Royal Wedding Represents Opportunity for Church

On the Friday after the 9-11 attacks, leaders of various sorts gathered in the Washington National Cathedral for a (mostly Christian) memorial service that also included leaders and speakers from various non-Christian faith traditions. The sermon, however, was delivered by the Reverend Billy Graham who, true to his calling, delivered a simple presentation of the Christian gospel to the many millions of viewers.

Now fast-forward 10 years: in April of next year, viewers around the world will tune in to watch a much happier ceremony at another famous gothic church-house of cathedral proportions:



NBC has recently speculated that the televised wedding of HRH Prince William of Wales and Miss Kate Middleton on April 29th next Spring could be watched by as many as one billion people across the world. Presumably, a great many of these people will be not only in the United Kingdom and Europe, but also in former British Colonies such as the USA, Canada, Australia and so on.

This wedding service at the ancient (founded circa A.D. 960) Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster, I believe, offers a unique opportunity not only for the Church of England but for the Christian message itself to gain a wider hearing with many of the people who have, for various reasons, turned away from the Christian faith and values of their fathers.

The question of how the ceremony will be handled remains: will the Christian content of the traditional wedding ceremony be allowed to stand or will it be watered down in favor of a more generic theism? Will the ceremony contain a homily and if so, will the preacher take full advantage of this opportunity to put forth the Christian faith in a way that will be comprehensible and compelling to post-Christian viewers?

No doubt more information about the details of the wedding will be coming in due course.
God willing, all of the planners on the Church of England's end will be aware of the opportunity that they have, not simply to lead in a dignified and beautiful royal wedding ceremony, but also to offer Christ in a winsome way to the whole world.

Your Kingdom Come...

A great many Christian Churches around the world will begin celebrating Advent next Sunday, which means today is the last Sunday of our Christian year: Christ the King Sunday. Today we celebrate the majestic One, who reigns as King and Lord over all creation - the one who poured himself out in love, who was crucified and raised. The Resurrection of Jesus is the decisive pledge that, when it comes to our broken politics and culture, economics and justice, his Kingdom of Love and Justice must ultimately have the final word. Praise God+

The video below features the great and stirring hymn, "Lo, He comes with Clouds Descending" written by Charles Wesley, the Anglican priest and early Methodist leader (along with his brother John and several others). This wonderful example of Methodist and Anglican spirituality is number 718 in The United Methodist Hymnal, and itself is also sung during Advent, a season which looks forward to the coming of the King.




A Prayer for Christ the King Sunday:

Almighty and everlasting God, it is your will to restore all things to Christ, whom you have annointed priest for ever and Ruler of creation. Grant that all the people of the earth, now divided by the power of sin, may be united under the glorious and gentle rule of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

(United Methodist Hymnal #721, adapted from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer p. 236)

NT Wright quote

Check out this post over at the Wesleyan/Anglican blog of Todd Stepp. It shares a great quote from N.T. Wright about God's accepting us as we are on the one hand and God's transforming our character just by loving us and calling forth our love of him on the other hand. This deep truth has implications not only for the Church's debates over sexual morality, but also over what it means for every aspect of our life to be "converted" and transformed by the grace of Christ, and brought under the reign of his Kingdom of Life.

I was blessed to attend a lecture by Bishop Wright this past Saturday at St. Matthew's Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas on this same topic.

Richard Hays on following Jesus

This is the video of Richard Hays' sermon upon being formally installed as the dean of United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School this Fall semester; it was delivered in Duke Chapel.



This is an important word for The United Methodist Church, and all churches, to hear. In our own communion, we have often lowered the bar of discipleship so far (in the name of being "inclusive") that the actual teachings of Jesus may begin to sound foreign and even repugnant to some of us. Perhaps all the more so if we've engaged in formal theological education.

In such cases we need to say, with the words of our own Liturgy, "we have failed to be an obedient church" and begin to learn again what it is to submit to the teachings of the Lord, knowing that this will stretch us, even cause us pain, but will ultimately lead us to Life.

Perhaps we should meditate upon this prayer from the Anglican tradition within which Methodism arose to begin with:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son did not go up to joy until first he suffered pain, and did not enter into glory until first he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Question: What can the local church realistically do right now to raise the bar of membership (so that includes expectations and discipleship)?