father; humility, meekness, gentleness; love to lost mankind, and every other holy and heavenly temper: and all these in the highest degree, without any defect, or mixture of unholiness.

3. It was the least part of his external righteousness that he did nothing amiss; that he knew no outward sin of any kind, 'neither was guile found in his mouth'; that he never spoke one improper word, nor did one improper action. Thus far it is only a negative righteousness, though such an one as never did nor ever can belong to anyone that is born of a woman, save himself alone. But even his outward righteousness was positive too. 'He did all things well.' In every word of his tongue, in every work of his hands, he did precisely the 'will of him that sent him'. In the whole course of his life he did the will of God on earth as the angels do it in heaven. All he acted and spoke was exactly right in every circumstance. The whole and every part of his obedience was complete. 'He fulfilled all righteousness.'

4. But his obedience implied more than all this. It implied not only doing, but suffering: suffering the whole will of God from the time he came into the world till 'he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree'; yea, till having made a full atonement for them 'he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.' This is usually termed the passive righteousness of Christ, the former, his active righteousness. But as the active and passive righteousness of Christ were never in fact separated from each other, so we never need separate them at all, either in speaking or even in thinking. And it is with regard to both these conjointly that Jesus is called, 'the Lord our righteousness'.

-- John Wesley, excerpt from Sermon 20: The Lord Our Righteousness (1765)

Adam Hamilton: The church offers ‘what’s desperately needed’

2009-04-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

Mainline Protestants are uniquely positioned to reinvigorate the American church by bringing together the evangelical and social gospels, the Rev. Adam Hamilton says in an interview with local television news anchor David Crabtree.

Adam Hamilton: The church offers ‘what’s desperately needed’

Practical Atheism

2009-04-03T08:42:00.003-05:00

Mark Galli, my favorite writer at Christianity Today, has written an interesting article about the new atheism. I think his analysis of the recent popularity of writers such as Hitchens and Dawkins is spot on. What's interesting about this article is Galli's assertion that the atheism that is a far greater threat to the Church is the practical atheism of many Christians:

Where to Find the Real Atheists

It’s Not What You Know; It’s Who You Know

2009-03-27T13:37:00.003-05:00

The core proclamation of the Wesleyan tradition is “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8a). One of John Wesley’s most important sermons, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” is an extended meditation on the meaning of this text and its implications for Christian discipleship.

A basic question this text raises is “What is faith?” Judging by what I hear from United Methodist pulpits and see in Sunday School and small group curriculum it seems that faith is equated with belief in God and the affirmations about God found in the historic creeds. The goal of much Christian education and worship is to give people good information about God, Jesus, the Bible, church history, tradition and theology. It assumes that a regular diet of information will result in believing. If simple affirmation of the information is faith then the people will be “saved.” If faith is simple belief in Christian affirmations then this approach to Christian education and worship is all we need to make faithful disciples of Jesus Christ; salvation, then, all about what you know.

When we reduce faith to affirmation of or assent to a set of beliefs and doctrines, it then becomes a private possession. It demands very little in the way of response. It becomes one more thing to posses and control.

Such “faith” is also the result of individual effort on the part of the believer. It is the result of work done by the believer for the believer’s own benefit, on the believer’s terms. Grace has very little to do with such “faith” because it is not a gift that has been received, it is an object that has been obtained through work and study. This means that salvation by faith becomes salvation through works. Believers then believe they have earned their salvation and place in God’s household. Grace has little to do with it.

Is that all there is to faith? Certainly learning and study are good and important to faith development. But they are secondary. Scripture and tradition clearly teach that salvation is not about what you know; it’s about who you know. This means that faith is, first and foremost, a relationship with the living God who became one of us in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Because it is a relationship with Jesus, faith is also a gift. It is grace. It is God’s work in, with, and for us to love God and to love those whom God loves. God is not an idea or a concept to be studied, discussed and dissected. God is a living person. God is personal. Therefore, faith is a relationship with the living God.

All this is to say that we need to take a close look at our philosophy of Christian education. We need to give more weight to teaching the practices required for participating in the divine-human relationship that is faith: prayer, worship, the Lord’s Supper, Scripture (reading, hearing, & studying), fasting, and Christian conference (mutual accountability and support for discipleship). Rather than focus on developing beliefs and opinions, focus on the whole person.

"Denomination in the Dock" by Andrew Thompson

2009-03-23T08:51:00.001-05:00

Must read in the MethoBlogosphere: Gen-X Rising

Very well said Andrew!

"How Deep the Well" by Dan Dick

2009-03-16T11:12:00.002-05:00

My friend and colleague, Dan Dick, has one of the best blogs in the "Methoblogosphere." Last week he posted a well researched and important article about how many UM clergy are pulled in so many directions that they become convinced they don't have time to practice the means of grace, such as daily prayer, Bible reading, and worship. You can read the post here: How Deep the Well

I've become a regular reader of Dan's blog. Check it our for yourself here: United Methodeviations

The United Methodist Way

2009-03-12T08:47:00.003-05:00

Here is a new free resource developed by GBOD to help congregations learn about the Wesleyan way of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It is a 20 minute flash presentation that is an adaptation of a document written by Dr. Randy Maddox and the Council of Bishops. The document may be downloaded here: The United Methodist Way.

Click here to view and listen to the flash presentation: The United Methodist Way

You can download the the flash presentation for use in your church here: The United Methodist Way Download page

I'm interested in your comments and reactions to this piece.

2 Churches, One Black and One White, Share One Block on Capitol Hill

2009-01-19T09:14:00.002-06:00

Here's an article that illustrates the current state of The United Methodist Church:

2 Churches, Black and White See Inaugural Hope

Reclaiming the Wesleyan Tradition

2009-01-10T15:56:00.003-06:00

I want to help Kevin Watson with his project to show how United Methodist bloggers can be an effective resource to GBOD and other agencies of the church to disseminate information to the church.

Here's the video produced to promote the excellent resource that in which Kevin was a contributor:

The Domestication of Christmas

2008-12-23T16:44:00.002-06:00

There is a problem with Christmas. The problem is that it has become domesticated. Its earth shattering, revolutionary character has been covered up by saccharine and Santa Claus. The Christmas stories found in Luke and Matthew have become so familiar that most people no longer hear what the gospel writers are saying. The meaning of the incarnation has been smothered by the sentimentality the church has laid over Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the angels and the infant Jesus.

To see how domesticated this celebration of the incarnation has become consider the following:

• The God of the universe, the creator of all that has been, all that is, and all that will be entered humankind through the flesh, blood and water of Mary’s womb. The fullness of God became a helpless baby.

• The fullness of God became a helpless baby born to a young Jewish girl betrothed to a simple carpenter living in a region known for insurrection. Mary gave birth to Jesus in the equivalent of a barn and laid the infant in a feed trough. Why did God choose Mary of Nazareth rather than a daughter of one of the priests or scribes in Jerusalem, or a member of the emperor’s family? God chose to enter into humankind as a child of the poor and humble.

• The birth was announced first to shepherds in the field. God chose to give the good news of the incarnation to poor laborers who made their living with their hands. Because they worked with animals, the shepherds were often treated as outcasts. Why did God not send the angels to the religious authorities so they would be the first to hear the good news? Why did God not send the angels to the Emperor or Governor of Judea?

• According to the Matthew, soon after Jesus’ birth King Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to murder all boys two years old and younger. Those boys were killed for the crime of being like Jesus. They were also killed because the incarnation was rightly perceived by the powers of the world to be a real threat to their order.

We see in these four points that the incarnation is God’s surprising, revolutionary entry into human history. It tells us that God acts in unexpected ways through unlikely, even disreputable, people. It also tells us that the powers and principalities of the world, represented by Herod, rightly see God’s action in and through Mary as a real threat to them and the status quo. The good news and meaning of the incarnation are beautifully expressed in the song of Mary:

“My soul magnifies the Lord.
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever”
(Luke 1:46b-55, NRSV).

Christmas is good news for the poor and all who are poor in spirit. It is not good news for the powerful and wealthy who seek to increase their power and wealth through violence and domination because the one whose birth we celebrate is the crucified and risen Lord who is coming again to set things right, just as Mary said he would.

Rick Warren is NOT a homophobe

2008-12-23T16:35:00.002-06:00

I’ll begin by saying that I’m not one of Rev. Rick Warren’s fans. However, over the past couple of years I will admit to becoming a grudging admirer of his. In particular, I greatly respect his work fighting HIV/AIDS and poverty. I learned a few months ago that he and his wife are “reverse tithers.” This means that they give 90% of their income to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS. They are able to do this because of the incredible wealth they receive from the sale of his book, The Purpose Driven Life. I am convinced that Warren is a man of deep faith, compassion, and integrity. He is genuinely living the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the best of his ability.

The recent controversy surrounding his accepting President-elect Obama’s invitation to deliver the invocation at his inauguration has not changed my opinion of Rick Warren. It has, however, caused me to rethink my opinion about some of the columnists and media personalities who have distorted his statements in order to create controversy. They have stated over and over again that Warren equated gay relationships with pederasty and incest. He did no such thing. What he did was to give a poorly worded response to an interview question that left the door open to anyone who wanted to believe that he was a homophobe. Warren has since released to the members of Saddleback Church an excellent clarification of his position.

The truth is that Warren objects to the redefinition of marriage. He does not object to gay couples living together as consenting, loving adults in committed partnership with one another. He just does not want the law or the church to call such relatonships marriage. Warren's is a valid, well-reasoned position that does not deserve the vitriol or distortion that have been thrown his way.

Prepare the Way of the Lord

2008-12-05T20:24:00.002-06:00

The texts for the second Sunday of Advent speak about preparing the way of the Lord. It’s quite clear in these texts (Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8) that the Lord we are to be prepared to greet is the one who was born in Bethlehem. It is equally clear that these texts are not about preparing for the birth of the Messiah. Rather, they are about the one who is coming to judge the living and the dead. The Scriptures for this Sunday are looking to the future when the crucified and risen Christ will come to usher in the new heavens and the new earth; the time when his prayer, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is realized in all fullness.

It seems to me that the Scriptures for this Sunday (December 7) admonish the church to be like John the Baptist. In other words, the mission of the church is to prepare the way of the Lord by preparing this planet for the coming reign of God. This means the church is to be a witness to God’s righteousness and justice by proclaiming and living the good news of Jesus Christ for the world described in Psalm 85:10-13

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

The Lord will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before him,

and will make a path for his steps.

Imagine what could happen if the churches spent the weeks of Advent in fasting, prayer, worship, and serving alongside the poor, the sick, prisoners, and victims of violence and war? What if we stopped abetting the culture’s rush toward Christmas and fasted from its consumerism, gluttony, and self-indulgence? What if the church acted like John and proclaimed the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins? What could happen if the church told the world about how the one who came as a baby born in a Bethlehem stable is the crucified and risen Lord who is coming to judge?

“But, in accordance with [God’s] promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of the Lord as salvation” (2Peter 3:13-15a).

Advent is not Christmas-lite

2008-11-25T11:19:00.000-06:00

Christmas is in the air. I’m sure you’ve heard it the last time you were in a store like Walmart or Target. The decorations are out and those old familiar songs and carols are being played over the store PA system, on the radio and in television commercials. It’s nearly Thanksgiving! That means Christmas is almost here!

This is one of those times of year when the church needs to resist the pull of the culture to conform to its calendar. We need to resist the temptation to bring out the Christmas decorations and begin singing carols to the newborn babe in Bethlehem in worship. We need to remember that Advent is not “Christmas-lite.” In Advent we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus by preparing ourselves for his promised return. This means that to truly celebrate and rejoice in the past event of the incarnation Christians must look toward the future event of God’s coming again to judge, reconcile, heal and restore all of creation.

The lessons for the first Sunday of Advent are an indication of what is to come. They tell us that Christ is coming and those who know him must live as though his return is imminent. This means living as citizens of the kingdom of God; that is both here among us now and is coming. These texts tell us that the God who has come and is coming is awesome, powerful, just, and righteous beyond our feeble imaginations. This God is not the warm and good-natured buddy he is portrayed to be in so much contemporary music, preaching and writing. Isaiah and Jesus tell us that God is coming to judge the world and that the outcome of that judgment will likely not be what we expect. This will be bad news to the wicked, the unjust, and the proud. The good news is that God and not one of us will be doing the judging.

If the church chooses to truly embrace and observe a holy Advent it will be a powerful witness to Christ and his coming reign on earth as it is in heaven. What a powerful witness Christians could be if we resisted the temptation to participate in the orgy of consumerism, consumption, and gluttony that has become so typical of this time of year. What a powerful witness the church could give it were to call all Christians to observe a holy fast from consuming and dedicated themselves to serving with and alleviating the suffering of the poor, the sick, and prisoners.

All Saints' Day Collect

2008-11-01T11:37:00.003-05:00

Almighty God,
you have knit together your elect in one communion
and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living,
that we may come to those ineffable joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,
one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

(from the Book of Common Prayer)

Bono on the US Govt. Bailout of Wall Street

2008-09-25T15:57:00.005-05:00

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

- Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist.--Posted by Dana Goldstein(Source: The American Prospect blog)

Jesus said, "Then they will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw yo hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' The he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you , just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:44-46, NRSV).

Drive-in Worship?

2008-09-25T11:14:00.002-05:00

A recent UMNS story tells about a church in Marietta, Georgia that has been offering a “Drive-in worship” service at 8:00 am on Sunday mornings. You can read the story here: Drive-in worshipers opt for bucket seats over pews

I commend Rev. Markle for his desire to reach new people for Jesus Christ. I commend his creativity. What he is doing is not unlike the early Methodist practice of field preaching. They were compelled to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise never cross the threshold of a church door. I believe the Rev. Markle is driven by the same desire to offer the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who, for what ever reasons, will not attend a traditional service of worship. I trust, also, that Rev. Markle is preaching Christ in all his offices: Prophet, Priest, and King. I trust, also, that his congregation, like the early Methodist societies, has an intentional process of Christian initiation that awaits those people who respond to the gospel and surrender their lives to Christ and his kingdom.

My problem with this article is that what is happening in the parking lot of New Hope United Methodist Church is being called “worship.” A more accurate description is “evangelical assembly.” Worship, by definition, is the work of the people of God. It is the self-offering of a congregation, a people united in the love of God incarnate in Jesus Christ, through prayer, Scripture, proclamation, sacrament, and service. For worship to be worship the people must be able to reach out and touch and embrace one another.

The drive-in “worship” described in the article is not worship because it is necessarily passive and the people are separated from one another by tons of steel. The inherent isolation of the people in the cars prevents the gatherings from ever being sacramental. The isolation caused by the automobiles prevents the gathering from every being a true assembly. It will always be a collection of isolated individuals. Worship, by its very nature, is communal, relational, and tactile. An assembly of individuals separated from one another by steel and glass cannot truly be Christian worship.

I commend the people of New Hope UMC and Rev. Markle for their creativity in reclaiming the Methodist practice of field preaching. I pray that it will bring them much growth and vitality. But, let’s not call what is happening in the parking lot on Sunday morning worship.

John Coltrane's Birthday Today

2008-09-23T12:01:00.002-05:00

John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, NC. He is one of the great musicians of the 20th century. I was introduced to his music in seminary by Josiah Young, Professor of Systematic Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary. I find Coltrane's music to powerful and deeply spiritual. He helps me to think and to write.

I often mention Coltrane as an example of a man touched by God with a powerful gift; the gift of making music. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is just like becoming and being a muscian. God gives us a gift (the capacity to love) and provides the means to develop the gift. But God leaves it up to us as to how we develop the gift, or not. The means to develop our gift, the basic practices, are the means of grace (works of piety and works of mercy). Just like a musician must practice every day, disciples must practice their craft every day. The practice brings perfection.

If you want to learn more about John Coltrane and listen to some of his music:

The Cocktail Party Guide to John Coltrane

John Coltrane Official Web site

"Mainline or Methodist?"

2008-09-18T14:09:00.003-05:00

Book Review:
Mainline or Methodist?: Rediscovering Our Evangelistic Mission by Scott Kisker

Scott Kisker has given The United Methodist Church a much needed wake-up call. He reminds us in the first couple of pages of his insightful book that the denomination is 40 years old. I have heard it said by some that it seems that the church is going through something of a “mid-life” crisis not unlike those feelings of fear of inevitable death and wondering what life is all about experienced by men and women sometime after they reach that age. Kisker’s book comes a just the right time.

Dr. Kisker (Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and former James C. Logan Associate Professor of Evangelism at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC) looks at The United Methodist Church with the eyes of a historian and the heart of an evangelist. He brings his deep knowledge of church history, theology, and the Wesleyan tradition to the task of examining the condition of the church that has shaped his own life. Dr. Kisker makes the case that much of the UMC’s current malaise has its roots in its alignment as one of the “Mainline” denominations.

The chief problem with “Mainline” churches is that they “bless the values of the larger society, and see very little difference between cultivating good citizens and cultivating Christians.” Their striving to be “respectable” and to play a role in the dominant culture “establishment” has resulted in adjusting the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it fit into cultural norms rather than challenging those norms. Kisker writes, “When we became “mainline,” we stopped being Methodist in all but name.” Meaning that, in the name of “respectability,” we jettisoned the practices, structures, and theology that formed the heart and soul of Wesleyan Methodism.

In a well written 128 pages Dr. Kisker describes what has been lost and gives practical ideas for restoring a United Methodist:

Vision

The distinctive goal of Wesleyan Methodism is holiness of heart and life. In mission of early Methodism was “To reform the nation, especially the church; and to spread Scriptural holiness across the land.”

Message

The historic Methodist message was salvation by grace through faith. We need to take sin, grace, and salvation seriously once again.

Method

+ Proclaim Christ in all his offices: Prophet, Priest, and King
+ Open-air preaching for the 21st century
+ Small groups for formation and growth in discipleship
+ A Rule of Life that leads the people toward holiness of heart and life (The General Rules)

Conversation

Practice true “holy conferencing” in the Wesleyan Spirit. Conferencing must be practiced at all levels of the church, beginning in the home.

Mainline or Methodist: Rediscovering Our Evangelistic Mission is a sobering and hope-filled call to action for the people of The United Methodist Church. Scott Kisker gives some helpful and practical recommendations for a way forward. It’s clear that he believes that God will keep God’s promises. But the church must cooperate and participate with God’s mission for the world.

The Problem of Sin

2008-08-25T14:44:00.001-05:00

Sin is essentially a relational problem. Sin is alienation from God, the source of life, love, righteousness and justice. Sin is life turned in upon itself. It is willful self-centeredness resulting in thinking and acting in ways that serve only the desires of the self. The self is the all and end of life. All relationships are seen in terms of utility for advancing the wellbeing and pleasure of the self and not the wellbeing and pleasure of the other. Sin distorts the image of God, which is self-giving love, and turns it into self-serving and self-centered desire.

We seldom hear much about sin in the church today. I suspect this is so because so much of the world that celebrates and encourages all I’ve described above, is present in popular church culture. You can see examples of this in the way some congregations market themselves. The message of a typical campaign is “your life will be better if you come to First Jesus Church.” The dominant message is that church is all about you; we’re here to serve you; we’re here to help you with your problems; it’s all about you. And it’s all about the institution of the church which presents itself as a distribution point for religious goods and services. The church becomes one more place for people to go to get what they want, and when they don’t find what they want, they go somewhere else. When the focus of the church is on dispensing religious goods and services, rather than participating in God’s mission for the world, it becomes little more than a religious version of Wal-Mart. It no longer understands the problem of sin or believes that there is a problem in the first place.

This is because sin has been trivialized by much of the north American church. It is seen as “old fashioned”, irrelevant, and passé. In fact, when I tell people that “we are all sinners” in workshops I often hear the response “you know, we don’t believe in Original Sin.” My response to this is, “If there is no original sin, then why did God waste all that blood and suffering on the cross? If there is no Sin then what on earth was Jesus doing?”

I suspect many Christians no longer believe in Original Sin because they have been taught that because humans are created by God, they are necessarily “good.” This is, of course, true. John Wesley, believed that human beings were created good and for good. However, this neglects that fact that human beings must live in this world that is unfortunately damaged and distorted by sin. It convinces people that they are special and that they don’t need God and God’s righteousness in their lives. They are perfectly capable of living their own lives, their own way. This results in lives turned in upon themselves; self-centered, self-defined, self-defeating. When Christians deny this reality, they deceive themselves and the world.

Another reason many in the north American church no longer take sin seriously is that the culture, particularly church culture, has reduced sin to a moralism. In short, we have equated anything that gives us pleasure and enjoyment with sin. How silly. In the process sin has become trivialized and individualized. The more we individualize sin the more it becomes a trivial concern. The more it is seen as trivial the less the world, and people of faith, take seriously the problem of sin. This sets sin free to reign. Pleasure and enjoyment are not sin or even sinful. God created us to take pleasure in and to enjoy God and God’s good creation.

What happens when the church trivializes sin? It is distracted from and often seduced into participating in the reality of systemic sin. When the church blesses violence and ignores the suffering of the poor, it participates in systemic sin. When the church cares for its own members who are sick and ignores the millions who do not have access to health care, it participates in systemic sin. When the church is silent in the face of global climate change and systematic destruction of God’s good creation in the name of profit, it participates in systemic sin. When the church seeks its own institutional survival at the expense of the gospel of the coming reign of God, it participates in systemic sin. When the church puts its own interests ahead of God’s mission for the world, it participates in and contributes to systemic sin.

Sin is essentially a relational problem. Sin is real. It has power to control the lives of individuals and institutions, including the church. However, its power is limited by the level of human complicity and cooperation. Sin thrives when its reality and power are denied and trivialized. As long as good people are willing to live in denial of sin’s presence and power in their lives and in their world, they will live under its dominion in ignorance and self-deception. However, sin’s power to control and limit life is destroyed when the power of grace breaks through the self-deception and awakens people to their condition. As soon as they turn away from the darkness of sin and turn toward to light of God sin’s power is vanquished. When persons and congregations turn toward the loving arms of God and begin to participate in God’s mission for the world, sin will cease to control them. Self-centeredness and life turned in upon itself, will be transformed by grace into a life lived in self-giving love for God and those whom God loves.

The Power of Holy Communion

2008-08-22T10:07:00.001-05:00

This is a clip from Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices

Discipleship means practice and discipline

2008-08-22T10:05:00.001-05:00

This is a clip from Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices

What about Prayer?

2008-08-22T10:03:00.001-05:00

This is a clip from Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices

The General Rule of Discipleship

2008-08-22T10:02:00.001-05:00

This is a clip from Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices.

What is grace?

2008-08-22T09:59:00.001-05:00

This is a clip from Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices.

Remembering

2008-05-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside very weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us ...” Hebrews 12:1

Today we pause to say "Thank you" to all to those soldiers, marines, sailors, nurses, and airmen who have died in the service of this country.

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who fought and died for their country. They fought and died for what their country stands for--freedom and justice for all people. They answered the call to service. Their answer to that call was witness to their commitment to a noble cause.

In service to that call, they sacrificed their lives. They are part of the great cloud of witnesses we honor and remember today.

Remembering, or remembrance, in the Bible is what forms identity and determines conduct of the people of Israel and the early church.

When the people of Israel remembered how they were freed from slavery in Egypt and the God who gave them their freedom, they remembered who they were and whose they were. They remembered God is a God who loves righteousness and justice. When they remembered, they knew God expected them to treat one another and the stranger with righteousness and justice, kindness and mercy.

The early church was built on remembering Jesus Christ--his life, death and resurrection. Every Sunday was, and is, a memorial day in which all that God has done for the church and the world in Jesus Christ is remembered. This remembering is how God reminds us who we are and whose we are. Our remembrance causes us to witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In like manner, when we remember our fallen brothers and sisters, we remember who we are and whose we are. We honor their memory when we honor the cause for which they fought and died--the principles upon which our country was founded, namely freedom and justice for all people.

We honor their memory when we work for justice and peace in the world; when we become a non-violent and peaceful people who lives justly with kindness and mercy for all.

We honor their memory when we live in such a way that violence and war will be prevented and eventually abolished from the face of the earth.

We have a responsibility to our fallen brothers and sisters, a responsibility that calls us to be good stewards of the freedom we enjoy and often take for granted.

One of the responsibilities of freedom is to love justice by seeing to it that all people are treated justly

To work for justice and honor their memory is to be advocates for peace and non-violence.

When I was at the Vietnam War Memorial on Memorial Day weekend in 1995, I attended the Memorial Day Writers Festival. Listening to those soldiers share their experiences, I walked over to a Marine who had just finished reading some of his poetry. I introduced myself and thanked him for his words, his witness, and his courage. Then I asked him if he could give me any advice about what I could say to the veterans I was to address back home during our community Memorial Day cermonies. He told me the one thing that should be said :

“The greatest honor and witness and memorial we can give to our fallen brothers and sisters would be to live our lives in such a way that war will never again be an option for nations to resolve their conflicts.

“The greatest honor we can give to their memory would be to give our children a world in which justice and peace are honored and war is no more.

“The greatest memorial we can build is a world in which young men and women will never again have to suffer and die on battlefields.”

Let us be a people who love justice and make peace for our children and grandchildren.

Trinity = Love

2008-05-19T18:59:00.002-05:00

The essence of the trinity is not the functions that are usually emphasized in an effort to avoid using the masculine terms of the traditional divine name. In their place creator, redeemer, sustainer, or similar functional terms are used. While the actions of God are certainly important, they are not the essence or power of God. I contend that emphasis on these actions, or functions, to the neglect of the true nature of the trinity do little to help Christians relate to God or to one another.

In fact it is an incipient modalism. Describing the triune God by function implies that God can be separated. The creator does not require the redeemer. The redeemer does not participate in the work of creation. The sustainer does not take part in neither creation nor redemption. Each function can be seen as independent of the others. There is no necessary relationship within or between them. This is, of course, antithetical to the Biblical trinity.

Another problem posed by emphasizing the functional names of creator, redeemer, sustainer (or creator, Christ, Spirit) is functional unitarianism. This approach affirms the unity and one-ness of God; which is a good thing. However, it also lends itself to a unitarianism that neglects the uniqueness of the persons of the trinity. The functional naming of God can be interpreted as a singular God (monad) who performs the three divine functions of creator, redeemer, and sustainer alone. Consequently, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit become redundant and we end up with a unitarian God.

This is a problem because the essence and power of the doctrine of the trinity is the inherent relational nature of God in communicates. The trinity reveals that God’s nature is revealed in the relationships within God’s self. In other words, God’s nature is not revealed in function or action. God’s nature is revealed in relationships of self-giving love. This relational nature is revealed in the traditional Trinitarian name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When wrestling with the nature and name of God one must begin by acknowledging that we are struggling with mystery. Evidence of this is the truth that the Trinitarian name is not meant to assign gender to the persons of the Trinity. Rather, the formula is intended to communicate God’s relational nature. The essence of God’s inner life is the relationship of Parent, child and Spirit. God the Father is not a solitary, divine patriarch. Rather, God is Father/Mother because of God’s relationship with the Son. The relationship shapes the name. Jurgen Moltmann puts it this way in his The Trinity and The Kingdom:

“If we think in Trinitarian terms … we begin with the second definition [of God the Father] in the Apostles’ Creed: God the Father is the Father of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who became our elder brother. It is in respect to this Son that God must be called ‘Father’. His fatherhood is defined by the relationship to this Son, and by the relationship of this Son Jesus Christ to him. Consequently, in the Christian understanding of God the Father, what is meant is not ‘the Father of the universe’, but simply and exclusively ‘the Father of the Son’ Jesus Christ. It is solely the Father of Jesus Christ whom we believe and acknowledge created the world. It is in the Trinitarian sense that God is understood as Father – or he cannot be understood as Father at all. But anyone who wants to understand the Trinitarian God as Father must forget the ideas behind this patriarchal Father religion – the super-ego, the father of the family, the father of his country, even ‘the fatherly providence’. He must gaze solely at the life and message of his brother Jesus: for in fellowship with the only begotten Son he will recognize that the Father of Jesus Christ is his Father too, and he will understand what the divine fatherhood really means. The name of Father is therefore a theological term – which is to say a Trinitarian one; it is not a cosmological idea or a religious-political notion. If God is the Father of this Son Jesus Christ, and if he is only ‘our Father’ for his Son’s sake, then we can also only call him ‘Abba’, beloved Father, in the spirit of free sonship.”

What this tells us is that the essence and power of trinity is self-giving love. The writer of 1 John expresses this truth bluntly:

“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16b).

Charles Wesley powerfully expresses this truth in his hymn “Wrestling Jacob:”

“’Tis Love! ‘tis Love! thou diedst for me,

I hear thy whisper in my heart.

The morning breaks, the shadows flee,

Pure Universal Love thou art:

To me, to all, thy mercies move –

Thy nature, and thy name is Love.

Therefore, the triune name of God does not connote gender or patriarchy; it is a theological formula that communicates God’s nature. Like any mystery this presents a challenge to all who seek to know and understand this God who is creator, redeemer, and sustainer of the world. The gift of faith equips Christians to wrestle with and live into the mystery that is the triune God who is revealed in, with, and for the world as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

For example, God’s triune nature sheds light on the meaning of humans as being created in the “image of God.” We can safely say that to be created in the image of God does not tell us that human beings look like God or that God looks like us. Since God is Spirit and spirit by its very nature cannot be seen, the image of God does not mean that God looks like us. What it does mean is that we share something of God’s character. Because love is the essential character of God, to be made in God’s image means that human beings are created with the capacity to give and receive love. In other words, human beings are “hard wired” for relationship. We are created for God and for one another.

Bishop Desmond Tutu describes this essential human nature with the concept of ubuntu. Roughly translated, ubuntu means “I am because we are.” In other words, “I can only become fully me as long as I am part of the community.” Human beings need love and relationships in order to become fully the persons God created us to be.

The doctrine of the Trinity also gives us a much more faithful and robust understanding of sin than believe in the unitarian god. I’ll deal with that in my next post.

"Baptized into One Name"

2008-05-15T08:54:00.003-05:00

Matthew 28:19

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

As we prepare to celebrate Trinity Sunday, here is a sample of trinitarian theology in the form of poetry by Charles Wesley:

Baptized into one only name

The Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

One nature we in Three proclaim,

One God for our salvation trust:

One God eternally abides,

One undivided Trinity,

And the whole Deity resides

In each of the mysterious Three.

Each Person properly Divine,

Co-equal in majestic power,

With all his heavenly host we join

The great Jehovah to adore:

And worshipping the Triune God

In confidence of humble love,

We soon shall reach his bright abode,

And see his open face above.

[#105 from Hymns on the Trinity, 1767 (LM)]

Pentecost Reflection

2008-05-11T09:32:00.002-05:00

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:21-22).

This text tells us that the risen Lord is the Jesus who was crucified. We know this because he carries the marks of the cross in his body. The nail marks are his ID. When he appears to his frightened disciples the first thing he does is show them the marks of the cross. Only then do they relax and believe the report they had received earlier from Mary, John and Peter.

Jesus greets the disciples in the usual way, “Peace be with you.” He shows them the marks of the cross and then repeats, “Peace be with you.” The word he spoke to those frightened friends is “shalom.” The risen Jesus, the one who was crucified, dead and buried, came to his friends to give them God’s shalom, which is peace and much more.

Shalom is God’s intention for the world. It is the single word that describes the coming reign of God. This shalom is peace with justice, righteousness, and loving kindness. It is the world in which all have access to life and health and love. Shalom brings forgiveness and reconciliation. It brings healing and wholeness. Shalom is God’s will for creation. Jesus is the incarnation of this shalom. It breaks into the world through his life, death, and resurrection. He gives everyone access to this shalom when he breathes the Holy Spirit into the lives of his followers.

As he gives this shalom to his followers he also tells them they have a job to do. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” In other words, the followers of Jesus are sent out to be witnesses and agents, evangelists, of God’s coming reign of shalom. How do they do this? They do it by imitating Jesus. He sends them into the world to do what he did: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength; Love your neighbor as yourself; and “love one another as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” The gift of shalom is given so that the community of Christ can share it with the world. It is not given to be a personal blessing and benefit for their own comfort and enjoyment. Shalom is given to the disciples so that they can go and share it with the world that God loves.

Jesus knew the disciples were not capable of living this mission for the world on their own. They were frightened and fragile men and women who would soon revert to their old habits and eventually blend into the world as though nothing had ever happened. That is why he gave them the gift of himself and his Father. He left them with the Holy Spirit. “[He] breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The Holy Spirit will be their “comforter” and “advocate.” The Holy Spirit will be the power of God living and working in them. The Holy Spirit guide, equip and empower them to live the mission of Jesus in and for the world. With the Holy Spirit they will be able to give and receive forgiveness and to be witnesses of “God’s deeds of power” for the world.

This passage from John’s gospel and the story of Pentecost found in Acts 2 reveal that the gifts of God’s shalom and Holy Spirit are given to equip and empower the community of Jesus for mission. While the peace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit are certainly wonderful blessings for the church, they are given so the church will be a blessing for the world. The church is blessed to be a blessing. The church is gifted and commissioned as a sign-community of the coming reign of God. It understands that it is not the kingdom of God. But the world can get a glimpse of life in God’s reign when it sees and experiences the church’s life and witness.

Pentecost reveals that the Church that emerged from that community of frightened followers of Jesus is equipped and commissioned for mission. Its mission field is the world that God loves.

Grace ... a thought that changed the world

2008-05-01T13:35:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite songs. I think we need it today:

The Problem of Pride

2008-05-01T09:13:00.004-05:00

In light of the outcome of yesterday’s debate and voting on petitions related to human sexuality, I offer these words from John Wesley. They are taken from A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. This is the beginning of a series of advices Wesley offers to those who are earnestly striving toward perfection in love, aka Christian maturity. Dr. Marjorie Suchocki referred to this passage in her very eloquent comments on the floor of General Conference. I commend them to you now.

"Q. 32. What is the first advice that you would give them?

"A. Beware and pray constantly against pride. If God has cast it out, see that it does not return. It is every bit as dangerous as desire. When you think there is no danger, you may slide back into it without notice.

You may say, ‘Indeed, but I credit all I have to God.' You may do so and be proud nevertheless. For it is pride not only to credit anything we have to ourselves, but to think we have what we really do not have. For example, Mr. L credited all the light he had to God, and so far he was humble. But then he thought he had more light than any man living. This was palpable pride. So you credit all the knowledge you have to God and, in this respect, you are humble. But if you think you have more than you really have, or if you think you are so knowledgeable of God as to no longer need man's teaching, then pride is at the door. Yes, you need to be taught, not only by Mr. Morgan, by one another, by Mr. Maxfield, or me, but by the weakest Preacher in London, yes, by all persons. For God sends to us those whom he will send.

"Therefore, do not say to any who would advise or correct you, 'You are blind. You cannot teach me.' Do not say, 'This is your wisdom, your human reason.' But calmly discern the thing in the presence of God.

"Always remember much grace does not imply much light. These do not always go together. As there may be much light where there is but little love, so there may be much love where there is little light. The heart has more heat than the eye and yet it cannot see. God has wisely assembled the members of the body together such that none may say to another, 'I have no need of you.'[1]

"To imagine none can teach you but those who are themselves saved from sin is a very great and dangerous mistake. Do not entertain it for a moment. It would lead you into a thousand other mistakes from which you may never recover. No, supremacy is not founded in grace, as the madmen of the last age talked. Obey and respect 'those who have charge of you in the Lord,'[2] and do not think you know better than they. Know their place and your own. Always remember that much love does not imply much light.

"Neglecting to observe this has led some into many mistakes and into the appearance, at least, of pride. Beware of the appearance, and the thing! Let there 'be in you that lowly mind which was in Christ Jesus.'[3] And 'clothe yourselves with humility.'[4] Let it not only fill, but cover you all over. Let modesty appear in all your words and actions. Let all you speak and do show that you are small, humble, and common in your own eyes.

"As an example of this, always be ready to own any mistake for which you are responsible. If you have at any time thought, spoken, or acted wrong do not deny or dodge your responsibility. Never dream that this will hurt the cause of God. Rather, it will further it. Therefore, be open and frank when you are accused of anything. Do not seek either to evade or disguise it. Let it appear just as it is and you will by this not hinder, but beautify the gospel.” (from A Perfect Love: Understanding John Wesley's 'A Plain Account of Christian Perfection', pages 73-74.)

A prayer for the people called United Methodists:

God of grace and holiness,

we have sinned against you and your church.

Once again our pride has damaged your church and its witness to the world.

Once again we have rejected humility and love in favor of pride and arrogance.

Once again our prideful certainty has caused us to disobey our Lord’s command to “love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Forgive us, O God.

By your grace, help us to repent of the sin of pride.

By your grace, help us, once again, to forgive one another.

By your grace and in the name of Jesus Christ, cast out the demon of pride from among us; and replace it with humility.

Send your healing Spirit to bind the brokenness of our communion.

Comfort especially those faithful gay and lesbian sisters and brothers, your beloved children, who have been, once again, hurt and excluded and oppressed by your church’s pride and arrogance.

“Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”[5]

[1] 1 Corinthians 12:14ff

[2] 1 Thessalonians 5:12

[3] Philippians 2:5 cf

[4] 1 Peter 5:5

[5] from The Book of Common Prayer

Why the Church Must NOT Be United With the State

2008-04-24T13:22:00.003-05:00

The New York Times posted on its web site a disturbing article and accompanying video about how Vladimir Putin has given his official endorsement to the Russian Orthodox Church. The natural consequence of this is that the church and Russian state have become closely tied to one another. This has resulted in subsequent persecution, prosecution and eviction of Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians and churches. The greatest concern of both the Russian Church and State is that their people be good, loyal Russians. Being faithful Christians is secondary.

This is a perfect illustration of the importance of separation of church and safe. When the two get together, the mission of the church is perverted to suit the goals of the state. I'm certain such unions are made in hell.

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

2008-04-20T19:38:00.004-05:00

John 14:1-14

[This sermon was preached on Sunday, April 20, 2008]

Jesus tells us in John 14:2 the destination of discipleship is life in God’s household. He tells his disciples to believe in God and in him. To believe means surrendering your trust and loyalty to Jesus and his mission of preparing this planet for the coming reign of God. When we believe in Jesus we trust him with our life and follow him to our home in God.

If you know me at all you know that I love baseball. Well, I believe that baseball helps us get at the meaning of today’s gospel lesson. I say this because baseball is a deeply spiritual game. It is the game that teaches at least four essential lessons about life.

First, baseball teaches us that the goal of life is to get home. In fact, you are to work together, as a team, to help as many of our sisters and brothers as possible to get home with us. Life is not about what I can get for myself, but how I can help my brothers and sisters get home. This brings us to a second important lesson from baseball: We seldom are able to make the journey home on our own.
We need the assistance of others to advance us from base to base. This means that all of us must sacrifice ourselves in order to get a teammate in position to get home. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Any who want to become my followers must deny themselves …” We cannot make the journey home by ourselves, by our own strength or skill. We all need the help and sacrifice of others if we are to make our way home.

Thirdly, we will experience failure much of the time. Life and discipleship are much more about failure than success. In baseball the very best hitters in the game fail to hit the ball and get on base 70% of the time. This means the best players with a .300 batting average fails to hit safely 7 out of every ten at bats.
The same is true in life. All Christ asks of us is to be faithful and to following him.

Finally, there is no clock in baseball. A game takes as long as it takes to play nine innings or until someone wins. Likewise, Jesus is not limited by time or a clock when it comes to getting people to home in his Father’s house.

“Thomas said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Baseball, of course, has rules that govern the game. The rules provide the boundaries within which the game is played and enjoyed. The rules, in other words, are the way the game is played. Within the way of the rules anything can happen, and often does. The rules protect the game and the players. They exist to make the game fair and inclusive; even when boneheaded officials tinker with them and introduce things like the designated hitter.

As the rules of baseball give the world the way to play the game, Jesus is the way to life with God the Father. What does this mean? To understand Jesus’ meaning we need to look at the meaning of “the way.” The way is how we get to our destination. The way is the road, highway, or path you follow. The way is also how you accomplish a goal; like making cookies or assembling a bicycle or teaching someone how to read or how to pray or how to live as a disciple. Jesus is the way to the Father and the Father’s house. If we want to live in the place Jesus prepares for us we must follow him and his way.

The curious thing here is that Jesus doesn’t give his disciples a set of directions for the way they are to follow. He tells them that he is the way.
He tells them, and you and me, that we must live his life. His life must live in us.
When we live Jesus we will be on the way to home in the Father’s house.

What is the Jesus way? Jesus’ way is contained in the summary of the message he preached: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15).

Jesus summarizes the way in Luke 4:18-19 when he reads from the prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus describes the way in Matthew 5:3-12

“Blessed are the poor in spirit …
“Blessed are those who mourn …
“Blessed are the meek …
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness …
“Blessed are the merciful …
“Blessed are the pure in heart …
“Blessed are the peacemakers …
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake …
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kids of
evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is
great in heaven …

Jesus describes the way again in Mark 12:30 & 31

“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind, and with all your strength. … You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus describes the way again in Luke 9:23

“’If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves
and take up their cross daily
and follow me.”

Finally, Jesus describes the way one more time in John 13:34-35

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

Jesus doesn’t give a set of directions or instructions on how to live the way to the Father. Jesus gives himself. When he says that he is “the way” he tells us that we are to surrender our way to his way. This means our life together and as individuals are to be a reflection of his. His way is how we get home.
His way is summed up in one word: Love.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” In Jesus we see that love is truth and love is life. When we surrender ourselves to Jesus’ way our eyes will be opened to see truth. We find and live truth when we begin to see the world through Jesus’ eyes and hear the world through Jesus’ ears. The truth that is Jesus is beautifully described in a song found in The Faith We Sing at #2219.
The words are from Bishop Desmond Tutu:

Goodness is stronger than evil;
Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours, victory is ours
Through him who loved us.
Victory is ours, victory is ours
Through him who loved us.

When we live Jesus we begin to see the world as it really is. The blinders of sin and death, domination and oppression, wealth and privilege, self-centeredness and consumerism, individualism and narcissism, ideology and nationalism are removed. When we give ourselves wholeheartedly to his way we begin to see the world as he sees it, as it really is because he is the truth. He reveals the world of God’s reign in which righteousness, justice, and love are the ruling powers. When we join Jesus in his way and in the truth we become witnesses to the truth for the world.

Finally, Jesus the way and the truth is the life of the world; life as God the Father intended; life that gives life rather than consumes life; life that embodies goodness and justice and peace.

Too often John 14:6 is used as a club to tell who is in and who is out of God’s household. That is not what Jesus is doing here. John 14:6 is not about exclusion, it is about particularity. Jesus is telling us that he is the way, the truth and the life through which human beings may enter life in the Father’s house. In other words he is telling his disciples that anyone whose life is a witness to and channel of love, truth, and life will be welcome in the Father’s house. True belief in Jesus is revealed in fruits rather than doctrines, creeds, and rituals. This means that Christians do not have a monopoly on God, Christ, salvation or grace. The way to the Father’s house is for all who give themselves to Jesus the way who is love, goodness, justice, and peace. For when your life, no matter who you are, or where you live, or which religion you practice, is a witness to love, goodness, justice, and peace you are living the way to the Father’s house.

Jesus has prepared a place in God’s house for each of us. Jesus prepares a place in God’s house for all people who surrender to the way, the truth and the life of God. Jesus comes and shows us the way home. Our task is to follow him, live him, and witness so that as many others as possible will come home with us.

Woman at the Well

2008-04-11T08:02:00.001-05:00

To be known is to be loved.
To be loved is to be known.

40 Years After

2008-04-06T22:22:00.004-05:00

On Friday, April 4, many in the USA remembered the tragic murder of one of the most important prophetic leaders of the 20th century. I don’t need to tell you that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great leader, prophet, and pastor. But if all you knew about him came from the dominant media, you’d never know he ever did anything but give a great speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Whenever Dr. King is remembered by the media, they bring out brief clips of his “I Have a Dream” speech. They may also, as they did on Friday, show a clip from his final speech in which he told his audience he was not afraid of any man, he was not afraid of dying because God had taken him to the mountaintop.

The media reduce Dr. King to these two speeches. We never hear of his pastoral ministry or hear his sermons. We certainly do not see or hear any of the speeches he gave in the last year of his life when he was speaking out against the war in Viet Nam and working to organize poor people of all races. In fact, I believe it is no accident that one of Dr. King’s most controversial and important speeches was delivered on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was murdered in Memphis.

Martin Luther King was not murdered for his dream of racial reconciliation and equality. He was assassinated because he had become a vocal opponent of the Viet Nam war and of its connection to poverty in the USA. He had the audacity to take his “I Have a Dream” speech to its logical, prophetic conclusion of justice for the poor and oppressed peoples of the world. He makes this very clear in his April 4, 1967 speech from the pulpit of Riverside Church in New York City, “Beyond Vietnam.” King tells the audience that people of faith have a responsibility to speak up for the poor of the world. He said that people of faith must share God’s concern for the poor and oppressed peoples of the world. They must not limit their concerns and loyalty to the nation’s concerns or interests:

“Finally, as I try to explain for you and for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place, I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood. Because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for His suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.”

King understood that as long as the US government was engaged in war in Vietnam, it would not commit the resources and energies needed to address the problems of poverty and injustice at home, or anywhere else in the world. He also knew that the vast majority of the young men where fighting and dying in the jungles of Vietnam were the sons of the poor.

Dr. King was murdered because he had added his voice to the growing chorus of opposition to the Vietnam War; and because he was working to organize poor people for economic justice in the United States. But the media and politicians who invoke his name never cite this period of Dr. King’s ministry.

All this is to say that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a much more complicated and compelling character than the one portrayed in the media and the politicians that try to exploit his name. Dr. King was a prophet in the lineage of Hosea, Amos, Micah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jesus. We need to remember and honor the man for who he really was.

Listen to Dr. King explain his opposition to the Vietnam War here:

Easter and Five Years of War

2008-03-25T09:00:00.002-05:00

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

The resurrection of Jesus Christ signals God’s victory over the powers of sin and death. In his passion and death on the cross Jesus took the very worst of the world, all of its sin and evil, into himself. He bore the brunt of our evil and destroyed its power to control and manipulate once and for all. In the process, he suffered a most awful and humiliating death. He rose on the third day to give the world life as God intends; life free from the powers of sin, fear, and death. When we say and celebrate, “Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!”, we claim the reality of that resurrection life for ourselves and for the world for which Christ lived and died. We are set free to live and die for that same world. This is the good news Christ gives us when we remember and celebrate his passion and resurrection.

We read in the news that the 4000^th US soldier was killed in Iraq over the weekend. While Christians in the US were celebrating the Paschal mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection the 4000^th of our sons and daughters serving in the military was killed in action. While Jesus’ death and resurrection did indeed defeat death, death remains very real and painful.

My congregation recognized and gave thanks for the safe return from Iraq of one of our young men. He is a Marine who served in Falujah. We praised God for his service and for his safe return to his family and home. At the same time we acknowledged that he will soon be re-deployed. But no mention was made of the 4000 soldiers and marines who will not be returning to their loved ones. Nor did we acknowledge the countless numbers of Iraqi children, women and men who have been killed and displaced by the war.

It seems the US church loves to celebrate God’s goodness and grace that is profoundly revealed in Christ’s death and resurrection. But we are silent in the face of suffering and death all around us. The church is particularly silent when it comes to the war in Iraq; this completely unnecessary war. How can we celebrate resurrection when we are silent and blind to so much suffering and death?

Imagine what could happen if all the Christians in the USA stood up and told the President that we will no longer sacrifice our daughters and sons to his war. Imagine what could happen if all the Christians in the USA stood together with one voice and cried out in the name of the Lord of Life, the one who is the resurrection and the life, “STOP THE KILLING NOW!”

March 8 Was A Sad Day for America

2008-03-11T19:16:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, March 8, President Bush followed through on his threat to veto a bill that would prohibit the use of torture by the CIA and any other agency of the US government. For a man who presents himself as a devout, "born again", evangelical Christian, I'd like to know how he rationalizes this act with his faith and Christian tradition.

President Bush has cast his, and the United State's, lot with the governments of the world that practice torture. These are dark days for this nation.

Legacy of Torture

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

Discipleship is Practicing the Basics

2008-02-28T10:37:00.002-06:00

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus … Therefore … work out your own salvation; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:5, 12b-13).

One of my favorite signs of spring is baseball spring training. The pitchers and catchers are the first to migrate to Arizona and Florida. The position players and flocks of fans soon follow them. After a five-month rest, the teams assemble every March to take up glove, bat, and ball to hone their throwing, catching, hitting and running skills. Spring training is a time to remember and practice the fundamentals of the game. Players know that if they do not attend to the basics they will not play well and their team will not win many games. They all know that the teams that do the best at practicing and executing the basics (hitting, running, catching, throwing, and thinking) are the teams that win championships. They are also the teams that have the most fun.

A few years ago, I read a brief article in Sports Illustrated magazine with a young woman who worked as one of the producers for a major television network’s broadcasts of major league baseball games. If you watch baseball on television, you know that the manager, along with some of the coaches and players, wear microphones during the games. This allows the network to occasionally broadcast parts of on-field or dugout conversations. The woman’s job was to listen to those conversations and determine what may be broadcast. The interviewer asked her “What surprised you most as you listened to all those conversations?” Her reply fascinated me. She said, “The thing that surprised me most was how often the managers and coaches reminded the players to pay attention to the basics of the game.”

Think about it. Major League players have played baseball nearly all their lives. They are among the best in the world at playing the game. Their coaches know that they must constantly be reminded of what’s needed to play the game well, attending to the basics, because they are easily taken for granted. And when the basics are taken for granted they are neglected. When the basics are neglected play gets sloppy and games are lost.

Good coaches and managers understand that becoming and being a baseball player happens through attending to the fundamental skills of the game. Anyone who has ever watched a baseball game knows how simple throwing, catching and hitting appear to be. That is, until you actually try them yourself. Then you realize how difficult these seemingly simple skills really are. But, with practice and some coaching from someone who has played the game for any time, you can throw, catch, and even hit with some confidence. And, if you love the game, study and learn its strategy, practice the basics and listen to your coach, you will become a baseball player.

Now, you may be wondering what all this has to do with discipleship. As I study and learn about Christian discipleship in the Wesleyan tradition, I have become convinced that it is very similar to playing baseball. In other words, discipleship is a craft. There is a set of basic skills that must be learned and practiced. With discipline and practice persons grow in knowledge and ability to live into the goal of the craft. An athlete who engages in the discipline of baseball becomes a baseball player. A musician who engages in the discipline of the piano becomes a pianist. A person who commits his or her life to the discipline of following Jesus Christ in the world becomes a Christian disciple.

We know that not all people are gifted athletes or musicians. However, God has given every human being the gift of God’s own image (Genesis 1:27). This means that we are created to be like God who is triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God’s triune nature is relational. God is a community of divine love. Therefore, to be created in the image of the triune God is to be created for relationship. This means we are created for love.

The gift that God shares with all of humankind is the capacity to love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). God has given us the means to develop and grow into Christ’s way of loving and living in the world: grace. Flowing from that grace are the teachings (Matthew 5:1-7:29), commandments (Matthew 22:37-39; 28:19-20a; John 13:34-35), and promises (Matthew 18:18-20; 28:20b; John 14:1-3, 15-27) of Jesus Christ.

Grace is the power of God working in the world to draw all of humankind to God’s self. It is the power of God’s love that gives human beings the capacity and ability to love. Grace is God working in with and through me and you to awaken us to God’s presence and power for good in my life and yours and in the world. Love is grace. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It is God’s love, incarnate and active in the world in Jesus Christ, that awakens, equips, and empowers us to love as God loves. This love draws us to God and sends us into the world to love those whom God loves as God loves them.

The teachings, commandments and promises of Christ guide us into this way of life. They are like the rules of baseball in that they provide boundaries and direction for playing the game. Inside the boundaries of the rules there are infinite possibilities for how the game is played. The same is true of life lived in Christ.

The rules of baseball determine the basic skills and practices players must develop if they are to have fun and play the game well: throwing, catching, hitting, running, and thinking. They also establish that one must be part of a team in order to play the game. Baseball is not an individual endeavor. It is a team effort. The same is true of Christian faith.

The teachings, commandments and promises of Jesus determine the basic practices that must be taught and learned. They also establish that to be a Christian means being part of a community that promises to surround you with … love and forgiveness, to pray for you and to do all in their power to increase your faith, confirm your hope and perfect you in love (see The United Methodist Hymnal pages 35 and 38).

If we are to follow Jesus and love those whom he loves as he loves them, we need to learn and practice some basic disciplines: prayer, worship, the Lord’s Supper, reading and studying the Bible, participating in small groups for mutual accountability and support, fasting or abstinence, feeding the hungry and thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing those who have no clothes, caring for the sick, and visiting the prisoners. John Wesley called these basic practices works of piety and works of mercy. He understood that attending to these “means of grace” is “faith working by love” (Galatians 5:6). They are how Christians “work out their salvation” (Philippians 2:12-13). In the process they regularly keep their daily “appointments” with God in the places and actions where God has promised to meet them.

These basic practices of faith are called “means of grace” because they are gifts given by God through which the Holy Spirit works in disciples to heal and form their character into the character of Christ. They are how disciples live into “having the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5).

One of the purposes of Covenant Discipleship groups is to help disciples learn and practices the basics of Christian life. They do this with others who are seeking to grow in love of God and neighbor. Those who have more experience and maturity in discipleship share their experience with those who are less experienced. As disciples meet together weekly for mutual accountability and support for following Christ in the world they become more and more the persons God created them to be, in Christ. As Christians help one another practice the basics of following Jesus they become more confident and faithful witnesses to and channels of his love for the world.

Rev. Michael Welch

2008-02-09T09:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Rev. Michael Welch. He was killed, along with his wife and two children, when a tractor-trailer slammed into the rear of their van. Michael was the pastor of Lafayette United Methodist Church in Lafayette, TN. He was helping to lead the recovery work after the devastating tornado tore through Macon County on Tuesday night.

I knew Michael only a short time. He was a student in a class I taught last month at Saint Paul School of Theology. Michael and his friend Rev. David Hesson travelled from middle Tennessee to Kansas City to take the class as part of their preparation for membership in the Tennessee Conference. Michael was the guy who kept me supplied with a cup of Starbucks coffee each morning. I could also count on him to ask excellent questions and make insightful comments in class. He was a man of warmth and genuine love. He loved God and he loved all people with every ounce of his being. Michael not only believed the gospel of Jesus Christ, he lived it every day. I'm going to miss him.

The tragedy of his death is compounded by the deaths of his wife, Julie, and their two children, Hannah and Jesse.

Please pray for the people of Lafayette United Methodist Church and the community of Lafayette, TN as they grieve the death of the Welch family and the deaths of 14 of their neighbors and friends who died in Tuesday night's storms.

You can read about the tragedy here: Pastor's Work Comes to Unthinkable End

and here: Death of Volunteer Raises Macon's Loss

Programitis

2008-02-07T11:35:00.000-06:00

The United Methodist Church suffers from an acute case of programitis.

Programitis is inordinate dependence upon programs developed by the UM Publishing House, GBOD, Alpha, EcuFilm, and other parachurch organizations. These resources are well-intended and high-quality. They teach people in the church about the Bible, theology, spirituality, and discipleship. Church leaders offer them and teach them in the hope that filling heads full of information will lead to hearts turned toward Christ and serving with him in the world.

However, this approach to Christian formation is backward. The people of the early Church knew that learning does not lead to faithful behavior. Rather, they knew instinctively that behaving leads to new ways of thinking and learning. They knew that being a Christian is more that knowing and agreeing with a set of doctrines, propositions and creeds. They knew that Christianity is a relationship with the living God who became one of us in the Jew from Nazareth named Jesus. Living that relationship in a community of others seeking to live the Jesus way, leads to faith and new ways of thinking; not the other way around.

Dependence upon programs gets the church trapped in a cycle of consumption. As soon as a program is completed the people ask “What’s next?” They immediately look for the next program to keep them interested and entertained. A prime example of this dynamic is Disciple Bible Study. It is one of the most powerful and excellent resources ever produced by the United Methodist Publishing House. Disciple has changed countless lives and helped many congregations. However, because of the way it has been developed and marketed Disciple has propagated programitis in the church. When a group completes Disciple #1 (the best of the bunch) the church encourages them to take Disciple #2 and then Disciple #3 and then Disciple #4 and then Jesus and the Gospels and so on and so on. The insidious nature of programitis is that it convinces the church that studying and learning about the Bible, theology, spirituality and discipleship is the same as living as a disciple of Jesus Christ in the world.

Imagine a group of people who love music and want to become musicians. They go to a community that promises to help them fulfill their dream. The community then gives the music-lovers a series of classes in which they learn about the fundamentals of music, music theory, notation, and arrangement. They listen to recorded music and watch videos of great musicians performing. In the end their heads are filled with knowledge about music but none of them have ever actually picked up an instrument and learned how to play. While they completed the study about music, in the end none of them are actually capable of making music. Consequently, many of the music-lovers become frustrated and disappointed with the community because they know that knowing about music is not the same as being a musician. They are ready to begin the hard work and discipline required to move from being a music-lover to becoming a musician.

Programitis is a problem because it allows congregations to avoid the hard work of discipleship. Programitis is one more way the church dispenses what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace:”

“Cheap grace means grace as doctrine, as principle, as system. It means forgiveness of sins as a general truth; it means God’s love as merely a Christian idea of God. Those who affirm it have already had their sins forgiven. The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby confers such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for it sins, for which it shows no remorse and from which it has even less desire to be set free. Cheap grace is, thus, denial of God’s living word, denial of the incarnation of the word of God” (Discipleship, page 43).

Programitis, like any other disease, if undiagnosed and untreated will kill the patient. While the patient may appear to be alive, it is dead on the inside. That’s the way programitis works. It eats away at the heart and kills from the inside-out. Programitis is insidious because when the church realizes how sick it really is, it will look for the right program or set of programs that will restore it to health.

To be clear, I am not saying here that programs are inherently bad. I am saying that the way most congregations use them and become dependant upon them is the problem. We tend to use programs in place of leadership and to find a quick fix to problems like declining membership and giving.

The cure for programitis is to look to the places in the world where the church is most vital today: Africa, China, Latin America. These are churches populated by mostly poor people who live with hunger, violence, and oppression as daily realities. Their only resources are the Bible, Christian tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation and their relationships with one another. In other words, these congregations have essentially the same resources used by the early Church and by most Christians up until the advent of the 20^th century.

We can also look to the Wesleys and the early Methodists. The only resources they had were the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, the General Rules, the hymns of Charles Wesley and the writings of John Wesley. Their only program was regular meetings for accountability and support for discipleship. The Methodist societies were focused on the formation of Christians. They did this by initiating people into a way of life, guided by relationships with mature Christians, Scripture and the General Rules. In the course of learning how to live the new way of life people learned theology, spirituality, and Scripture. The focus was on holiness of heart and life.

The future of The United Methodist Church will depend upon how well it can liberate itself from its dependence upon programs. We need to shift our focus from offering pleasing and entertaining programs to people to a new way of living centered in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Marketing Jesus

2008-02-01T14:38:00.000-06:00

Last night I saw a fascinating documentary on PBS. Marketing the Message examines the many ways various Christian organizations practice evangelism. It's clear from the title of the film and the groups featured that sales and selling is the dominant paradigm for evangelism. One clear message that emerges from the people on camera is that the ends justify the means when it comes to telling people about Jesus. To that end, several methods that can be perceived as deceptive are featured.

The film maker offers salient, and gentle, critique of the content of the Jesus and gospel presented by the featured groups. This Jesus wants to be our buddy and therapist. The content of the "gospel" presented is: Jesus died for your sins. Believe in him, accept him as your personal savior, and you will go to heaven when you die. Nothing is mentioned about discipleship, deny yourself, take up your cross and following Jesus, or living as a citizen of the coming reign of God.

Marketing the Message reveals the problems and weakness of sales as the dominant metaphor for evangelism. I highly recommend it. The film also gives me greater appreciation for an alternative metaphor for evangelism that is more faithful the Scripture and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The alternative metaphor is that of evangelist as journalist. The task of evangelism is witnessing to Jesus Christ in the world and telling the story of his good news for the world. The content of his good news is the kingdom of God that is coming on earth as it is in heaven. The task of the journalist is to simply report the news, to tell the story. We leave the rest up the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism as Journalism leads to a much more honest and ethical presentation of the gospel. It also allows us to tell the whole story about the whole Jesus (Prophet, Priest, and King).

Is the UMC a Missional Church?

2008-01-23T09:31:00.000-06:00

Over the past few months I've been reading several books on the topic of "Missional Church." I must say that the reading has been very illuminating. The writers have helped me understand more clearly the nature and purpose of the church. The ideas of the missional church movement are deeply gratifying because they give us a contemporary way of interpreting the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition for United Methodists wondering what being UM is all about. I say this because all of the missional church leaders look to John Wesley as an example of missional, transformational leadership and to the eighteenth century Methodists as an example of missional community.

The question we need to ask today is "How will the United Methodist Church reclaim its missional identity?" I say this because the UMC turned away from its missional ethos many years ago. To read about what I mean by the term "missional" go here: What is a Missional Church? Another, slightly lighthearted, take on missional church may be found here: You Might Have Missional Tendencies If...

My study of Missional Church has helped me understand that the ministry we call "Accountable Discipleship" is designed for missional congregations and for those seeking to become missional. This is true because the roots of Accountable Discipleship are planted in early Methodism. It's aim is to form congregations centered in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that live as sign-communities of the reign of God.

The writings of David Lowes Watson, Darrell Guder, Alan Roxburgh, Alan Hirsch, and others make abundantly clear that accountable discipleship is not a program. It is how congregations become and witness in the world as missional, Christ-centered communities. The primary purpose of accountable discipleship is to form vital congregations that witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A side benefit of building up the body of Christ and participating in Christ's mission in the world is that persons are formed as his faithful disciples. As they grow in discipleship they will experience the blessings of life in God's household. But the blessings come only through loving obedience to Christ and serving along side him in the world.

If you want to explore what it means to be a missional church I recommend the following books:

Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church.

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Brazos Press (January 2007)

Language: English

ISBN: 1587431645

Darrell Guder (Editor), Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America.

Paperback: 280 pages

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 1998)

Language: English

ISBN: 0802843506

George R. Hunsberger (Editor), Craig Van Gelder (Editor), The Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America.

Paperback: 369 pages

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (March 1996)

Language: English

ISBN: 0802841090

Alan Roxburgh, Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World.

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: Jossey-Bass (April 2006)

Language: English

ISBN: 078798325X

Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission

Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmanns
Language: English
ISBN: 0802808298

David Lowes Watson, Forming Christian Disciples: The Role of Covenant Discipleship and Class Leaders in the Congregation

Paperback: 172 pages
Publisher: Wipf & Stock
Language: English
ISBN: 1579109462

Is your congregation a missional congregation?

Santa and the Poor

2007-12-25T11:27:00.000-06:00

Here's an excellent article about how Saint Nicholas was morphed into Santa Claus: St. Nick in the Big City

by John Anthony McGuckin, professor of religious history at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia.

A Christmas Sermon I'd Like to Hear

2007-12-24T14:19:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:1-20; Titus 2:11-14; Isaiah 9:2-7

I must say that I’m weary of the way Christmas has been domesticated. I’m tired of how the birth narratives have been sanitized and sentimentalized. They have become so cute, warm and cuddly that they have been stripped of power and meaning. Let’s take a step back and take another look at the story of Jesus’ birth as it is given to us by Luke.

Of course the story begins back in the first chapter with Gabriel’s visit to Mary (Luke 1:26-38). We see here that God chose to enter into human life not by some miraculous, earth-shattering theophany. Rather, God chose Mary of Nazareth a young woman, little more than a child, to give birth to God’s son. God came into the world in the ordinary way; growing nine months in his mother’s womb to be born through labor pains, blood, and water; entering the world through Mary’s birth canal greeted by her cries of pain, relief and joy.

When we see that God chose Mary of Nazareth we see that God chose to come among humankind as one of the poor and oppressed people of the world. God chose Mary of Nazareth, a Galilean. God chose to be one of a people who have known slavery, oppression, humiliation, and poverty. God chose Mary, the girl betrothed to Joseph the carpenter. It’s important to notice that God did not choose the fiancé of the rabbi, scribe, Pharisee, or priest. Nor did God choose the family of a Roman governor, senator, or the Emperor. God chose Mary and Joseph of Nazareth. The place about which it was said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” God’s son would be born and raised by the family of a lowly carpenter in a backwater village of a district of Israel known for producing trouble-makers and rebels.

The son of God, the savior of the world, the one whom Isaiah named “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) was born to Mary and Joseph of Nazareth who were forced, along with all their fellow Jews, by the Empire, to report to their home town to be counted and taxed. After the long, uncomfortable journey, the couple find no room for them in Bethlehem. They are forced to spend that night in the equivalent of a barn.

Have you ever been in a barn? If you have you know the smells and sounds. It is not the place you’d want to experience labor and give birth. And yet, that is where God’s son came into this world through the blood and water of his mother’s womb. With all the pain, crying, grunting, and loud breathing involved with the birth of a baby. And after all the crying, shouting, pain, and bleeding were over, the young mother and father laid their newborn son in a feed trough. He occupied the place where the livestock were accustomed to finding their food. I imagine the scene was nothing like the nativity scene my family has in our living room.

After Mary gives birth to Jesus, God’s angels announce the birth to the shepherds. It’s important to notice that the angelic choir did not announce the birth of God’s son to the religious leaders in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. Nor did the angels appear to the regional governor in Jerusalem or the emperor in Rome. God sent his angels to the shepherds in the field with their flocks. God brought the good news of the in-breaking of God’s reign on earth as in heaven to some of the poorest of the poor—the shepherds. Because they worked with animals they were virtual outcasts and seen as unclean among polite society. It’s important to notice that God announced the good news of the birth of Mary’s son to poor, unclean, outcasts caring for sheep in the field that night.

What does this mean? First, it is good news! This story is good news because it confirms what John told us when he wrote: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loves the world so much that God risked everything by becoming one of us, one with us, beginning as a tiny, helpless newborn infant son of a young Jewish girl and her carpenter husband. The child grew into a boy, an adolescent young man, and finally a man known as Jesus of Nazareth who traveled the land proclaiming the good news of God’s coming reign on earth as in heaven. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. He preached good news to the poor, release to captives, recovering of sight to the blind, set at liberty the oppressed, and announced that the time had come when God would save his people. In Jesus God shows the world the way of life in God’s kingdom. In his love and justice God provides all we need to claim our place in God’s household and to help prepare the world for his coming reign.

Second, this story tells us that God has a preferential option for the poor. God is God for the poor, the outcasts, and the oppressed people of the world first and foremost. God comes to the world through the lives and witness of the poor. He does not come through the wealthy and mighty of the world. In the birth narratives of Jesus we see that God turns the world upside-down. God’s power is revealed in what and through those the world regards as weak and of no-account. God’s power is revealed in love, not domination, violence, or threat. Therefore, if those of us who are wealthy, comfortable, and powerful want to live a citizens of God’s reign we must align ourselves on the side of the poor, outcast, and oppressed peoples of the world that God loves. If we who are wealthy and comfortable in this life want to be among God’s friends, we must be friends with the poor.

Finally, we see in the story of Jesus’ birth that salvation is available to all. There is nothing anyone can do to earn God’s love or favor. God does not regard our piety, achievements, wealth, or worldly power as any sort of merit. Rather, the story tells us that if we want God to come to us, if we want to be open to hearing and receiving God in our life, we must become like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zachariah, and the shepherds. We must be friends with the poor, oppressed, and outcast peoples of the world.

This is a challenge to most North American mainline congregations. How many members can say they know a poor person or family by name? What are they doing to be advocates for social and economic justice for the Marys, Josephs, and “shepherds” of our world? Have we repented of pride, idolatry, self-centeredness and our complicity in the powers and principalities that contribute to poverty, homelessness, violence, and oppression?

The story of Christmas is beautiful and powerful when we strip away all the sentimentality. It is a story of God’s love for the world that comes through the most unlikely, surprising people and places. It is a story that turns the world as we know it upside-down. And it has the power to set us free for lives of love, compassion, and justice as citizens of God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven.

The Church Needs to Hear About Sin and Repentance

2007-12-04T21:35:00.000-06:00

Matthew 3:1-12

Last week I had a conversation with a good friend, who also happens to be one of my teachers. We spent most of our time talking about some of the problems facing the United Methodist Church today. When he was asked “What are some things that need to change?” one of his answers surprised me. He said, “We need to preach about sin.” My friend went on to explain that he’s not talking about sermons about our mistakes and character flaws. When he says we need to preach sin he means the big stuff, the sins that resulted in the death of God’s Son: pride, indifference, fanaticism, lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, , , etc. If we take the cross the suffering that Christ endured there seriously we need to be truthful about ourselves and the church’s complicity in Christ’s suffering today.

At first I was puzzled by my friends comment. But as I thought about what he said, the more I recognized his wisdom. I cannot remember the last time I heard a sermon about sin from a United Methodist pulpit. I’ve heard countless sermons on how much God loves me and how God want the best for me and how good I really am in God’s eyes; but not a single word about the reality of the human condition and the reason for the cross.

The second Sunday of Advent presents an excellent opportunity to preach about sin and part of its cure, repentance. The preaching could talk about John and his ministry of calling the people to repentance as a way to prepare the way for One coming after him. John understood that the people needed to confront and repent of their sins before they could follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. But I’m not holding my breath that I’m going to hear anything even approaching that.

Last week I also had an opportunity to meet Dr. Donald Messer, Executive Director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS. He gave a presentation on his work of pulling the church into action on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. He told the group gathered to hear him about the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund administered by the General Board of Global Ministries. The goal is to raise $8 million by the end of 2008. That’s $1 for every member of the UMC in North America. The fund was organized after the 2004 General Conference.

The Fund is well short of its goal largely because most United Methodists in North America have not heard about it. I’m one of them. For example, last Sunday (December 2) was Global AIDS Sunday. HIV/AIDS was never mentioned during the worship, in announcements or in the bulletin. There was no mention in the newsletter. Nothing! Dr. Messer believes that United Methodists have not given to the Fund simply because they have not been asked.

One of the sins the global church, which includes the UMC, needs to repent is its indifference to the suffering and death of countless millions in Africa, south Asia, Latin America, and the USA from AIDS. On that day when Christ returns he will look at the North American church and say “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. … Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

I suspect this is one of the reasons most North American congregations choose to ignore Advent with its relentless emphasis on the coming again of Christ in favor of jumping right into Christmas. We don’t want to deal with things like repentance and judgment. We’d rather not contemplate our complicity in the suffering of Christ in the world that we can see, if we bother to look, in the faces of AIDS orphans.

I agree with my friend. We need to hear the truth about ourselves (sin) in this culture of over-indulgence, entertainment, gluttony, and individualism. Only then will our hearts ever be truly open to the one who can heal our disease and set us free for holiness of heart and life.

The Challenge of Advent

2007-12-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

Advent is a challenging time of the Christian calendar. It is difficult to keep because it always gets swallowed up by Christmas. When we get to the first Sunday of Advent the world around us is well into Christmas music, Christmas programs, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, and Christmas decorations and cards. When people go to worship that day and hear in the Gospel lesson the adult Jesus, shortly before his trial and crucifixion, talking about the coming day when he, the “Son of Man,” will return to judge the world they wonder “what’s this got to do with Christmas?”

If you read the Scripture lessons from the Old and New Testaments selected for the Sundays of Advent you very quickly see that the season is much more about the second coming of Christ than it is about his first coming. The four Sundays leading to Christmas are time for the church to look toward the future before it celebrates the past event of Jesus’ birth. This is the one time in the liturgical calendar the church devotes to reflection on the promised future God has in store for the world and its people. We get a glimpse of that future in the Old Testament lesson for today (Isaiah 2:1-5).

The theme for today, the first Sunday of Advent, is watchfulness. Are we paying attention? If Christ were to return today, would we, would you, be ready? Or, would we be too busy shopping, spending, eating, and partying with the rest of the world to be aware of the signs of Christ’s coming reign on earth as it is in heaven?

Christ’s invitation to us in Advent is also a challenge. It is an invitation because it is a gift of grace, hope, and freedom. It is challenge because it is counter-cultural. If we accept his invitation we will resist the world and its materialism, individualism, nationalism, racism, and narcissism. Christ’s invitation is to watch and be ready for the day he will come again. Paul describes it well when he says: “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness,
and put on the armor of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ
came to visit us in great humility;
that in the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Wesleyan mDNA

2007-11-19T11:54:00.000-06:00

“What if the church is not about attracting people into a building but living as God’s people in the public space of their own community and neighborhood?”[1]

This quote, and the book where I encountered it, have awakened me to a clearer perception of my work and ministry. To use a much over used phrase, I have experienced a paradigm shift. I think I now see more clearly the nature and purpose of the church as it is revealed in Scripture. And, I now see why the United Methodist Church in North America is dying.

We have forgotten our Wesleyan DNA. Or, to use Alan Hirsch’s term, mDNA (missional DNA). We have turned the church into an institution. We have encumbered it with structure, bureaucracy and real estate. Consequently, we talk about the church as a static edifice. It is the place we go on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. We go there to be blessed and to grow in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Church is what we do between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm on Sunday. It’s where we know we can go to receive religious goods and services. In other words, we have turned the church into a religious version of Wal-Mart.

In the vast majority of United Methodist congregations membership has very little meaning because there is very little expected. Church membership has been reduced to something akin to membership in Sam’s Club. You pay your nominal dues and then you are entitled to all the benefits of discounted goods and services. This is particularly true when most congregations reduce membership vows to “will you faithfully participate in [the local congregation’s] ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service.” Nothing is asked about rejecting the evil powers of this world and repenting of sin, accepting the freedom and power God gives to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, or confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

When we reduce membership to “prayers, presence, gifts and service” we put ourselves and the local congregation on center stage. Christ and his mission for the world is relegated to the margins. The church’s ministry is focused upon attracting as many people as possible to itself. Discipleship becomes an optional program. Mission is relegated to sending money and prayers to missionaries in foreign countries. And if the people who come happen to meet Jesus sometime along the way, well that’s a special blessing. What really matters is that people come to the church. To that end, the governing principle of most congregations is the General Rule of Pastoral Prudence: “The absolute minimum in obligations in order to keep the maximum number of people.”

I am convinced that one of the reasons the North American United Methodist is dying is that more and more people today are looking for meaning and purpose. They are drawn to communities that are missional. They yearn to give of themselves to something bigger than themselves. They want to make a difference in the world.

The Wesleyan movement was essentially missional in character. It attracted people to it because of the mission to “proclaim scriptural holiness and to reform the Church.” The Wesleys and Methodism were all about participating in Christ’s mission for the world: to prepare Earth for the coming reign of God. They were a people on a mission. And the mission was centered in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in, with, and for the world. The Wesleys understood that the church does not exist for itself, it exists for the world. People are drawn to it when it is like salt of the earth and light for the world.

We need to reawaken this latent Wesleyan mDNA present in the North American United Methodist Church. God’s reign will come with or without the United Methodist Church. Our task is to become the church that God can use; the kind of church that is like salt and light.

[1] Alan J. Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 170

Salt & Light

2007-11-15T09:23:00.000-06:00

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way , let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:13-16, NRSV).

As we come to the end of another liturgical year its good to take time for some the church to do some self examination. How is it with our covenantal relationships with God and with one another? How are we living Christ’s vision for his church to be salt of the earth and light of the world? Are we striving to become what God created the church to become: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic?

To be “one” is the first mark of the church. Are we one with each other? Are we a community that is united in faith, hope, and love? This one-ness is expressed most powerfully by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians:

“… make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Paul also makes clear the necessity of diversity within this unity. There is a diversity of gifts and callings and personalities, all of which work together to compose the church as the “body of Christ.”

Holiness is the second mark of the church. To be holy is to be set apart; to be in but not of the world. To be holy is to be different, to be a community that reflects the reign of God and not the values and character of the culture of the world. John Wesley had a very simple and straightforward definition of holiness: It is loving the Lord your God with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength, and loving the neighbor. And the neighbor is anyone, near or far, who is in need; especially the poor. In other words a church that is holy is a community that directs all of itself in loving God. Its love for God is lived out in the world through loving all in the world that God loves, including the enemy. Also, loving God is expressed through loving one another. Holiness is seen through the ways we care for, encourage, and admonish one another. Do we watch over one another in love? Do we welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, and care for the sick? Do we seek reconciliation with those who hate and persecute us?

The third mark of the church is to be “catholic.” This is not to be confused with being “Roman Catholic.” When we say we are a “catholic” church we say we are ecumenical. In other words, we affirm the doctrines and creeds of historic Christianity. We affirm the distinctives of our own tradition while also affirming and accepting other traditions. To be catholic is to acknowledge and celebrate all that we hold in common:

Faith in God who is one and triune; whom we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Faith in the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Trust in the saving power of God active in the world in the Holy Spirit
The forgiveness of sins
The resurrection of the body
and life in the world to come, the coming reign of God

A church that is catholic sees itself and lives in the world as an outpost, an embassy, of the reign of God. It understands itself to be not an independent community but part and representative of the universal Church of Jesus Christ.

Finally the church is apostolic. To be apostolic means we are sent by God into the world as agents of love and justice; as ambassadors of the coming reign of God. This simply means that the church exists for the world. It does not exist to serve itself. The mission and ministry of an apostolic church is directed outward with Jesus in, with, and for the world. An apostolic church is a pilgrim people of God moving toward the coming reign of God. The members are formed and equipped to be missionaries in the world to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the lesson we just read from the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus gives us his vision for the community of disciples; the community we know today as the church. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” and “You are the light of the world.” When he says “You” here he means “y’all” or “all y’all”. He’s referring to the community of disciples. We, together, are salt and light for the world. Jesus is telling us here that his community exists for the world, not for itself.

Salt and light are common and essential elements of life. They are “down-to-earth,” ordinary, and everywhere. Which is to say the church is to be “down-to-earth”, ordinary, and everywhere. In other words, the church is not to be so heavenly minded that it is no earthly good. It must connect the lives of real people with the real, living God who has become one with us in Jesus Christ.

Let’s think a little about what it means to be salt and light for the world. Salt and light bring out the best in all they touch. Jesus knew that salt makes food taste better. It brings out the flavors and helps us to savor its goodness. Light brings out the colors and beauty of creation. Light allows us to see the world and to see the faces of our neighbors.

The church that is salt and light reveals to the world all that life can be, and will be when the reign of God comes. It seasons the world with the flavor of God’s reign that we can know and experience now in the person of Jesus Christ: who is good news for the poor, who gives recovery of sight for the blind, who gives release to the captives, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Mt. 11:5).

When the church is “light of the world” it gives a glimpse of the reign of God present now and awakens us to the reign of love and justice that is coming. The apostle Paul describes this in Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” And the prophet Isaiah: “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoner from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is. 42:6b-7). Light means hope and faith. Light means we have a future.

Salt and light do not derive their character from themselves. Nor do they exist for themselves. The purpose of salt is to season and preserve. Its character comes from the combining of its elements, sodium and chloride. Its important for the church to always remember it, like salt, does not exist for its own benefit. The church of Jesus Christ exists for the world—to season the world with the love and justice of God. Its “salt” character does not come from itself. It comes from God. Salty churches are those congregations that intentionally center their lives and ministry on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They strive to attend to all of the historic marks of the church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The church that seeks to be “light of the world” must always remember the source of the light, and that they are not it. The love of God is the light of the world. The church is to be the window through which the light of God shines. Part of the church’s task is to keep the window clean and free of debris and distractions that may diffuse or distort the light of God.

The church is salt and light when it keeps its eyes, ears, and heart on Jesus Christ. The church is salt and light when it is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. We do this when all that we do and say witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world. We do this when we follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As you prepare for Advent and Christmas I invite you to re-commit yourself to the mission Christ has given you. Do all in your power to be one in Christ and one in mission for the world. Do all in your power to be holy as you are good news for the poor and channels of God’s love for the world revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son. Do all in your power to be catholic as you reach out in mission and ministry with your many and diverse sisters and brothers in Christ. Do all in your power to be apostolic as you witness and serve with Christ in the world to be good news to the poor, release to captives, open the eyes of the blind, and liberation to the oppressed. Watch over one another in love and do all in your power to increase faith, confirm hope, and perfect one another in love. Live in the world as Christ’s ambassadors of the good news of his coming kingdom of love, righteousness and justice.

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a lamp stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God,k this generous Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:13-16, The Message by Eugene Peterson).

Prayers for Veterans/Remembrance Day

2007-11-11T22:50:00.001-06:00

Almighty God, from whose love in Christ
we cannot be parted, by death or by life:
hear our prayers and thanksgivings
for those whom we remember this day.
Fulfil in them the purpose of your love;
and bring us, with them, to your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We give thanks this day, O Lord of hosts,
for all that makes our common life secure;
for the peace and freedom we enjoy;
and for the opportunity that is ours
of building a better order of society
for the generation to come.

We remember with pride and gratitude
those who fought and died to make this possible;
and we pray that the memory of their sacrifice
may inspire in us the resolve to seek your kingdom
and to do your will for the world of our day;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Source unknown)

Almighty God,
we commend to your gracious care and keeping
all the men and women of our armed forces
at home and abroad.
Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace;
strengthen them in their trials and temptations;
give them courage to face the perils which beset them;
and grant them a sense of your abiding presence
wherever they may be;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer)

One Thing I Hope Will Emerge from “The United Methodist Way” Event

2007-11-11T16:08:00.000-06:00

The Council of Bishops and extended cabinets have been meeting at Lake Junaluska this weekend. They’ve been learning and discussing “The United Methodist Way.” You can check out the documents they’ve been using to guide their conversations here: http://www.gbod.org/extendedcabinet/.

I’m very encouraged that this event is happening and that the Council of Bishops is leading the way for a conversation on the United Methodist Way. This is a conversation that we need to have. What does it mean to be a Christian today in The United Methodist Church? How can we get beyond all that divides us and begin to work together in mission guided by what unites us? I believe that when we put all the idolatrous ideologies aside we will find that we have much around with to unite.

One thing I hope will emerge from the event is a renewed emphasis upon teaching and putting into practices the General Rules. This simple document is the heart of the “method” of Methodism. We see this in the few sentences that preface the “rules:”

“There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admission into these societies: ‘a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins.’ But wherever this is really fixed in the soul it will be shown by its fruits.

It is therefore expected of all who continue therein that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, …”

The rules that follow are intended to provide guidance for how the people called Methodists can live out their desire for salvation. Wesley clearly states that belief in the saving power of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not enough. If you want to be a Christian you must show it by what you do, by how you live your life in the world. Belief leads to faith. Faith leads to practice.

These lines also reveal that while “desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from … sins” is all that is required to enter the society, the society will love you enough to help you turn that desire into reality. The mission of the society is to provide a community of nurture, support and accountability that will equip you to grow from one desiring salvation to one who can know that you are “saved by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). And you will be helped to “work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12b) through obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ summarized by him in the “Great Commandments:”

“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:30-31).

The General Rules provide a simple and practical guide, a “rule of life,” to equip a congregation to lead its people into a life of obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ. This is, after all, how people have historically been formed as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. It is how people live out the requirement of discipleship given by Jesus in Luke 9:23, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Obedience to the commands to love is the “cross” Jesus teaches his disciples to take up daily. Christian life is a “cross-shaped” life of obedience that leads to freedom and healing. The General Rules are the Methodist rule of life that equips a community to lead people into the life of discipleship as witnesses to Jesus Christ and followers of his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I pray that the Extended Cabinet event will be a first step toward re-claiming the method of Methodism. That it will inspire and equip bishops and superintendents to encourage not only teaching and training in discipleship guided by the General Rules but also a renewed emphasis upon the importance of practicing the means of grace, the works of piety (acts of worship and devotion) and works of mercy (acts of justice and compassion) through which people of faith have historically made themselves available to God by meeting God in the places where God promises to always meet us.

I also pray that we do not receive yet another program from the UMPH. If the “United Methodist Way” is reduced to yet another program it is almost guaranteed to have no lasting impact upon the church. We do not need any more programs! We have all the programs we need. In fact, we have right now the very best programs (Disciple Bible study, Walk to Emmaus, Companions in Christ, Christian Believer, etc., etc.) of any church in the history of Christianity. And look where they have gotten us. We are more polarized, shrinking in membership, and more illiterate of our own tradition and practices than ever before. Programs will not renew the church.

What we need is a renewed emphasis upon the historic practices of United Methodism, which includes the General Rules and the system of small groups that support learning and putting the Rules into practice. What we need is, therefore, a renewed emphasis upon the grace of God experienced through acceptance, repentance, faith, and sanctification. We need to not only teach people about grace and the means of grace, but to expect United Methodists to practice the works of piety and works of mercy in their daily lives. We need to help the people of the church form those holy habits through which they become channels of grace for the world and the church will once again become salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16).

Who me? A Saint?

2007-11-01T11:28:00.000-05:00

A sermon for All Saints based upon Luke 6:20-31.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "saint?" Many of you probably think of a statue of some famous Christian of the distant past like St. Patrick or St. Francis of Assisi. When we call someone a "saint," they often have a reputation for being exceptionally good, decent, righteous people. We think of a "saint" as being someone who always does the right thing. But, of course, you could never be a "saint."

Or could you?

All Saints is the day we remember all the people who have touched our lives, inspired and helped to form our faith.

Saints, according to Scripture, are people God has made holy. Saints are people whose lives were lived in harmony with the life of Jesus Christ. Saints are people whose lives were directed and committed to the cause of Jesus Christ in the world. Their lives were good news to the poor, the broken, the hungry, the oppressed and the prisoner. A saint is a person whose life became, by grace, an extension of Jesus' life in the world. They were Jesus' hands, feet, arms, and voice to the people of their world.

The Bible is filled with stories of saints: Abraham and Sarah believed God and, at nearly 100 years of age, gave birth to a son named Isaac. Because of their faith, God made them the ancestors of many nations. Moses and Miriam believed God and led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt. Joshua and Deborah lead the new nation of Israel in times of crisis. Ruth and David were examples of faithfulness. Mary and Joseph trusted God and gave birth to God's son, Jesus. They raised him and taught him the trade of a carpenter. Because of them, Jesus became a builder in a world that wears down. Jesus' disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, Martha, Mary, Mary Magdalene and others are all examples of the people we call saints.

When you read the stories about these people you see what they have in common. First, they all have faith in God. Second, they are willing to struggle with the world and with God to be faithful. Third, they are imperfect, ordinary folk who make mistakes just like you and me. Finally, they are saints because they were willing to become who God made them to be. In other words, it's God's love, God's justice, God's righteousness, and God's grace that made them saints. They are people who surrendered themselves to God; who allowed God's love, justice, righteousness, and grace to flow through them. They are God's lights against the darkness of sin, injustice, poverty, oppression, hate and selfishness that fill the world. They are beacons of hope in a world that often seems hopeless.

In Luke 6:20-31, Jesus gives us a description of a saint.
He begins:

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man."

Jesus is saying saints live among the poor, the hungry, and those who weep now for the victims of the violence and the oppression of poverty and hunger. The saints are those who stand with Jesus. When you stand with Jesus, you stand with the poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the sick, the outcast and the despised people of the world. Often, when you stand with and for these people, you become a target of hatred and slander.

Jesus says a saint is one who loves his or her enemies. A saint is one who refuses to respond to violence with violence. A saint is generous and merciful.

A saint is an ordinary person who is willing to walk faithfully with Jesus.

Saints are found in every age. Can you think of some modern day saints? I can think of several famous saints of the 20th century: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and teacher who stood against Hitler and the Nazis. Ellie Wiesel, the Jewish writer and poet, who survived the Holocaust and devotes his life to helping others resist evil and hatred. Mahatma Ghandi, the Indian leader who gave his life to the cause of justice and non-violence for his people and all the world. Rosa Parks, the African American woman who resisted the forces of racism and helped to make justice accessible to all people in the U.S. And Mother Theresa who served Jesus as she served the sick and dieing poor of Calcutta, India.

But there are many more anonymous saints among us today. One that comes to my mind is my grandfather, John Henry Tallakson. His love for me helped me to understand God's love. He taught me to fish and showed me that being a man means being patient, compassionate and kind. I'm sure that all of you can think of saints in your lives.

A saint is a person whose faith in God is lived out through their love for others.

A saint is anyone who does their best to live out their faith in God through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion. A saint is anyone who serves and gives of themselves for others. A saint is a person whose life is good news to their world; especially those who are poor, broken, and outcast.

There are saints among us today. I invite you to look around you at the faces in you meet on the street, in your workplace, school, church, and home. What makes y’all saints is your faith in God and willingness to act on God's call to live out your faith through loving, self-giving service; to be good news to the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the despised people of the world.

In baptism, Christ chooses and calls us to be saints. In baptism, we are incorporated into the communion of saints. As we live and grow and mature in the faith Christ gives, as the community of the church nurtures and teaches us, we are empowered by Christ's spirit to become saints. Whenever the community gathers around the Lord’s table to break bread and share the cup, we gather with all the saints who have gone before us, all those who are among us now and all those who are yet to come.

The celebration of All Saints is meant to remind us that we are not alone, we come from a long line of saints who have lived, served, struggled, suffered, rejoiced, and died as people chosen and called by God to be good news for the world and light shining in the darkness. We stand on their shoulders. Let us remember and celebrate the saints who have touched and inspired our lives. Let us give thanks and praise to God for all God has given us through their lives. And, let us re-commit our lives to becoming the saints Christ calls us to become. Amen.

Prayer for the Survivors of Southern California Fires

2007-10-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

I was prompted this morning to pray for the people who have lost their homes and belongings to fire in Souther California. I pray especially for the fire fighters, police, EMTs, and relief workers who are serving and caring for the survivors; many of whom have lost their own homes to the fires.

The following is an adapted version of a prayer from Book of Common Prayer:

O merciful Father, who has taught us in your holy Word that
you do not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men:
Look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Southern California:
those who have lost their homes to fire,
those who are fighting the fires,
and those who are working to relieve the suffering of survivors
for whom our prayers are offered.
Remember them, O Lord, in mercy,
nourish their souls with patience,
comfort them with a sense of your goodness,
lift up your countenance upon them,
and give them peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Spiritual Narcissism

2007-10-25T16:19:00.003-05:00

The North American church is thoroughly enculturated. In other words, it is little more than a mirror image of the dominant culture that is governed by market economy, consumerism, and individualism. The market driven consumerism is necessarily self-centered. Consequently, much of North American Christianity is self-centered.

Evidence of this may be found at a typical worship service on any given Sunday in a typical Protestant church. It doesn’t matter if you visit a main line or independent evangelical congregation. You’re likely to hear prayers, hymns, and a sermon that are much more about who the people are, their needs, and what God wants for them. It is a rare congregation that focuses its worship on the holy, triune God. Rather, enculturated worship focuses upon making the people have a good, pleasant experience that “feeds” them and leaves them feeling good about themselves and their church.

One of my favorite writers, Mark Galli, has written another excellent article that addresses the unfortunate and challenging reality of “spiritual narcissism” that permeates much of North American Christianity. You can read it here: “Am I Growing Yet?”

Accompanying Galli’s article is an online survey provided by Christianity Today asking people how satisfied they are with how their congregation helps them with spiritual growth. The vast majority of people of poll respondents express dissatisfaction with how their congregation helps them to grow spiritually.

I’m convinced that if we took a similar poll among only United Methodists we will find a similar result. And yet, we have at our disposal today the very best resources for Christian spiritual formation in the history of the church. We have the most educated clergy and laity in the history of Christianity. And yet, people are dissatisfied with how their church helps them to grow spirituality. What does that tell you?

It tells me that while we have great resources available, we don’t know how to use them. Very few congregations offer a systematic process of catechesis. They do not require all members to participate in a catechetical process as part of their membership responsibilities. In fact, most congregations have such low requirements and expectations of membership that there spiritual growth is a benefit rather than an responsibility. I’m convinced this unfortunate reality is a consequence of the North American Protestant church being a dispenser of cheap, rather than costly responsible, grace.

Values Voters?

2007-10-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

The so-called “Values Voters” held a convention in Washington, DC last weekend. All the Republican presidential candidates showed up (were the Democratic party candidates invited?) to plead their cases as to why he was the one who most deserved their votes. It seems none of them received a clear majority. Surprisingly, the guy who won the straw poll, Mitt Romney, is not even a Christian.

What I find most troubling about this group and the event, judging from what I’ve read about it in the press and seen online and on television, is the two issues that “Values Voters” hold up as their litmus test: abortion and gay marriage. They are looking for a presidential candidate who will do all in his power to overturn Rowe v. Wade and support a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

My question is “Why are these two issues the most important?”

I find troubling that a group of people who identify themselves as evangelical Christians identify these issues as the ones they are willing to live and die by. I’ve not heard, seen, or read about anyone from this convention say anything about alleviating poverty, making sure that all Americans have access to health insurance and quality health care, addressing the global AIDS pandemic, or the immorality of preemptive war. I heard nothing about seeking to align their vision for America with Jesus’ vision for life in God’s reign (see Matthew 5:1-7:29 and Luke 4:18-19).

The values of these so-called “Values Voters” seems to me to way to narrow and ideological for a group that also identifies themselves as followers of the Jew from Nazareth, crucified and risen one Jesus Christ. It seems to me that his values encompassed the whole of human life and all people. His values especially centered around the needs of people who are poor, sick, and outcasts. They are the ones with whom he explicitly identified himself (Matthew 25:31-46). And yet, the so-called “Values Voters” had nothing to say about them.

I don’t understand. It seems to me there is a major disconnect with the values of Jesus Christ (the reign of God) and the so-called “Values Voters.”

Towards a Missional Church

2007-10-18T13:27:00.000-05:00

“What if the church is not about attracting people into a building but living as God’s people in the public space of their own community and neighborhood?”[1]

“The church is not simply a gathering of well-meaning individuals who have entered into a social contract to meet their privately defined self-interests. It is, instead, an intentional and disciplined community witnessing to the power and the presence of God’s reign.”[2]

I’ve been in the church all my life. I was baptized as an infant in the Methodist Church. I was a 14 year old youth when we became The United Methodist Church. For much of my adult life I’ve felt an uneasiness about the character of the local church. This dis-ease has intensified by theological education, 10 years of pastoral experience and 8 years working at a general agency.

I say dis-ease because my experience of much of local church life and ministry is that of a place where people come as consumers of religious goods and services. Programs are equated with discipleship. In fact, in most congregations discipleship is little more than a program. It is one option among many for those who want to try it out. When discipleship is an option rather than an expectation of membership the church can no longer be the church, it becomes another social organization; albeit with a religious veneer.

I’ve recently read some books that give me hope for the church. The books are reassuring to me because they are a tangible sign that many others have had a similar experience and dis-ease with the contemporary North American church. The quotes at the top of this article are from two of the books: Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, edited by Darrell Guder and The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan J. Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk. Others are Transforming Mission by David Bosch and The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. All these books describe a Biblical vision for the church. They remind me that the purpose of the church is not to serve me and my needs. Rather, the purpose of the church is to be a sign-community for the coming reign of God. The church is intended to be a disciplined community of servants witnessing to and working alongside Jesus Christ in the world; preparing the world for the coming reign of God. The church’s task is to order its life so that it participates in Christ work in, with, and for the world.

All these books also make clear that God does not need the church. God’s reign will come on earth as it is in heaven, with or without the church. Certainly, God’s desire is for the church to be a channel of grace for the world; a sign that reveals and points the way to God’s coming reign. God wants the world to get a glimpse of the kingdom through the life and witness of the church. And, in Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, God has given the church all it needs to become all God intended it to be.

John and Charles Wesley were missional leaders of a missional movement. They knew that the church was to be salt and light for the world. The Methodist mission was to help the church to become more fully what God created it to be. They witnessed to Jesus Christ in the world and followed his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If the church I know today is ever to make the shift from voluntary society to missional community of Jesus Christ it must first acknowledge that we live in a post-Christian culture. Christendom is dead. We need to stop pretending that it is not.

One way to make this shift is to take membership seriously. We need to claim the church membership described in the whole Baptismal Covenant. When people offer themselves for membership in the local congregation we must stop simply asking them to be loyal to the UMC and to support it through their prayers, presence, gifts and service. We need to invite them into the whole of the Baptismal Covenant. We do them nor the church any favors when we let them believe that church membership begins with them. When we invite them into the Baptismal Covenant we tell them that church membership begins with God. They first declare their loyalty to God, along with the entire congregation. And God wants the whole person, not just their prayers, presence, gifts and service. Church membership is about the whole person: heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is also a call to obedience and service, to self-denial, “cross-bearing” and following where Jesus Christ leads.

[1] Alan J. Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 170.

[2] Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998), 159.

Can the Church be a faithful Witness to Jesus Christ through Marketing?

2007-10-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

In my humble opinion marketing is the bane of the contemporary church. When the church resorts to marketing strategies it will always tend to, as marketers are trained to do, distort the truth in order to get attention and attract a crowd of consumers.

Which is precisely the problem. Marketing is all about reaching the maximum number of consumers to purchase your goods and services. Christ, and by extension, the church is not interested in consumption. The church ought not be in the business of attracting consumers of religious goods and services, unless of course its intention is to convert them into servants and witnesses for Jesus Christ.

Mark Galli has written an excellent piece on this topic. You'll find it here: Do I Have a Witness?

Members of the Body of Christ

2007-09-28T09:13:00.000-05:00

We United Methodists need to re-claim a Biblical and historic practice of church membership. You see, the current paradigm is that joining the church is the same as joining a club or civic group. We ask prospective members a couple of perfunctory questions about loyalty to The United Methodist Church and participating in the local congregation by their prayers, presence, gifts, and service (even though they should be asked the Baptismal questions (UMH 34) first) and they’re in. I many congregations I’ve visited, the pastor does all the asking and welcoming. There is no congregational response or participation in receiving new members.

Consequently, being a member of the church is regarded as just like being part of a club, society, or civic organization. Only in the church, because we have open minds, hearts, and doors its much easier to join a United Methodist church. We have very low expectations. We are like a religious social club. Members expect to be served and to have their various needs met. The paid church staff are the servants of the church members. They are their to provide religious goods and services; to make the members feel good about themselves and to not make too many demands upon their time or money. When they feel their needs are not being met, members feel free to begin shopping for a better place.

This understanding of membership is, of course, not biblical or historic because the church is not a religious social club or society. The church is the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12ff). Being a member of the church, therefore, is like being part of a living organism. Membership in the body of Christ is not the same as membership in a club or civic group. The privileges and benefits of membership in the body of Christ are loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. This love sets you free for joyful obedience and service with Christ in his work of preparing the world for the coming reign of God.

When we see the church as the living, breathing body of Christ it becomes more difficult to join and to separate from the body. Both require very deliberate processes. Both involve effort and some suffering on the part of the member and the body.

I’m convinced that one of the reasons so many people are leaving The United Methodist Church is because they realize that we don’t take membership seriously. We treat it like any other group. But the church isn’t just any other group. And they know it. They want to be part of the body of Christ, not a religious social club.

Worship Goes Big-Screen

2007-09-25T13:12:00.000-05:00

I read this article in today's online edition of the Washington Post: "Worship Goes Big-Screen and Hi-Fi, With Direct-Deposit Tithing"

There's nothing new here. However, it is yet another brick in the wall that turns worship into entertainment, confuses evangelism with new member recruitment, and equates church growth with making disciples. The line that jumped off the page for me is,

"But mostly, leaders are hoping that all the high-tech equipment will help lure more people to their pews and make their places of worship more interactive and user-friendly."

We've come to a very trying place when a writer will, in all seriousness, put conjoin "worship" and "user-friendly." As if the worship of the living and holy God, the crucified and risen Lord of the Universe could or, ever should be, "user-friendly." This makes me grieve for the church that has apparently lost nearly all consciousness of the mission of God for the world and replaced it with marketing and church growth strategies.

No Accidental Disciples

2007-09-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

In Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices [1] Douglas Yeo, a trombone player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, talks about how discipline and practice set him free to make music. To illustrate his point he tells us what his teacher told him years ago:

“World class trombone players do not just happen. Their talents are forged in the dual furnaces of determination and diligence.”

From this Mr. Yeo learned that “nothing good comes about simply by accident. That there is work involved.”

Jazz is the music that has taught me the most about discipleship. Jazz is always played with at least two players and as many as 50 or 100. Jazz helps us understand discipleship because it is an expression of freedom and new possibilities drawing us closer to God. A typical performance begins with the band playing a melody. The leader then begins to improvise. As he or she plays with the theme, the band plays supporting chords. As each player takes a turn at improvisation, he or she is supported by the band. Improvisation requires skilled and close listening to one another.

This process of listening and mutual support sets each player free to play with the music and see where it can lead them. The goal is to allow the music to take them to new places and new possibilities. All the practice, discipline, listening, and mutual respect for the music and one another allows the musicians to get out of the way and allow the music to play them.

In the waters of baptism God calls us into discipleship. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is very much like becoming a musician. Certainly, God does not give everyone the gift of making music. However, because we are all created in the image of God, we are all given the same gift: the capacity to give and receive love. The goal of discipleship is to develop this gift to its fullest capacity. Along the way our character, which has been damaged by sin, will be restored to wholeness into the image of Christ. As we grow and mature in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, love becomes a natural response and way of life in the world. This process is what John Wesley called “holiness of heart and life,” “sanctification,” and “Christian perfection.”

Making disciples, like making musicians, does not happen by accident. It is done with intention born of love for God and love for those whom God calls into God’s household in baptism. The Baptismal covenant provides the compass headings for how to make disciples. In it United Methodist congregations will find guidance for developing an intentional process, or system, for making disciples of Jesus Christ. Such a system will be immersed in the grace of God from which all of the respective pieces emerge. The goal of the system is a community whose form and witness in the world are defined by holiness of heart and life.

[1] A video (DVD) presentation of grace and the means of grace in the Wesleyan tradition. It is available from Discipleship Resources (800-972-0433) and Cokesbury.

A Sermon for September 16, 2007

2007-09-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

“A Dangerous and Unpredictable Love”
1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10

As I was walking our dog yesterday morning and listening to my iPod,
I heard a song that helped me understand the message in today’s Scripture lessons. The song is “Just One More Thing” by singer/songwriter, Sara Groves. There’s a line that she repeats a couple of times: “At the end of your life your relationships are all you've got.”

Life ultimately comes down to our relationships; with our spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, friends, classmates, and co-workers, neighbors, strangers, and even our enemies. But, and this is where today’s Scripture lessons come in, our ultimate, most important relationship, the one that determines the character and shape of all others, is our relationship with God.

Today’s Scripture lessons tell us that our ultimate, most important relationship is with God. How we relate to God determines how we live our lives and relate to others. We see this in Luke 15:1-2,

"Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, 'This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.'”

Jesus had a proper understanding of his relationship with God, his Father. Therefore he was very comfortable with all people; particularly, those who knew themselves as sinners. These ones Luke refers to here saw themselves as sinners because their world and its culture told them so every day of their lives. They were “sinners” because of the kind of work they were consigned to do: shepherds, ditch diggers, garbage collectors, tax collectors, prostitutes, and beggars. They were the people relegated to the margins of society. They were the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, and mentally ill. They were also the Gentiles, people from non-Jewish cultures. It was believed that they or their parents had done something to earn God’s disfavor and, therefore, their condition and status as “sinners.”

The Pharisees and scribes, on the other hand, saw themselves as good and righteous people; servants of God. They were confident that they were God’s chosen ones because they kept all of the religious laws and rituals. They were the keepers and teachers of the law of Moses. They believed that righteousness was derived from doing all the right things: reading and studying the Scriptures, praying several times a day, abstaining from certain foods and behaviors, and, to the best of their ability, keeping all of Moses’ law. Because they believed themselves to be the righteous ones, they felt justified as they looked down upon those who were different from them, and to call them “sinners.” Which is why they complained about Jesus as a man who regularly hung out with sinners and tax collectors. They were scandalized by Jesus’ behavior.

I once heard a story that illustrates the problem Luke reveals here:

Two men approach the pearly gates. Saint Peter greets the first man saying,
“Vinny! We’re very pleased to welcome you to Heaven. We’ve been watching your life closely and have deeply appreciated your work. Give Vinny one of the fine silk robes and show him to his mansion. Then Saint Peter turns to Pastor Johnson. “Welcome to Heaven Pastor Johnson. We’ve been expecting you. Give Pastor Johnson one of the cotton robes and show him to his efficiency apartment. Pastor Johnson then protests, “Wait just a darn minute. Why do I get a cotton robe and efficiency apartment when Vinny gets a fine silk robe and a mansion? Don’t you know who I am? I was a United Methodist pastor for forty years. I baptized countless babies, married hundreds of couples, preached thousands of sermons and did my very best to serve your church. I worked really hard at being good. Don’t I deserve something better than a cotton robe and an efficiency apartment? After all, Vinnie was just a cab driver. He rarely went to church and he was known to frequent taverns, and mix with people of questionable character. Why does he get the silk robe and mansion instead of me. St. Peter listened patiently to Pastor Johnson. Then he said to him, “It’s not about being good or doing a lot of good deeds. It’s about knowing who and whose you are and being open to receiving and giving God’s love. “Besides, when you preached people went to sleep. When Vinny drove his cab, people prayed.”

You see, Pastor Johnson acted like the Pharisee and scribes. Because he devoted his life to serving the church he thought he was better then Vinny. Vinny, on the other hand, knew that he was a sinner. Pastor Johnson, who should have known better, could not admit that he was a sinner, no better and no worse, than Vinnie.

This is the point Jesus is making in the parables we read this morning.
Paul also states it very clearly in the passage we read from his first letter to Timothy. We must understand accept that we are sinners before we can receive and accept the gift of salvation with open hands and hearts.

Paul is a Pharisee who got it right. Remember, that before he became an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul was Saul of Tarsus. He describes his credentials in Philippians 3:4-7,

"If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ."

Even though he had done everything right throughout his life in accordance with the law and was a Pharisee, because of his relationship with the risen Christ, he understood that God does not accept us because of our accomplishments. Nothing we do can be good enough to earn God’s love and acceptance. And nothing we do can ever be bad enough to stop God from loving us and trying to restore relationship with us in Christ. This love is what we call grace.

It is grace because it is pure gift. Jesus Christ is this love come to earth in human flesh and blood. Paul describes the good news of God’s love for the world in 1 Timothy 1:15,

"The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost."

God loves the world so much that he became one of us to defeat the powers of sin and death. God loves the world so much that he took all the evil and sin of the world into himself on the cross and suffered and died. God loves the world so much that he rose again and defeated the power of death forever. God’s love and life is offered freely to all who come to him with empty hands and open hearts. This love is unpredictable because it is given freely to all who come knowing themselves to be sinners in need of forgiveness and healing. It is dangerous because it will set you free to love as God loves. In this world that is worships merit, coercive power, and security God’s love and those who are its ambassadors, are regarded as threats that must be persecuted.

God’s love is the source of all love. We can love only because God first loved us. In the presence of God’s love we realize that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a good news, bad news, good news story. It begins with the truth that we are created good in the image of God. God created us good to live as his children and members of his household. The bad news is that we are fallible creatures made of flesh and blood, and God gave us freedom to choose good and evil, and we too often choose evil. We take advantage of the freedom God gives us and convince ourselves that we can make our own way in the world without God or God’s law of love. This propensity to get off course, to live by our own wants and desires, to set ourselves up as gods in control of our own destiny, is what the Bible calls Sin. This sin results in alienation from God and from one another. It leads to individualism, self-centeredness, violence, and disease. But, there’s more good news! We heard it stated by the apostle Paul: “… that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners …” The writer of John puts it this way:

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).

In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God gives the gift of new life and freedom from sin, fear, and death. All we have to do is allow God to honestly acknowledge our own brokenness, that we are sinners who need forgiveness and healing. When we come to God as sinners, knowing that God is God and we are not, then we come to God with empty hands and open hearts to receive the love, life, and healing that comes only from the living God.

“At the end of your life your relationships are all you've got.”
Amen.

Making Disciples

2007-06-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

How are disciples made? The mission of The United Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” The church believes that the local congregation is the context of disciple-making. Congregations are present in towns, neighborhoods, cities, and communities as outposts of the Church. God is worshiped, sacraments are celebrated and administered, and the gospel is proclaimed in mission and ministry in the world through the lives and witness of the people (baptized and professing Christians). The local congregation is the place where disciples are made because it is where the church intersects with the world, witnessing to Jesus Christ, introducing seeking people to him, and inviting them to give themselves to him.

If disciples are made then it seems that we can say with some certainty that there is a method or process for making them. In other words, one does not become a disciple by accident. Making something implies intention and planning. It is a process in which the materials used are shaped, formed or assembled into something new and different. For example when a factory sets out to make an automobile it begins with a set of parts and a step-by-step procedure for assembling the parts into a working automobile. The various parts are assembled by the hands and labor of several people with varying levels of expertise and training. At each stage of the process the work-in-progress is examined for quality and to make sure that all the parts are assembled properly. Each person involved contributes to the final goal of a car that works dependably and satisfies the customer who will ultimately purchase it. Nothing is left to chance or accident. Every step of the manufacturing process is well planned and executed by trained mechanics.

Making disciples is in some ways similar to making a car. However, this is probably not the best illustration. Such a manufacturing process does not apply to human beings well because the goal of an assembly line is automobiles that are identical. The first car is the same as the 100th car is the same as the 1000th. The goal of disciple-making cannot be to produce people who are identical in belief, practice and appearance. A more appropriate example for disciple-making is that of making pottery. We find this in Scripture

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 8:3-6)

The precious children of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold--
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands! (Lamentations 4:2)

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? (Romans 9:21)

Like clay in the hand of the potter,
to be molded as he pleases,
so all are in the hand of their Maker,
to be given whatever he decides. (Sirach 33:13)

The image of potter and clay is appropriate for disciple-making because people are like the clay. Each type of clay is different and unique. The potter must know the characteristics of the clay before work begins. The type of clay determines the kind of vessel that can be formed from it. The potter then applies his or her knowledge of the clay and the vision for the finished product to shape and form the clay into the desired vessel. Like the assembly line, however, the potter plans and follows a series of steps that lead to the formation of the finished product. The difference is that hand-made pieces contain individual characteristics and flaws that make each one different and unique.

God is the potter who supplies the clay and the vision for the shape and use of the vessel. God also provides the tools necessary for shaping and forming each piece. One of the tools is the community of the congregation. The people, each of whom God is forming, help to form one another. They are, in a way, like the fingers of the potter’s hands, shaping, applying pressure, repairing, and guiding the clay into the shape that God seeks for it.

This image, however, presents some problems. First, clay is inanimate. It has no freedom or choice in what happens to it. In the pottery process the clay is passive. It conforms to what ever shape is imposed upon it. After the clay is dried and baked in the kiln it will remain in the same shape forever. The only way it can change is by breaking into pieces. It can never start over. It cannot grow or change over time. While the image of potter and clay works as a good illustration for disciple-making, it is ultimately unsatisfactory.

Yet another, more appropriate, metaphor for disciple-making is that of learning to make music. Listening to music has helped me understand Christian discipleship. I have loved and enjoyed music all my life. I have even made efforts at becoming a musician by playing around with my guitar. Listening to music, watching musicians make music, and talking to them have helped me understand that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is very much like being a musician.

Making music, like discipleship, begins with love. People become musicians because they are drawn to and learn to love music. The music attracts them to an instrument such as the piano, guitar, horn, violin, or drums. They next must find a teacher who will help them learn how to make music with their instrument. People become musicians from other musicians who are seasoned and who know how to share their love of music with others who want to learn. Like discipleship, music and music-making are personal and social. It is personal but not private.

A person seeking to become a musician very soon learns the importance of study, discipline, and practice. No matter how much natural talent God has given, all musicians understand the necessity of learning and practicing the basics over and over and over again. They know that discipline and practice sets them free to make music. I know a man who is a gifted trumpet player. He plays with various groups around town and often plays in church worship services. In a conversation with him I learned he had been playing the trumpet for over thirty years. He also taught trumpet at a local university. When I asked him “At this point in your life, how much do you need to practice?” his response helped me understand the link between making music and discipleship. He told me “I know from experience that if I’m going to play to the best of the ability God has given me, I need to practice at least an hour every day. If I’m preparing for public performance, I need to practice two hours a day.” This musician understands that discipline and practicing the basics every day set him free to allow the music God has given him to play.

Making music, like discipleship, requires listening, accountability and support. The purpose of discipline and practice is to prepare the musician for public performance with other musicians. Whether music is played in small groups or a large orchestra it is essential that the players listen to one another and follow the leader.

Jazz is the music that has taught me the most about discipleship. Jazz is always played with at least two players and as many as 50 or 100. Jazz helps us understand discipleship because it is an expression of freedom and new possibilities. A typical performance begins with the band playing a familiar melody; each playing their distinct part. After two are three times through the song, one of the players begins to improvise on the melody. As he or she plays with the theme, each of the other members of the band play supporting chords. As each player takes a turn at improvisation, he or she is supported by the band. All this requires skilled and close listening to one another. This process of listening and mutual support sets each player free to play with the music and see where it can lead them. The goal is to allow the music to take them to new places and new possibilities. All the practice, discipline, listening, and mutual respect for the music and one another allows the musicians to get out of the way and allow the music to play them.

In the waters of baptism God calls us into discipleship. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is very much like becoming a musician. Certainly, God does not give everyone the gift of making music. However, because we are all created in the image of God, we are all given the same gift: the capacity to give and receive love. The goal of discipleship is to develop this gift to its fullest capacity. Along the way our character, which has been damaged by sin, will be restored to wholeness into the image of Christ. As we grow and mature in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, love becomes a natural response and way of life in the world.

Making disciples, like making musicians, does not happen by accident or happenstance. It is done with intention born of love for God and love for those whom God calls into God’s household in baptism. The Baptismal covenant provides the compass headings for how to make disciples. In it United Methodist congregations will find guidance for developing an intentional process, or system, for making disciples of Jesus Christ. Such a system will be immersed in the grace of God from which all of the respective pieces emerge. The goal of the system is a community whose form and witness in the world are defined by holiness of heart and life.

A Prophet at MSNBC

2007-05-25T21:06:00.000-05:00

Everyone needs to read or watch this Special Commentary by Keith Olberman. He is indeed a prophet.

Where are the Church's prophets?

Singing our Faith Unites us in Love

2007-05-25T09:36:00.000-05:00

As we pray for the Church during this season of conferencing, let us also sing. Here are a couple of hymns by Charles Wesley. They are two of a series of four hymns he wrote titled “Prayer for Persons Joined in Fellowship.” These hymns are Common Meter (CM). They may be sung to tunes such as AMAZING GRACE, AZMON, ST. AGNES, DOVE OF PEACE, etc. (see UMH page 926 for a complete lest of CM tunes). These hymns appear as #489 & #490 in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (vol. 7 in The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley).

You'll also find selected stanzas of these two hymns in #561, "Jesus, United By Thy Grace," in The United Methodist Hymnal:

#489

Try us, O God, and search the ground
Of every sinful heart!
Whate'er of sin in us is found,
O bid it all depart!

When to the right or left we stray,
Leave us not comfortless,
But guide our feet into the way
Of everlasting peace.

Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other's cross to bear;
Let each his friendly aid afford,
And feel [each other's] care.

Help us to build each other up,
Our little stock improve;
Increase our faith, confirm our hope,
And perfect us in love.

Up into thee, our living Head,
Let us in all things grow,
Till thou hast made us free indeed,
And spotless here below.

Then, when the mighty work is wrought,
Receive thy ready bride;
Give us in heaven a happy lot
With all the sactified.

#490

Jesus, united by thy grace,
And each to each endeared,
With confidence we seek thy face,
And know our prayer is heard.

Still let us own our common Lord,
And bear thine easy yoke,
A band of love, a threefold cord
Which never can be broke.

Make us into one Spirit drink,
Baptize into thy name,
And let us always kindly think,
And sweetly speak the same.

Touched by the loadstone of thy love,
Let all our hearts agree,
And ever towards each other move,
And ever move towards thee.

Tothee inseparably joined,
Let all our spirits cleave;
O may we all the loving mind
That was in thee receive!

This is the bond of perfectness,
Thy spotless charity;
O let us (still we pray) possess
The mind that was in thee!

Grant this and then from all below
Insensibly remove;
Our souls their charge shall scarcely know,
Made perfect first in love!

With ease our souls through death shall glide
Into their paradise,
And thence on wings of angels ride
Triumphant through the skies.

Yet when the fullest joy is given,
The same delight we prove,
In earth, in paradise, in heaven
Our all in all is love.

Prayers for Annual Conference Sessions

2007-05-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

As we prepare for our respective annual conference sessions, I hope we all will take time to pray and to fill each conference with prayer. As we prepare to elect clergy and lay delegates to the 2008 General Conference, pray for discernment and a spirit of unity that those we elect will work to help The United Methodist Church move toward its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who will be his witnesses in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

To that end, here are some prayers (found in The Book of Common Prayer) for us to pray together, with the saints, as we gather for confernece:

For the Church
Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy catholic Church.
Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace.
Where it is corrupt, purify it;
where it is in error, direct it;
where in any thing it is amiss, reform it.
Where it is right, strengthen it;
where it is in want, provide for it;
where it is divided, reunite it;
for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.

For the Mission of the Church
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Inspire our witness to him,
that all may know the power of his forgiveness
and the hope of his resurrection;
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Clergy and People
Almighty and everlasting God,
from whom comes every good and perfect gift:
Send down upon our bishops, and other clergy,
and upon the congregations committed to their charge,
the healthful Spirit of your grace:
and, that they may truly please you,
pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing.
Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator,
Jesus Christ. Amen.

For a Church Convention or Meeting
Almighty and everliving God,
source of all wisdom and understanding,
be present with those who take counsel
in the Annual Conference Session,
for the renewal and mission of your Church.
Teach us in all things to seek first your honor and glory.
Guide us to perceive what is right,
and grant us both the courage to pursue it
and the grace to accomplish it;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Unity of the Church
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
our only Savior, the Prince of Peace:
Give us grace seriously to lay to heart
the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions;
take away all hatred and prejudice,
and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord;
that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit,
one God and Father of us all,
so we may be all of one heart and of one soul,
united in one holy bond of truth and peace,
of faith and charity,
and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May your conference session be a time of true Christian conferencing that is a means of grace that lifts your spirit and heart to Christ and brings glory to his name and his mission for the world.

Pursue Peace & Holiness at General Conference?

2007-05-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

“Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

This verse was one John Wesley was drawn to many times. As the people of The United Methodist Church approach the 2008 General Conference, it would be worthwhile for all of us to spend some time meditating on the meaning of this verse. What kind of conference could we have if everyone, every caucus group, took seriously the command to “Pursue peace with everyone”? What could happen at a General Conference if the members took seriously the Wesleyan goal of pursuing holiness of heart and life?

I am tired of the constant bickering over homosexuality. It does nothing but distract us from our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ. My fear is that it will ultimately lead to schism. And, if that happens, it will be a grave sin against Christ and his Church.

Rather than continuing the same old pattern of political posturing, argument, and character assassination, what if we actually followed Christ and pursued peace with one another and holiness of heart and life? Imagine what could happen at such a General Conference.