The Methodist movement that spread from England to America and around the world was powered by people who met in small groups every week. Faith was formed and helped to pursue holiness of heart and life by relationships of mutual support and accountability for following Jesus in the world experienced in those small groups. Countless people were moved to serve with Christ by feeding hungry people, collecting and distributing clothing and medicine for poor people and families, visiting prisoners, teaching children to read, caring for the sick, and comforting people in mourning. Methodists were known as the people who love God and love people. The small groups are where those Methodists were equipped to join Jesus’ mission in the world.

Now is the time to revive the Methodist small groups. I’ve been in a small group for 30 years. Not the same group. But wherever I’ve lived I’ve either formed or joined a small group that meets for one hour a week. Each of us shares what we’ve done, or not done, to witness to Jesus Christ in the world and to follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I learned a long time ago I need the weekly support of my group to help me make sure I’m doing what I need to do follow Jesus and grow in holiness of heart and life.

Living the Christian life, a life shaped by loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind and loving who God loves, is not possible by our own individual faith and will. We need the support, encouragement, forgiveness, and accountability of other Christians who are walking this pilgrimage with us. Our faith, hope, and love are stronger when we are united with a community centered in the life and mission of Jesus Christ.

That’s what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel lesson. He asks the disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” And they tell him what they’ve heard among the crowds. Then Jesus asked a more direct question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter spoke up first and declared, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus affirmed Peter’s declaration by saying, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Jesus used a play on words with Peter’s name. The Greek for “Peter” is “petros”, which means “rock.” So “Peter” could also be “Rocky.”

In all four Gospels Peter is the leader of the twelve disciples. When we read the Gospels it’s helpful to remember Peter represents the disciples and discipleship. What Jesus is saying in this declaration is he will build his church on the “rock”, the foundation, of discipleship.

A contemporary pastor and writer, Mike Breen, puts it this way in his book, Building a Discipling Culture,

If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples. … Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church is the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the spiritual services that religious professionals provide.

So, Jesus is telling us building the church is his work. He will do his job. But he needs his disciples doing their job. The risen Christ tells us what his disciple’s job is: God authorized and commanded me to commission you:

Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.

These verses from Matthew 28 are where The United Methodist Church’s mission statement comes from. The traditional translation of the original Greek begins, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” I know some are uncomfortable with the phrase “make disciples.” Eugene Peterson’s translation, which I read earlier more clearly translates the Greek: “Go out and train everyone you meet … in this way of life.” Training in the way of Jesus; that’s how people are formed into disciples of Jesus Christ.

Baptism marks the beginning of a life of training to live and love like Jesus.

That’s what Paul means in the Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Training for a race or a game, or to make music with any instrument, or any discipline requires the “living sacrifice” of your heart, soul, and mind; your whole self must be all in.

Discipleship with Jesus Christ is just like that. Jesus wants all of you. Nothing held back.

That’s what he says in his summary of his way of life:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).

Jesus wants all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. When you love someone or something, like baseball, music, movies, art, science, etc. you give everything you have to that discipline or that person. That’s what discipleship is. Loving like Jesus 100%. That’s what Paul means when he writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds …. He’s saying, stop resisting God. Give into grace. And conform your life and your love to the way of Jesus. Love and justice is the way of Jesus and his kingdom.

Because living as a disciple of Jesus Christ and citizen of God’s kingdom is counter to the dominant culture of the world, we need to be part of a community centered in Jesus’ way of life and mission. That’s what the church is supposed to be. Being part of a small group with other Christ followers that meets regularly for mutual support and accountability for witnessing to Jesus Christ in the world and following his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit will help you make sure you are training your heart, soul, and mind in the way of Jesus. Keeping them centered on Christ and not being distracted by others.

People who know me know that I’m an avid bicyclist. I was introduced to riding a road bike in the early 1980s. Riding a bicycle is great fun. It keeps me physically fit. And I have made many friends in the cycling community.

Riding a bike helps me understand what John Wesley meant when he wrote there is “no holiness but social holiness.” He meant that the Christian life requires community and relationships centered in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Christianity is essentially a matrix of relationships with Christ at the center. This is why Wesley also wrote, “holy solitaries is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers.”

Riding a bicycle with others is much more enjoyable and efficient than riding alone. When riding with a group of experienced riders you soon learn the benefits of riding in a paceline.

A paceline is a small group of riders riding in single file. They try to stay as close as possible to each other. Each rider tries to keep his or her front wheel inches from the rear wheel of the rider in front of them. Each rider takes turns in the lead. Riding this way reduces wind resistance and saves as much as 15% in energy output. A small group of riders in a paceline will go faster with less effort than riding individually.

Riding in a group also means that each rider must communicate clearly with the group. The leader must tell the riders behind them when they are slowing down by shouting, “Slowing” before applying their brakes. The rider behind repeats the warning so that everyone knows what is about to happen. This is done to prevent any rider from touching the slowing rear wheel of the rider in front of them with their front wheel and causing a both riders to crash.

Paceline riders also warn one another about hazards such as potholes, gravel on the road, railroad tracks, and approaching automobiles. This is done to protect one another from harm and to preserve the integrity of the paceline.

Riding in a paceline is a lot like following Jesus. The journey of discipleship is best taken with others. It can be done alone, but not very well, and with great difficulty. This is why the congregation promises to:

With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.

We will surround one another with a community of love and forgiveness, that we may grow in our trust of God, and be found faithful in our service to others.

We will pray for one another, that we may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. (Baptismal Covenant I, The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 35)

Christians who travel the journey of discipleship together in a small group, like a Covenant Discipleship group or class meeting, listen to, support, and encourage each other. They warn one another about hazards and dangers along the way. They speak the truth in love and watch over one another. Disciples share a common destination (holiness of heart and life) and do all in their power to help one another get there.

You can think of your small group as being like a bicycle team. You meet weekly to encourage, support, and listen to one another give their account of how each has witnessed to Jesus Christ in the world and followed his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The discipline of meeting together helps each member grow in holiness of heart and life and serve as disciples who disciple others.

The class meeting was one of the distinguishing marks of the early Methodist movement, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church that emerged from it. In 1745 John Wesley defined Methodism as being

… a people who profess to pursue (in whatsoever measure they have attained) holiness of heart and life, inward and outward conformity in all things to the revealed will of God; who place religion in an uniform resemblance of the great object of it; in a steady imitation of Him they worship, in all his imitable perfections; more particularly, in justice, mercy, and truth, or universal love filling the heart, and governing the life.

The class meeting was the principle place the members of Methodist societies received the mutual support and accountability needed for them to “purse holiness of heart and life.” Sadly, this has become a forgot relic for the people called “Methodists” today.

Class meetings were small groups of 12-15 members of a Methodist society who met weekly with their class leader. The leader was a mature follower of Jesus Christ who the society leaders discerned could be trusted with the Christian spiritual formation and care of fellow Methodists. They led the weekly class meetings and served as role models for their class, and the other society members. Class leaders were leaders in discipleship.

The class meeting was the “method” of Methodism because most Methodists received faith in Christ within the community of their class. The combination of support and accountability for the formation of holy habits described in the Methodist rule of life, The General Rules, in a community of Christian love opened hearts to grace that prepared them to be able to receive and accept the gift of faith in Christ. After people received faith, the class provided the support, accountability, and love needed to grow and mature in holiness of heart and life. The class meeting is where people were inspired and equipped to live as witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion.

Class leaders were faithful lay men and women whose faith and witness to Christ were shaped by the love, support, and accountability of the Methodist class and society meetings. The discipline described in the General Rules and the support and accountability of the class meeting formed them into leaders in discipleship in whom others could see Christ working. The class leader’s job description is found in the General Rules:

1. To see each person in his class once a week at least, in order to inquire how their souls prosper; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require; to receive what they are willing to give toward the relief of the poor.

2. To meet the Minister and the Stewards of the society once a week; in order to inform the Minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved; to pay to the Stewards what they have received of their several classes in the week preceding; and to show their account of what each person has contributed.

David Lowes Watson, in his The Early Methodist Class Meeting: Its Origins and Significance, says, “… there is little question that they became as skilled a group of spiritual mentors as the church has ever produced. What Wesley looked for in a leader was a combination of disciplinary and spiritual discernment, so that fellowship in the classes would be a means of growing discipleship” (page 101). Class leaders were discipleship coaches who work directly with a team. They teach the fundamentals and the help them make sure they practice so that habits and muscle memory are formed. Like coaches, class leaders lovingly encourage, challenge, and push the women and men in their class to live as faithful, dependable followers of Jesus Christ.

The fundamentals of the Christian life are described by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

and John 13:34-35,

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The General Rules provided practical guidance for the Methodists to learn and practice Jesus’ teachings by

“First, doing no harm by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is generally practiced …

“Secondly, by doing good, by being in every way merciful after their power, as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and as far as possible, to all people …

“Thirdly, by attending upon all the ordinances of God, such are: the public worship of God; the ministry of the Word, either read or expounded; the Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures; and fasting or abstinence.”

The class leaders helped the members of their classes to grow in holiness of heart and life by living their faith in Christ through habitual practice of loving God and loving what God loves. Practice of the General Rules shaped the way the class leader and each class member responded to the question, “How does your soul prosper?” Participating in the weekly accountability and support of the class meeting is how Methodists obeyed Jesus’ new commandment to love one another the way Christ loves.

Notice the question for the weekly class meeting is “How does your soul prosper?”. It is not “How is it with your soul?”. These are two entirely different questions. “How does your soul prosper?” is asking how has your soul progressed, or not, in the pursuit of holiness of heart and life. On the other hand, “How is it with your soul?” is a therapeutic question. It has no expectation of growth or progress towards holiness of heart and life. This is an important distinction because the class meeting was not a therapy group. Its mission was accountability and support for the pursuit of holiness; how is each person striving to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind; and love what God loves.

The class leaders worked as partners in disciple formation with the preachers, ministers, and stewards of the Methodist societies. They met weekly with the minister to update him about who is sick, or in need of pastoral attention. Consequently, the society leaders were well informed about the spiritual, physical, and social health of the society.

I don’t have space or time to tell the story of the demise of the class meeting and class leader. Suffice it to say that in the mid-nineteenth century the leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States chose church growth over the pursuit of holiness of heart and life. They decided the Methodist Church would become a “mainline” denomination along with the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Lutherans. As a result, the Methodist Episcopal Church rapidly became the largest, most powerful Christian denomination in America. But that growth came at a cost. Scott Kisker describes the decline of Methodism in his book Mainline of Methodist?: Rediscovering our Evangelistic Mission,

“Real Methodism declined within our so-called ‘Methodist’ churches well before people stopped wanting to join them. Real Methodism declined because we replaced those peculiarities that made us Methodists with a bland, acceptable, almost civil religion, barely distinguishable from other traditions also now known as ‘mainline’” (page 13).

Two of the Methodist “peculiarities” Kisker refers to are the class meeting and the lay office of class leader. I agree with his contention that The Methodist Church became Methodists in name only when we discontinued the requirement of the class meeting and class leaders. The result was relatively short-term numerical growth, but also a decline in holiness needed to sustain missional vitality, which contributed to the subsequent waning in numbers and vitality experienced from the mid-twentieth century to today.

The mission of The United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Unfortunately, when the denomination jettisoned the class meeting and class leaders it let go of a proven and effective means of Christian formation. Without the class meeting and class leaders, or anything to replace them, most United Methodist pastors and congregations do not know how to “make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Thus, “discipleship” has been reduced to occasional worship attendance, participation in programs, and financial support of the church and its program offerings. The discipleship described in the vows of the Baptismal Covenant is sidelined. The focus is shifted from following and obeying Jesus to church membership and supporting the church through prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.

Re-traditioning the class meeting and class leaders is a first step toward missional faithfulness and true Wesleyan/Methodist identity for The United Methodist Church. It will equip the congregation in keeping its promise to “do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love” when persons are baptized, confirmed, or received into membership in the church. Grace will flow more freely through the congregation to open the eyes, ears, and hearts of the women and men God is calling to serve as class leaders and leaders in discipleship needed for its disciple-making mission. They will work in partnership with the appointed pastor to lead the congregation in the work of equipping the members to participate with Christ and God’s mission in the world.

Covenant Discipleship is a contemporary effort to re-tradition the class and class leaders. Covenant Discipleship groups are where class leaders and other leaders in discipleship are formed, called, and supported. Class leaders must be formed, equipped, and commissioned before classes can be organized as missional groupings of the congregation. The class leaders work in partnership with the appointed pastor. Forming church members into disciples of Jesus Christ is a team effort that must be led by the lay women and men God has placed in each congregation to serve as class leaders. Covenant discipleship groups are the first step toward re-traditioning the “method” of Methodism for The United Methodist Church in the 21^st century. For more on this, please read my book Disciples Making Disciples: Guide for Covenant Discipleship Groups and Class Leaders.

You’re probably wondering, “Why is he reminding us of all that depressing stuff?” Well, the message of today’s scripture lessons is that in the midst of the world’s brokenness and hopelessness there is hope. And the name of that hope is Jesus Christ.

Sometimes during all the troubles we face in the world, we feel that God has abandoned the world. That is probably the way the disciples felt as they were struggling to cross the stormy Sea of Galilee in their little fishing boat. Their boat was no match for the wind that was against them. But, in their distress, Jesus saw their plight and went to them. When the disciples saw Jesus walking toward them on the water, they saw a ghost. They were afraid.

But it was not a ghost. When he saw and heard their fear, Jesus said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” With those few words Jesus, at least for a moment, quieted their anxiety.

However, the disciples didn’t fully believe. Peter spoke for the disciples when he said,

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He tested Jesus. Jesus replied, “Come.” “So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.” Peter’s faith gave him the ability leave the safety of the boat and to walk on the water. But after a few steps Peter started to think about what he was doing. The wind and the waves distracted him. He took his eyes off Jesus. Buffeted by the water, Peter’s faith withered into fear and he sank into the sea.

Peter cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him ...” Jesus did not hesitate and say, “You obviously lack faith. You’re on your own.” When Peter called out to him in distress, Jesus immediately reached out his hand and pulled him out of the water and carried him into the safety of the boat. When Jesus entered the boat with his friends, the wind ceased and all were saved.

This is a story about Jesus and faith. It is a story about Jesus in the sense that it tells us that he is with us in the chaos of this world that threatens to swallow us up. Jesus is the one who stays with us amidst the turmoil of life. As messiah Jesus is the one charged and empowered by God to shepherd and care for God’s people. The story affirms the words of Paul in Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And in Romans 10:13 where Paul quotes the prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Jesus comes amid crisis, uncertainty, and chaos to give us assurance of his presence and power in our lives and in the world. Jesus will lead us to safety.

This is also a story about faith. Faith empowered the disciples in that little boat to struggle against the sea and wind. Faith brought Jesus to them on the water. Faith compelled Peter to climb out of the boat and walk on the water. But once he was out of the boat, alone and away from his friends, buffeted by the sea and wind, Peter’s faith weakened. But his faith led him to call to Jesus when he began to sink. He knew that Jesus would save him; even in his fear and doubt.

Douglas Hare, in his commentary on the story of Jesus walking on the sea writes:

“Faith is not a possession but an activity. It is like a song that disappears when we stop singing. Those of little faith are warned that they must exercise their little faith or it will wither away like an unused muscle.” You see, Peter and the disciples represent all of us in this story. One important thing to remember as you read the gospels is that when Jesus address the disciples, he is addressing the Church. He knows that we are very much like Peter. Just as he said to Peter as he pulled him out of the sea, Jesus says to us each day, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The story tells us that faith is a gift from God that is of little use if it is not exercised. It is not a gift that you keep to yourself in case it should get damaged or broken. Faith is a gift that must be used and even risked. It is a gift that grows and matures when it is exercised and stretched and challenged.

Faith is a relationship with God the Fther who comes to us in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Like any relationship, faith must be nurtured.

The Apostle Paul is wrestling with two kinds of faith in Romans 10. John Wesley called these types of faith, “the faith of a servant of God,” and “the faith of a child of God.”

The faith of a servant is where most of us begin our faith pilgrimage. It is a transactional faith. The servant of God believes faith is about doing the right things and keeping all the rules. In exchange we get salvation and acceptance into God’s kingdom. The servant of God is a church member who believes attending worship, serving on committees, giving money to the church, and being a good person will earn God’s acceptance so they can go to heaven when they die.

Peter and the disciples in that boat had the “faith of a servant of God.” That’s why Peter began to sink when he let the chaos of the waves and wind distract him from keeping his eyes on Jesus. The faith of a servant is often overcome by the chaos and demands of life. Peter loved Jesus and was committed to him. But his faith was more transactional than a matter of the heart. Peter expected to be at Jesus’ right hand when he came into his kingdom. He and the other disciples believed the Messiah would liberate their people from Rome, and they would be the new rulers of Israel alongside Jesus, the King.

The faith of a child of God, on the other hand, is faith motivated by self-giving love and a desire to become like Jesus. The faith of a child of God desires nothing but to be with God. Their life and love are centered on Christ. Paul alludes to this when he quotes Moses, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” The faith of a child of God is a heart filled to overflowing with love; God’s love embodied in Jesus Christ. The faith of a child of God is seen in the prodigal son when he kneels before his father saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to called your son” (Luke 15:21). The faith of a child of God opens their heart to grace and brings self-knowledge: “I am a sinner who needs forgiveness.” Grace equips the child of God to accept God’s forgiveness and love. Grace opens the heart to receive the Holy Spirit who begins working in the heart healing the sin-sick soul. Grace leads the child of God to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work by witnessing to Jesus Christ in the world and following his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The faith of a servant of God asks, “What do I get? What’s in this for me?” The faith of a child of God asks, “How can I love and serve like Jesus?”

We all begin our Christian pilgrimage, like Peter, with the faith of a servant. But, also like Peter, as we walk with Jesus, learn from him his way of love and justice, the faith of a child of God will grow in us. In baptism Christ calls all his friends and invites us to grow and mature from the faith of a servant of God into the faith of a child of God. Whether we have the faith of a servant of God or the faith of a child of God, we can be assured Christ will be with us through the chaos and uncertainty the world throws at us every day.

Have you ever been hungry? You know that empty feeling you get in your stomach when you haven’t eaten for several hours. Your stomach begins to growl and grumble when it tells you it’s time to eat. I’m sure you have been embarrassed by a growling stomach. You may be sitting in a meeting or in a theater or maybe in church when all of a sudden your stomach decides to tell you and everyone else in the room that it’s time to eat.

Hunger is a message from our body, like pain, telling us that something is wrong. We instinctively know what we need to do to remove the discomfort we experience when hunger strikes: we eat something.

Hunger reveals something very important about our human condition. It reminds us of our vulnerability. It reminds us that we are not self-sufficient creatures. Hunger tells us that we need food to live. It tells us that our life is dependent upon others.

For most of us, the food we eat is brought to our table by the labor of many people: the farmer, the trucker, the processor, wholesaler and the people who work in the grocery store. Hundreds of people are responsible for the food you put on your table every day. Hunger reminds us of our dependence on them and their labor.

Finally, hunger tells us of our need for God. God created us. And God gives life to the plants and animals we eat. God, ultimately, is the one who provides our food. God sustains the people who bring food to our tables. God satisfies our hunger. Hunger tells us God is a God of grace. Because the food God gives us is grace we can see and touch and eat.

Matthew 14:13-21 illustrates God’s desire to provide what we need. Jesus, upon hearing about the death of John the Baptist, went off to be alone. He needed some time to pray and mourn the death of his friend. But when the people learned where Jesus was going, they followed him. When they found Jesus, he did not turn them away or try to avoid them. Matthew says: “... he had compassion for them and cured their sick.”

The first thing Jesus did was go to the weakest in the crowd and heal them. He went to the ones who, because of their weakened conditions, were at the margins of the crowd. Jesus made them whole.

The healing Jesus gave to those people was real. Jesus restored their broken bodies. In Jesus’ healing ministry, God revealed God’s concern for human wellbeing and wholeness.

The people in the crowd were so moved by Jesus’ act of compassion they decided to spend the day with him and his disciples. Around about dinner time, the disciples told Jesus to send the crowd to the nearby village so they could find something to eat.

But Jesus did something remarkable. “Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ His disciples replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And Jesus said, ‘Bring them here to me’” (Matthew 14:16-18). He took their they had. He gave thanks to God, broke them into pieces, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. To the amazement of the disciples, there was enough for everyone to have their fill. And, there were twelve baskets full of leftovers. Jesus healed the sick and fed the hungry.

Matthew’s story of Jesus feeding the five thousand informs our understanding of the Kingdom of God. Jesus didn’t put any conditions on who got healed and fed. He didn’t tell his disciples to give food only to the Jews and exclude the Gentiles. He didn’t tell them to exclude the alcoholics and addicts. He didn’t tell them to send the LGBTQ persons away empty. He didn’t tell them to send the immigrants, migrants, and refugees away empty. You get the idea. Jesus saw only people who were hungry. No questions asked. That’s what the kingdom of God is like. God seeks and welcomes all people to God’s table. No one is left out. No one goes hungry.

The feeding of the five thousand is also about discipleship. The disciples saw the large crowd of people who wanted to be with Jesus and thought, they’re going to get hungry. We need to send them away to fend for themselves. But Jesus told them “You feed them. Bring me what you have.” He took their supply of five loaves and two fish, blessed, and broke them into pieces. Then he told the disciples to take the pieces and distribute them to the people. You know the rest of the story. Everyone ate their fill. And there were twelve baskets full of leftovers.

Jesus takes what we have and multiplies it just like he took the five loaves and two fish from the disciples and from them fed the multitudes who came to him. All of us have gifts, talents, and abilities. When we give those gifts, talents, and abilities to Jesus, he makes them enough, more than enough, to feed people who are hungry for food, love, healing, friendship, education, clean water, a home, clothes to wear, compassion, and justice. This story tells us that when we see the needs of the world and think I can’t help, we don’t have enough, give Jesus what we have and he will make it more than enough.

That’s why Jesus says with confidence, “for God all things are possible.” And the Apostle Paul can write with confidence, “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). As Christ sent the disciples to serve the crowd at the sea of Galilee, he sends us into the world as his representatives to serve in his name. He promises to take the gifts you have and empower you to use them in his name in surprising ways.

We come to Christ with hungry hearts; hearts that are often broken and bleeding. We come to Christ broken and beaten down by the demands and pressures of the world. We bring our hunger pangs to Christ seeking sustenance that will give us strength and hope for the future. We offer ourselves to Christ trusting in his grace and compassion. Christ invites us to come. Christ invites us to receive forgiveness of our sins. Christ invites us to receive healing for our broken bodies and souls. Christ invites us to be filled with his Spirit.

Allow Christ to fill the emptiness within you. Allow Christ to satisfy your hunger. Give Jesus what you have (gifts, talents, passion, money, etc.) and then get busy sharing it with the people he sends your way.

The process of making disciples of Jesus Christ is very much like making musicians or athletes. It is a process designed to form habits, attitudes, and character (holy tempers). At the heart of the process are relationships formed in community, a set of habits (the means of grace), and a system of mutual accountability and support. The desired goal is to form Christ-centered congregations that serve as sign-communities of the coming reign of God.^[1] These congregations help their members to learn and practice holy habits that form holiness of heart and life. They teach and interpret essential Christian doctrine, provide a community for the practices of Christian discipline, and help persons to grow in love of God and neighbor through self-denial. In other words, the aim is to order the life of the congregation around the baptismal covenant. The congregation is organized to keep its promises to each baptized and professing member. Each person is equipped to faithfully live the baptismal covenant as the congregation does all in its power to “increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.

Here, briefly, are the basic elements of such a congregational disciple-making system:

· Clear Expectations: The mission and ministry of the congregation are directed toward following Jesus Christ and equipping members to be his witnesses in the world through the pursuit of holiness of heart and life. The congregation’s vision is to become a Christ-centered sign-community for the coming reign of God. To that end, it strives to be

o Missional: “A missional church faces outward toward the world, not like a porcupine stands against its enemies, but like water fills every container without losing its content. … The church is measured, not by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity.”

o Relational: The gospel is all about the formation of community. The individualistic “meet my needs” orientation is seen as antithetical to the ministry of Jesus. The African word ubuntu is often used describe the church. Ubuntu means “I am because we are.”

o Incarnational: Christianity does not go through time like water in a straw. It passes through cultural prisms and historical periods, which means that Christianity is organic. And like any living thing, in order for things to stay the same, they have to change. The church is a living, breathing, moving, changing organism that lives in, with, and for the world.^[2]

Congregational leaders trust that God will keep God’s promises revealed in Scripture and summarized in the Introduction to the Baptismal Covenant:

Brothers and sisters in Christ: 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 without price.^[3]

Therefore, the congregation equips each member to claim and live into their Baptismal promises, according to their ability and openness to grace. Leaders understand that most people will strive to live up to the expectations they are given when they become part of a community. This is particularly true when the community has a well-defined system for support and accountability. If they are given low expectations, people will live up to them. Likewise, if the community has high expectations, they will strive to live into them.^[4]

John Wesley understood the importance of clear expectations for the Christian life and discipleship. This is why he developed a “rule of life” for the Methodist societies. “A rule of life is a pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth in holiness. … God calls us to be holy as God is holy, to grow into greater intimacy with the One we are created to resemble (see 1 John 3:2). A rule of life allows us to cultivate and deepen this growing likeness. It fosters gifts of the Spirit in personal life and human community, helping to form us into the persons God intends us to be.”^[5] Wesley created his rule of life to provide a guide for how to pursue holiness of heart and life. He believed the evidence for salvation is shown by a new way of life guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ, summarized by him in the two great commandment:

‘… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:30-31, NRSV).

A rule of life serves as a guide for following Jesus’ two great commandments. It shapes how Christians work out their salvation^[6]

The General Rules are Wesley’s rule of life. They are simple and practical. In them the Methodist societies found a common set of habits to guide their personal and communal lives. The General Rules provide how persons exhibit “evidence of their desire for salvation” and keep the baptismal promises,^[7]

First: By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind …

Secondly: By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all [people]. …

Thirdly: By attending upon all the ordinances of God, such are:

The public worship of God,

The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded,

The Supper of the Lord,

Family and private prayer,

Searching the Scriptures,

Fasting or abstinence.^[8]

The General Rules provided a guide for organizing the community’s life and witness around discipleship. Its goal is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s desire to form persons in holiness of heart and life. Congregations today, therefore, need a simple, coherent rule of life to guide their mission and witness in the world. The General Rules provide a good model. They are found in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church^[9] as the denominational rule of life. They are intended to be taught and applied in each local congregation.

A contemporary adaptation of the General Rules is available today. It is the General Rule of Discipleship: To witness to Jesus Christ in the world and to follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.^[10]

Disciple-making begins with expectations and trust in Christ and his grace. A congregational rule of life is the historic way congregations set before the people the expectations of discipleship. The rule of life then guides the congregation in organizing itself to help members live and grow toward the goal of holiness of heart and life.

· The congregation provides an intentional “disciple-making” system designed to provide the means for persons and the congregation to live the Baptismal Covenant and grow in holiness of heart and life. This system includes practices and structures through which the congregation cooperates with the dynamic of grace and leads to the formation of “holy tempers” (see Galatians 5:22-23):

o Worship that is sacramental and evangelical in which Christ in all of his offices (prophet, priest, and king) is proclaimed. By sacramental I mean worship that is directed toward the triune God. The mystery, majesty, righteousness and justice of God are lifted up through prayer, Scripture, proclamation, and ritual. Evangelical means that worship conveys the good news of God given to the world in the person, life and work of Jesus Christ. This good news is conveyed through word, hymns, praise songs, sermons and ritual that invites congregational participation. Finally, the congregation worships the whole Christ in all his offices because Christ saves and redeems the whole person. Therefore, liturgy and proclamation must proclaim Christ as prophet, priest and king.^[11]

o Weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a central practice of missional congregations. When the congregation participates in the sacrament every week, rather than once a month, they are much more likely to be formed in holiness of heart and life. This is true simply because the people will be well-fed. Shifting to weekly Eucharist will also help congregations to direct their worship toward God and away from self-centered and self-indulgent worship. An important consideration with such a change, however, is the need for worship leaders and clergy to be diligent about how they lead the people in worship. Weekly celebration of the sacrament that is poorly lead and administered will do great harm.

o An interconnected, intentional system of small groups for mutual support and accountability for Christian formation. The congregation will provide groups that meet people where they are—seekers, new Christians, growing, and mature Christians—and help them to grow in holiness of heart and life. The small group system of early Methodist societies provides an excellent model.^[12] Such a system is how the congregation will cooperate with the dynamic of grace that seeks to draw people to Christ, awaken them to who and whose they are, accept the gift of God’s love through faith, and live and serve as daughters and sons of God who are channels of grace for the world.

o Every member participates in a curriculum for Christian initiation and formation. This is integral to the small group system discussed above. The “entry level” groups will focus on catechesis, similar to the early Methodist class meeting. The leaders for this catechetical process will be seasoned, responsible Christians who can be trusted with the care of souls. An essential element of the catechesis will be teaching and encouraging the practice of the means of grace: works of piety (prayer, Scripture, worship, the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence) and works of mercy (feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, visiting prisoners, caring for the sick, peace-making, and witness to Jesus Christ in the world). The goal of catechesis is to form persons as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who witness to him in the world and follow his teachings through acts of com passion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

o Mission and ministry in and with the local community and the world, especially with poor and marginalized people. This mission and ministry both meets physical and material needs while also sharing the good news of God in Jesus Christ in ways that they receive it as good news. This acknowledges that Christians are commanded by Christ to do good to their bodies and to their souls.

· Practice evangelism that is Biblical and invitational. The congregation and its leaders understand that evangelism is the responsibility of the whole people of God. It is not a program that is delegated to “professionals.” The congregation understands that evangelism is simply witnessing to the good news of God given to the world in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “To evangelize is one way of bearing witness to what God has done in Christ and is doing through the Holy Spirit today to convey the good news. One shares the message in both word and deed.”^[13] The evangelical task and responsibility is to share the good news of Christ in ways that those who receive it receive it as good news indeed and they desire a relationship with Jesus Christ.

^[1] David Lowes Watson, Forming Christian Disciples, (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002), 37-64.

^[2] Leonard Sweet, “’God Sent a Person, Not a Proposition’: A Conversation with Leonard Sweet”, George Fox University Journal Online, by Tamara Cissna (http://www.georgefox.edu/journalonline/archives/fall05/emerging.html).

^[3] The United Methodist Hymnal: Book of United Methodist Worship (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 33.

^[4] see John W. Gardner, On Leadership (New York: The Free Press, 1990), 197-198 and L. Gregory Jones and Kevin R. Armstrong, Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), 49-78.

^[5] Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Life (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 138.

^[6] See Philippians 2:12-13.

^[7] See Baptismal Covenant I in The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 33-38.

^[8] John Wesley, “The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies”, in The Methodist Societies History, Nature, and Design, ed. Rupert E. Davies, vol. 9 of The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976-- ), 70-73.

^[9] The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church—2004, (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 2004), 72-74.

^[10] Ibid., ¶ 1118.2, 532-533.

^[11] for more on the importance of this please see John Deschner, Wesley’s Christology: An Interpretation (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1985), 73-77.

^[12] Henry H. Knight, III, The Presence of God in the Christian Life: John Wesley and the Means of Grace (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1992), 95-116.

^[13] Scott J. Jones, The Evangelistic Love of God & Neighbor: A Theology of Witness & Discipleship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 15.

Trinity Sunday marks the beginning of “ordinary time;” a season focused on discipleship and sharing the good news of God’s coming reign of love and justice.

Trinity is shorthand for describing God.

Trinity tells us who God is.

Trinity tells us God is One in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The names tell us God is relational and parental. The three persons were present and active from the beginning of the universe. Each person is unique in their character and work. Each is equal to the others. And each participate fully in the life and work of the others. The three are united in Love. (see Rublev’s Trinity slide)

Trinity tells us God is a divine community bound with love. Love flows from the Triune One giving life to the universe. That love is the source of life. Scripture tells us God said on the sixth day of creation: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). This means you and I share in the Trinity’s life because we are created by love for love. Charles Wesley wrote in one of his hymns, we are “transcripts of the Trinity.” We are made for relationship with God and God’s creation.

Trinity tells us God is love. God became one of us in Jesus Christ to show us how to love like the Triune God. The cross is the sign of that love. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and that love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). Trinity tells us God is love.

In Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus gives his followers their job description. The following is Eugene Peterson’s translation of that passage from The Message. It illuminates the NRSVUE:

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

Peterson helps us understand more clearly “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” means “Go out and train everyone you meet…in this way of life.” This tells us at least two things:

First: Jesus calls and equips us to go. He sends us into the world as his representatives.

The Christian life is not limited to what happens inside the walls of the church building.

Jesus sends us into the world to live lives that reveal his reign of love and justice in the world. Jesus sends us to live lives that invite others who do not know him into friendship with him. Jesus sends us into the world to live lives that proclaims the good news of God’s reign to people who are crushed by the world. “Go” tells us the church exists for people who God loves but they don’t know it yet. Our job is to find those people and tell them the good news of God’s love and justice in word and action.

Second: Our job is training ourselves and others in the way of Jesus. He summarized his way when he was asked “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?

He said …’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Because we are created in God’s image we all share a gift. The gift is the capacity to give and receive the love revealed in the cross. This gift is a way of life. God became one of us to show us God’s way of love in the life and teachings of Jesus.

Love is a gift. It’s like the gift musicians or athletes share. You are attracted to the subject, like music or baseball. That attraction gives you the desire to play. As you play you discover joy and fulfillment. That desire and joy compel you to learn as much as we can about playing. You learn the disciplines and then gladly practice, every day. As you practice and play love for the subject grows and grows until it becomes part of your identity. You begin to live and breathe the subject until it becomes second nature.

Jesus commissioned his followers to go and train everyone we meet in God’s way of self-giving, self-emptying love (see Philippians 2:5-7). He knew no one can live this life in this world alone. That’s why he included in his commission to baptize in the three-fold name of God.

Baptism marks the beginning of life shaped by the life of the Triune God. It is life in the church; the community centered in the life and mission of God in Jesus Christ because the church promises:

With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.

We will surround one another with a community of love and forgiveness, that we may grow in our trust of God, and be found faithful in our service to others.

We will pray for one another, that we may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life (The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 35).

Followers of Jesus need the support and accountability of others to live as “transcripts of the Trinity.” The community of the church is where we learn the disciplines of love. We learn them from fellow followers of Jesus who encourage and lead in love. This is why small groups have always been the places where Jesus followers are supported in the disciplines that help them to mature in loving like Jesus and sharing in the Trinity’s life and mission.

We need support and accountability for living this life because we live in a world ruled by fear and greed. These past weeks are evidence. We have witnessed the old scab of this nation’s two-fold original sins of racism and white supremacy ripped open for the world to witness. The church’s mission is to raise up and equip a people who are so filled with the life-giving, life-transforming justice love of God that overcomes the powers of fear and hate. When the powers of this world tell us to hate and dominate our enemies, Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). And the Apostle Paul teaches, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

We can do this together because the one who took all the fear and hatred of the world into himself, the one who so loved the world that he let the sin of the world torture and kill him in state sanctioned execution on a Roman cross. The powers of sin and evil thought they destroyed him. But they were wrong. On the third day after his unjust execution, he emerged from the grave alive and free. Still bearing the marks of the cross in his body. The Triune God defeated the powers of sin that feed fear and hatred, racism and white supremacy. The power of Love raised Christ’s broken body and breathed into it resurrection life.

In baptism we are called and marked with the Triune Name of God, whose nature and name is Love. Christ promises he will be with us as we pursue holiness of heart and life and aspire to become “transcripts of the Trinity” day after day after day until his kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

Philippians 2:1-13
1 John 2:3-6

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley, the co-founder of the Methodist movement, was in despair. A few months earlier he had returned to London from Savannah, Georgia where he served as priest to the colonists and missionary to the native peoples. But he learned the colonists were in Georgia because they wanted to get away from priests, like him. The native peoples were equally disinterested in him because of their experience with other European missionaries who tried to convince them to abandon their own religion. After a failed romance and disappointing response to his pastoral work Wesley returned to London downcast and discouraged.

In May 1738 John Wesley wondered to his friend Peter Bohler if he should stop preaching if he was not sure he had faith. Bohler told him, “Preach faith until you have it. When you have it, you will preach faith all the more.”

In the evening of May 24, 1738 Bohler and other friends convinced a downcast and reluctant John Wesley to attend a Moravian society meeting. Wesley recorded in his journal what happened to him that night:

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.

This is a short excerpt of a much longer journal entry from that night. Wesley experienced the assurance of salvation he longed for. His brother, Charles, had a similar experience three days earlier, on May 21^st. I suspect Charles’ experience and joy made John long for his own experience of assurance.

The power of his “warmed heart” experience compelled Wesley to write his spiritual autobiography in his journal. If you read the entire May 24^th entry, you will see Wesley’s experience at that Aldersgate Street meeting helped him realize he was wrong about the order of salvation. He had it backwards.

He was convinced he had to make himself holy before God could accept him. This meant Wesley believed he had to earn God’s acceptance through living a righteous and holy life. That’s why, for many years, he kept a detailed hour-by-hour diary of his actions, good, bad, and indifferent. As you may imagine, this was a great burden, because, despite his efforts at pleasing God he had not experienced the assurance of salvation he longed for. It contributed greatly to his despair and caused him to question if he even had faith.

At the Aldersgate Street meeting, while listening to someone read the preface to Martin Luther’s commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans Wesley heard something that awakened him to God’s acceptance and forgiveness. He “felt his heart strangely warmed” because he realized God forgave him simply because God loved him. God’s acceptance and forgiveness are pure gifts! There’s nothing he could ever do, or say, or believe that could make God love him. God’s forgiveness is given freely to all people in the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. All the work of was done for him by Jesus on the cross! The theological and biblical term for this work God did for us is justification.

At Aldersgate Street the Holy Spirit gave Wesley the gift of assurance when he realized God’s forgiveness and love is a free gift. He felt the Spirit enter his heart setting him free from the guilt and power of sin. Freedom from the power of sin is the beginning of holiness known as sanctification by grace. The Holy Spirit opened his mind and heart to “trust in Christ; Christ alone, for salvation.” And an assurance was given him, that Christ had taken away his sins, even his, and saved him from the law of sin and death. Therefore, he was set free to pursue holiness of heart and life; to work out his salvation “for it is God who is at work in [him], enabling [him] both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

John Wesley’s life and work was transformed by his experience of assurance on May 24, 1738. He immediately began to preach salvation by grace through faith. A week later he preached a sermon titled, “Salvation By Faith.” His text was Ephesians 2:8,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Wesley proclaimed everywhere he went; God’s nature and name is love; love unbounded and free for all. By this love we are forgiven and set free to love like Jesus and grow in holiness of heart and life; love filling the heart and governing the life.

I am a Methodist by birth. I was born and baptized as an infant in the Methodist Church. My mother made sure my sisters and I went to Sunday School. When I was 12 years old, I completed confirmation. I was active in the Methodist Youth Fellowship. As an adult I was an active member of White Bear Lake UMC, serving as chair of the Youth Council. Later in life I surrendered to God’s call upon my life and was certified as a candidate for ordained ministry. But, it wasn’t until my final year of M.Div. studies at Wesley Theological Seminary, when I took “Methodist History and Doctrine” with Professor James C. Logan that I learned what being a Methodist meant.

My life and ministry were changed when I read, for the first time, the sermons of John Wesley, beginning with “Salvation By Faith,” the sermon he preached shortly after his Aldersgate experience.

I’m interested in John Wesley because he gives us insight into the person and work of God in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. John Wesley’s teaching and leadership of the Methodist movement give us insight into Jesus, the Holy Spirit, holiness, and the Christian life.

Reading John Wesley taught me the Christian life is about much more than going to heaven when I die. He helped me know that salvation is both a present reality and a promised hope. He puts it well in “The Scripture Way of Salvation.”

The salvation which is here spoken of is not … going to heaven, eternal happiness. It is not the soul’s going to paradise.… It is not a blessing which lies on the other side death … The very words of the text itself put this beyond all question. ‘You are saved.’ It is not something at a distance: it is a present thing, a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, you possess now. … So that the salvation which is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory (Sermon 43: “The Scripture Way of Salvation, I.1).

By grace, salvation is a life lived as a child of God in God’s household and a citizen of God’s kingdom.

Wesley describes the Christian life by combining verses from two Scriptures, Philippians 2:5 and 1 John 2:6. A Christian “has the mind that was in Christ Jesus and walks just as he walked.” The Holy Spirit works in us, equipping us to see and hear the world like Jesus. Having the mind of Christ means the Holy Spirit leads and provides the grace needed to respond to the world and people with open heart and hands in love. Walking as he walks means the Holy Spirit teaches and leads us to do what Jesus did. When we walk as Jesus walked, we are people who pray. We search the Scriptures in study and listening to God’s word. We gather with other Christians to offer ourselves to God in worship through praise, prayer, proclamation, sacrament, and service. Christians feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome strangers, visit prisoners, and care for the sick. Christians also witness to Jesus Christ in the world when they act to alleviate the causes of suffering and oppression.

Because John Wesley knew Jesus and his way of love, he knew no one becomes a Christian alone. And certainly, no one can live the Christian life alone. That’s why he organized the Methodists into small groups called classes. Every Methodist society was organized as a network of small groups that met weekly. Each group was led by a mature disciple who could be trusted with guiding the people in their pursuit of holiness of heart and life. The purpose of the groups was to “watch over one another in love.” Their aim was to help one another pursue holiness of heart and life. The class meetings are where most of the Methodist people experienced unconditional love and support that shaped their faith in Christ and service with their neighbors. Those small groups were the heart of Methodism.

I think we can look to John Wesley and those early Methodists to guide us a way to connect with one another. What if we were to organize congregations into a network of small groups like the Methodist classes? Let’s find ways to watch over one another in love, build one another up, and have the mind that was in Jesus Christ and walk just as he walked.

Disciple Making

The Wesleyan tradition provides fruitful guidance for congregations that strive to “make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Sondra Higgins Matthaei has recognized this and offered an excellent interpretation of the Wesleyan model for disciple-making in her Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesleyan Tradition. Using two of the three questions that guided the conversation at the first Methodist conference, as recorded in the Large Minutes (“What to teach?” and “How to teach?”), she elegantly identifies and catalogs the process of faith formation along with the essential expectations, practices, and structures that must be present in a congregation striving to make disciples of Jesus Christ.^[1]Matthaei also deals with the important question: “Who shall teach?” She provides helpful reflection and guidance on leadership and leader formation for Christian formation in the church.

Another writer who has made an important contribution toward helping the church sort through its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ is Randy Maddox. In addition to his important contribution to interpreting Wesley’s theology and practice through his books,^[2] his essay “Wesley’s Prescription for ‘Making Disciples of Jesus Christ’: Insights for the Twenty-First Century Church”^[3] is most useful for the purpose of this paper. In the essay Maddox looks through the lens of one of Wesley’s later sermons, “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity (Sermon 122), and identifies three necessary elements for disciple-making: essential Christian doctrine, Christian discipline (practice of the means of grace, referred to by the Wesleys as “works of mercy” and “works of piety”), and self-denial. Maddox explains that Wesley’s view of doctrine was practical rather than theoretical. This means that for Wesley “doctrine” is simply the good news of God given to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the whole good news revealed when Christ is proclaimed in all his offices: prophet, priest, and king. And it is teaching and preaching salvation is justification and sanctification: what Christ does for us on the cross and what Christ does in us through the Holy Spirit.

This approach to doctrine leads naturally to discipline: equipping persons to live in the world as Christians habitually practicing the means of grace (works of mercy and works of piety). For Wesley discipleship is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Teaching and preaching Christ in all his offices leads to faith. Faith is nurtured and lived through habits (works of piety and mercy). The natural outcome and expression of Christian discipline is self-denial:

On the whole, then, to deny ourselves is to deny our own will where it does not fall in with the will of God, and that however pleasing it may be. It is to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to, God; that is, in effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste.^[4]

Maddox reminds us of Wesley’s belief that “The soul and the body make a person; the spirit and discipline make a Christian.”^[5] Self-denial is, for Wesley, an expression of Christian discipline. When Christians engage in habitual practice of the means of grace, balanced between the works of mercy and the works of piety, they learn to seek the will of God rather than their own wants and desires. In other words, they seek to “have the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). This is the goal of Christian discipleship.

John Wesley describes the process of “disciple-making” in Sermon 92: “On Zeal”

In a Christian believer love sits upon the throne, which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and man, which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival. In a circle near the throne are all holy tempers: long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, fidelity, temperance—and if any other is comprised in ‘the mind which was in Christ Jesus’. In an exterior circle are all the works of mercy, whether to the souls or bodies of men. By these we exercise all holy tempers; by these we continually improve them, so that all these are real means of grace, although this is not commonly adverted to. Next to these are those that are usually termed works of piety: reading and hearing the Word, public, family, private prayer, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence. Lastly, that his followers may the more effectually provoke one another to love, holy tempers, and good works, our blessed Lord has united them together in one—the church, dispersed all over the earth; a little emblem of which, of the church universal, we have in every particular Christian congregation.^[6]

We see here that “disciple-making” is an intentional process of character formation. The goal is to form people whose character, their inner and exterior motivation is love. This love is a reflection of the divine love given to the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They are people who “have the mind of Christ.” This love is the fruit of the formation of “holy tempers” or habitual ways of responding and behaving named by the apostle Paul as “fruit of the Spirit:” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are outcomes of “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

Wesley understood through pastoral experience the “holy tempers” were formed through disciplined habitual practice of the means of grace. The means of grace are both the works of piety and works of mercy. The works of piety being how Christians love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. The works of mercy are how Christians love what God loves. Wesley understood making disciples is an intentional process of character formation through habits. It does not happen by happenstance. Rather, making disciples requires both the Spirit and discipline within the context of the church.

Making disciples happens within the Christian community where people receive accountability and support for becoming faithful, fruitful followers of Jesus Christ. The community of the baptized is the crucible of character formation in which disciples are made. The Holy Spirit leads the community to discern the character of discipline required to form “the mind of Christ” in the lives of its members. We can look to the Wesley brothers and early Methodism to identify the essential elements of a disciple-making system for any congregation. In the final section of this paper I will describe those elements.

^[1] see Sondra Higgins Matthaei, Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesleyan Tradition, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 166-170.

^[2] see Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology, Aldersgate Reconsidered and Rethinking Wesley’s Theology for Contemporary Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon Press).

^[3] see Quarterly Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2003. (Nashville: The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and The United Methodist Publishing House), 15-28.

^[4] John Wesley, Sermon 48: “Self-Denial”, Sermons II, ed. by Albert C. Outler in The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978 --), ??, § I.6.

^[5] Maddox, page 9ff.

^[6] John Wesley, Sermon 92: “On Zeal”, Sermon III, ed. Albert C. Outler, The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978--), ??, § II.5.

Given New Birth Through
Water and The Spirit

The baptismal image of “new birth” helps us understand the process of disciple-making. When a child is born it enters the world filled with promise and possibility. An infant is also dependent and vulnerable. It does not know how to meet its own basic needs for food, clothing, love, or shelter. It is, therefore, dependent upon others. Responsible, loving parents go to great lengths to prepare for an infant born into their home. They are intentional about providing for all its physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. From the hour of birth forward mothers and fathers order their lives around the life of their children. The goal being to raise them up into healthy, responsible adults.

Christians are given “new birth” in the waters of baptism. Whether the “new birth” is received as an infant or as an adult, the church bears the same responsibility for the baptized person. The church becomes family for the baptized. Like any responsible parent, the church promises to provide for the basic needs of the baptized and equip them to grow and mature in faith, hope, and love.

Just like children are born to grow up into mature adults, Christians are given “new birth through water and the Spirit” to

“grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”^[1]

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”^[2]

“…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”^[3]

For Christians the process of growing up is just like the physical process experienced by newborn infants. It happens best in a home with loving parents who deny themselves in order to provide all that is need for the child to grow and thrive. The church, therefore, has the responsibility for providing the means for Christians to grow up from infants to mature adults in Christ.

John Wesley believed Methodism was nothing more than Biblical Christianity. He defined Methodists as “a people who profess to pursue holiness of heart and life.”^[4] Holiness of heart is the inward love of God. Holiness of life is outward love of what God loves. Wesley summarized the pursuit of holiness as “universal love filling the heart and governing the life.”^[5] Therefore, the church must be deliberate in its responsibility of equipping the baptized in the pursuit of holiness of heart and life.

The Baptismal Covenant describes the congregation’s role and responsibility in the holiness process:

Pastor: Do you, as Christ’s body, the church reaffirm both
your rejection of sin and your commitment to Christ?

People: We do.

Pastor: Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith
and life and include these persons now before you in your care?

People: With God’s help

We will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.

We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others.

We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.^[6]

and

Pastor: Members of the household of God, I commend these persons to your love and care. Do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.

People: We give thanks for all that God has already given you and we welcome you in Christian love. As members together with you in the body of Christ and in this congregation of The United Methodist Church, we renew our covenant faithfully to participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.^[7]

Every time a person is baptized, confirmed or joins the church through profession of faith the congregation reaffirms its responsibility to watch over one another in love. These congregational promises tell the baptized they are not alone. They are pursuing holiness of heart and life together.

Today’s Reality

If the typical United Methodist congregation were inspected today by the heavenly equivalent of Child Protection Services it would likely be found guilty of “neglect and endangerment.” Certainly, there are some congregations that faithfully keep the baptismal covenant and do a good job of caring for souls in a way that nurtures growth in holiness of heart and life. However, there are many more that abuse the baptismal covenant by dispensing what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace:”

Cheap grace means grace as bargain-basement goods, cut-rate forgiveness, cut-rate comfort, cut-rate sacrament; grace as the church’s inexhaustible pantry, from which it is doled out by careless hands without hesitation or limit. It is grace with out a price, without costs. …

Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance; it is baptism without discipline of community; it is the Lord’s Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ.^[8]

These congregations provide minimal preparation for baptism and preparation for membership. Once a person becomes a member they find very low expectations. All that is asked of them is to make a financial commitment to help the church pay its bills and to show up for worship when convenient. The congregation does not expect, nor is it equipped to “do all in [its] power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.”

Such “low expectation” congregations dispense “cheap grace.” They have become what John Wesley feared when he wrote in 1786:

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.^[9]

It is fair to say that most, certainly not all, United Methodist congregations are “Methodist” in name only. I say this because the doctrines, practices and structures that at one time distinguished the Methodists from other Christian denominations were jettisoned long ago. For example, very few United Methodists are able to articulate the meaning of key theological terms such as prevenient grace, sanctification, holiness, or Christian perfection; are part of a small group that meets weekly for mutual fellowship, accountability and support for discipleship; participate in the Love Feast, Watch Night or Covenant Renewal; serve as lay pastoral ministers (similar to Class Leaders); sing Charles Wesley hymns whenever they gather for worship, conferencing, or business meetings. Most United Methodist congregations, without regard to size, are communities of Christian people who gather for worship, fellowship, and to observe life events such as weddings, baptism, confirmation, and funerals. They are good people striving the best they know how to be responsible stewards of the church and of one another.

Such congregations have become captive to the dominant culture in which they live and seek to do ministry. Consumerism and individualism are two powerful characteristics of the culture that are reflected in the life of the local congregation. An example of this is the baptismal practice and reception of members. Persons are baptized and received as members with the promise that their “needs will be met.” The emphasis is upon the congregation’s, particularly the pastor’s, promise to celebrate, support, and nurture the person offering him or herself for membership. Little mention is made of Christ’s call to serve with him in the world; to “deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow” him as he works to prepare planet Earth for the coming reign of God.^[10] The emphasis is upon membership and its benefits rather than discipleship and its call to following Jesus. In this contemporary model of church, the unstated purpose of the church is to serve the perceived needs of the members. Discipleship is offered as a program to those who are interested.

Church growth and marketing have replaced the historic, biblical call to pursuing holiness of heart and life. Joining a church is easier than joining a civic organization such as the Rotary, Kiwanis, or Lions. While the church will accept anyone as they are (as it should), it does so irresponsibly. I say irresponsibly because once the typical member joins they discover the very low expectations of membership. Consequently, they learn that there is little or no cost to being a Christian; that church membership means very little because very little is expected or demanded. Unlike being a Rotarian or Kiwanis, where if you habitually miss meetings, do not participate in or support the organization’s mission, and neglect to pay your regular dues you will be visited by a fellow member who will remind you of the commitment you made when you joined. He or she will also inform you that if you are not able or willing to live up to your membership promises, your membership will be discontinued. Very few congregations are willing to hold members accountable to their membership vows for at least two reasons:

1. They do not provide the means for keeping the baptismal vows. There is little, or no, training or encouragement in how to develop the habits of discipleship summarized in the General Rule of Discipleship: “To witness to Jesus Christ in the world and to follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

2. Congregational leaders fear holding members accountable to keeping their promises of the baptismal covenant will put people off and cause them to withhold their money, thus causing a decrease in income. The decreased income will make paying the bills and staff salaries more difficult. Keeping people happy and paying the bills is more important than faithfulness to the baptismal covenant and the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Consequently, discipleship is presented as simply another program rather than an expected outcome of church membership.

This is a consequence of a deadly misunderstanding of the nature of God and God’s grace that says: “It costs us nothing. It is given freely by God who is our loving parent. Because grace is free and freely given, God is an indulgent parent who freely accepts us and forgives our shortcomings.” Faith becomes nothing more than assent to belief in God, as God is understood or experienced by the believer. Therefore, all who profess belief in God and take the vows of church membership are regarded as “disciples.” Being baptized is equated with being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer called it “cheap grace” (see above) and John Wesley called it a form of “enthusiasm:”

“One general inlet to enthusiasm is, expecting the end without the means; the expecting knowledge, for instance, without searching the Scriptures, and consulting the children of God; the expecting spiritual strength without constant prayer, and steady watchfulness; the expecting any blessing without hearing the word of God at every opportunity.”^[11]

“The first sort of enthusiasm which I shall mention is that of those who imagine they have the grace which they have not. Thus some imagine, when it is not so, that they have ‘redemption’ through Christ, ‘even the forgiveness of sin’. These are usually such as ‘have no root in themselves’, no deep repentance or thorough conviction. Therefore ‘they receive the word with joy.’ And ‘because they have no deepness of earth’, no deep work in their heart, therefore the seed ‘immediately springs up’. There is immediately a superficial change which, together with that light joy, striking in with the pride of their unbroken heart and with their inordinate self-love, easily persuades them they have already ‘tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come’.”^[12]

“A third very common sort of enthusiasm (if it does not coincide with the former) is that of those who think to attain the end without using the means, by the immediate power of God.”^[13]

When discipleship is equated with church membership the means of grace become optional. People are taught being a Christian is nothing more than belief, participating in occasional worship and giving a little money. The means of grace are presented as options for those who are interested in discipleship, but they are not regarded as necessary habits in the pursuit of holiness of heart and life. Rather, they may be offered as part of the programmatic offerings of the church. Consequently, the majority of church members are deluded into believing they can be Christian and disciples of Jesus Christ without actually following his teachings. This delusion becomes a major blockage to grace and puts the future of the church and its people in peril.

I say that this misguided understanding of the dynamic of grace is deadly and puts the people and church in peril because it will lead to spiritual death. The people will be deluded into Christianity divorced from the cross and the church will be nothing more than a social club with very low expectation membership with a veneer of religion. The Wesleyan tradition believes in the relational nature of salvation. Wesley describes this by quoting St. Augustine: “he that made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves.” Wesley then goes on to explain: “[God] will not save us unless we ‘save ourselves from this untoward generation’; unless we ourselves ‘fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life’; unless we ‘agonize to enter in at the strait gate,’ ‘deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily’, and labour, by every possible means, to ‘make our own calling and election sure’.”^[14]

Salvation is in peril when people neglect their relationship with Christ. Over time they gradually move away from God. If nothing changes they become indifferent at best, alienated at worst. In any case, the outcome is the same: separation from God that leads to spiritual death. Another way to express this is to say that because salvation is pure gift and nothing we can do will ever earn it, once we receive and accept the gift we must work it out if we are to keep it.

The “working out our salvation”^[15] is allowing Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to work in us by regularly making ourselves available to him through practicing the means of grace (works of piety and works of mercy).^[16] If congregations fail to communicate this essential truth and equip Christians to “work out their salvation” then they short circuit the gospel of Christ by blocking his grace.

The challenge for every congregation is to provide a community that equips its members for faith and provides the means for their faith to grow and mature. John Wesley identified the marks of a Christian (one who is “born of the Spirit”) as faith, hope, and love.^[17] In baptism we are “given new birth through water and the Spirit.” How, then, does a congregation order its life to nurture those who are “born through water and the Spirit” from infancy through adolescence to maturity in faith, hope, and love? The answer is to direct all of the congregation’s resources, gifts, and energy toward carrying out its mission to “make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason tell us that when congregations diligently form disciples of Jesus Christ who witness to him in the world and follow his teachings through practicing the means of grace (acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion) under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they do their part in Christ’s work of transforming the world in preparation for his coming reign.

Part 4: A Disciple Making System

The Wesleyan tradition provides fruitful guidance for congregations that strive to “make disciples of Jesus Christ.” Sondra Higgins Matthaei has recognized this and offered an excellent interpretation of the Wesleyan model for disciple-making in her Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesleyan Tradition. Using two of the three questions that guided the conversation at the first Methodist conference, as recorded in the Large Minutes (“What to teach?” and “How to teach?”), she elegantly identifies and catalogs the process of faith formation along with the essential expectations, practices, and structures that must be present in a congregation striving to make disciples of Jesus Christ.^[18] Matthaei also deals with the important question: “Who shall teach?” She provides helpful reflection and guidance on leadership and leader formation for Christian formation in the church.

Another writer who has made an important contribution toward helping the church sort through its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ is Randy Maddox. In addition to his important contribution to interpreting Wesley’s theology and practice through his books,^[19] his essay “Wesley’s Prescription for ‘Making Disciples of Jesus Christ’: Insights for the Twenty-First Century Church”^[20] is most useful for the purpose of this paper. In the essay Maddox looks through the lens of one of Wesley’s later sermons, “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity (Sermon 122), and identifies three necessary elements for disciple-making: essential Christian doctrine, Christian discipline (practice of the means of grace, referred to by the Wesleys as “works of mercy” and “works of piety”), and self-denial. Maddox explains that Wesley’s view of doctrine was practical rather than theoretical. This means that for Wesley “doctrine” is simply the good news of God given to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the whole good news revealed when Christ is proclaimed in all his offices: prophet, priest, and king. And it is teaching and preaching salvation being justification and sanctification: what Christ does for us on the cross and what Christ does in us through the Holy Spirit. This approach to doctrine leads naturally to discipline, which is equipping persons to live in the world as Christians as they practice the means of grace (works of mercy and works of piety). For Wesley salvation is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Teaching and preaching Christ in all his offices leads to faith and faith is nurtured and lived through good works. The natural outcome and expression of Christian discipline is self-denial:

On the whole, then, to deny ourselves is to deny our own will where it does not fall in with the will of God, and that however pleasing it may be. It is to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to, God; that is, in effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste.^[21]

Maddox reminds us of Wesley’s belief that “The soul and the body make a man; the spirit and discipline make a Christian.”^[22] Self-denial is, for Wesley, an expression of Christian discipline. When Christians engage in deliberate practice of the means of grace, balanced between the works of mercy and the works of piety, they learn to seek the will of God rather than their own wants and desires. In other words, they seek to “have the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). This, for the Wesleys, is the goal of Christian discipleship.

John Wesley describes the process of “disciple-making” in Sermon 92: “On Zeal”

In a Christian believer love sits upon the throne, which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and man, which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival. In a circle near the throne are all holy tempers: long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, fidelity, temperance—and if any other is comprised in ‘the mind which was in Christ Jesus’. In an exterior circle are all the works of mercy, whether to the souls or bodies of men. By these we exercise all holy tempers; by these we continually improve them, so that all these are real means of grace, although this is not commonly adverted to. Next to these are those that are usually termed works of piety: reading and hearing the Word, public, family, private prayer, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence. Lastly, that his followers may the more effectually provoke one another to love, holy tempers, and good works, our blessed Lord has united them together in one—the church, dispersed all over the earth; a little emblem of which, of the church universal, we have in every particular Christian congregation.^[23]

We see here that “disciple-making” is an intentional process of character formation. The goal is to form people whose character, their inner and exterior motivation is love. This love is a reflection of the divine love given to the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In Wesley’s words, these are people who “have the mind of Christ.” This love is the fruit of the formation of “holy tempers” or habitual ways of responding and behaving named by the apostle Paul as “fruit of the Spirit:” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are outcomes of “faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). Wesley understood through pastoral experience that the “holy tempers” were formed in persons through disciplined practice of the means of grace. The means of grace are both the works of piety and works of mercy. The works of piety being how Christians love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. The works of mercy are how Christians love their neighbors as themselves. Wesley understood that making disciples is an intentional process of character formation. In other words, it does not happen by accident or happenstance. Rather, making disciples requires both the Spirit and discipline within the context of the church.

Making disciples happens within the Christian community in which people receive accountability and support for becoming faithful, fruitful followers of Jesus Christ. The community of the baptized is the crucible of character formation in which disciples are made. The Holy Spirit leads the community to discern the character of discipline required to form “the mind of Christ” in the lives of its members. We can look to the Wesleys and early Methodism to identify the essential elements of a disciple-making system for any congregation. In the final section of this paper I will describe those elements.

^[1] Ephesians 4:15-16

^[2] 1 Peter 2:2-3

^[3] 2 Peter 3:18

^[4] “Advice to the People Called Methodists,” 1745.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] The United Methodist Hymnal: Book of United Methodist Worship (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 35.

^[7] Ibid., 38.

^[8] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, trans. by Martin Kuske and Ilse Tödt, ed. Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, Vol. 4 in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 43-44.

^[9] John Wesley, Thoughts upon Methodism, ¶ 1, in The Methodist Societies: History, Nature, and Design ed. Rupert E. Davies, Vol. 9 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 527.

^[10] Luke 9:23

^[11] John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (London: Epworth Press, 1952), 89.

^[12] John Wesley, Sermon 37, “The Nature of Enthusiasm,” ¶ 13, in Sermons II, ed. Albert C. Outler, vol. 2 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976-- ), 50.

^[13] Ibid., ¶ 27, 56.

^[14] John Wesley, Sermon 85, “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” § III.7, in Sermons III, ed. Albert C. Outler, vol. 3 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976--), 208.

^[15] Philippians 2:12-13

^[16] See Scott Jones, United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), 187-191.

^[17] See John Wesley, Sermon 18, “The Marks of the New Birth,” in Sermons I, ed. Albert C. Outler, vol. 1 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976--), 417-430.

^[18] see Sondra Higgins Matthaei, Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesleyan Tradition, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 166-170.

^[19] see Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology, Aldersgate Reconsidered and Rethinking Wesley’s Theology for Contemporary Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon Press).

^[20] see Quarterly Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2003. (Nashville: The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and The United Methodist Publishing House), 15-28.

^[21] John Wesley, Sermon 48: “Self-Denial”, Sermons II, ed. by Albert C. Outler in The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978 --), ??, § I.6.

^[22] Maddox, page 9ff.

^[23] John Wesley, Sermon 92: “On Zeal”, Sermon III, ed. Albert C. Outler, The Bicentennial Works of John Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978--), ??, § II.5.

John 14:15-21

During the COVID-19 pandemic I’ve heard and read comments from many Christians (clergy & laity) and politicians lamenting the “closing” of churches. Locking the doors of church buildings and suspending in-person, public worship and other activities certainly looked and felt like “closing” churches. But that is true only if you believe the church is a building. Yes, the church buildings were temporarily closed for public gatherings and worship. And for good reason. The coronavirus was transmitted most easily when people gathered in large groups, talking, singing, and touching one another. Church buildings were closed to protect public health.

When Jesus and the Apostles spoke about “the church” in the New Testament they are not referring to a building. They believed “the church” is the body of people who profess faith in God who is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m reminded of the hymn, #558 in The United Methodist Hymnal, “We Are the Church” by Richard K. Avery & Donald S. Marsh. In the first stanza and refrain they describe a biblical vision of the church:

I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus, all around the world!
Yes, we’re the church together!
The church is not a building,
the church is not a steeple,
the church is not a resting place,
the church is a people.

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee is on West End Avenue. I used to occasionally drive past the large neo-gothic stone building. One day I noticed the big sign in front of the church near the road. The message on the sign caught my attention:

Westminster Presbyterian Church gather’s here

The only thing I know about this church is they have a large, beautiful building. Given their location, their membership is probably very white and wealthy. I also know their parking lots were always filled with cars on Sunday mornings. I’d like to believe the full parking lots reflect the faithful ecclesiology expressed on their front lawn sign. The sign communicates they understand Westminster Presbyterian Church is not the building located on West End Avenue. That building is a beautiful gathering place for the church. It is where worship, teaching, caring, planning, and sending is done. But the building is not the church. The church is the people who gather there on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. The church is the people baptized and sent into the world as representatives of Jesus Christ, citizens of God’s kingdom, and servants of God’s mission in the world.

During the pandemic the church was never closed. The building was closed. But the building is not the church. The church is alive and well in the world. The church is open and alive in the lives and witness of the people who profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The church is the people who live and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world.

Today’s gospel lesson (John 14:15-21) continues Jesus’ conversation with his disciples the night before his death. Jesus is preparing them for his death. He knew it was going to be traumatic for them. Jesus reassured them by promising they would not be left alone. He gave them a compass heading for how to live and promised they would receive a helper and friend to walk with them on the way.

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jesus is giving a guide for how to live in the world after his death. He’s saying “love” is a verb. Loving Jesus is more than what you say you believe. Loving Jesus is more than agreeing with and saying a creed or affirming the articles of religion. All that is good. But loving Jesus means living and practicing what you say you believe. Loving Jesus means following him in his way of justice love. It means what Jesus said in to his disciples in “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

When Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” he is making a distinction between fans and players. For example, when I go to a professional baseball game it’s easy to find fans wearing the home team’s jersey and cap. It’s the same jersey the players wear on the field. They can even buy the jersey of their favorite player with his name and number.

Players, on the other hand, wear the team uniform because they’ve given their lives to the discipline of the game and committed to doing everything in their power to help the team win. They put in hours of disciplined practice at their craft as a pitcher, fielder, catcher, and hitter. Players put their bodies through rigorous discipline that enables them to bring their very best performance to the field.

When Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” he is saying the followers who love him are more than fans who admire him. They are “players” fully committed to him. They invest themselves completely in Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Their lives are shaped by the cross described in Jesus’ commandments:

Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Love what God loves. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus showed them how to love like him. He invited them to imitate his discipline of loving God in the habits of prayer, reading Scripture, and worship. He showed them how to love your neighbors as yourself by practicing compassion and justice (see Matthew 25:31-46). These disciplines of love open your heart to grace that keeps you close to Christ and forms you into the person God created you to be. You are created by Love for love. These disciplines, these means of grace, are how you serve as a player in God’s mission in the world.

Because his followers live in this world ruled by fear and idolatry, Jesus knew his followers would not be able to keep his commandments and love like he loves on their own, by their own strength and faith. He knew they would need help. That’s why he promised to send them an Advocate.

The word Jesus used here is “Paraclete,” which means the one who comes beside. Other terms are counselor, helper, comforter, and friend. The Paraclete is the third person of the Trinity who comes alongside us as advocate, comforter, helper, and friend. The Paraclete is the Holy Spirit who supplies the grace we need to love like Jesus.

Jesus is “Emmanuel,” God with us. The Advocate, the “Spirit of truth,” the Holy Spirit is God in us.

Jesus comforted his disciples as he prepared them for his death. In the same way Christ is with us today. During these troubled times we are anxious and afraid. We are troubled not knowing what the future holds. We can be assured that Jesus goes with us. He is preparing a way for us. The Holy Spirit is walking with us through these uncertain times. We can be assured that Christ is with us. The Holy Spirit is in us when we are together, calling and equipping us to love like Jesus by encouraging one another in the disciplines of love, compassion, justice, worship and devotion, and keep his commandments: Love God. Love what God loves. Love one another as Christ loves us.

Together, let’s witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:1-14

Jesus tells us in John 14:2 the destination of discipleship is to live in God’s household. He tells his disciples to believe in God and in him. To believe means surrendering your trust and loyalty to Jesus and his mission preparing this planet for the coming reign of God. When we believe in Jesus we trust him with our life and follow him in the pursuit of holiness of heart and life.

If you know me at all you know that I love baseball. Well, I believe that baseball helps us get at the meaning of today’s gospel lesson. I say this because baseball is a deeply spiritual game. It is the game that teaches at least four essential lessons about life.

First, baseball teaches us that the goal of life is to get home. In fact, we must work together, as a team, to help as many as possible get home with us. Life is not about what I can get for myself, but how I can help my siblings make their way home.

Second: We are rarely able to make the journey home on our own. We need help to advance from base to base. This means that all of us must sacrifice to get a teammate in position to get home. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Any who want to become my followers must deny themselves …” (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34). We cannot make the journey home by ourselves, by our own strength or skill. We all need the help and sacrifice of others to get home.

Third, we will fail. In baseball the best hitters fail to hit the ball and get on base 70% of the time. Much of life is learning to deal with failure. For many the cross is a sign of ultimate failure. But Jesus knew his death was not the end. It was the beginning of something new. His resurrection and the empty tomb marked the defeat of the powers of death. Failure is never the end. It teaches us perseverance and, with Christ, leads us to new life. It also teaches us empathy and compassion.

Finally, there is no clock in baseball. A game takes as long as it takes until someone wins. Likewise, Jesus is not limited by time or a clock when it comes to getting people home.

“Thomas said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Baseball, of course, has rules that govern the game. The rules provide the boundaries that shape the game. The rules make the game fair and inclusive; even when boneheaded officials tinker with them and introduce things like the designated hitter. The rules are the way of baseball. And along the way, anything can happen.

As the rules of baseball shape the way to play the game, Jesus is the way to God’s household. What does this mean? To understand Jesus’ meaning we need to look at the meaning of “the way.”

The way is how we get to our destination. The way is the road, highway, or path you follow. The way is also how you accomplish a goal; like making cookies or assembling a bicycle or teaching someone how to read or how to pray. Jesus is the way to God and home in God’s house. If we want to live in the place Jesus prepares for us we must follow him and his way.

Jesus doesn’t give a set of directions or instructions. Jesus gives himself. I got some sound guidance for this sermon this week from Nicholas Papadopulos. He is Dean of Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England. He gave a wonderful reflection on following Jesus. In his reflection he shared a recent conversation with a friend about Jesus. They agreed Jesus did lots of things, healing and miracles, and he told lots of stories and parables. But they could only identify three direct commands Jesus gave to his followers. These three commands give us a clue about what Jesus means when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.’

First, during the last supper, Jesus washed the disciple’s feet. Then he said to them,

“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Second, also during the last supper, after he took, blessed, and broke bread Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Third, Jesus said, “… follow me” (Luke 9:23).

“The way” that is Jesus is wrapped up in these three commands: wash one another’s feet, “do this in remembrance of me,” and “follow me.” The third command is the key. We follow Jesus when we do what he told us to do. “Wash one another’s feet” is loving action with one another and with our neighbor. Acts of self-denial that serve others by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming strangers, are Jesus’ way. He even says, “When you did it to one of the least of these, who are members of my family, you did it to me.” This is what John Wesley called “holiness of life;” loving what God loves.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” When you share food and drink alone, or with others know that Christ is with you. He is present in the food and people at table with you. Give thanks and praise to God for food, drink, and love.

We follow Jesus when we serve and share his love and life with others. We follow Jesus when we love our neighbor, love one another, and love ourselves. His way is summed up and revealed in self-giving love; holiness of life.

In Jesus we see that love is truth and love is life. When we surrender to Jesus’ way our eyes are opened to see truth. When we live Jesus’ way we see the world as it is. The blinders of sin and death that distort our vision are removed. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31b-32).

Finally, Jesus is the life of the world.

“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

(John 1:3-5)

Jesus is love that gives life. He is the life that embodies compassion and justice.

Too often John 14:6 is used as a club to tell who is in and who is out of God’s household. That is not what Jesus is up to. John 14:6 is not about exclusion; it is about particularity. He is telling his disciples that anyone whose life witnesses to the way of love, truth, and life is welcome in God’s house. Belief in Jesus is revealed in fruits rather than doctrines, creeds, and rituals. This means that Christians do not have a monopoly on God, Christ, salvation, or grace. The way to God’s house is for all who give themselves to the way who is love, righteousness, and justice. When your life, no matter who you are, or where you live, or which religion you practice, is a witness to the way of love, truth telling, and defending life, then you are following Christ in the way of holiness, the way to God’s house.

Jesus has prepared a place in God’s house for all people. Jesus prepares a place in God’s house for all people who surrender to the way, the truth and the life of Love. Jesus is the way home. Our task is to follow him so that as many as possible will come home with us.

John 10:1-10

Jesus is the good shepherd. As 21st century urban people, it’s difficult to understand what that means. In the ancient world of the New Testament people were familiar with shepherds, who they were and how they lived and worked. Shepherds were, and are, hard living people. They were looked down upon by religious people because they worked with animals. They were unclean. So, it’s curious that Scripture lifts up the shepherd as God’s ideal for leadership.

God chose David, a shepherd, to be king. The prophet Ezekiel proclaimed the leaders who most closely reflect the heart of God lead like shepherds, not mighty warriors. When Jesus was born in a Bethlehem barn, surrounded by livestock, an angel choir announced his birth to shepherds. They were the first witnesses to God’s kingdom breaking into the world in Jesus Christ. That was the first clue to what God is up to in Jesus of Nazareth.

Shepherds lead by love, not domination. The sheep follow the shepherd because they trust him. They trust the shepherd because they know he loves them.

This relationship of self-giving love is expressed in Psalm 23,

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord my whole life long.

Psalm 23 captures what Jesus is talking about. It tells us his way of leading is relational. The shepherd is all about nurturing and protecting life. Jesus shows us the way to live. He enters fully into our life in the world with all of its goodness, struggle, and suffering. He walks with us today.

Following Jesus does not protect us from disease, suffering, and death. In such times we can be assured Christ walks with us through “the darkest valley.” Because Christ is with us, we “fear no evil.” We can walk through “the darkest valley” because Christ will never be abandon us. He walks with us in the love of the people he brings into our lives. When we follow Jesus we never follow alone.

Jesus said his followers go with him because “they know his voice.” How do we know his voice? I think that’s what Jesus is up to when he says, “I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. … I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

What does Jesus mean when he says, “I am the gate”? In the ancient world, and perhaps even today, when a shepherd is with his flock in the field the sheep are herded into a makeshift enclosure to keep them safe for the night. The shepherd lies down at the entrance to the sheepfold. The shepherd becomes the gate.

A way to understand the meaning of what Jesus is saying is found in our Wesleyan tradition. The way of salvation is imagined to be like a house. The porch of the house is where we are introduced to God’s love. Everyone is welcome on the porch.

I remember many years ago when I visited Fredericksburg, Virginia. I was walking through an old, historic neighborhood. Suddenly I heard a voice from the porch of one of the homes. An old woman was sitting on the porch, saw me walking by, and decided she wanted some company. She called out to me and invited me to join her on the porch. Her voice was so welcoming I decided to accept her invitation. So, I walked up the steps and joined her on the porch where she invited me to sit and have a glass of iced tea with her.

We exchanged pleasantries. Then she began telling me stories about the town and her family’s deep roots in its history. George Washington was a relative. She wanted me to know that she was a descendant of Martha Washington, President Washington’s wife.

After we finished our iced tea, she invited me into the house because she wanted to show me a portrait of her ancestor. I followed her through the door into the house. It was a beautiful old home. She proudly showed me the paintings of George and Martha Washington. Then her son arrived.

He greeted me politely and then admonished his mother, “You know I’ve told you to stop inviting strangers into the house.” I got the clue. Thanked the old woman for her hospitality and went on my way. But I’ve never forgotten her warm welcome and hospitality.

The invitation to come onto the porch and the welcome I received is what we call prevenient grace. God knows and loves us before we know anything about God. Just like that woman who invited me onto her porch. God reaches out and invites us into God’s home. On the porch we are introduced to the shepherd’s voice. His voice awakens us to our need for God’s love, forgiveness, and acceptance. His voice prepares us to accept God’s acceptance in Jesus Christ. On the porch we are prepared to knock on the door and enter the new life God has for us in the household of love.

Jesus is the door to God’s house. Justifying grace awakens faith and enables us to say “Yes” to God’s “YES” to us in Jesus Christ. When we say “yes” to Jesus he restores our relationship with God. By faith we profess Jesus Christ to be our shepherd. He is our savior and Lord of our life. By faith, through grace, we turn away from the old life shaped by self-centeredness and fear and accept life in God’s household, shaped by love of God and all that God loves.

This new life, what the Church calls salvation, is pure gift. There’s nothing we can do or say or believe to earn or deserve this gift. Jesus did everything for us on the cross. By his love Christ welcomes us into the life we were made for, the life God wants for us. Christ is the door to life that is filled to overflowing with God’s love and justice.

In these uncertain times, we need to hold onto faith in Christ, the good shepherd. We can have patience and resolve we need if we listen to the Shepherd’s voice. We hear his voice when we make time to read the Bible alone or with family. We hear his voice when we add prayer to our Bible reading. We hear the shepherd’s voice when we make time to call and connect with neighbors, friends, and family. We hear the shepherd’s voice when we listen to music that lifts the soul in praise and celebration or lament. We hear the shepherd’s voice when we listen to the people and leaders striving to care for and preserve life through acts of love and justice.

How will you listen for and follow the Shepherd’s voice?

The story of the risen Jesus meeting two of his friends on the road to Emmaus is one of my favorite Scripture passages. It’s Luke’s account of how Jesus appeared to followers on the day of his resurrection. Last week we explored the story from John’s gospel about the risen Jesus appearing to his friends who had locked themselves in an upper room. He came to reassure them it was really him. Death no longer held him. His first word to them was “Peace.” Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit. His presence, combined with the gift of the Holy Spirit, equipped and commissioned the apostles for their mission to proclaim God’s coming reign of shalom for the world.

Jesus does something similar with his two friends on the road to Emmaus. The grieving friends are on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They are distressed because the crucifixion of Jesus ended their hope for Israel’s liberation from Roman rule. I think they fled because they suspected the authorities that killed Jesus may be looking for his followers.

Jesus joined them on the road. He listened to them describe the events of the past three days. They were so caught up in their grief, disappointment, and fear that they weren’t aware of who they were talking to. Their grief and fear blinded them from recognizing Jesus. In their minds, Jesus was dead and gone. Yeah, his tomb was empty. That’s kinda weird. But dead is dead. There’s no denying that. Right?

Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas were pretty sure about their facts. The bottom line for them was “Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” was dead. It’s over. Done. All that stuff about the kingdom of God and freedom from Roman domination was just a dream.

Jesus spoke up when he heard enough, “Oh, how foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe…” he said. They did not believe him when he told them the messiah “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22).

Jesus’ life and teaching was aimed at helping his followers know that his mission was much bigger than their provincial political desire to get Rome out of Israel. His foe was bigger than Caesar. He came to liberate the whole world from the powers of imperialism, idolatry, and death.

The good news of the coming reign of God’s shalom threatened the ruling powers who depended upon idolatry and the fear of death. Jesus knew his life would end on a Roman cross. But his friends did not understand.

The disciples did not want to hear that part of Jesus’ mission. Like us, when we hear something, we don’t like, the disciples forgot the part about Jesus being betrayed, unjustly tried, and crucified. The piece about being raised after three days was so unthinkable, they forgot that too. The Messiah isn’t supposed to be tortured and killed. The Messiah is the one who leads an army of mighty warriors to defeat Rome and throw the empire out of Israel. Seeing Jesus killed in such a humiliating way and buried in a borrowed grave ended the disciple’s belief that Jesus was, or ever could have been, God’s Messiah.

So, Jesus patiently reminded his friends how all they witnessed was foretold in Scripture. Jesus helped them understand how his life, teachings, death, and resurrection revealed God’s self-giving, self-emptying love for the world.

In Jesus God declares God’s unbounded love for humankind and planet Earth. In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection God’s reign of love and justice, Shalom, the kingdom of God, began on earth as it is in heaven.

When they arrive at their home in Emmaus Jesus “walked ahead as if he were going on.” But Mrs. Cleopas invites Jesus to stay the night. Jesus doesn’t assume he is welcome. He does not impose himself on Cleopas and his hospitality. He waits for them to invite him into their home.

This tells us that Jesus never imposes himself on us. He walks with us on the road of life, waiting for us to invite him to come in and stay awhile. That’s the way love works.

Jesus accepted the invitation. He “went in to stay with them.” When he sat at table for the evening meal Jesus, their guest, assumed the role of host. Luke tells us, “he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” At that moment, in the way he took, blessed, and broke the bread, their eyes were opened and his friends recognized Jesus. Their eyes were opened to the identity of their guest because they were in familiar surroundings witnessing something that was commonplace in their life as friends of Jesus of Nazareth.

Breaking bread, eating and drinking was the heart of Jesus’ life and mission. Sharing food and drink at table opened hearts and minds to Jesus and his teaching.

Jesus is more than an object of belief. He is more than your ticket to heaven. Jesus is revealed to his friends when he took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to them because he was their friend (see John 15:12-17). Jesus wants to be our friend who walks with us on the pilgrimage of life.

Bread is life, love, and home for Jesus and his disciples. Bread is food that sustains life. Wheat, yeast, oil, and salt are gifts of God. The work of making bread is a labor of love. It represents God’s love for us and the world. Home is where bread is made and served. Home is life and love. Jesus is revealed in the breaking of bread because he is the life-giver.

Jesus is God’s love with skin on. Jesus accepts, forgives, and loves us unconditionally. Jesus is home. Jesus’s friends recognize him in the breaking of bread because he is life, love, and home.

Friends break bread together. That’s why on the night before his death Jesus gave his friends a meal as the way to remember him and his mission. He didn’t give them a theological treatise, a creed, or a book. Jesus gave his friends a meal and told them to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Remember the life and love he gives. Remember who you are: a beloved child of God’s household.

This story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus assures us that Jesus walks with us through these troubled and uncertain times. All you need to do is invite him into your home and heart. When you sit down at your table for meals, give thanks, take bread, break and share it Jesus is there with you.

Baptismal Font at St. Andrew’s Church, Epworth, England
John & Charles Wesley were baptized here

In baptism God calls you into discipleship. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is very much like becoming a musician. Certainly, God does not give everyone the gift of making music. However, because we are all created in the image of God, we are all given the same gift: the capacity to give and receive love. The goal of discipleship is to develop this gift to the fullest. Along the way our character, damaged by sin, will be restored to wholeness, restored into the image of Christ. As we grow and mature in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, love becomes a natural response and way of life in the world. This is what John Wesley meant when he wrote and preached about the Christian life as being the “pursuit of holiness of heart and life,” and “universal love filling the heart and governing the life.”

Making disciples, like making musicians, does not happen by happenstance. It is done with intention born of love for God and love for what God loves. The Baptismal covenant provides the compass headings for how to make disciples. In it United Methodist congregations are given guidance for developing an intentional process for forming disciples of Jesus Christ. Such a system will be immersed in the grace of God from which all of the respective pieces emerge. The goal of the process is a community whose form and witness in the world are defined by holiness of heart and life.

The Baptismal Covenant and Discipleship

Let’s take a brief look at the Baptismal Covenant I found in The United Methodist Hymnal (pages 33-39). The introduction sets the context for all that follows:

Brothers and sisters in Christ: 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.

This means that our place in the church is given by grace and it is a mystery. God invites and welcomes with open arms; arms that bear the scars of the cross. Our place in the church is pure gift. We did not earn or deserve this gift by virtue of our own goodness, righteousness, or social standing. In fact, God invites and welcomes us knowing full well we are sinners who will betray and deny him. And yet, God invites and welcomes us into God’s household in spite of ourselves. God invites and welcomes because God is love; a love that reconciles, heals, and makes whole a world that is sin-sick and broken.

To be “initiated into Christ’s holy church” has a two-fold meaning. You are welcomed and inducted as a member. More importantly, as the you begin life in Christ’s church you begin a new life. Initiation into the church means entering into a way of living that is centered in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. This life is lived in the world with the community Christ calls to be his witness. This means baptism is deeply personal but it is not private. It is personal because it happens to you and the way you live in the world. The way you conduct yourself in the world will set you apart because you seek to be obedient to the teachings of Jesus Christ and witness to him through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The church, now your extended family, is holy. This means its life and witness is centered in the holiness of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Its mission is to equip people to live lives shaped by holiness of heart and life. To be “initiated into Christ’s holy church” is, therefore, to enter into a way of life that leads to holiness and, in John Wesley’s words, the formation of “holy tempers”:

But as zealous as we are for all good works, we should be still more zealous for holy tempers; for planting and promoting both in our souls, and in all we have any intercourse with, lowliness of mind, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, contentedness, resignation unto the will of God, deadness to the world and the things of the world, as the only means of being truly alive to God. (Sermon 92, §II.10)

Be more zealous still for holy tempers, for ‘long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, lowliness, and resignation’; but be most zealous of all for love, the queen of all graces, the highest perfection in earth or heaven, the very image of the invisible God, as in men below, so in angels above. For ‘God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him.’ (Sermon 92, §III.12)

Your faith by holy tempers prove,

By actions show your sins forgiven!

And seek the glorious things above,

And follow Christ your Head to heaven! (Collection of Hymns, #408.2)

Unless religion be described as consisting in holy tempers; in the love of God and our neighbour; in humility, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, contentedness in every condition; to sum up all, in the image of God, in the mind that was in Christ; it is no wonder if these that are instructed therein are not better, but worse, than other men. For they think they have religion, when, indeed, they have none at all; and so add pride to all their other vices. (“A Thought Upon the Manner of Educating Children, §5)

The holy tempers, described by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 as “fruit of the Spirit” are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” They are “an enduring or habitual disposition of a person.”^[1] They reflect the character of Christ and are formed in the lives of Christians who earnestly strive to live as persons who are “initiated into Christ’s holy church.”

As a person is initiated into Christ’s holy church Christians are also “incorporated into God’s might acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit.” To be “incorporated” is to be “united in or into one body.”^[2]It is like grafting a twig into a grape vine. When it is first inserted into the vine it looks and feels foreign. But in a short time, the vine provides nourishment and the twig begins to grow. Over time the graft heals and the twig becomes a branch of the vine, as though it had always been there. Eventually it produces fruit. When persons are baptized they are grafted into the community of Christ. At first they feel like a foreign body. But over time, as they receive care, encouragement, and accountability, the new member becomes one of the “family.” Eventually, they exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (see John 15:1-17; Galatians 5:22-23).

The church is the community of persons living out their “incorporation” into God’s “mighty acts of salvation”: Justification and Sanctification. These “mighty acts” are pure gift (Ephesians 2:8). In justification God forgives sins, restores relationship, and bestows the gift of faith. Accompanying justification is sanctification: God sets you free from the power of sin to control and rule our life. With this freedom comes the ability to love God with all our heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Because God loves first you are able to respond with love, God equips you to love your neighbor as yourself. Because God loves you can love. As we practice this love we learn to love what God loves, as God loves them. The “mighty acts of salvation” are what Wesley called “holiness of heart and life” and “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

We must acknowledge here that “God’s mighty acts of salvation” are for the whole world. They are not for the benefit of the baptized only. Rather, when you are “incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation” you are grafted into God’s project of redeeming planet earth. The baptized, therefore, are given the grand privilege of being participants and co-workers with Christ in his mission preparing earth for his coming reign of righteousness and justice.

This means baptism is initiation into a way of life that awakens others who do not know God and God’s love and justice to this world. To live as one who is grafted into God’s saving work means the baptized are equipped to become persons who seek to serve with Christ in the world, to help him with his mission to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, open the eyes of the blind, let the oppressed go free, and proclaim the jubilee of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19).

To be “incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation” is, therefore, both a privilege and responsibility. It is privilege because it is divine gift. It is privilege, also, because the baptized are welcomed into the life of the creator and redeemer of the universe! They are given the opportunity to participate in God’s life and work that is characterized by righteousness and justice; virtues that do not occur naturally in human beings.

With the privilege comes responsibility to participate in and become bearers of God’s love for the world. Hence the reason we are “given new birth through water and the Spirit.” With initiation into holiness of heart and life comes participation in God’s mission saving planet Earth from the powers of sin and death and preparing it for God’s coming reign. The old life is set aside and the baptized receive new life (2 Corinthians 5:17) in Christ. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart and life to lead and sustain the person in this new life in God’s household.

“All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.” You enter life in God’s household (the Church) in much the same way you were born into this world. You did nothing to be born other than to grow and develop to the point where your body was ready for its journey down the birth canal. Your mother did all the work of birthing you into the world. You are the passive beneficiary of her hard, painful work. In the Baptismal covenant you recognize that God did very similar work in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for you to receive the gift of new life in God’s household. In the Bethlehem manger, the teaching, healing, and suffering that took him to Golgotha’s cross, and to the empty tomb Christ has done the hard work of making possible your life as God’s child who is a “new creation”^[3]and “born from above.”^[4] “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”^[5]

^[1] Randy Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 69.

^[2] The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), Vol. 1:1342.

^[3] 2 Corinthians 5:17

^[4] John 3:3

^[5] Ephesians 2:10

This gospel lesson is set later in the day of Christ’s resurrection. The disciples were hiding out. The door was locked. They were afraid the religious and imperial authorities may do the same to them as they did to their friend and teacher, Jesus.

Suddenly, Jesus came to them, despite the locked door. As you can probably imagine, the disciples were startled and afraid of the stranger who suddenly appeared in the room. They were probably wondering, “The door is locked. How did he get in here?”

Jesus, looking at the frightened faces of his friends, the same friends who denied and abandoned him in the garden a few days earlier, and said “Shalom” or “Peace be with you.” He hoped his voice and common greeting would allay their fear. But Jesus could see in the fear and confusion in their faces that the Shalom did not work

To prove he was really him, Jesus showed them the marks of the cross in his hands, feet, and side. The wounds of the cross proved to the disciples it was really Jesus. They became his calling card. He is the risen one who was crucified. Hearing his voice and seeing the marks of the cross released the disciples from their fear. The gospel writer tells us, “Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

The disciples rejoiced because they realized we worship a God who raises the dead! The gospel writer gave us, and the disciples, a foretaste of this when Jesus raised his friend, Lazarus, from death to life. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” The apostle Paul summarizes the power of God

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54b-58).

We worship a God who raises the dead! The love of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, took all the sin and evil of the world into himself on the cross. He was betrayed, tried and convicted of sedition, and sentenced to death on the cross. The powers of the world thought they had the victory when they succeeded in killing God’s Son. But God had the last word. The power of God’s love breathed life into Jesus’ dead body and released him from his grave on the third day. The risen Jesus Christ went to his disciples. He went to assure them the good news about his resurrection given to them by the women was true. Jesus went to his friends to assure them that while he was dead, he is now very much alive. Death no longer has any power over him, nor them.

The risen Jesus gave his friends a message: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” With this simple statement Jesus tells his friends and followers his death and resurrection are not the end, but the beginning of his work. The resurrection marks a new beginning of God’s mission in the world. When Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” he told them, and us, now the work begins.

Jesus knew his disciples could not carry out his mission on their own, by their own strength and faith. They needed a helper. “He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the community centered on his life and mission. His gift of the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of a new community we know today as the church.

We worship a God who raises the dead. The God who raises the dead is the God of mission. The word, mission, is derived from the Latin, mission, which means to send or to be sent. We know from Scripture, God the Father sent the Son:

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).

The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God in us opening human hearts to grace enabling us to perceive and respond to grace working in us and in the world.

Finally, the Father, Son, and Spirit send the Church as an agent of God’s mission. This is what Jesus is up to in this gospel lesson. I think one of the reasons this lesson is read every Second Sunday of Easter is to remind the church of its mission. Christ reminds the church it is called to be about equipping people to serve as Christ’s representatives in the world. In baptism and at the Lord’s table we repent and receive forgiveness to set us free to serve and love with Christ in the world he loves.

In the Methodist tradition we call this the pursuit of holiness of heart and life. Holiness of heart is inward love of God. Holiness of life is loving who God loves; our neighbor and ourselves. Charles Wesley expresses the missional life in one of his hymns:

Let us plead for faith alone,
faith which by our works is shown;
God it is who justifies,
only faith the grace applies.
Active faith that lives within,
conquers hell and death and sin,
hallows whom it first made whole,
forms the Savior in the soul.

Christ comes to us, despite locked doors and hearts, and says “Peace be with you.” With the Holy Spirit, he provides all we need to live and serve as his representatives in the world.

Part 1

How are disciples made? The mission of The United Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” The church believes that the local congregation is the context of disciple-making. Congregations are present in towns, neighborhoods, and cities as outposts of the Church. God is worshiped, sacraments are celebrated, and the gospel is proclaimed in the world through the witness of the people. The local congregation is the place where disciples are made because it is where the church intersects with the world.

If disciples are made then it seems that we can say with some certainty there is a method for making them. A person does not become a disciple by accident. Making something requires intention and planning. It is a process in which the materials are shaped, formed or assembled into something new and different. For example when a factory sets out to make an automobile it begins with a set of parts and a step-by-step procedure for assembling the parts into a working automobile. The various parts are assembled by the hands and labor of many people with varying skills and training. At each stage of the process the work-in-progress is examined for quality. Each person involved contributes to the final goal of a car that works dependably and satisfies the customer. Nothing is left to chance or accident. Every step of the manufacturing process is well planned and executed by trained mechanics.

Making disciples is in some ways like making a car. However, this is probably not the best illustration. Such a manufacturing process does not apply to human beings well because the goal of an assembly line is automobiles that are identical. The first car is the same as the 100^th car is the same as the 1000^th. The goal of disciple-making cannot be to produce people who are identical. A more appropriate example for disciple-making is making pottery. We find this in Scripture

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 8:3-6)

The precious children of Zion,
worth their weight in fine gold--
how they are reckoned as earthen pots,
the work of a potter’s hands! (Lamentations 4:2)

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? (Romans 9:21)

Like clay in the hand of the potter,
to be molded as he pleases,
so all are in the hand of their Maker,
to be given whatever he decides. (Sirach 33:13)

The image of potter and clay is appropriate for disciple-making because people are like the clay. Each type of clay is different and unique. The potter must know the characteristics of the clay before work begins. The type of clay determines the kind of vessel that can be formed from it. The potter then applies their knowledge of the clay and the vision for the finished product to shape and form the clay into the desired vessel. Like the assembly line, however, the potter plans and follows a series of steps that lead to the formation of the finished product. The difference is that hand-made pieces contain individual characteristics and flaws that make each one different and unique.

God is the potter who supplies the clay and the vision for the shape and use of the vessel. God also provides the tools necessary for shaping and forming each piece. One of the tools is the community of the congregation. The people, each of whom God is forming, help to form one another. They are, in a way, like the fingers of the potter’s hands, shaping, applying pressure, repairing, and guiding the clay into the shape that God seeks for it.

This image, however, presents some problems. First, clay is inanimate. It has no freedom or choice in what happens to it. In the pottery process the clay is passive. It conforms to whatever shape is imposed upon it. After the clay is dried and baked in the kiln it will remain in the same shape forever. The only way it can change is by breaking into pieces. It can never start over. It cannot grow or change over time. While the image of potter and clay works as a good illustration for disciple-making, it is ultimately unsatisfactory.

Yet another metaphor for disciple-making is that of learning to make music. Listening to music has helped me understand Christian discipleship. I have loved and enjoyed music all my life. I have even made efforts at becoming a musician. Listening to music, watching musicians make music, and talking to them have helped me understand that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is very much like being a musician.

Making music, like discipleship, begins with love. People become musicians because they are drawn to and love music. The music attracts them to an instrument. They next must find a teacher who will help them learn how to make music with their instrument. People become musicians from other musicians who share their love of music with others who want to learn. Like discipleship, music and music-making are personal and social. It is personal but not private.

A person seeking to become a musician very soon learns the importance of study, discipline, and practice. No matter how much natural talent God gives, all musicians understand the necessity of learning and practicing the basics over and over and over again. They know that discipline and practice sets them free to make music. I know a man who is a gifted trumpet player. He plays with various groups and often plays in church worship services. I learned he has played the trumpet for over thirty years. He also teaches trumpet at a local university. When I asked, “At this point in your life, how much do you need to practice?” his response helped me understand the link between making music and discipleship. He told me “I know from experience that if I’m going to play to the best of the ability God has given me, I need to practice at least an hour every day. If I’m preparing for public performance, I need to practice two hours a day.” This musician understands that discipline and practice every day set him free to allow the music God has given him to play. This brings to mind a quote attributed to Aristotle, “The purpose of discipline is freedom.”

Making music, like discipleship, requires discipline and practice. The purpose of discipline and practice is to prepare the musician for public performance with other musicians. Whether music is played in small groups or a large orchestra it is essential that the players listen to one another and follow the leader.

Jazz is the music that has taught me the most about discipleship. Jazz is always played with at least two players and as many as 50 or 100. Jazz helps us understand discipleship because it is an expression of freedom and new possibilities. A typical performance begins with the band playing a familiar melody; each playing their distinct part. After two are three times through the song, one of the players begins to improvise on the melody. As he or she plays with the theme, each of the other members of the band play supporting chords. As each player takes a turn at improvisation, he or she is supported by the band. All this requires skilled and close listening to one another. This process of listening and mutual support sets each player free to play with the music and see where it can lead them. The goal is to allow the music to take them to new places and new possibilities. All the practice, discipline, listening, and mutual respect for the music and one another gives the musicians freedom to get out of the way and allow the music to play them.

The first image of a black hole was revealed to the public in 2019. The more I read and thought about this incredible accomplishment, the more I am amazed by what the scientists achieved. The black hole image was released to the public near the end of Lent, just before Holy Week, when I was thinking about Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Suddenly, it dawned on me the God who made the universe, including that black hole, became one of us in the man from Nazareth named Jesus. Think about it: that black hole is in a galaxy 55 billion light years away from planet Earth. The God who made black holes, galaxies, planets, moons, and stars also made you and me, That God chose to become one of us on a tiny planet in a corner of the Milky Way galaxy.

The God of the Universe chose Abraham and Sarah. They were old and childless. God chose them and promised they would become parents to generations. God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. … So Abram went as the Lord had told him” (Genesis 12:1-2, 4).

That God appeared in a burning bush to an exiled Hebrew shepherd named Moses. God said to Moses, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:7-8). That God chose to be the God of an enslaved people. That God led them from slavery to freedom in their own land.

God gave Moses the law to guide their life of freedom. The purpose of the law was to reveal to the world what true freedom looks like. The people were set free and blessed by God to be a blessing to the world. The law was love. The law God gave is summarized by two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind;” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Scripture tells us the people turned away from God’s law. They followed other gods. Their disobedience led them to oppress the poor, the widows, orphans, refugees, and foreigners. They put their own interests ahead of God’s law of love and didn’t listen to the prophets God sent to them. They turned away from God’s way of forgiveness, righteousness, and justice.

When the time was right, the God of the Universe entered this world in a new way through the womb of Mary, a poor, unmarried, Jewish girl from Nazareth, a dusty backwater at the edge of the Roman Empire (see John 1:46). Mary gave birth and named her son Jesus. Eugene Peterson, in his translation of the Bible, The Message, describes what God did through Mary as:

“The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish” (John 1:14).

She and Joseph, the carpenter, raised him as their son. Jesus, the maker of the universe, learned to make a living as a carpenter. He lived among his people, the Jews, who were conquered and oppressed by the Roman Empire. He learned the Scriptures from the rabbis in the synagogue and at the Jerusalem Temple.

When the time was right Jesus left home. He was baptized by John in the River Jordan. When he came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and he heard a voice say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness devoted to fasting and prayer, trying to understand who he is and what he was to do with his life. The Holy Spirit helped him understand his identity and mission.

Jesus emerged from the wilderness and went home, to Nazareth. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue, as was his habit, where he was invited to read the Scripture that described his mission:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).

He spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching good news of repentance, forgiveness of sin, and the coming Kingdom of God. Jesus’ life and ministry is summarized in the Great Thanksgiving:

Your Spirit anointed him
to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.

Jesus’ preaching and identification with the Kingdom of God caught the attention of his Roman imperial authorities. They worked with religious leaders who wanted to maintain their power and privilege. They conspired together to arrest and try Jesus on trumped up charges. Jesus was condemned as a common criminal and enemy of the state. He was sentenced to death by crucifixion.

Crucifixion was a form of execution reserved for common criminals and troublemakers. It was a terrible, humiliating way to die. And that was the point. The message sent was: if you question the authority and power of the Empire, and its religious collaborators, you will get the same.

The God who made the galaxies, stars, planets, and moons; the God who made mountains, oceans, rivers, lakes, and forests; the One who is the author of humankind and Lord of history entered Jerusalem at the beginning of that fateful week riding a donkey. Jesus, the Lord of lords and King of kings, could have entered Jerusalem riding a majestic stallion, like Caesar or Pilate.

Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, did not resist when he was arrested and unjustly tried. He did not strike back when the soldiers beat and mocked him. While dying on the cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Jesus, the Lord of planets, stars, galaxies, and black holes, turns upside-down what we are taught about power and authority. The world tells you if someone hits you, you hit back harder. Jesus said, “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5:39). Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45a).

On the cross Jesus took all the world’s sin upon himself. Your sins, my sins, all the sins of the entire world; past, present, and future were put to death in Jesus’ body hanging on the cross.

On the cross Jesus Christ destroyed the power of sin with the power of forgiveness. Charles Wesley describes what Jesus did when he wrote:

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

All sin is forgiven. Sin no longer has power over you or me. Because we are forgiven, we are free to repent, to turn away from sin, self-centered, disordered love and turn toward the good life God wants for us.

The resurrection of Jesus defeated the death’s power over humankind. The Lord of the Universe revealed that love is more powerful than fear and hate. Because Christ is risen, sin and death no longer reign. Their power is replaced by the power of God, which is the power of love; self-giving, self-emptying love.

Because Christ is risen from the dead, God gives us the grace we need to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of our sin.

Because Christ is risen, God the maker and Lord of the Universe, gives us freedom and power to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

Because Christ is risen, we confess Jesus Christ as our Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as Lord, in union with the church which Christ opened to people of all ages, nations, and races.

Because Christ is risen, we know God loves us. And because Christ is risen and God’s love and justice we are able to live as faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world (see Baptismal Covenant I, The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 34).

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!

From the cross, bleeding, near death, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

A few years earlier, at a wedding feast in Cana, the wine ran out. To save the host from embarrassment, Mary, Jesus’ mother, told him to help. So, being an obedient son, Jesus instructed some servants to fill six large containers with water. He then told one of the servants to take a dipper of the water to the wine steward. When the steward tasted he found it was the best wine he’d ever tasted! And there was more than enough for everyone.

Sometime later, Jesus sat alone, beside a well. A woman from the nearby town came to draw water. Jesus asked her for a drink. The ensuing conversation revealed much about Jesus and the woman. Jesus said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. … Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman left her water jar and hurried back to town to share the good news of Jesus the Christ. She became the first evangelist.

Today we encounter Jesus, the one who gives “living water” to the world, betrayed, abandoned by his friends, broken, and bleeding on a Roman cross. Today we confront the powers of sin and oppression that nailed Jesus, the Lord of life and love, to the cross. The powers and principalities cannot tolerate the living water God freely gives to the world. They conspired to divert and dry up the living water of God’s truth, love, and justice incarnate in Jesus Christ, with lies and violence.

Jesus was crucified because he told the truth. The kingdom of God is among us. Jesus came to testify to the powers of the world their days are numbered. The reign of God is revealed in his life and work:

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35).

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12; 9:5).

“I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14).

“I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-6).

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

“I am the true vine, you are the branches (John 15:5).

Jesus’ life and work reveal God and God’s reign. In him we see God’s desire for the world is life free from hunger, thirst, and fear. The way, the truth, and life of God revealed in Jesus is self-giving love, justice, and righteousness. His suffering, death and resurrection reveal to the powers of the world that love conquers death.

At the end of his life. After he’s been betrayed, humiliated, flogged, and nailed to the cross. His blood in puddles at the foot of his cross. Jesus gives one last “I am” statement: “I am thirsty.” The gospel writer tells us, “A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth” (John 19:29). Jesus fulfills Psalm 69:21, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

“I am thirsty.” From the cross, near death, Jesus thirsts for love, justice, and righteousness. These were absent from the proceedings that led to his crucifixion. The powers of fear, injustice, and empire are on the move today in Iran, Lebanon, Ukraine and wherever poor, refugee, and migrant peoples are denied love, justice, and righteousness.

When we hear Jesus exclaim from the cross, “I am thirsty,” he calls us to repent of our sin and to thirst for God; to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24); to remember we are baptized and serve as his representatives in the world.

Imagine this scene taking place in the kitchen of a posh Washington, D.C. hotel just around the corner form the White House: “The Secret Service contingent bustles through the door, suit coats bulging and index fingers holding their earpiece radio receivers in place. When all are in position, the agent by the door talks into his lapel: “Area secure. Cue “Royal One.” A man dressed in a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie, with familiar hair is escorted into the kitchen area. The hotel staff, mostly young women still learning a new language, flatten back against the wall or into corners, uncomfortable so close to power.

The President whispers to an aide, whose face registers visible consternation. Suits exit, return with folding chairs; a doorman on break interprets for the President. “He wants us to sit down and take off our shoes. He’s going to wash our feet!”

Far-fetched, you say? European kings and queens did it in the middle ages every Maundy Thursday, which is today. It was a way of holding royalty’s nose to the grindstone of the poor, and it symbolically overturned, if only for one day, the entire social order. Scullery maids wore the queen’s dresses, footmen the king’s robes. Amid this, how is holiness afoot? Who is this day’s Jesus?” (Homily Service, March 1994, page 57-8)

In his act of foot washing Jesus acted out the reality of God’s kingdom; where “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”; where those who would enter must become like little children; where even those who betrayed, denied, and abandoned Jesus are forgiven and welcomed as children of God.

When Jesus stripped down to his underwear, took a towel and basin and began to wash the feet of his disciples, he gave them and us a glimpse of life in his kingdom. His act of humility is a lesson to all who would follow him. He says as much in John 13:14-15 “I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” And in verse 17 Jesus says: “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” “... you are blessed if you do them.”

In his Last Supper Jesus teaches those who would follow him one final lesson about a life of grace. He knew this would be his last Passover meal with his friends. He knew that one of them would betray him. He knew that another would deny him. And he knew all of them would abandon him in his hour of greatest need. And yet on their final night together he humbled himself and wash their feet. All of them. Even Judas, the one who would hand him over for crucifixion. And his closest friend, Peter, who would deny him three times. Jesus washed each of them because he loved them, character flaws and all. What mattered was they were his friends and he was with them as a servant teaching them to serve and love one another as he loved them.

In the act of foot washing and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Christ gives us a window into the Kingdom of God. In these rituals that have been handed down through the centuries, Christ shares himself with us. That is what is meant by the words Jesus spoke in the upper room as he gave the bread and wine to his friends: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

The Greek word translated into English as “remembrance” is anamnesis. It’s a way of remembering through acting out the subject of remembrance. When Jesus says “Do this in remembrance of me.” he means he is with us when we gather at the table to give thanks, receive forgiveness, and share bread and wine. Because we do these things the Holy Spirit equips us to love and serve like Jesus in the world. When we do this in remembrance of Jesus we become able to “serve as Christ’s representatives in the world” (see Baptismal Covenant I, UMH 34).

Just as Jesus suffered and died for the world, the bread and wine is offered to all who come to receive it. This sacrament is for everyone because in it all receive forgiveness for sins. Christ gives the bread of life and sends us into the world to serve and love as Christ has loves.

John Wesley summarizes the power of the Lord’s Supper in his sermon, “The Means of Grace:”

And that this is also an ordinary, stated means of receiving the grace of God, is evident from those words of the Apostle (Paul), … “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion,” or communication,” of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16) Is not the eating of that bread, and the drinking of that cup, the outward, visible means, whereby God conveys into our souls all that spiritual grace, that righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which were purchased by the body of Christ once broken and the blood of Christ once shed for us? Let all, therefore, who truly desire the grace of God, eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

As you approach the table of Christ, remember the commandment he gave to his friends on that night when he was betrayed: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In this new commandment Jesus is telling his friends to love one another with the same love represented in the bread and cup. This is a crucified love; self-emptying and self-giving for one another and for the world God loves. In this commandment Jesus tells his followers to imitate him. This is why Jesus followers need the regular sustenance provided in the bread and cup of the Eucharist. The sacrament teaches the habits of love that equip disciples who desire to love like Jesus. The Eucharist teaches Christians the habits needed to love like Jesus: self examination, confession, forgiveness, and the humility required to receive forgiveness.

On Maundy Thursday Christ invites us to come to him to be cleansed, forgiven and fed. Christ invites us to come to him to be filled with his Spirit and sends us out to love as he loves us with a love that nailed to the cross.