Perspectives: Tiny Cabin

One might not notice the tiny cabin between the two buildings...

 

Early Puritanism

Considering its presence among the Wesley family, how might had early Puritanism influenced early Methodism? Do such influences persist? Discuss.

Following the ascension of Elizabeth I to the throne, those who had fled the country during the reign of “Bloody” Mary (so named because of her execution of Protestants) returned with a determination to remove all papal influences from the state religion. According to Richard Heitzenrater in Wesley and the People Called Methodists, “Hence some English Calvinists became known popularly as Puritans and worked to effect reforms that would purify the church of its nonscriptural corruptions.”  In some ways this radical, non-conformist movement influenced early Methodism, especially in the search for personal piety or holiness and in the desire to reform the established church.  As I read about the Puritan belief in stages of Conversion, I could hear echoes of Wesley’s salvation theory of justification and sanctification.  Wesley advocated for the supremacy of scripture in faith. In other ways, Methodism seems a reaction against the Puritan faith, including the belief shared by the Calvinists that some people were “the elect” and others were not.

 

I think some influences of Puritanism still do exist in the United Methodist Church.  When one reads the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church – one of our two doctrinal documents – one hears overt anti-Catholic sentiment.  Our General Rules reflect the call for a personal holiness of life. 

Book Review: Wesley and the People Called Methodists

Information about the book

Richard P. Heitzenrater. Wesley and the People Called Methodists, Second Edition. Abingdon Press, Nashville. 2013.  Cokesbury. Amazon.

Summary

From the Amazon Description: This second edition of Richard P. Heitzenrater's groundbreaking survey of the Wesleyan movement is the story of the many people who contributed to the theology, organization, and mission of Methodism. This updated version addresses recent research from the past twenty years; includes an extensive bibliography; and fleshes out such topics as the means of grace; Conference: "Large" Minutes: Charles Wesley: Wesley and America; ordination; prison ministry; apostolic church; music; children; Susanna and Samuel Wesley; the Christian library; itinerancy; connectionalism; doctrinal standards; and John Wesley as historian, Oxford don, and preacher.

This book is a very detailed review of the early years (1700s) of Methodism. It focuses on John and Charles Wesley and the people and activities around them through Wesley's death.

Impressions

I read this book in preparation for the BeADisciple class Methodist Identity: Our Story.  I have found that my "investing" my reading time in a reference book related to the class that my experience of the class is greatly enhanced.  I read this one before the class started, over the summer months.  I found it to be very detailed, well organized, and actually, if not an easy read, then also not a difficult read.

I found the following aspects of the book to be particularly interesting:

1. The first section reviewed the English Reformation and the Church in England.  I have never considered how this would influence the development of Methodism and the Wesleys themselves. 
2. I was particularly interested in watching how Wesley's faith and viewpoint matured over his lifetime. It was definitely not a stagnant faith. It grew and matured.
3. John (and Charles) Wesley's idea that they weren't Christian until they experienced assurance of God's love and forgiveness was - well - a shocker.
4. I appreciated watching the dynamic of "will we or won't we" break away from the Anglican Church.
5. In general, reading about how Methodism grew and changed was very interesting to me.

I would recommend this book to someone who would like to take a deep dive into the origins on Methodism during John Wesley's life.

Posts about book

Others posts that reference this book will be tagged with Heitzenrater Wesley

Perspectives: Gratitude Door

  An oldie but a goodie.  Gratitude Door

Light and Darkness

This week, I was reading Wesley's sermon entitled A Caution against Bigotry.  It was written in 1750 and is based on this passage:

And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. And Jesus said, Forbid him not.  Mark 9:38-39

At first blush, would we say that there is no modern relevance to this passage? The disciples have seen someone "casting out devils" who wasn't a follower of Jesus, so they told the person to stop.  Do we spend much time casting out devils?

I like Wesley's perspective on this. If we remove the idea of a concrete devil, and think instead of sin, or even darkness, then we can bring this into our own world. What do we do? We bring the light of Christ to people's lives.  Or to put it as John does in 1 John 1:5, "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all."

Wesley goes on to write, "If we willingly fail in any of these points, if we either directly or indirectly forbid him 'because he followeth not us,' then we are 'bigots.'"  Would we stop someone from bringing light to darkness because they do not attend our church? Believe as we do? Would we leave someone in darkness?

Wesley says, "Encourage whomsoever God is pleased to employ, to give himself wholly up thereto. Speak well of him wheresoever you are; defend his character and his mission. Enlarge as far as you can his sphere of action  Show him all kindness in word and deed. And cease not to cry to God in his behalf, that he may save both himself and them that hear him. "

Will we bring that kind of light to the world? I hope so.

 

Studying History

 

How might studying history help us understand ourselves more deeply? How might have Wesley's historical context shaped him?

When we study history, one of the potential outcomes is that we come to understand ourselves better than we did before.  We learn the historical events and factors that shaped our ancestors and us.  For example, my own church became a Methodist Episcopal Church South in the 19^th century and then a Methodist Church in 1939. Knowing my local church has a history connected to the support of slavery and racism, I wonder how that has shaped who we are today – a reconciling ministry congregation that is open to everyone.  As I look back at my own childhood, I see that I grew up as our country was building rockets to go to the moon and hearing about Watergate on the television. How has that shaped my view of life? Do I have a more global outlook after seeing the fascinating images of the earth from the moon? Is my own distrust of politics linked to what I learned about Watergate?

 

Wesley was born during the middle of the Industrial Revolution in England with its accompanying shift of people to city centers, increased gap between the richest and the poorest, and increases in industries including mining and mechanized industry.  This was one of the most impactful changes in human life for centuries. Wesley was born after the political and religious revolutions of the Tudor and Stuart royal families in England as well as the English Civil Wars.  He lived in a post-Reformation England with great anti-Catholic sentiments and in a Church of England (government supported) that strove to find a middle ground in faith.  Wesley was born in a time that was beginning to experience global trade and colonization. It was a seminal time to be a person of faith in England.  Wesley believed and taught that it was necessary to live not only a life of personal holiness but also social justice. How could he ignore the people around him who needed help? How could his faith not be influenced by the vast changes in beliefs around him? 

Perspectives: Bee

 

Prayer Thoughts

I'm reading a sermon by John Wesley called "Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount."  There are several of these sermons - the one I am currently reading is Discourse VI.  It is based on Matthew 6:1-15.  This part of the sermon on the mount speaks to doing alms and praying in such a way as to not be seen doing them.

In section two, Wesley writes:

Hypocrisy then, or insincerity, is the first thing we are to guard against in prayer.  Beware not to speak what thou does not mean.  Prayer is the lifting up of the heart to God: all words of prayer without this are mere hypocrisy.

One evening several years ago, I was in a Bible study class.  We were spending the evening talking about prayer.  I was asked to pray for our political leaders.  In general, I think this is a good thing to do, so I agreed.  I was praying, moving through layers of government, when I came to a leader whose actions and character I cannot abide.  I verbally stopped the prayer, involuntarily.  I felt as if I could not pray for this person.

I was reminded of another verse in this same section of Matthew: 5:43-45:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So, if I combine these thoughts, I should pray for those who persecute me (this person does not persecute me, but still), and I must do it with sincerity.  How do we do that? 

That evening, I just continued, and prayed for the person who often disgusts me after confessing, in the prayer, to God, how hard it was.  Did I do it with sincerity?  I doubt it. Do I think it fulfilled Jesus' command in Matthew 5? Probably not.

So what is the answer?  I think the answer is to pray the truth.  It might be harder to do in a public prayer, but in our private prayers, we should pray about our inability to pray for a person.  To lift that up to God in truth.  I think that is sincere, and I also think that God may show us a way to prayer FOR that person, as well - either in spite of our feelings, or through them.

 

The Next Person

West Virginia is the home of the Summit Bachtel Reserve, a Boy Scout adventure center.  This year is was the home of the National Scout Jamboree.  At the event, the scouts volunteered to assembled flood buckets.  Russell Smart, a national program chairman for BSA was quoted in an article in United Methodist News:

“The last thing I tell them is, ‘Okay, when you put the lid on the bucket, the next person who picks up that bucket is not going to be having a good day,’ ” Smart said. “ ‘And you’re never going to know who is going to open that bucket. You’re not even going to know when it’s going to be opened. You’re not even going to know where it’s going to be opened, but the person that opens that bucket — the first thing they’re going to see is who made it happen. … So you won’t know them, but they’re going to know you. And they’re going to say a thank you, that you were there for them on the day they needed you.’ … That’s why we call it service and impact.”

We don't always get to see the impact of what we do, but we can imagine "the next person" - the one who is facing a home filled with flood damage, opening a flood bucket.  We can imagine "the next person" who has a meal because we have provided food, or a place to sleep because we have contributed to a shelter. We can imagine the abused family who has a moment of safety in a abused women's shelter, or the recovering addict who can stay clean another day, or the lonely widow who has a friend at church - "the next person."

 

Perspectives: Mountain Bear

Parker made an appearance at the beach in Wednesday's post.  Lest you think he is only a beach bum bear, here he is in the mountains.

Online Communion

Yesterday was Sunday (when I’m writing this).  I was on vacation, sitting on the beach.  I realized it was the time my church worships together, so I turned on the live stream (on my phone) to participate.  It was a communion day, and I was reminded of the (sometimes heated) discussions during the pandemic concerning “online communion.”  This is not something we practice in our Annual Conference.  As I watched and listened to communion in a worshipful attitude, I realized the online experience of communion is not “all or nothing.”  To be certain, I did not participate in the sacrament, but there are ways to worship through online communion that are not the sacrament itself.

I can confess my sins, and experience forgiveness.

Free us for joyful obedience

I can remember and be thankful for the existence and acts of God,  remembering that I am created by a grace-filled God in God’s image, and that God still walks with us today.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory,

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

I am reminded again of the acts of Christ in my life, in creating and sustaining of the church, and in the transformation of the world.  I can re-envision Jesus in the upper room, with the bread and wine.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

As the Spirit covers my church family gathered together, I can know that the Spirit covers me, too, even though I am hundreds of miles away.  I can pray the Lord’s Prayer with those I love, using the words taught by Christ 1000s of years ago.

Amen.

As the bread is broken and dipped into the cup, I can see each person participating, and pray for them.  I can surround my church family in prayer as they are offered and receive the sacrament.  I can pray for this church, and the church universal.

The body of Christ, given for you. Amen.

The blood of Christ, given for you.  Amen.

I thank God for online worship for when I cannot be physically present with the congregation.  I am thankful for the realization that online communion, though not a sacrament for me, 100s of miles away, is still a means of grace.

 

Time Management and Holy Living

I’m currently reading Wesley and the People Called Methodists by Richard P Heitzenrater. I’ve registered for my next Wesley / Be A Disciple class for the Wesley Academy for Advanced Christian Studies.   My experience with these classes is that they do not require a large amount of outside reading, but by adding an optional book reading to the class, I greatly enhance my experience and learning. 

Anyway, today I read this:  "Jeremy Taylor provided one of the most crucial suggestions that Wesley adopted: the first rule of holy living is care of your time."

I’ve known for a while that John Wesley kept a diary of the use of his time (among other things).  Also, one of the historical questions is:

“Will you observe the following directions? A) Be diligent. Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary. B) Be punctual. Do everything exactly at the time. And do not mend our rules, but keep them; not for wrath, but for conscience’ sake.” 

I’ve never really considered why Wesley placed such a value on managing his time until I read the first sentence I quoted: the first rule of holy living is care of your time.

How aware are we of how we spend our time?  I manage my time at work with the goal (in my mind) of both being aware of the goals/tasks I need to accomplish that day, prioritizing them, and then managing my time in order to accomplish them.  That’s not working toward holy living, but it’s what I consider to be time management.

But how often do we say, “I would do that, but I just don’t have the time.”  Are we aware of how we spend our time? Do we prioritize holy living? Time in prayer and study? Time in service?

I for one do not think it is healthy to always be pushing to get things done.  We all need down time.  That said, do we prioritize our time for holy living? It’s an interesting question to me.

Perspectives: Travel Art

 Fun travel art.