“GIVE ME THY
HAND”
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A sermon preached Readings:
1
John 4:7-16, Mt 12:46-50 |
It was our joy today to appoint three new members of
our Church Stewards’ team –
I trust our new Senior Steward is fully familiar with
Methodist Constitution and Practice SO 634 Church Stewards – Particular Duties.
(1):
”The church
stewards shall be responsible for seeing that all services …
appointed on the circuit plan in connection with the Local Church are duly
held, …..
and, in the unforeseen emergency of a failure on the
part of a preacher
or other responsible person to keep the appointment,
for seeing that a service or meeting suitable to the occasion is actually
held.”
Well I am here, so
that particular unforeseen duty does not apply today.
Traditionally Methodist vestries were equipped with a copy of John Wesley’s
sermons –
to be read on such occasions.
I have never known the steward actually read a Wesley sermon in such an
emergency –
I fear the general view is that for today’s ears they make for rather heavy going.
I am not reading a Wesley sermon today –
but today is Aldersgate Sunday –
when we remember and give thanks for the life and work of John and Charles
Wesley –
So I thought we might be guided a little by
John’s sermon
no 39, “The
Catholic Spirit”.
For heavy though the prose may be in part,
it addresses the theme appointed in today’s lectionary –
the theme of God’s love as a guide for life.
In the sermon Wesley says that what counts is
that we are guided by a common love of God –
we may have different opinions and different views,
we may worship in different ways –
but we can still be at one in love of God and each other –
In short – our minds may differ,
but if our hearts are one, we can offer each other a hand.
John Wesley chooses as a text a verse we do
not often read -
2
Kings 10:15.
Frankly we don’t often read it because it is an island of helpful direction
in the midst of a morass of bloodshed –
much of what Jehu gets up to in 2 Kings would today
land him in a War Crimes tribunal.
But
v.15 shows Jehu at his best –
"And when he was departed thence,
he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him,
and he saluted him, and said to him,
Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered: It is. If it be, give me thine hand."
Wesley points out that Jehu and Jehonadab disagreed on many things –
styles of worship, for example.
Jehonadab was a tee-totaller
who thought God wanted his followers to live only in tents –
Jehu didn’t buy into any of that.
Wesley is clear that he is not asking for
indifference –
we must work out what we think is God’s will for us, and go for it
wholeheartedly –
but when we meet others who seek to follow God in other ways,
we should offer the hand of friendship and love even though we did agree.
Wesley agreed with St William of Thierry
that love is the surest way to truth.
So says Wesley,
‘Let all these smaller points stand aside.
Let them never come into sight.
"If thine heart is as my heart," if thou lovest God and all mankind,
I ask no more; "Give me thine hand."’
It is if you like a variant
on Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s successor,
who declared "in necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in
all things, charity,"
Wesley’s
approach is a model for modern ecumenism,
and is frankly stunning set in the context of the religious fanaticism of the
18th century –
Listen to these words in his open letter
to a Roman Catholic dated July 18, 1749,
which was published in Dublin, in the context of great inter-faith bitterness.
His Letter
to a Roman Catholic reads in part as follows:
Let us resolve, first,
not to hurt one another,
to do nothing unkind or unfriendly to each other . . .
Let us resolve, secondly, God being our helper,
to speak nothing harsh or unkind of each other . . .
to say all the good we can, both of and to one another . . .
Let us, thirdly, resolve to harbour no unkind thought,
no unfriendly temper towards each other . . .
Let us, fourthly, endeavour to help each other on
in whatever we are agreed leads to the Kingdom.
So far as we can, let us always rejoice to strengthen each other's hands in
God.
Sometimes John found it hard to maintain
his principles in this matter.
In 1785 he and his brother Charles fell out badly
over whether the Methodists should ordain ministers to go to America –
and in so doing risk an irreparable split with the Church of England.
John wanted to do this – Charles did not.
Charles the hymn writer wrote some
amazingly vitriolic hymns at this time
aimed straight at his brother –
And has it come to this? And has the man
on
whose integrity our Church relied,
betrayed his trust, render’d our boastings vain,
and fal’n a Victim to ambitious Pride?
…How is the mighty fallen from his height,
his weapons scatter’d, and his buckler lost!
Ah! Tell it not in Gath, nor cause delight
and triumph in the proud Philistine host.
…The pious Mantle o’er his dotage spread,
with silent tears his shameful Fall deplore,
and let him sink, forgot, among the dead
and mention his unhappy name no more.
[Charles Wesley, a Reader, ed John R Tyson, OUP 1989, p.428]
But Charles relents and soon he is
writing again –
now he recalls when he and brother John were happy
yokefellows
and wishes blessing on his brother –
Stir up thy faithful people, Lord,
to urge their suit with one accord,
and rescue thro’ the Strength of prayer
their Father, Guide and Minister,
his prayers for us have reach’d thy throne,
and brought us many a blessing down;
Thy blessings all on him be shed;
with glory crown his reverend head
there let him stay, and die in peace:
let all the children of his prayers,
seals of his Ministerial cares,
to him by his Redeemer given,
compose his crown of joy in heaven.”
[ibid, p.433]
We
all fall short on occasion –
especially when we feel passionately about something –
But
all the more need
to get right the relationship between mind, heart and hand.
So what does this mean for us?
1.
Tolerance is not the same an indifference –
we are to work hard to discover God’s will and go for it wholeheartedly –
and by all means share our views with others.
2.
When we find we differ from others
we should still look for a common love of God
and remember that everyone is a child loved by God
and we are called to love them and search for that on which can agree in God’s
name.
That has implications in the
Church, between Churches and beyond –
·
Within the Church –
Jehonadab and Jehu disagreed about buildings (tents
or temples) –
so may we – but let us offer each other the hand of love and fellowship as we
debate.
·
Between the Churches –
we differ from other Churches in our worship, our priorities, even our beliefs
–
yet within organizations like Churches Together we seek to build each other up.
·
Beyond the Church –
when we find a sister or a brother –
seeking love peace and justice beyond the Church, let us affirm them in what
they do –
and praise God that he can work through them
And we do all this not
because John Wesley tells us to,
but because we are enjoined by Scripture -
For, to conclude with to
today’s lesson from 1 John:
“Indeed this is the commandment
we have received from him,
that whoever loves God must also love his brother”
(1 John 4:21)