September 25, 2016 “The Wesley Brothers: Who are they and why do I care?"

I keep hearing about “The Wesley Brothers.” Who are they and why do I care? These are great questions that every member of a United Methodist, Church Of the Nazarene, Pentecostal, Church of God and Holiness Church should know be able to answer. Why? John Wesley and his brother Charles accidentally started the Methodist Church and subsequently all her cousins and relatives.

So who were John and Charles Wesley? Let’s go back to the 1700’s in England and Colonial America. John Wesley was born in 1703 (Charles in 1707) to Samuel and Susanna Wesley in Epworth, England. All the Wesley children, including the girls, were expected to become proficient in Latin and Greek and to have learned major portions of the New Testament by heart. They both attended Oxford University and were ordained in the Church of England and began their ministries.

Initially, their ministries were focused in the disciplines that had been instilled in them by their mother Susanna — living a life of holiness, steeped in Bible study. Theirs was a life lived according to a certain methodology (i.e. Methodists). However in May, 1738, Charles experienced a conversion while attending Bible study. Just three days later, Charles convinced his brother to join him. That evening, John wrote the following 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.”

Christianity became more than something you do; Christ had become real in each of their lives and they wanted to share this with the world. They started what they thought was a revival within the Church of England, but God took this small movement and grew it into a worldwide Christian denomination. Both John and Charles stayed within the Church of England until the day each died. But the Methodist Episcopal Church that they started grew, developed, split a few times and finally merged with the Evangelical United Brethren to give us The United Methodist Church of today.

September 18, 2016 "What is a sacrament?"

For the past few weeks the Back of the Bulletin has discussed the two sacraments observed by most Protestant denominations, Holy Communion and Holy Baptism. But what is a sacrament? The Book Of Common Prayer defines sacraments as “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means for receiving God's grace.” The Roman Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments, adding confirmation, penance (confession), extreme unction (anointing of the sick), holy orders (ordination) and matrimony (marriage) to the list. The Eastern Orthodox Church claims that classifying an action as a sacrament is a Western concept. They state that anything the Church does as “the Church” is sacramental and that further classification is impossible.

So why do most Protestant churches hold with only two sacraments? We recognize the two sacraments in which Christ himself participated. This is not to say that we do not value the other five sacraments recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. United Methodists confirm young believers in their faith, anoint the sick, ordain our clergy, celebrate marriage, and confess our sins.

But before you schedule a time with me to sit behind a screen and say, “Forgive me pastor for I have sinned. It has been four months since my last confession. …,” we should acknowledge that our view of these “means of grace” differ from that of our Catholic brothers and sisters. We do not require that believers meet with the pastor to confess every sin that they can recall (and I cannot express to you my gratitude that this is not required!!! ☺). We do encourage believers to “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16 CEB). Our communion liturgy contains a Prayer of Confession. And while we confess our sins directly to God, through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, many Christians have found strength in being held accountable through confession to a trusted fellow believer.

One of my good friends adds foot-washing to the list of sacraments, claiming that Christ participated in this practice as described in John 13. Although Jesus ate the bread and drank the wine of Holy Communion and was himself baptized by John in the Jordan River, he did not have his feet washed in this account. Rather, he washed the feet of his disciples.

So while we acknowledge many “means of grace,” United Methodists acknowledge only two sacraments: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

September 11, 2016 "An Introduction To The Sacrament Of Holy Baptism"

Last week the Back of the Bulletin discussed Holy Communion, one of two sacraments observed by most Protestant denominations. Today we will get an introduction to the sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Last week we celebrated the baptism of a dear sweet lady of retirement age. You may be thinking, “I thought The United Methodist Church baptized babies. Why are we baptizing an adult?” You are correct. The United Methodist Church does baptize babies, but not exclusively. It has to do with the way that “the people called Methodists” view baptism. Our Baptismal Covenant says, “Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ's holy Church. We are incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God's gift, offered to us without price.”

We believe that baptism is an outward sign of an inward claim that God has on our lives. We believe that, while we participate in Holy Baptism, that God is the one who is primarily active. Through baptism, we are responding to the grace that God has given us through Jesus Christ and the claim that God has made on our lives.

Because baptism is all about God, what God has done and what God is doing, it is a once in a lifetime sacrament. You have to admit, the odds are that God is going to get it right the first time and not need a do-over, so we do not “re-baptize” people in the UMC.

Also because baptism is primarily about God and not us, it is not required that we fully understand everything that there is to know about baptism prior to our being baptized. This is great news to me, because after years of study, I still don’t understand everything there is to know about baptism. So we baptize persons who are adults, infants and persons in between without administering a test to ensure that they understand  “enough” whatever “enough” means. Remember, it’s about God, not us.

The United Methodist Church accepts the Christian baptism of any other Christian denomination without a requirement to be “re-baptized”.  We also accept three different forms of baptism: sprinkling, pouring and immersion. The form of baptism is decided by the baptismal candidate or his or her parents. In the United Methodist Church, most persons choose sprinkling, but I have performed immersion baptisms.

The most important thing to remember is that Jesus commanded us to be baptized. Therefore to be obedient to our Lord, we practice this holy sacrament.

September 4, 2016 "Several Things About Communion Sunday That Just Might Surprise You"

Today is “Communion Sunday” in most United Methodist Churches in North America. There may be several things about Communion Sunday that just might surprise you. First, while other faith traditions such as the Roman Catholic church recognize seven sacraments, Holy Communion is one of only two sacraments that we celebrate (the other is Holy Baptism).

Many denominations celebrate this holy meal with unleavened bread and fermented wine, but we use what appears to be regular dinner bread and unfermented grape juice. When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples, it was the season of Passover. The regular dinner bread during that season was unleavened matzah bread (it looks a lot like saltine crackers). But we are not Jewish and we do not celebrate Passover. The regular dinner bread that we have at our tables looks a lot like … well, regular dinner bread. It is important that the bread looks, tastes, feels and smells like bread. At a communion celebration earlier this week with our District Superintendent and some other clergy, we used flour tortillas.

I believe that Jesus used real wine in his meals. But before Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch (yes, Welch’s Grape Juice), communion steward at First UMC Vineland, NJ, perfected the Pasteurization of grape juice in 1869, unfermented grape juice could not be stored. We use unfermented grape juice as an expression of pastoral concern for recovering alcoholics, and to enable the participation of children and youth.

So when we take the bread and the “wine,” they may be different than the bread and the wine that was served at the Last Supper, but Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The table is still the table of our Lord and Savior and ALL are still welcome!

August 28, 2016 "Empty Seats"

Often times on a Sunday morning I will look around the worship area and see all the empty seats that are just crying out for someone to worship with us, and I admit, my heart drops a bit. I see in my mind all the people who would be blessed by worshiping with us. I can almost hear their voices added to ours in singing the hymns, proclaiming our faith and reading the Psalms. I just know their lives (and ours) would be enriched if they would only worship with us. I then look around the worship space and imagine all the different circles of people that we know and I am certain that if half of them would come, we would have standing room only. And as excited as I am about the people who are faithful each week, I am also somewhat saddened by those persons who are NOT worshiping with us.

Then I remember a sign that I saw on the wall of the hallway leading to the locker rooms in a gymnasium. It simply says, “Don't be upset by the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do.” And while it is clearly intended to motivate young athletes to practice and work out, I believe this message is for the Church also. As I look at the empty seats in the worship space, I must ask myself, “Who did you invite to worship this week?” The sign in the gym challenges me, “Don’t be upset by the seats that aren’t occupied by the people you didn’t invite.” If I am to be upset by anything, it should be at my own apathy in not inviting specific people to come experience Christ in worship with me. The days of “If you build it, he (or she) will come,” are over. A million different things compete for our attention … even on Sunday mornings. Yet research continues to tell us that most people without a worship home would visit church if only someone would invite them.

So who would you like to see in worship? Who hasn’t been to worship in a while? Who has struggles in their lives and needs the grace, love and hope that Jesus Christ offers. “Don’t be upset by the seats that aren’t occupied by the people you didn’t invite.”