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WHY I AM A UNITED METHODIST
(A sermon preached July 9, 2006 at University United Methodist Church, East
Lansing, by John Ross Thompson
Scripture texts: Galatians 5:13-14, 22-25, Luke 4:16-21
This is the second of two sermons on my beliefs. Last week I discussed “Why I Am
A Christian.” Today I want you to know why I am a United Methodist and have
continued to be so. It’s a way for us to start conversation about who we are,
and why.
Many United Methodists can’t tell you why they are who they are, or what they
believe that is any different from other parts of the Christian faith. I
recently suggested to a group of church leaders that United Methodism is a
“distinctive” expression of Christianity. They were troubled by that statement,
because they thought it indicated we felt we were better than other Christians.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We can have a distinctive emphasis with
compromising our clear tolerance of other Christian communities and of other
faiths. I find in United Methodists little or no sense of “holier than thou”.
The easiest answer to “why I am a United Methodist” is because I was born into a
Methodist family. The church in my home village was Methodist Episcopal until
1939 when through a church merger it became Methodist. In 1968, through another
merger, it became part of The United Methodist Church.
I’ve made choices again and again in life, and I have clearly chosen to be
United Methodist and am proud of that. We are today in a time of less emphasis
on institutions, including denominations. However, each time I have become
disillusioned with something or someone in our denomination, I have looked at
other expressions of faith, and I keep coming back home.
When I refer to “Methodist”, I mean the whole family of Methodism, coming out of
the Wesleyan revival of the 1700’s in England. There are more than 70 million
people in the broader Methodist family in the world today. When I say “United
Methodist”, I am referring to our particular denomination since 1968.
Methodism is a favorite subject of mine, influencing me from the choice of a
seminary to my doctor of ministry work years later.
Two words to remember when we think of being Methodist are “everybody” and
“balance”.
Grace upon grace is a good way of summarizing our view of God. We focus on God’s
love flowing freely and abundantly to all people.
“Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast”, a hymn by Charles Wesley, expresses this
view clearly. Notice in the words to this hymn the many times that emphasis is
placed on all people.
There are three types of grace that summarize our view of what God does for us.
1. Prevenient Grace is symbolized in baptism, which for most people comes
before we know or can respond to God. There are no limits and no walls to God’s
love. We do not believe in a predestination of some to be God’s people, with
others not chosen. It is true that an all powerful God can determine our fate,
but the God we know and serve is a God who chooses all of creation.
2. Justifying Grace is the time at which we choose to follow this God.
There are no limits to God’s gift, except our choice to reject it. It is a
choice, often made again and again, to follow Christ. Christ is the expression
of the Creator that we know and that we affirm. Too often, we have neglected
this aspect. We need to spend more time asking others to make the choice of
knowing God through Christ. My sermon last week on “Why I Am a Christian”
focused on this.
3. Sanctifying Grace. My mother, who is now age 94, grew up as a Baptist,
but became a Methodist when she married my father in 1938. She summarized the
difference this way: “The Baptists taught me how to be saved. The Methodists
taught me what to do after I was saved.” We are a holiness people, believing
that God calls us to go on to perfection in our daily living. “Are you going on
to perfection?” and “Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?” are
two questions that all United Methodist pastors need to answer affirmatively if
they wish to be ordained. Most every sermon and Bible study deals with this
topic in our church today. It is clear that we need to set our goals higher. If
you have trouble with the word “perfection”, substitute “Christ-like.”
Balance
I am a Methodist, and choose to be again and again, because of its balance.
John Wesley referred often to piety and social holiness. Today, we usually call
them faith and social action, or being and doing. They are the inward and
outward expressions of faith.
Devotion, worship, mercy and justice become the four quadrants of our Christian
life when we think of inward faith, outward faith, inward social action and
outward social action.
Which one is your best?
Which one do you need the most help with?
Methodism keeps bringing us back to the parts of this quadrant where we need
help.
John Wesley is a Sermon on the Mount sermon said:
“One branch of worshipping God in spirit and truth is keeping his outward
commandments. To glorify him therefore with our bodies as well as with our
spirits, to go through outward work with hearts uplifted to him, to make our
daily employment a sacrifice to God, to buy and sell, to eat and drink to his
glory: this is worshipping God in spirit and in truth as much as the praying to
him in the wilderness.” Page 203,
John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology
I am a United Methodist because
1. I fervently believe that all of God’s children are chosen and precious in
God’s sight.
2. I am challenged to grow, both in faith and in social justice.
3. Methodism is largely lay-led in each congregation, an institution of all
God’s people.
4. I see in Methodism compassion and continued outreach, to those who are
marginalized, poor, hurting, oppressed, or forgotten. West Michigan United
Methodists are the most generous people in our denomination to mission causes,
and we are part of that outstanding record. The Luke text for today is clear.
What Jesus said he was to do, is the same that we are called to do.
5. It is a connected faith, pooling the faith and resources of all of us to
achieve the greatest good. For example, the United Methodist Committee on Relief
was the sixth largest group in Hurricane Katrina aid in the nation, according to
Newsweek.
6. There is a clear “method” for everything, procedures and organization to
address most every issue and situation. The Book of Discipline is our guide.
7. There is a clear expression of belief in God and all that God does.
8. There is a clear expression of belief about every social issue, a stand that
will instruct and challenge us, and I agree with about 95% of those stands, even
though I don’t have to. The Book of Resolutions documents these official
statements.
9. There is a democratic, representative form of government, with all persons
having input.
10. I have found in this church openness and respect for others, especially
those who live and believe differently.
11. I have found this church to be a headlight more than a taillight, in leading
the way to build a better world. Women in leadership, full inclusion of racial
ethnic persons, and missionary work that develops indigenous leadership are some
of these ways. (I am concerned that this is not happening as much today as in
the past, and that we are becoming more exclusive in some areas.)
12. No matter how much I grow, the goal is always set higher, because of the
sanctifying grace of God leading me and others to become more Christ-like.
13. Our denomination crosses cultural and regional and national differences, and
I can find someone in the Methodist family nearly anywhere in the world.
John Wesley said in his Sermon on the Mount IV sermon: (Remember that in the
18th century, “men” means all persons.)
“Let your light so shine’—your lowliness of heart, your gentleness and
meekness of wisdom; your serious, weighty concern for the things of eternity,
and sorrow for the sins and miseries of men; your earnest desire of universal
holiness and full happiness in God, your tender goodwill to all mankind, and
fervent love to your supreme benefactor. Endeavour not to conceal this light
wherewith God has enlightened your soul, but let it ‘shine before men,’ before
all with whom you are, in the whole tenor of your conversation. Let it shine
still more eminently in your actions, in your doing all possible good to all
men; and in your suffering for righteousness’ sake, while you ‘rejoice and are
exceeding glad, knowing that great is your reward in heaven.” Page 205
Ellen and I will be traveling to England later this month, following the trail
of John Wesley. We hope to find even more grist for conversation about who we
are as United Methodists today.
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