Theology

A prayer for the new year: Wesley’s Covenant Prayer

For countless years of my youth, I was at Conyers First United Methodist Church on New Year’s Eve.

Each year, the youth group at my home church hosted a lock-in on New Year’s Eve. These long nights were filled with lip-singing contests (I won many of these), games that involved us running through a huge dark church, pizza, and a pancake breakfast on New Year’s day. It seems like every year there was also a broken stained glass window discovered the Sunday after.

While vague memories of those fun times have lingered, I’ll never forget being in the sanctuary when the clock struck 12:00 each year.

We didn’t have a fancy service. We would gather in the sanctuary, which was always filled with a little more mystery without the sun-lit stained glass and loud organ present. Typically, we would sing worship songs played off of the latest WOW Worship CD. Our youth minister would give a short message. Then, we would sit in the pews and pray as the New Year arrived.

I don’t remember many specifics of my prayers on those evenings. But I always remember feeling the transcendent presence of God in the darkened space. I also remember asking myself this question each year: “Am I closer to God this year as compared to last year?” Some years this question was very convicting. Other years it led me to celebration.

Little did I nor the youth minister know that our gathering in the sanctuary on New Year’s Eve was a Methodist tradition that began years before.

In 1755, John Wesley began leading Covenant Renewal services. These services were times in which people would remember the covenant made at their baptism–a covenant to serve God with all one’s heart and soul. Wesley found that these services were very encouraging and powerful for everyone involved, and soon they began being held in numerous Methodist societies.

Over time, many British Methodist churches began to hold these services on New Year’s Day or the first Sunday of the year since these were natural times of renewing commitments. These services continue with regularity in British Methodism today. While only a small number of congregations in America hold these services each new year, the order of worship for a Covenant Renewal service can be found on page 288 of the UMC Book of Worship.

One of the most powerful aspects of the service is the “Wesley Covenant Prayer.” While John Wesley admitted that he was not the originator of this prayer, it has served as a powerful tool for spiritual formation in the Methodist church over the last two centuries.

Throughout my first six months of ministry I have prayed this prayer regularly in the mornings in order to help orient my heart for the day. I plan to continue to pray it throughout this new year, and I’d like to invite you to pray this prayer with me as well.

The Wesley Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Click here for a PDF of this prayer that you can easily print. This is a great prayer to have around, so cut it or fold it in half and place it in your bible or somewhere where you will see it regularly.

January 1, 2013 by Jonathan 4 Comments

A Christmas Sermon :: Light into Darkness

Yesterday was the first Christmas Eve that I spent away from my home church. While I was away from old friends and family, I was gathered with new friends and a new church family at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church. There, I had the privilege of preaching my first ever Christmas Eve sermon at our 11:00 Candlelight Communion service. I hope that my message based on John 1:1-14 will bless you this Christmas day.

For more Christmas eve sermon material, you can find 14 Christmas Sermon Illustrations on my blog as well.

Light into Darkness

All of us celebrate Christmas in our own special way. For 15 or so years of my life, my whole family traveled from Conyers to Buckhead, unloaded at Phipps Plaza, and then waited in line together so that my brothers and I could tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas. One of my friend’s families goes and eats at the Varsity before heading to church every Christmas eve. This eleven o’clock service, a service that is truly set on a silent night when few cars roam the streets, may be a Christmas tradition for you. And tomorrow is when most of the celebration happens. Some houses have gifts waiting by the chimney from Santa, other houses only have a few gifts but they have lots of laughter and long conversations. Many of you will take naps, I’ll likely go see a movie in the evening, and one member of the church told me that on Christmas night her and her family go to Hooters for fried pickles and wings. We really all do remember the day of Christmas in our own special ways.

And the gospel writers are no different than we are. As they wrote biographies, stories that attempted to showcase the identity and significance of Jesus, they each remembered Christmas – the day that Jesus entered this world – in their own special ways.

Matthew tells us about Joseph who was visited by an angel who informed him about the son his wife was going to give birth to, and he tells us about the Magi who recognized the baby Jesus as King of the Jews once he was born.

Mark’s gospel actually doesn’t mention anything about Jesus’ birth. Instead, he begins his story about Jesus with John the Baptist — Jesus’ cousin who prepared the way for him by preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke gives us the classic Christmas story that I’ve acted out in many pageants, and you’ve likely heard, many times before. Luke tells of angels visiting Mary and her sister Elizabeth letting them know that they’re going to bear children. Then he tells us—you probably know the King James Version of this line — “It came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” And we hear how there was no room for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem so they gave birth to Jesus and placed him in a manger. And who can forget the shepherds who heard the great news of the Savior’s birth while they were abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And then there comes John’s gospel which we heard a few minutes ago. He doesn’t mention angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, or wise men. John assumes that we already know those stories. And instead of retelling them from his perspective, he gives us an introduction to his story about Jesus that is full of poetry, images, and metaphors. And all of them help summarize the significance of Jesus’ mission and entrance into the world.

And it’s the apostle John who gives us one of the clearest images of what Christmas is all about. It’s an image that has its roots in Old Testament prophecies. It’s an image that Jesus himself used to describe his mission. It’s an image that we celebrated earlier this evening with the lighting of the Christ candle. And it’s an image of the good news that we will walk out of here remembering and proclaiming tonight.

John reminds us that at Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus is the light of the world who came to extinguish all darkness.

John’s introduction to his gospel helps us understand this image. He starts off with the same words that begin Genesis, “In the beginning….”

But instead of giving us a detailed account of how the world came into being, John tells us this: In the beginning was the Word. Now, the Word may be thought of as “the active agent through whom God created the world.” [Oden, 255] And John continues by telling us that this Word was with God in the beginning, and the Word was God. 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.

Here, in this poetic language John points us to one of the deepest mysteries of the Christian faith: the Trinity—the reality that there is one God made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that all of three of these persons have existed for all time. And here in in the opening sentences of his biography of Jesus, John reminds us that Jesus was present at creation, he isn’t merely a man who had a humble birth in a stable. Jesus is God.

And it was at creation that Jesus gave light and life to all people, for even at that time, he was the light of the world. And in the beginning, the world was full of life, it was full of light. God the Father through Jesus created humanity in his image so that we could be in relationship with him. He made us stewards over all of creation. And he created us to be in relationship with other people. Everything was good and full of light.

If the story stopped there, we wouldn’t be here celebrating Jesus’ birth today. We know that everything didn’t remain as God created it. Instead, Adam and Eve broke relationship with God when they disobeyed him. Immediately, they knew that what they had done was not right, so they went and hid in the darkness so that they wouldn’t have to face God. But God sought them out because he didn’t want them to be in the shadows, living in darkness. He told them that he loved him, and ever since then he has been trying to have his children live in the light rather than the darkness. But humans have continued to separate themselves from the light of God. We have exchanged our relationship with God for relationships with idols, we have not been good stewards of creation, and we have not loved those around us. We have chosen to separate ourselves from the light God gave us, and instead live in darkness.

For thousands of years God tried to help his people move back into the light. He gave the people of Israel light through the law and through his covenant promises, but they continued to live in darkness and disobedience. So through the prophets he promised his people a Messiah, a Savior, a liberator who would shine light into the darkness and enable people to walk in light.

And in the fullness of time, God sent his only son Jesus into the world to fulfill these roles. On the very first Christmas day, Jesus was born into a world of darkness so that he could bring an end to darkness. And the darkness was thick. The first Christmas wasn’t as peaceful as Hallmark cards often depict it. Soon after he was born, King Herod murdered all the babies who were two years old and under in the region in hopes that he would kill baby Jesus in the process. Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor during Jesus’ day regularly beat groups of people who opposed his rule into submission. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was ridiculed, questioned, and hated by many of his own Jewish brothers and sisters. But none of this stopped him from completing the mission he came to fulfill.

Jesus was God present as a man in the world. He was a prophet who revealed to humanity how we could live alongside of one another and love each other. He was a friend to the outcasts of society—the women, the prisoners, the hungry, the lepers, and all those who were deemed sinners by others. He was the light of the world shining light into the darkness. But as John tells us, when Jesus was in the world many of his own people who were living in darkness did not accept him. They didn’t want to receive light. So they crucified Jesus on a cross hoping to extinguish the light he radiated once and for all.

But God had other plans. God lovingly used Jesus’ death on the cross as an all-sufficient sacrifice that was owed to him because of humanity’s sin. This provided a way for the darkness of sin to be extinguished from the world. And three days after he died, Jesus conquered the darkness of death by rising from the grave. He ascended into heaven from where he originally came, and now he reigns there over his kingdom.

This is the story of the world that the church believes and teaches, but it isn’t always clear where we fit into this story and how it continues today.

Connecting Our Story to God’s Story

At times we’re tempted to think that everything is now okay in the world, that people are basically good, that things are a lot better along than they have been throughout history, and that perhaps if we all just tried to be a little nicer to each other, then this world would be as good as it can be.

But then someone walks into an elementary school with a gun and murders twenty-six people who were looking forward with excitement to Christmas break. Your spouse tells you that they don’t think they can continue in the marriage anymore. Your father dies. A friend talks about you behind your back. You find out that your child is addicted to drugs. Or maybe you wake up one day and realize that you’re addicted to something. Or you begin to hate yourself because of regrets that lie in your past.

It’s in those moments that we know that everything isn’t okay in the world. We know that darkness is still present. And we’re left wondering how these things happen in the world even after Jesus, the prince of peace, entered it at Christmas.

A Dark Prison Cell

I think a metaphor from Dietrich Bonhoeffer may be helpful here. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who was arrested during World War II because of his resistance to Hitler’s regime. While many church leaders in Germany gave in to Hitler and went along with him, Bonhoeffer stood strong with only a few others. He was also an amazing theologian who left behind many writings, some of which are his letters from prison written to those on the outside.

In a letter dated November 21, 1943 Bonhoeffer wrote, “Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent: one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other—things that are really of no consequence—the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside.” [Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger]

Life in a dark prison cell. I think that this is a great way to think about the situation of humanity. Before Jesus came there was only a sliver of light entering the cell through the bottom of the door. People were living in great darkness without the possibility of escape. But then one day, Christmas day, the door was opened from the outside, Jesus came into the cell. He lived with those inside in the midst of their darkness. He told them about a new world that was outside that they could experience if they would only follow him out the door. He told them that it was infinitely better than anything they’d experienced up until that point.

Some listened and trusted him. But others kicked him out of the cell. They were used to the darkness and were content with it. They had become so used to living in the cell that they couldn’t imagine anything better awaited them elsewhere.

After Jesus was kicked out of the cell some of the people who trusted him followed the path to the way out. These followers of Jesus discovered a new world outside of the darkness of the cell—a world full of light, peace, love, faith, hope, and joy. And so they ran back into the cell to tell others the good news. They told the others inside that they should trust the Jesus guy who came and opened the cell and follow his path out the door into the light. They were witnesses to the light and the amazing new life that came along with it. And while many people did follow them out, many chose to remain in the dark cell – a cell that they had grown used to, a cell that their eyes had adjusted to.

This cell is like the world we continue to live in, and the church is that body of messengers who constantly return to the cell by the power of the Holy Spirit to let others know that they can be free from darkness because of God’s great gift to them.

Our Response

Today we celebrate that God did not leave us in the dark cell but sent his only Son to come identity with us and our situation, and show us the way towards light and new life. And we also look with great expectation to the day in which Jesus will come again in this world and complete his work of extinguishing all darkness, for we know that the darkness will never be able to overcome the light.

John tells us the way out of the cell. John tells us that all who receive Jesus—all who believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, the light of the world sent to save us from our sins—all those who believe will receive the forgiveness of sins, the power to become children of God, and the assurance of life forever with God.

This is the good news of Christmas.

And if you haven’t ever believed in Jesus as the Savior of this world and the Savior of your life, then there is no better time than on this day in which we celebrate his entrance into our world.

And if you have believed in Jesus and followed him to light and new life, then tonight you have the opportunity to ask God to search your heart, reveal to you the darkness that still resides there, and to send his Holy Spirit to fill it with light. And you also have a mission. You’re called to go and tell others about the light of the world and the freedom he brings. You’re called to carry the light of Christ into the world so that others may receive the greatest gift on earth.

The Table

I don’t know if you’ve ever met some of the men from Phillip’s Transitional Center who are on their way out of the prison system. They’re in a transitional program so many of them are allowed to work and attend church, but they must go back and sleep behind bars each night. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had the amazing privilege at our 8:15 service of celebrating with a few of these guys who are set to be released within just a few days. Many of them are filled with a nervous excitement—they’re nervous about what life will be like on the outside and excited about their new freedom. They usually have huge smiles on their faces when we stand up and celebrate them in worship. And one of the first things I know they do when they get home is to go share a meal with their family and friends celebrating their new life.

Well, tonight, we have the opportunity to share a meal around this table with family and friends. We have the opportunity to celebrate with joy the new life we have because the Word decided to take on flesh and set us free from darkness. My prayer for you this Christmas Eve is that Christ would come into each of your lives in a new way as we gather around his table and that you would depart from this place carrying light into a world that so desperately needs it.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

You may also enjoy: 14 Christmas Sermon Illustrations

December 25, 2012 by Jonathan 9 Comments

5 things I’ve learned from taking a Sabbath day

My senior year of college the campus ministry I was a part of began encouraging its leaders to take a dedicated time of intentional rest, a Sabbath, each Sunday.

When I heard that some of my friends were doing this, I thought, “That’s great for them. But I don’t have time for a day of rest.” My social life, involvement in clubs on campus, part time job, and academic career kept me extremely busy. And on our college campus Sunday was the day everyone could easily put in numerous hours of uninterrupted academic work at the library. I felt threatened by the idea of taking a day off. I’d lose a day of productivity. I’d fall behind others academically. I’d look lazy. So I didn’t take time for a Sabbath day while an undergraduate.

I was rewarded for all of my hard undergrad academic work with a scholarship to seminary. In one of my first classes there, Introduction to Christian Spirituality taught by Lauren Winner, we talked a lot about the idea of Sabbath. Some budding theologians argued that this intentional time of rest had to be on Sunday as it was put forth in creation and Exodus. Others argued that the pattern of intentional rest called for in the bible could be lived out in chunks of time on whatever day(s) you chose. Either way, while most of us thought about the meaning of a Sabbath, few of us lived it out.

Now I’m serving as an Assistant Pastor at a church. For the first time in my life I’ve begun a regular practice of Sabbath each week. God’s grace and my fear of becoming another burned-out or scandal-ridden pastor helped prompt this change.

Here are some things I’ve been learning in my first five months of Sabbath taking:

1. Sabbath is “a time of being in the midst of a life of doing.”

This line, taken from Awakening Grace, sums up the idea of Sabbath. Sabbath is a time of shifting our attention from everything we are busy doing in the world to being present with God—our creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Being present with God here doesn’t necessarily mean spending 8 hours in prayer. It means living in a way that intentionally reflects who God is, what God has done, and what God will do.

2. Sabbath is a time of being content with God’s sovereignty.

Friday is typically my day of Sabbath. Often this is difficult because there are tasks to be done and sermons to be written. But when I step away from all the work that could be done and rest, it is a living reminder that God is sovereign. I’m able to see more clearly that God’s Kingdom is not going to come about because of my individual efforts. I’m able to see that the church and the world won’t fall apart without me. And these revelations help me to not take myself and my work so seriously that I forget to enjoy God and other relationships that are in my life.

3. Sabbath is a time of being reminded that God loves us without regard to what we accomplish.

In the work place, school, athletic field, home, and church we’re tempted to think that what we do and produce gives our lives their ultimate value. In creating the Sabbath, God reminds us that he is what gives ultimate meaning and value to our lives and this world. When I practice Sabbath, I’m reminded that God’s grace is not something to be earned but a gift to be received.

Martin Luther summarized this well when he said, “The spiritual rest which God especially intends in this commandment is that we not only cease from our labor and trade, but much more—that we let God alone work in us and that in all our powers do we do nothing of our own.”

4. Sabbath is a time of being intentional.

If I didn’t guard my days of rest, then they wouldn’t happen. People try to schedule things on these days and I feel internal pressure to accomplish my undone to-do list. As a pastor whose biggest day of responsibility comes on Sunday, I intentionally wrap up urgent items late on Thursday and push everything else to Saturday. On Fridays, I typically let my body rest by sleeping late—one of my favorite past times. Then I try to do something that energizes my soul like taking photos of nature, exercising, calling old friends, spending time with friends in the area, or exploring the new community I live in.

5. Sabbath is a time of being a witness to a different way of life in the world.

Before this year, I was always envious of people who took a regular Sabbath. I wanted to be able to rest like they were, to trust God’s ways of doing things, and to escape the world that taught me that every second not being productive was a second wasted. I’ve begun to escape, but each week I’m tempted to go back to the place where I was. Often I have to remind myself that I’m being watched as a pastor and that the world is watching us as Christians. When we live a different pattern of life—remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy—we testify that God has ordered this world, work is not our master, and our lives are not our own.

334263_677629383404_430998078_o — A photo from one of my Sabbath days this summer. Dawsonville, GA

If you’ve ever tried taking a Sabbath, you already know that this pattern of life isn’t easy. We need each other to help live it out. I’m still trying to figure out what Sabbath looks like in my own life. And I hope you will join me so that we can grow together.

What are some ways that you keep a Sabbath?
What have some of your challenges been?

Further resources:

“Sabbath Keeping, it’s about time” – J.D. Walt

“Sabbath” in Awakening Grace – Matt LeRoy & Jeremy Summers – This is a great new book that covers a number of other Christian practices as well.

November 30, 2012 by Jonathan 5 Comments

Things John Wesley never said

This is the second post in a series: “Wesley – The man, the myth, the legend“

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can.”

“Set yourself on fire with passion and people will come for miles to watch you burn.”

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.

“Be present at our table Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. Thy creatures bless and grant that we, may feast in paradise with Thee. Amen.”

People regularly attribute these four quotes to John Wesley. You may have seen them on t-shirts, printed on materials in your church, used them in your sermons, or tweeted them out.

Yet, none of them were written by John Wesley, and there is no record that he said any of them either.

Mis-quotes like these have great staying power. “Wesley’s Rule” (Do all the good you can…) was first attributed to John Wesley in 1904 and has found its way into quote books ever since.

The internet has only helped spread such mis-quotes further. Although we now have better access than ever to historical archives, the abundance of information online leads many of us to trust information that is repeated often and communicated by people we respect. The “set yourself on fire” quote is a particular favorite in the twittersphere due to its length, which is < 140 characters. See the latest tweets and how they all seem to somehow modify this fake quote here.

The above information may make some of you feel the same way you did on the day when your elementary school friend told you that he saw his parents sneak into his room and place a half-dollar under his pillow after losing a tooth.

For consolation, I offer a word from a scholar who has spent his life debunking Wesley myths and providing the church and academy with new insights about the great man of faith. Heitzenrater has written, “Many of the quotations cited to Wesley simply sound like something he might have said or written, rather than being something he actually expressed.”

See, even the expert cuts you some slack for believing them.

Mis-quotes like the ones above may not be true in the historical sense, but often they align with principles found throughout Wesley’s writings that we can apply to our world today. Doing good, being full of passion for the gospel, exhibiting charity to others, and giving blessings for God’s gifts to us are all great things Wesley that Wesley promoted.

Even so, as I mentioned in the first post in this series, we must be wary of re-creating Wesley for our own purposes. Cherry picking quotes from his works—quotes that may be way out of context or even historically inaccurate—are a quick and easy way to fall into this trap.

Below is a portion of an interview I did with Richard Heitzenrater where we discussed his encounters with misinformation associated with Wesley. Here, he discusses some of the most common items he comes across and how he has handled such situations:

June 1, 2012 by Jonathan 20 Comments

The Myth of the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral”

This is the first post in a new series: “John Wesley – The man, the myth, the legend “

If you’re a Methodist, you may have heard the phrase “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” thrown around. It probably wasn’t dropped in the middle of a dinner conversation. But perhaps your pastor has used it in the pulpit or a teacher mentioned to you that the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” was a method you could use “to do theology”—aka reflection on things pertaining to God.

If you’re not a Methodist, you probably have not heard the phrase “Wesleyan Quadrilateral.” But you probably have used this method to handle theological questions.

The “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” is best described by a line from the United Methodist Church’s (UMC) Book of Discipline where it states, “Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.”

Think about how you may have used this method. Take the theological question, “As a Christian, is it okay to hurt someone I don’t like?”

To answer this, many Christians would first look to what the Bible says on the issue, for it is primary in any reflection relating to God.

They would then seek to understand what Christians throughout history have said. Here, they would be looking at tradition.

Next, they would use reason to interpret the Bible, understand tradition, and infer implications where these things may be silent.

Finally, they would think of the question in terms of theirs and others experiences involving violence against people in their community.

This method has its flaws (see the sources section below the interview), but I believe it can be helpful as a basic framework.

However, this four-fold method is not John Wesley’s. He never used the term “quadrilateral” or made a clear argument for the use of these four criteria. Rather, the quadrilateral is a modern attempt to understand how Wesley went about doing his theology that many believe is a good model for the church.

These reasons lead me to think that perhaps we should stop attaching Wesley’s name to it. Labeling it the UMC quadrilateral or the Albert Outler quadrilateral (after the scholar who formulated it) would be more accurate.

Another problem with attaching Wesley’s name to the quadrilateral is that it lends authority to a theological method that is often misused and misconstrued. These misrepresentations ultimately lead to a misrepresentation of Wesley and his beliefs. Since its formulation, the quadrilateral has taken on a life of its own. Its most egregious misuse occurs when people treat all four sources as being of equal authority, thus belittling scripture.

One day in my Methodism class a student mentioned the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” to Wesley scholar Dr. Richard Heitzenrater. He promptly responded, “Do you mean the Outler quadrilateral? The quadrilateral is not John Wesley’s.”

Many people in the class sat stunned as a myth about Wesley that they believed all their life was busted by the man who first cracked the code of Wesley’s diaries.

Recently, I sat down with Dr. Heitzenrater for an interview about Wesleyan myths. Below is the part of the interview regarding this moment in class:

May 3, 2012 by Jonathan 43 Comments