Perspectives: Happy Thanksgiving

 

Marks of a Methodist

 I'm reading a book called All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas by Laceye Warner, Amy Valdez Barker, Jung Choi, and Sangwood Kim.  This morning I read this:

For Wesley the marks of Methodist were not religious opinions or distinctive doctrinal commitments setting them apart from other Christians, Grounded in biblical texts, Wesley turned to the simple, and at the same time unimaginable, reality of God's love. This love embodied in Jesus Christ invites all to receive God's love and then to practice love through holiness of heart and life.

There are those who say that United Methodists don't believe any particular thing - that we are a denomination that says, "Believe what you want to believe."  That is not the case.

Wesley taught that there were basic doctrinal beliefs that we should share as Methodists, but they are distinctive to Methodism. I think they were the basis of his faith, and he was not shy about preaching about them - demanding faith in them.

But what sets us apart? I think there are a few things, but this quote reminds me of one of them - one that produces the nature of our faith together.  We believe that we are loved by God. That love should move us to action, and that action should be acts of holiness of heart and holiness of service. We work to love God in return and to open ourselves to God's love, and we work to share that love with others. It is a faith of piety and social holiness.

Every Scripture

2 Timothy 3:15-17

¹⁵Since childhood you have known the holy scriptures that help you to be wise in a way that leads to salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, ¹⁷ so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good.

I read this yesterday and thought about the times that people have used it to defend themselves when people disagree with their interpretation of Bible passages.  Please understand as you read this that I am not disparaging the scripture with anything I am about to write; however, I think the passage deserves some thought.

This is from Timothy. Traditionally, Paul wrote Timothy. Modern scholars think this may not be the case - but I don't want to debate this here. Let's imagine the traditional viewpoint is correct (or that it was written by someone who followed Paul's teachings.).  The writer, especially it if was Paul, was probably Jewish. Scripture for that person was the Torah and maybe the historical and prophetic writings of the Hebrew Scripture.

Paul, or whoever wrote this passage, was writing a letter, and yet when we read it, we think of the Gospels and the Epistles (as well as the Hebrew Bible). I wonder what the author would think if he knew his letter was being elevated to the level of Torah.

I was talking to someone once about this passage, and said, "You know, the writer of this Timothy passage wouldn't have thought of what we call the New Testament as scripture."  The person I was speaking to didn't say anything, as if I had spoken a foreign language.

I do think the passage is correct, and I do think it is true of the Gospels and Epistles, even if the author didn't know about them or consider them scripture.  My point is that we need to be informed about what we say. And I think we need to realize that nothing the author of Timothy said means that a literal interpretation of scripture is the best way to open ourselves to the teaching, correction, and traiging the scripture offers.

 

Perspectives: Stonewall Lake

 

The Church and Public Policy

What might the role of the church be in solving public policy issues on gene editing?

I think we start with our actions. We step into the community and demonstrate our ability to value other people through our service to them. When we do that, we can say that God loves all people because our actions are bringing our beliefs to light.   The alignment of our actions with the beliefs we say we have will help make us a trustworthy partner in solving public policy issues.

 

Next, we can participate in public discussions on the idea, sharing our beliefs that God has created us and that everyone is loved by our creator.  From this, we have a responsibility to love all of God’s children as God loves us. We learn everything we can about the science, respecting discovery and education. We then have earned our place at the table to help guide public policy discussions.

 

Course Review: Religion and Science

 Information about the Course

This is a course offered by BeADisiciple.com called Religion and Science: Pathways to Truth.  This is a course offered as part of the Wesley Academy for Advanced Christian Studies, created in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary and BeADisciple.  The course instructor Pamela Deck, and it includes videos hosted by Francis Collins with various experts in the field covering nine different topics.  The course is nine weeks long. Each week involves a small amount of Bible Study, viewing a video with Dr. Collins providing an introduction and then 20-30 minutes with a lecture from a person in the field.  Participants then answer at least four questions (2 out of 4 from each section).  Answers to the questions are posted in the online classroom software for discussion.  Each student must post at least two responses per set of questions to demonstrate engagement in the course.

The course can be part of a certification called Certificate in Advanced Christian Study.  The certificate involves completion of six courses such as this one.  The course can also be taken as a stand alone option.

Summary

From the website: Must we reject belief in God to accept the findings of science? 

Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, hosts this ground-breaking series in which several leading scientists, theologians, and philosophers explore the contrasts and similarities between religion and science. This group of experts considers if and how religion and science might coexist and even complement one another in the 21st century.

Impressions

This is my sixth course in the Wesley Academy series, and to be honest, this one was the most difficult. By that I mean that the questions were hard to answer; at times  I didn't even understand the questions. Having said that, I persevered, and worked my way through the material. It was engaging and enlightening, and even though I found it difficult, I would recommend the class.

My previous career was in science, and I have been looking forward to this class since I started work on the Certificate. This is the first chance in my schedule I have had to take it. Parts of it were absolutely fascinating, such as the quantum physics week.  Others were more difficult to grasp, but still worth the effort and time. The discussions were excellent, and were enhanced by the instructor, Pamela Deck, who posted responses to the discussion and asked more questions to move us further in our understanding.  All nine lessons were available when we started, which is a great advantage to those who need to juggle their schedule a little; it allows students to work ahead a few days when times get busy.  Not all of the classes provide this advantage.

Topics covered included

• Friends or Foes? The Story of a Complex Relationship — David Wilkinson, St. John’s College, Durham
• Truth in Science and Theology — Philip Clayton, Claremont School of Theology
• God and Nature — Keith Ward, Oxford University
• Creation and Evolution — Darrel Falk, Point Loma Nazarene University
• What Does It Mean to Be Human? — Warren Brown, Fuller Theological Seminary
• The God of Hope and the End of the World — John Polkinghorne, Cambridge University
• Genetic Science and the Frontiers of Ethics — Ted Peters, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminar
• Creation Care

In preparation for the course, I read Francis Collins book, The Language of God.  I am now reading a new book he wrote called The Road to Wisdom.

Posts about the Class

Posts about the class will have the tag Science and Faith (a wrong tag name, but whatever)

Perspectives: Flower

 

Church Leadership Books

 Last month, in my CLM course, the speaker mentioned several books about Church Leadership. I thought it was a good list, so I'm sharing it here.

• Foster, Richard. Celebration of Discipline. HarperOne. San Francisco. 1998. Cokesbury / Amazon.
• Foster, Richard. Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. HarperOne. San Francisco. 1992. Cokesbury / Amazon
• Kotan, Kay and Blake Bradford.  Mission Possible 3+: A Simple Structure for Missional Effectiveness. Market Square Publishing. 2021.  Amazon
• Lewis, Stephen, Matthew Wesley Williams, and Dori Baker. Another Way: Living and Leading Change on Purpose. Chalice Press. St. Louis, Missouri. 2020. Cokesbury / Amazon.
• Nouwen, Henri.  In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. Crossroad Publishing Company, New York. 1989.  Amazon
• Ross, Stephan. Leadership and Organization for Fruitful Congregations. 2018 (also known as Simple Governance: Liberating Your Church for Mission) Amazon.
• Weems, Lovett and Ann Michel. Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance: A Transformational Guide to Church Finance. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham, Maryland. 2021. Cokesbury / Amazon. 

Nature Imagery

Why did the Psalmists so often turn to nature imagery to talk about God and their relationship with God?

I think it was true for the Psalmist and for us that we turn to imagery that allows us to bring something that is beyond our comprehension into comparison with something we understand so that we can begin to see that which is unseeable. The Psalmists and those who sang the psalms would have been close to nature, so those images would help them to understand God just a little bit.

 

Secondly, I think the Psalmists would have knowledge of sacred thought and writings that had come before that used nature imagery so it would have been easier to build on previously used images.

 

Thirdly, God was associated with creation of nature as explained in Genesis. I think God in our minds has a deep connection with nature, so images from nature seem appropriate.

 

Perspectives: Clowns

 This is one of our neighbors' (many) Halloween decorations. So creepy.  My impression of clowns is that they are meant to be funny - this is probably because they are part of circuses. I looked up the history of clowns and found this on Wikipedia:

The most ancient clowns have been found in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, around 2400 B.C. Unlike court jesters, clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally the roles of priest and clown have been held by the same persons.

Huh.  

The Christian Ideal

 I'm reading Francis Collin's book, The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust. I've just started the chapter on faith. 

Collins quotes G.K. Chesterton, who said, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting . It has been found difficult; and left untried." I read that, and though about the reaction people would have if I made that a Facebook post on my page. I think just about everyone would agree with it, no matter how their faith journey is moving. I think they would almost all (not everyone, but many) would think, "Yes, that's what the other side is doing. They have given up on (or are ignoring) the teachings of Christ.

I think this response - to judge others for something we should examine in our lives - is hypocritical.  And it is not lost on me that I am doing it right now! I think a statement such as Chesterson's isn't meant to provide us with more ammunition to battle each other, but instead should be a moment of self reflection. It should be a yardstick against which we should measure our own thoughts and actions - not others'.

Surely we wouldn't say we have found the Christian ideal wanting.  Have we tried the it and found it too difficult?  Or have we completely failed to try it at all? And I don't mean that other guy.  I mean you and me.

Life After Death

Do the possibilities of what lies beyond death make a difference in how you live your life? Discuss.

Truthfully, I think my calling from God is to live a life here, in this creation, following God’s leading. I believe in life beyond death, and am grateful for it, but it doesn’t concern my thoughts very much. I can leave it in God’s hands. What I hope influences the way I life my life is God’s presence, now, here, and how I should respond to it.

 

If anything about life after death makes a difference in how I live it is my gratitude for all of God’s grace, including that. I remember in the Wesley Beliefs class, reading about Wesley’s determination that we should, through grace, have an assurance of God’s saving grace for us. If I have assurance of God’s salvation, including life after death, then I can act out of gratitude.  I can contrast this to the idea of living in fear of hell, and how that might change the way I live my life.  This assurance Wesley talks about can free us from that fear.

Perspectives: November at Snowshoe

 It's not snowing today, but it will.  I'm enjoying the fall.