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Questions of Faith #4 What Do Methodists Believe and Why?
I wasn’t born a Methodist. I chose this flavor of Christianity—or perhaps it chose me. When I began to worship in a United Methodist Church when Kristi and I were newly married, I quickly felt I’d found a home. A home where the people seemed to genuinely care for me and my wife, but more than that, a spiritual home where my spirit grew, my understanding of God developed, and my questions were welcomed. On the cards we passed out, several of you wanted to know about the Methodist Church. Last week David Hinchliffe did an admirable job covering John Wesley and the Methodist heritage. But many of you wanted to know what Methodists believe, and by that, I think, wanted to know what is unique or distinctive about Methodists. At first glance, we seem indistinguishable from Presbyterians, or Lutherans, or Baptists, or Disciples of Christ folks. That’s by design. Rather than being a church that distinguishes itself in a very particular doctrine or theology, we lay claim to the larger belief that all Christians hold in common. Wesley himself never left the Anglican church, and felt that Methodism was most appropriately a movement, though his pragmatic side allowed the church to take root as a separate entity to evangelize the frontier of America. No, for John Wesley, it was enough that his Methodist believers held to the basic doctrines of all Christians. God the father, creator of heaven and earth. Jesus, son of God, who offered his life to atone for the sins of all humans. Humans are sinful by nature, but by God’s grace are saved. The Spirit of God who guides and counsels each of us on our journey of faith. The church that continues the good work of Christ until Christ comes again. “If your heart is as mine,” Wesley remarked, “give me your hand.” Meaning if you are a believer who professes these basic doctrines of the Christian faith, you can be as I am—a Methodist. That’s why Methodists seem so much like other Christian bodies. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a particular identity. Methodists are, in a nutshell, preoccupied by grace. No one preaches grace like a Methodist preacher. It’s not that we have a corner on the “grace market” but that it is the Methodist church that offers a consistent, steady and ample teaching aimed at making sure we know—our salvation is not our own doing. It is Gods. And God has worked out the salvation of all people. Remember David reading us Charles Wesley’s hymn last week? “For all, for all my savior died.” Not because we deserve it. Not because we’ve been good enough to warrant it. Not because we are elected or selected. But because we are part of the broken, sin-weary, hell-bent human race. “God so loved the world,” Wesley would emphasize all in the world, “that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” The great 20th century Wesley scholar Albert Outler was once visiting with Bishop Dick Wilke about the nature of God’s grace for the Disciple Bible Study videos, when he remarked, “all grace is amazing.” Why? Because the very idea that God would save any of us should amaze us, and that he should save all of us...well…that sort of Grace is not just amazing but incomprehensible at times. Wesley taught that God’s grace comes in three ways. Each a gift, freely given, never earned, and available to any who will accept it. The Methodist then will go “from grace to grace.” First, there is the prevenient or preceding grace. The grace that begins in our lives long before we respond, sometimes long before we recognize it at work in our lives. This is the grace that lures us, draws us and at times, pulls us toward God’s love. Many believers can look back to a time in their own lives when they recognize that God was as work doing something good and transformational that could only be discerned much later. This is the prevenient grace. The first grace. The grace that is God’s gift to us that we might become ready to accept for ourselves the full grace of God that mercifully saves us from our own sin. The moment a person accepts, or by faith believes that God’s grace is available for me, that Christ died for me, they are justified in their relationship with God. This is the second grace--Justifying grace. The grace that aligns us with God, and pardons us from our sin. To be justified is not to be holy, Wesley warned. That comes in the third portion of grace. To be justified is to be saved from sin, forgiven and liberated for God’s ample grace to transform our lives. That transformation is the third grace, called Sanctifying grace. The grace where we desire to do the very things that please God, when our will becomes more like God’s will. Sanctifying grace is the grace that is manifest in our works. Ah yes, Methodists believe that works follows faith. Always. Wesley took on the “Gospel preachers” of his day who preached a message of salvation alone by faith, that that all works are meaningless. Meaningless only in so far as a means to salvation, Wesley would say. For works are the natural product of our faith, and the product of God’s Sanctifying grace. In other words, we are able to manifest good works because God helps us to do so. All of it, not by our own will or power, but by God’s. That’s grace. Amazing grace. If grace is our preoccupation, then our works are our product. Wesley taught his new believers that the Christian should be concerned with two kinds of work. Works of piety and works of mercy. Works of piety draw more deeply into a relationship with God. Works of piety include prayer, bible study, meditation, worship, fasting and the like. Those practices that increase our holiness and our desire for holiness. On the other hand, works of mercy include feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those imprisoned—the good works that draw us more deeply into a relationship with our fellow human beings. Not just these, but also to “instruct the ignorant, awaken the stupid sinner, and to quicken the lukewarm…” (Scripture Way of Salvation, 1765) These are works of mercy in that they show compassion for the soul as the other works show compassion for the body. Wesley believed both works were equally important. Piety and mercy. Closer to God and closer to other human beings. Faith produces works. That’s a Methodist. So, we are a people preoccupied with Grace. We believe that faith manifests itself into works of piety and works of mercy. And we hold to the basic, common tenets of faith with the larger Christian body. But every faith seems to take positions on certain modern dilemmas. One card asked: What is the church’s position on war? Another asked “What does the church believe about homosexuality?” Another asked “What do Methodists believe about capital punishment?” That’s what you all want to know, isn’t it? Well….the church, as a church, speaks for itself once every four years at an enormous gathering of Methodists delegates from around the world called General Conference. They are the only ones who can speak for the church. They put some things into law—we have the church law here—published every four years—called the “Book of Discipline.” It gives us our structure, our basic doctrine, and the process Clergy must follow—the do’s and don’t for clergy and churches. What the church believes about any one issue or another is represented in another book published by the General Conference called the “Book of Resolutions.” These are resolutions that tell you what the official church position is….but this is the unique part….because something is an official church position, you, as a member of the church are not required to agree. You can be a member of the church, and openly disagree with a church position on a modern dilemma—because it’s not doctrine. It’s a non-binding resolution. Instead, the United Methodist Church asks it’s members to think. And to that end, we have a theological method rather than a set of doctrines regarding the various issues of our times. Our method works this way: Rather than just agreeing with the church’s view on Capital Punishment, you are asked to make a determination for yourself, using four resources. The first, and primary, is Scripture. What does the Bible have to say about this issue? The second, is Tradition. What has been the history and tradition of the church on this issue? Including, what does the UM church today say about it? This is where one might consult the “Book of Resolutions.” Thirdly, Experience. Do you have particular experience with this issue? Do you know someone who has? And has the experience shaped your thought or opinion on the issue? Finally, Reason. Logic has a place in UM theological method. We are to listen thoughtfully to opposing arguments and apply our own capacity for reason and logic. It’s work, I understand. It would be easier to just know what the church expects you to believe, and then to either champion that belief or criticize it. But to enter into a Study of Scripture and the church’s tradition, to engage one’s own experience and finally reason it out to a conclusion will more fully make our beliefs our own. I am grateful for our theological method. For people who come to different conclusions concerning our complex world but who share a heart for the things that matter most—A loving & merciful God who offers us liberation from sin and death through Jesus Christ. “If you heart is as mine, give me your hand.” Wesley said. He also said, “We think and let think except in matters that cut at the root of Christianity.” That means simply there will be those who sit in the pew who disagree with the conclusion I have come to concerning capital punishment, or homosexuality, or abortion, or even card playing, cussing, chewing tobacco and drinking beer. These do not cut at the root of Christianity, and should never cut at the Christian relationship between believers. “We think and let think.” And embrace one another as sinners redeemed by the love of God expressed through Jesus Christ. That’s a Methodist. I am proud to be one. I hope you are too.
Thanks for dropping by: Guest # |
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