For God's Sake....

In 1746, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, published Vol. I of Sermons on Several Occasions. This was the first time his own sermons were made accessible in print, which made them available for a wider audience to both benefit from and criticize. In his Preface to this volume, Wesley wrote:

But some may say, I have mistaken the way myself, although I take upon me to teach it to others. It is probable many will think this, and it is very possible that I have. But I trust, whereinsoever I have mistaken, my mind is open to conviction. I sincerely desire to be better informed. I say to God and man, “What I know not, teach thou me!”

Are you persuaded you see more clearly than me? It is not unlikely that you may. Then treat me as you would desire to be treated yourself upon a change of circumstances. Point me out a better way than I have yet known....But be not displeased if I entreat you not to beat me down in order to quicken my pace: I can go but feebly and slowly at best; then, I should not be able to go at all. May I not request of you, further, not to give me hard names in order to bring me into the right way. Suppose I were ever so much in the wrong, I doubt this would not set me right. Rather, it would make me run so much the farther from you, and so get more and more out of the way. 

Nay, perhaps, if you are angry, so shall I be too; and then there will be small hopes of finding the truth. If once anger arise....For God’s sake, if it be possible to avoid it, let us not provoke one another to wrath. Let us not kindle in each other this fire of hell; much less blow it up into a flame....For, how far is love, even with many wrong opinions, to be preferred before truth itself without love! We may die without the knowledge of many truths, and yet be carried into Abraham’s bosom. But, if we die without love, what will knowledge avail? Just as much as it avails the devil and his angels!

Our denomination is facing a "change of circumstances" today. I don't refer to changes in our Book of Discipline, but rather to our inability to continue to live together with the rules we have in place. Many have worked long and hard to change these rules, and despair that we will ever do so. Others have worked long and hard to ensure the rules do not change, and despair that we will ever be free from this fight.

What will this change of circumstances bring? This blog represents my attempt to keep my congregation, and others who wish to follow, informed on what is happening in the United Methodist Church. I pray that we may, as a denomination, be able to find a new way with humility and love, as Wesley once desired.