The Heart of Methodism
Posted: October 16, 2023 Filed under: Bishop's Blog Leave a commentRecently, I have been inspired to offer a series of blog posts on the heart of Methodism. During these moments of upheaval in our beloved Church, it appears to me that the very heart of Methodism is at risk.
In my library, I have numerous volumes of Wesley studies. Some are simple, short, and concise. While others, like the entire collection of Wesley’s Works and Letters, contain multiple volumes. There are two books beyond the Bible that I am using to inform my thinking for this series. They are: A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader, by Rueben P. Job, and This We Believe, by Will Willimon. Both are instructive and offer easy access to Wesley’s teaching on Scripture. Both can be used by a small group for study and can be purchased from Cokesbury.
I would also encourage you to attain a copy of The Wesley Study Bible. This specific translation provides commentary within the verses that provide insight into how Wesley understood the passages and how he interpreted them for the followers of the Methodist movement.
In this post and those that are to follow, I want to offer what I believe to be the heart of our doctrine and practice.
Therefore, I begin this series with:
The Heart of Methodism is Rooted in Scriptural Christianity
Many of you have heard me say, “We are rooted in scripture, centered in Christ, and we serve in love.”
John Wesley believed, practiced, and taught that the early Church drew its guidance from the Bible and the activity of the Holy Spirit as experienced in the community of faith. Read any of Wesley’s original writings and you will discover that he believed the first three centuries of Christianity, the age of the apostles, and the early church gave us what we needed to be faithful followers of Christ. He held that “scriptural Christianity” was defined through the writings of the New Testament and the teachings of the early church.
It was through the practice of “scriptural Christianity” that Wesley desired to help all to live out the faith through a connection to Christ and to the church. Through this connection, one lives with a heart yearning for and touched by God. Therefore, the primary focus of the Methodist movement was for followers to go deeper and to draw closer to God. In essence, to be transformed. As Reuben Job writes of Wesley, “he saw that without a sharpened focus on God and faithfulness to God, Christians would miss or, worse, lose their inheritance as children of God.” (Job: A Wesleyan Spiritual Reader, pg 22).
The Bible, for Wesleyans, is the narrative of a life lived in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is a story of God’s continuous quest to be in relationship with us.
Our relationship with Scripture is more than merely knowing the words of the Bible. Rather, the Bible points us toward a way of life. A way of being in the world. A way of engaging our neighbor with what Dr. Doug Meeks has called “neighbor love.”
In scripture, we meet Christ. In scripture, we discover the ways of the living God and listen for God’s call upon our lives.
Here’s is what John writes concerning God’s word as it was embodied in Jesus and shared with the disciples:
We declare to you . . . , what we have heard, what we have seen . . . , what we have . . . touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. . . . We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1-4)
“Article V” of THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION OF THE METHODIST CHURCH, found in ¶103, of the 2016 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (BOD), states that the Bible “containeth all things necessary to salvation.”
Those who claim the United Methodist Church will be untethered from Holy Scripture choose to ignore our Articles of Religion and the Constitution of the United Methodist Church. The Articles of Religion are protected by the Constitution. The Constitution of the United Methodist Church guarantees, in its Restrictive Rules, that both the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith are “doctrinal standards that shall not be revoked, altered, or changed.” (BOD, pg.65)
Understanding God’s Word
In This We Believe, Will Willimon holds that understanding God’s word in Scripture requires three things:
- Humble listening,
- Informed discernment,
- Prayerful searching.
John Wesley relied heavily on reason to understand what scripture taught. He also held that “reason by itself could never produce faith, hope, and love.”
Intellectually, Wesley’s movement was a wonderful conjunction of scholarly appropriation of Scripture and the church’s tradition with heartfelt, passionate spirituality. (Willimon: This We Believe)
Sometimes we are guilty of searching Scripture only to confirm our cherished prejudices or to dodge the possibility of new light coming from God or, even more, the moral transformation of ourselves.
Therefore, Wesley would have for us to search scripture with humility, to expect surprises in our reading and interpretation, to be confident the Holy Spirit wants to enliven scripture in our hearing and to be obedient to the call of God that we hear within the scripture.
Rather than ask of a biblical text, “Do I agree with this?” or say, “That seems about right to me,” we ought to ask ourselves, “How would my life have to change in order to show the world that this Scripture is true?” Rather than pleas for intellectual agreement, many passages of Scripture are calls to conversion, an invitation to see firsthand what the grace of God can do in a life. (Willimon: This We Believe)
One of Wesley’s distinctive contributions to the church’s use of scripture is his teaching that people should expect that reading the Bible is a primary opportunity to experience the transforming presence and power of God in their lives.
Thus, the heirs of Wesley have always stressed that Scripture is not merely to be understood, pondered, and debated but also enacted, embodied, and engaged.
We are to intellectually understand Scripture and to practically, and morally enact Scripture in our lives.
The Transformational Power of the Gospel
In June of 2006, I was appointed to the Seashore District following Hurricane Katrina. For 90 miles from the Alabama State line to the Louisiana State line, there was destruction. We suffered the damage of both wind and rising water. Wherever there was a creek or river homes and businesses nearby suffered flood damage.
For two years we thought of nothing other than how to recover. During those two years and beyond, people came to the Gulf Coast as Volunteers in Mission. Many people of the TWK came to be in mission with the people of the Mississippi Conference.
On more than one occasion, I asked the volunteers why they were there. Almost all said, “Because Jesus told me to come.” I then would ask a follow-up question: “Where did you learn to listen to Jesus?” Again, the answer was: Disciple Bible Study. Sunday School. My preacher. UMYF. Many said, I prayed about it, and I felt called.
One story that sticks with me is this: A woman from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania told me that her church had made three trips and each time the team would return energized and passionate about their experience. She said, “I listened to their stories when the team returned. I had never risked anything in my life for the Gospel and so I decided maybe it was time I started. I thought I could at least pick up nails or paint sheet rock.”
She continued, “When we got to Bay St. Louis and saw the destruction it was almost overwhelming. On the first night, our team leader led the devotion. He read the story of the Good Samaritan. I had heard that story repeatedly my whole life, but that night, it clicked. I realized there were a lot of people who were left in the ditch after Katrina and if they were going to be made whole it would take people like me getting in the ditch with them and connecting them with the resources we had to help.”
“Then it hit me. I’m not the good Samaritan. I’m the person in the ditch. And maybe for the first time, the transformational power of the Gospel transformed my life. I came to lift people up and because I came, my life was changed. I’ll never be the same.”
The power of the Gospel approaches the heart of Methodism.
I think this gets at what Wesley was trying to teach regarding practical theology. In the Methodist Class meetings, the bands, and societies, emphasis was continually placed on loving God and loving neighbor. In other words, practice “scriptural Christianity.”
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References:
The Wesleyan Spiritual Reader, Rueben Job, Abingdon Press, 1976
This We Believe: The Core of Wesleyan Faith and Practice, Will Willimon, Abingdon Press, 2010
NRSV Wesley Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version: Abingdon Press, 1997
2016 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church
Greater Things Are Yet To Be Done 