October 23, 2016 "... more open and inclusive of all persons..."

As I was completing the forms required by the Conference for our Charge Conference (the annual business meeting of the local church), I came across this  question: “What would you like your church to do to be more open and inclusive of all persons who are different than the current membership?”

This question is interesting in that it assumes that we want to be more open and inclusive of all persons. For many churches, I believe that this is not always true. Many churches claim that they would like to grow, that they want to reach out to everyone and that they are one of the friendliest churches in their community. I have found through my experiences that most churches (not all, but most) actually do want to grow. The sad part is that some churches want to grow by adding people just like themselves. Many people want to sit in “their pew” every Sunday. They want to sing the songs that they like. Sometimes people put expectations on fellow worshipers. They expect everyone to come in “their Sunday best” (as defined by themselves). They expect that everyone should give a certain amount during the offering. They expect that all children should behave a certain way (again as defined by themselves).

When we include “all persons who are different than the current membership,” our comfort zone goes out the window. These newcomers may sit in our regular pew. They may like music that we don’t care for or that we even dislike. They may wear their work clothes or even shorts or athletic clothes. They may not behave the way that we expect them to behave and may on occasion even disrupt worship. And after seeing television evangelists continually ask for money, they may not put 1¢ in the offering plate!

The good news is that I believe that our church would throw open the doors and welcome all newcomers with open arms. I believe that most of us would even sit on the front row if they wanted to sit in “our spot.” We wouldn’t even notice how they are dressed or how much money was given. And we believe that if children don’t occasionally disrupt worship, we don’t have enough children. And if we don’t always like the music, we acknowledge that worship isn’t about us, it’s about God.

My answer to this question is that our church already strives to be open and inclusive to persons who are different once they show up at worship or any church program. What I would like to see is everyone inviting those persons who aren’t connected with any church into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Invite them to come to church with you. Invite them to Wednesday supper. Invite them to our ESL classes. Tell them about our amazing preschool. Tell them about our thrift store or invite them to come work with you. And if the time is right, remind them that even though we may seem different, we are all the same. We are all broken and a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the only way that any of us can be whole again.

How would you answer this question?

October 16, 2016 "What about the ‘United’ part?"

“So I get why we are called Methodists, but what about the ‘United’ part? Does that have something to do with a merger?” Actually, the “United” part of “The United Methodist Church” is the result of a merger, but it may not be the merger that you would expect. Since the days of John and Charles Wesley, the people called Methodists have gone through many organizational changes.

When the North American colonies won their independence, John Wesley acknowledged that the American Methodists needed to step up to meet these changes. He dispatched Thomas Coke to oversee things in America. In 1784, on Christmas Eve, a conference of American Methodists met at Lovely Lane Meetinghouse in Baltimore, Maryland. This “Christmas Conference” formed the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Since that time, divisions among Methodists created the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Free Methodist Church of America, The Pentecostal Holiness Church and many others. Additionally in 1800, Philip William Otterbein, a close friend of Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury, founded the United Brethren in Christ. They accepted Methodist doctrines and discipline, but differences kept the two separate.

In 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Protestant Church merged to form The Methodist Church. In 1946, the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Church merged to form the Evangelical United Brethren. And finally in 1968, The Evangelical United Brethren combined with The Methodist Church to form The United Methodist Church.

While The United Methodist Church is today the largest of the Wesleyan movements, “the people called Methodists” are far from totally “United.” Among the Methodists, there remain over thirteen separate Methodist denominations. The people of The United Methodist Church are part of the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Our worldwide connection includes approximately 12.8 million members.[1] But most importantly, we are united with all other Christians in Christ’s Universal Church which includes all believers throughout time. So while we may attend different denominational local churches than some of our neighbors, all Christians remain united in Christ.

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[1] United Methodist Communications. (2016) Who We Are | The United Methodist Church. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.umc.org/who-we-are

October 9, 2016 "Blessing Of The Animals"

We interrupt your regularly scheduled sermon series to bring you the Blessing Of the Animals. Each year congregations of various denominations around the world meet on a date near the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, to thank God for the animals in their lives. Some people might be surprised to hear that United Methodists have a “Blessing Of the Animals” service in our Book of Worship. Some people might think, “Wow! Isn’t that a Roman Catholic thing to do?” To which my response is, “Sure Roman Catholics bless their animals, but so do Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and many other Christian denominations.” We don’t do anything pagan or strange in our worship. We just love our animals and want to pause and thank God for putting them in our lives.

“Who is this St. Francis of Assisi anyway and why do we care what he did? We're not Roman Catholic.” According to Dr. David Jensen, Academic Dean at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, St. Francis is an old dead guy, older and deader than a lot of theologians in that he lived from 1181-1226. He founded the Roman Catholic the Order of Friars Minor, more commonly known as the Franciscans.

Francis was one of seven children born into a wealthy family, the son of rich cloth merchant. Having heard a sermon about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty.

We have little of the actual writings and teaching of St. Francis, because his vow of poverty prevented him from purchasing and maintaining writing materials. Many of the stories that surround the life of St. Francis deal with his love for animals. Much of the life of St. Francis has been embellished through the years, so possibly more legend than fact remains. St. Francis through his teaching reminds us that “All God's Children Got a Place In The Choir.” God created all the creatures on the face of the planet and called them good. In case you haven't noticed, Francis also wrote the hymn, “All Creatures Of Our God And King” that we sang this morning. St. Francis may have been Roman Catholic, but mainly he was a Christian.

October 2, 2016 “So why are we called Methodists anyway?”

Brad’s Back Of the Bulletin

“So why are we called Methodists anyway?” Well, actually we are called United Methodists … and that has nothing to do with our being united, but I will save that for another week. Our being called “Methodists” goes back to our good friends the Wesley Brothers, John and Charles in the 1700s.

Both John and his younger brother Charles studied at Christ Church in Oxford. Graduating before his brother, John began studying to become ordained a priest in the Church of England and was elected a fellow at Lincoln College, a smaller college in Oxford. After a brief time serving as an associate pastor under his father Samuel in the congregation in which he and his brothers and sisters were raised, John returned to Oxford and his duties as a fellow at Lincoln College.[1]

While in Oxford, the brothers began to meet periodically with Charles’ friend William Morgan for discussion, prayer and Bible study. Their practice of receiving the Lord's Supper at least once a week earned them the nickname “Sacramentarians.”

As more Oxford students joined, the group slowly grew and expanded their charter. Soon they were visiting prisoners, teaching children, visiting the elderly, and caring for the poor as part of their regular activities. Other students noticed them, but didn’t understand their zeal. They gave the group mocking nicknames including, Bible-moths, The Holy Club, Supererogation-Men, and of course Methodists. It was the name “Methodists” that ridiculed their methodical approach to spiritual disciplines that we carry with us to this day.

This group is most often referred to as the Holy Club. They adopting a holistic approach to their Christian formation, studying the Bible, praying, and worshiping together. They also worked together to love their neighbor, reaching out to those who were in the most need.

The subsequent Methodist movement was, in a sense, a replication of this group to help others grow as leaders in discipleship in the Church of England. The focus on both love of God and neighbor expressed in everyday actions, was a centerpiece of early Methodism, and continues today.

So the name “Methodists,” that actually started as an insult, has become something that I am pleased to be called today.

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[1] United Methodist Communications. (2016) The method of early Methodism: The Oxford Holy Club. Retrieved September 28, 2016, from http://www.umc.org.