A Word From the Pastor

October 2011

 

How can church, and more specifically our United Methodist expression of faith, help us deal with life – with all its various decisions, challenges, and choices. How can our United Methodist roots help us to live the full and abundant life Jesus promised?

Last month I wrote about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. John Wesley believed that the Bible is our primary source to understand God and live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world. But we also have reason, tradition and experience. Reason helps us to use our intellect and knowledge to understand the Bible better, the traditions of Christians who have gone before us in-form and guide us and through the Holy Spirit, we interpret our experiences in light of God’s desire for us.

Here’s another tool for you to adopt and use. John Wesley was regularly sought out for counsel and guidance. But soon there were too many people for him to meet with individually. So he organized them in groups, which became known as Methodist Societies. And he offered three rules which became the General Rules of Methodism. I have also heard them described as a compass that keeps us focused and heading in the right direction.

In an abbreviated form the three General Rules are:

1. Do no harm by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced.

2. Do good by helping others whenever you can, however you can and to whomever you can.

3. Keep the ordinances of God such as attending worship, reading and studying scripture, praying and other spiritual disciplines.

Ruben Job, a United Methodist Bishop, summed them up this way:

Do no harm, Do good and Stay in love with God

As you reflect on these General Rules you might ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do I refrain from doing that might hurt others?

Think about things like not sharing gossip, not being critical or nasty to others, not spending money on worthless things that you don‟t really need, making healthy choices for yourself and for this world that we live in, using God‟s name respectfully.

2. What do I do to help others?

Consider what you give of your possessions and your money to bring about good for an-other person, what kind of volunteer work you do, who you pray for, who you encourage and how you do that, how you share your faith in God with others.

3. And how do I stay in love with or connected to God?

That includes what kind of priority you give to attending worship, how engaged and involved are you during worship, how regularly you read the Bible, what resources you use to understand it, what spiritual disciples such as prayer, meditation, journaling, prayerful yoga, devotional reading are you doing, and how often you participate in Holy Communion.

I invite you to use these rules to help develop your own life of faith and relationship to God. You might read them during breakfast to keep them always before you, reflect on them at the end of the day, keep a journal on how you keep the rules, find a friend with whom you can meet regularly (weekly, if you can) and talk about how you are doing.

The General Rules are John Wesley’s gift to us to make our life better and prepare us for the life to come. Use them with joy!

PS for more information about the General Rules go to http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1658 or to www.umc.org and search "general rules." This is a great website to learn more about the denomination.

 

 

Peace,

Rev. Lynda Bates-Stepe