Category: Wesleyan Accent
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ The Locker Room and The Vestry
October 12, 2016
In our public square, women across the country see two primary candidates for President of the United States: one has stuck with a serially unfaithful spouse. The other has regularly said horribly demeaning things to and about women while treating them as a fiscal and personal commodity in his business life. While there are other people on the ballot – thank goodness – the air time has largely gone to these two people. Both traditional political parties have put people front and center who communicate to women with their actions and words that this is the best we can do; this is the best we can expect; this is the best we deserve.
Andrew C. Thompson ~ Behind the Sermon: Funerals, Balm of Gilead, and Healing
October 10, 2016
How do you preach funeral sermons?
Bryan Collier ~ Faithfulness
October 6, 2016
One of the things that we say to each other around The Orchard is, “If we will do what is right for the Kingdom of Christ, it will always be what is right for the church.” But we don’t want to get caught working that equation the other way because the result is very different. Every time we get these things backwards it is a pursuit of our glory over God’s glory, and if we are not careful it becomes our work for God instead of God’s work that we join him in…which is the only soil for faithfulness.
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ Where There Is New Room
October 5, 2016
Are you creating new room in your life for the Holy Spirit? Has your life created spiritual clutter? Do you need to sort and toss, mop and box up, or even just shove aside a pile of detritus to make just enough room to lie flat in prayer? Claim some space, now today: it doesn’t have to be much. Just enough time, or attention, or space to pray, “Come on, Holy Spirit…Come on…”
Carolyn Moore ~ The Character of a Wesleyan
October 3, 2016
By Wesley’s definition a Methodist is happy, full of love, prayerful, pure in heart, servant-minded, known by his fruit.
Christianity & Your Lenses by Matt Hook
October 1, 2016
What will people 50 years from now say about this decade?
Keep On Playing Your Harp by Kelcy Steele
September 29, 2016
When the Spirit of the Lord is upon your life you can play your harp because you have been anointed to handle hell, haters, and hypocrites.
Aaron Perry ~ Francis Asbury: Mission Beyond Conflict
September 28, 2016
Asbury had a vision beyond the war and we are part of his vision bearing fruit. May we emulate his ability to see beyond out immediate conflicts, as well.
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ When Holy Love Is Like a Laser
September 26, 2016
Should Methodists be the most undistracted people on the planet?
In many Wesleyan holiness contexts holiness is preached in the context of the Third Person of the Trinity. Rightly so. But the Holy Spirit does not just infill humans as a kind of sanctified cul-de-sac, detached from the revelation of Christ. The Holy Spirit always witnesses back to Christ, revealing Christ, empowering Christlikeness. The Holy Spirit tells the story of Christlikeness through us.
Carolyn Moore ~ When Calvinism Becomes Dangerous
September 21, 2016
But that isn’t how it works. People come to Christ every day and every day people resist the grace of God. Not only that, but every day people make horrible choices against the will of God that limit the length or joy of their lives.
Our behavior matters. If I smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, it will affect the length and joy of my life. To persist in such behavior isn’t God’s will, and our behavior matters to God. As Moses said to the Israelites, we have two choices before us — blessings and curses, life and death. “Choose life, that you might live.”