Methodism – Beguine Again

Jun72013 by Terri5 Comments

Moral Courage

Essay, Religion, Theology, United Methodist Church

This is a re-blog of my very first blog post ever from 2008! I have edited it a tiny bit. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change. - Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech in Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966. (Source: Wikiquote ) What are our sources of moral courage? I can tell you that I find moral outrage easy, but where does moral courage come from? Relying on my Methodist heritage, The Wesleyan Quadrilateral would have us examine scripture, tradition, reason, and experience in making deliberations. What does this tell me? What does scripture say? In Hebrew Scriptures and in Christian Scriptures, we are taught to care for the al...

Happy Aldersgate Day!

Christianity, Religion

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. from The Journal of John Wesley, May 24, 1738

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Reflection

Christianity, Religion, Spirituality

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has two features worth noting. First, it follows the pattern of scripture readings leading up to Sunday and then reflecting back upon Sunday from Wednesday to Tuesday. It does that by starting on a Wednesday. That is a traditional approach to the daily lectionary. Additionally, The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an octave (eight days) beginning and ending on Wednesday. For more information, please visit http://www.oikoumene.org. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis, we are presented the heroic figure of Aslan. Aslan, through a variety of trials, becomes the perfect sacrifice as a substitute for sinful Edward, who by rights, should be executed. As such, as a sacrifice that is sinless, Aslan saves not only Edwar...