“To separate ourselves from a body of living Christians, 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 …
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Wesley: Consensus, not Dissensus
Theologians of other traditions have long concurred that what set John Wesley apart — and, I submit, what we Methodists ought gratefully to embrace, reinforcing our unity — is that he “sought Christianity more in practical principles and sanctified affections than in orthodox formulas, and laid greater stress on the ecumenical consensus which unites than …
How Is Your Heart?
Confession: Whenever someone says, “I’m spiritual but not religious,” I bite my tongue. Because if I didn’t bite my tongue, I might say something uncharitable, like, “Really? I’m fairly certain that, without religion, you wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what spirituality is.” Or, “Tell me, please, what is spirituality, exactly? Define it in a way …
Give Me Thine Hand
Take a look at the photograph I’m using in the masthead of this blog. I chose an image of people holding hands not simply because it is a nice metaphor for “Staying Connected.” I chose it because hand-holding is a quintessentially Wesleyan metaphor, calling to mind a phrase, taken from 2 Kings 10:15, that John Wesley …
Wesley’s Perspective On Separation vs. Remaining Connected
If you don’t know, you should know, that John Wesley abhorred the idea of separating from the Church of England in principle, even after acknowledging that an exception had to be made in the case of the Methodist movement in America following England’s defeat in the American Revolution. The rapidly expanding membership of the Methodist …
Wesley’s Perspective: Methodism Focuses on Holy Hearts, Not Creed
In reading John Wesley, and in reading what the best historians and theologians have to say about Wesley, one can’t get very far without learning that he frequently felt constrained to DE-emphasize creed. I do not mean to say that Wesley was dismissive of or indifferent to doctrine. That’s ridiculous. But if we’re in search …
Inspiration for Unity, from Wesley, Asbury & McKendree
In the course of researching the development of Methodist church government, I’ve come across a wealth of material, much of it written by Wesley himself, that seems germane to our struggle to remain united. I’ll post excerpts of these from time to time, hoping to reflect my growing understanding that our Wesleyan heritage already contains …
The Power of Connectionalism
Assuming that you’ve read “About this Blog,” and mindful that narrative is important to Methodists,[1] allow me to say a bit about how I came to care about preserving unity in The United Methodist Church. It is not simply that the decades-long debate over human sexuality has exhausted me, and it is not simply that …