Author: Teddy Ray

A world that wants Easter but needs to see Maundy Thursday

crossWhy have so many people given up on Christ, the Church, Christianity?

Whatever their reason, I don’t believe it’s because they don’t want the promise of Easter.

The celebration of Easter is that we find life where we expected only death. Even those closest to Jesus expected to find nothing but a corpse when they went to the tomb that first Easter morning.

The promise of Easter is that we continue to find life where we expected only death.

Our world craves the promise of Easter. I believe God has created us with that craving. This is why we cry and mourn at funerals. We love life and hate death. This is why broken relationships rock our lives the way they do. We crave reconciliation. This is why so many are plagued with guilt. We crave forgiveness.

In a world that craves the promise of Easter, why have so many given up on the Christ, and the Church, that offer that promise?

Could it be because they need to see Maundy Thursday and too rarely see it?

At the Last Supper, on what we now call Maundy Thursday, we read that Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. He had all things under his power. There is no higher place than the place given to Christ. And so what will he do in all his power? The “so” is startling: “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.” And then he proceeded to wash his disciples’ feet.

The One who at the beginning took dust from the ground and formed a man is now the one who gets up from the meal, kneels on the ground, and cleans the dust off the feet of the ones he created!

And then, shortly after Jesus gets up from washing his disciples’ feet, he says this: “A new command I give you: Love one another.” This isn’t much of a new command. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” has been around quite a while. But the next part makes it new: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

That’s the mandate that Maundy Thursday is named for.

To believe that Easter’s promise is true, a world that craves that promise needs to see the Church live the mandate of Maundy Thursday.

Is the problem that the world needs more “evidence that demands a verdict,” proving Christ’s death and resurrection? Or is it that they need to understand Christ? To understand Jesus in all his divinity and all his humanity? To understand a God who humbles himself so low that he becomes obedient to death, even death on a cross?

Are his disciples today making that humility evident by loving, even as Christ loved us? Are his disciples found kneeling, a towel wrapped around their waists, or found jockeying for power and fighting for what they’re “due”?

This is why it seems so right to us that Pope Francis left the comfortable confines of a Roman Catholic cathedral to wash the feet of a young incarcerated Muslim woman. Why it seems so right to us that Pope Francis refuses to live in the palatial residences offered him and prefers public transit to a limo. How will this Pope handle the riches of Rome?

To our world: if your impression of us, the purported disciples of Christ, is that we spend more time arguing over who will be greatest than seeking to serve the least of these — I’m sorry. I know we often haven’t represented our Savior well. Where you have seen us seeking greatness and riches, you have seen a Church that has not understood – or has not chosen to actually follow – its Savior.

But let me be clear about this, too… Christ’s disciples have been falling short since the beginning. At the Last Supper – almost immediately after Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and predicts his betrayal and death – what do they do? They begin to fight over who is the greatest! We come from a long line of disciples who have misunderstood or ignored Christ’s call to be found among those who serve. But that ignorance and misbehavior has never negated the promise of Easter. If you are refusing the promise of Easter because you aren’t seeing the Church take Jesus’ new command seriously, can I plead with you to reconsider? Christ’s promises are true, whether or not you see them lived out in those who claim him. Don’t miss the perfect goodness of Christ because of his Church’s flaws and failings.

And I should be clear about this, too… We, the Church, are flawed and often fail. But we are also, many of us, seeking Christ. We’re seeking to live according to his humility, his self-giving love, his grace and truth. I hope you’ve seen at least a bit of that. Where we fall short, bear with us in our attempts to get it right, as we trust Christ bears with us.

If you have been hurt by the Church, I apologize. I’ve been hurt before, too. Admittedly, some of the times I have been hurt were because of my own pride. At its best, the Church is full of grace and truth, just as her Savior is. And there are times that truth, even presented with grace, has a bite. At her best, the Church must continue to be full of truth, and we cannot apologize for that, but where you have heard truth with no grace – or purported truth that was no truth at all – I apologize. Where you have heard a presentation of “truth” that was seeking power or status, rather than hoping for reconciliation – I apologize.

And so I plead with you again – if the promises of Easter are true, if they even may be true, don’t miss them because you haven’t seen the Church living out Christ’s new command.

To the Church: may we follow the command of our Savior. How can we be found on our knees rather than exalted? Serving our world rather than expecting to be served by it? Found among the least of these in our world rather than the greatest? How can Pope Francis’s example encourage all of us toward greater simplicity and generosity?

May our leaders be known for commonly rejecting privilege and power, wealth and prosperity, not for climbing ladders toward more power and more money. May we, as congregations, ask more questions about how we can serve the world than questions about whether we are being served properly.

May we be an Easter people – celebrating life where before there was only death – and celebrating that life best by joining our Savior on his knees and at the cross.

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Library suggestions for leaders — Bible

booksI’ve been asked by several people to suggest some helpful reading on various ministry- related topics. Here’s an attempt at the books I most highly recommend in these areas, along with some that have come most highly recommended to me.

I write this with many of my own leaders in mind, so these lists assume I’m talking to bright, interested people, but not scholars or seminarians, necessarily. With that, I’m looking for works that I can feel confident putting in the hands of most of my people.

These suggestions are intended to give you a start. I’m not providing a full analysis here. Take a look at their tables of contents, sample some pages, and read some reviews to get a better feel for which is right for you. And, of course, I’m happy to talk to you more about what you’re looking for and what might be best.

Understanding the Biblical Narrative

For an introduction to the larger narrative of Scripture — something to give you a better handle on how the whole Scripture story weaves together, these two books will serve you very well:

Those are relatively short works. For a more detailed introduction, take a look at Introducing the Bible by John Drane. It’s big (736 pp.), but very reader friendly. You can also use the OT and NT sections in this as your introductory surveys for those areas.

Old Testament

For a general introduction to the Old Testament, these two books are where I’d start:

Relating the Old Testament to modern Christian ethical concerns is an ongoing challenge. If you’re dealing with those concerns, I’d suggest Old Testament Ethics for the People of God by Christopher J. H. Wright. It’s another big book, but very accessible. And though it’s worth reading front to back, you can also use it to just read up on a particular area.

New Testament

Whereas the Old Testament setting spans centuries – millennia even – the New Testament setting spans only a few decades. Because of that, it has been a bit easier for people to ask what “the setting” of the New Testament was. I’d go to a few books to help me understand that setting:

For a more standard survey of the New Testament, I might start with Mark Allan Powell’s Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey.

And for all those tough ethical conundrums (divorce and remarriage, homosexual practice, abortion, violence, women in ministry) that we go to the New Testament hoping to understand, the book to go to is The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction To New Testament Ethics by Richard Hays. He says you should read it in order – not jumping to the specific topics – and it’s probably better that way, but I think some of the individual chapters on various topics are quite good on their own. And his five pages on sharing possessions in the conclusion are perhaps the best part of the whole book.

General Bible Study

We struggle to understand how to go about reading and studying the Bible. Fortunately, there are some books out that I think are outstanding resources:

There’s a running start at some resources concerning the Bible. I’ll have future posts on theology, pastoral care, worship, discipleship & spiritual formation, Church history, and church & society issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions about this list or future lists.

Disclaimers

  • I have read most, but not all of these. Those I haven’t read, I’ve skimmed through enough and heard enough good things from trusted people that I can recommend them with confidence.
  • All Amazon links are affiliate links. Feel free to buy wheresoever you please.

You need a class meeting, and an update of “The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies”

united societiesI’ve written before on 4 questions to ask and be asked every week. I participate in a group that asks each other those questions – or something to get at the same – each week. It has been the single most important practice I’ve kept as part of my Christian growth in the past two years. See those questions in “How is it with your soul?” and “2 more questions to ask and be asked every week.”

Those questions, and the groups we’re asking them in, stem from a very early Methodist practice called the “class meeting.” A practice that was at the heart of the Methodist movement/explosion in 18th century England and then in America. A practice that The United Methodist Church has all but forgotten today. A practice that I think could be incredibly life-giving for you, and full of potential for renewal in the church.

A document called “The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies” is the best, most concise account of how those class meetings developed and the accountability that came along with them. I think it can shed a lot of light on the nature and purpose of these groups and the four questions I think we should all ask and be asked every week.

As usual, it’s in old King James style English, which makes it tough to get through. So I’ve worked on an update. Find it below. Or see a copy of the original here. Enjoy!

—————

The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies

Near the end of the year 1739 eight or ten people came to John Wesley in London. They appeared to be deeply convicted of sin and longing for redemption. They asked, as did two or three more the next day, if he would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the coming wrath, which they saw continually hanging over their heads. So he might have more time for this important work, he set a time when they might all come together — Thursday evening — which from then on they did every week. To these, and as many others as desired to join them (they grew daily in numbers), he gave the advice which he judged they most needed, and they always concluded their meeting with prayer according to their needs.

This was the rise of the United Society, first in Europe, and then in America. Such a society is nothing other than “a company of people having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.”

To more easily discern whether they are truly working out their own salvation, each society is divided into smaller companies, called classes, according to where they live. There are about twelve people in a class, one of whom is designated the leader. It is his/her duty:

  1. To see each person in the class once a week at least, in order: (1) to inquire into their spiritual state; (2) to counsel, correct, encourage or urge on, as the occasion may require; (3) to receive what they are willing to give toward the relief of the preachers, the church, and the poor.
  2. To meet the ministers and the stewards of the society once a week, in order: (1) to inform the minister of any that are sick, or of any that are idle or disruptive and will not be corrected; (2) to pay the stewards what they have received from their classes that week.

There is only one condition required for admission into these societies: “a desire to flee from the coming wrath, and to be saved from their sins.”

But wherever this desire is really fixed in someone’s soul, it will be shown by its fruits.

It is therefore expected of everyone who continues in the societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation,

First: By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced, such as:

  • Misusing the name of God.
  • Desecrating the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work on it, or by buying or selling.
  • Drunkenness: buying or selling distilled liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity.
  • Slaveholding; buying or selling slaves.
  • Fighting, quarreling, brawling, one brother taking another to court; repaying evil with evil or insult with insult; not treating others as ourselves in buying or selling.
  • Buying or selling goods without paying appropriate taxes.
  • Giving or taking things on usury—i.e., unlawful interest.
  • Unkind or useless conversation; particularly slandering or heaping abuse on rulers or on ministers.

Doing to others what we would not have them do to us.

Doing what we know is not for the glory of God, such as:

  • Wearing gold or expensive clothes.
  • Being diverted by entertainment that cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.
  • Singing those songs, or reading those books, that do not lead to the knowledge or love of God.
  • Softness and needless self-indulgence.
  • Storing up treasure on earth.
  • Borrowing without a probability of paying; or taking goods without a probability of paying for them.

It is expected of everyone who continues in these societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation,

Secondly: By doing good; by being in every way merciful according to their ability; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all people:

To their bodies, with the strength God provides, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing those needing clothes, by visiting or helping those that are sick or in prison.

To their souls, by instructing, correcting, or encouraging anyone we have any communication with; trampling under foot that extreme doctrine that “we are not to do good unless our hearts are willing to do it.”

By doing good, especially to those who belong to the family of believers or are groaning to belong to it; employing them in preference to others; buying from one another, helping each other in business, and all the more because the world will love its own and them only.

By all possible diligence and frugality, so that the gospel will not be discredited.

By running with perseverance the race marked out for them, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear disgrace for the sake of Christ, to be as the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world; and expecting that people will falsely say all kinds of evil of them because of the Lord.

It is expected of everyone who desires to continue in these societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation,

Thirdly: By being devoted to all the commands of God; such are:

  • The public worship of God.
  • The ministry of the Word, either read or explained.
  • The Lord’s Supper.
  • Family and private prayer.
  • Searching the Scriptures.
  • Fasting or abstinence.

These are the General Rules of our societies; all of which we are taught to observe by God in his written Word, which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice. And we know God’s Spirit writes all these rules on truly awakened hearts. If there are any people among us who do not observe them, who habitually break any of them, let it be known to the ones who keep watch over that person as those who must give an account. We will warn them of the error of their way. We will put up with them for a season. But then, if they do not repent, they will have no more place among us. We have absolved ourselves.

I’ve also been slowly working toward updates of Wesley’s standard sermons. Find that work here.