revtlmack

1 John 5:11-21

What makes Methodism distinctive in denominational theology?

John Wesley – was a person who suffered from a lack of self-confidence, or, as he would have put it, assurance. He compensated for it by being a bit of a big-head, pretending that he could tell others how to behave. But his lack of assurance really came to a head in his relationships with members of the opposite sex, particularly with a 17 year old called Sophy Hopkey. John was 32 at the time. He’d probably never kissed a girl until then, and he was the vicar of the church where Sophy worshipped. He fell in love with her, and she seems to have been quite “keen” on him. But John’s lack of self-confidence meant that he could never bring himself to ask her to marry him. And by the time he did, she’d accepted someone else’s proposal.

John reacted in a way that made him seem like a complete fool. He was deeply hurt. He banned her from taking Holy Communion, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. This got him into even more of a mess, because it showed that not only was he pretty hopeless when it came to having a love affair but also that he was spiteful and vindictive. In the end he had to flee from the parish in disgrace. On the boat from America to England, he met a group of Moravians on the ship.  There came a terrible storm.  Wesley was fearful and he marveled at the Moravians calm in the midst of this horrible storm.  For the duration, the Moravians sang psalms and hymns and prayed.  This was to become a pivotal experience in Wesley’s journey.

He arrived safely in London but his future seemed bleak. It was there, on one April evening that something happened that completely changed him.

Even though he was a clergyman John had never felt completely right with God. One evening he was listening to someone reading Martin Luther’s preface to Paul’s writing to the Romans when:

 
“…about a quarter before nine, while he [the author] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ and Chris alone for salvation; and assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine ,and saved me from the law of sin and death.“

All at once, without expecting it, John Wesley knew that God loved him – even though he himself was a hopeless lover and a spiteful person; God loved him despite that, and always would.

In Methodist history, this is what we know as Wesley’s “Aldersgate experience.”  For because of his experience at Aldersgate, John Wesley now had the confidence to go out into the world and preach. He didn’t care what other people might say about him – it no longer mattered because he was utterly confident that God loved him.

John Wesley’s use of an “order” of salvation is rooted in the existence and recognition of original sin and God’s response to it.  According to Wesley, salvation from original sin begins with justification, continues in sanctification and ends with glorification.

First, the root: original sin.  Wesley points out that the current state of humankind is greatly changed from our original condition. 

God created both male and female in a perfect state.  We were fashioned in the image of God and, in that image, He pronounced us good.  This goodness, Wesley believes, indicates that we were free from “sin and filled with righteousness and true holiness.”

But we did not remain in that state.  Committing sin against God through disobedience, humankind fell from this position and lost “both the knowledge and love of God.”  Through this loss, we became unable to reflect the full image of God that we were created with, and death entered our lives.  This death is understood first to occur as a spiritual death, then, eventually as bodily death.  This death is not dependent upon our sinning, but upon our birth into the family of Adam. This fallen, sinful nature separates us from God and leaves us without hope.  Original sin, therefore, is the state of humankind that cries out for salvation.  Therefore, the need for salvation is based upon the current, desperate state of humankind.

From the despair found in original sin, begins then the first step of salvation according to Wesleyan theology: justification. 

Wesley observes that justification is the pardoning of our sin.  It is making us righteous and just before God.  It is only possible by an act of God through the atoning blood of His Son, Christ Jesus.  It is not something we do for ourselves but is something God does for us.  One way to remember this is that through the act of confession and the pardon therein, God makes it “just as if” we had not ever committed the sin.  Wesley also observes justification is not a denial of truth or of God deceiving us by calling us something we are not.  Rather, God recognizes the truth of what He has done for us through Christ.

Justification is provided only for the sinner, the lost and ungodly.  Those who are righteous before God have no need of it.  Good works performed after justification are just and righteous before God, because of what He has done in the heart of that believer.  Any good work performed before justification cannot be considered by Wesley as “truly and properly good.”

Wesley affirms that justification can only be known by faith.  It is not earned nor can it be attained in any way outside the mercies of faith.  These terms, Wesley notes, are determined by God, not humankind.

Justification deals effectively with original sin.  A repentant sinner before God becomes justified through the merits of Christ imputed to him/her.  However, though sin no longer rules the newly born Christian, it still resides in that person’s life.  As Wesley writes, the newborn Christian may soon find that sin in his/her life has not been destroyed, but only suspended, is not dead, but only stunned. According to Wesleyan thought, justification does not reach beyond the new birth experience into the believer’s life in a way that wrestles it free from the grip of sin or to cause the believer to love perfectly.  Rather, Wesley believes that the presence of sin in the believer’s life is defeated by the next step in the order: sanctification.

Sanctification, according to Wesley, is the process of change in a believer’s life from sinfulness unto holiness.  It is also the process of becoming “more dead to sin” while we become “more and more alive to God.”  It should be noted, however, that this holiness is holiness of living and is distinct from the righteousness reckoned to us by God through Christ.  The holiness that we receive from God through Christ cannot be improved upon or added to.  That is perfect, absolute and effective holiness.  The holiness that Wesley taught, preached and sought to exemplify was holiness in living.  It included good works, works of mercy and a rejection of sinful living.  And just as we are justified by faith, Wesley believed we are sanctified by faith.  All good works committed and evil deeds refrained from cannot be considered sanctification when apart from faith in God.  Wesley firmly held that entire sanctification is full salvation from our sins and thus what the Apostle Paul described as perfection.

The third and final step Wesley sees in salvation is glorification. This is the end result of our Christian life.  It includes the changing of our mortal state to become “like him” (1 John 3:2).  Wesley, however, sees glorification as changing not just the state of humankind but of all creation, that was corrupted by the fall of Adam.  In that day, not only our salvation, but the redemption of all the cosmos will be complete.

Essential in Wesleyan theology is the integration of conversion with Christian nurture and growth – Wesley views conversion as prompted by prevenient grace.  This is God’s divine love that surrounds all humanity and prompts our first awareness of God and our desire for deliverance from our sin.  It is this love, Wesley believes, that moves us toward repentance and faith. Prevenient grace is the grace that is present in the life of the believer before he or she accepts God’s grace.

After conversion is prompted by prevenient grace, Wesley believes it is effected by justifying grace.  This is God’s love that pardons the repentant sinner and accepts him/her into God’s family.  This conversion experience can sometimes be dramatic as it was for St. Paul on the road to Damascus, or it can be quiet, even gradual.  Either way, the experience, Wesley believes, is marked by a very real change in the heart of the believer.  This change is most evident “as faith working in love” (The Book of Discipline – 2000, page 46).

Wesley, contrary to much of the thinking in his day, believed that the assurance of justification could be known and understood by the believer in her or his life.  This assurance comes from the witness of God’s Spirit with our own that “we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

It is apparent that Wesley lived out his own theology, fully integrating the justification he received by faith with the assurance he came to recognize in his own spirit.  He knew assurance not as an intangible idea, but as something he actually experienced.  This is evident as he penned, “Each moment draw from earth away my heart that lowly waits thy call; speak to my inmost soul and say, ‘I am thy love, thy God, thy all!’  To feel thy power, to hear thy voice, to taste thy love, be all my choice.” [emphasis mine] (The United Methodist Hymnal, selection # 414).  Even on his deathbed, Wesley’s saw an unmistakable blending of the God’s justification and the assurance he experienced as he proclaimed, “The best of all is, God is with us!”

Wesleyan interpretation of grace moves beyond justifying to sanctifying grace.  This is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.  It is grace that draws us into perfect Christianity, which Wesley describes as having a heart filled with the love of God and our neighbors.  Wesley could not divide these two manifestations of love.   Loving God always implied loving our neighbors.  Furthermore, the love God placed in a believer’s life always will naturally bring about a love for one another.  This love is ongoing and always has the capacity to expand and grow.  Wesley never discouraged its development.  Rather, continual growth for the Christian is at the very core of Wesleyan theology.  Charles Wesley echoes this burning desire for God’s continual and dramatic work in his own heart as he writes “Refining fire, go through my heart, illuminate my soul; scatter thy life through every part and sanctify the whole” (The United Methodist Hymnal, selection # 422).

An overview of the order of salvation in Wesleyan theology inclusive of the stages of grace is prevenient grace, justifying grace, justification, conversion, sanctifying grace, sanctification and glorification.

Sacraments

1st Corinthians 11:23-34

Following the theology of John Wesley, the United Methodist Church observes two sacraments.  They are:  the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.

When John Wesley abridged The Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England for the use of the American Methodists, he defined a sacrament as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.” (Wesley, The Sunday Service of the Methodists in America)

Essentially Wesley, in defining the Sacraments in such a way, was establishing in a post-Protestant reformation church that in order for something to be considered a Sacrament it must: 1) be that which has been established by Christ and 2) it is ordained by God through the Holy Spirit.

Wesley was trying to make certain that Christian people understood that salvation is made possible only through the grace of God and the faith therein.  It is generally held that it is the faith of the participant, itself a gift of God, rather than the power of the sacramental act that produces grace.

Any other sacraments were, in Wesley’s way of understanding, established by man and were considered works and not spiritual “means of grace.”

The word “baptize” (from the Greek) means “to identify” or “to be made one with”. In general, it refers to the act of identifying one thing with another thing in such a way that its nature or character is changed, or it represents the idea that a real change has already taken place.

Wesley in “A Treatise on Baptism, 1756,” said this about baptism : “It is the initiary sacrament which enters us into a covenant with God.”  In stating that baptism is “an initiary sacrament,” Wesley means that baptism is a point of departure in what is intended to be a lifetime commitment to walk with God.  This is one of the reasons why we, in the United Methodist faith hold strongly to our beliefs about the baptizing of infants. 

Baptism initiates a covenant of relationship between God and the baptized person and between the church and the person. When one is baptized or when one re-affirms his or her baptism, the congregation enacts God’s grace toward the one being baptized and welcomes him or her into the body of Christ. 

In the case of an infant or a child who is baptized, he or she is placed upon the preparatory rolls in the church until confirmation or such a time when he or she is ready and able to make the commitment to the membership of the local church.  During that time, his or her parents and the church undertake the vows of the Sacrament on his or her behalf.   The Methodist tradition allows the baptism of all persons, regardless of age, who do confess their belief in “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” who have a “desire to be baptized,” and who promise to “obediently keep God’s will and commandments.”

For Wesley, the sacrament of baptism is more of a symbol of regeneration than of actual rebirth. 

As to the means by which the sacrament is to be administered, the general consensus is that the sacrament is to be administered by water.  It is a rite of purification by water, a ceremony invoking the grace of God to regenerate the person, free him or her from sin, and make that person a part of the church.  Wesley drew no distinction between the method of administrating the sacrament: dipping, sprinkling or washing (immersion). He held that in John’s gospel, the scripture plainly states that in order to be born anew…”you must be born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5)  Water, therefore, becomes the means by which the sign-act is made “real.”  Christian tradition holds that the water of baptism is both ‘symbol’ and ‘means’; it symbolizes what happens in baptism, and it is the ‘stuff of earth’ that bears the Spirit.

Water cleanses; water drowns. Water surrounds us in the womb; water is the main ingredient of the human body, and especially for the blood which is necessary for our life.

In baptism, the water and the act of administering the water is the outward and visible sign…Yet, without God’s powerful, creative Spirit, the water is only water… the Holy Spirit is the inward and spiritual grace.  Unless God adds his grace and makes the signs powerful, they are nothing. 

So, when one is baptized, the Spirit acts through that water to cleanse the individual and drown the “old” self, to surround and cushion the new self as faith grows, and to carry Christ’s presence into the new self.

As a baptized Christian, the one baptized, then becomes a part of the universal church and part of a particular community of Christians where he or she is known and are watched over in love.  And, the Body of Christ, too, becomes the acting of the Holy Spirit in the life of the new self.

Will Willimon, a prominent Methodist pastor has said:

“There is no solitary Christian, there is no way of doing the faith by a correspondence course in salvation.  Nor can you do the faith in the cozy comfort of your living room watching an evangelist doing the faith on television.  He who does not know the church’s Lord, and he who does not know the Lord, does not know God.  And, baptism is the door.”

Again, Wesley said that baptism is the initiary sacrament.  The church of Jesus Christ is the place for the people of God. 

Willimon goes on to say:

“To be in the church is to be together in God’s family, that strange clan, begotten by ‘water and the Word.’  Like any family, one cannot join the family of God. One must be adopted.  Joining the church is not simply a matter of joining a voluntary society of religiously inclined people. We do not join the church so much as we are joined into it.  Nobody chooses his or her parents.  The parents beget and choose the child.  The same can be said for the children of the mother church.”

God chose us.  God loves us.  God loves us so much that God gave to us God’s greatest gift, His Son.  And, in baptism, we are made a part of the family of God.

And, so what about the Lord’s Supper?   As Wesley came to understand and define theologically the means of grace and, particularly, the works of piety (Scripture, prayer, fasting, the Lord’s Supper, Christian conference, public worship and avoiding evil), he held the Lord’s Supper as the highest and most important means of grace.  He called the Lord’s Supper “the richest legacy that Christ left to his followers.”  He likens it to the last wish of someone on their deathbed.  He says of the institution of the Lord’s Supper… “Do this in remembrance of me…” that in this the Lord is giving to us the “dying tokens of his love.”

Wesley addressed his theological understanding of the prominence of the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace in a sermon published in 1731 called, “The Duty of Constant Communion.”

Among other things, Wesley cautioned against our simply partaking in the Lord’s Supper as a memorial meal.  Hear what he believes is offered to us in this supper:

In the Lord’s Supper, by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the enabling means of faith, time and space are transcended.  Christ does not only invite men to his sacrifice; he actually offers to make this sacrifice theirs: as he offers himself to God, so he offers himself to man.  (Borgen, John Wesley on the Sacraments, p. 183)

Further he says:

“At the Holy Table the people meet to worship God, and God is present to meet and bless His people.  Here we are in a special Manner invited to offer up to God our Souls, our Bodies, and whatever we can give; And God offers to us the Body and Blood of His Son, and all other Blessings which we have need to receive…So that the Holy Sacrament is a great Mystery, consisting both of Sacrament and Sacrifice; that is, of the Religious Service which the people owe to God, and of the full Salvation which God has promised to His people.” (Borgen, John Wesley on the Sacraments, p. 237)

So, how often is too often?  Specifically, how often should one participate in communion?  In the 1785 Discipline, Wesley recommended that the Christian partake of the Lord’s Supper at every opportunity.

In Wesley’s day, there were many who argued and objected to his call for “constant communion.”  Among the objections that he most frequently heard were such things as:  1) If I partake of communion too often, it will lose it’s meaning; 2) How can I partake of communion if I am not properly prepared to do so?; 3) What if I do not feel worthy to partake of communion?

To these objections Wesley said:

“The case is this: God offers you one of the greatest mercies on this side heaven, and commands you to accept it. Why do not you accept this mercy, in obedience to his command? You say, ‘I am unworthy to receive it.’ And what then? You are unworthy to receive any mercy from God. But is that a reason for refusing all mercy? God offers you a pardon for all your sins. You are unworthy of it, it is sure, and he knows it; but since he is pleased to offer it nevertheless, will not you accept of it? He offers to deliver your soul from death: You are unworthy to live; but will you therefore refuse life? He offers to endue your soul with new strength; because you are unworthy of it, will you deny to take it? What can God himself do for us farther, if we refuse his mercy because we are unworthy of it?

As with all of Wesley’s life, there is a progression of thinking about the Sacraments.  The pre-Aldersgate Wesley invested himself in the ritual of the church and the observance of the Sacraments.  However, the post-Aldersgate Wesley held that Sacraments were an action of God, provided by the Holy Spirit, and, as such were not matters of the intellect but, rather, matters of the heart.

This is what Wesley said on why it is the “duty” of the Christian to receive communion as often as he or she can:

The First reason why it is the duty of every Christian so to do is, because it is a plain command of Christ.

A Second reason why every Christian should do this as often as he can, is, because the benefits of doing it are so great to all that do it in obedience to him; viz., the forgiveness of our past sins and the present strengthening and refreshing of our souls.

“This is the true rule: So often are we to receive as God gives us opportunity. Whoever, therefore, does not receive, but goes from the holy table, when all things are prepared, either does not understand his duty, or does not care for the dying command of his Savior, the forgiveness of his sins, the strengthening of his soul, and the refreshing it with the hope of glory.”

Any objections, Wesley would say, presupposes that the individual actual has something to do with what is given in communion.  This supper is an act and means of grace.  It has nothing to do with what we offer it, rather, it has everything to do with what God offers to us.  Worthy of it? Deserving of it? Prepared for it?  These things are impossible of us, yet, if the communion is received in the power of the Holy Spirit, God grants us grace and mercy in the meal.

It is precisely grace that makes the sacrament so…well, sacramental…

One does not partake of these Sacraments because one is worthy…one receives these Sacraments as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

Well, you have been kind to me for these past few weeks…you have allowed me to rattle on about John Wesley and theology and Methodism…

Before we leave the subject, I would like to offer a personal word of witness of why I am United Methodist and how I come to this table.

Some would say that denominationalism does not matter…what truly matters is a belief in Jesus Christ.  I offer that denominationalism does matter.  Just as the church of Jesus Christ is dependent upon the followers to belief and be loyal…to take a cross into the world…so, also does a church, a particular expression of the Body of Christ, such as Methodism dependent upon the belief and loyalty of the members…

For me, this denomination, this United Methodist Church, is responsible for the way that I have come to know Jesus Christ and the way that I can express that faith…and, just as a belief in Jesus Christ matters as a cornerstone of the life of the Christian…that belief is as Willimon says, expressed as membership in that strange clan begotten by “water and the Word”…and, for me that membership is lived out as a United Methodist…

Please understand me, I struggle with the church…the United Methodist church and the larger Christian Church with some of the ways that we express ourselves or do not express ourselves in the world. I do not always agree with decisions made in local churches or in the District or in the Conference for that matter. 

Once when I was struggling with a particular issue related to the United Methodist Church, I sought the wisdom of a colleague in ministry, the Rev. Dickie Hoffpauir, then, DS of the Alexandria District.

After listening patiently, the response came, “Well, I don’t know what I would do if I were you…”

Well, that was helpful.

Then, he continued and finished at the same time… “But, I do know this: while there are other denominational polities, there is only one church of Jesus Christ and all denominational polities have their difficulties…but, all I know is that I am first a Christian and second a United Methodist…” and, shortly after that I hung up the phone.  I have continued in my faith journey and to this day I continue to be challenged by the doctrinal beliefs and understanding of the church…and, my place in it…

But, I am exceedingly proud to say that I have a place in it…and, I cherish that place…I cherish the heritage of what it means to be a United Methodist…I cherish the heritage of this particular church and the faith stories of the men and women whom I have come to know…I cherish the vows that I have taken as a member…to uphold the United Methodist Church with my prayers, my presence, my gifts and my service…and, I cherish the vows that I have taken to be an ordained clergy member to lead and to shepherd the people of God, to preach the Word and to administer the Sacraments…

Every time that I come to the table, I come as I am.  I come as a baptized child of God…claimed, named, and washed by the Spirit.  I come as a sinner…forgiven and redeemed and not yet perfected…  I come not so as to give but to receive…I come humbled by God’s amazing, preparing, justifying, sanctifying and perfecting grace…those are not just words to me…they are statements of who I am and who by God’s grace I hope to be…May it be also for you.  Amen.

Part Two-  The Wesleyan Quadrilater-what???

I think the first time that I heard the phrase “the Wesley Quadrilateral,” was in my fourth grade confirmation class.  What I remember about this was that there were four “tests” or ““guidelines” by which a Methodist should make decisions: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience.  Learned it. Never heard of it again for 16 years.  I was in seminary.  In my first of several courses on Methodist theology. It was there that I found out that the “beloved” Methodist Methodology by which all good Methodists should make decision would not have been familiar to Mr. Wesley at all…

The term “Wesley Quadrilateral” is a term that, we are (or should be) at least a little familiar with… it is a term that directly relates to the “peculiar” that is “the set apart way” that we, as a United Methodist people, do theology… it is what should be used 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…

But, the term did not originate with John Wesley.   It was, in fact, “coined” by, one of the most renowned Methodist scholars of the 20^th century, Dr. Albert Outler of Southern Methodist University.  In 1964, Dr. Outler first used the word in his introduction to his scholarly work on John Wesley.

In the introduction, Dr. Outler theorized that John Wesley used four different sources in coming to theological conclusions:  Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

It is important to note that no one piece is more important than the other… It is never Scripture or Tradition or Reason or Experience…all four “tests” are essential to sound theological thinking.  When all four of these “tests” are met, then, God reveals God’s self to us through each one. You see, 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.

When fully employed, using the Quadrilateral gives us a proven way of exploring, growing in, and living our faith in Jesus Christ. This way of thinking is also a characteristic that distinguishes The United Methodist Church from other Christian denominations.

My Aunt Helen had a beautiful antique armoire.  In it was all of my Granny MacK’s china brought over with her from Scotland in the 20’s.  The house had flooded and the carpet in the dining room needed to be replaced.  When the carpet guys moved the armoire, they grabbed it from the sides…you see, armoires like that were all held together by the wooden pegs with which they were joined and the springs which held the framework together.  An armoire like that is supposed to be moved by the base, its foundation…and, never to be pulled by the sides…of course, when they pulled it errantly, the whole thing cam crashing down.

I think this is an excellent metaphor for the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.

From the beginning of the story given to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, theological reflection has been one of the church’s most important tasks. Now, let’s be careful here…when in this context the word “church” is used…it is not “church” as an abstract institution…  Rather, this is the gathered community of people who have been baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

We share in the liturgy of the Baptismal Covenant.   {in The United Methodist Hymnal (pages 33-39)}  In this liturgy, the church is described in the following ways: “Christ’s body”, “the family of Christ”, and “the household of God.” The Church of Jesus Christ is, first and foremost, a “community…koinonia….you are going to hear a lot of that term in the next few weeks…a community of love and forgiveness.” This is an affirmation that the God who became one of us in Jesus Christ is the source of the love and forgiveness given and received.

When we find our identity as a “church” in this way, there is only “us”…you and me… and, all in the Christian Communion throughout the world… TOGETHER in Christ!  In a time when there is so much attention focused on things that polarize and divide, denominationalism and schisms within denominations, it is my belief that we would better serve the Kingdom of God by uniting in the beliefs and truths that we hold in common.

You see, church is not something that we “do” on Sunday morning…it is who we are… it is the community of the baptized dispersed into the world each and every day of the week.

What we do on Sunday is “come together” to worship, to learn, to fellowship.  There is a church in New Orleans.  It is one of the largest congregations in Jefferson Parish.   The church meets every Sunday…for worship only…there is no Sunday School…” Church…that is the Sunday morning experience…is the least of what happens in the life of that “Body of Christ.”  For when worship ends…service begins.  Each member/participant of the church is part of a small group in the community at large… some of these small groups are 20 or more miles away from the church… and, it is in and through these small groups that study, prayer, mission happens. 

Though this is a “non-denominational” church, I believe that its methodology comes really close to what Brother John meant when he initiated first societies, then classes…then connected groups of disciples…

Please do not misunderstand:  Weekly worship is in no way “anti-climatic;” it is (or should be) a catalyst…an inspiration…a celebration of what God is doing in the lives of the faithful…

How would it be if, every Sunday, every Sunday, at the close of worship we would depart to serve as Christ’s hands, heart and feet in the world… we would leave as Christ’s brothers and sisters to Christ’s brothers and sisters (Romans 8:12-17) into the world as people who are forgiven, loved, and free?

One pastor has said it this way:  “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.”

What has this to do with the Wesley Quadrilateral?  It is through intentional theological reflection that we, the people of the church, understand more clearly who we are and whose we are…and who and how we are to be in the world.

Theology and doing theology is the work of the whole people of God. It is not, and was never intended to be, something “left to the professionals.” In God’s reality, all of God’s people are theologians. One of my biggest concerns that I have as a UM pastor, is that in too many ways, we have become “an elitist and distant” connection.

In my first appointment (at Church Point UMC), I once led a whole Bible Study on Moses and the Ark. About 15 minutes after the women left, I realized that throughout the study I had talked about Moses and the Ark…not Noah and the Ark. Not one single person stopped me. I called one of the members and asked, “why?” Her response? Well, you went to seminary, we thought you knew something we didn’t.

The purpose and goal of doing theology is to lead people and the church toward holiness of heart and life. Period.  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. There is no catechism or doctrinal confession that guards the doors of this 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).

Someone once said, “Methodists are Christians who seek to know and love God through loving those whom God loves as God loves them.”

One of the things that make us “uniquely” Methodist is our approach to Christian life and faith.  One of my favorite Methodist “bloggers” is Steve Mansker, a UM pastor.  This is how he describes our being “uniquely” Methodist: 

“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. Through our doctrine, we see that, becoming a Methodist emphasizes both belief and behavior, faith and life.”

Wesley was a prolific writer… if you want a testimony of this, I may still have my leather-bound 14 volume set of his “John Wesley’s Works” (sermons, writings, journal, and letters).  In addition to these, available to us, also, are: the Hymnal, the Book of Worship, and the Book of Discipline. Wesley was, above all, a practical, pastoral theologian. Basic United Methodist 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.”  By the way, Mr.Wesley nor Dr. Outler said this…Jesus did.

Wesley insisted that scripture is the first authority and contains the only measure whereby all other truth is tested. When asked about the inerrancy of scripture, Wesley said, “It was delivered by authors who were divinely inspired. It is a rule sufficient of itself. It neither needs, nor is capable of, any further addition.”

Secondly, Wesley wrote that, “it is generally supposed that traditional evidence is weakened by length of time, as it must necessarily pass through so many hands in a continued succession of ages.”  Tradition is scripture bearing “the test of time.” Wesley insisted: “Do not undervalue traditional evidence. Let it have its place and its due honor. It is highly serviceable in its kind, and in its degree”.[6] Today, we are to look at our theology through the lens of more than 2000 years of history with Jesus and the apostles. Certainly, throughout the ages, the “church” has experienced times when she has “gotten it right” and “gotten it wrong” nevertheless there is an unbroken chain drawing us into fellowship with those who have finished the race, fought the fight, and who now reign with God in his glory and might.

A third test, is reason.  The 18^th century, Wesley’s day and time, was, after all, part of the Age of Enlightenment…a time known as a “cultural movement of intellectualism.”  While Wesley was “un homo unius libri”… a man of one book…the Bible… he was an avid reader and student…influenced by many of the contemporary writers of his day… Wesley wrote: “Now, of what excellent use is reason, if we would either understand ourselves, or explain to others, those living oracles”.[7] He states quite clearly that without reason we cannot understand the essential truths of Scripture. Reason, however, is not a mere human invention. It must be assisted by the Holy Spirit if we are to understand the mysteries of God.

Last, Wesley held that experience is the strongest proof of Christianity. “What the scriptures promise, I enjoy”.[8] Again, Wesley insisted that we cannot have reasonable assurance of something unless we have experienced it personally. John Wesley was assured of both justification and sanctification because he had experienced them in his own life. What Christianity promised was accomplished in his soul. Furthermore, Christianity is the completion of all those promises. Although traditional proof is complex, experience is simple: “One thing I know; I was blind, but now I see.” Although tradition establishes the evidence a long way off, experience makes it present to all persons. As for the proof of justification and sanctification Wesley states that Christianity is an experience of holiness and happiness, the image of God impressed on a created spirit, a fountain of peace and love springing up into everlasting life.

All of these work together, to move us toward a “holiness of heart and life.” This “holiness of heart and life” provides for us a rich and vital way for seeking truth, knowing, loving, and serving God, and for making disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Theology of John Wesley

Romans 5:1-12

Practical Divinity

It is early Sunday morning, May 30, 1742.  The northern port city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is hardly awake.  Two strangers from London, one a slight man in his late-thirties, walk quietly down Sandgate Street in the “poorest and most contemptible part of the town.”

The two men stop at the end of the street and begin singing the 100^th Psalm.  A few curious people gather, and the shorter man starts preaching from Isaiah 53:5- “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our inequities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

The knot of listeners grows to a crowd of several hundred and then over a thousand.  When the small man stops, the crowd gasps in astonishment.  So the preacher announces, “If you desire to know who I am, my name is John Wesley.  At five in the evening, with God’s help, I design to preach again.”

That night, Wesley finds a crowd of some 20,000 waiting.  After he preached many urge him to stay longer, at least for a few days.  But Wesley has to leave at 3 o’clock the next morning to keep an appointment elsewhere.

So, begins Wesley’s work in Newcastle, henceforth to be the northern part in his annual triangular tour of England.  For nearly fifty years, he will make a yearly circuit from London to Bristol to Newcastle to London, preaching and teaching daily with many side trips along the way.

Wesleyan theologian Howard Snyder likes that story to the present day comparison:

“Suppose Billy Graham were to show up, alone and unannounced, with no advertising or sophisticated preparations, in Chicago’s worst ghetto and begin preaching from the sidewalk.  Wesley’s appearance in Newcastle was something like that.”  (The Radical Wesley, Snyder, p. 1-2)

From the time he began “field preaching” in 1739 until his death 52 years later, at the age of 88, Wesley is said to have traveled some 225,000 miles and preached more than 40,000 sermons, sometimes to crowds numbering  more than 20,000.  At his death, he left behind 72,000 Methodists in Great Britain and Ireland and a fledging Methodist denomination in America of some 57,000 members.  According to one source, Wesley was the “ascendant personality” of his age, more widely known in Britain than any other Englishman of the time.  (The Radical Wesley, Snyder, p. 3)

In 1968, when the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical Brethren, there were over 11 million members in the denomination, making it one of the largest Protestant denominations in the world.  Today, there are over 75 million of United Methodists in 103 different denominations in 130 different countries.  While recent years have seen a decline in membership in Europe and America, United Methodism is rapidly growing in Asia and Africa.

The book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church defines our distinctive heritage as United Methodists as follows:

“The underlying energy of the Wesleyan theological heritage stems from an emphasis upon practical divinity, the implementation of genuine Christianity in the lives of believers.”

Methodism did not arise in response to a specific doctrinal dispute, though there was no lack of theological controversy.  Early Methodists claimed to preach the scriptural disciplines of the Church of England as contained in the Articles of Religion, the Homilies, and the Book of Common Prayer.

Their task was not to reformulate doctrine.  Their tasks were to summon people to experience the justifying and sanctifying grace of God and encourage people to grow in the knowledge and love of God through the personal and corporate disciplines of the Christian life.

Wesley’s orientation toward the practical is evident in his focus upon the “scripture way of salvation.”  He considered doctrinal matters primarily in terms of their significance for Christian discipleship.

The Wesleyan emphasis upon the Christian life- faith and love put into practice- has been the hallmark of those traditions now incorporated into the United Methodist Church.  The distinctive shape of the Wesleyan theological heritage can be seen in a constellation of doctrinal emphases that display the creating, redeeming, and sanctifying activity of God.

“Practical divinity…the implementation of genuine Christianity into the life of the believer…to put faith and love into practice…”

Unless I am mistaken, our culture praises practicality as a virtue.  To be “practical” means, among other things, to be sensible, judicious, functional, useful, constructive…not living in the theoretical or the ideal…Practical living, one might say is where the rubber meets the road….

John Wesley’s life is a story of how one can take the precepts of the Bible and “daily” (or more often than that) live them out for the attaining of Christian perfection and the spreading of the Gospel.

It is in fact this Wesleyan bent to “practical divinity” whereby we get the name “Methodists” today.

John Wesley, born in Epworth, England in 1703, was the 15^th child born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley.  Samuel was the rector in the Anglican church and Susannah was a woman of great wisdom, piety and intellect.  It is said that it was Susannah who was responsible for the establishment and nurture of her nineteen children in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a young man, Wesley and his brother Charles were students at Oxford University.  It is here that “Methodism” was truly born,  It seems that John, Charles and two others began to spend a good deal of their time together reading chiefly, the Greek Testament.  To these four, others were gradually added.

And, they became the talk of the Oxford campus.  Their habits and discipline of study led to their being the brunt of campus joking.  Some called them, “the Holy Club.”  Others called them the “Bible Moths.”  It is said that it was young man from Christ Church who said, “Here is a new set of Methodists…”  The phrase “Methodist” was a term that referred to some ancient “methodical” physicians.  The name was new and quaint; so it took immediately, and the Methodists were known all over the University.

The name “Methodist” became a name of which Wesley was proud.  On May 22, 1777, Wesley attempted to describe his movement:

“You will naturally ask, ‘“’What is Methodism? What does this new word mean? Is it not a new religion?…Nothing can be more remote from the truth… Methodism, so called, is the old religion of the Bible, the religion of the Primitive Church, the religion of the Church of England.  This old religion…is none other than love, the love of God and all mankind.’”

Wesley saw Methodism as a renewed expression of Christian faith.

The Wesleyan “methodology” was marked in four ways:

First, there is the primacy of scripture.

Wesley held that the primacy of scripture is of utmost import in the life of the Christian.  This started for Wesley at the earliest in the development of his character.  The zealous nature of those young men was committed to the Church of England and all of her doctrines…however, these could be upheld only so far as they were consistent with the Holy Scriptures…everything, they believed, “was bound upon them by their one book, the Bible; it being their one desire and design to be downright Bible Christians; taking the Bible, as interpreted by the primitive Church and our own, for their whole and sole rule.”

In reading Wesley’s sermons, one is quick to note that they are primarily a string of biblical quotations.  Wesley, himself, asserted, “I allow no other rule, whether of faith or practice, than the Holy Scriptures…”  And, “My ground is the Bible…I follow it in all things great and small…”

Second, the Christian tradition also played a critical role in theological understanding.  Using the Bible as his source, Wesley looked back to the traditions of the church he inherited.  And, through a wideness of his reading, Wesley helped the people called Methodist to form new traditions.  For example, Wesley held that communion was to be served every time the Body of Christ was gathered.  Thus was a radical concept for the Church of England but, the scriptural “Do this is remembrance of me…” meant for Wesley every time that you gather…“Do this is remembrance of me…”

Because of Wesley’s regard for tradition as a “tie to the past…and, a point to the future,” what began with Wesley…is still evolving and changing…and, is a living, vital expression of the Christian faith.

Wesley, also held, that theology should make sense.  Therefore a third part of Wesley’s theological quadrilateral is reason.  By reason, we can read and interpret the scripture…reason helps us to determine clarity about what we believe and why we believe it…by reason, we ask questions of faith and seek to understand God’s action and will.

The last test is experience.  This is the weakest part of the Wesleyan methodology.  Experience is important because it shows what God is doing in the life of the believer.  While this is true, experience falls a little short because it is so…well, human…therefore, closely tied to the believers journey is the constant need for God’s forgiveness and empowering grace.” 

Wesley described the overall journey of the Christian as a path to perfection dependent ultimately upon God’s grace…with the Holy Scripture as the primary guide along the path.  While one could not achieve perfection in this life, we will talk more about this is this series, one journey was marked by a deeper, clearer, commitment to Christ to be lived out is one’s daily walk…this is Wesley’s understanding of “practical divinity…”

I love being a United Methodist!  While, I get angry, disillusioned and sometimes disappointed with the “mother ship,” I am free to do so because I think that I have a healthy respect and trust in all that it means to be a United Methodist. Interestingly enough, this has been especially true this year…the year that I will retire from active ministry.

I am one who was born and raised in the Methodist Church.  I was baptized as an infant at Munholland Memorial United Methodist Church.  When I was eight or nine, we moved to Harahan within a mile of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.  When the doors of the church were open, we, my sister and brother, and especially, I was there.  When I speak about my call to ministry, I talk about St. Paul’s as having been the place where I was established in the faith and Munholland as the place where I was nurtured in the faith.  At the age of 12, following one of those high, Holy moments at Camp Istrouma, God placed the call to ministry on my heart.  Also, at the age of 12, I became a part of the Administrative Board of St. Paul’s UMC, as the first youth representative to the Board, ever.  While it took me more than 14 years to formulate and answer that “call to become a minister,” I mark that time as the beginning of my journey “onward to Christian perfection.”  One other thing is certain, every since that moment when I was elected to the Administrative Board of that church, it seems that I have been going to church meetings.  I love the church and I love the work of the church. 

Although I had a curiosity about other Christian denominations, even other world religions such as Judaism and Islam, I never strayed from the denomination.

Some almost ten years after my election to the Board of St. Paul’s, I returned home from college to find my beloved St. Paul’s UMC broken.  The congregation had become victim to a pastor whose “self interests” were placed above the interests of the congregation….way above the interests of the congregation…   Clearly, his behavior, which I will only term as “scandalous,” caused a broken-ness in the church.  It was not a schism… it was a broken-ness and a loss of innocence for, not only me, but, the whole generation of young people in the church. By this time, my brother and many of his friends had left the church…they had written the church off… we were an idealistic generation, raised to believe in the good of everything but, born to question the institution and power… Many of my friends had left, as well.  Not me. I stayed.  I stayed committed to help the church rise above the scandal.  I stayed to help fix the church.  I stayed to help preserve the institution.  I stayed to help create for those younger than myself, the same kind of church that I believed in…but, soon, I, too, fell away. 

Staying away from church was not an option to me.  So, I moved, very painstakingly, moved my membership back to Munholland Memorial UMC, the place of my baptism.  Munholland was a large church.  There were many other young people there.  Soon, I realized that I had spent almost ten years working to make church happen for others but, I was empty… poured out and disappointed.

I had become John Wesley.

For those of you who may not know the story of John Wesley’s journey to becoming the Father of Methodism, it is a great and interesting story.

John was the fifteenth child born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley.  Samuel was an Anglican Priest and at the time of John’s birth was appointed as the Rector of the church at Epworth. It is believed that Susannah was principally responsible for teaching religion and morals faithfully to all of her children. At the age of five, John was rescued from the burning rectory. This escape made a deep impression on his mind and he regarded himself as providentially set apart, as a “brand plucked from the burning” quoting Zechariah 3:2.

Wesley attended Oxford, proved to be a fine scholar, and was soon ordained into the Anglican ministry. At Oxford, he joined a society, founded by his brother Charles, whose members took vows to lead holy lives, take Communion once a week, pray daily, and visit prisons regularly. In addition, they spent three hours every afternoon studying the Bible and other devotional material.

From this “holy club,” as fellow students mockingly called it, Wesley and the others became to be teased and called, “Bible Moths” and “Methodists” (as they were known for their “methodical study of scripture”).  While some found these terms to be derisive, sarcastic and mocking, John Wesley took their sarcasm as a “badge of honor.” 

In 1735, at the age of 32 years old, the Wesley brothers left England to voyage to America, and, in particular, the colony of Georgia at Savannah, as the priest for a newly formed Anglican parish.  Wesley’s time in America was beset with failure…partly because Wesley tried to enforce the disciplines of the “holy club” on his church and the congregation rebelled. Wesley experienced a second failure in the mission, a personal failure in a broken romantic relationship with a woman whom he had courted in Savannah who had married another man.  A bitter Wesley returned to England.

It was on the voyage back to England that the Wesley’s first met a group of Moravians. In them, the Moravians, Wesley experienced a certain spirituality…a pietism… that was new to him.  At one point in the voyage a storm came up and broke the mast off the ship. While everyone on the ship panicked, the Moravians calmly sang hymns and prayed. This experience led Wesley to believe that the Moravians possessed an inner strength that he lacked.  The deeply personal religion that the Moravian pietists practiced heavily influenced Wesley’s theology of Methodism.

Discouraged…Disappointed…Defeated… Wesley found himself in England, going through the routines of faith.  He had enjoined himself to a “society,” something similar to what we today would call a small group.  On May 24, 1738, shortly after his return from his failed mission in America, he wrote in his journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” 

This experience became a spark in Wesley’s call that ignited his Spirit in a boldness that he had not experienced before.  Wesley’s journey became a journey of preaching on street corners, open fields, wherever, whenever the call was on his heart.  Having been spurned by the Anglican church that he loved, Wesley took on “the world as his parish.” 

And, he preached that Christians could enjoy entire sanctification in this life: loving God and their neighbors… living in a place of humility with “meekness and lowliness of heart”… abstaining from all appearance of evil, and doing all for the glory of God.

It was never Wesley’s intention to be the “founder” of a new denomination.  It was, ultimately, his organizational structure that created a “new way to be the Church.”  In essence, the church became Wesley.

Wesley’s organized those who followed him in something he called “societies.” When these societies became too large for members to care for one another, Wesley organized “classes,” each with 11 members and a leader. Classes met weekly to pray, read the Bible, discuss their spiritual lives, and to collect money for charity. Men and women met separately, but anyone could become a class leader.

The moral and spiritual fervor of the meetings is expressed in one of Wesley’s most famous adages: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

The movement grew rapidly, as did its critics, who called Wesley and his followers “methodists,” a label they wore proudly. It got worse than name calling at times: methodists were frequently met with violence as paid ruffians broke up meetings and threatened Wesley’s life.

Wesley, in fact, never slowed down, and during his ministry he traveled over 4,000 miles annually, preaching some 40,000 sermons in his lifetime.

Soon, Wesley saw the need to employ lay preachers to help handle the preaching duties.  The Church of England would not ordain these, but, Wesley, sent them out to preach.   They were, however, not allowed to serve Communion. 

Wesley then organized his followers into a “connection,” and a number of societies into a “circuit” under the leadership of a “superintendent.” Periodic meetings of Methodist clergy and lay preachers eventually evolved into the “annual conference,” where those who were to serve each circuit were appointed, usually for three-year terms.

Soon, Wesley found himself in the position of independently ordaining two lay preachers to America.  This became the beginning of the Methodist Church and its complete removal from any authority under the Church of England.  Even though, Wesley remained an Anglican priest until his death, as an indication of his organizational genius, we know exactly how many followers Wesley had when he died: 294 preachers, 71,668 British members, 19 missionaries (5 in mission stations), and 43,265 American members with 198 preachers. Today Methodists number about 30 million worldwide.

It has been said that, “One reason United Methodists are able to accomplish great things is the church’s emphasis on “connectionalism.” It is common to hear United Methodist leaders speak of the denomination as “the connection.” This concept is what was begun by Wesley from the very first of his organizing of the “classes” and “societies” and it has been central to Methodism from its beginning.

The United Methodist Church, which began as a movement and a loose network of local societies with a mission, has grown into one of the most carefully organized and largest denominations in the world. The United Methodist structure and organization began as a means of accomplishing the mission of “spreading Scriptural Holiness over the land.” John Wesley recognized the need for an organized system of communication and accountability and developed what he called the “connection,” which this interlocking system of classes, societies, and annual conferences. (UM Member’s Handbook, p 24)

No local church is the total body of Christ. Therefore, local United Methodist churches are bound together by a common mission and common governance that accomplish reaching out into the world. United Methodist churches and organizations join in mission with each other and with other denominations.

In 1980, in the midst of my own personal crisis of faith…in the hurt of the brokenness of my church… in the disappointment of that clergy person whose behavior is still scandalous and reprehensible to me to this day… in the sheer exhaustion of trying to hold everything together for everyone else…in the recognition of my own spiritual drought and wilderness…

And, because of the connection, I was able to walk into another United Methodist congregation and feel instantly at home…it was a place where I understood the practices and the language…it was a place where I would receive nurture, instruction and clarity of my calling…and, that connection instilled in me a desire to trust the bigger connection… 

I guess I could have been like those in my group whose disappointment could only lead to “rejection” of the institution…

I guess that I could have been like some of my friends who moved on to different faiths…

I guess that I could have been like my brothers and some of his friends, who upon discovery the “imperfections” of the church, left the church to never darken the doorsteps of a church again…

Or, I guess I could be like those who have faithfully and intentionally and sacrificially have honored the fundamental principles of Methodism and connectionalism and dedicate my life to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…

I guess we all know what I chose…

As I see and hear of churches, some of which are very beloved to me, in the process of disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church, I am more convinced than ever of the goodness of the United Methodist Church. Do we have problems certainly but we are also better together than we are apart.

May it also be true for you.

This morning’s text and sermon at Abbeville UMC & Briggs UMC.  Also, available on FB on Abbeville United Methodist Church page.

Matthew 8:23-27

 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

24 A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

25 And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.

27 They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

August 30, 2020

 

Lessons Learned From The Storm

It was September 9, 1965.  I was 7 years old.  There were 12 of us gathered at my grandfather’s 2-bedroom, 900 square foot, house in Metairie, LA.  Present were my Paw Paw and Aunt Pat, they were our hosts for the evening.  Our family was there: my dad, my sister, my brother, and I. My dad’s sister, my Aunt Helen and my uncle Charlie and their children were there.  And, there were two of my aunt Pat’s friends there as well.  It was a family reunion of sorts.  There was food and drink.  Games were played and much conversation was shared.  It was, however, no typical “party.”  You see, we had all fled our homes.  There was a hurricane heading straight into New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico…and, her name was “Betsy…”

At that time, we were living in a particularly “low lying” area in New Orleans.  And, so were my aunt Helen and her family.  My grandfather’s house was located in a part of New Orleans called the Old Metairie Ridge.  And, he was the one who lived on the “highest ground” in the city of New Orleans.

Now, from the perspective of a 7 year old…it was a great night…when you are seven, all family events are a great deal of fun…did I mention that I was the baby?… Then, the storm hit….

Of course, in those days, the first thing that went was electricity…so, out came the candles and the portable am/fm radio…the next danger was the loss of a good clean water supply and so, pitchers and bathtubs were filled…next, we would lose phone service…and, my dad and uncle being the telephone men that they were had great angst over the idea of our being without a phone…(and, no doubt…over the troubles that they would face when they got back to work in the future…)…and, then, came the torrential rain and wind…  Now, I don’t know how fierce the wind was…I do know that “Betsy” was a category 4 hurricane and that she carried winds upwards of 100 mph…what I do know is that the windows and doors on my grandfather’s house shook ferociously.  And, I knew that the fun was over and I was scared.

And, then, everything stopped.  The wind stopped.  The rain stopped.  And, everything was still and quiet.  And, my dad, picked me up in his arms and carried me onto the front porch of my grandfather’s house and we were in the eye of the storm.

Have you ever experienced the eye of the storm?  It is the time during a hurricane when all is well and peaceful.  It is the center most place, a place of low pressure around which the storm develops.  Depending upon the width of the storm, the “eye” can last for some period of time…sometimes people use the eye of the storm to get from a place of danger to a higher place…a place of greater safety… Some of you may just have experienced the eye of Hurricane Laura…Some of you may remember the “eye” of Hurricane Katrina…the eye of Hurricane Rita…other “eyes” of storms…Now, “Betsy” may have been the first “eye” of the storm that I experienced but, it certainly was not the last.

Well, this past week will be one of those weeks that will not leave the hearts and minds and memories of the people of Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas for many years to come…and, all of those in the path of the storm for some time…add to that the memories of Katrina, fifteen years ago, yesterday, and Rita, fifteen years in September…

Storms…hurricanes…floods…

I think that there are lessons both practical and spiritual that we can learn from the hurricanes/storms in our lives.  In our time together this morning, we are going to look at some of life’s lessons learned from storms and parallel them with Jesus’ journey to the cross.

Lesson #1:  You can’t run from a storm

Many people have heard about hurricane “Betsy” of which I spoke earlier and the devastation it wrecked upon New Orleans in 1965.  There was another devastating storm that battered New Orleans in 1915, exactly 50 years before “Betsy.”  It has been said of the storm of 1915, that from that point, New Orleanians have adopted a “not if another hurricane will strike but, when will another hurricane strike?”  That when came some 50 years later called, “Katrina” and she badly crippled the city.

And, of course, there continue to be other “whens…”  Truly the “whens” of Audrey, Betsy, Andrew, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Isaac, Lily, Michael, and, now, Laura…have contributed to a spirit and philosophy that “waits” for the next big storm…  the “whens” also contribute to growing awareness and willingness to evacuate and get out of harms way…

Hear me well, evacuation is extremely important…especially for families with young children and the elderly…even, if you are not in the direct path of the storm, the residual effects and inconveniences of the storm are significant…food, water, medical help, air conditioning, sewerage…right now, it is projected that Lake Charles and Sulphur will not get electricity back for several months…the water situation is also severely compromised.

Still, and all, I believe that the first lesson to be learned is that you cannot run from a storm.  I remember in 1969, our neighbors left New Orleans as Camille approached with a stronger force than Betsy had had…just 5 years earlier…and they evacuated to Jackson, MS going straight into the path of the storm…so, one can try to turn and run from a storm but, one had better be careful…one might be running right into the path of the storm.

In John’s gospel, when Jesus turned his disciples back to Bethany, he was taking them directly into the path of the greatest storm of their lives…Jerusalem and the cross of Calvary.  Bethany represented the beginning of the end of Jesus’ ministry and his time on earth.  When he arrives in Bethany, he will raise Lazarus from the tomb…and, this act will be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back…and quickly, the storm gains strength and power.

Lesson #2:  You must properly prepare for the storm

Tape your windows, fill your bathtubs with water, buy batteries, enough to run your house for about a year, and water…did I mention that there I bought a generator on my way back from evacuating this week…just in case I did not have power when I returned home?  …whatever it takes…prepare for the storm.  These are important things.  Preparation is important.  Preparation is what we do to make ourselves feel better and more ready for the coming storm.

I will never forget the words given to us by the mayor of Sulphur as Rita was bearing down on the Cameron coast…Mayor Ron LeLeux summed up what we were to do in three words: prepare and pray.

How did Jesus prepare for the storms of his life?  How did he help his disciples prepare for the storms of their life?  He prayed.  Throughout his ministry, we hear about the times that Jesus, with and without his disciples, went to “some quiet place” to prepare spiritually.  In those final hours with his disciples, Jesus led his disciples to the Garden of Gethsamene.  So, that they could prepare and pray.

And, in the gospel of John, Jesus spends a considerable amount of time to prepare and pay for his disciples.  The text is called, “The Farewell Discourse” and it covers three chapters of Jesus’ final teaching and preaching.  In it, he gives further tools and helps for their survival…He concludes the “Farewell Discourse” with the high, priestly prayer.  This is Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and for the world.  As he prepares to leave them, as the storm bands of betrayal, hate and falsehood increase, Jesus prays for the world.

Lesson #3   You can’t properly prepare for the storm

Why? Because the storm is going to come.  Remember lesson #1, it is not if but, when…

One can tape the windows but, if a tree falls on the roof, the tape is not going to protect the house.

It is the nature of the storm to be unpredictable and turbulent.

Jesus had prepared all of his life for the storm that was to happen in the last few hours of his life.  But, still the storm came.  For immediately after Gethsamene, there was the arrest and the trial.  And, inasmuch, as Jesus had prepared himself and those near him, the events still unfolded in the most unexpected and difficult way.

Lesson #4  Where you are helps to determine how you are going to weather the storm

Do you know where the best place to be in a hurricane that is moving north out of the Gulf of Mexico?  It is on the western side.  The storm surges, wind, and rains are not as fierce on the west side of the storm as they are on the eastern side of the storm.

From a physical standpoint, where you are in the storms of life, can be something that is a little by chance.  Remember lesson #1, you can’t run away from the storm…

From a spiritual standpoint, however, being on the right side/the righteous side is a matter not so much of chance but, choice.

As Jesus turned his disciples back to Jerusalem…they expressed their fear and doubt about the direction that they were about to take.  The disciples knew what waited for them ahead in Jerusalem…”Rabbi, the Jews were trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”  Jesus explains that they must go to Lazarus who “has fallen asleep.”  They respond, “if he is asleep, he will awaken…we don’t have to go.”  And, then, Jesus says plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.  But let us go to him.”

It was the lone voice of Thomas, however, who said to Jesus and his disciple brethren, “Let us also go that we may die with him.”  Thomas was definitely on the right/righteous side of this storm.  And, from that side, no matter how bad it is going to get, he would put everything on the line…risk it all…and, he would be able to weather the storm.

Lesson #5   Take storms seriously and learn from them

When the storm has hit and all is left is the clean up and the rebuilding, the learning curve begins.

People who have experienced life’s storms, learn and grow from them.  They make every effort to recover and repair and to become restored and healed, again.  It is hard to say for certain but I think Hurricane Laura could have been even more destructive had the people who has rebuilt after Hurricane Rita had not learned important lessons of building stronger structures.  I think that the whole evacuation process led to learned lessons from Rita…

In Jesus’ ministry, there was no time when the storm got more serious than when the soldiers began to march Jesus up the hill.  He had been accused and tried in a court setting that was at the least, a mockery.  He has been betrayed and beaten.  And, now, ridiculed at the soldier’s hand and made to carry his own cross; head bedecked with a crown of thorns.

And, there, powerless to change or do anything were the disciples…but, they could take this storm seriously and they could learn from this storm and they could remain steadfast and faithful and carry forth the message in courage and faith.

Lesson #6   Find peace in the eye of the storm

There is peace in the eye of the storm.  For that moment, or for those moments, the trees are not bending or breaking, the rain is not pelting the windows, the flooding begins to recede…it is possible to experience the safety and calm in the midst of the storm.

In my own experience of Rita…there I was…in my house in Sulphur… with two of my friends…we had done all that we could do…we had prepared and we had prayed and we found ourselves in the direct path of the storm…. It was about 1:30 am and we were standing in the front room of my house watching the big tree in the front yard sway in the wind…I mean it was wild…limbs were crashing on the roof…anyway, all of a sudden, we heard a big crack…and I mean a big crack but, it had not come from the front of the house…it came from the rear of the house…flashlights in hand, we ran to the back of the house and there discovered a large tree limb that had crashed through the eave of the house into the master bathroom and bedroom…

What followed was a few minutes of panic…my normal non-anxious presence gave way to what do we do…where do we go…when my suggestion to get into my friends truck and drive to the church was vetoed…I mean, really, what was I thinking?…even Harold’s big truck could not withstand those kinds of winds…it was decided that we would just stay in the house and if that big tree in the front of the house came in, we would just find another room…then, a real miracle happened…

The winds continued and the rains continued…and, all three of us…fell into a deep, peaceful sleep…I say it like this, “it was as though God said, ‘take your rest in me, there is no need for you to worry any more tonight.”

Where was the “eye” of the storm for Jesus and the disciples?

I often think about the Gospel story that we heard earlier as one of the true miracle stories of the Bible…nobody was raised from the dead, a lame man was not given to walk again or a blind man to see…the miracle in this story is the universal challenge to each of us…all of us…to have/find peace in the storm.  Where is your faith?, asks the Master.

Yes!  There are storms coming…and, nobody knows exactly when it will hit or how devastating it will be…but, we all know where the peace of the storm can be found…we can place ourselves in the presence and power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and, even, in the midst of the storm, we can find that peace…that precious peace….that passes all understanding…

May it be so for you.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

All the places that want the country to open back up after five weeks didn’t make it through Katrina and Rita… people and families lost everything: lives, homes, jobs, memories… took months and years to rebuild… some still haven’t rebuilt… people were displaced to whole new cities and situations.

It was seven weeks before the lower 9th ward to open for a “look and leave.” Which was only the beginning of their long journey back.

Many other places in this nation have “recovered” from much worse circumstances than being asked to “shelter in place” and practice good hygiene.

We are resilient, strong, resurrected people

These measures may seem extreme… they may feel unjust or unrealistic… I, too, long for the day when we see a “new normal.”

I am sad for those who are adversely affected by these circumstances… loss of life, loss of social contact, loss of jobs…so, I will pray for all… especially for those in circumstances and situations much more difficult than I can ever know…

But, as for me, as for now, I will remain faithful… for my sake and for the sake of the greater good… I will trust in God and I will wait…

…I will, also, be thankful. I haven’t met a storm that God couldn’t quiet… even in this time…

I will praise God for His steadfast love.

I will praise God for the creativity of His children.

I will praise God for stronger families being built in these days.

I will praise God for the health care industry professionals for, literally and actually, risking their lives for my safety.

I will praise God for the doctors and nurses who prayed at the bedside of a church member in her final moments this week… because her family, nor I, could not be with her… (don’t be ignorant to the amazing, faithful presence of God in all situations).

I will praise God for the many who are being made well: mind, body and Spirit.

I will praise God for the many technologies that we have in 2020 to meet the challenges of connection and working from home in days such as this.

I will praise God for the many “service” industry personnel who are the glue that is holding our communities together.

I will praise God for the economy that still has life from people who are supporting local restaurants and businesses to the stimulus money from the government.

I will praise God for the many comforts of my home… a/c, especially.

My favorite definition of the word, “hope:”

“Hope was born the day the first human saw the first bridge and decided to cross over instead of jump off in despair.”

So, I will be faithful…and trusting…and I will wait… and pray…and praise…and be thankful and I will hope.

Blessings.

A couple of years ago, the Disney group came out with a movie called, “Coco.”

“Coco” takes place in Mexico and surrounds the story of young Miguel who dreams of becoming a musician.  It is forbidden by his family because his great-great grandmother, Imelda, married a man who left her and her young daughter to pursue a career in music.   Young Miguel believes that Ernesto, a wildly popular, now dead musician, is his great-great grandfather, the father of Coco, Miguel’s beloved abuela.  Miguel steals Ernesto’s beloved guitar and in doing so becomes invisible to the living but visible to those dead relatives who are visiting the land of the living from the Land of the Dead for the Dia de Los Meurtos.

Miguel, after a long and convoluted story, needs the blessing of his real great-great grandfather, Hector and great-great grandmother, Imelda to break the curse and return, fully, to the land of the living.   (You’ll have to rent the movie for the full details.)

Basically, it is a story of crossing over from the living to the dead.  And, I think it is a story that reminds us that (as a colleague mentor friend of mine once said), “the dead are not that far from us…we are separated by a thin veil…”

For centuries the Christian Church has celebrated the “Communion of the Saints” on November the 1^st.  This is sometimes known as “All Saints Day” or “All Souls Day.”

Who are the Saints of the Church?  What is this communion of which we speak?  Christianity broadly defines saints as all believers in Jesus Christ, whether on earth or in heaven.

The word “saints” itself is a translation of a Greek word which means “holy ones.” Therefore, to accurately determine what the New Testament teaches about these “holy ones,” we must examine what it says about holy persons and things.

Basically, the New Testament writings define “saints” in all of three ways:  1) the community of believers gathered, the church, are the saints; 2) those who have lived and died in faith are the saints; and 3) those Christians living on the earth are the saints.

As we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we’re not limited to those who have been officially canonized, or commemorated in the church calendar. They have their own particular days in the church year. “All Saints” speaks of those who were not famous, those who are not remembered by everyone, but those whose lives and deeds have endured beyond their death. The list includes our own beloved dead, those who have lived and died within our own faith community, our own families, our own circle of spiritual companions. As the familiar children’s hymn makes so clear, “The saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.”

The “saints” are every day, ordinary people, aren’t they?  They are not just the Gandhis, the Martin Luther King, Jr’s and the Mother Teresas, but the faithful, imperfect as we are. Barbara Brown Taylor really captures this, as she writes of the Feast of the Communion of Saints as a sort of “family reunion.” Listen; she says:

So All Saints’ Day is a family reunion indeed, of a clan made kin by Christ’s blood. There are heroes and scoundrels at the party, beloved aunts and estranged cousins, relatives we adore and those who plainly baffle us. They are all ours, and we are all included. On All Saints’ Day we worship amidst a great fluttering of wings, with the whole host of heaven crowding the air above our heads. Matthew is there, and Thomas, Barnabas, and the Virgin Mary. Teresa is there, along with Ignatius, Pius, and Columba, plus all those whom we have loved and lost during the year: Hank, Dorothy, Margaret, Al. Call their names and hear them answer, “Present.” On All Saints Day they belong to us and we to them, and as their ranks swell, so do the possibilities that open up in our own lives. Because of them and because of one another and because of the God who binds us all together, we can do more than any of us had dreamed to do alone. (Weavings, Sept.-Oct. 1988, pp. 34-35, quoted in Synthesis)

It seems to me that the saints of the church are those men and women who, baptized and faithful, persevere in seeking God’s will in their lives.

And, it would seem that by their abiding in the Communion of Saints, they are not that far away.

 

 

 

From the time that I was a very small child, I could differentiate between the “world’s Christmas” and the “real Christmas.”

Sure, I believed in Santa Claus…did I just use the past tense there?  I loved Christmas carols.  I have mentioned before that one of my favorite things to do during Christmas was to hang out in “our Christmas Tree room” and listen for hours to “Sing along with Mitch.”

Pretty much, no one wanted to hear me sing…so, it was just me and Mitch.

But, my true understanding of the season came through the many events that I, as a child, participated in at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Harahan, Louisiana.

The truth is “if the doors to that church were open, I was likely inside.”  We lived almost exactly a mile from the church.  Whether I walked, rode my bike or got a ride from a church friend or my dad, I was connected to that church.   I was the first teenager, at the age of 14, who served on the (then) Council on Ministries of the church.

And, for all of the gifts that the church gave me as a child, an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas may be the most important.  Sure, I loved the “annual” Children’s Christmas play; the outside live Nativity (when I was a teenager- I still chuckle that one year I was an angel-I know, right?), Christmas Caroling to the shut-ins; the too many to name Choir Cantatas (under the direction of the late Jane Ellis); Mrs. Marie Fine’s fabulous organ playing, especially her rendition of “Ring the Bells.” I still get goose bumps; the Chrismon Tree, lit with a hundred lights.  How do I know this?  Because every year, we were told that each light represented each family in the church and that there were 100 families.  Yes, I loved, loved, loved all of that.

While some of that defined the “real meaning of Christmas” is was the scriptures, the hymnody and the images that cultivated in my heart what Christmas really is.

If you listen carefully to the “texts” of Christmas, you will hear that Christmas, at its heart, is a penitential season.

“Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.”

“O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.”

Israel is in dark, difficult times.  It has been four hundred years since they have “had a word from the Lord.”  It has been six hundred years since the Jews were exiled from their home in Palestine to Babylon.  When the Jews returned to Jerusalem, the city and the Temple had been destroyed.  Enter King Herod.  Herod began to rebuild the city, extravagantly.  This increased the taxes, twice-fold: A 10% Temple tax and an additional 10% of income to be spent within the city gates of Jerusalem.  The poor became poorer and the wealthy became wealthier. And, Herod had become a part of Rome and Rome had become a part of Jerusalem.

These were dark, difficult times.  The Prophets had foretold of the consequences of disobedience to God’s Holy Law. Still, the people sinned.  Micah, Jeremiah and Isaiah all prophesied of the coming of the new King, the Messiah.

But, that had been almost 800 years before.  And, instead of receiving the Messiah, there was exile and hardship.  Had God actually forgotten God’s people?

These were dark, difficult times.  It is time for repentance, for turning one’s life around, for recognizing God’s great love delivered in the tiny, package of a sweet, little baby Jesus boy.

I was a child sitting in that church, at the age of eight or nine years old, and, I was in dark, difficult times.  I can’t tell you how I know that but, I know that. I can tell you that I wept openly and thankfully that God loved me so much that God sent God’s Son into my life…even to death on the cross for me…I knew that my only hope that the darkness and sinfulness of my life could be overcome was through the Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

This is what the church gave to me in Christmas…well, I am still that broken little 9 year old girl whose living in a dark, difficult world whose only hope is in that tiny little sweet baby Jesus born in Bethlehem on a not so silent night more than 2000 years ago.

My prayer is that you, too, find Christ in Christmas

This Is My Truth

I am a survivor of sexual assault.  Never did I think that I would ever say these words aloud much less write these words or share this story so publically.  For those who know me well, they will tell you that I am one of the most private public persons that they know.  Even my closest friends and family have not heard this story until this moment.

The time and place was forty years ago at a weekend get away with some friends. There were only two of us there who were under 20.  It had been a long drive to get there, an evening of great food and fun, some drinking, more for some than for others…all in all, perfect…until it wasn’t.

I found myself left, as others had gone to bed, in the gathering room with one of the older, married men (whose wife was not there), who had done much more drinking than I.   I will not speak of the details except to say this: before I knew it, things got ugly, quickly…forced kissing, ripping my blouse off, and his positioning himself in a position that made me feel completely powerless.   The idea of being raped was simply not going to happen to me.  Somewhere, from deep within, a power that I can’t explain, embodied me and just as forcibly he had put himself on me, I forcibly pushed him off of me and ran the hell out of that room.

I ended up in the bedroom where I was to sleep…there was no sleep that night…I sobbed endlessly into the pillow of the bed to muffle the sound.

The next morning, I got myself together, dressed and went in to breakfast where he was already seated at the table.

I knew in that moment that nothing had happened, as far as he was concerned.  NOTHING. NOT. ONE. THING.

My world was shattered. His world? Not so much… there was light-hearted conversation, plans for the day were forged.  I, the good southern girl, rose to the occasion of “putting on a good face.”

Intermittently, throughout the weekend… and for a long time to come…random, horrible thoughts swirled around my being…What had I done to encourage this kind of behavior?  How could I be so traumatized and he so nonchalant?   What a jerk he is!  What a dopey little girl I was being…after all, nothing had actually happened, right? I mean it is not like I was ACTUALLY raped…

This continued throughout the weekend (the second night was as sleepless as the first…this time not of horror or shame but, of fear…would he try something again?) Some of my friends noticed the change in my demeanor/behavior but I shrugged it off to having not slept well.

I was happy to finally get home.  But, I would still have to see him.  He was a part of my immediate social circle.  It wouldn’t be too long before my social circle would change but it was awkward, unnerving, to say the least.

But, this one thing I knew: My life was forever changed…and, what had happened HAD really happened.

And, this second thing I also knew: He was unaffected.  Whether he had blacked out or blocked out, it was never spoken of, apologized for or acknowledged.

And, so, my silence began.

For more than forty years, this has been buried deeply in the depths of my soul.  It has only come out in light of recent conversations that this country is having.

The dam broke for me on Monday morning.  I had engaged in a too many conversations about the current situation surrounding the Supreme Court nominee and the accusations swirling about the woman who has accused him of a violent sexual act.

And, somehow, I was jetted back to that place, more than forty years ago.  FORTY. YEARS. AGO. I was sent back to a place to which I NEVER wanted to return.  Everything that I heard about “her,” I heard as people saying the same about me… Everything I heard about “him,” I heard people say the same thing about the man who sexually attacked me.

This is my truth. This is my further truth. I don’t care (I am being explicitly grace-filled in my language choice here) about what you think about me.  I don’t want your comfort, your sympathy, your empathy, your pity, your judgment, your hate, your anger, your indignation, your rationalization, your justification…I don’t want anything from you.  Laugh and make fun of me, if you must.  I. REALLY. DON’T. CARE.

This is my truth. It is a truth that I had to speak.

Rest assured, I am just fine.  I am more than fine. I am blessed beyond measure.  I have family and friends who love me unconditionally and without judgment.

God has given me two grandchildren: a girl and a boy. For her, I hope to help shape her life, value and esteem so that she never feels powerless in this world.  For him, I hope to shape his life, value and esteem so that he may treat all with respect.

While that incident forty years ago, did not define me, it did affect much of my life and many of my choices and decisions.   It did not stop me from becoming who I am.

But, further be assured, that had that man, who was an attorney and a political figure, risen to become a nominee for the highest court in the United States of America, this sixty year old woman hopes that she would have the courage to tell her story.

This is my truth.