Reading Wide

I read an interesting book review in the Christian Century encouraging Christians to read – and not just the Bible. It was Erik Hoeke’s review of Jessica Hooten Wilson’s new book, Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice. It’s a good bet that readers of the Christian Century, the…

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Not for Wimps

Let’s say we believe deeply in God, as many of us do. More than that, at some time we might have prayed for God’s guidance, have experienced God’s presence, and/or have felt and responded to God’s love. What then? How can we stay in love with God?1 In 18th Century England, Christian reformer John Wesley…

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Living Water

I’ve been thinking a lot about water lately. That’s partly because our congregation is exploring the theme of “Creation Care and Climate Justice” in this worship season. The Holistic Stewardship Team, which I lead, initiated it. But it’s an important topic for global, more official sources, too, such as the Revised Three-Year Common Lectionary, 1…

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The Pattern Prayer

“I’ll pray for you,” people often say. But what do they mean by that? What is prayer, anyway? Prayer is a common term, but any room even of like-minded folks picture it in scores of different ways. Little children may imagine saying sentences out loud to an Old Man in the sky; older adults may…

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Covenant Sunday in Christmas

Happy New Year! Covenant Sunday comes at the very end of the Christmas season, on the Sunday closest to January first. Back in 1755, John Wesley, English founder of the Methodist movement, held his first Covenant Service of worship. Ever since then, Methodists have been encouraged to begin each new year with a portion of…

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The Future with John Wesley

Today, June 28, is John Wesley’s birthday. With all the brouhaha among United Methodists lately, I’ve been thinking about what makes Methodists. We know the term was first used in derision: “those method-ists, who always have a method for everything!” But what is the spirit that John Wesley tapped into, that continues to ignite and…

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Breathing in the Image of God

In my latest book, Growing Generous Souls (soon to be published), I wrote about ways we can grow increasingly into “the image of God.” God sees us, not just how we have been or are now, but how we can become more radiant with God’s love, both within who we are and in our relationships…

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John Wesley’s Creation Theology

The four sources of authority for John Wesley – Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience – have long been an important decision-making guideline for me. As a lifelong camper, I’ve tended to see this “quadrilateral” as the four corners of a tent with the crossbar of Jesus Christ holding them together in the center. Some people’s…

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Love in a Time of Climate Change

Rev. Sharon Delgado’s Love in a Time of Climate Change: Honoring Creation, Establishing Justice is a “faith response to climate change” (p. 178) that tells the truth about how far down the road we already are in global warming, while simultaneously giving us hope for transformation – IF we have the political will to take…

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John Wesley’s Simple Rules for Money

James A. Harnish, Abingdon Press, 2009 Written for the “Live Simply” (2016) issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation published with permission In Simple Rules for Money, James Harnish offers Methodist founder John Wesley’s guidelines for financial living, still strikingly appropriate for us today. “Wesley’s rules are not about fund-raising for the church,”…

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Wesley’s Four Corners

What a gift it is to be part of a denomination that does not require assent to a single doctrinal statement! I love how John Wesley’s quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience) can work together as each person thinks through his or her personal theology. I talk about it like four tent pegs holding down…

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Covenant Prayer by John Wesley

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 by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee. Let me be full; let me be empty.…

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Covenant Sunday

Positive change can happen when we are intentional, but it is still not easy. Many people have followed the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions for the year to come. But the problem we have with resolutions is that they last only a week or two — a month or two at the longest —…

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A Wesleyan Perspective on Christian Stewardship

Introduction Stewardship is at the heart of the Wesleyan revival, and John Wesley considered it an integral component of Christian discipleship. Careful reading of Wesley will demonstrate that he had much more to say about the necessity of stewardship in the Christian life than “a heart warming experience.” Stewardship was a consistent theme of his…

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