How to defend the UMC against heretical teachings

The Being-made-perfect-in-love Prayer

Last night's sermon was a meditation on “Be Ye Perfect,” how perfection is interpreted in the Wesleyan tradition, what it meant to the preacher (a candidate for ordination) to be made perfect in love, and her own struggles with perfectionism.

This reminder of the goal of Christian Perfection got me wishing for a prayer practice, something that I could pray whenever I’m feeling at a loss and unsure what the loving thing to do in a given situation might be.  It would have to be something I could say quickly, remember easily, and use unobtrusively as I tried both to stay engaged with the person before me and to reach out for divine assistance, simultaneously.

I thought of and rejected a number of options, went to bed with no satisfactory answer to my quandary, and woke up at 1 AM with the desire for a discipline still foremost in mind.  The early morning inspiration was to follow the pattern of the doctrinal order of salvation, Repentance-Faith-Holiness.  I chose three words and three body parts to associate with each step in the analogy of faith, and came up with the following--

Focus on the head and think “Help”

Focus on the heart and think “Save”

Focus on the feet and think “Move”

I like the head-to-toe coverage of this form of prayer; it feels like I’m all in, every part of me seeking and listening for guidance.

“Help” is the point where I admit that I am clueless and have no idea what a loving response would look like in a given situation.  “Save” is an act of trust, in which I reaffirm my belief that Christ can transform me and teach me how to love.  “Move” is an expression of my desire to discern the direction in which God’s grace is already leading and to follow.

I will be heading to the hospital this afternoon to visit two relatives who are gravely ill.  I don’t know if I’ll need the perfect love prayer during the visit, but it does feel good to have this prayer to experiment with should I feel the need.

Our Three Responses to Grace (typically)

The video clip below is from my Wednesday, March 26, 2014 presentation at Rockbrook UMC in Omaha, Nebraska. In it, I tell the audience about an experience I had the Sunday before Lent.  

On that particular Sunday, my husband and I had arrived early for the evening service.  After finding seats, a member of the staff approached us and asked if I would read the scripture lessons during worship. When I told her that I would be glad to help out, she handed me two pieces of paper, one of which contained Psalm 131 in a translation that was unfamiliar to me-

"O Lord, my heart is not proud nor my look haughty; I do not aspire to great things or to do what is beyond me; But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore."

I almost burst out laughing when I read the second stanza because I do aspire to great things and I do over-reach.  It was a convicting moment, and it was the start of a process in which I moved from repentance to faith to holiness in the space of a few minutes as the service started.

Repentance-Faith-Holiness is the order of salvation in the Wesleyan tradition.  It is the analogy of faith that Wesley followed when he interpreted scripture, and it is how he characterized Methodist Doctrine.  It is the succession of responses that one typically has to an experience of grace when belief is new, and it is a repetitive sequence throughout the stages of the spiritual maturation process.

I shared this experience with the good folks at Rockbrook because I think it's illustrative of what I mean by Wesleyan Spirituality, and because I'm looking for new terms, something other than repentance-faith-holiness, to describe our typical responses to God, and I was hoping that the audience would tell me about similar experiences that they had had and what terms they use when they describe those experiences to others.

Bishop Roy Sano on biblical obedience

Lots of food for thought in this post by Bishop Roy Sano.  His first point, "Jesus drew a sharp distinction between disobedience to human tradition and obedience to God’s word."  sent me to Wesley's commentary on Matthew 23:23 where I found multiple examples of how Wesley characterized inward religion versus outward religion-

From the 3d to the 30th verse Mt 23:3 - 30 is exposed every thing that commonly passes in the world for religion, whereby the pretenders to it keep both themselves and others from entering into the kingdom of God; from attaining, or even seeking after those tempers, in which alone true Christianity consists. As, Punctuality in attending on public and private prayer, ver. 4 - 14. Mt 23:4 - 14 Zeal to make proselytes to our opinion or communion, though they have less of the spirit of religion than before, ver. 15. Mt 23:15 A superstitious reverence for consecrated places or things, without any for Him to whom they are consecrated, ver. 16 - 22. Mt 23:16 - 22 A scrupulous exactness in little observances, though with the neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, ver. 23, 24. Mt 23:23,24 A nice cautiousness to cleanse the outward behaviour, but without any regard to inward purity, ver. 25, 26. Mt 23:25,26 A specious face of virtue and piety, covering the deepest hypocrisy and villany, ver. 27, 28. Mt 23:27,28 A professed veneration for all good men, except those among whom they live.

Biblical obedience does not seem like the right term for what Wesley is talking about here.  For Wesley, the nature of true Christianity is characterized by obedience to the Spirit and not dedication to words on a page.

Nevertheless, whichever term you prefer to use, the end result is the same.  Bishop Sano and Wesley both call for the followers of Christ to be filled with divine love and to live out of that love as they interact with others.  Wesley's writings are just more emphatic in attributing the capacity to love to the power of the living Spirit rather than to human willpower.

Advocacy-- The Wesleyan Method as personal model

Advocacy-- one (and only one) doctrinal example

"O Victory in" the Wesley brothers

The option of Non-Violent Resistance

Brother Lawrence's confession of sin

Found a little gem regarding Brother Lawrence's method for confessing his sins.  It’s in Wesley’s Christian Library, v. 23, from CONVERSATION 2: Sept. 28, 1666.--

“That when he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault, saying to God, 'I shall never do otherwise, if thou leave me to myself; it is thou must hinder my falling, and mend what is amiss.' That after this, he soon found. himself in peace.”

“That he was very sensible of his faults, but he was not discouraged by them; that he confessed them to GOD, and when he had so done, he peaceably resumed his usual practice of love and adoration.”

I looked for a similar quick move from contrition to consolation in Wesley’s other publications.  The closest example I found is a Charles poem on Luke 13:3--

“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”—[Luke] 13:3.

1 O what a life is mine!

Backward I cast mine eye,

And trembling own the truth divine,

“I must repent, or die!”

But him, who tells me so,

Highly extolled I see

The godly sorrow to bestow,

The godly love on me.

2 Saviour, and Prince, appear

To break this stubborn heart,

And then to bid my guilty fear

And unbelief depart;

While at thy feet I grieve,

From all my sins release,

The sense of thy salvation give,

The kingdom of thy peace.

I find Brother Lawrence’s confession delightful.  He is mindful of his sins, however he is not preoccupied with his helplessness.  He is preoccupied with love for God and trust in God’s power and grace.  

John did discuss the feeling of helplessness in Sermon 14, "The Repentance of Believers," but given that this sermon is not about the sense of peace that follows godly sorrow, it is no surprise that the sermon does not contain a lengthy discussion of assurance of forgiveness.  

Better to keep the two (guilt and assurance) in mind for the reader, I think.  This way a balance is maintained, and the reader avoids emphasizing one and ignoring the other.  Lawrence and Charles did a better job of maintaining this balance in comparison to John.

Brother Lawrence and Wesley

Positive Psychology and Methodist Doctrine

I read Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's new book Love 2.0 with great interest. No surprise that I related Methodist Doctrine to her definition of love. I plan to preach a sermon series this month on love based on her findings. Anyone else discovered an affinity between positive psychology and Wesley's definition of salvation?

The Christian life-cycle

Reflection on Peter's denial of Christ and its implication for us.

The least of these-- who are they?

The New Interpreter’s Bible offers a balanced summary of the scholarly disagreement regarding the identity of “the least of these brothers of mine” in Matthew 25: 31-46.  Are the least one “(a) the world’s needy generally or (b) specifically Christians or Christian missionaries”?

The NIB concludes that originally Jesus was speaking about the needy in general, and that later Matthew focused this universal theme to a single point— “the reception of Christian missionaries.”  In order words, both interpretations can be supported.

Reading the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned as itinerant evangelists was an unfamiliar perspective, but the reading rang true as I considered the entire parable with this interpretation in mind.  The deprivations faced by the parable’s least ones were potential hazards risked by Jesus’ preachers.  Doing for (or neglecting) one of these brothers is doing (or not) for the Heavenly Judge.  The nations who care for one of the Gospel-bearers are welcomed into the Judge’s heavenly kingdom.  The nations who neglected the least of these are punished by the Judge.

Wesley’s Notes for Matthew 25: 40 first favors the Christian specific interpretation and then posits a universal implication—“What encouragement is here to assist the household of faith But let us likewise remember to do good to all men.” 

As United Methodists, we should teach the dual-identity of the least of these rather than favoring one interpretation over the other.

Seeing God-- now or later?

The pure in heart are blessed because they will see God.

Future promise is emphasized in The New Interpreter’s Bible commentary on Matthew 5:8, while a possible present realization is rejected.  This reading differs from the one found in United Methodist doctrinal standards.

According to the NIB, “‘Seeing God’ refers not to mystical vision in this world, but to the eschatological hope (1 Cor 13:12; Rev 22:4).”  Contrast this with Wesley’s comments in his Notes (“They shall see God - In all things here; hereafter in glory”) and in doctrinal Sermon 23--

But the great lesson which our blessed Lord inculcates here, and which he illustrates by this example, is, that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the glass of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but, with a true magnificence of thought, survey heaven and earth, and all that is therein, as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and actuates the whole created frame, and is, in a true sense, the soul of universe.

These doctrinal statements point to an ability to see God now in the material world and later in the eternal world.  This present ability is not a mystical vision; it is the vision of natural philosophy, the science of Wesley’s day.

I’m going to side with Wesley on this one.  Not the natural philosophy reading of Matthew 5:8, but rather an interpretation that is consistent with the already-but-not-yet nature of the reign of God proclaimed in Matthew, one which I hear in the Beatitudes, as well.  The pure in heart are in a fortunate, privileged position because they will see God.  They will see God face-to-face in the realm of glory, and they will discern God's Spirit at work in the world now.

Your Church Conflict from a Wesleyan perspective

Three paragraphs in three doctrinal sermons from which I draw inferences and then synthesize--

Sermon 21, ¶ I.1, Inference --The Sermon on the Mount lists both the stages of Christian maturation and the principle characteristics of Christians, which means that mature Christians will continue to experience the earlier gifts (i.e., poor in spirit, mournful, meek).

Sermon 23, ¶ II.3, Inference-- Church conflicts can be a means of grace for those at the peacemaker stage.

Sermon 24, ¶ I.1, Inference-- The Christian maturation process requires community.

Synthesis-- Differences of opinion between church members are inevitable.  A church with members at the peacemaker stage of faith can draw upon the spiritual gifts of such members to settle inner-church conflicts.  Instead of avoiding conflict, church members should use it as an opportunity to put into practice the Sermon on the Mount virtues, which will (by God’s grace) help them to reach the higher stages of faith.  The possibility of reaching this state of maturation increases when individuals remain committed to a Christian community instead of abandoning it because of disagreements.

The Root of Evil

"Love of money is the root of all evil," Paul warned in 1 Timothy 6:10.  In his commentary on this verse, Wesley concurred and further stated that love of money is "The parent of all manner of evils."

How surprising then to read Wesley's Notes on 2 Timothy 3:2, in which a love of self that is devoid of any love for neighbors is called the first root of evil while love of money is considered the second root.

Surprising, but not without precedent.  The fourth-century monk Evagrius also identified the love of self (τῆς φιλαυτίας) as the source from which the eight bad thoughts sprang. (The Greek word φίλαυτοι translated as "lovers of self" in 2 Tim. 3:2 is an adjective while the word used by Evagrius is a noun, hence the different endings.)

This is why my smartphone game has nine demons to exorcise rather than eight.  In order to be delivered from these temptations, the chief must be overcome first.

Going on to Compassion

My church is using The Story this year. The theme of my sermon for Chapter Two was the United Methodist understanding of Christian Perfection. I wanted to emphasize the attainability of a compassionate mindset and give the congregation a prayer practice that they could use while waiting for God's grace to spark this love in them.

Pastoral Leadership as a Means of Grace

I am mulling over Wesley's list of the Prudential Means of Grace found in the 'Large' Minutes, especially the Means of Grace for Preachers and Assistants--

3. Preacher Means: meet with society, leaders, bands, visit the sick and well, instructing in homes, relative duties
4. Assistant Means: regulate the societies, bands, and books. hold watch-nights, love feasts, and quarterly examinations. Send Wesley account of preachers’ defects 

The means of grace are supposed to be channels through which we experience God's grace.  In most cases our reaction to grace will either be one of conviction, faith, or love.  Seen from this perspective, I can affirm that as a pastor I frequently feel convinced of my limitations.

This paragraph from doctrinal Sermon 24 helps me define pastoral experiences as a means of grace that convinces--

"There is no disposition, for instance, which is more essential to Christianity than meekness. Now although this, as it implies resignation to God, or patience in pain and sickness, may subsist in a desert, in a hermit's cell, in total solitude; yet as it implies (which it no less necessarily does) mildness, gentleness, and long-suffering, it cannot possibly have a being, it has no place under heaven, without an intercourse with other men. So that to attempt turning this into a solitary virtue is to destroy it from the face of the earth."

Preaching the Gospel and leading others to live out the Gospel within a local church continually provides opportunities to cry out to God for assistance in practicing mildness, gentleness, and patience.  The phrase "herding cats" often comes to mind when I reflect on my ministry.

What a privilege to be able to wait for an experience of grace within this prudential mean.  It builds faith muscles like no other means that I've practiced.  It re-enforces my use of the Instituted Means of Grace.  And it spurs my hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I'll blog later on the pastoral role as a means of grace that justifies and sanctifies.  In the meantime, feel free to add your own testimonials.

χάρις in Luke 6: 32-34

The Greek word χάρις appears in the Gospel of Luke four times.  Wesley translated χάρις as "grace" in Luke 2:40; however, in Luke 6: 32-34 he translated the same word as "thank" in his translation of the New Testament.  

Wesley's translation of χάρις is mostly consistent with the King James version of the Bible.  The word χάρις appears sixty-two times in the New Testament and in every instance but one Wesley and the KJV offer the same translation-- 51 times χάρις is translated as "grace," 5 times as "thanks" (the KJV has "thanked" in one verse), 4 times as "thank," once as "thankworthy" and once as "acceptable."

I am interested in what happens to the reading of Luke 6: 32-36 when χάρις is translated as grace--

“If you love those who love you, what grace is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what grace is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what grace is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.  Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”

I keyed on this verse because it is a parallel to Matthew 5:46-48, which ends with the promise that disciples will be perfect, τέλειος, just as God is τέλειος.  Instead of the promise of spiritual maturity, Luke's pericope closes with a command to be compassionate.  (If ever there was a corrective to Christian complacency and self-satisfaction this pericope is it!)

I find that I lose my audience whenever I use the term "perfection," so what about trying to explain the UM doctrine of Christian Perfection in terms of compassion?  Something like "God's grace gives mature Christians the power to extend compassion to their enemies, the sinful, the ungrateful, and the evil" might put the doctrine in terms that United Methodists can grasp.  And once they understand how radical Jesus' command is, maybe they will be convinced that their faith has room to grow.

Of course once we have convinced them, we will have to supply them with means of grace that will encourage this growth. Otherwise, folks will fall into works righteousness in the erroneous belief that they can become more compassionate through willpower instead of through grace by faith.

Fasting as a Means of Grace

Four members of First United Methodist Church, Plattsmouth agreed to try out fasting with me to see if this spiritual practice could become a means of grace for us.  We read a pamphlet on fasting, discussed it at our first meeting, and covenanted to observe the Daniel Fast (vegetables and water) for our evening meal every Wednesday.  We pledged to set aside time in the evening for private devotions and to email each other the next day and describe our fasting experience.  We met once a month to check in with each other and to evaluate whether or not we found fasting to be an effective means of grace.

I define "effective" according to the Wesleyan analogy of faith (Repentance-Faith-Holiness)--  Do I experience God's grace as a result of engaging in this practice?  Am I convinced to repent?  Is my faith strengthened?  Am I inspired to love God and to love my neighbor?

Even this modest attempt at fasting proved to be beneficial for me.  My Wednesday evenings became more low-key as my energy waned.  As a result, I became more aware of the huge amount of time I spend planning and organizing for the future.  At first I felt impatient when I was not able to complete all of my tasks.  I tried to push myself, but I simply could not concentrate on my to-do list.  Finding that my normal tendency was impossible to maintain as my blood sugar level dropped, I instead was forced to focus more on the present moment.

My fasting goal is to slow down and seek God's presence in the present.  My private devotion is meditation because that is all I have the energy to do by the time Wednesday evening rolls around and because meditation enhances my awareness of when I am thinking about the future and when I am resting in the moment and seeking to abide in God's love.

After two months, I felt ready to try an all-day Wednesday fast (only fruits and vegetables).  The result was emphatically not a means of grace experience.  My blood sugar level dropped too low, and I had to modify my fast the next week.  Now on Wednesdays I eat my usual breakfast and lunch, a vegetarian dinner and cut out all snacks.

I am into the fourth month of this experiment, and I've noticed that I can now practice resting and abiding on non-fasting days, as well.  I have an easier time abiding in God's love and feeling the outward flow of that love towards others. 

My meditation practice has also expanded to non-fasting days.  I try to meditate every evening.  I seek to abide in Christ, and if I am not able to do that, I try to notice what's got me agitated.  When I do this I am usually convinced to repent, which in turn opens me up to a fresh experience of Christ's compassion for the sinful.

Meditation has increased my awareness of my internal drama and that in turn has made me more cognizant of how the anxiousness of others hooks me and draws me into their negative mood.  Now whenever I'm around an agitated person, I try to focus on my breath.  On the in breath I remember that I am capable of the same kind of negative emotions.  On the out breath I try to remember Jesus' promise in John 7:38, in which he stated that the Holy Spirit will flow out of the believer and reach out to others.  My prayer is that we will both experience the peace of Christ infusing our interpersonal interaction with grace.

I am humbled to see how much my good attitude depends upon getting enough to eat and enjoying the company of congenial people.  Take either of those away from me, and I am an imperfect, impatient, anxious mess.  To love God and others is a gift that must come from God.  As long as I am in this body, I will not be able to maintain that orientation on my own.

I have come to see my fasting experiment as a way to honor my ordination vow that I would earnestly strive after perfection.  What practice is supporting your effort?