Biblical Interpretation in Today's World

 A few months ago the great Methodist scholar Dr. David Watson (my Greek teacher in seminary), gave this talk at the "Mere Methodism" Conference on Biblical interpretation.  It is called "Shadowboxing with Modernity."  As he says in a description of this talk, "The talk had to do with how we Methodists (and other Christians) should deal with the challenges posed by the intellectual currents of our present age. I zero in specifically on the interpretation of Scripture."

Gavin Ortlund on the Wesleyan/Methodist Revival

Gavin Ortlund is, without a doubt, my favorite Reformed Baptist clergyman YouTuber.  I really appreciate his charitable approach, intellectual rigor, and defenses both of Christian belief in general, and classical Protestantism as well.

I'm looking forward to the day when he sees the light on bishops and infant baptism.  

Here is a video that Ortlund did celebrating the early Methodist revival movement within the Anglican Church led by John and Charles Wesley.  It's a good video, especially in looking at the conditions in England before this 'awakening' and some of the lessons we might apply today.  

Since today is "Aldersgate day" - May 24th, when John Wesley had his "heart-warming" experience of assurance from the Holy Spirit that really sparked the revival - I commend it to you.  Today is a good day to remember just how much influence a Spirit-filled renewal can have on the whole of a society - and today is a good day to pray for another one.  

Is Baptism Required for Holy Communion?

 This video is inviting Christians - especially Methodists and Episcopalians - to wrestle with that question and (I hope) see the value of the traditional requirement of baptism to receive the Eucharist.

Rickman on alignment between Methodists and Anglicans

One of the recurring themes of this blog (and of my life) has been striving for greater unity among all Christians, and most especially among Methodists and Anglicans. 
I don't know if there are any two denominational traditions as close as to one another as these.

As a United Methodist pastor for many years, I loved to point out (and make good use of) those parts of our liturgy and heritage that were also found in the Anglican Prayerbook and traditions (as many older posts on this blog will attest). 
As an Anglican priest today I still hold a Wesleyan/Methodist soteriology and understanding of how grace unfolds in our lives, which I share in common with many other Anglicans (chief among them John and Charles Wesley, and more contemporary figures like Winnfield Bevins).

So, quite naturally, I've been interested in the nascent conversations between the new Global Methodist Church and the Anglican Church in North America.  As Providence would have it, Bishop Clark Lowenfield who ordained me to the priesthood has been one leader in these conversations. 

On the GMC side, one cheerleader for this conversation is Jeffrey Rickman over at his "PlainSpoken" podcast and YouTube Channel.  In this video he discusses the recently-elected archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America Steve Wood (the Archbishop is the "lead" bishop, who presides at Province-level meetings, functioning in some ways like the President of the Council of Bishops in the UMC).

From everything I've seen, I'm excited about Archbishop Steve's leadership and what it means for the Province going forward. 

Plainspoken Conversation on Bishops in the GMC

 Rev. Jeffery Rickman has done a good job raising awareness and highlighting issues within the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church (from his own perspective, of course).

In this video he talks with Rev. Chris Ritter about some of the "behind the scenes" movement and planning that went into the special UMC General Conference of 2019.  Ritter was involved in preparing 2 of the three plans that were considered by the 2019 General Conference.  The first half of this video discusses that history and how it played out with the UMC split.

The second half of the video discusses the proposals for the role of bishops within the new Global Methodist Church.  As I discussed in my last post I certainly believe in bishops, and see them as essential especially for the long-term movement toward reunion of the Christian churches.  With that in mind, I certain hope and pray that the Global Methodist church will indeed adopt (as the "Lambeth Quadrilateral" puts it) "The historic Episcopate, locally adapted." 

They also have a good discussion about what accountability will look like for GMC bishops. 

Why should a church have bishops?

 I believe in bishops.  I've had both really good and really bad experiences of Episcopal oversight, but experience is not what drives my belief system: the Bible interpreted through the historic church is.  That is why I believe in bishops.  

I know that this is an active topic of discussion among Methodists - and the Global Methodist Church in particular will decide later this year about whether to accept bishops at all and, if so, what sort of bishop it will be.

In this video I explain some of the reasons (there are others) why I think bishops are essential for the flourishing and especially for the unity of the whole church, and the congregations within it. 

Why I moved to the Anglican Church

Since leaving the United Methodist Church (UMC) last year I'm no longer attached to any Methodist or Wesleyan denomination.  Yet I still consider myself a Methodist/Wesleyan pastor in the way of John Wesley himself.  He was the founder of the Methodist movement, but never part of a Methodist denomination.  As a matter of fact, John Wesley remained a lifelong member (and priest) in the Anglican church and said explicitly that he hoped Methodists would remain an organized spiritual movement inside the Anglican church.  

For Wesley, being "Methodist" was about a theological and spiritual approach to pursuing holiness, not about being part of a denomination in the modern sense.  The sad reality is that it is perfectly possible to be have the word "Methodist" on the sign in front of a church, but have no living connection to the spirituality and aims of the early Methodist movement.      

Following Wesley's hopes, I've recently been received into the Anglican Church in North America and have been ordained in the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast.  Here is a video in which I go into detail about why and how I made that decision.   

5 Proofs of the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in Communion

Here is another video from the Rev. Dr. Jordan Cooper, of the Lutheran tradition.  Though the Anglicans and Methodists share in common a view of Christ's Real Presence in Communion that is not 100% identical with the Lutheran view, they are in fact pretty close (close enough that some Lutheran bodies are now in "full communion" agreements with both Methodist and Anglican churches).

What all these traditions do agree on (over against some Baptist and non-denomination traditions) is that, as Scripture clearly affirms, when we receive the consecrated elements of the Lord's Supper by faith, we truly receive the Body and Blood and Presence and Grace of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and renewal of our souls.  

How this works is understood in different ways, I am comfortable leaving it under the heading of "holy mystery".  I'm also comfortable with members within the same church holding (with humility) different understandings of how it works, so long as we strive not to contradict the teachings of Scripture.  

So, while not a Lutheran myself, I would actually concur with the arguments that Cooper makes in this video to demonstrate that the Real Presence in the Eucharist is, on a careful read of the text, a thoroughly Biblical teaching, and ought to be believed.  And that is to say nothing of this also being the undisputed teaching of the Ancient Church for many centuries after the age of the Apostles.  Who are we - separated by language, culture, and centuries - to know better than the early Church who shared the same language and culture as the New Testament writers themselves?

  

Evangelical Mis-understanding of Baptism

 Below is a great video from a Lutheran teacher, examining why the New Testament leads us to a sacramental understanding of baptism, in which we believe that God actually offers saving grace through and with the outward sign of water. 

John Wesley is notoriously difficult on baptism.  In some places, such as his Treatise on Baptism, he clearly affirms regeneration and justification are given through baptism; in other places, such as his Notes on the New Testament, he seems only willing to affirm a more modest and symbolic view (the Notes seem to me to be more theologically modest and generic as a general rule). 
In still other places, such as his Sermon "The New Birth" he seems to be skirting the line between a view that holds to baptismal regeneration (for infants) and a view that focuses more on a conversion experience as the point of regeneration (for youth and adults).

What Wesley is trying to hold together is a sacramental and an evangelical view of baptism.  The Sacramental view holds that God really gives saving grace through baptism (as in Romans 6, Titus 3, 1 Peter 3, and John 3), and the evangelical view holds that we really receive God's saving grace through personal faith (as in Galatians 3 and Ephesians 2).  Wesleyan theology - following the Articles or Religion of the Church of England - holds these together by insisting that, while the grace is always given in baptism, it is not fully received until we have faith, which might not (from our point of view) happen until a conversion experience years after our baptism.  

The point is that baptism is an outward and objective declaration of God's promises to us, that we can return to again and again and reclaim throughout our lives - or each day as was Martin Luther's habit.

All of this will run counter to the view - common down here in the American "Bible belt" - that baptism is no more than a symbol of our own profession of faith in Jesus.
The video below examines the major New Testament texts (he doesn't even get into the many Old Testament texts) that show why this "baptism as merely symbolic of our profession" view is not drawn from the Bible, but rather presupposed and then imposed upon it.  He brings forward many of the same texts and arguments that I would use to make the case that Baptism not only symbolizes, but also effectually offers to us cleansing and renewing grace.

  

Practices of the early Methodists

 

How I came to a Sacramental view of Baptism

 Embracing a Sacramental view of Communion was pretty straight-forward once I started reading more of the Bible, but it took a bit longer to come around on Baptism. 

The Wesley Study Bible NRSV review

 Here is my review of the Wesley Study Bible.  It is a decent Study Bible that Wesleyans and Methodists will find useful, though it is a bit "light" and needs both more consistent editing and many more features if it wants to be a really good-to-great Study Bible.

Another good Study Bible (better in many respects) from a Wesleyan perspective if the Reflecting God Study Bible in the NIV translation (of 1984).

Grace, "Means of Grace," and Sacrament in Wesleyanism

 

Summarizing the Wesleyan Message

 

Authority in Wesleyan Theology

 Today is, I believe, John Wesley's birthday; so it is a good day to publish this one as I'm trying to "catch up" on updating this blog with my YouTube content. 

Morning Prayer for Anglicans and Methodists

A detailed look at the Daily Office of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, John Wesley's revision of the Prayerbook, and how it continues to influence United Methodist liturgy.

The Daily Office & John Wesley's Common Prayer Book Revision

 This video is an introduction to the spiritual discipline of "The Daily Office" or "The Divine Hours", with a focus on the Biblical foundations of the practice, the practice of the Church of England in Wesley's day, and how the Daily Office was revised and passed along to the Methodists by John Wesley.

"Real Presence" and the Prayer of Humble access in Methodist liturgies

Have the Methodists actually remained Wesleyan when it comes to how our prayers express our faith in the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in Holy Communion?

Well, yes...but...

In our official liturgies (and our informal acts of worship), I think there has sometimes been a tendency to downplay the real presence of Christ or any sense that we are really feeding (in a spiritual manner) on his body and blood, as is stated in our Articles of Religion (Article XVIII).

A great example of this tendency away from our original "high" sacramental theology is seen in the changes to the classic "Prayer of Humble Access." 

This prayer draws upon the very vivid - some disciples even thought TOO vivid, even scandalous - language that Jesus uses in John chapter 6.  This prayer is included in the various editions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (BCP) beginning with the original BCP of 1549 compiled by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and John Wesley retained it (from the 1662 BCP) without any change at all when he prepared the original Sunday Service book of the Methodists: 

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.  But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.  Amen.

The theology here fits well with our Articles of Religion and such Charles Wesley hymns as "Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast," as well as other writings of John Wesley on Holy Communion. 

But the actual request (in italics) of this prayer was apparently TOO vivid for some Methodists as well (perhaps we'd spent too much time with the Baptists at the big tent revivals), for in The Book of Worship of 1944 we see this new version of the prayer, which represents a much "lower" sacramental theology: 

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.  But thou art the same Lord, whose mercy is unfailing: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to partake of these memorials of thy Son Jesus Christ, that we may be filled with the fullness of his life, may grow into his likeness, and may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.  Amen.

This prayer represents a dramatic shift away from the "Real Presence" view of Holy Communion held by Wesley (and Anglicans more generally) toward a "Memorialism" view of the Supper, which is the view held by Baptists, that the signs of bread and wine merely remind us of Jesus' sacrifice and inspire our piety. 

However, during the 20th Century, United Methodists were influenced by the Liturgical Renewal, the Ecumenical movement, and also an attempt (led by Albert Outler and others) to recover a more authentically Wesleyan approach theology.  So the UMC's HYMNAL of 1989 gives us the new liturgies in modern English that much more clearly express a "Real Presence" theology, though they do not include The Prayer of Humble Access (or the accompanying Agnus Dei).  

At the same time, the "Traditional language" liturgy (on p.30) gives us a version of the Prayer of Humble Access that is a bit of a compromise, capable (at least at first glance) of being interpreted in either a more "Memorialist" OR a more "Real Presence" manner.  It is an improvement over the 1944 prayer, but does not return to the 'scandalous' language of Wesley's original Sunday Service book:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.  But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to partake of this Sacrament of thy Son Jesus Christ, that we may walk in newness of life, may grow in his likeness, and may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.  Amen.

Basically, the word "memorials" has been replaced with "Sacrament" with a couple of other minor changes.  This opens up the possibility that the phrase could be interpreted as "the sacrament that reminds us of Jesus Christ" (Memorialism) or "the Sacrament that is filled with & conveys the presence of Jesus Christ" (Real Presence).  However, the use of the word "Sacrament" makes the Real Presence interpretation more natural, since a Sacrament is traditionally defined as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace that conveys the grace that it signifies."

This is where the prayer stands in our official liturgy at present.

I propose adding one further change: adding the words "of the body and blood of" after the word "Sacrament".  So here is how it would read (in a bit more modernized English): 

We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord who always delights in showing mercy.  Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to partake of this Sacrament of the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ, that we may walk in newness of life, may grow into his likeness, and may evermore dwell in him and he in us.  Amen.

This is not a return to the full blown "eat the flesh" language of Wesley's original Prayerbook (and John chapter 6), but I believe that the petition "grant us...so to partake of this Sacrament of the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ..." is nevertheless a significant step in a more Wesleyan direction, and more clearly articulates a theology of Christ's "real presence" and of "spiritually feasting on his Body and Blood" as explained in our Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith.

If there is a liturgical revision or a new Hymnal/Worship Book after the (apparently) looming schism, I hope that something like this prayer (along with the Agnus Dei) will be included in all of the Communion Services.  

It is the Wesleyan thing to do. 

The Courage to see enemies with grace

 Sunday Service for February 28th

The Great Litany in Wesley's Prayerbook

 A look at the long and strong prayer, called the Litany, from The Book of Common Prayer and which John Wesley also included in his own Sunday Service Book.