I had a conversation earlier this week
about how Christian effect change in the world.  As we talked I
realized that this week’s lesson from A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader
provided a good answer.  In the past century we have seen two broad
movements from the church that sought to impose its principles on the
world.  In the first half of the last century forces that we
disparage as liberal sought to impose a Christian Century.  It
failed.  Now a movement from conservative circles embarks on a
similar quest … history is not on the side of its success.  Why?
In part it’s because a living relationship can never be imposed on
individuals.  A moment of personal decision must be met and a
decision made to persevere with the saints in a holy life.

In John’s gospel this shows up in a
pronounced shift between John chapters 12 and 13.  One moment Jesus
is in conflict with Jewish authorities and the next he is ministering
to his disciples.  They withdraw with Jesus from the world as he
prepares them for his death.  John’s letter to the church
functioned as a kind of as a kind of commentary on John’s Gospel
and in today’s lesson we see a shift from the first portion of the
letter centered on dealing with hostility from the world and now the
focus is how we are to live together.

Continue reading “The Way Methodists Live – 1 John 3:11-24” →

Today I want to remind us that the relationships created in baptismal water are thicker than our
family blood relations.  This week in A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader we will be paying attention to "The Ministry of All God’s People" (Chapter 22, pp. 177-183).

While [Jesus] was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him.  Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."  But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"  And pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:46-50, NRSV)

William Barclay suggests that true friendship and true love are founded on certain things without which friendship and love cannot exist in relationships.

(i) Friendship is founded on a common ideal. …

(ii) Friendship is founded on a common experience, and on the memories which come from it. …

(iii) True love is founded on obedience.  "You are my friends," said Jesus, "if you do what I command you" (John 15:14). …

For all these reasons true kinship is not always a matter of a flesh and blood relationship.  … even if a Christian finds that those who should be closest to him are those who are most out of sympathy with him, there remains for him the fellowship of Jesus Christ and the friendship of all who love the
Lord (William Barclay, “True Kinship,” The Gospel of Matthew: Volume 2, Daily Study Bible, 1975).

Continue reading “Who Is Your Family? – Matthew 12:46-50” →

In our time, in this country,
Christians I know come up to me and talk about the threats they see
to our nation.  They see problems:

• When someone says that the Ten
  Commandments should not be posted in the public square.  (Of course,
  we ask which set of ten, numbered differently in the Judaic, Roman
  Catholic, and Protestant traditions are we to post in a “Christian”
  nation?)

• When someone says re-instituting
  prayer in school would return the nation to better climate.

• When we find it difficult to meet
  as Christians in the public square or find it difficult to gather
  publicly in a church.

In seasons of stress many of us
remember the “good old days” and become frustrated with the here
and now.  Perhaps the greatest problem with reflecting casually on
the “good old days” is that we tend to remember a season of
comfort and complacency as good, rather than as a season of rest
before further exertion.

Continue reading “Blessed Are the Persecuted? – John 15:18-27” →

Abraham Lincoln ran for Congress in
1846, and he faced a formidable opponent: Peter Cartwright.
Cartwright, a raw-boned, circuit-riding Methodist preacher, was known
throughout Illinois. During his sixty-five years of riding the
circuit, he baptized nearly 10,000 converts.

During the intense Congressional
campaign, some of Cartwright’s followers accused Lincoln of being
an “infidel.”  In response, Lincoln decided to meet Cartwright on
his own ground and attend one of his evangelistic rallies.  Carl
Sandburg, in Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, tells
the story this way:

In due time
Cartwright said “All who desire to lead a new life, to give their
hearts to God, and go to heaven, will stand,” and a sprinkling of
men, women, and children stood up.  Then the preacher exhorted, “All
who do not wish to go to hell will stand.” All stood up—except
Lincoln.  Then said Cartwright in his gravest voice, “I observe
that many responded to the first invitation to give their hearts to
God and go to heaven.  And I further observe that all of you save one
indicated that you did not desire to go to hell.  The sole exception
is Mr. Lincoln, who did not respond to either invitation. May I
inquire of you, Mr. Lincoln, where are you going?”

And Lincoln slowly
rose and slowly spoke. “I came here as a respectful listener.  I
did not know that I was to be singled out by Brother Cartwright. I
believe in treating religious matters with due solemnity.  I admit
that the questions propounded by Brother Cartwright are of great
importance.  I did not feel called upon to answer as the rest did.
Brother Cartwright asks me directly where I am going. I desire to
reply with equal directness: I am going to Congress.” 

He went..  (As
quoted in “The Untold Story of Christianity & The Civil War,”
Christian History, Issue 33, 1997).

Continue reading “The Far Country – John 14:1-7” →

Philip Yancey in What’s So Amazing
about Grace tells this story:

“A young girl grows up on a cherry
orchard just above Traverse City, Michigan. Her parents, just a bit
old fashioned, tend to overreact to her nose ring, the music she
listens to, and the length of her skirts. They ground her a few times
and she seethes inside. "I hate you," she screams at her
father when he knocks on the door of her room after an argument. And
that night she acts on a plan she has mentally rehearsed scores of
times. She runs away. She runs to Detroit, the biggest city closest
to her. And the second day she’s there she meets a man who drives the
biggest car she’s ever seen. He offers her a ride, buys her lunch,
and arranges a place for her to stay. He gives her some pills that
make her feel better than she’s ever felt before. She was right all
along, she decides. Her parents were keeping her from all the fun.
The good life continues for a month, two months, a year.

“The man with the big car, she calls
him "boss," teaches her a few things that men like. Since
she’s underage, men pay a premium for her. She lives in a penthouse
with room service whenever she wants. Occasionally, she think about
the folks back home, but their lives seem so boring and provincial
that she can hardly believe that she grew up there. After the first
year, sallow signs of illness appear. And it amazes her how fast the
boss turns mean. "These days we can’t mess around," he
growls. And before she knows it, she’s out on the street without a
penny to her name. She still turns a couple of tricks a night, but
they don’t pay for much. And all the money goes to support her habit.

Continue reading “How Do You Spell Grace? — Ephesians 2:1-10” →

Over two-hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson suggested that
we form a nation that protected our “life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” And pursued it we have. A storm bearing the name of Katrina reminds
us that we will sustain any place of fleeting happiness even if it lies below
sea level. The fleeting nature of that happiness fled before the wind, and the
rain, the storm surge, and the flooding. And yet in Katrina’s aftermath, amidst
the bitter and mournful cries, moments of God’s joy break through. In the ruins
of one of our United Methodist Churches in Mississippi last Sunday the
congregation gathered at the feast of the Great Thanksgiving, as the
congregation said together “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come
again” Bishop Hope Morgan Ward observed a butterfly resting on the cup of
blessing and concluded, “Best of all, God is with us.”

Continue reading “In Pursuit of Joy – 1 Peter 1:3-9” →

If as Billy Graham popularized, the preacher is speak with
the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, then my life has been
very interesting. Consider the following:

• A television preacher suggests that killing the leader of
  another country is an appropriate response to their disagreement with the
  policies of our country.
• We see the wrath of a storm sweetly named Katrina pass over Biloxi, Gulfport, and New
    Orleans. 90,000 square miles of destruction are left
  behind.
• Our United Methodist sisters and brothers in Mississippi in Katrina’s path have lost at least 15 churches, a retirement home, 2
  community centers, the Seaside and
  Gulfside Assemblies.
• Katrina aftermath has us bickering about who thought inside
  and outside of the box, whose imagination failed, whose responsible, who failed
  to act promptly, and what do we do next.
• Overnight our nation lost the chief justice of our supreme
  court. I am already anticipating the storm that is brewing to our north.

This next week in Bishop Reuben Job’s A Wesleyan Spiritual
Reader we will pay attention to the subject of "God as Loving Parent." I gave our
administrative assistant the sermon title “Is God a Lover?” last week in the
face of a Christian leader calling for violent action, but the storms of life
that have raged around us still beg the question: Is God a lover?

Continue reading ““Is God a Lover?” – Psalm 23” →

I have been rereading some classics over the past few weeks. Actually, I am listening to several classics
while I work out at the fitness center. This week I have been engaging with C.
S. Lewis, that great English teacher of almost five decades ago, as he
describes what Mere Christianity is. Sometime on Wednesday or Thursday morning
– the pain all runs together sometimes – he uttered the following in a chapter
about the moral structures of society:

That brings us up to the real snag in drawing up of
blueprints for a Christian society. Most of us are not really approaching the
subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in
hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We
are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or – a Judge. [He
concedes} I am just the same (C.S. Lewis, “Social Morality,” in Mere
Christianity, (c) 1952, 87).

And there we have it don’t we? Lord I want to be a Christian
in my heart? But would you make it possible that I don’t have to change
anything too much? I mean loving my enemies and praying for those who hate me
is really inconvenient! The coins may say “in God we trust,” but Lord I know I
can manage my resources all by myself.

Continue reading “Where Your Treasure Is … – 1 Timothy 6:3-10” →

The good person out of the good treasure of the heart
produces good,
and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil;
for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke
6:45, NRSV).

When I have finally filed all the bills, caught up on my
email correspondence, and put my sermon to bed I usually feel satisfied. That
is, until I remember that the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus undertook the
task of and almost succeeded in organizing all of God’s creation. Linnaeus
devised the taxonomic classification system that botanists and biologists use every
day. This system has a precision and flexibility that has allowed it to stretch
to contain the insights and knowledge gained in the 200 years since Linnaeus
lived.

Linnaeus’ system breaks living things into smaller and more
discrete groups based on smaller and more discrete sets of characteristics.
Each division whittles away at the identity of a creature until finally you are
left with only one possible answer. For example a creature belonging to the
kingdom "Animalia," the phylum "Chordata," the sub-phylum
"Vertebrata," the class "Mammalia," the order
"Carnivora," the family "Canidae," the genus "Canis,"
and the species "Familiarus," is none other than the family dog. Paul
begins the 12th chapter of his Letter to the Romans with the injunction that
Christians should “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what
is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). In Romans 12:9-21, Paul lays out the
characteristics of what it is to be a Christian.

Continue reading “Wholly Holy – Romans 12:9-21” →