Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

This is how it seems to be related to who we are and how our identity is formed as Christian United Methodists.

1. Judaism has provided a sense of the profound power and awesomeness of God. Yahweh is the God is Isreal. Yahweh is "I am that I am". The Hebrew identity was formed by the understanding of that. The word Hebrew comes from the a form of a word that means "the leftovers". The people who were captive in Egypt had no sense of identity and little sense of belonging. The faith tradition that developed centered around the idea that they were a people of God; a chosen people. In fact they were the only non-chosen people and their God was the God of all people. They became the unchosen people who helped everyone realize that God was the God of all people. This is the God of justice and judgment. This is an ethical monotheism that is compelling and important. Moses is the source. Had it not been for Moses there would have been no Yahweh, no Elohim, no Adonai; no God to worship.

2. Christianity was a branch of Judaism and it came through Jesus, who was Jewish, and who gave us the idea of the God of love. For Jesus God was an eternal, caring, and supportive presence. Jesus gave us a loving God; a forgiving God; and a present God. Had the Magi and Jesus parents not protected him when he was an infant there would have been no Christian faith and we would not have the idea that at the source of creation and life there is a loving creator.

3. Methodism was brought into the world by John Wesley, an Oxford scholar who had the idea that we could and should exhibit what he called "social holiness". His brand of religion encouraged expression and emotion as well as reason. He believe that there is social action and he believed in the power and importance of grace and faith. John Wesley was a blend of the best of Judaism and the best of foundational Christianity. Had 5 year old John died in the house fire in his father's parsonage there would have been no Methodism and we would not have a way to blend the Old Testament with the New Testament in an approach that honored scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.

Each of us will have our own bias. We will lean toward the sense of the awe of God or the idea of the compassion of a loving God. We will have to find a way to allow those concepts and feelings to merge. As United Methodists we have found a good way to do just that.

Is it the Judaism that you are most attracted to? A distant God who compels justice and who requires worship? Is it a Christian God who encounters the love of God and the presence of God? Is it both at the same time? Is it the Methodist tendency that merges the variants?

How has your faith been formed?

It would be very different if Moses, or Jesus, or John Wesley had not been protected and saved when they were children.

If you have thoughts about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the "comments" box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

If you would like me to email the sermon draft to you later today or tomorrow morning let me know you would like to read it and I am happy to send that to you.


Charles Schuster