Rooted in Holiness and Mission

Methodism is rooted in a desire to make a difference.

A couple of Sundays ago, I talked about how John and Charles Wesley started meeting in small groups when they were at college in Oxford. They would meet and ask one another questions, seeking to live out their faith in earnest. Because of this, people made fun of them, nicknaming them the Holy Club. Even the name Methodist was a derogatory reference to Wesley and their small group meetings.

This didn’t seem to bother Wesley much. He and his brother Charles and a few others continued to regularly gather to encourage one another and hold one another accountable in living out their faith by inquiring “how is it with your soul?” There is a list of 22 questions that they would reflect on. Listen to some of these and consider what it would look like if you asked these questions among friends.

“Am I honest in all my acts or words, or do I exaggerate?”

“Am I enjoying prayer?”

“Did the Bible live in me today?”

“Do I pray about the money I spend?”

“Do I grumble or complain constantly?

“Is Christ real to me?”

“Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?”

While others made fun of them, there was a method to their madness, or to be more precise, a method to their mission.

Laceye Warner said “As Charles and John Wesley gathered with classmates and colleagues in Oxford, they contemplated the impact of the inner spiritual life on their Christian practices and love of neighbor.” Something happened when they began to gather and reflect on these questions over and over again. It wasn’t enough to just ask the questions, the mission came out of living into the questions.

Henri Nouwen said “We need to live the questions of our lives both alone and in community, as we seek our mission in the world”

In his readings at Oxford, Wesley began to feel that holiness was more than simply having your head in the game or else you become like Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” Johnny Cash even wrote a song entitled No Earthly Good in which he sang

“Come heed me, my brothers, come heed, one and all Don't brag about standing or you'll surely fall You're shining your light and shine it you should But you're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good”

That is where we find Israel in Micah’s passage today. Micah is a prophet thought to be prophesying during the second half of the 8th century BCE in Judah. The people think they’re doing all the right things, but the Lord is looking at their heart offering. The Lord reminds them of all that God has done. The people respond asking “how shall I stand before you? What shall I bring?” An armload of offerings? A thousand rams? Buckets of oil? My firstborn child? What do you want? We get a sense of the desperation and exaggeration here. They’re asking the questions, but they aren’t seeking to live into them with their whole hearts.

But God isn’t having it. God desires more than perfect attendance and showy sacrifice.

God isn’t interested in hearing our songs and our prayers when we leave the sanctuary and hate our neighbors on and off social media. God answers you have already been told what I desire: to seek justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with me.

Ronald Sider said “God's Word teaches a very hard, disturbing truth. Those who neglect the poor and the oppressed are really not God's people at all—no matter how frequently they practice their religious rituals nor how orthodox are their creeds and confessions.”

Amy Oden says “To enact justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, are not single acts that can be checked off the list and left behind. On an individual and social scale, in ways large and small, this is a way of life.Periodic nods to equity do not constitute a faithful life, Micah tells us. We cannot only observe racial membership quotas on committees in place of seeking racial justice. We cannot send checks for disaster relief and avoid examining the lifestyles that contribute, at least in part, to some natural disasters. We cannot do hunger walks and refuse to change our consumerist lifestyles. We cannot confess with our lips on Sunday morning and hold grudges at work on Monday. Rather than offer God thousands of rams, Micah calls us to offer a thousand daily acts of love for each other and the world God loves.”

The early Methodists who met to ask these tough questions wanted holiness to be their way of life, and so they began to practice their faith in tangible ways that included showing love to orphans, caring for the infirm, and visiting the prisoners. Wesley and fellow members of the holy club began to visit prisoners on a weekly basis. Wesley himself began to advocate for prison reform, once raising money to procure clothing and blankets for French prisoners of the Seven Years War detained in English jails. In a period of nine months, Wesley had preached at least 67 times in various jails.

Perhaps some of you have heard of Wesley’s quote “there is no holiness, but social holiness.” This was written in the preface to his Hymns and Sacred Poems, but what is key is when it was written. The same year the New Room opened and these ministries formed, Wesley began to realize that holiness isn’t just personal, but is social and communal as well.

It all started in small groups with a desire to make a difference. As these groups began to form and grow, they needed a building to gather and meet for worship and instruction. In May of 1739, the New Room was built in Bristol, England. When not being used for worship, it became a mission outpost. Methodists connected to the New Room organized a soup kitchen to provide food for impoverished neighbors, a school for children without accessibility to education, as well as clothes and medical care at no cost. Wesley cared about the whole person: mind, body, and soul. He deeply cared about healthcare and was frustrated with the lack of adequate healthcare for the poor, so he published his own book of medical remedies as well as employed an apothecary and a surgeon to help him form a medical dispensary at the Foundery Society in London.

While the makeup of United Methodists changed over the years, one should remember that in its early decades, many of those attracted to the small groups were economically poor. For many years, the majority of Methodists were not only poor but were comprised of mostly women, children, and youth.

Perhaps some of you have heard of Wesley’s quote “there is no holiness, but social holiness.” This was written in the preface to his Hymns and Sacred Poems, but what is key is when it was written. The same year the New Room opened and these ministries formed, Wesley began to realize that holiness isn’t just personal, but is social and communal as well.

This social mission continued to expand when The Foundery was formed in London in April of 1740. Previously an armory, the facilities were expansive and allowed for more unique ministry opportunities. It was here that Wesley developed a lending stock microloan program, gave lodging to the homeless, and started a medical dispensary. The Foundery’s medical dispensary soon grew to a steady monthly clientele of approximately 100 visitors at an annual cost of less than 120 pounds.

Years later in the 1880’s, Methodism in the United States began a pattern of founding hospitals with the first in Brooklyn, New York in 1887. Methodists opened 75 hospitals and clinics by the 1920’s. Today this heritage continues with United Methodists supporting more than 32 million people in over 1,550 communities across the U.S. through 52 hospitals, 105 community service ministries, and 152 older adult ministries.

Wesley also deeply cared about education. In 1739, he carried out the plan George Whitefield had of building a school for the coal mining familes of Kingswood. In 1748 a new Kingswood school was opened. Wesley himself helped design the curriculum and wrote grammars for the English and other language courses.

Continuing Wesley’s tradition at Kingswood, Methodists went on to establish numerous higher education institutions including colleges and universities. By 1880, there were 44 Methodist colleges and universities as well as 11 theological schools and 130 secondary schools. Today, United Methodists support 95 colleges and universities and 13 theological schools.

What a witness! All because some college students got together and began to pray weekly about how they could live as disciples of Christ, how they could make a difference. Their longing to live into their own questions manifested a witness that gave way to a worldwide movement and multiplied into other ministries across the centuries including camp ministries, children’s homes, rehab facilities, disaster relief, and ministries that continued to advocate for the marginalized and vulnerable.

I remember conversations over the past couple of years where a few who were no longer United Methodist would start talking about not having to pay their apportionments and would say things like “well now we are going to have so much more money for missions.” I would think to myself, “are you aware of the history of our mission and of all the many areas of ministry that your mission shares supports?

What questions might God be stirring in your soul lately? What new ways might you be called to live out the compassion of God for the people of God? Mother Teresa was once asked, “How did you receive your call to serve the poor?” She answered, “My call is not to serve the poor. My call is to follow Jesus. I have followed him to the poor.”

We are rooted in mission because we are rooted in life with God and following the compassion of Christ wherever it may lead us.