I really appreciated this post by John Meunier, Wesley's Treatment Plan for those who experience spiritual darkness and lose the comfort, love, joy and peace of being a Christian.
After Heath talked about the advent wreath on Christmas eve, I left with this image: if I'm the wreath, it's possible and maybe not that hard to surround myself with joy, peace, love, and hope...and with care, I can keep those fires lit. If one fire goes out (let's say hope) I may be able to rekindle it with joy. But if they all go out, where does the fire (light) come from? If the Christ candle at my center is there but not burning (and it would be easy for others not to notice, as long as the other candles are lit!), what do I do? But if the flame of Jesus is always burning at my center, it can always rekindle the other 4. Food for thought. Another thing I realized when he was talking was that in our church, the advent wreath isn't placed where everyone can see it. Sitting near the back, it wasn't visible to me. What was visible? musical instruments. Hmmmm.
I wonder if this belonged to one of the apostles? Simon the Zealot strikes me as the kind of guy who would wear an earring. I recall the time, when I was graduating from seminary, I received an invitation to start a new congregation in a college town. In the letter, they outlined the vision, the demographics of the community, and their expectations for the pastor. The letter ended with a p.s. -- "and of course, your wife will not be permitted to wear earrings." They forgot say anything about ME wearing earrings. For a while, I was tempted to go ahead, take the position, and get my ear pierced.
I was ordained July 10, 1987, when General Superintendent, Dr. Earle Wilson, laid hands on me, shook my hand, and declared, "Take Thou Authority to Preach the Word!" I was thinking about that recently, and began to wonder how far back I could go with the succession of my ordination. So, I did a little research. I was ordained by Earle Wilson Earle Wilson was ordained by Pilgrim Holiness General Superintendent, William Neff William Neff was ordained by the Pilgrim founder, Seth Rees Seth Rees was ordained by Nazarene founder, Phineas Bresee Phineas Bresee was ordained by Methodist Bishop, Levi Scott Levi Scott was ordained by Elijah Hedding. Elijah Hedding was ordained by Francis Asbury Francis Asbury was ordained by a renegade Anglican priest named John Wesley John Wesley was ordained by Anglican Bishop (of Oxford) John Potter. From Potter -- there's a trail all the way back to St. Peter!! You can see the chart here. (Potter is at the bottom of the page #90. Now, how abo...
A pastor friend e-mailed me with this question yesterday: I am working with a well-intentioned man who is considering becoming a part of our congregation. After exploring Wesleyan Doctrine, he is hung up on one thing- that we allow women in ministry. He believes that 1Timothy 2:8-15 is a clear Biblical prohibition against females in ministry. I have always understood Paul's teaching on women in public worship environements in Corinthians and Timothy to be context driven and not a broad theological statement. This has been a learning experience for me because I learned that I was unprepared to defend our Wesleyan position, I had just accepted it. Any Biblical direction, orginal language clues, or historical perspective you could offer would be most welcomed. He is not bigoted about women, he feels they are equal in the eyes of the Lord but have been assigned different duties/roles in the kingdom. How would you respond to his question?
After Heath talked about the advent wreath on Christmas eve, I left with this image: if I'm the wreath, it's possible and maybe not that hard to surround myself with joy, peace, love, and hope...and with care, I can keep those fires lit. If one fire goes out (let's say hope) I may be able to rekindle it with joy. But if they all go out, where does the fire (light) come from? If the Christ candle at my center is there but not burning (and it would be easy for others not to notice, as long as the other candles are lit!), what do I do?
ReplyDeleteBut if the flame of Jesus is always burning at my center, it can always rekindle the other 4. Food for thought.
Another thing I realized when he was talking was that in our church, the advent wreath isn't placed where everyone can see it. Sitting near the back, it wasn't visible to me. What was visible? musical instruments. Hmmmm.