The Ladies Month

This month is the birth month of my wife and my first daughter. It will be another quarantine birthday for them. Yet, celebrating the birthdays of these women in my life is precious. Women play a special role in each person's life. Even in the life of the church. The women were responsible for the lay movement of the early methodists. In fact, women missionaries were the one who helped spread the Methodist brand of Christianity during the American period here in the Philippines. I am thankful for my wife for being a great mother to our kids. I always remember the impact of Susana Wesley in the life of John. Mothers mold the minds and the heart of the children. I experienced that with my mom, I see that in my wife and our kids. My daughter is greatly influenced by her mother. She loves dancing, music and creative arts. She is very thoughtful and persistent even in times of challenges. Even the challenge of Covid-19 will not deter her and this family to celebrate. 

While we celebrate, we do not see Covid-19 ending anytime soon. We are preparing the hospital for a long term response. Thus, we transferred the Covid 19 response back to the Administration and incorporated it back to the regular hospital operations. We welcomed the new CMPS this month too and with the new leadership, we are excited with how our response against Covid-19 will be.

Wesley is for health promotion and disease prevention

John Wesley wrote Primitiv Physiq to teach people how to address their own health. The people during his time cannot access the health services available, either it is too expensive or it is not available. After several hundred of years, the same health problem exists. John Wesley conceptualized a solution to the problem. He understood the role of the church in addressing the health issues of the people. Today, we need to revisit and claim the heritage that made the people called Methodists relevant in the transformation of the society. In this paper, I will argue that the writing of Primitive is John Wesley's desire for the church to have a health ministry focused on health promotion and disease prevention.

Chapters:
1 - Sin and Sickness
2 - The Air we breathe
3 - The Passions
4 - The food we eat
5 - The things we do
6 - Prayer

The Circuit Rider

The Circuit Rider

Objective:

•       To discuss the biblical basis for the itinerant system of our church

•       To remind pastors the difficult but rewarding task of being sent in the name of Christ and their task of sharing the grace of God for the sanctification of the church

•       To remind churches of their task in continuing the ministry and maintaining the health of the local churches

Whenever I lead the Bible Study in our workplace, I always ask questions.  So to give a twist on this Bible reflection, I will ask some questions and raise your hands if you know the answer. So for the first question:

•       Who is the famous circuit rider, also one of the first American Methodist Bishops, that become iconic with the image of a horse rider?

a)      John Wesley

b)      Francis Asbury

c)       Thomas Coke

The correct answer is b.) Francis Asbury. John Wesley also rode the horse and he indeed travelled great distance to preach the gospel. Despite being credited as the founder of Methodism, Wesley was not an American Bishop. That distinction belongs to Asbury and Coke who were consecrated at the same time as Bishops of American Methodist. Although both travelled on horseback, it was Francis Asbury who became associated with the circuit rider. His iconic image of riding the horse is a monument found in Drew University.

The circuit rider has been a name used to refer to the early Methodist preachers in America. As the name suggest, they are riding a horse to move around their circuit, the circuit is composed of many congregations. For his part, Bishop Asbury travelled 6,000 miles each year to preach. Do you have any idea how far that is? The Philippines is 1150 miles from the tip of Luzon to the end of Mindanao. That means Bishop Asbury rode the horse from Luzon to Mindanao at least six times within a year. And to think he had to do that every year. The distance is already a very tiring task to imagine. Add to that the dangers of travelling in a forest, the exhaustion of the body, the loneliness, the discomfort and the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Yet, the circuit riders went on. Now, if being sent as a circuit rider was a difficult and challenging task the question begs to be asked:

•        Why did John Wesley sent Circuit Riders to preach the gospel?

a)      It was part of his theological understanding of doing the mission

b)      It was a strategy adapted from the Bible to reach the wide field for evangelism

c)        All of the above

In her Theology of Mission paper, Pastor Jody Spiak noted that John Wesley saw practical and theological reasons in sending circuit riders.[1]

John Wesley wrote in a letter in 1756, "We have found by long and consistent experience that a frequent exchange of preachers is best. This preacher has one talent, that another; no one whom I ever yet knew has all the talents which are needful for beginning, continuing, and perfecting the work of grace in a whole congregation.”[2]

She added that the itinerant system of sending preachers was Wesley’s practical solution to the Great Commission. It is Wesley’s Theology of mission.

The itinerant system is a Wesleyan Theology of Mission[3]. It is a response to the concept of Missio Dei – God is a missionary God. The task of the church is not to do mission but to be part of the mission of God. Just as God the Father sent Jesus, so are we sent to the world to do the mission of God. Do you remember where can we find this verse?

•       Where  can we find this verse, “Peace be unto you, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you?”

a)      John 20:21-22

b)      John 11:35

We are sent. That is clear in John 20. In that chapter, Jesus was about to leave his disciples. He showed himself to them after his resurrection and commissioned them.First, Jesus appointed them to go on with his work, spread his gospel, and set up of his kingdom. The disciples were sent the way Jesus was sent. But the question we need to ask ourselves, how was Jesus sent? If we are to be sent just like Jesus, we should know how Jesus was sent. And that will be the model we will follow in performing the mandate that was given to us. So let us look, how was Jesus sent?

Read John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38

In Henry’s Commentary, Jesus was sent, not to be ministered to, but to minister. Jesus was not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him – the Father. He was not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fill them up. As the Father sent Jesus to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so he sends us into all the world to find the lost. This is how we must also behave if we are to be sent like Jesus was sent.

Read John 8:29; 2 Cor. 5:9-11; Eph. 5:10; 1 Cor. 7:32; Phil. 3:7-8

In the following verses, we see that Christ was sent not to please Himself, but to please His Sender. In a posted Biblical reflection, the author noted that the danger of doing mission is we try so much to reach out to people by pleasing them when in fact it displeases God. [4] He then continued the reflection with the following verses.

Read John 3:34; 7:16; 12:49-50

Here we find in these verses that Christ was sent into the world, not with His own words and doctrine, but with the words and doctrine of His Sender.[5]

Read John 8:29; Matthew 28:20

         After Jesus was sent, he elaborated that the one who sent him did not send him alone. The Holy Spirit was always with him and so it will be with those Jesus will send. These verses are very comforting knowing that the mission we are tasked to do is difficult and full of challenges. The itinerant system that we Methodists go through every year is met with anxiety both by the “circuit riders” and the “parishioners.” There will be dangers and trials  to where we will be sent but as Wesley said, “the best of all, God is with us.”

        As we end our holy conferencing and go to our different church appointments, let me leave you with these words for reflection. Pastor Spiak asked these similar question but let me frame it in our present context. Despite a strong missional theological basis for our itinerant system, we have focused too much on the system of “sending/appointments” to which we resist so much. I believe that we only resist the system because we “forgot” the theology behind it. Now, my challenge is - how can we re-claim the missionary purpose of itinerancy? In the same way, how can the local churches reclaim its active participation in the missionary purpose of our itinerancy?

---

[1] www.mm-umc.org

[2] The Encyclopaedia of World Methodism, Vol 1. 1974

[3] John Nuessle, www.gbgm-umc.org

[4] www.middletownbible.org

[5] Ibid.

Worshipping in the Mall

Where is the proper place of worship?

This is the question that my friend ask me. But that got me to thinking, "should there be an exact location for worship?" I know that the OT tells us that people go to the "House of God" to worship because that is where God lives. But after the word was made flesh, we were taught that an all-powerful God can be anywhere. Of course, there are some things to be considered in the worship place but not necessarily an exact location. This is precisely why we now see worship services taking place in malls.

My friend who is a priest told me that after the Vatican II, the Roman Catholic church have been discovering innovative ways to reach out to the people. He said, statistics show that most people and families go to the mall on weekends, especially on Sundays. Its alright if people go to mass first before going to the mall, but that is not the case. The numbers of people attending church is declining because they are all in the mall. So the solution: bring the worship service to where the people are. That sounds familiar.

In the 18th century, a preacher named John Wesley was known for bringing the word of God to where the people are. He preached in the marketplace, in the coal mines and on top of tombstones just so he can bring the good news of salvation to the people. Thus, we can say that this evangelistic method is a Methodist legacy. But I am not confident enough to say that the Methodist are carrying on this tradition. I am not saying that Methodist or any other denomination should also put another place of worship in the mall opposite the place where the Catholics are worshiping. That will just give a whole new meaning to the mall as the "one stop shop."

I looked at my friend who asked me "where is the right place of worship?" I told him that was a tricky question. But offered a thought, "look into you heart first and know if you are indeed worshiping God."

Itinerant Ministry

Traveling ministry is the trademark of the Methodists. Yet many pastors grumble about itinerating.

In Southern Philippines, one of the biggest challenge for Methodists is the lack of ordained elders. This is the same problem that the early Methodists encountered - not enough number of priests to minister the word and the sacrament. Well, there is always the local pastor who preaches every Sunday (and may have the special authority to officiate the Lord's Supper) but this does not really solve the problem.

Yet, this is not really a problem. This is an occasion to exercise the Methodist trademark of a travelling ministry. The local pastor can provide the pastoral duties on the local congregation that they may regularly receive grace through the means of reading the scriptures, prayer and fellowship. Just like in the early Methodist movement, they receive the sacraments when the elders come to their church. And just like the travelling preachers, these elders should bring the fire of God's word to revitalize the people.

The elders should be thankful for being set aside to do God's work. When they travel, they evangelize. They offer God's grace to the many congregations that they go to. They reawaken the souls of those slumping to sleep. They feed the hungry and thirsty souls and they help people grow in their faith.

To be a Methodist pastor is to be in a travelling ministry. A ministry geared for evangelism. A ministry that made Methodism grew then. Isn't that a promise we can see if Methodists pastors embrace whole heartedly the traveling ministry?

Persecution and Providence

I just read chapter 8 in the book The Elusive Mr. Wesley and I never realized the extent of persecution that the early Methodist went through. John Wesley wrote an account in his journal his experience when he went to preach in Wednesbury. After he had preached that day, the mob came and wanted his head. They disperesed for a while but later came back with more people with more force and angrier this time. But Wesley believed that God's providence will carry him through this danger. he recalled that he asked for one of the mob's leader and talked to him. He became peaceful and his anger was gone. Wesley then talked to several leaders more of the mob. Then he went out to talk to the mob who called for him to be brought to the judge and be punished. Wesley believed that it was providence because if he had not talk to the leaders of the mob before he went out, he would have been attacked right then and there. And so he was brought later that t night to the judge, but the judge would have nothing to do with him. It was already raining and so some of the mob went home. Others still went to another judge for Wesley to be punished but still the judge had nothing to do with Wesley. Again, as Wesley recounted, that it was God's providence that no judge would punish him for he did nothing wrong. And yet another mob - Wesley's supporters, came and a riot broke. Men and women fought barehands. One women knocked three men down to the ground. The mob retaliated and she was tackled to the ground and beaten almost to death. Each one was grabbing another. Wesley was in the midst of the riot trying to hold back the people. Despite being in the middle of the riot, God's providence was still at work as Wesley only got managed to be hit [softly] in the head, scratched in his arms and had his coat half-torn. Of course they were those who protected him but God was there to protect Wesley too. It is unimaginable that a riot this big could arise because of a preacher's sermon. What was more strinking was the fact that this did not happen just once but almost in any place that Wesley preached. Wesley recalled how many times he was persecuted and the same number of times God's providence have saved him from the angry mob.