Embodying the Love of God: A Wesleyan Vision for the Church and the One Church Model Part 1: The Church and the Missio Dei

With the publication of the report of the Commission on a Way Forward the debate on which model is the most theologically coherent with our Wesleyan tradition and appropriate for the complexities of a transnational church has increased. As a member of the commission it was my conviction that the way forward for the church must arise out of a clear vision of the identity and mission of the church. I presented aspects of that vision to other members of the commission and explored it in some detail in my books Bid our Jarring Conflicts Cease: A Wesleyan Theology and Praxis of Church Unity and Our Purpose is Love: The Wesleyan Way to be the Church. I am planning in the next few weeks to post a concise version of such a vision for the UMC in a series of blogs that sketch the contours and implications of a vision of the church as the embodiment of the love of God in the world. The use of the ambiguous phrase “love of God” is deliberate – it has a threefold reference. Firstly, to God’s love for humanity, secondly to human beings love for God, and thirdly to the human participation in God’s love for humanity by our love for our fellow humans.

The discussion of a vision for church needs to begin with the fundamental questions of the place and role of the Church in God’s mission in the world (mission Dei). At the core of Wesleyan theology is the affirmation that God who is “the great ocean of love”[i] created human beings with the intention that they should image the character of God by loving God and their fellow human beings – in short humanity was created for love. Wesley develops this in various ways, one important development is in his theology of moral law. For Wesley the moral law is the revelation of the character of God which is love so that the moral law is “the great unchangeable law of love, the holy love of God and of neighbor.”[ii]  The center and goal of the moral law is love so that each commandment flows from, is centered in and leads to love. Love “is not only the first and great command, but it is all the commandments in one.”[iii] A second is in his theology of holiness. Human beings were created to reflect the holy character of God and hence to be holy. Wesley defines holiness as follows: “What is holiness? Is it not, essentially love? The love of God and of all mankind? Love producing ‘bowels of mercies, humbleness of mind, meekness, gentleness, long suffering’? . . . Love is holiness wherever it exists”[iv].

However, humanity has not fulfilled God’s intention instead of loving God and their fellows, human beings have turned in on themselves making self the center of their own existence; they have rejected God and used, abused and exploited their fellow humans to achieve their own selfish purposes. Sin is not merely individual but pervades society and institutions resulting in societies characterized by injustice, cruelty, and falsehood. Despite God’s deep anger at sin and the pain and suffering it causes, God in love refuses to give up on humanity. God’s mission in the world is to overcome sin and evil and its consequences so that love reigns throughout the earth. Wesley described God’s missional purpose as: “To spread the fire of heavenly love over all the earth”[v] affirming that: “Love is the end, the sole end, of every dispensation of God.”[vi]

God’s saving love is present and active in all human beings drawing them to God’s very self, it brings awareness to some degree of Gods’ intention for humanity and enables all human being’s to respond to this awareness. For Wesley this includes the re-inscription of the basic values of the moral law within the human heart. In relation to their fellows this is the requirement to do unto others as you would have them do to you which is expressed in behavior characterized by justice, mercy and truth. In a more particular way God called the people of Israel to be the people of God who would reflect the divine character in the world. Thus God revealed to them in more detail the requirements of the moral law in the Ten Commandments and the other ethical commands of the Old Testament. The history of God’s interaction with the people of Israel reaches a climax in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ who is priest, prophet and king. As prophet he declares the will of God most particularly in the Sermon on the Mount which reveals the depth of the moral law, as priest he reconciles human beings to God through the cross, and as king he rules within human persons to transform them so that they are enabled to love God and humanity. Through the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost God’s kingdom of grace has entered into history. God’s saving love in Christ by the Holy Spirit is present and active to transform human beings so that they are enabled and empowered to love God and their fellow human beings and are thus transformed into the moral image of God. Wesley put it succinctly: “Salvation is love”.[vii] Or in another context true religion “is neither more nor less than love; it is love which ‘is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment.’ Religion is the love of God and our neighbor; that is, every man under heaven. This love ruling the whole life, animating all our tempers and passions, directing all our thoughts, words, and actions, is ‘pure religion and undefiled.’”[viii] Through being transformed by and for love human being become truly human experiencing the fullness of life that God intends for them. Wesley thus argued that true happiness is the consequence of holiness.

God’s is present and active by the Spirit working to transform human persons, overcoming sin and evil and enabling and empowering them to love; and through the transformation of persons God works to transform human societies so that they become characterized by justice, mercy and truth, anticipating the eschatological transformation of all creation. While God’s goal is a new creation the central focus of God’s mission in the world, was for John Wesley, the transformation of the human person.

The Church as the Embodiment of the Love of God

The central focus of God’s mission is the transformation of individuals God transforms them through uniting them to Christ by the Spirit thereby uniting people not only to Christ but also to others who have been transformatively united to Christ. Hence God’s saving love creates community – a community that is rooted in the relationship between the Father, the Son and the Spirit. This community – the church – is composed of all who have been transformed by the Spirit uniting people “who are at the greatest distance from each other by nature” (Jews and Gentiles) and “at the greatest distance by law and custom” (slaves and free persons).[ix] This universal church manifests itself as concrete communities of love in the real world.

The visible church is a community of those who have experienced God’s grace of God. Through participation in this community of faith people grow in their personal transformation, which is manifested in lives characterized by love for God and their fellow human beings. The visibility of the church does not consist of its institutional structures but in its embodiment of love. The authenticity of a particular institutional form of the church is determined by the extent to which it embodies love for God and human beings. These communities are both an expression of God’s grace – for their communal life is to be an embodiment of love; and a means of grace – for through the manifestation of love to others these communities become the means through which God’s grace encounters those outside the church.

• An institutional church is only part of the church universal when characterized by ultimate loyalty to God revealed in the crucified and resurrected Christ acknowledged in worship and devotion, and expressed in its life in the world
• An institutional church is only part of the church universal when characterized by a deep concern for and practical commitment to the inclusive holistic well-being of its members.
• An institutional church is only a manifestation of the body of Christ when it is engaged in an active, concrete, and holistic ministry of love to those outside the church. Evangelism, as the call to enter a transformative relationship with God and thus to participate in what God is doing in the world, is central to this.

The church as the community of transformed people participates in God’s mission in the world as it embodies love for God and fellow human beings. The witness of the church by its example, its words and its deeds is the particular means God uses to transform human lives and societies. Hence, in traditional Wesleyan terms, the mission of the church is to spread scriptural holiness across the earth resulting in the reform of the nations or, modifying the present UMC mission statement, it is to make disciples who will transform this world.

This participation in, embodiment of and reflection of the divine love distinguishes these communities from the broader society, constituting them as counter cultural communities and as signs and anticipations of God’s final redemption of all things. The discipline and polity of a given denomination are the ways in which it structures this manifestation of the divine love. Different churches, confessions or denominations embody the divine love in particular ways.

[i] Sermon 26, “The Law Established through Faith II.” Works of Wesley, (Bicentennial) 2:39

[ii] Sermon 5 – “Justification by Faith” in Works of Wesley (Bicentennial) 1:194.

[iii] Sermon 17 “The Circumcision of the Heart” §1:11 Works of Wesley (Bicentennial) 1:407.

[iv] “The Doctrine of Original Sin: According to Scripture, Reason and Experience, Part 2,” Works of Wesley, 12:277

[v] NT Notes, Luke 12:49.

[vi] Sermon 36, “The Law Established through Faith, II,” Works of Wesley, (Bicentennial 2:38.

[vii] Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament Luke 7:50.

[viii] Sermon 84, “The Important Question,” Works of Wesley, 3:189

[ix] NT Notes, 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Embodying Love in a Broken World: A Wesleyan Vision for the United Methodist Church

Responding to requests I am posting below the PowerPoint from my second lecture given at the Uniting Methodists Meeting in Atlanta. For those who were not there the video of the lecture will be available soon on the Uniting Methodists website. Some of these themes will be exoplored in more detail in my forthcoming book Our Purpose is Love: The Wesleyan Way to be the Church.

Suppose now the fullness of time to be come, and the prophecies to be accomplished. What a prospect is this! All is peace, “quietness, and assurance for ever.” Here is no din of arms, no “confused noise,” no “garments rolled in blood.” “Destructions are come to a perpetual end.” Wars are ceased from the earth. Neither are there any intestine jars remaining; no brother rising up against brother; no country or city divided against itself, and tearing out its own bowels. Civil discord is at an end for evermore, and none is left either to destroy or hurt his neighbour. Here is no oppression to “make” even “the wise man mad;” no extortion to “grind the face of the poor;” no robbery or wrong; no rapine or injustice; for all are “content with such things as they possess.” Thus “righteousness and peace have kissed each other;”(Ps. 85:10) they have “taken root and filled the land;” “righteousness flourishing out of the earth;” and “peace looking down from heaven.”

And with righteousness or justice, mercy is also found. The earth is no longer full of cruel habitations. …  Were there any provocation, there is none that now knoweth to return evil for evil; but indeed there is none that doeth evil, no, not one; for all are harmless as doves. And being filled with peace and joy in believing, and united in one body, by one Spirit, they all love as brethren, they are all of one heart and of one soul. “Neither saith any of them, that aught of the things which he possesseth is his own.” There is none among them that lacketh: for every man loveth his neighbour as himself. And all walk by one rule: “Whatever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them.”

It follows, that no unkind word can ever be heard among them, no strife of tongues, no contention of any kind, no railing or evil-speaking, but everyone “opens his mouth with wisdom, and in his tongue there is the law of kindness.” Equally incapable are they of fraud or guile: their love is without dissimulation: Their words are always the just expression of their thoughts, opening a window into their breast, that whosoever desires may look into their hearts, and see that only love and God are there. – John Wesley Scriptural Christianity

 

Ye different sects, who all declare

‘Lo! Here is Christ!’ or ‘Christ is there!’

Your stronger proofs divinely give,

And show me where the Christians live.

 

Your claim, alas! Ye cannot prove;

Ye want the genuine mark of love:

Thou only, Lord, thine own canst show,

For sure thou hast a church below.

John Wesley “Primitive Christianity”

 

A Covenant Community

• The church is constituted as ecclesia by its confession that the crucified Jesus is Lord.
• A Covenant community
  • Covenant renewal service
  • Regular celebration of communion
• A people in covenant with the crucified Christ and with all others in covenant with him
• Radically questions all other loyalties
• UMC has a unique opportunity to express this given its transnational character

 A Welcoming and Reconciling Community

• Jesus table fellowship and the crucifixion
• Gracious welcome in early Methodism
• Embodying love means:
  • The church welcomes all into a transforming relationship with God
  • The church receives all who manifest such a relationship

And who are we that we should withstand God particularly by laying down rules of Christian communion which exclude any whom he has admitted into the Church of the first born, from worshipping God together. O that all Church governors would consider how bold an usurpation this is on the authority of the supreme Lord of the Church! O that the sin of thus withstanding God may not be laid to the charge of those, who perhaps with a good intention, but in an over fondness for their own forms, have done it, and are continually doing it. John Wesley Notes Upon the New Testament Acts 11:17

• There can be no other conditions for full reception into the church other than the transforming and uniting work of the Spirit

A Centered Community

• The essential core is God’s gracious transformation of persons so that we love God and our fellow human beings
• Doctrine explains this transformation and sets it in the context of God’s purpose and mission.
• The significance of a theological idea lies in its relationship to the center
• Ethics is the explanation of what cruciform love means in diverse contexts and relationships
• The significance of an ethical issue lies in its relationship to the center
• The church community welcomes all who are seeking or have experienced this transforming work
• Those who are moving away from this center whether theologically or ethically described are in danger of leaving the church community

Counter-cultural Community

• Methodism – mainstream and marginal
• A community of cruciform love will stand in contrast to society
• The crucifixion and the greatness of God
• Cross reveals love that is faithful, costly, self-sacrificial, self-debasing
• Example of early Methodism – General Rules
• New General Rules – Guidelines for a Responsible Life
• A key issue will be an ethic of sexuality and marriage that embodies crusiform love.

A Visibly United Community

• Unity belongs to the very nature of the church
• Wesley describes the church as people united, brought together
• Inherent in Wesley’s understanding of love

It is the nature of love to unite us together; and the greater the love, the stricter the union. And while this continues in its strength, nothing can divide those whom love has united.

• A witness to the world of God’s gracious transformation that creates a new people.
• Transferring the unity of the church to a spiritual invisible realm fails utterly to do justice to these dimensions
• Unity must be embodied or it is not Wesleyan unity

Community of Mutual Accountability

• Methodism is a rejection of nominal Christianity
• Commitment and growth in Christian life requires support
• Small groups are the centers of accountability and support
• The Wesleyan classes:
• Membership of a class the prerequisite for being a Methodist.
  • Open to all seeking after salvation
  • Commit oneself to following the general rules
  • Commitment oneself to weekly attendance of the class meeting
  • Take part in mutual examination within the class meeting
  • Mutually supported each other
• Being a counter-cultural community that embodies cruciform love today requires support and accountability

Community on the Margins

• Solidarity with, and action for and on behalf of those excluded by society is a characteristic feature of Methodist identity
  • It was an essential aspect of Wesley’s life and ministry
  • It is a integral to having the mind of Christ and walking as he did
  • It is a concrete expression of cruciform love
• We are called to follow Christ outside the gate to the diverse places of degradation and suffering to live and proclaim the love of God for the excluded

A Community with a Public Face

• All churches have a public face – what is ours?
• The credibility of our faith depends on our public face
• A Wesleyan public face is one characterised by justice, mercy and truth
  • Justice – treating people according to who they are as human beings and with what they have done
  • Mercy – active compassion for the suffering and the needy that goes beyond justice
  • Truth – integrity, veracity and honesty

Conclusion

• An institutional church is an expression of the body of Christ to the extent that:
• It is characterized by ultimate loyalty to God revealed in the crucified and resurrected Christ acknowledged in worship and devotion, and expressed in its life in the world
• Its characterized by a deep concern for and practical commitment to the inclusive holistic well-being of its members.
• It is engaged in an active, concrete, and holistic ministry of love to those outside the church.

Holiness and the Catholic Spirit

Responding to requests I am posting below the PowerPoint from my first lecture given at the Uniting Methodists Meeting in Atlanta. For those who were not there the video of the lecture will be available soon on the Uniting Methodists website. As those who were at the meeting are aware I planned to say more than I had time for, so the sections after the sub point “Catholic Spirit” were not dealt with at the meeting. The detailed argument for much of this can be found in Bid Our Jarring Conflicts Cease

Holiness at the Center

• Vision Statement: Uniting Methodists is a movement of Christ-centered, hope-filled, holiness-seeking United Methodists
• Spreading scriptural holiness over the land
• Holiness at the core of his theology
• A recovery of holiness as core to Methodist identity is crucial to our future vitality.
• Wesley’s wrestling with issues of theological conflict is in the context of holiness.

What on Earth do we mean by Holiness?

The Core of Holiness is love

• Loving God
  • Giving God the primary loyalty in all areas of our lives
  • Making God’s agenda our agenda
  • Obeying God’s commandments
  • Living in constant fellowship with God
  • Sharing your lives in all their complexity with God
• Love for our Neighbors
  • Commitment to the comprehensive well-being of others
  • To all people – friends, strangers, enemies, undeserving, enemies of God
  • To pervade all dimensions of our lives
  • Particular concern for those who suffering, rejected, despised
• Holiness of heart and life
  • Heart
    • Fundamental orientation
    • Inner motivations
    • Characteristic attitude and responses
    • Emotional responses
  • Life (Conversation)
    • Inter-personal relationships
    • Words
    • Profession, politics, recreation
    • Our whole bodily existence – sexuality
  • Transformational Holiness is personal and responsive
    • Holiness does not begin with our effort
    • Holiness arises out of the amazing grace of God
    • A personal transformative relationship
    • God wants to permeate your life with love
    • Personal means it is responsive
    • Means of Grace
    • Small groups
  • Holiness is relational and dynamically new
    • “The is no holiness but social holiness”
    • “Faith working through love”
    • Active interacting with and relating to other people
    • Feedback loop
    • “Holiness” that is not embodied in relationships of love is not holiness
    • Holiness is always developing in new and unexpected ways

Holiness and the Unity of the Church

• Catholic Spirit
  • Mutual support for each other’s ministry
  • Mutual commitment to the holistic well-being of each other
  • Mutual viewing of the other in the best possible light
  • A conviction of the truth and correctness of one’s own theological and ethical ideas and practices
  • A commitment to the importance of the issues on which one disagrees
• Human Fallibility
  • All human beings are finite and fallible creatures
  • All our knowledge is subject to limitations, ignorance, errors and confusion.
  • Ethical judgments are subject to a triple problem
    • Fallible interpretation of God’s will,
    • Fallible interpretation of the ethical problem
    • Fallible relating of God’s will to the problem
  • Mistakes in theological ideas lead to mistakes in practice
  • Regeneration and sanctification do not change this situation
• Sin and Responsibility before God
  • Sin properly so-called, is a willful violation of the known will of God
  • Sin not properly so-called – actions which we are convinced are the will of God but from God’s perspective are wrong
  • God is just and does not require the impossible from us
  • God requires that we act in on what we believe to be God’s will
  • Sin not properly so-called is forgiven in Christ
  • Mistaken actions can have serious consequences
• The Law of Love
  • God does not require mistakeless obedience to moral law
  • God requires that we act out of genuine love even if we are mistaken
  • This does not mean we can do what we like
    • Motivated by cruciform love
    • Guided by scripture
    • Measured by consequences
• Freedom of Conscience before God
  • We are all responsible before God for how we live
  • No one ought to compel others to act against their conscience
  • A person’s conscience is influenced by numerous factors
  • All have “liberty to choose our own religion, to worship God according to our own conscience according to the best light we have”
  • Loving reasoned arguments and not compulsion is to be used to persuade others
• Theological Ideas have Major Significance
  • No latitudinarianism
  • The significance of theological ideas
  • Seek true ideas
  • We must hold our ideas with conviction
  • Argue for the truth of our convictions in love
• The Church is to be a Community of Love
  • The distinguishing mark of the church is love
  • To embody love as much visible unity as possible yet respecting freedom of conscience
  • Theological conflict and the abuse that often goes with it is:
    • Contradictory to love
    • A denial of the identity of the church
    • Destructive of the mission of the church
• Theological Diversity as a Means of Grace
  • Theological diversity can be a context for growth and mutual correction
  • Learning to embody love for those we disagree with can be a way of growing in love
  • Demonstrating love in the midst of disagreement is a witness to the world

“To separate ourselves from a body of living Christian, with whom we were before united, is a grievous breach of the law of love. It is the nature of love to unite us together; and the greater the love, the stricter the union. And while this continues in its strength, nothing can divide those whom love has united. It is only when our love grows cold, that we can think of separating from our brethren. And this is certainly the case with any who willingly separate from their Christian brethren. The pretences for separation may be innumerable, but want of love is always the real cause; otherwise they would still hold the unity of the Spirit in the bound of peace.”- John Wesley “On Schism”

Why I am Committed to the Unity of the United Methodist Church: 1 . The Significance of Visible Unity

As the work of the UMC’s Commission on the Way Forward moves to an increasingly crucial stage and I reflect on my own involvement in the Commission the inescapable question that I need to face is: Why am I committed to the continuing institutional unity of the UMC, even when the institutional form will be different from what it is at present? The recent launch of the Uniting Methodists as a network seeking to promote such a continuing institutional unity provided a further impetus to my own reflection.  Over the next weeks, as I have time, I plan to post four blogs. The first provides my positive motivation for working to maintain the unity of the UMC while recognizing that any way forward must involve institutional transformation. The second will look at some objections to a unified UMC which includes people holding to contradictory views on LGBTQ inclusion. The third and fourth will focus on the Wesleyan theological and ethical center which should determine the boundaries of a unified UMC.

Visible Unity is a Theological Imperative

I have argued elsewhere that the promotion of the visible unity of the church is a theological imperative within a Wesleyan context. For Wesley love for God and love for our fellow human beings in general and in particular for our siblings in Christ is the defining characteristic of the visible church. The church is to be the embodiment of God’s love whose members have a reciprocal love for and delight in each other. It is this that makes separation, in Wesley’s thinking, both extremely serious and desperately tragic. As he writes in his sermon “On Schism”:

To separate ourselves from a body of living Christian with whom we were before united is a grievous breach of the law of love. It is the nature of love to unite us together, and the greater the love, the stricter the union. And while this continues in its strength nothing can divide those whom love has united. It is only when our love grows cold that we can think of separating from our brethren. The pretences for separation may be innumerable, but want of love is always the real cause; otherwise they would still hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is therefore contrary to all those commands of God wherein brotherly love is enjoined:  

While some would want to contrast the unity of the church with its holiness – but this is impossible from a Wesleyan perspective; for Wesley love is the essence of holiness. In his Instructions for Children he defined holiness as “The love of God and of all Mankind for God’s sake”. Thus the unity and the holiness of church are inseparably united. Where we recognize that the people with whom we disagree are siblings in Christ, who love God and their neighbors and are seeking live as faithful Christians then there is a theological imperative to seek to maintain visible and thus a form of institutional unity with them.

Visible Unity is a Missional Imperative

For Wesley the motivation, foundation and goal of God’s work in the world is love. in his sermon “Scriptural Christianity” he thus dreamed of a day when:

All is peace, “quietness, and assurance for ever.” Here is no din of arms, no “confused noise,” no “garments rolled in blood.” “Destructions are come to a perpetual end.” Wars are ceased from the earth. Neither are there any intestine jars remaining; no brother rising up against brother; no country or city divided against itself, and tearing out its own bowels. Civil discord is at an end for evermore, and none is left either to destroy or hurt his neighbour. Here is no oppression to “make” even “the wise man mad;” no extortion to “grind the face of the poor;” no robbery or wrong; no rapine or injustice; for all are “content with such things as they possess.” Thus “righteousness and peace have kissed each other;”(Ps. 85:10) they have “taken root and filled the land;” “righteousness flourishing out of the earth;” and “peace looking down from heaven.”

And with righteousness or justice, mercy is also found. The earth is no longer full of cruel habitations. … Were there any provocation, there is none that now knoweth to return evil for evil; but indeed there is none that doeth evil, no, not one; for all are harmless as doves. And being filled with peace and joy in believing, and united in one body, by one Spirit, they all love as brethren, they are all of one heart and of one soul. “Neither saith any of them, that aught of the things which he possesseth is his own.” There is none among them that lacketh: for every man loveth his neighbour as himself. And all walk by one rule: “Whatever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them.”

It follows, that no unkind word can ever be heard among them, no strife of tongues, no contention of any kind, no railing or evil-speaking, but every one “opens his mouth with wisdom, and in his tongue there is the law of kindness.” Equally incapable are they of fraud or guile: their love is without dissimulation: Their words are always the just expression of their thoughts, opening a window into their breast, that whosoever desires may look into their hearts, and see that only love and God are there.

The visible church is the place where this love is already taking form in the world and is thus called to be a demonstration, in world characterized by discord and conflicts, of the transforming power of God’s love. Its unity in contrast to the divisions and strife is a sign of the reality of God’s love and an integral component of its mission in the world. The church’s proclamation of the love of God rings hollow when its life is characterized by divisions, conflicts and separation.

Unity and the Transnational Character of the UMC

A significant if not a defining feature of the United Methodist Church is that it is a transnational church. This transnational character is a witness to the reality that the body of Christ includes and unites people from different cultures, languages, and nations through their common loyalty to their crucified Lord. In a world caught in the tensions between the forces of economic globalization and resurgent nationalism this institutional embodiment of the transnational character of the body of Christ is of crucial theological and missional significance. For example, the nexus of the forces of globalization and nationalism are manifested in mass migration. People seeking to escape the poverty, ecological degradation and war, that are integrally related to globalization, are met by the forces of resurgent (ethnic) nationalism. The UMC is present in countries from which people are migrating, countries through which they travel and the countries they are seeking to reach. The UMC as a tansnational church has a particular privilege and responsibility to embody the love of God in this context.

Being a transnational church however brings with it major challenges as annual conferences live and minister in very different socio-cultural spaces and times. Such diversity is both an opportunity and a challenge to the calling to embody the love of God. Different socio-cultural places and times provide diverse opportunities for discovering what it means to embody God’s love and being part of a transnational church provides a unique opportunity to learn from each other. Thus for example the work of the UMC in working for reconciliation between Russians and Ukrainians in the wake of the civil war and the annexation of the Crimea by Russia is an important contribution to our communal learning of what it means to embody the Love of God. Significant examples of responses to discrimination and marginalization can be found in the ministry of the, small and under resourced, eastern and central European Methodists to and with the Roma people. An ethnic group that has experienced centuries of discrimination, exploitation and oppression. The UMC Zimbabwe has been embodying the love of God in a context of economic chaos, dictatorial government and mass emigration. In Congo the UMC has been engaged ministry to people traumatized by civil war in which millions were killed and injured and hundreds of thousands raped. The UMC in the Czech Republic and in Denmark provide important examples of mission and evangelism in deeply secular societies. There are numerous other examples.

Being one church in different socio-cultural spaces and times also creates tensions and disagreements as our socio-cultural place and time acts not only as an opportunity to embody God’s love but also limits and at times obscures our perceptions of what that love requires. What some regard as an imperative of divine love is not perceived to be an imperative by others; for some it might be perceived to be contrary to the divine love. Being part of a transnational church provides a unique opportunity to listen to the critical and contradictory opinions of others as we seek together to discover what it means to embody the love of God. This is not easy way; it is not a broad way. It is a difficult way, a way of taking up one’s cross and seeking in love to hear the voice of the other and more importantly to hear the voice of Spirit of God through the voice of the other.

Unity in a Connectional Church

The United Methodism Church is a transnational connection – a multidimensional network relating congregations and conferences across the globe providing mutual support, accountability and responsibility in mission. It is together that we participate in God’s mission in the world. For European Methodists, who are small minority churches, this transnational connection is of vital significance in difficult and at times hostile contexts. The connectionalism manifested however in numerous other contexts. It is the work of UMCOR in coordinating disaster relief. It is support for hospitals, schools and universities in Africa. It is the mission work in new countries which is often supported by congregations with very different theological perspectives. The UMC has been a significant agent of God’s healing and transforming work in the world because it is a united, transnational, connectional church. Being part of a connection also brings responsibility. What happens in one part of the connection impacts for better or for worse what happens in other parts of the connection. Division and separation will have a detrimental impact on the work that UMC presently does as a connection.

Visible Unity as an Anticipation of a Future Hope 

One possible way of viewing the visible unity of the church is suggested by Ephesians 2 where the unity of the church is described in a variety of architectural metaphors. (For this perspective I am indebted to a sermon preached by my wife Caroline Schröder Field in the Basler Münster.)[1] It is the breaking down of wall of partition; the building of a temple on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Christ is the cornerstone or keystone of the temple. While many translators favor the translation cornerstone, the translation keystone offers a fruitful way of looking at the visible unity of the church. The keystone is the central stone in an arch or vault which holds the structure together. When vaults and arches were built in ancient and medieval times the stones where held in place by wooden scaffolding. Each stone was cemented to its neighbors by mortar. Once everything was in place the keystone was placed in the middle. The effect of the keystone is to so relate the different stones together that they mutually bear the weight of each other. Once the keystone is in place the scaffolding can be removed and the arch or vault stands on its own. The keystone is thus the unifying factor that holds the whole construction together. While we cannot be certain whether Ephesians is referring to a keystone or a cornerstone, the translation keystone is supported by  the earlier reference to the removal of the wall of partition.  When, in an ancient building, a partition wall was taken down it had to be replaced by an arch to hold up the roof and such an arch required a keystone. Christ can thus be understood as the keystone that unites Jews and Gentiles in one temple. This union of Jew and Gentile in the church was not the end of divisions rather in new contexts there have been and still are new divisions. So in these contexts new arches need to be built with Christ as the keystone.

Inspired by this image the pursuit of the visible unity of the church is the task of building new arches or even new vaults that unite divided groups. The church is then like a medieval cathedral with many arches and vaults in which Christ is the keystone. While ultimately it is Christ who becomes the point of unity and in an important sense this is always a hope for the future; in another way our task is to participate in the construction work carried out by the Spirit that prepares the way for Christ coming as the keystone who will unite us. In this image the institutions of the church are like the scaffolding that holds the stones together in anticipation of the coming of Christ. While such scaffolding is not the ultimate unity brought by Christ it anticipates and points to that ultimate unity. Until the return of Christ the church is a building site with all its messiness but our task is to build in such a way that our institutional structures are anticipations of and directed towards the final unity of the church. To be committed to the visible unity of the UMC is not to give ultimate significance to the structures of the UMC but to seek to build in such a way that the UMC anticipates and points to the ultimate unity in Christ.

Unity and Human Fallibility

To conclude this blog I am committed to the unity of the UMC because I aware of my own fallibility. No matter how much I am convinced that my ideas, even those about the unity of church, I recognize that I might be wrong. I need the help of my siblings in Christ, particularly those who disagree with me, to correct me, to point out the weaknesses in my arguments and to propose ways in which my thinking can be lead into greater conformity to the revelation of God in Christ.

[1] You can find the original sermon “Der Schlussstein” (in German) here

Holiness, Wesley’s “Problem”, and the Debate on LGBT Inclusion

John Wesley had a problem, or so some interpreters of his theology think. During his time as a student at Oxford  he was deeply influenced in his understanding of holiness by the Roman Catholic writer Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ. Later he published an abridged form of it and widely recommended to his followers. He further portrayed à Kempis as a model of holiness. Thomas à Kempis was not the only Catholic Writer admired by Wesley, he could go as far as to argue that such writers had a far more scriptural understanding of holiness than Protestant writers.

So what is the problem? For a Protestant to read, be influenced by and recommend works written by a Roman Catholic is very common in our ecumenical age. For an eighteenth century Protestant it was anything but common and Wesley was, in many ways, a typical eighteenth century Protestant. In numerous writings he stringently criticized and rejected Roman Catholic theology and practice. For Wesley Catholicism taught justification by works; its reverence for images, Mary, the saints, and its understanding of the Mass was idolatrous; its theology included ideas that were not taught in scripture and indeed contradicted it; it ignored and obscured biblical passages that contradicted its teaching; its attitude and actions towards Protestants violated God’s requirements of justice, mercy, and truth revealed in natural law; and the pope was an antichrist. Catholicism was an adulterated form of Christianity; it was “vile” and an abomination.

There is a strong contrast between Wesley’s diatribes against Catholicism and his affirmation of the writings and lives of individual Catholics; his assertion that the Church of Rome was a branch of the true church, and his recognition of significant theological commonalities. He asserted that he would not have a problem if Roman Catholics joined the Church of England and more astoundingly that he would be prepared to be a member of the Church of Rome as long as he was not forced to violate his conscience. For some interpreters of Wesley this contrast is such that they propose that Wesley had a schizophrenic approach to Catholicism. There was the bigoted exclusionary Wesley and the inclusive ecumenical Wesley. It is suggested that as followers of Wesley we must reject the first and affirm the second. This approach fundamentally misunderstands Wesley. Wesley did not have a problem. The genius of Wesley’s theology indeed his theology of holiness in particular is that its holds together a deep commitment to what one holds to be the truth, and a vigorous critique of views that one holds to be erroneous, with the recognition that people who hold views that one believes to be in deep error in thought and practice may not only be genuine Christians but examples of holiness – people who have been transformed by the grace of God so that they love God and their fellow humans. Such a recognition and a commitment to working together as much as possible, and even being part of the same church community without violating ones conscience is an integral expression of holiness. This is not a secondary issue in Wesley’s theology it is deeply rooted in its very core – his theology of the love of God, the falleness of humanity and the responsibility of human beings.

The contemporary debate over the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church is as divisive as that between Catholics and Protestants was in the eighteenth century. Can Wesley’s approach to Roman Catholicism throw light on how we can address the reality of our diverse and even contradictory approaches to this debate? Is it possible for a conservative evangelical church leader, who believes that all sexual relationships between people of the same sex are condemned by God to hold up an openly gay pastor in a committed relationship as a model of holiness? To post his blogs on her webpage for the spiritual benefit of her congregation? Would it be possible for that gay pastor who believes that the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church and the affirmation of monogamous same sex partnerships is required by the biblical demand for justice and that the refusal to do so is a denial of gospel of God’s inclusive grace to do the same with regard to the evangelical leader? Could both such people be part of the same denomination, be deeply committed to being in relationships of mutual care of and responsibility for each other, to delight in each other’s presence in the denomination and share together in its common mission. I am convinced that Wesley’s theology of holiness provides the basis for exactly such an approach.

It is possible that you disagree with me, and I am aware that raises a number of significant questions such as: Are there no boundaries? Are all views and practices acceptable? What does it mean to violate one’s conscience? Does this condone sin? I will address these and others in future blogs. You can find a more detailed argument and the references to Wesley’s writings in my book Bid our Jarring Conflicts Cease.

What’s the point of Methodism?

This is the first blog post on my own site “Grace in the Fractures”, this title expresses my conviction that God’s grace often encounters us in the complex fractured realities of our personal and communal lives. Early Methodism arose in the complex fractures of Eighteenth century British society. Contemporary Methodism is fractured in various ways. My own denomination, the United Methodist Church is deeply fractured as a consequence of struggles and debates over the inclusion of LGBTQ people within the church. My recent book “Bid our Jarring Conflicts Cease”: A Wesleyan Theology and Praxis of Church Unity develops a theological basis for striving for the unity of the church in the midst of the fractures. Over the next weeks and months I will be writing blogs reflecting on aspects of the book in a more popular format with a particular view to its implications for the debates within the UMC.

So what’s the point of Methodism? John Wesley proposed that God had raised up Methodism to promote “scriptural holiness”. In our contemporary world “holiness” appears to be rather obscure if not irrelevant – particularly when it is seen to imply other worldly legalism. When Wesley described what he meant by holiness he summed often it up by love – love for God in response to God’s love for us. Love for God in turn gives rise to love for our fellow human beings. In the contemporary context love is a devalued and often vague concept. From a theological perspective love is most profoundly expressed on the cross. Here God expresses love for humanity by becoming human and taking upon Godself the pain and suffering that we inflict on God and our fellows as a consequence of our sinful self-centeredness. In Jesus God absorbs the consequences of our sin refusing to act in judgment upon humanity. As the human one Jesus acts in self sacrificial obedience to God his father for the benefit of humanity. So holiness as love has the form of the cross. It is the self-denying, self sufficing loyalty to God and commitment to the well being of humanity.  Wesley explored this in various ways which we can summarize as follows.

Love for God is to center one’s life on God, giving God ultimate loyalty and living one’s life to God’s glory this is not a matter of obligation but of deep love for and delight in God. It in embodied in a life of payer and thanksgiving, participation in communal worship, obedience to God’s commandments, trust in God’s care in all circumstances and the rejection of all competing loyalties.

Love for one’s fellow human beings is the commitment to the concrete and holistic well being of all human beings.

• It is not mere outward actions it involves attitudes and motivations.
• It extends to all human beings: Friends, strangers, enemies, the moral, the immoral and even those one considers to be the enemies of God.
• Entails a deep compassion for and solidarity with those who are suffering.
• It pervades and directs all dimensions of a person’s life.
• It takes on a particular character in relationships between fellow Christians entailing reciprocity and mutual delight

For Wesley the gospel is the announcement that God is at work amongst humanity to forgive and transform people who respond to God’s grace in obedient faith.  The Methodist movement was called to be the embodiment and channel of the love of God – that is of God’s love for humanity; of human beings love for God, and thus of our participation in God’s love for humanity by our love for our fellow humans. That is the point of Methodism. As Wesley wrote in his poem “Primitive Christianity”

Ye different sects, who all declare

‘Lo! Here is Christ!’ or ‘Christ is there!’

Your stronger proofs divinely give,

And show me where the Christians live.

Your claim, alas! Ye cannot prove;

Ye want the genuine mark of love:

Thou only, Lord, thine own canst show,

For sure thou hast a church below

The challenge before is what does it mean to embody the love of God in relation to the continuing debate over the inclusion of LGBTQ people. This raises significant issues about our understanding of how we embody love toward LGBTQ people. But also as to what it means to embody God’s love in a community which includes people with contradictory views and practices in relation to LGBTQ inclusion.