Month: June 2014
Hospital Field Trips And Spiritual Training: Why Kids Should Learn To Make Hospital Visits by Elizabeth Glass Turner
June 26, 2014
As a grown-up, I traveled to a hospital once to visit a friend who’d had surgery. A mutual friend accompanied…
Making Disciples In The Wesleyan Way by Andrew Thompson
June 25, 2014
The church today puts a lot of focus on the need to make disciples of Jesus Christ. But do we…
It’s Always Abuse, Not Just When It Involves A Child by Tom Fuerst
June 23, 2014
But what we also fail to realize and consistently communicate is that anytime a clergy member has sex with a parishioner who is not their spouse, it is abuse. The emotional, spiritual, and even societal power granted to a pastor is intertwined and inseparable from all their relations within the church. We cannot, therefore, pretend that infidelity between pastors and their parishioners is anything less than an abuse of that power, and therefore, an abuse of the parishioner.
What’s The Alternative? by Talbot Davis
June 21, 2014
To whom shall we go? Ask yourself what’s the alternative BEFORE you leave and see all the options for the empty promises they are. And then fasten yourself to the eternal WHO towering over all the pretending WHATS.
The Donut/Bread of Life by Michael Smith
June 19, 2014
God is in the midst of the normal – not just the fantastic, chocolate and sprinkled covered parts of life. God’s presence is made real when we take simple elements, like bread, and share it. This is why we should stick to what He invites us to do – offer the bread.
Jesus, The Name High Over All by Ellsworth Kalas
June 18, 2014
We ought to sing it more! Sing it, indeed, until we re-discover the power of this Name. Sing it until, as Charles Wesley urged, “Happy, if with my latest breath/ I may but gasp his name, / preach him to all and cry in death, / ‘Behold, behold the Lamb!’”
Learning To Live The Questions by Carolyn Moore
June 16, 2014
For some, it looks like gathering clouds. For others, a black hole. For some, it feels like dread or fear…
The Strong Name Of The Trinity by Kim Reisman
June 12, 2014
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, the Three in One and One in Three – the space-maker who is the source of my freedom, the one who empowers me to defy the forces that seek to restrict me to unbending characterizations or rigid roles.
Catechesis, Worship, And The Hymnal by Matt Sigler
June 9, 2014
If contemporary Methodists are serious about robust catechesis, we must broaden our concept of the term. We must understand that baptism is a moment that shapes our entire life—a journey in holiness. We must break free from an approach to catechesis that is merely didactic and understand that the process of catechesis is anchored in the worshipping community. And we need look no further than our own tradition for what is, perhaps, the preeminent Wesleyan catechetical resource: the Wesleyan hymns.
Doctrine and Renewal (Part 1) by Ken Loyer
June 5, 2014
I believe that Wesley can help us steer clear of the problem of moralistic therapeutic deism, as well as other barriers to renewal, so we stay on track in providing solid biblical teaching and preaching. He can do this with his robust vision of the Christian life, at once grace-filled and rigorous, communal and personal, leading to the goal of Christian perfection in God’s holy love. That vision is one of the treasures of our theological heritage, which is a heritage that has the power to help renew the church today.