by Steve | Sep 6, 2024 | Sept-Oct 2024, Uncategorized
Wesley’s Faith Decision
By Kevin M. Watson
John and Charles Wesley met German Pietists on their voyage as missionaries to a new colony in the Americas, Georgia. John Wesley observed the deep faith and assurance the German Moravians had when their ship encountered storms crossing the Atlantic so serious that their boat almost sank. This near-death experience created a crisis of faith for Wesley, as he realized he lacked the Moravian’s assurance of salvation. The Moravians’ faith showed him that real assurance, real confidence in one’s salvation, was possible even when faced with death. Wesley was so compelled by the Moravian’s faith that he spent significant time during the remainder of the voyage learning German so that he could converse in greater depth with them.
Wesley recorded a conversation with August Gottlieb Spangenberg (1704- 1792) shortly after his arrival in Georgia in his Journal: “I soon found what spirit he was of, and asked his advice with regard to my own conduct. He said, “My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?’ I was surprised, and knew not what to answer. He observed it, and asked, ‘Do you know Jesus Christ?’ I paused, and said, ‘I know he is the Saviour of the world.’ ‘True,’ replied he, ‘but do you know he has saved you?’ I answered, ‘I hope he has died to save me.’ He only added, ‘Do you know yourself?’ I said, ‘I do.’ But I fear they were vain words.”
Conversations with the Moravians continued when Wesley returned to England in 1738. Wesley’s relationship with Peter Böhler (1712-75) was particularly influential. By Wesley’s account, it was Böhler who convinced him he lacked “the faith whereby alone we are saved.” Wesley raised a variety of objections to Böhler’s understanding of justification by faith and assurance. But Böhler’s patience and persistence eventually convinced Wesley the doctrine represented the truth as taught in Scripture and as experienced by people in the present.
Wesley was humbled by the conviction he lacked saving faith, despite being an ordained priest in the Church of England (he was ordained in 1725) and serving as an overseas missionary. He recorded in his Journal, “Immediately it struck into my mind, ‘Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?’” Wesley did not think he should preach about something he believed was true but had not himself experienced. Böhler, however, encouraged Wesley to “preach faith till you have it, and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”
As Wesley’s relationship with Böhler continued to develop, the two of them eventually formed a new religious society, the Fetter Lane Society. Through this relationship and in this context Wesley had his famous heart-warming experience at Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738.
Wesley recorded his account of his assurance of salvation in his Journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Charles Wesley had a similar experience on Pentecost Sunday, three days before John’s.
John Wesley had taken Böhler’s advice and had begun preaching salvation by faith before his experience at Aldersgate. And he continued preaching the doctrine after Aldersgate as well. A key moment for Wesley was when he preached the sermon “Salvation by Faith” at St. Mary’s, Oxford, on June 11, 1738. In the sermon, Wesley confronted many members of the Church of England with their nominal faith. He preached that saving faith “is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart.”
In his sermon he also offered one of his best known definitions of justification by faith: “It is a sure confidence which a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God; and in consequence hereof a closing with him and cleaving to him as our ‘wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption’ or, in one word, our salvation.”
Böhler and the Moravians not only gave Wesley an ongoing commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith; they gave him a way of pursuing holiness of heart and life after the experience of justification and assurance through the band meeting. In the beginning, the Fetter Lane Society was essentially a band meeting (a small group divided by gender which focused on confession of sin for the sake of growth in holiness).
Böhler and Wesley formed it on May 1, 1738, more than three weeks before Wesley’s famous heartwarming experience at Aldersgate Street, and Wesley advocated for the importance of band meetings like the Fetter Lane Society for the rest of his ministry, even when they were difficult to maintain. He believed this kind of intentional accountability in community was essential for ongoing growth in the Christian life, as well as for the pursuit of entire sanctification.
Oxford temptation. Oxford was where John Wesley received his education and was formed intellectually, but it was also significant to him personally as a source of ongoing temptation. John wrestled with the temptation to pursue respectability and influence over an increased commitment to the uncompromising proclamation of salvation by faith and holiness of heart and life. His ability to succeed in the latter in one of the centers of English cultural power and influence is perhaps best illustrated by the fellowship he was granted at Lincoln College, Oxford, in the spring of 1726. …
Wesley’s fellowship also meant he entered the rotation of preachers at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. … One of the questions facing Wesley during his later missionary trip to Georgia related to his changing understanding of salvation by faith: Would he preach what he now believed to be true in an uncompromising way? Or would he compromise his convictions for the sake of acceptance by powers and principalities?
The sermons that Wesley preached at Oxford after his famous Aldersgate Street experience made it clear he would not compromise what he believed. On June 11, 1738, less than one month after Aldersgate, Wesley preached the sermon “Salvation by Faith” at Oxford. His unwillingness to change his message for the audience at Oxford led to decreased invitations to preach. His next sermon at Oxford was “The Almost Christian,” which he preached on July 25, 1741. This sermon further demonstrated his commitment to preaching his newfound convictions. In the sermon, Wesley contrasted “almost” with “altogether” Christians. …
“The right and true Christian faith is” (to go on in the words of our own Church) “not only to believe that Holy Scripture and the articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ”— it is a “sure trust and confidence” which a man hath in God “that by the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God” – “whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his commandments.”
The final sermon Wesley preached at Oxford University was “Scriptural Christianity.” If his first two sermons after Aldersgate made him less popular at Oxford, this final sermon ended his time in the pulpit at St. Mary’s. His sermon surveyed the rise and spread of Christianity and then shifted to contemporary England, and Oxford in particular. … He concluded with a scathing appraisal of the state of Christianity at Oxford:
“May it not be one of the consequences of this that so many of you are a generation of triflers; triflers with God, with one another, and with your own souls? For how few of you spend, from one week to another, a single hour in private prayer? How few have any thought of God in the general tenor of your conversation? Who of you is in any degree acquainted with the work of his Spirit? His supernatural work in the souls of men? Can you bear, unless now and then in a church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted if one began such a conversation that it was either “hypocrisy” or “enthusiasm”? In the name of the Lord God Almighty I ask, What religion are you of? Even the talk of Christianity ye cannot, will not, bear! O my brethren! What a Christian city is this? “It is time for thee, Lord, to lay to thine hand!”
Although his audience heard Wesley’s conclusion as a harsh and unfair indictment, Wesley himself intended it as a call to awakening and repentance. Despite preaching in a prestigious place in the halls of power, Wesley was determined to awaken his audience to their need for faith in the same way he did when preaching in the fields to common people. …
“Scriptural Christianity” was not well received at Oxford. It was the last time Wesley preached to the University. This series of sermons, culminating here, represents Wesley’s decision to adhere to the logic of salvation by faith no matter where it led, even if it meant increasing marginalization in English society, and even within the Church of England.
Kevin M. Watson is director of academic growth and formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. This article is an excerpt from his new book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in The United States. (Zondervan Academic). Reprinted by permission. Image: The bust of John Wesley was originally displayed at the World Methodist Council Museum at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. It is now at the Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology and SMU Libraries at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Photo by Steve Beard.
by Steve | Jul 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
But Grace Said …
By B.J. Funk
On that painful morning, his words cut deep into my heart. I had driven the forty-five- minutes-drive the night before as soon as I got the call. Daddy was now with the Lord, and I went to be with my mother. Her kind preacher stayed until I got there. This was my first experience of losing a family member.
Death crept into my daddy’s sickbed at the hospital and graciously ended his seven-year struggle. It had been a long battle, cruel and painful as we all watched our brilliant daddy’s mind reduced to bouts of forgetfulness. Equally painful was knowing his life was now limited to living in a wheelchair and being dependent on others for his personal needs.
We slept. I don’t know how, but we slept. Around 9:30 that next morning, the phone rang. I answered.
“This is the funeral home. We wanted to ask Mrs. Greene if it is okay for us to start embalming Mr. Greene.”
The lights went out inside of me. Silence on my end. The words were the cruelest ever. Embalm him? No! This is MY daddy you’re talking about. Embalm him? Why? I don’t know for sure he is really dead! My mind cannot comprehend it. My heart is broken over it. And now the funeral home man wants permission to embalm my very loving and dear daddy. No! No! No!
My insides broke into a million pieces. No daughter should be asked that question. No wife should either. Somehow, I managed to say “You can,” and hung up the phone. My mother never learned about that cruel phone call. And, I have never figured out why in the world the funeral home needed permission. It was hurtful. It was cruel.
For twenty years I have kept that horrid phone call to myself. Now, however, grace calls out to me to forgive, let go and move on.
Grace said “He didn’t handle it well. Forgive him anyway. He could have used a different approach. Forgive him anyway. He was only thinking about his job and not about your family’s pain. Forgive him anyway.”
And, so tonight I am. I never knew his name, and he will never know my pain over his call. How my stomach doubled in knots, reaching up to my heart and breaking it and how my whole world shattered over his words.
It’s hard enough to accept death. Then, you have to accept that your loved one is at the funeral home without you. Then….then….you have to face that horrid word “embalm.” That’s the word that puts the exclamation mark on the truth of daddy’s death. That’s what makes the staccato on the reality of losing my daddy.
In the days following daddy’s death and burial, I began to see things a little clearer. Somewhere in between all the farewell plans we had to make, I recognized the role of the funeral home, and this thought entered my mind.
“What a blessing that there is someone who can take care of my daddy and get him ready for burial. I couldn’t. My mother or sister couldn’t. There’s only one place that can do what has to be done for us and that one place is the funeral home.”
I don’t think about that hurtful call anymore. I don’t equate it with painful or cruel anymore. I still think it was insensitive and unnecessary. Why couldn’t they just go ahead and do it?
But grace said…..let it go. Let it go. Let it go.
And so I did.
B.J. Funk is Good News’s long-time devotional columnist and author of It’s a Good Day for Grace, available on Amazon.
by Steve | Jun 7, 2024 | May-June 2024, Uncategorized
Killing Stone to Baptismal Font
By Steve Beard
Remarkably, after 45 seasons CBS’s “Survivor” is still a certifiable television hit. Millions of viewers tune in to watch the travails of contestants in a Robinson Crusoe-style tropical setting. Coral reefs, whitecapped waves, pristine beaches, and snuffed-out tiki torches.
For the last 12 seasons, the American audience has been savoring the sites and skullduggery from half-a-world away since the show is taped in the South Pacific nation of Fiji – 5,500 miles southwest of Los Angeles, two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, and immediate neighbors with Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu. If you spin your globe to examine this area of the world, you’ll discover that Fiji is made up of more than 332 islands, 110 of which are inhabitable.
With its stunning visuals and breathtaking landscape, it is not difficult to see why adventurer Bear Grylls also tapped the Fijian islands for his 10-episode” World’s Toughest Race., in 2019 (currently on Amazon Prime).
“Fiji is such a stunning country and a land of extremes,” Grylls told Lonely Planet. “It has so much incredible natural beauty and diversity, from the crystal blue oceans, to the jungle rivers, to the pristine wilderness and the rolling canyons. But it’s also a tough and dangerous type of terrain, with hundreds of remote miles of swamps, jungle, ravines and high mountains that are among the most intense I have ever been in, ironically.”
Grylls also noted, “We had huge welcomes from the locals wherever the race took us, and they were such a genuinely warm and friendly people.”
The Flying Fijians. The Fijians are not only hospitable, they are fiercely competitive and simultaneously anchored by their Christian faith. The national rugby team made international headlines in the fall of 2023 by defeating powerhouses such as England and Australia in stellar World Cup bouts. Rugby is the king of sports for Fiji.
With great devotion, the players pray and sing hymns before and after their bouts. While first-tier teams travel with sports psychologists, teams from Fiji (population 900,000); Tonga (100,000), and Samoa (200,000) prepare in a different way.
“We are able to bring in a reverend,” Flying Fijian coach Simon Raiwalui told the media. “[O]ur mental well-being is in connection with our religion and people.” The Rev. Joji Rinakama, a Methodist Church minister, serves as the Fijian chaplain. He is a former player and coach. (Tonga and Samoa also have chaplains.)
With its international rugby success and the nation’s name emblazoned on high-end bottled water, Fiji’s star has never shone more brightly on the world stage.
In an earlier era, however, it was a different story. Seafaring explorers such as Captain Cook in the 1770s fastidiously avoided the Fijian islands. In 1789, Captain Bligh noted: “I dare not land [on Fiji] for fear of the natives.” At that time, Fiji was known as the “Cannibal Isles.” The world – and Fiji – was notably different.
Thakombau’s reluctance. The spiritual turnabout of the picturesque island nation did not take place overnight – it took place over decades. The World Council of Churches notes that the first Christian missionaries to Fiji were three Tahitian teachers with the London Missionary Society in 1830. The Wesleyan Missionary Society from Australia began ministry among the islanders five years later. Ultimately, the work was done by Tongan, Tahitian, and British missionaries.
“Your religion is well enough for the white races; but we Fijians are better as we are,” Thakombau (or Ratu Seru Cakobau), the top-ruling chief/warrior during that era, told the missionaries.
With matter-of-fact exhibits in The Fiji Museum in the capital city of Suva, the nation’s cannibal history is neither denied nor celebrated. Instead, it is acknowledged and public apologies have been offered.
Live among the stars. With initial reluctance, Jodi Bulu became a Christian believer in neighboring Tonga in 1833. He would be a key component in the spiritual trajectory of Fiji. In his autobiography, he explains how his mind was changed when he heard there would be a “promised land of the dead,” a “home in the sky for the good.”
Bulu describes an epiphany that shifted his thinking: “It was a fine night; and looking up to the heavens where the stars were shining, this thought suddenly smote me: ‘O the beautiful land! If the words be true which were told us today, then are these lotu [Christian] people happy indeed;’ for I saw that the earth was dark and gloomy, while the heavens were clear, and bright with many stars; and my soul longed with a great longing to reach that beautiful land.”
“I will lotu,” wrote Bulu, “that I may live among the stars.”
Bulu’s cross-cultural ministry began when he heard the call for Christian teachers to go to Fiji. He testified, “my soul burned within me, and a great longing sprang up in my heart to go away to that land and declare the glad tidings of salvation to the people that knew not God.”
After becoming a believer, he relates his spiritual struggle while listening to a message on the love of Christ. Bulu recalled, “my eyes were opened. I saw the way; and I, even I also, believed and loved …. My heart was full of joy and love, and the tears streamed down my cheeks. Often had I wept before: but, not like my former weeping, were the tears I now shed. Then, I wept out of sorrow and fear, but now for very joy and gladness, and because my heart was full of love to him, who had loved me, and given himself for me.”
There are many factors that led to the transformation of Fiji, but there is no doubt that Bulu’s outreach was indispensable.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy. In a 1965 sermon at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, Bishop Gerald Kennedy of Methodism’s California-Pacific Annual Conference spoke about his visit to Fiji. Prior to his expedition, Kennedy was unaware of the island chain’s history and macabre nickname.
Regaling his experience in the South Pacific, the bishop extolled the missionary work of the Rev. John Hunt who left England in 1838 as a newlywed to share his faith on the other side of the world (more than 15,000 nautical miles). “He wrote one of the best books you’ll ever read on entire sanctification – right among those cannibals,” Kennedy told the clergy and seminarians. “You remember that when you say, I’m going to write a book someday, but I haven’t time.”‘(Kennedy was the prolific author of more than 20 books.)
After months at sea, Hunt and his wife had been given a small dwelling in the village and “often times a horrible stench came into his cottage when they [the Fijian warriors] returned from their raids as they killed and cooked the enemy,” Kennedy said. Through it all, Hunt worked tirelessly in translating the Bible to the Fijian language and attempted to work with the chiefs.
In an almost surreal conversation with Hunt, Thakombau asked: “What will become of the bodies of those who have been eaten, and of those who have been buried? Will they rise again from the dead?”
The Rev. Hunt replied, “Your body, the bodies of all those whom you have eaten, and the bodies of all who are in the graves, will rise again at the day of judgment; and if you and they have not repented, you will all be condemned and cast into hell-fire.”
Thakombau said: “Ah, well! it is a fine thing to have a fire in cold weather.”
Hunt responded: “I shall still pray for you with a good mind, although you treat the subject so lightly.” That was a notable understatement in a truly different and difficult era. When one reads through the blood-curdling missionary reports regarding what they witnessed, it is miraculous that they didn’t all hightail it back to Australia or any of the neighboring islands.
Bishop Kennedy pointed out that Hunt was discouraged and didn’t believe he was making progress with the Fijians. Regrettably, ten years after arriving in Fiji, Hunt would die of dysentery in 1848. From his deathbed, he sent word by a messenger back to Thakombau that he was praying for him. Hunt’s final words were, “Lord, bless Fiji! Save Fiji!”
“Now, here’s a miracle,” Kennedy said. “It didn’t happen right then, but five or six years later, Thakombau was converted.”
In telling his story, Thakombau (1815-1874) attributed his conversion to Hunt’s dying prayers. “I was first favorably impressed towards the Christian religion when I saw it made dying not only easy, but triumphant. John Hunt’s whole concern was about my conversion,” he said. “His wife was soon to be a widow and his children fatherless in a land of savages. He could leave them to the care of his heavenly Father. I barred the way to the spread of Christianity, and had forbidden the people, at the peril of life, to turn away from the gods of Fiji.”
Thakombau continued: “ … He prayed for Fiji, and for me, the chief of sinners. I went to see the body after his death, and Mr. [James] Calvert told me he had left a message of love, and his last prayers were for my conversion. My salvation was the answer to those last prayers.”(Correspondingly, cannibalism was abandoned in 1854.)
Killing Stone. While he was in Fiji, Bishop Kennedy took a boat to a sanctuary on a neighboring island to see a thoroughly unique and provocative symbol of conversion.
“Up at the front of the church was a whole rough stone. It was hollowed out in the top,” Kennedy said. The Fijian Methodists told him that it was their baptismal font. “They said it was originally the killing stone where Thakombau killed his victims,” Kennedy reported. Eventually, the stone was washed, “got the blood off of it, and brought it into that church and made the baptismal font of it.”
A few years ago, the Fiji Times retold a story about the transformation of the stone during the ministry of the Rev. Norman and Mabel Deller (1921-1936). According to Rev. Aubrey Baker, “the stone remained in the village unused, but a constant reminder of the evil of the past and the change made possible by Christ. … Even a stone could be converted. A thing that had been the agent of death became the symbol of new life in Christ.”
In his message nearly 60 years ago, Kennedy reflected on the deep symbolism of the transformed killing stone.” Don’t you like that?” he asked. “I looked at that and said to myself, That’s what the Christian Church is and that’s what the Christian Church ought to be: something to remind people who they were and what they can be without Christ. At the same time, something will say to them but this is what you can be when God finds you – and you give yourself to him.”
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News. This article appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Good News. PHOTO: Fijian village of Navala in Nausori Highlands. Photo by Anton Leddin (Creative Commons).
by Steve | May 12, 2024 | May-June 2024, Uncategorized
Christ in You, the Hope of Glory
By Oswald Bronson
Good News Archive
1971 Good News Convocation
May/June 20204
Think with me on the topic, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Our theme comes from a man physically imprisoned, but liberated in mind and convinced that in his soul lived a universal mystery – the presence of Jesus Christ, who was the ground of his faith and conviction. Any man with a conviction becomes ill at ease when the foundation of that conviction is subjected to misinformation. And so it was with Paul. He had heard that false teachers in Colossae were proclaiming a dangerous and deceptive heresy.
Under the influence of what came to be known as gnosticism, these false teachers sought to syncretize [mix together] the Christian faith with Greek and Oriental religious systems that reduced Jesus Christ to one of many intermediaries between God and man. They instituted complex and secretive initiation rites, paganistic ceremonies that extolled the so-called mysteries of their syncretistic faith. Little did they care that this mixture of religious ideologies was an insult to a prisoner under lock and key in the Roman jail. You see, they had not been with Jesus, not been pricked by his power on the Damascus road.
In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul speaks to a communal irregularity that threatened to bankrupt the Church’s spiritual treasure, and to immobilize its moral behavior and its Christian witness. Here, my friends, we see one of Paul’s ablest defenses against heresy in the ranks. It is against this background of false teaching – of a divided community, of a church threatened by ethical decadence, and spiritual erosion – that Paul courageously reaffirmed his evangelical faith and pointed to the Mystery hidden for ages and generations. The Mystery is the topic of this address. For Paul says, it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
This theme underscores three basic dimensions of Christology (or the doctrine of Christ), without which our faith is emptied of its pulling power.
1. Jesus Christ, The Image of the Invisible God.
2. Jesus Christ, The Mystery of the Indwelling Presence.
3. Jesus Christ, The Hope of Glory.
In Pauline theology, Christ was not one of a number of equal intermediaries; not simply one of the angels; not a power among other powers, as the heretical teachers at Colossae would have the Christians believe. In Colossians 2:8 Paul warned the church to beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men or after the rudiments of the world.
This warning has relevance for modern day Christianity. You and I know that the modern church runs the risk of becoming theologically sterile and spiritually bereft. Many churches have departed from the biblical faith, lost their spiritual magnetism and the fire that burned in the hearts of our fathers. The absence of the Holy Spirit leaves a vacancy open and available to all kinds of heresy, such as the [1970s] God-is-Dead movement. Preachers and laymen quarrel, blaming the other for the church’s predicament.
Some time ago I came across a rating chart that sought to evaluate the pastor’s work. It sought to measure a pastor’s adaptability, effectiveness in pastoral calling, strength of character, spiritual maturity, preaching skills, and communication. Those were the areas of measurement. Across the top of the chart were the degrees of measurement: Far exceeds requirements, exceeds requirements, meets requirements, needs some improvement, does not meet minimum requirements.
The first area of performance is the preacher’s adaptability. Far exceeds requirements: Leaps tall obstacles with a single bound. Exceeds requirements: Must take running start to leap over tall obstacles. Meets requirements: Can leap over small obstacles only. Needs some improvement: Crashes into obstacles. Does not meet minimum requirements: Cannot recognize obstacles at all.
Sadly, we have folk who are not able to recognize sin and its creeping effects.
What about the pastoral calling? Far exceeds requirements: Faster than a speeding bullet. Exceeds requirements: As fast as a speeding bullet. Meets requirements: Not quite as fast as a speeding bullet. Needs some improvement: Would you believe, a slow bullet? Does not meet requirements: Usually wounds self with bullet.
What about preaching? Far exceeds requirements: Enthralls huge throngs. Exceeds requirements: Enthralls the congregation. Meets requirements: Interests the congregation. Needs some improvement: Only spouse listens. Does not meet requirements: Not even spouse listens.
Surely if you’re going to be a real pastor, you need strength of character. Far exceeds requirements: My pastor is stronger than a herd of bulls. Exceeds requirements: Stronger than several bulls. Meets requirements: Stronger than one bull. Needs some improvement: Shoots the bull.
Surely we need someone who can communicate. What about the pastor’s communication if they’re shooting the bull? Communication far exceeds requirements: Talks with God. Exceeds requirements: Talks with the angels (Paul would be concerned). Meets requirements: Well, talks with self. Needs some improvement: Argues with self. Does not meet minimum requirements: Loses argument with self.
If Paul had to rate the heretical teachers and preachers in Colossae, he would simply say that, “You are losing arguments that are vital, the argument that stands tall and places our faith solidly on Jesus Christ.”
Paul teaches not to be misled by any attempt to establish a religious faith on any power except Jesus Christ. Here he underscores the uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not one of many intermediaries. Christ is the Mediator. He’s not a power among other equals. He is the supreme Savior, the highest expression of God’s love. He is God’s image from all of eternity, before creation was brought forth, before the Spirit moved upon the waters.
As I heard one preacher say over the radio, before there was a “when” or a “where” or a “then” or “there,” or “this” or “that” – before there were plants, animals and human life on the face of the earth – Christ was already in existence. St. Paul, the man of faith, said, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of creation, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities, he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-18).
Not only was Christ with God in the beginning, but on earth he was fully human. Herein lies the great paradox. It is the link between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. In his humanity dwelt the fullness of God, in his deity dwelt the fullness of man. This is a paradox that dramatizes God’s extending himself in suffering love. And humanity reaching its highest in obedience, in humility, and in devotion to God’s will. The downward reach of God, and the upward reach of man, had its highest hour and met in Jesus Christ.
In Christ the Son we meet God supremely revealed. On the cross we experience God’s aching heart, his agonizing love, and his forgiving spirit. Often my heart bleeds when I look at my Savior on the cross, and think how he has there, on his shoulder, all my sins. And then I hear him say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Oh Christ, I love you! Easter brings the Good News that God-in-Christ is victorious over the forces of evil. Pentecost signals through Christ a new baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Surely, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
We enjoy singing, “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name.” He is not one among equals – he is superior! He is preexistent! He is God, the image of the invisible God. “Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him lord of all.”
We must crown him Lord of all. Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, is also the mystery of the indwelling Presence. Please note that Paul frequently uses the word mystery. It denotes the incomprehensible, an event or an idea that cannot be explained and understood by human faculties. A mystery defies human intellect. The secret of his power is on a level beyond our human understanding.
This universe that God has made is filled with mysteries. It is true, we are extending our explorations to other planets. Yet, with each such exploration, we realize that we are dealing with but an infinitesimal part of this vast universe. The full knowledge of God’s power lies only in his mind. Paul was eminently correct in using the word mystery, for life is a mystery. Nature is a mystery. The human being is a mystery.
Through science and technology, the human mind is grasping facts once thought to be miraculous. We think now that we know the secret of the Universe. We understand how to manipulate certain physical laws to bring about desired results. But how these laws came into existence remains a mystery. There is so much we cannot fully explain.
When I was a lad, I used to like to watch Molly, the cow. And I used to wonder how a brown cow, eating green grass, with a red tongue, could give white milk, churned into yellow butter.
Regardless how much we try to explain many of these things, we come back to the question, “Who did it? Who got it started?” We have to come to grips with this one outstanding fact: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and everything therein found.”
I heard a radio preacher very eloquently remind his audience that we live in a push-button age today. We can push a button and lift tons of steel. We can push a button and send astronauts throughout space, even to the moon. We can push a button and sail heavy aircraft through the skies. We have come to feel that there is hardly anything that the push-button cannot do.
But, said the preacher, man cannot push a button and cause the sun to shine, or the stars to twinkle, or create mothers and fathers to provide love for their children, or our Savior, who brings healing to our souls.
The push-button is mechanical, cold, and indifferent to the deeper yearnings and needs of the human heart. Only God can push that button! As Isaac Newton stood in the presence of nature’s mysteries, he said “I feel like a child who has picked up a few pebbles on the shore of a boundless ocean.”
I was glad to hear the great scientist Albert Einstein said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Mystery is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. His eyes are closed.
Yes, we are surrounded by mystery.
Paul’s time was the age of mystery religions and secret initiation rites. The false teachers of Colossae were greatly influenced by these religious practices. Against this background, Paul is saying, “I, too, have a Mystery into which I was initiated. It is a divine secret, which for ages no man guessed. Now it has pleased God to make known the secret. And it is, Christ in you. The innermost dynamics and the very nature of God’s being reaches its apex in Christ. And we know this Christ as the inward presence, making our lives one with his life. Christ is the mystery, because in him lies hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Because he represents far more than has yet been disclosed.”
Notice that Paul said Christ in you; not Christ on you, nor merely around you. Not Christ objectified in a philosophical system, or any system locked to a period in history. Not a Christ beautifully painted in a picture, or described in poetry or set to popular music.
Christ on me is not enough! I might change toward him as I changed my clothes, or as I moved from group to group, from city to city, from position to position. Christ around me has great advantages, but he is still external. In theory he is limited to intellectual activities, but our problems are deeper than the intellect.
A Christ arrested in the past is good for the museum; a picture may be good to adorn the walls of our homes and our offices. Jesus Christ in poetry and music is fine, though he runs the risk of becoming a fad rather than the savior.
Instead, Paul sees an urgency in the indwelling Christ. When Christ is truly internalized – permeating every cell, every fiber, thought, utterance, motive, behavior – we become new creatures. We experience unspeakable joy. We have an eternal assurance. We have a new light, a new spirit, a new love, a new heart, a new code of ethics, a new behavior, a new fellowship. With Christ in you and Christ in me, I declare, we’ve got to be together.
On a sign prepared by youth in one of our Atlanta United Methodist congregations are the words, “If you were arrested and charged for being a Christian, and indicted, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
The indwelling Christ supplies the evidence. It is expressed courageously in a life of love and service, and the record is filled with testimonies across the ages of the transforming power of Jesus Christ as an indwelling presence.
How well do I remember when I was a small child, I heard my father pray, “Lord, I gave Oswald to you before he was born. Help him to be your servant. May you live in his life.”
I heard my Daddy pray that, morning and night. Sometimes I would wake up in the night. I would hear him praying, “God, I gave Oswald to you before he was born ….” I thought about that. At an early age, my Father, not having the kind of theological sophistication that many of us have, but a faith in Jesus Christ, was reminding me of the divine origins of any human being. And that my own existence in the world is the result of God’s creative activity, that in my life was a purpose – a purpose to glorify God.
He surrounded me with the Christian faith. I saw Christ in him. But I needed more than Christ around me, I needed Christ within me. My father’s faith was not enough. As Billy Sunday used to say, “Your wife’s faith cannot save you. You’ve got to be more than a brother-in-law to God.”
When I made my own decision for Christ, God became more than just a distant relative. He became an intimate Savior. The old Gospel hymns took on new meaning. It became a joy to affirm deep within that “I am Thine, oh Lord;” “Have Thine Own Way Lord;” “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.”
The Christian faith claims that in Christ, God’s nearness becomes a greater reality. He lives within. He becomes the battery that makes a glow radiate from our personality. And when you walk, somebody will say, “There goes a Christian, I see their light.”
Yes, Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. Jesus Christ, the mystery of the indwelling presence. Christ, the hope, is a theme that winds its way through the Pauline epistles. The word hope communicates the sense of the possible. It is an attitude towards life affirming that what we really need is possible.
The value of hope is poetically demonstrated by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s drama Prometheus Unbound: “To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite, to forgive wrongs darker than dark of night, to defy powers which seem omnipotent, to love and bear, to hope till hope creates from its own wreck the thing it contemplates.”
Christian hope, however, is more than a general kind of optimism. It is more than hope in hope, or faith in faith. Christian hope is tied to the goal of history, and the purpose of each person’s existence. It is the unshakable confidence in the sovereignty of God, and his eventual triumph over all the forces that stand against truth, justice, righteousness, faithfulness, love, and mercy. In the great contest between good and evil, Christian hope declares God as winner. He is the victory.
For the Christian, in race relations, Christ is the victory. In family crises, Christ is the victory. In marital conflicts, Christ is the victory. Not only is he the hope of victory, he is also the hope of glory. The hope of sharing with God the eternal radiance of his victory.
Today, I have hope. I have hope that through Christ, all men and women will recognize their common bond. I have hope because in everything God works together for the good. Yes, I have hope. It is this hope that sends Christians forth witnessing against wrong, upholding the right, giving God the glory and the praise. It is this hope that brings light and deliverance to the downtrodden, the dejected, the underprivileged, the overprivileged, the “just-right” privileged.
Reverent. A matron in an orphanage whipped little Jimmy E. West, and put him on a bread and water diet. She said he was evading his chores by pretending to be sick. Fortunately a lady who knew Jimmy’s mother before she died, came by to see him. And she asked the matron to let her take the lad to a doctor. The matron agreed. The doctor examined the nine year old lad and sure enough, he had a tuberculous hip. He was laid up for a year on a very hard board. After a year the doctor said, “There’s no hope, so I might as well send him on back.” He called the orphanage, and the matron said she couldn’t take him.
The doctor called the taxi, gave him instructions, and in the gathering darkness he took Jimmy to the orphanage, left him and his crutches on the porch. Little Jimmy was found there by a girl who came to lock up for the evening. She dragged him in. What hope was there for a nine-year-old lad? No mother, sickly, rejected. None, according to the socially accepted opinions of the psychologists and social workers. He was doomed for a miserable life and death.
But a miracle took place. In this orphanage was a Sunday school. And Jimmy’s class was taught by a man who was in charge of the heating plant. He was not a man sophisticated in theology, but he had a faith – a living, vibrant faith, a belief in Jesus Christ that he shared with Jimmy.
Jimmy said later, “I came to believe that my life need not be hopeless wreckage.” And so, he started a life of prayer. He finished high school, worked his way through college and became a lawyer. He was brought to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt because of his work with underprivileged children. This work was so significant that when the Boy Scouts of America was chartered, Congress elected Jimmy E. West (1876-1948) as its first chief executive.
But the story doesn’t end there. The Boy Scout code of America has one line that the code does not have in England. “A Boy Scout is Reverent.” Who put it there? It was a Sunday school teacher, faith, and spirit, working in the life of Jimmy West. Through Christ, he came to find that God had meaning for him in his time of wreckage. So now, Boy Scouts around the world raise their hand to God and say, “A Boy Scout is Reverent.”
Christ is the hope not only in the world to come, but he’s the hope right now.
In my home community we used to sing a spiritual called “Ain’t That Good News?” The lyrics are: “I’ve got a Savior in the Kingdom, ain’t that good news? He’s the joy of my salvation, ain’t that good news? He’s going to lead us from earth to glory, ain’t that good news?”
Yes, the Christian community has Good News! We have what the world desperately needs. It is Christ within us, the hope of glory. Ain’t that Good News?
When he delivered this address to the 1971 Good News Convocation, Dr. Oswald P. Bronson, Sr., Ph.D., an ordained United Methodist clergyman, was President of Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta. After completing his time at ITC, in 1975, Dr. Bronson began an appointment as the fourth president of his alma mater, Bethune-Cookman University, a position he held for 29 years. Dr. Bronson passed away on February 2, 2019, at the age of 91 years old. This sermon first appeared in the October/December 1971 issue of Good News. Photo courtesy of Atlanta University Center. Photo: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Shutterstock).
by Steve | May 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
Removal of LGBTQ prohibition is cause of rejoicing from some
By Jim Patterson
May 1, 2024 | CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UM News)
Randall Miller sat — looking stunned — a little removed from the impromptu celebration after delegates at General Conference swept away a decades-old policy banning LGBTQ people from serving as pastors in The United Methodist Church.
He was happy, but the change came too late for him personally.
“It doesn’t affect me,” said the reserve delegate from Berkeley, California.
“I made a decision 40 years ago that I would not pursue ordination as long as this policy was in place. … I’m close to 65. But I’m just so glad for others, especially the younger folks who are deeply committed to The United Methodist Church that want to be able to serve.”
The mood was mostly jubilation in the hastily arranged celebration in a courtyard at the Charlotte Convention Center on a sunny and temperate North Carolina afternoon.
“It’s a wonderful step forward about just including folks, taking a step further to the ‘all means all’ idea that we believe in,” said the Rev. Jonathan Campbell, pastor of Lacey United Methodist Church in Forked River, New Jersey.
But some, in and outside the convention center, said there also was sadness in reflecting on people like Miller and all they have lost, all the damage done and the good works that never happened because of the discriminatory rule.
“It’s a day for happy tears,” said the Rev. Jamie Michaels, pastor of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven, Connecticut.
“It’s really hard not to be standing next to the people who are missing,” she said. “Folks who have been pushed out of churches, folks who have lost their livelihoods.”
Michaels was thinking of a friend who abandoned the ordination process because he felt unwelcome in The United Methodist Church.
“He discerned that this was no longer his fight,” Michaels said. “God was calling him to something big and beautiful, and he didn’t want to spend his whole career fighting for his very existence.”
Her friend is in a non-Methodist “very fruitful ministry” today, she said.
“But it’s hard to have started this journey next to him and not be here with him.”
The Rev. Deb Stevens, a retired elder in the West Ohio Conference and board member of the advocacy group Reconciling Ministries Network, said she “wonders a lot about grief.”
“Grief for those we’ve lost along the way, the people who had their orders taken away, the people who were brought up on charges, the people who despaired and gave up on United Methodism, the people who were told that they were not loved and appreciated by this church,” Stevens said.
The effort to allow LGBTQ people to be pastors dates back to the inception of the ban in 1984, and not everyone was happy it was being lifted.
“I’m deeply troubled, because the church has deviated from the faith,” said the Rev. Jerry Kulah, a Liberia Conference delegate and coordinator of the traditionalist Africa Initiative, in an interview away from the courtyard celebration. “I’m going to deeply reflect and determine how long I can bear with this.”
The Rev. Chang Min Lee, pastor of Los Angeles Korean United Methodist Church and president of the Korean Association of the United Methodist Church, also expressed concerns about the vote to United Methodist News.
“For most Korean American churches that are traditional, we are concerned about today’s vote, but at the same time, we are pleased to see that the legislation approved this morning also explicitly protects the right of clergy and churches not to officiate at or host same-sex weddings.
“While we recognize that this decision will cause some confusion and difficulty for Korean American churches, we will continue to pray and work to move forward to lead the mission of The United Methodist Church in the providence of God, who is ‘greater than all’ (Ephesians 4:6).”
But for many, the prevailing mood was one of “deep, deep gratitude,” especially for all the activists who kept the faith for years, sometimes decades, said Helen Ryde, a home missioner and a Reconciling Ministries Network coordinator.
“We’re celebrating something that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people have worked for in this moment,” Ryde said. “We got here because of the so many people who worked hard. Some of them are not here anymore.”
Many people who wanted to serve God were prevented from doing so because of the ban, said Bishop Ken Carter of the Western North Carolina Conference.
“It was harmful to people,” Carter said. “It was not helpful to the church’s mission, and the body, with an almost unprecedented consensus, removed it.
“It’s like removing something harmful from the body, that frees the body to be healthy.”
The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Great Plains Conference delegate, mega-church pastor and author of bestselling books on various aspects of Christianity, also welcomed the church’s turn toward full inclusivity for LGBTQ persons.
“In 1972, we singled gay and lesbian people out and created exclusionary language for them, and we’ve been fighting ever since,” he said in an interview in the convention center. “For 52 years, we’ve been a conflict-driven church and today we’ve become once more a mission-driven church and a church that’s saying everyone’s welcome in our congregations.”
Hamilton added, “I’m really proud of The United Methodist Church and I’m proud to be a United Methodist today.”
When the change was acknowledged during the morning plenary, those in favor did not make an immediate big hullabaloo about it, said the Rev. Jennie Edwards-Bertrand, pastor of Hope Church in Bloomington, Illinois.
“We had decided not to celebrate openly, out of respect for all perspectives,” she said. “So people around me were silently weeping, and one of my friends was passing out consent calendar chocolate. The second we got the text to come out by the fountain, everyone just stood up and rushed out (to celebrate).”
The consent calendar is a bundle of legislation that can be quickly passed in one vote. The ban of LGBTQ pastors was removed as part of such a vote.
“We still have more work to do at this General Conference to extract all the pieces of harmful language,” said Bridget Cabrera, executive director of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, an advocacy group social justice. “Yet today the UMC overwhelmingly stated no matter who you are and no matter who you love, God loves you and you are welcome here.
“Thanks be to God.”
Going forward, progressive United Methodists need to “continue to build relationships,” said the Rev. Laura Wittman, pastor of The Mills Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
“We have to learn and help each other live into the values that we are beginning to set for ourselves,” Wittman said. “This is a different set of values, a long-awaited, hard-earned set of values, and it’s going to take time.”
The Rev. H.N. Gibson, associate pastor of East Lake United Methodist Church, concurs with Wittman.
“There’s still work to do, because just because we change legislation doesn’t mean that we change hearts and minds,” Gibson said. “Moving toward a more inclusive church and a church that accepts and affirms all people of all gender identities and sexual identities is going to take a lot longer and a lot more work.
“But I’m committed to that long-term work.”
Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Heather Hahn, Sam Hodges and the Rev. Thomas Kim contributed to this report. PHOTO: The Rev. Dorlimar Lebrón Malavé (left), Bishop Karen Oliveto (in blue jacket) and her wife, Robin Ridenour (front, center), join in embracing delegates and visitors t the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., after the conference voted to remove the denomination’s ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — a prohibition that dates to 1984. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
by Steve | Apr 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
In Regard to the Dakotas-Minnesota alteration
April 19, 2024
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| It has come to our attention that an anonymous person went on the Dakotas UM Annual Conference website and changed an official document to contain alleged misinformation and divisive rhetoric. (Although we have made a request to Bishop Lanette Plambeck’s office to see the altered document, we have not yet seen it in its altered form. However, we were able to discuss the matter with her office and they walked us through the issues of concern.)
No matter the motive, anonymously altering a document is deceptive and improper for a disciple of Jesus Christ. It goes without saying that Good News and the Wesleyan Covenant Association unequivocally condemn this kind of unethical activity. Both of our ministries have operated within the United Methodist Church over many years. There is no need for us to interfere with saomeone else’s website. Our opinions and viewpoints are well known and public knowledge.
At the same time, we also condemn the precipitous leap by some to unsubstantiated insinuations of guilt in the service of raising funds and promoting a particular agenda for the church.
Even within the context of deeply-held convictions, we encourage persons on all sides of the current debates within Methodism to treat one another with love and respect, honesty and integrity. How we treat one another as Christians is just as important as the substance of our disagreement and constitute our witness to a watching world. |
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