Category: Wesleyan Accent
Steve Beard ~ Take My Hand: The Gospel and the Blues
March 7, 2015
It was in the forsakenness of that hour that Dorsey chipped away at the piano and wrote, “Precious Lord, take my hand …” In the sorrow of the desolation and flood of his loss, the song that inspired Dr. King was the dove that Dorsey released in search of dry land, the flight of hope. It was his blues: “I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.” It was his gospel: “Lead me on, let me stand.”
Tammie Grimm ~ Warming the Soul with Celtic Traditions
March 5, 2015
This morning, as I kindle the fire upon my hearth, I pray the flame of God’s love may burn in my heart, and the heart of all I meet today.
Aaron Perry ~ Deathless Death: Take Me to Church
March 4, 2015
Hozier believes that something in you dies when you give yourself in the human act of sex. Yet when there is a kind of relationship, this death must go both ways. The lover becomes not just the one who gives their life, but the one who takes the other’s life. This mutual deathless death is the closest you get to love and happiness on the sex-as-happiness path.
Andrew C. Thompson ~ A Pattern for Prayer
March 2, 2015
It’s one thing to affirm the need for prayer, but it’s quite another to know what that looks like in practical life. We don’t live in a world very conducive to that sort of life, and it’s not clear that the church does a good job of teaching it. So here I’d like to offer a pattern for prayer that can help any Christian begin to build a rhythm of prayer into daily life.
Talbot Davis ~ Hidden Heroes: The Anti-Hero Hero
February 28, 2015
And when you’re on death row, you’re not really concerned with trivial pursuits, are you? Paul wasn’t dwelling on trivialities; he was dialed into eternities. That’s why it was particularly devastating for Demas to desert him. Because look at what Demas did: he loved this present world – its comfort, safety, and reputation – and in so doing ignored the next one. And Paul, who because he is on death row is dwelling on eternities more than at any other time in his life, knows something deadly: Demas has sacrificed what is eternal on the altar of what is trivial.
Kevin Watson ~ Hope for the Future of Methodism?
February 26, 2015
Our story can be one of experiencing God’s transforming presence in our lives as we recognize the depths of our need for Christ, and Jesus’s ability and willingness to meet that great need. We can move forward with confidence, knowing that the Lord will sustain the church one way or another. And as we move into the future, we will be sustained and guided from perilous missteps if we immerse ourselves in the deep wisdom of our tradition. And as we seek to follow Christ and become mature in our faith, we can invite others to come with us on this great adventure.
Wesleyans have a great story to share with one another and with the world…
Conversations ~ Jerry Walls on Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory
February 25, 2015
Well, the Christian doctrine of the afterlife is simply integral to Christian doctrine, period, and indeed, the faith as a whole makes no sense if the life to come is ignored or trivialized. The heart of the Christian faith is the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, which provides salvation and redemption for God’s whole fallen creation.
I believe these Christian doctrines of the afterlife provide powerful resources to make sense of some of the perennial big questions like the problem of evil, the foundations of morality, and the very meaning of life. And again, insofar as we think Christianity is true because it makes sense of things, we also have reason to think the doctrines of the afterlife are true, since they are integral to Christianity.
Cole Bodkin ~ “Calvary” Revealed
February 23, 2015
In some ways “Calvary” functions like a modern day parable: teasing us into thinking long and hard about its message, meaning, and implications for our world in the 21st century. I propose that the movie answers the question, “what does it look like to live as a royal priest prepared for battle in a Post-Christendom context?”
Jeff Rudy ~ Triumphant Grace
February 21, 2015
The bells that tolled, according to John Donne, were a sign to those who heard that we are all mortal and meet the same end known as death; that when one dies a part of all of us dies. The stone that rolled, according to Matthew, was a sign to those who witness it that the end known as death is not, in fact, the end. And therefore, it is okay to send for whom the stone rolls. It rolls for thee! The stone rolls for us! And when we hear the sound of the stone rolling, it rings in our ears that the main thing that draws nearer to us is not death, but resurrection! Triumphant grace! Grace that declares death doesn’t have the final word. But that one day there will be no more crying, no more death…
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ The Persecutor
February 19, 2015
What more is Ash Wednesday than this? To bow the head, receive the ash, and be led by the hand to a time of fasting and prayer? What more is Lent than putting to death the inner persecutor and praying determinedly for the outer one?