I'm going through my Instapaper account and thought I'd share some interesting links:
Last week, I began a program for 2013 in which I will read the one of the 52 Standard Sermons of John Wesley each week for the year. It’s not a daunting task by any means. It takes no longer than 30 minutes to read one of the sermons so one could forgo one television show a week and read one of these sermons which make up a part of our doctrinal standards as United Methodists. In addition, I thought I would write some short posts each week for the wonderful people in the church I serve. I met with some of those folks last night and they offered ideas and insight toward planning a preaching calendar for 2013. They made some great observations about how I sometimes take for granted the knowledge I have as a “cradle Methodist” about the United Methodist Church and John Wesley. These posts might make for a handy introduction to interested persons. I hope you find them useful and helpful.
Last week, I read Salvation by Faith. I had not read that sermon since my last semester of seminary. Back then I read it for a class, but this time around I was reading it with fresh eyes and an eager heart[1] and what a joy it was. I read a portion that was so moving I had tears in my eyes. It found its way into the sermon I preached yesterday. Since I’m a week past, I think I’ll skip over any introduction to that sermon and go straight into sermon #2.
This week’s sermon, The Almost Christian, didn’t elicit the same kind of joy in my soul that Salvation by Faith did. It’s a fantastic message, don’t get me wrong, but it was a hard sermon as I reflected on the state of my heart. Wesley puts forth two people: the almost Christian and the altogether Christian. As I read the marks of the almost Christian I thought, “What’s so bad about that person? The almost Christian is a better Christian than most Christians I know. Including me!”
The Almost Christian is a classic in understanding what Wesley believed to be the most crucial aspect of the Christian life - “the disposition of the heart” as he calls it in Salvation by Faith. What is the disposition or character of your heart? Is it full of the love of God? Is that love expressing itself in loving your neighbors? Is God your all in all or are you looking to the idols of self-sufficiency and mammon? If you answer “no” to any of those three questions, I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is that you’re an almost Christian. The good news is Jesus Christ. No kidding. As John Meunier notes in my favorite of all his posts:
For many Christians, the key question is something like “When were you saved?” For the Methodist, the key question is always “How is it with your heart?” Our “once saved, always saved” brothers and sisters often speak as if the most important thing in our faith is something that happened in the past. Methodists believe the most important thing in our faith is what we are doing today, right now.
The good news is that Jesus Christ does not turn away repentant sinners. Go to him! Turn from your idols and be filled with the love of God, your all in all, and love your neighbor. Then you will be an altogether Christian[2] .
I’ll also admit that I’m gleaning as much as I can for my upcoming dissertation. ↩
A great resource on the recommendation of my friend and colleague, Dr. Steve Pulliam, is Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Chilcote. There are 52 prayers, each based upon one of Wesley’s 52 sermons, and they are excellent. I’ll be praying the one for the Almost Christian all week. ↩
2013 is almost upon us and I'm sure, like many Christians, you're thinking of reading the Bible through in some fashion. I'll be reading along with some of my friends and classmates but I wanted to add a couple of things to spice up my yearly reading. Here are a few links to consider and you might enjoy jumping in:
What are your reading plans for 2013?
If you're interested, I've uploaded some photos of my time in Wilmore, KY (and surrounding areas) while I was at Asbury Seminary in August for the Beeson Pastor Program I'm a part of.
This is a great post by a man that I count as one of my spiritual heroes, Dennis Kinlaw. Check it out - Advent or Event?
It is entirely possible to come to the Bible in total sincerity, responding to the intellectual challenge it gives, or for the moral guidance it offers, or for the spiritual uplift it provides, and not in any way have to deal with a personally revealing God who has personal designs on you.
Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book
I finished my last paper for the Theology of Ministry class I took in August - got an "A". Let me brag, won't you? I didn't get many of those as a younger student - and I wanted to read something different than the books on sanctification I had been reading. So, I decided to reread World War Z which is a pretty awesome book. Read it.
Since I have the Kindle version and this was a reread, I noticed that I highlighted two passages in this fictional account of the worldwide war for humanity's survival against the zombies. One of them really caught my attention. In constructing a plan to avoid human eradication, a South African named Redeker devised a plan that worked even though it was incredibly distasteful in that it left many people to die. Redeker said, "'The first casualty of the conflict must be our own sentimentality' was the closing statement for his proposal, 'for its survival will mean our destruction.'"
I think this is part of our problem as a denomination. Our sentimentality is one of the factors leading us to further decline. We want to hold on to the glory days of the baby boom, the way worship and ministry used to be, thinking that if we tweak all of that just a tad then all will be well. But it won’t. As we say in the South, that’s merely putting lipstick on a pig - it’s still a pig. Are we willing to let our sentimentality be the first casualty in our effort to fulfill the Great Commission? I hope so, for the Great Commission is the only thing worth following. We’ve got to identify those sentimental patterns, structures, ministries, and programs that compete with our mission and let them die otherwise our denomination is doomed to resemble the Walking Dead rather than the resurrection.
The most beautiful people in heaven may be the ones in whom the Holy Spirit has wrought the greatest transformation. We do not glorify God by lessening the standards for those we determine could never meet them. We glorify God by recognizing all of his holiness and recognizing that some- how, in the miracle of redemption, Jesus can make any person compatible for fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—holy, clean, and beautiful.
Dennis Kinlaw This Day with the Master
I actually have several posts half-produced thanks to Squarespace's handy new iOS app but none of them will enter into completion for at least a couple of more weeks. My final Theology of Ministry paper for the program I'm in at Asbury Seminary is due in nine days and I've got a lot of writing to do in the mean time.
Feel free to pray for me!
Dr. Sandra Richter is one of the rare teachers who can move someone to joyful tears while lecturing on the patrilocality of ancient near eastern culture. Her introduction to the Old Testament is one of the best books I've ever read. It's a book I can hold in one hand with my other hand raised in worship. That. Good. I can't speak highly enough about her which is why you want to watch the video below from the Seedbed's 7-Minute Seminary.
