Humble, Loving Disciples

I ran across the quote below at A New and Unending Kind of Life and it reminded me how long the issues Wesley points to have been with us.

Would to God that all party names and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world were forgot and that we might all agree to sit down together as humble loving disciples, and at the feet of our common master, hear his word, to abide in his spirit, and to transcribe his life in our own.

—John Wesley, (1703-1791)


Jesus came and broke down walls that divided humans including those named by Paul—slave/free, gentile/Jew, man/woman—as well as others more like saints/sinners, clean/unclean, and so on. And yet we are so good at erecting new walls, declaring some in and some out, when the Kingdom is God's. It's not that there is no right and wrong. Rather, we should sit loose on issues of who is in and who is out and pay more attention to whether our own lives are being Christ-like and giving God glory.

Furthermore, we should always be careful in drawing lines that leave some in and others out, lest the line we draw ends up leaving us outside as well. Right?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor