Out the Door

New Social Creed

A new social creed for the United Methodist Church will be brought before the General Conference in April for consideration.  Since the time of John Wesley, Methodist have believed in the connection between personal holiness and social holiness.  Witnessing to this connection should be one of the real strengths of the United Methodist Church. 

However, one of the problems facing United Methodist today arises out of forgetting who we are.  Some within the denomination stress the need for personal holiness lived out in connection with Christ.  Others stress the need for social holiness lived out in connection with God's creation.  Neither side provides a complete picture.  I long for the day when we as a denomination can rediscover both  need for personal holiness and well as social holiness. 

Those on the personal holiness side have something to teach those on the social holiness side about how God can transform individuals lives by the power of His Word.  As the Statement of Faith of Korean Methodist Church puts it, We believe in the Word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments as the sufficient rule both of faith and of practice.  UM Hymnal # 884

Those on the social holiness side have something to teach those on the personal holiness side about God's call to care for those marginalized and abused by society.  In the words of A Modern Affirmation, We believe that this faith should manifest itself in the service of love as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord, to the end that the Kingdom of God may come upon the earth.  UM Hymnal # 885

Won't it be a wonderful, unifying thing if a new creed would be written that affirmed the need for both personal holiness and social holiness?  Too bad the proposed Social Creed doesn't do that.

Proposed Social Creed

God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ, calls us by grace that we may be one in divine love for the world.to be renewed in the image of our Creator,

Today is the day
God cares for the integrity of creation,
wills the healing and wholeness of all life, weeps at the plunder of earth's goodness

And so shall we.

Today is the day
God embraces all hues of humanity,
delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.

And so shall we.

Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people,
despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.

And so shall we.

Today is the day
God deplores violence in our homes and streets,
rebukes the world's warring madness,
humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.

And so shall we.

Today is the day
God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace,
celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,
exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.

And so shall we.

     Today is the day
     God brings good news to the poor,
     proclaims release to the captives,
     gives sight to the blind, and
     sets the oppressed free.
    And so shall we.

What's the Big Deal with the Reconciling Network?

This week's edition of the Iowa Conference Midweek Update included a story about a Cedar Falls church affiliating with the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN).  I'm trying to figure out why the Conference's Communications office would want to pass along this divisive action.  And what's the big deal with the RMN anyway?  Why should anyone care what this minuscule group of people who reject United Methodist doctrine does?

According to the article there are over 18,000 members of the RMN.  Let's put that into perspective.  That amounts to about two tenths of one percent (0.2%) of all the United Methodist in the US.  Any time they make the news it's definitely a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil.  There is no reason at all that such a tiny minority of people should have much influence within the church.  They are the mouse that roars.

In comparison, the Confessing Movement of the UMC which seeks to uphold the doctrinal standards outlined in the Book of Discipline boasts 681,825 Confessing individuals, including 1,535 Confessing Churches and 5,355 Confessing Pastors.  That's nearly 40 times the membership of the RMN.

In order to combat the divisiveness that the RMN and its members try to inflict upon the UMC, one must remember that they are an insignificant number of very loud individuals who would impose their heretical beliefs upon the church.  Just as the Church has had to stand against heresy in the past proposed by a minority, so the UMC today must stand against those who would lead the church away from God's Word.

Religion and Politics

Every four years, the debate over the role of religion in the political arena flares up.  David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, and author of The Future of Faith in American Politics opined in USA Today about the connection between Evangelicals and the Republican Party.

He writes:  Conservative evangelicals are getting wrong both how they are bringing their faith to bear on politics and what they are saying when they do. 

The "how" problem, among other things, is that they are married to the Republican Party and have therefore compromised the political independence of Christianity and the church. This is a huge mistake, an error of biblical proportions, because it verges on idolatry — after all, "You shall have no other gods before me."

One obvious sign of this was the assumption in the Christian Right that its leaders would endorse a Republican presidential candidate — that it was just a matter of which of those GOP gentlemen was the best Christian choice. Endorsing a Democrat was and is inconceivable.  Read more.

While Gushee makes some valid points here, he fails to consider why these things are true.  The fact of the matter is that Evangelicals know that any Democrat presidential candidate who stands a chance of getting their party's nomination must be opposed to issues that most Evangelicals hold dear.  A Democrat candidate must be anti-pro-life, anti-traditional marriage, anti-school choice if he or she hopes to draw the party faithful.  It matters little what a Democrat candidate favors because few Evangelicals will abandon these core values.  Thus Evangelicals, in our two party system, are left with only one other choice, the Republicans.  These limited choices result in individuals voting against a candidate rather than in favor of one.   

If the day ever comes when a candidate can hold in balance the values of Evangelicals while looking for ways the government can solve the problems of poverty, education, global warming, and war that person would win in a landslide.

Top 5 Posts

I'm joining with my sisters and brothers in the Methoblogosphere in listing my top 5 posts for 2007.

In Defense of Free Speech

Charity by Poxy

My Least Favorite Fruit

First of Many Lasts

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

A Christmas Miracle

New Sharon UMC held their first ever Christmas Miracle Offering on December 23.  I had invited the congregation to remember whose birthday Christmas celebrates and to give a gift to Jesus equal to amount they spent on buying gifts for others.  Jesus was represented by the people who benefit from the ministry of Safe Water International Ministries.

In one of God's mysterious ways, we had some friends stop by our house the day after Christmas.  Barb told us about the experience her sister, a physicians assistant, had in Kenya a few months ago.  Nancy was in Africa as part of a medical missionary team.  While there were many cases of AIDS and other deadly diseases, the majority of the patients she treated came into the clinic because of a water-borne illness.  That's not surprising since 50% of all the hospital beds in the world are occupied by people who became sick because they drank unsafe water. 

The vast majority of these cases and others like them around the world are easily prevented.  Safe Water International Ministries builds and delivers a simple devise which runs off a 12 volt battery.  The choline producing unit (CPU) using table salt and a little water to make choline, an effective sanitizing element.  The cost of each unit is $250.

Here's where the Christmas Miracle is seen.  Through the grace of God and the generosity of His people, the New Sharon UMC raised enough money to purchase 48 CPU's.  In other words, that's $12,000 which individuals gave through a single offering to provide for the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters.  Relatively speaking about amounts to nearly 5% of the congreation's annual budget. 

It's amazing what God can do when His people are called to faithfulness.  If anyone reading this would like more information on SWIM or how the Christmas Miracle Offering was presented to the congregation, please contact me.  Who knows what miracles God might have in store?