Since our Lenten devotion guide focuses on Wesley’s means of grace, I wanted to share with you some more thoughts on that not included in the devotion guide. These thoughts come from the chapter written by F. Douglas Powe, Jr. in the book Generation Rising: A Future with Hope for the United Methodist Church. The section is titled, “The Means of Grace and Reshaping Our Communities.” I hope this will give you something further to think about as we are attentive to the means of grace this Lent and as we seek to build Christian community at All Saints’ UMC.
Sue Ellen
The heart of Wesleyan theology is loving God and loving one’s neighbor. When John Wesley wanted to describe the character of a true Methodist, that’s exactly what he said. Any analysis of the Wesleyan means of grace points us toward works of piety as a way for loving God and works of mercy as a way for us to love our neighbor. Understanding the means of grace on a conceptual level is easy enough. The real challenge…is in the way we practice or embody the means of grace in our lives.
My particular interest in the means of grace is how these practices inform our understanding of community. The manner in which we pray, study Scripture, and celebrate Holy Communion is shaped by a particular community of faith… The manner in which we reach out to those in need and visit the infirm is likewise shaped by our inherited understanding of community. I believe where Wesley pushes us, however, is with the notion that the means of grace themselves are a paradigm for actually constructing authentic or faithful Christian community. For Wesley, the means of grace are not simply the practices of a community already established but should be the framework for how we develop and embody community at every step along the way. …
… As disciples in communities of faith we do not simply read Scripture, pray, and receive Communion so that our personal journeys will be more fulfilling. We do not reach out to those in need as a way of expressing our individual commitment to God. Rather, we participate in activities that draw us closer to God and neighbor because our identities have been shaped by a community that seeks to move toward God’s reign here on Earth. …God … moving us toward a deeper understanding of humanity as formed in God’s image. …
If the means of grace become the lens through which we frame community, then our understanding of community will shift in three ways.
First, we understand that all of us are called to stand at the intersection of the cross. This is the point where God and humanity meet. This reminds us that our call to be in Christ is not just personal but also corporate, because we are united with others who seek authentic relationships with God and one another. What unites us as Christians is the realization that God’s grace enables us to stand with others not in separated silos isolated at the far ends of the cross but as a community trying to embody the true meaning of intersection itself.
… Living at the intersection of the cross is not easy because it requires being united in a commitment to God’s story and living the reality of this story in the midst of a culture that promotes other narratives. For example, it means negating superiority but embracing difference. It means negating excessive materialism but embracing human flourishing. …
Second, the Wesleyan means of grace invite us to understand who we are, not in opposition to others, but in conjunction with others. … The point is to think about and embody the ways in which our differences illuminate who God is for the broader community. This ultimately shapes who we are for one another.
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Third, the Wesleyan means of grace invite us to maintain a healthy tension between a certain type of particularity (e.g., culture, ethnicity, and race) and the universal claim of Christianity. We always understand what it means to be Christian through a particular lens. This is a part of what it means to be human. Yet we are called to embody something beyond our particularity that unites us with others seemingly unlike us who are answering this same call. It is a call to be accountable both to those in our immediate community and to those in global Christian communities. …
