On Wesley, Toilet Paper, and Audacious Optimism

 "There is no holiness but social holiness." John Wesley.

If you're living in the USA and reading this you might not be aware, but we're intensely independent. We could easily have stamped, "You Do You" onto our coins. It's hard to see sometimes, because it's all we have ever known. This doesn't have to make us stumble but we have to be aware of our default so that we know where the enemy is most likely to attack. 

I just finished a long six weeks of reading John Wesley's theology. And he's not simple. Being quite ecumenical means he agrees with Luther on this, but not that, Calvin on that but not this, the early Eastern Orthodox on most things. He remained loyal to the Church of England until his death, but started the Methodist movement, seeing a need for a religion of the heart that saturated every area of life. Sometimes he made my head hurt so I should be celebrating the end of this class by mindlessly binge watching Somebody Feed Phil right now, but here I sit, thinking and writing about Wesley.

My church, the Church of the Nazarene can be considered a great-grandchild of the Methodist ways passed down from Wesley. Because of the Wesleyan emphasis on sanctification and holiness of heart and life through the power of the Holy Spirit and in response to God's redeeming love expressed through Jesus' sacrifice, we have a reputation for being very rules-y. Early Nazarenes didn't dance, go to movie theaters, or even wear jewelry. We still, in membership enter an agreement to abstain from alcohol and other activities that we feel cause harm to the community. But, rules aren't supposed to be the "what", just part of the "how" of holiness. The meaning of holiness is found in Matthew 22:37-40, "And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” The laws and rules serve as the vehicle for loving God and others. None of them make sense detached from love.

And what does love do? In the words of Bob Goff, "Love Does." Sometimes we mistake faith for just knowing the right things. But, if being a follower of Christ means just showing up at a Bible study to write down lots of cool things we know about Him, we're not following, we're stalking (also Bob Goff). Evangelism isn't just for missionaries somewhere with malaria, acts of mercy aren't just for super Christians, and social justice isn't just for radical hippies. These things are expected of all who want to follow Jesus, not because we earn his love but because if we're following we should go where he's going-and that's where he's headed.

Wesley emphasized acts of services which can be split into four categories-evangelism, compassionate ministry, social justice and liberation.

Evangelism speaks for itself and sharing God's story and helping others be transformed into his image was a direct command to all his followers in Jesus' last words here on earth (Matthew 28:19-20). But, compassionate ministries may need more explaining. Compassionate ministries includes the things we do to take care of the symptoms of a fallen world. They are given with love, grace, and empathy. This might include something like volunteering to pack food boxes, helping build an orphanage on a work and witness trip, etc. But these can be further broken down. Some acts of service accompanied evangelism. While meeting spiritual needs physical needs should be met as well. But, these compassionate ministries also had spiritual benefit for the doer that was completely detached from any kind of spiritual, evangelistic response they might inspire in the receiver. Kindness for the sake of kindness. I thought about this a lot this past weekend. Our church did a parade for about 8 streets around our church and passed out candy as we went. We may never see "results" in any way, and that is 100% alright. We made people smile and it gave them hope.

The category of social justice causes some white protestant Christians to bristle and put up their defenses. That makes me sad. The Wesleyan-holiness churches led the way in the abolitionist movement, and voting rights. Wesley himself, expressed horror over the transatlantic slave trade of his time and admonished his followers to take action against it. This isn't new. We are not a people who shrug our shoulders and watch the "world go to hell in a handbasket." According to the lecture, Life in the World ,we are optimistic, "not only about individual transformation but social transformation; about the difference perfect love can make, not only in the individual's life, and in the Church, but in the world."  

The difference between acts of compassion and social justice is kind of the difference between a band-aid and surgery. Band-aids aren't bad if a band-aid is needed. But, for example, packing food boxes to send to a third world country to help fight the effects of poverty is a great act of compassion. Working to change what caused that poverty in the first place, perhaps by participating in Fair Trade practices with the companies in that country is a great act of social justice. Collecting angel tree gifts for children who's parents are incarcerated is a beautiful act of compassion. Working on providing fair education, fair trials, justice system reform, and strengthening and empowering families would be an example of acts of social justice. 

Liberation theology might be the most shocking inclusion on this list of acts of mercy. Wesley put a huge emphasis on being set free from the power of sin and death. Setting each other free from oppression in other areas therefore became a top priority. We advocate for a shift in mindset. There's a lot I need to learn about what this means but I found this such an interesting point.

I believe these four areas of acts of mercy are not mutually exclusive and work best when they compliment rather than work against each other.  I'm new to thinking this hard. I really am. And I'm sure I'll get stuff wrong. But no matter how ugly things get in the weeks to come, how mad I am that people think they need to buy all of the Costco toilet paper to arm themselves against rioters...because?????, how much I want to just hide from the world and make banana bread, or no matter whether Kanye gets elected or one of those other two guys...I have a job to do. And it's bigger than penciling in a bubble on a ballot. And I am part of a heritage of people who are audaciously optimistic about the difference God's perfect love can make in a broken and hurting world. 

The Church of the Nazarene Clergy Development. Student Guide: Exploring John Wesley's Theology. Nazarene Publishing House, 2002.

 

Photo Credit: Borrowed from Ryan Albaugh