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.

Injustice

Actions as Evidence of Faith

(The following is a devotional I wrote for our recent Staff Retreat at the Foundation, and, as is my habit, I share it here with you.)

Those Methodists … they don’t have any real beliefs.  If you are Methodist, you can believe anything you want.

From Ken Carder’s book, “Living our beliefs…”

However, although Wesley and the Methodists “were fully committed to the principles of religious toleration and theological diversity, they were equally confident that there is a ‘marrow’ of Christian truth than can be identified and that must be conserved.” (p25)  What do you believe – those deep, marrow beliefs – that there is a God, that he is alive in the world.  That he cares about us – loves us – all of us -- beyond our imagination. 

The Methodist emphasis upon “practical divinity” or holy living, therefore, recognizes the integral relationship between beliefs and behavior, faith and works.  It is not a diminishing of the importance of beliefs; rather, it is a declaration of the importance of beliefs in shaping who we are and our relationship with God and the world. (p27)  If we really believe what we say we believe, that it has to make a difference in what we do.

Sometimes we want these hard and fast statements of faith, so that we can say, “I am right, and you are wrong.”  That’s too easy.  The United Methodist Faith is more complicated than that.  Wesley’s Methodism doesn’t just say, “I believe…”  It says, “I believe, and my beliefs will change my actions.”

It is easier to say, “I am right and you are wrong” than it is to say, “I love God.  God loves you and me.  In order to love God, I must love you, and that love will change who I am and what I do.”

Wesley wrote, “What then is the mark?  Who is a Methodist, according to you own account?”  I answer: A Methodist is one who has “the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him;” one who “loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.  God is the joy of his heart, and the desire of his soul; which is constantly crying out, “Whom have I in heaven but thee?  And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee!  My God and my all!  Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”

Believing that our faith is lived out in our lives, Wesley developed a way to live – the General Rules.  The process had two steps – trying to live out the rules, and then, because if we attempt to do it alone, we will fail, living out the rules in a group whose members would help each other.

Our work in the Foundation is ministry.  We’ve known that all along.  We work as a team.  We’ve known that all along, too.  Jeff has asked us to examine what we do in the light of the three simple rules, and I imagine we are all finding that our faith in God has impacted our living of the mission of the Foundation, and that as a team, we are better able to fulfill our calling to this ministry.

And when we do that, we find that God is there, meeting us at the center of what we believe and what we are doing.

Why I am United Methodist

At Annual Conference, I was thinking about why I am glad I am a United Methodist.  Here's part of the list:

• In this Church, my gifts from God are affirmed, even though I am female.  In this Church, I teach and I preach.  I sit on committees that deal with finances and personnel issues.  I am the Lay Leader of a local Church.  I am gifted for these ministries, and in this Church, my gender is not a barrier to the use of my gifts from God.
• In this Church, everyone is welcome to the Communion table.  Everyone -- even those who are not United Methodists.  It is Christ's table, and he invites all.  None of us are worthy; all of use can come.
• In this Church, there are no easy answers.  In this Church, we are encouraged to think for ourselves.  Thinking is not a barrier to faith.
• In this Church, my children have learned a faith based on grace, not judgment.  In this Church, we have a faith that speaks of God walking before us, preparing the way with his gifts of grace.

Doors

I walked around the church where I work today and took pictures of doors. The reason I picked this church is that it is the building where I work -- my comments below are not meant to infer anything about this particular church!

Doors are interesting. We say in the Methodist church that we have "Open Doors." I know that doesn't literally mean that our doors are always open, but I wonder what our doors say about our church. I invite you to walk around your church and think about your doors.

What do your doors say about your church?

Are they symbolic in any way? Are they open, like the gate in the middle of this collage? Are the figurative doors to your church clear glass, offering welcome and openness? Do your doors nurture and care for people, like the one with the portico? Are your doors far away and hard to reach? Do they require warnings, like the one with the cone? Are your figurative doors under a cross? Are our doors only windows where entrances used to be?

What are the "doors" to your church like?

Isn't it time to open our doors so that God can enter? And so that he can bring his children into the church?

Image: Collage created by Picasa. What a cool tool that is!

Open Discussion

I ran across the You-tube video today. It's a segment of a program I've never heard of before (which says nothing about the program and everything about me) called Mental Engineering. A panel of four reviews one of the Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds television spots. A few thoughts based on the panel's discussions:

• One panelist says that she believes that this is a political ad which aims to position the church in contrast to right-wing evangelical movements. Is it political? I think it does strive to define our church as a place of broad acceptance. I wouldn't call it political because I think that we use the Igniting Ministry program to help solidify our identity as a church with those who don't know anything about us -- not as a means to say, "we aren't a conservative church."
• One panelist thought it was evidence of the conflict in the UM church -- our conservative and liberal wings, and that these ads are a triumph of liberal wing over conservative one, AND that the ads are evidence of the rupture. I do believe that there are a huge variety of beliefs in the UM church, and that we do not always
• Is the "open" used so that listeners would have the idea that the church has broad base? The panelist asked if the UM church is doing this to portray themselves as open even though she perceives us as not being open, and in fact suggests that we do not admit gay or lesbian people to membership. Is it a suggestion that other churches are "closed?" I wish I had a simple answer regarding our "openness." I do believe that the Open phrases portray a church as we should be. I think we have more ground to cover in this field, and I have heard questions like this from people I know. I would like to say that gay and lesbian people are freely admitted to membership, and I would have thought that to be the case before the incident a year ago.
• Humility -- does it mean being quiet? One panelist suggested that, and I don't agree. Humility to me infers obedience to something (God) who is higher than you are. It does mean not "increasing" yourself at the expense of others, but it doesn't mean to be quiet.
• Is the publicity push only a membership drive? Are we doing it because to increase membership is to increase our revenue stream? I hope not. I hope we do it because we have a mission to "go forth and make of all disciples," and we will use the tools we have to do so.
• Is it branding? I think the ads do strive to create in the mind of the listener a perception of what it means to be a United Methodist -- who we are. Is that branding?
• "Find your path." What does this mean? What does that say in contrast to the idea of "one right path." I think, in my experience, one of the basic tenets of the UM faith is that God calls to us each in a different way. There is no "one right path." The only right path is the one that leads to God, and that is different for each one of us.
• Path to what? Social Justice? The Methodist church? An embracing community? All of these are suggestions from the panel as to what the "path" leads to. I think in some ways the paths in the video lead to community. In the final sense, though, I think the "find your path" phrase refers to a path to God, and I'm surprised the panel didn't recognize that.
• The panelists were asked to name a famous Methodist? I was disappointed with the names they mentioned (Ted Bundy?), so here are some of my own: Walter Reed, Rosa Parks, Geronimo (there is a whole list here.)