A Love Feast for Covenant Discipleship Groups

The Love Feast was, for many years, an important part of life in the Methodist societies. John Wesley adapted it from the Moravian Agape Meal. It was an informal time of prayer, singing, testimony, and sharing of food and water. The Love Feast was held monthly for society members. Methodists looked forward to the monthly event.

The United Methodist Book of Worship contains historical information, suggestions for the use of the Love Feast, appropriate hymns and scriptures, as well as the service, itself (pages 581-4).  Given the time constraints of the Covenant Discipleship group meeting, it is impossible for us to use a full service.  What follows is an abbreviated order, which contains some elements and preserves the form of the Book of Worship service while making use of some elements of other forms of the Love Feast.  

The Love Feast may serve as an order for a weekly meeting. The reading of the covenant and each person’s time of accountability serve to replace the ADDRESS OR PERSONAL WITNESS TO THE SCRIPTURE and the TESTIMONIES, PRAYERS, SINGING portions of the Love Feast in the Book of Worship.  

When using the Love Feast as part of the meeting, the leader should distribute copies to each member present.  Permission is granted for you to use and adapt the order below in your Covenant Discipleship group, inserting your group’s covenant.

Because some persons may see similarities between the Love Feast and Holy Communion, it is good to make clear to them that this is not the sacrament at which an ordained elder presides, but is a simple sharing of food led by a lay person.

This introduction was adapted from an article by Dean McIntyre, Music Resources Director, The General Board of Discipleship.

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 BRIEF ORDER FOR A LOVE FEAST
FOR COVENANT DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS

HYMN  (tune, TERRA BEATA (144) or DIADEMATA (327), The UM Hymnal)

Father of earth and heaven,
Thy hungry children feed,
Thy grace be to our spirits given,
That true immortal bread.
Grant us and all our race
In Jesus Christ to prove
The sweetness of thy pardoning grace,
The manna of your love.

(Charles Wesley) 

SCRIPTURE  Suggested lessons:

       Psalm 145:8-21                1 Corinthians 13
2 Corinthians 9:6-15       Philippians 2:5-11
1 John 4:7-21                    Matthew 22:34-40
Luke 9:12-17                    Luke 10:25-37
Luke 14:16-24                  John 6:25-35
John 15:1-17

PRAYERS (This prayer from John Wesley or others may be offered by the leader and group members.)

O God, seeing there is in Christ Jesus
an infinite fullness of all that we can want or desire,
O that we may all receive of his fullness, grace upon grace;
grace to pardon our sins, and subdue our iniquities;
to justify our persons and to sanctify our souls;
and to complete that holy change, that renewal of our hearts,
whereby we may be transformed
into that blessed image wherein you did create us.
O make us all acceptable to be partakers
of the inheritance of your saints in light.  Amen.

[OUR COVENANT]
(Here the group reads its covenant together and each give account of her or his discipleship.) 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

FELLOWSHIP OF EATING AND PASSING THE CUP

As group members  pass bread, cake, crackers, etc. to their neighbor they say:
God loves you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

HYMN or DOXOLOGY
 Suggestions:

UMH 186           Alleluia
UMH 659           Jesus Our Friend and Brother
UMH 665          Go Now in Peace
UMH 432          Jesu, Jesu
UMH 583          Sois la Semilla (You Are the Seed)
UMH 572          Pass It On
UMH 566          Blest Be the Dear Uniting Love
UMH 560          Help Us Accept Each Other
UMH 389          Freely, Freely
UMH 402          Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH 422          Jesus, Thine All-Victorious Love
UMH 94            Praise God …
TFWS 2223      They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love
TFWS 2222      The Servant Song
TFWS 2226     Bind Us Together
TFWS 2224      Make Us One
TFWS 2233      Where Children Belong
TFWS 2168      Love the Lord Your God
TFWS 2167      More Like You
TFWS 2171      Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
TFWS 2175      Together We Serve
TFWS 2176      Make Me a Servant
TFWS 2179      Live in Charity
TFWS 2040     Awesome God

DISMISSAL
(all may pray the Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition, UMH #607)

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

 

This service Copyright © 2013 by The United Methodist General Board of Discipleship. Permission is granted for nonprofit use or adaptation with the inclusion of this clause and The Board of Discipleship’s worship website as source (http://www.gbod.org/worship).

Sources: UM Book of Worship, UM Hymnal, Methodism and the Love-Feast (by Frank Baker.  New York: Macmillan, 1957).

What’s a Methodist? – Part 4 of 4

A Methodist is a Christian training to love God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind. A Methodist is also a Christian training to love his or her neighbor as himself or herself.

In this final post of the series I will explore the meaning of how Methodists train to love their neighbors as themselves. I’ll begin with why loving the neighbor is necessary to Christian discipleship. Then I’ll look at the neighbor Christians are commanded to love. Finally I’ll explore the nature of the love Jesus teaches us to practice.

Why love neighbors? The writer of 1 John is very direct:

“Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The command we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 John 4:20-21).

It’s really quite simple. If you say you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, then it logically follows that you must love what God loves; which means loving those whom God loves. Scripture is clear: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” If God loves the world, which I’m guessing means everyone in the world, then all who profess to love God must necessarily love the world that God loves.

Jesus is very clear about who and how his followers are to love.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:43-48).

Active love of God and those whom God loves is the way of perfection. Here to be “perfect” means to be complete and whole. It means to be fully the person God created you to be, in the image of Christ. When we love people who do not love us we imitate God. The more we imitate God we become more like Jesus. The way of love is the way of holiness and wholeness.

Jesus is unambiguous when describing how his followers are to love their neighbors in Matthew 25:31-46. He tells us to give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, welcome the strangers, give clothing to people who are naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Jesus identifies himself with the people who are hungry, alone, thirsty, naked, sick, and imprisoned. They are the neighbors Christians are commanded to love. When we are with them we are in the physical presence of Jesus. When we love the people Jesus loves, we become more like Jesus; which means we become more genuinely the persons God created us to be.

The Scriptures cited above clearly tell us that the “neighbors” Jesus commands his followers to love cannot be limited to the people who live next door or in the neighborhood. The neighbor is anyone, anywhere in the world who is in need. Jesus answers the question “And who is my neighbor” with the parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:29-37. John Wesley helps us understand the meaning of “who is my neighbor?” in General Rule #2:

It is expected of all who continue in these societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation,

Secondly: By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men: To their bodies, of the ability which God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick or in prison.

To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all we have any intercourse with; trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine that “we are not to do good unless our hearts be free to it.”

By doing good, especially to them that are of the household of faith or groaning so to be; employing them preferably to others; buying one of another, helping each other in business, and so much the more because the world will love its own and them only.

By all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed.

By running with patience the race which is set before them, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ, to be as the filth and offscouring of the world; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them falsely, for the Lord’s sake.

Here, in the words of Jesus and John Wesley, we see that the neighbor Christians are commanded to love include both the people we know and love, people who are strangers near and far, all people who are suffering and living in want, and even those who hate and persecute us. When we love people who do not love us we imitate Christ Jesus who loves even the people who hate him. Practicing such selfless, self-giving love leads to transformation of the heart and life such that we become more and more fully the persons God created us to be, in the image of Christ.

Finally, how can love be commanded? What kind of love are we called to practice? The love Jesus commands is very different from the love that is commonly spoken of in the culture, and even in the church. The common concept of love emphasizes feelings. When we say we “love” something or someone we mean that we have strong feelings of affection and attraction for the thing or person. The culture convinces us that feelings cannot be commanded. They must emerge naturally and spontaneously. This is why the idea of commanding us to love is such a foreign concept today.

Jesus is teaches a different kind of love. It has much more to do with behavior than with feelings. For Jesus, and John Wesley, love is a way of life. This is why Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to the question “And who is my neighbor?”. Rather than tell his audience to think kind thoughts about their neighbors, he tells a story about what a Samaritan did when he encountered a Jewish traveler bloody and beaten on the side of the road. He didn’t feel loving thoughts toward the man lying face down in the dust. Rather, Jesus tells how the Samaritan stopped to help the man, even though he was from a different tribe, and likely had little natural sympathy for him. Nevertheless, because he loved God, the Samaritan stopped to tend to the man’s wounds, put him on his donkey and took him to an inn where he instructed the innkeeper to care for him and left money to cover any costs.

Jesus teaches that his way of loving the neighbor is a practice that must be taught and learned until it becomes a habit. This way of love is the very heart of what it means to be a Methodist. The class meeting was the place where Methodists learned the discipline of love. John Wesley called them “works of mercy.” They are described above in the second part of the General Rules. Today we summarize the practices of love as “acts of compassion” and “acts of justice.” Compassion is the act of kindness toward the person who is grieving, hurt, hungry, sick, lonely, or imprisoned. Justice is the act of Christians joined together to ask why people are suffering and acting to change the systems that cause the suffering.

When Christians habitually practice Jesus’ way of love they become Jesus imitators. Imitation ultimately leads to people whose character and behavior are reflections of the Master. This is the goal of Christian discipleship. God supplies the grace and the means (Christian community and the practices known as “means of grace”) we need to become the people he created us to be. As Christians learn and practice the discipline of love the are equipped to participate with Christ in his mission of preparing this world for the coming reign of God on earth as it is in heaven.

What’s a Methodist? (part 3 of 4)

I began this series of posts by telling the story of a Wednesday night church dinner conversation with a young woman who asked, “What’s a Methodist?” In reply I said, “A Methodist is a Christian who loves God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind and loves his or her neighbor as himself for herself.” But after giving more thought to the question, long after parting company with the young woman, I realized a more correct response to her query is, “A Methodist is a Christian who is in training to love God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind, and love his or her neighbor as himself or herself.”

I then decided my definition needs some “unpacking.” I am doing so with a series of three posts. In the first post I argue a Christian is a person who follows and witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world and whose life is shaped by the Baptismal Covenant. In this post I’ll say more about how a Methodist is a Christian who is in training to love God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind.

Methodists are people who know that God gives us the ability to love. “We love because he fist loved us” (1 John 4:19). Love is a gift from God. It is grace. Wesley believed that love and grace are the same. Grace is love. Love is grace. We can love because God loved us first. We can love because God made us in God’s image. “God is love” (1 John 4:16b). Methodists know God is love, being created in God’s image, we love because God first loved us.

Love is at the very heart of Methodism. The way of love is the way of Jesus. Methodists, therefore, follow and obey Jesus’ teaching summarized in Matthew 22:37-40. The focus here is on the first commandment:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Notice how many times the word “all” appears in this commandment. “The commend to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind is really an invitation to fall in love, to engage one-on-one in a personal sharing that is nothing less than a severe emotional stripping. And like any love affair, it will be ardent and arduous both” (Robin Maas, Crucified Love: The Practice of Christian Perfection, page 47). Loving in this way requires participation in the life of the beloved. Participation means learning and taking on practices that draw us closer and closer to our beloved. As love grows and matures over time we become more and more like the one we love.

God provides the practices we need to obey Jesus and to grow in loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. John Wesley named these practices “works of piety.” He also referred to them as the “ordinances of God.” He believed all Christians should habitually practice them because Christ commands us to do so in Scripture. They were part of Jesus’ life. He taught them to his disciples so they could learn his way and grow in loving God. The goal is to love God completely and unreservedly. Jesus commanded his disciples to love his way because he knew that humans become what we love.

Methodists are Christians who are training to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds. Training implies discipline. Love requires discipline. Methodist discipline begins with the works of piety Wesley calls the “ordinances of God” in the Methodist rule of life known as “The General Rules”:

• The public worship of God
• The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded
• The Supper of the Lord
• Family and private prayer
• Searching the Scriptures
• Fasting or abstinence

These practices are the disciplines for loving God. We practice them, first, because Christ commands we do. Secondly, they are how Christians participate in the way of Jesus and the life of God. They direct our daily life toward God, keep us with him, help us to learn Christ (his person and his way of life), and conform our thinking, wants, and motivation to that of Christ. They help us attain toward the goal as described by the Apostle Paul, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). As these practices become habits we become more and more like Jesus in our behavior, thinking, and purpose.

When an athlete or musician is training he or she spends hours each day practicing the basics of his or her discipline. A musician practices scales and chord progressions over and over and over and over again. The purpose is to build mental and muscle memory so that the scales and progressions become second nature. They come as natural as breathing or walking. In the same way, Christians practice the works of piety every day and week, over and over and over and over again until they become holy habits.

Upon closer examination you notice that the first three of the works of piety are social. They are practices that Christians do together in community. The other three are personal. They are practiced when we are alone or with a small group who “watch over one another in love.” Wesley provides a healthy balance between the social and personal dimensions of loving God and growing in holiness of heart and life. This is the same way athletes and musicians train. They put in countless hours of personal practice, balanced with equally long hours of team or ensemble practice. Both contribute to the formation of habits and character. We grow more and more into the persons God created us to be and contribute to the life and mission of the community centered in the life and mission of Jesus Christ.

“The bands of death are torn away, the yawning tomb gives back its prey.”

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Charles Wesley wrote several resurrection hymns. The one I have chosen here is from a 1746 collection. Wesley declares that that God’s power, which is love and life, is more powerful than death. The tomb cannot contain the Lord of life.

Christ crucified and risen has defeated sin and death. Our sins are forgiven. We are set free to live his life of love in and for the world that he loves and intends to save.

On this day of Resurrection, I pray that the Church of Jesus Christ will take to heart Wesley’s call to faithfully respond to the good news that the one who was crucified is risen:

Haste then, ye souls that first believe,
Who dare the gospel-word receive,
Your faith with joyful hearts confess,
Be bold, be Jesus’ witnesses.

A Resurrection Hymn 

All ye that seek the Lord who died,
Your God for sinners crucified,
Prevent the earliest dawn, and come
To worship at his sacred tomb.

While thus ye love your souls t’ employ,
Your sorrow shall be turned to joy:
Now, now let all your grief be o’er!
Believe; and ye shall weep no more

An earthquake hath the cavern shook,
And burst the door, and rent the rock,
The Lord hath sent his angel down,
And he hath rolled away the stone.

The third auspicious morn is come,
And calls your Saviour from the tomb,
The bands of death are torn away,
The yawning tomb gives back its prey.

Could neither seal nor stone secure,
Nor men, nor devils make it sure?
The seal is broke, the stone cast by,
And all the powers of darkness fly.

The body breaths, and lifts his head,
The keepers sink, and fall as dead;
The dead restored to life appear,
The living quake, and die for fear.

No power a band of soldiers have
To keep one body in its grave:
Surely it no dead body was
That could the Roman eagles chase.

The Lord of life is ris’n indeed,
To death delivered in your stead;
His rise proclaims your sins forgiven,
And shows the living way to heaven.

Haste then, ye souls that first believe,
Who dare the gospel-word receive,
Your faith with joyful hearts confess,
Be bold, be Jesus’ witnesses.

Go tell the followers of your Lord
Their Jesus is to life restored;
He lives, that they his life may find;
He lives, to quicken all mankind.

Charles Wesley, 1746

“It is finished”

“When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30

What does “it” mean? Is “it” Jesus’ life? Certainly these words from his lips mark the end of his life. But is his life finished? Well, because we read these words from a post-resurrection perspective, we know that his death on the cross is not the end of his life. His life is certainly far from finished. He is very much alive and well and active in this world. No. Jesus’ life is not finished.

Is “it” Jesus’ suffering? Certainly these words mark the end of his suffering on the cross. His death was real. His body and all of its systems ceased to function. His heart stopped beating. His breathing stopped. His brain shut down. The incredible pain he suffered on the cross was finished. But because the risen Jesus is very much alive, his suffering continues. He suffers with and for the world that he loves that is broken and inflicted by injustice, violence, disease, hunger, and greed. No. Jesus’ suffering is not finished.

Is “it” Jesus’ unjust death sentence? Certainly Jesus’ sentence was dutifully executed by the Roman soldiers, with the cooperation of the religious authorities. But as long as religious and government authorities believe it is right and just to take life, to kill in the name of God or of the state, Jesus’ death sentence is not finished.

Is “it” Jesus’ relationship with his disciples? Certainly on that terrible day his male disciples thought so. They all deserted him in his hour of greatest need. They fled and hid from the authorities they feared would do the same to them. The women were the disciples that stayed with Jesus to the end. They wept and prayed for him at the foot of they cross. They cared for his body and helped put it in the tomb. And they were the first witnesses to his resurrection. We know from the perspective of Easter that Jesus’ relationship with his disciples was not finished on the cross.

What does “it” mean? When Jesus said “It is finished” he told those present at Golgotha and us today that God’s work of salvation was accomplished. It is finished. There is nothing more to do.

Jesus’ proclamation from the cross of “It is finished” connected his work with God’s completing the work of creation described in Genesis 1:31-2:2

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

It’s important to understand that the Greek and Hebrew words translated in English as “finished” do not mean that creation and salvation are static or inactive. Rather they mean that creation and salvation are complete and dynamic processes that invite human participation. We also need to be reminded that both are accomplished by God alone. In other words we cannot create ourselves, nor can we save ourselves. Creation and salvation are God’s work and are pure gift.

The Apostle Paul describes salvation in Ephesians 2:8 where he writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” And in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Salvation is pure gift. All we need to do to get it is to accept it and then to live it. That’s what Paul means by “faith” and “in Christ:” Salvation is a new way of life, lived with Christ and participating with him in his working of preparing this world for the coming reign of God.

Before we can accept this gift of life as it was meant to be lived in the world that God is restoring to wholeness we need to die to the old life ruled by sin and death. Jesus described salvation life in Matthew 11:4-5, “… the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

“It is finished.” What are you going to do about it? I’ll close with these words from Charles Wesley:

Sinners, turn: why will you die?
God, your Maker, asks you why.
God, who did your being give,
Made you himself, that you might live;
He the fatal cause demands,
Asks the work of his own hands.
Why, you thankless creatures, why
Will you cross his love, and die?

O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done

Hymns have always been an important devotional resource for the people called Methodists. John and Charles Wesley published many collections of hymns. The hymns were sung in class, band, and society meetings and at Love Feasts. The people carried their hymns with them to the meetings and used them at home as part of daily prayer and devotional practices. In singing, praying, and meditating on the hymns the Methodist people learned and internalized the theology they heard in the preaching and teaching. The poetry of the hymns helped get the theology of Methodist preaching from the head into the heart.

Here is a powerful reflection on the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross:

O Love divine, what hast thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Is crucified for me and you,
To bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
Ye all are bought with Jesu’s blood.
Pardon for all flows from his side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Behold him, all ye that pass by,
The bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
And say, “Was ever grief like his?”
Come, feel with me his blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Charles Wesley, 1742

What’s a Methodist? … continued …

In my previous post I attempted to answer the question, “What’s a Methodist?” My reply, given to a visitor to the United Methodist congregation with which I am affiliated, was:

“A Methodist is a Christian who is training to love God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind and love his or her neighbor as himself or herself.”

I believe this statement fairly reflects the teaching of John and Charles Wesley. That being said, I think it needs some to be fleshed out.

This is the first of three posts that are my attempt to go a little deeper into what I mean in the above statement. If the young woman who asked the question was willing to engage in further conversation, the following is what I would say to her.

The following is my attempt to explain the first part of the statement:

“A Methodist is a Christian…” 

A Methodist is a Christian first and foremost. We are initiated into Christ’s holy church and baptized in the Triune name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Methodists believe Jesus Christ is God incarnate. He is God with us. His life, death, and resurrection are the salvation and hope of the world.

Like all Christians, Methodists renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness and reject the evil powers of this world and repent of our sin. We believe that sin is a universal problem. It touches all of life: social and personal. Sin begins with alienation from God. It is a broken relationship with the one who created all that is and who seeks reconciliation with his creation, especially his beloved children. Suffering, injustice, and oppression are the symptoms of sin. God supplies the grace we need to awaken us to our sinful condition. His grace gives us the ability to turn away from the way that is slavery and death and turn towards the way that is freedom and life.

Like all Christians, Methodists accept the freedom and power God gives to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. Grace is another word for the freedom and power God gives. Methodists believe grace sets us free from the powers of sin and death. Grace sets them free to love as God loves (John 8:31b-32; Galatians 5:13-14). When we accept the freedom to love we receive power to “become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of men, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

Like all Christians, Methodists confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as Lord, in union with the church. Methodists are witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world. We know his life, death, and resurrection save us from the death-dealing power of sin that twists, distorts, and destroys life and love. Jesus is God with us and God for us. His love heals our brokenness and makes us whole. As we obey his teachings and serve Jesus as Lord we become more and more fully the persons God created us to be, in the image of Christ. The more we serve with our Lord, the more we become like him. We become what we love.

Finally, like all Christians, Methodists confess and serve Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in the community of church. The church is “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27-30; Ephesians 4:1-16). Being a Christian is deeply personal, but it is not private. God gives each person gifts and the responsibility to use our gifts for the good of the body. We are baptized to serve with Christ, not to be served. He calls us to “love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). One of the ways we love one another is to “watch over one another in love” in small groups that meet weekly for prayer and mutual accountability for practicing and growing discipleship. The purpose of the small groups is to obey Jesus’ command to love one another. The Apostle Paul believed that Christians grow in faith, hope, and love when they strive to build one another up in love. He described the process in Ephesians 4:15-17,

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Part 2 will deal with “A Methodist is … in training to love God with all her or his heart, soul, and mind …”

What’s a Methodist?

I occasionally go to church for dinner on Wednesday night. A few weeks ago I took my plate of food and sat down at an empty table. A young woman was alone at another table, saw me sitting by myself, and asked “Can I sit with you. I don’t like to eat alone.” “Yes, come on over. I don’t like to eat alone either.” She brought her plate and sat across the table from me. As she introduced herself to me I learned that she is a graduate student studying international relations with an emphasis on food policy. She also revealed that she is a Christian but did not identify with any denomination. She came to my church because she heard the food on Wednesday night was cooked with only local, organically grown ingredients and was very good.

In the course of our conversation, a couple more people sat down at the table. Everyone, except the young woman, was a member of this United Methodist congregation. When they learned that she was not affiliated with any church, they began to recruit her. The church members told the woman about the wonderful worship and preaching on Sunday morning, the many options for adult Sunday school, and other opportunities for involvement. At some point the young woman asked a question that stopped the conversation cold:

“What’s a Methodist?”

My fellow United Methodists at the table looked at one another and tried very hard to come up with an answer. One offered, “A Methodist is a person who tries to do good.” Another said, “A Methodist is a person who works for justice in the world.” As an ordained elder serving as Director of Wesleyan Leadership at GBOD I tried to think of how John Wesley would say and then I said: “A Methodist is a person who loves God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind and loves his or her neighbor as himself or herself.”

The source for my reply to this simple question is one of Wesley’s most popular tracts, “The Character of a Methodist.” He begins by saying that Methodists are not distinguished by doctrine or opinions. The mark of a Methodist is his or her love for God. Their devotion to God is complete. Methodists center their lives upon God who became one of us in Jesus of Nazareth. His life and teachings provide the way Methodists live their love for God in all aspects of life. No part of life is untouched by their devotion to God and the things of God. This means that the Methodist’s love for God compels him or her to love those whom God loves. Their daily life is shaped by obedience to the teachings of Jesus.

Some days later, as I thought more about my reply to the young woman’s question, I realized I was wrong. In Wesley’s brief introduction to “The Character of a Methodist” he explained why he was writing. He begins and ends with Philippians 3:12,

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Wesley acknowledges that he had not yet attained the goal of discipleship as practiced by the people called Methodists. It seems to me that he is saying that Methodists are people who are striving toward the goal of Christian maturity, also known as perfection in love and holiness of heart and life. What follows in “The Character of a Methodist” is Wesley’s description of a disciple of Jesus Christ who has “attained the goal”, who is an “altogether Christian.”

A more accurate response to the young woman at the dinner table who asked, “What’s a Methodist?” would be: A Methodist is a Christian who is in training to love God with all his or her heart, soul, and mind and to love his or her neighbor as himself or herself.

Methodism is a system for training people in the practice of loving God. Methodists learn to practice loving God by following and obeying the teachings of Jesus. This way of love is active. Charles Wesley expresses it in a few lines:

Active faith that lives within,

Conquers earth, and hell, and sin,

Sanctifies, and makes us whole,

Forms the Savior in the soul.

Methodism is designed to equip people to receive the gift of faith by practicing the discipline of love given in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. The discipline of love sets them free to become fully the human beings God created them to be, in the image of Christ. The aim of Jesus’ life and teaching is equipping his disciples to participate in his mission in the world. As Christians practice the discipline of love shaped by Jesus’ teachings, they become the Methodists Wesley describes in “The Character of a Methodist.”

Covenant Discipleship is a contemporary adaptation of the method of Methodism. It is a process designed to help people to become leaders in discipleship the church needs. They are historically given the title, Class Leader. The class leaders are mature disciples of Jesus Christ who have gained the experience and maturity needed to disciple others. They are the coaches who help others to train and practice the discipline of love in the way of Jesus.

How does your congregation initiate members into the discipline of love? How are you forming the leaders in discipleship who can disciple others?

Witness to Jesus Christ in the World through Acts of Justice

How is your group doing with acts of justice? If you are in a typical Covenant Discipleship group, I suspect you find justice to be the most difficult part of the covenant to keep. This is why groups frequently place the acts of justice at the bottom of their covenant. I think this done because we like to put off things that are difficult to understand and to do. Is this true for your group?

In Scripture justice is rooted in the person of God who is always on the side of the poor, the hungry, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the troubled, and the afflicted. God loves justice because his desire is for the rights of all people to have all they need to live and to participate fully in the life of the community. When these rights are denied or violated, God’s judgment falls upon the persons and systems responsible. And God’s prophets call upon the covenant community to rise up to restore justice, to be the advocate for the poor and vulnerable who suffer as a result of unjust systems and laws.

Jesus is the incarnation of God and his love. Jesus reveals God’s option for the poor. He was born to Mary of Nazareth, betrothed to a poor carpenter in a remote town in a Galilee. Jesus lived and traveled among the poor, the sick, and the outcasts. As Galilean Jew he was one of and one with the oppressed living under occupation by the Roman Empire.

Jesus is the incarnation of God’s justice-love. Justice is the always the fruit of love. This justice-love is described by Jesus when he read his mission statement from the book of the prophet Isaiah in his home-town synagogue (Luke 4:18-19):

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

Jesus calls his disciples and the church that bears his name to be a people who are with him in the homes of the poor, vulnerable, and oppressed people of the world.

Acts of justice are the actions Christians take with others to address the causes of injustice and suffering anywhere in the world. Acts of justice are the public dimension of the works of mercy. They are related to acts of compassion that relieve the suffering of individuals. Acts of justice address the systems, laws, and other causes that require us to engage in acts of compassion.

The internet and social media are great resources for participation in acts of justice. Here are a few organizations that help me to be aware of needs and prompt me to practice acts of justice:

• ONE (http://www.one.org) is an international organization fighting global poverty and AIDS

• CREDO Action (http://www.credoaction.com) is a network of activist organizations supported by Working Assets (http://www.workingassets.com).

• Sojourners (http://sojo.net) is an evangelical social justice organization founded by Rev. Jim Wallis. They provide opportunities to address poverty, war & peace, and economic justice.

• General Board of Church and Society (http://umc-gbcs.org/) is the lobbying agency of The United Methodist Church. Their headquarters are in the Methodist Building, the only non-government owned building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

These are the resources I use to help me practice acts of justice. I invite you to learn more about them, sign up to get their action alerts and get involved.

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).

 

It’s Time to Register for the next Wesley Pilgrimage in England
April 15-25, 2013

Time is running out to be part of the next Wesley Pilgrimage in England that will gather at Sarum College in Salisbury, England on April 15, 2013. Leaders for the 2013 pilgrimage will be Dr. Paul W. Chilcote and Dr. Steve Manskar.

The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry is once again partnering with GBOD by providing $800 scholarships for the first 15 commissioned provisional elders and deacons who register for the pilgrimage. A few scholarship remain. Claim yours today! Don’t miss out on this great continuing education opportunity.

For details and registration go to: http://www.gbod.org/wesleypilgrimage.

If you have questions, please contact Steve Manskar at smanskar@gbod.org or call him toll free at 877-899-2780, ext. 1765.