Social Holiness?

John Wesley once said something like, “there is no holiness but social holiness, no gospel but social gospel.”

This has been so badly misused by Methodists. We hear the phrases “social holiness” and “social gospel” and assume it means some program of activism. What he meant was that we are not individual Christians. It's the basis of the small-group discipleship the early Methodists emphasized: our holiness is among us, and so is our gospel. We grow in grace as we meet together and hold each other accountable.

I Didn't Go to a Methodist Church Sunday

Many years back, a friend of mine told me that she no longer went to a Methodist Church. She had grown up at First Methodist in Lexington, KY, but she had moved North to pursue her Ph.D. The Methodist churches in the area—she could not figure them out. I don't remember what she said was not jibing. But I think I resonate with what she felt. Jessie's family is from Illinois. Over the past 6 years when we come to visit, we have been to some Methodist churches in the area. I have yet to hear the Gospel in a Methodist church in Central Illinois. Something has gone bad wrong.

As we were thinking about where to go, we knew for starters that we were not going to a Methodist church. That such a decision has been made would have bothered me a few years ago. But now I don't really care what has gone wrong or why. Can't fix it. But I am not going to go to a Methodist church here, waiting to see what happens, or hoping we might get to hear the Gospel.

We decided to worship at a non-denominational church we heard about from a friend of Jessie's we met at the bike shop.

I totally succeeded in turning my pastor-mode off. Normally it feels like I am a 12 o'clock preacher, woulda-done-this, I-don't-believe-I'd'a-done-it-that-way... But I worshipped the Lord with gladness. And even moreso because the Gospel was clearly presented. I thanked the pastor for his sermon.

You can make a living by telling the church it's dying and presenting your plan to revive it. We are dying and it's because we are... too conservative... too liberal... don't have a contemporary service... sing hymns...didn't apologize for the Crusades...

Methodists are dying in this country and will deservedly die out because we don't preach the Gospel. We have a lot of money and a lot of property-- we can probably drive this thing into the ground for another 75 years.

Or we can preach the Gospel.

The Old Paths

An old friend sent me a note of encouragement after I had started posting here again. He said that “we who claim a Wesleyan heritage have wandered far from the old paths... and we are suffering and shall suffer for it.”

I paid close attention when I read this in Wesley's Journal last night:

Jun 20, 1760 “I exhorted them to 'ask for the old paths and walk therein,' that they might 'find rest to' their souls.”

And imagine my surprise when I read today, from Jun 31, 1761, that Wesley preached in Newcastle, exhorting the people to “stand in the ways and see” and “ask for the old paths” and “walk therein!”

Wesley was quoting from Jeremiah 6, here is 6:10-19 for some of the context:

To whom can I speak and give warning?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed
so they cannot hear.
The word of the Lord is offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord,
and I cannot hold it in.
“Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
and the old, those weighed down with years.
Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who live in the land,”
declares the Lord.
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
I appointed watchmen over you and said,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
Therefore hear, you nations;
you who are witnesses,
observe what will happen to them.
Hear, you earth:
I am bringing disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
and have rejected my law.

Faith in Action

One of the blessings of reading John Wesley's Journal is that it is like having someone come alongside you and teach you about pastoral care.

Aug 10, 1760.  "I took an account of the society, and was grieved, though not surprised, to find such decline.  I left 290 members, I find only 233. And what will the end be, unless those that remain learn to bear one another's burdens?"

Dec 24, 1760. "I visited as many as I could of the sick.  How much better is it, when it is practical, to take relief to the poor than to send it!  For both our sake and theirs.  For them, because it is so much more comforting, and we can help them in both spiritual and physical needs.  For our sake because it is more likely to soften our hearts, and to make us naturally care for each other."

Selections from Wesley's Journal

Jan 29, 1759
"By repeated experiments we learn, that though a man preach like an angel, he will neither collect, nor preserve a society which is collected, without visiting them from house to house."

June 4, 1759
"After preaching I rode on to Newcastle. Certainly if I did not believe there was another word, I should spend all my summers here; as I know no place in Great Britain comparable to it for pleasantness.  But I seek another country, and therefore am content to be a wandered on earth."

June 24, 1759 "What marvel the devil does not love field-preaching.  Neither do I: I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit.  But where is my zeal if I do not trample all these under foot, in order to save one more soul?"

Back...

Hi All,

Something tells me it is time to start posting here again.  We'll see how it goes.  For the moment, some research I am doing gives me material for this blog.  I look forward to giving us some meat from Wesley and the early Methodists!

A Brief Look Into Emmaus

On the Mondays after communion on Sunday, Jessie and I go to an assisted living facility where a number of our church members live. Actually, the only reason they let me come is because I bring Nadia! One time I did not--she was out of town with Jessie--and they told me not to do that again.

It is a wonderful time of sharing communion and ministry.

I shared briefly today from Luke 24, the disciples on the road to Emmaus:

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

This passage has critical importance for Christian doctrine and preaching, insomuch as Jesus is speaking about the Scriptures.

“How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” This is the content of the Apostolic Preaching, what we ought to teach even today, that Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament, and Jesus is the fulfillment of all the purposes, promises and power of God.

“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” This is the purpose of preaching, the teach the truth about Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures. Christianity has at its core a stable teaching, not a range of possible interpretations.

When He broke bread, their eyes were opened-- indeed, the sacrament can do this for us.

“Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us”-- The power of the revelation in the written word mediates the presence of Christ to us, even as the sacrament does. The faith is not known by reason, but by revelation and encounter with Jesus, from which we have, among other things, lots of reasoning to do.

A Problem 50 Years in the Making

A question on my mind a lot lately, if you look at the previous few posts on this blog, is whether or not Wesley held to the Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura.

The interest comes from hearing here and there people say things like, "Wesley held to prima scriptura."

In a few previous posts, I pointed out that just from a cursory read of the standard edition of Wesley's Works you can see that Wesley affirms the doctrine of sola scriptura.

So why do some persist in saying Wesley held to prima scriptura?

Perhaps it comes from Albert Outler's compendium of some basic Wesly writings in his great book "John Wesley," published in 1964.

Outler is the great Methodist historian who single-handedly made the study of Wesley respectable and available. Outler's influence on United Methodism is huge.

Outler writes: "The great Protestant watchwords of sola fide [by faith alone] and sola scriptura [scripture alone] were also fundamental in Wesley's doctrine of authority. But early and late he interpreted 'solus' to mean primarily rather than exclusively." (p. 28) Now, Outler drops this on us without much else, other than a footnote, in which he says,

"we are justified by faith alone, but by such a faith as is not alone.... In the year 1730 when I began to be 'homo unius libri [a man of one book]' regarding none comparatively but the Bible". Outler then asks in the footnote, "why comparatively if unius libri meant 'exclusively?' (footnote 101)

Now, I'll set aside the sketchy nature of asking rhetorical questions in footnotes. What I am interested in is why Outler seems to think sola scriptura means the Bible is the only thing we can read?

That, I think, gets us to the meat of the issue. I suspect that we are allowing some of our cultural struggles to determine how we understand a crucial doctrine. Put another way, some might be thinking we must reject sola scriptura because otherwise we have to believe in a literal 6 day creation.

But does sola scriptura mean that the Bible is all you can read? Or that we cannot learn anything outside of it? The very work of the Reformation was built on investigating what early Christian writers had to say; the Bible is seen as the only text that can speak authoritatively about what is necessary for salvation; the life and governance of the Church; and the standard of morality for the believer. But nothing in that precludes studying what others have said. It means that whatever else we may do, in the critical matters of the church, scripture is the determinative, authoritative voice.

I hope we can remain clear on that, and not allow what we think about the Creation Museum, for example, or other current controversies, to impact our thinking on a timeless doctrine.

If we pull back from sola scriptura, we will also pull away from the others. Bt, of course, we already have. We can see a shift towards a desire to believe, teach, and preach salvation by some faith and some good deeds on our part.


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John Nelson and Micah 6:8

A great twitter account to follow is UMCHulk; who knew The Hulk was a Methodist? Anyway, Hulk said that if you talk about Micah 6:8 without talking about Jesus, you make yourself the Savior.

This is a critical point, as often as people glibly and smugly quote Micah 6:8, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to lover mercy and walk humbly with your God?"

Hulk's comment brought to mind one of my favorite sections of John Nelson's Journal. John Nelson was an early Methodist preacher, 1740s, in Yorkshire. Of all the early preachers, he is my favorite. I quote at length from his autobiography, found in volume 3 of Wesley's Veterans:

I met a gentleman as I was riding to Leeds, who said something about the weather. I answered, "The Lord orders all thins well." He presently said, "I know you, for I heard you preach, but I do not like you; you lay a wrong foundation for salvation. Do you think the blood of another man will save me?" I replied, "St. Paul says, 'other foundation can no one lay but Christ Jesus,' but you say that is a wrong foundation. Upon what terms do you expect to be saved?"

He said, "By good works."

I answered "You will be the first that got to heaven that way. But suppose you could, what would you do when you got there?"

He said, "What do others do there?"

I answered, "They sing, 'glory to God that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever, that was slain and hath redeemed us by His blood!' But your song will be, 'Glory be to myself, for I have quickened my own soul and qualified myself for heaven!' O Sir! What a scandalous song you will sing. It will make discord in heaven."

He turned pale and said nothing for some time. When he had rode a while, he said, "All the Lord requires of us is to do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with God."

I answered, "Do you expect to stand or fall by that Scripture?"

He said, "I do."
"Then," I replied, "you are lost forever, if you are to go to heaven for doing justly for loving mercy and walking humbly with God. I appeal to your conscience if you have not come short in every one of these duties. Have you dealt with every man as you would have him deal with you, in all circumstances ever since you knew good from evil? Suppose you have; have you dealt justly with God and employed every talent that He has committed to your charge to His glory--both time, wisdom, and learning; house, land, wealth, and trade? If you have used any one talent not to His glory, you have robbed Him." Then I spoke to the other two [loving mercy and walking humbly with God]

He said, "There is repentance."

But I replied, "Not for you, for you are to be saved by doing justly, for loving mercy and walking humbly with God; if you come short of these duties, you must be damned."

He said, "Lord have mercy on me! You are enough to make any man despair"

"Yes," I said, "of saving himself, that he may come to Jesus Christ and be saved."


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The Focus is Sharp in The City

Some strange experiences with the Holy Spirit have happened to me on busy street corners. The first I remember happened at the Shell station on Harrodsburg and Broadway in Lexington. I was pumping gas after visiting in a nursing home. A man had expressed that he just did not know if he was saved, and I counseled with him about our assurance of salvation. It was a cold day, a drizzle was coming down and I just had this profound sense of love and peace... A love for all people.

That just happened again a little bit ago, trying to cross Man-o-War, not easily done on foot. That sense of love and peace, perhaps thinking about Steffi and Benji, but it really, again, began to be extended to all people and with this question: do I love them and God enough to give them the whole gospel, not just the pieces that they can accept?

I have a fear of being found cold, heartless and ruthless for withholding the pure Word. But in this moment, it was that Holy Spirit love, a love that comes from God and so does not allow for gaps or hesitation or holding back.


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Methodists and Sola Scriptura part 3

The first two posts in this series can be found here and here

In looking around Wesley's Works, I also came across this in his response to the Roman Catholic Catechism:

Where the catechism discusses the authoritative nature of Scripture AND tradition, the position sola scriptura agitates against, Wesley says: "The Scripture is a rule sufficient in itself, and was by men divinely inspired delivered to the world, and so neither needs nor is capable of, any further addition" (Works, vol 9, p 90).

In discussing the "magisterium," or teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Wesley says, "As long as we have the Scripture, the Church is to be referred to the Scripture, and not the Scripture to the Church; and that, as the Scripture is the best expounder of itself, so the best way to know whether anything be of divine authority is to apply ourselves to the Scripture" (Works, vol 9, p 94)

Methodists and Sola Scriptura, part two

The first post in this series can be found here

In "An Extract of a Letter to The Reverend Mr. Law (Wesley's Works, vol 9, pp 467ff), Wesley begins the letter with the following words:

"In matters of religion I regard no writings but the inspired. Tauler, Behmen, and a whole army of Mystic authors are with me nothing compared to St. Paul. In every point I appeal "to the law and the testimony," and value no authority but this."

Notice Wesley's reference to Isaiah 8:20, "the law and the testimony--" Holy Scripture as the place we find authoritative words from God.

Methodists and Sola Scriptura

I want to direct some thinking and attention to the position Scripture occupies in the United Methodist Church. The Reformation principle of "Sola Scriptura," or "Scripture Alone" means that the Holy Scriptures contain all that is necessary to be known about salvation.

A question among UMs is whether or not we hold to this Reformation principle. Some say we hold to, because John Wesley did, "prima scriptura," or Scripture first, but not the only standard of authority. To my mind, there are some who would not even put Scripture first, considering it one among many "sources" for the life and doctrine of the church. But, did John Wesley hold to "prima" or "sola" scriptura?

So, in this post, two portions of the Discipline of the United Methodist Church.

Both come from our Doctrinal Standards-- The Articles of Religion, The Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren [a German-heritage "methodist" denomination that merged with the Methodist Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church], John Wesley's Standard Sermons, and his Notes on the New Testament. These documents form our doctrine.

Article V of the Articles of Religion: Of The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation:

"The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be though prerequisite to salvation."

And from the Evangelical United Brethren Confession of Faith, Article IV:

"We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God so far as it is necessary for our salvation. It is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice. Whatever is not revealed in or established by the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is to be taught to be essential to salvation."

This is the material sufficiency position of Scripture contained in the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. I hope to add more pieces of Wesley's writings to spur more thinking and discussion.


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A Different Way of Pining for Christendom

So it hit me, my ambivalence about liturgy and the Church Year: is it another way of pining for Christendom? There are so many great "feasts" that we don't celebrate on their actual day... All Saints Day is November 1, not NOvember 6, not whatever is the first Sunday in November.

We had an awesome service Sunday, packed house such joy in singing, freedom in preaching, seamless integration of technology...

Are we missing the days when if we had an All Saints Day Service on Tuesday, we would have packed the house, but now with the loss of Christendom, churches are empty on every day but Sunday? Are we missing a culture built around the Church Year?

And if we are missing that, while at the same time generally bashing "Christendom," what's really going on?

Heavy

So, this morning Jon Powers was blowing up my twitter feed with 1John3. I really like that so many people I follow on twitter post so much scripture... it really makes the day so much better. Well, of course, 1 John 3:9 is a difficult and powerful verse. The NIV says, "no one who is born of God will continue to sin."

The King James says, ""Whosoever is born of God doth not sin."

Adam Clarke, probably Methodism's most erudite Scripture scholar said this in his commentary (published 1831? that's what the edition I have says, but was there an earlier one?):

"some say 'he does not sin habitually, as he used to. This is hanging the influence of the heavenly birth very low indeed. we have the most indubitable evidence that many of the heathen philosophers had accomplished, by mental discipline and cultivation, an entire ascendancy over their wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will recollect the story of the physiognomist who, coming into the place where Socrates was giving a lecture, his pupils, wishing to put the man's principles of the man's science to proof, desired him to examine the face of their master, and say what his moral character was. After a full contemplation of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced him the most gluttonous, drunken, brutal and libidinous old man that he had ever met. As the character of Socrates was the reverse of this, his disciples began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates interfered and said, 'The principles of his science must be very correct, for such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosphy.' O ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended Gospel ministers! Will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway not even so extensive as that of the philosophy of a heathen who never heard of the true God?"

It's Back

So, I want to get back to posting here at Weekly Wesley. I'm starting it off with something I posted last year, a letter from the Methodist Bishops to the Church in 1824. This is a serious word. What do we make of their prediction? How do we reform ourselves to once again "spread Scriptural Holiness across the land?"

"If Methodists give up the doctrine of entire sanctification, or suffer it to become a dead letter, we are a fallen people... If the Methodists lose sight of this, they fall by their own weight. Their success in gaining numbers will be the cause of their dissolution. Holiness is the main cord that binds us together Relax this and you loosen the whole system. This will appear more evident if we call to mind the original design of Methodism. It was to raise up and preserve a holy people. This was the principal object which Mr. Wesley, who under God, was the great founder of our order, had in view. To this all doctrines preached in methodism tend. Whoever supposed, or who that is acquainted with the case can suppose, that it was designed in any of its parts to secure the applause or popularity of the world, or a numerical increase of worldly or impenitent men? Are there any provisions made for the aggrandizement of our ministers or the worldly-mindedness of our members?

"None whatever."

I Don't Like the Lectionary, Either

Issues with the Church Year are also tied up with the lectionary for me. I don’t like the lectionary that the UMC has available. Not sure what kind of lectionary I would like, to be honest.

Here’s what I hear: “the lectionary keeps me from preaching just what I like.” Ok, but is that really a problem for you? And so now, you are going to preach what some editorial board likes?

Or I hear, “the lectionary makes sure you stay balanced between the Old and New Testaments.” Actually not true, you have to make that commitment. And again, I wonder why you would not do so anyway?

These answers in favor of using the lectionary come so quickly that I suspect we haven’t really thought about them.

So I will ask the same question about the lectionary that I do about the Church Year: what are its liabilities and limitations?

More on the Church Year

So far, everyone seems really pumped about the Church Year. Would anyone care to post on its liabilities and limitations?

One that comes to mind is a fellow who said since Lent, fasting has fallen off for him.

Or I think about how on Easter there was all kinds of activity on Twitter saying "he is risen." But now, none of that. Is He no longer risen?

Do we talk about the birth of Jesus any time outside Christmas?

I wonder if there is a kind of nostalgia in us. We should be able to date our letters by a sacred feast. We wish that Christianity was enough of a cultural force that we could actually do a good service for Ascension Day ON Ascension Day, but who would come to Church at 11 a.m. Thursday? Or even if we had it in the evening?

Guest Post from Jeff Rudy on the Church Calendar

I really appreciate Aaron's invitation in responding to his heartfelt and honest post on adherence to the church year/calendar...admitting its limitations (or at least our appropriating of it). I also look forward to the several other voices who are much more able than I am in elaborating on this issue.

With that, here are two (or three) of my cents:

I enjoy a pattern that takes you through a variety of seasons. Joe Dongell (ATS Professor) envisions utopia not as 70 degrees, cool breeze, on a beach, etc… but instead a livelihood that enjoys the beauty of a variety of temperatures and conditions. (Maybe we can avoid tornadoes & hurricanes though). Seasons like Lent, Advent, Epiphany, Eastertide, Pentecost, and so on, remind me of the Ecclesiastes 3 passage that there is a time for everything. It helps me to weep with those who weep (Jesus wept during the season where we observe Lent), rejoice with those who rejoice (can you avoid shouting HALLELUJAH! upon the news of Jesus being raised from the dead?), and so on.

On the other hand, there are events that call for us to grieve during a season of rejoicing and events that should evoke rejoicing during a season that calls us to solemnity. I recall a Roman Catholic worship leader visiting ATS who had written a song that we sung in chapel. It was during the Lenten season and according to his tradition they fast from using the term ‘Hallelujah’ during that season to make the 'Hallelujah' cry that much more robust on Resurrection morning. The thing was that his song had the lyric ‘Hallelujah.’ He asked if we would gracefully use ‘Hosanna’ in place of it when that word appeared on the screen/in the hymn. The crowd did as he asked. It seems, then, that even when a season is devoted to a particular spirit/mentality, there ought to be provision to accommodate an alternate exclamation that doesn’t seem to jive with the season. Don’t the seasons even admit that? It seems as though they all fit within an ‘Already/Not Yet’ kingdom vision. Some focus on the ‘Already’ (e.g., Eastertide, Pentecost) while others focus on the ‘Not Yet’ (e.g., Advent, Lent), but never to such a degree that the other is completely ignored. It can’t be (so long as we live in this reality). Does that make sense?

I’ve not kept faithfully to it as much as I have wanted to, but on occasion I have read the Ancient Christian Devotional, which is patterned according to the seasons of the Church with Scripture readings and quotations from the Church Fathers on the passages. I like that reading Scripture with (a large majority) of Christians across the world unites us together in a mystical way. And the Lord and the world knows that we Christians could use a good deal more unity.

Peace! He is Risen!

Guest Post from Jon Powers on the Church Year

Thoughts on the Liturgical Calendar

Humans certainly have a preoccupation (or perhaps obsession is a better word) with time. We use strange phrases such as have time, make time, kill time, time flies, time creeps, or say that time is on our side. Many of us are paid according to time. At some point all of us have had to pay someone else because of their time. Countless songs and poems have been written trying to understand time. Needless to repeat, we are certainly preoccupied with time. (To make the point in another manner, right now, sitting at my desk, I can see six different devices designed to remind me of the time.)
When it comes to the church, Christianity also takes time seriously. Christians have no knowledge of God without time, for God has revealed himself through historical events. Christianity does not take a general stance on salvation, but it instead claims specific actions of God at definite times and places. The centrality of time is thus reflected in Christian worship. Worship, like the rest of life, is structured on recurring rhythms of the day, week, and year. Instead of attempting to transcend time, the church brings eternity into a present reality. The present becomes an encounter of God’s acts in the past and future. In particular, the church sets this rhythm through the structuring of a church calendar, enabling us to commemorate and re-experience the acts on which salvation is grounded.
Historically, the early church marked certain events in the story of salvation as important by setting aside specific seasons to focus on each. While nothing in scripture commanded them to do this, the calendar became a way of remembering and anticipating God’s plan of salvation. By annually retracing this story of salvation, the church continued to be catechized in its faith. Certain practices and disciplines were incorporated in order to help the church live more fully into that faith.
In his book, Between Memory and Hope, Maxwell Johnson writes, “...contrary to popular belief, the liturgical year is neither a kind of Hellenistic mystery religion’s reenactment of the life of Jesus nor an annual recurring cyclic meditation to the historical life of Jesus. Rather, through fast and feast, through festival and participation, the liturgical year celebrates the Presence of the already crucified and risen Christ among us as we remember what he did in history, as we encounter his Presence among us now, and as we await his coming again in glory.”
My whole life I have been in churches that observe the church calendar. However, most of my life I have had little understanding of how I live into the calendar and what it means for my Christian life. The element of remembrance was there, but there was no sense of current realities experienced through observing the calendar. Likewise, I was never shown the hope it offers in future expectation of God’s fulfillment of salvation. In other words, the church calendar was nothing more than a marker to annual events coinciding with certain practices because, well, it’s just what you do during that time of year. Kind of like raking leaves in the fall – you light candles during Advent.
Only recently have I begun to understand the liturgical calendar as a continual formation of my faith through patterns of feasting and fasting, discipline and celebration. The reasons are numerous for why the liturgical calendar has become important to me. However, in order to keep this post short(er), and since I know many other voices will be weighing in on this discussion, I will only focus on a couple:

1.) The liturgical calendar helps me maintain a disciplined pattern of life

While in college, I once sat in on a seminar discussing the topic of time management. The speaker began his presentation by saying, “If you want to know what is most important in your life, look at where you spend the most time.” Perhaps not everyone will agree with this statement, but I do think the speaker raises something to consider. The time I spend at work or reading and writing for school may or may not be my favorite thing to do, but that time is important to my success. Likewise, if something important in my life is not getting proper time allotment, say my family, then I fight to organize my time appropriately.
The church shows what it important to its life by the way it organizes time. The liturgical calendar shapes and forms time, bound to the conviction that God and human history are continually intertwined. The New Handbook of the Christian Year states, “…the use of time reveals priorities of faith and practice.” Specifically, the Christian church has structured the liturgical calendar for the purpose of keeping alive the memories of the Gospel message. For instance, for Christians, Easter is an annual event and celebration just as much as it is an essential part of the Gospel narrative.
The world does not set forth for me disciplined patterns of life. So many things vie for my attention in the world and fight to find adequate space in my life. However, at any moment of the year, through the liturgical calendar, the church proclaims the Gospel narrative and reminds me of what is most important. It structures time for me, so I may enter a walk through the year with Jesus Christ. It keeps me in a cycle of remembrance and hope through fasting and feasting. It establishes a rhythm of anticipation (Advent), joy (Christmas), wonder (Epiphany), penitence (Lent), celebration (Easter), and mission (Pentecost). It forms the church’s worship and daily devotion.

2.) The liturgical calendar serves as an ongoing catechism

One of the beautiful things about the liturgical calendar is that it not only teaches me the Gospel story, but it also helps me live into the faith I proclaim. This should be the nature of any church catechism.
It is interesting that in John and Charles Wesley’s development of the Methodist hymnbook, there were certain goals they set forth for the collection: 1) That the hymnbook provided an account of Christianity from conversion to incorporation with the fellowship of believers; 2) That the collection would be used as a daily devotional guide as much as a book in worship; 3) That the hymnbook gave churches a liturgy to sing, especially for the Eucharist; 4) That the collection led people through the Christian calendar. These various aspects were not held as exclusive goals from one another. Instead, the Wesleys understood how the church calendar serves as a natural catechism, so the hymnbook accomplished all these goals through that structuring principle. The liturgical calendar provided the content for a liturgical catechesis.
In my own life, worship practice continues to affirm the story of salvation through the liturgical calendar. This goes beyond typical remembrances of Christmas and Easter, which can often be more culturally than biblically formed. Seasons such as Advent, Lent, and Pentecost tell me more of the story – the story of Israel, the story of Jesus’ ministry, the story of the church… Furthermore, by entering into these seasons with a community of gathered believers, we seek out the ways this story calls us to live in the world today. It shapes our practice. It calls us not only to think our way into a new kind of living, but also to live into a new kind of thinking. For instance, Lent calls me to think about discipline, so I fast. Yet, as I take on the spiritual discipline of fasting, I find myself thinking about other ways I need simplicity in life and begin to make those sacrifices. True transformation sees this as an ongoing process. However, I may falter and slip away from certain disciplines or mindsets. But Lent comes around again the next year, and I am reminded once again of simplicity and discipline. And between those two seasons of Lent, I have been reminded of hope and anticipation, of celebration of freedom, and been encouraged to go out in mission as part of God’s church living by God’s Spirit.
As long as I live this life, I have a feeling this catechism will never end. But I am blessed because the liturgical calendar will always be there to help inform and form me in the likeness of Christ.