#methodist theology

[feastingonchrist]

I may or may have not spent 12 hours completely hyper-focused listening to videos on theology (debates, opinions on protestant worship, Christian psychology, and Christian denominations) and then visiting the Global Methodist Org website to learn more about it, reading the catechism and seeing which churches in my state/area are also apart of that on their map in case i ever wanna visit a new church when i'm in the area!! I saw my church on the map hehehe and so i went to our website and read a few of the Wesleyan beliefs the church adheres to!)

I did do it..... and i'll do it again. I had so much fun. It brought me joy to talk to God about it after i was finished. I'm obsessed.*

[autistic-muaddib]

The Wrong Jesus

The following is adapted from a sermon I gave at a revival Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Hickory Flat, Mississippi. I recommend reading 1 Samuel 8:4-22 and Luke 23:13-25 before reading this. Copyright (c) 1996 Zedcor Inc. All Rights Reserved.Keywords: 19th century religious art color Jesus brought before crowd Pilate columns Behold The Man by Antonio Ciseri, color As a kid, I went to a…

[beardedtheologians]

1.9.25 Beardcast on Baptism Sunday

Matt and Zach discuss the importance of Baptism of the Lord Sunday and ways to meaningfully incorporate baptism into church life. They emphasize the significance of remembering one’s baptism and the theological understanding of baptism as a one-time sacramental act in the United Methodist tradition. The pastors share ideas for helping congregants engage with baptism more regularly, such as using…

[a-modernmajorgeneral]

Earlier this week, on Thursday 25 March, we celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation. Quite often we have to transfer this feast day as we are not allowed to keep it during Holy Week or in Easter Week. The Annunciation is a popular subject of artists down the centuries including Fra Angelico, Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, Rossetti to name but a few. But perhaps the one that provokes in me the most thought is by Henry Ossawa Tanner. An African American who was born in Pittsburgh, the son of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Tanner painted this in 1897 while living in Paris, having just returned from a trip to Palestine. He specialized in religious subjects, and unlike so many other artists, wanted to set the scenes to include the people, culture, architecture of the Holy Land that he had experienced during his visit.  So Tanner influenced by his experience created this unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God.

So why is this such a thought provoking painting for me? First the artist has made the setting so real. So often the scene is set in the Renaissance or Baroque style, yet Tanner has set it firmly in a humble middle-eastern home. Mary sits on her simple bed with its rumpled sheets, in a room with rough plain walls. She has almost no possessions, with the exception of a lamp with its low burning flame and jugs, perhaps filled with water. 

Secondly, Tanner portrays Mary as he imagines she would have looked at the moment the angel Gabriel appeared to her. Mary was a teenage Jewish girl from Israel so ethnically she is Middle Eastern, with her dark hair and Middle Eastern skin tones, not as a blonde haired woman from Northern Europe as so many earlier artists had done. Not being wealthy, Mary would be dressed in the clothes of a poor person and while she seems anxious in the presence of the Angel, she does not seem afraid. With her hands folded in her lap in prayer, she gazes at the angel with peace and serenity.

Thirdly, I like the way in which Tanner portrays the Angel not as the usual non-gendered winged being but as the pillar of light, reminiscent of the presence of God that accompanied the Israelites on the exodus from Egypt.

Finally, there are the little theological devices. The ruck in the carpet symbolising division between heaven and earth, the presence of the angel in the celestial side and Mary in the terrestrial. The three earthen-wear pots, one on the shelf, the one at Gabriel’s “feet” and the one on the far right behind Mary form a triangle around her. I see this as signifying the presence of the Holy Trinity. God the Father and Holy Spirit in heaven and God the Son now becoming man on earth, this also amplifies Mary’s future as the vessel that will bear Our Blessed Lord.

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Tanner painted The Annunciation soon after returning to Paris from a trip to Egypt and Palestine in 1897. The son of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tanner specialized in religious subjects, and wanted to experience the people, culture, architecture, and light of the Holy Land. Influenced by what he saw, Tanner created an unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Mary is shown as an adolescent dressed in rumpled Middle Eastern peasant clothing, without a halo or other holy attributes. Gabriel appears only as a shaft of light. Tanner entered this painting in the 1898 Paris Salon exhibition, after which it was bought for the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1899, making it his first work to enter an American museum.

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We see a teenage girl, dressed in peasant robes, sitting on a rumpled bed in a room with a bumpy, cobblestone floor. She seems afraid and awed. Who could she be? What is happening? What is that bright column of light on the left? This painting is an unusual version of one of the oldest themes in European art, the Annunciation (which means announcement). In this New Testament Bible story, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will become the mother of Jesus. Traditional paintings of the Annunciation show Mary wearing fancy blue robes and seated in a European palace or cathedral, as she listens calmly to an angel with glorious wings and a halo.

Tanner made his painting so different from other artists’ paintings of the same subject because he wanted the scene to be realistic. He painted The Annunciation in 1898, just after returning from his first trip to the Holy Land—Egypt and Palestine (now Israel). Sketching ordinary Jewish people in the settings where Jesus lived moved Tanner deeply, and he tried to make his painting as authentic as possible.

Tanner’s academic training is evident in his skillful depiction of Mary’s tense face and body and in his use of thin, transparent glazes to create the dark shadows and the soft, luminous effect. He also included several religious symbols in some of the details. The three pottery vessels in the corners may represent Mary since she will soon be the vessel of Jesus. The shelf high up on the wall in the upper left corner intersects the column of light to form the shape of a cross, the symbol of Christianity.

For Tanner, just as for African American artists who made pottery and quilts, and for preachers and congregations who sang spirituals, certain Bible stories became metaphors for freedom from slavery and discrimination. When The Annunciation was first shown in America, it was hailed as a “brilliant masterpiece.” In 1899 the painting was purchased for the city of Philadelphia and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Art (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art). It was the first work by Tanner to find a permanent home at a museum in the United States.

The Annunciation  -  Henry Ossawa Tanner , 1898.

African-American ,  1859 - 1937

Oil on canvas ,  140 cm × 181.0 cm     57 in × 71.25 in

[wellthatsclever]

"Lord, in Your presence there is no night, in the light of Your face is perpetual day." John Wesley

Artist's Instagram

Artist's Facebook

[danielgriswold]

Personal Remarks and Action on the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, 2024

I committed to becoming a United Methodist at Saint Andrew By-The-Sea UMC on Hilton Head Island, SC in the year 2010 after having been a member for a year and realizing I was called to ministry as an Elder in the general church. Having been reared in the Assemblies of God, I had Wesleyan DNA but had never read John Wesley’s sermons, writings, or notes; so I began to read and realized I am a…

[thetruthisfarout]

is anyone else sad about the methodist split? as an LGBT christian i really struggle knowing a lot of my very loving and wonderful friends are leaving the UMC for the new “conservative” global methodist church

[struckbylightningorsomething]

1 Timothy 1 Commentaries and Homilies

I read some documents on 1 Timothy and I enjoyed these pieces the most so far.

Calvin's Commentaries, 1 Timothy 1 - John Calvin

Wesley's Notes on the Bible, 1 Timothy 1 - John Wesley

Homily 2 on 1 Timothy - St. John Chrysostom

Homily 5 on 1 Timothy - St. John Chrysostom

[junebugwriter]

I made a new substack to write my more official-ish, less personal posts! Here is my first, on the Global Methodist Church and their theology:

[feastingonchrist]

Gosh i love learning about theology and Christian history/denominations sooo much! Redeemed Zoomer is not my favorite person to learn from...other than the very bare minimum about different denominations within Christianity, but his videos are fun to watch as a curious introduction into Christian churches, their theology and how they each do things differently. Whether some are in closer unity with one another Catholic, Orthodox, the mainline protestant churches or really not even at all, (other protestants), we are all united in Christ and believe the core doctrines of Christianity. I will also say that watching Zoomer's videos made me want to go back to church again!!! I joined my church on a curious whim just by stepping out in faith and it's so awesome to see how God has been working in that area of my life and faith journey! *btw this isn't a post about theology, i just wanted to say that cause i was watching/studying theology for most of the day. It has been fascinating me for the past year now. But this is a post on my experience at some Baptist churches vs my Methodist church.*

For the longest time, i didn't want to attend church because the only types of churches i had been to were Baptist (with a contemporary worship style) and i cannot connect to God during that worship style. I didn't even feel like i was apart of the congregation, either. The atmosphere felt very cold, though the people weren't rude. it's just not been a very inviting experience. It feels almost "corporate". I feel too distracted in that type of worship setting. The music is just too loud, the lights/projector screens are too bright/flashy, and i don't like contemporary worship music in church...something about it makes me want to claw my eyes out!!!!!!!! It's so whiny and goes on for way too long. I actually don't mind some contemporary songs if they have good lyrics and music. I just don't enjoy it for a Sunday morning church service, it's not bad for a casual Wednesday night or Sunday night service. It's too overstimulating on top of the loud instruments playing over the songs on the loud speakers. I do prefer a traditional worship service, but that is just me. It's much more grounded and God-centered. The congregation feels more united, too. I like how we say the Creed & Lord's Prayer together. Something about the worship style/environment is so simple, yet profound and pure (it's hard to put my thoughts and feelings into words here.) There's no distractions on stage or any loud instruments that are so unbearable to where i want to leave the sanctuary and never come back to the church because i am legitimately overstimulated and exhausted for the rest of the day...I feel refreshed spiritually, socially, and physically after church on Sundays. That is a HUGE BLESSING. I also like how my church isn't massive and everyone knows each other, it has a genuinely friendly and warm environment that i have never been apart of before. That's the church environment i prefer to be in and what i had been praying for for so long. Now that i am here, i long to attend church on Sundays and i didn't know how much i was lacking spiritually (me taking steps of faith and seeing God show up for me) and even socially (forming new relationships with other believers!) My church isn't even THAT traditional/liturgical, it's kinda in the middle, though it's lower church compared to other UMC/mainline protestant churches, yet still higher than non mainline prot churches. Especially since my UMC church split and joined the GMC and some theology nerds are mad about that and yeah i guess technically we aren't considered mainline anymore, but i don't really care. Maybe one day we can unite again... btw, our church checks still say united methodist on them LOL. I do, however, want to visit a truly high UMC service one day to see what that is like. I'm sure it's wonderful :)

Anyways, this is where i'm drawing the line on this conversation. I didn't write any of this to bash other forms of worship or to brag about mine. trust me, i have been apart of these types of conversations before, i see it all the time. Especially the Catholic/Orthodox vs protestant arguments. They make me sad and seeing that constantly is beyond frustrating! But i just wanted to write this based off of my own experiences in these two different types of church settings. Let me know your thoughts if you have gotten this far! I am not at all an expert on theology/church history. I know next to nothing about it cause i never knew there was this much richness and infighting within The Church or all this history in how the denominations formed and why, etc. It's so cool, though! A huge interest for me now, too. I decided not to do too much format editing cause i wasn't sure where to break anything up into paragraphs, nor did i want to make this post longer so i do apologize for that. I kinda didn't feel like it, either. Normally, i do though. So i'm soory fot those on mobile, lol!

[redneck-phd]

Do Not Be Silenced: Pushing for Egalitarian Theology in Doctrine & Practice

Silenced is for sale at all major online bookstores, including Amazon. Ebook $45; Hardbound $80.50 A week ago, I had a chance to return to Spring Arbor University (SAU), my alma mater with my sixteen-year-old son, who is beginning his college search.  As much as I love SAU, I am deeply worried about the university’s lack of connection to its Free Methodist history and even its own mission. A key…

[firstchurchmesa]

"Go", Jess Brown, June 11th 2023

Jess Brown preaches based on Matthew 28: 16-20 during 9 am Worship on Sunday June 11th, 2023. 

 Want to support the ministry at First United Methodist Church of Mesa? 

Donate at https://app.sharefaith.com/app/giving/firs6957441

 Watch the full Worship Service at Livestream.com/FirstChurchMesa

[beardedtheologians]

5/16/24 Beardcast on Pentecost

The week on the Beardcast Matt and Zach talk about Pentecost. Connect with the Bearded Theologians at https://www.linktr.ee/Beardedtheologians You can find the Beardcast on Youtube, Stitcher, Apple, Spotify, Castbox, or wherever else you listen to Podcast.

[copperbadge]

Hi, please ignore if this is too personal, but as someone with Jewish ancestors who is considering conversion, I'd love to know your reasons for converting? For me it's more about community and reconnecting with that part of my family (there's a complicated family history there) than about religious belief, but I'm worried that might not be enough of a reason, if you know what I mean?

I don't know, I think conversion to Judaism is hard enough that if you don't have "enough" of a reason, you'll find out -- but I also think that one doesn't have to have a "sufficient" reason to convert to any faith which allows it, just determination and respect. If you want a connection to your ancestors and community, that's a very powerful motivation. And if it's not enough to sustain you through conversion, that's still a huge self-discovery for you, and while some practice should remain closed, you can still connect through things like traditionally Jewish foods and appreciation for Jewish art and culture.

For me, it's not that it's too personal, but it's difficult to vocalize; often when I'm asked about converting there's an assumption that I'm marrying a Jewish person, and when I say no, I usually add, "I just hear a call." Which admittedly is much more often said by Christians joining a ministry, but it's the most truthful I know how to be in short. Something in Judaism speaks to something in me. I have very little Jewish ancestry (although every time the DNA websites reevaluate their calculations it ticks up a percentage point, which is hilarious to me; I'm up from 2% to 6% currently) but the attitude towards the divine, the strength of tradition, the respect for learning, they all speak to my soul.

Even the hard stuff -- content in Torah or Talmud that I find difficult to reconcile with modern sensibility -- is at least something to challenge me, and Judaism is a faith that encourages argument, so I'm allowed to have a critical opinion of it. I think a lot about a quote I read from someone (possibly a reader, if so I am so sorry I can't find your name in my memory) who said, "I keep kosher, but sometimes I eat bacon when I'm mad at G-d." I think a lot about my Methodist confirmation class, where I was almost kicked out because I thought the Parable of the Wedding Feast was stupid and continued to argue against it after, realistically, I should have stopped; if it had been a class for a Bar Mitzvah, we might have been allowed to really examine it instead of glancing across it awkwardly and moving on. (As I found out years later, it was basically about how anyone can be a Christian but Jews should be punished for refusing to convert, so you know. Even as a kid I was very Jewish in my approach to theology and knew anti-Semitic propaganda when I heard it.)

I like that so many of the traditions involve things that I find compelling: bread, fire, water, the written word, the cycle of the harvest. I like that there's a search for truth and precision in Jewish scholarship, and that scholarship often seems to reward a neurodiverse approach to faith and study. As someone committed to philanthropy and versed in radical compassion, the exhortation to care for others baked into every foundational Jewish text is also very attractive. Some of the prayers I find viscerally satisfying (particularly the Traveler's Prayer, for some reason).

I find faith in a single divine entity extremely difficult, but one of the first things that got me to seriously consider Judaism (something I'd already been interested in) was being told that you can be an atheist Jew. To be able to commit to a faith community while still struggling with faith itself feels special to me. Whether a divine entity caused the miracle of the oil we celebrate this time of year is immaterial to me; the beauty of the narrative, the righteous rebellion rewarded with eight nights of light, is enough for me.

I might never finish conversion; realistically while I've done a lot of studying I still haven't worked extensively with a rabbi on a conversion path, and I do not call myself a Jew and won't until I complete conversion (I do observe a lot of the holidays and prayers, but mainly because that's generally advice to converts, so they can understand the demands of the faith and the myriad issues with being Publicly Jewish). But that's fine too; Judaism has been around for thousands of years, it'll wait for me, and if I never convert I'm still enjoying the journey.

[peaches2217]

I had lunch with my pastor today. I literally don’t think it could’ve gone any better. I’m… still in total disbelief, honestly.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so heard by a religious leader in my life.

Over an hour and a half, we nibbled on scones and coffee and talked theology and spirituality and general morality. I ended up telling her everything: my traumatic experiences growing up in church, being outed by the pastor and then cast out, meeting my girlfriend and coming to grips with my gender identity and wrestling with the God I was raised to believe in vs. the God I’ve come to believe in.

She cried. She dismantled all the homo/transphobia I’ve experienced with scripture and historical knowledge and context of said scripture. She shared her own experiences — turns out we were both raised Pentecostal, so she’s intimately familiar with the sort of ideology I’ve been fed my whole life. She decried the breach of trust I experienced with my pastor as both spiritual and humanitarian betrayal. She gave me a rundown of the recent history of the United Methodist church: it split when the church ruled last year to legitimize queer identities and marriages, and the church I’ve joined is one of the churches that didn’t join the split and decided to practice full inclusion.

She asked if the name I go by is my deadname and if I wanted her to call me anything else. I told her no, my birth name is unisex, so I’m still happy with it! But I do wanna change my middle name to Elijah. She said it was fitting; Elijah grappled with depression and fear yet chose to place his faith in God through all of it. I admitted that I hadn’t really thought of it that way. She encouraged me to go back and read his story again.

Before we left, she asked if she could pray with me. She opened by addressing me as “she” in that prayer… and then stopped and asked what pronouns I wanted to go by. I said “He, if that’s alright.” The remainder of the prayer, I was “he” and “him” and “his”. It was made clear to me, in no uncertain terms, that I was welcomed into her church exactly as I am.

I thanked her again for not turning me away, and she started crying again, just clasping my hands and telling me she was glad I found this church. I told her I was equally glad.

[campgender]

Hey hello! Can you recommend any excangelical podcasts? I hope you are doing well!

tysm, i hope you are too❣️ there are a ton of podcasts in this sphere & i often cycle through periods of intense engagement & more distance, so these recs are a combination of luck & personal taste — there are artists & activists like kevin garcia whose work i’ve been profoundly shaped by & whose podcasts i just don’t click with.

i’m also going to mix in the exMo & other deconstruction podcasts i listen to because i’ve found both the emotional experience really relatable as a pastor’s kid & thus someone raised in a certain epicenter of cultiness, & also, because the 1800s politics it reflects are foundational to evangelical doctrines & values, too, Mormon history & theology can be super useful for understanding what were more unspoken beliefs in my upbringing.

exvangelical with blake chastain

a good way to find other artists but not something i listen to more than selectively

combination of reading political commentary essays from his blog (i find the sentence structure of this type of thing difficult to follow, especially out loud) & interviews with other podcasters / artists about their journeys & work

#BadTheologyKills with Kevin Garcia

Andre Henry, author of All The White Friends I Couldn’t Keep

mormon stories with john dehlin & the open stories foundation staff

john changed my life in high school as the first person i’d heard of willing to be excommunicated (largely) due to queer issues as an ally. i don’t always agree with his lens — he has a doctorate in psychology & more faith in the medical establishment than i could ever endorse — but he defends queer youth with his heart & soul & statistics and i have a lot of respect for him + his work.

combination of long-form (like, 3-10+ hours) interviews about people’s journeys in/leaving the church & political commentary / breaking news, usually in panel form, with some church history series with guests.

Ep 1442: Was I raised in a cult or high-demand religion? A self-assessment

Ep 1588: Noah’s Flood with Dr. Simon Southerton (I also recently finished a great book on this topic which i think was on his recommendation? The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood by David R. Montgomery; link goes to my review on storygraph)

REVcovery with justin gentry & rev sarah heath

i started listening to this one when it started because of justin’s other podcast (mentioned later), i find him really relatable in a lot of personality ways (things i associate in myself with being obsessive-compulsive) & i really appreciate the ways he relates those to Methodism, how that environment fosters + rewards those traits.

justin is also an ally who got fired from his pastoral position over being queer-affirming; sarah is an ally who ran an affirming UMC church before retiring from burnout.

there are two main reasons i like this podcast: the focus on (ex)pastors & the Methodist lens. similar to what i mentioned earlier, pastors are deeply “in it,” & i think the experiences of the hosts & their interviewees are relatable to a lot of people who were/are heavily volunteerized &/or publicized in church. like, by the time i was in middle school i was doing as much if not more church work as my dad (who was not a senior pastor at the time), so while some of their more “pastoral” experiences i can only relate to from a level of peer support, most of their discussions resonate directly

interviews about guests’ journeys, almost all (ex)pastors or other religious leaders + conversations between the hosts about a certain topic + practical advice like building a resume when your only experience is in church work

Episode 23: Pay Janice Lagata

Bart Ehrman, acclaimed New Testament scholar & former evangelical

the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast hosts audio of select posts (his entire posting library is available for an annual fee his organization donates to charity)

a variety of his interviews & audio of his guest lectures can be found across various other podcasts

How Jesus Became God lecture (i also recently finished this book lol)

The Bible as Literature & Media lecture

Bad Words with Janice Lagata

she’s a former longtime unpaid worker in the upper levels of Hillsong

premise is “giving bad theology the read it deserves” — each episode discusses a chapter of a book reflective of evangelical theology/culture

she’s amazing but unfortunately i have trouble with the audio quality of her guests a lot of the time

her other podcast is God Has Not Given

Mormon.ish with Rebecca Bibliotheca & Landon Brophy

exMo & culturally Mormon news analysis & history

Rebecca does Mormon News Roundup which is sometimes cross-posted on Mormon Stories which is how i found her podcast, i find her style really easy to listen to

The LDS “Indian Placement Program” & Its Legacy with Native academic Dr. Elise Boxer (the blurb on the listing is accidentally from the wrong week but it’s the right audio)

LDS International Temple Building: The Same Controversial Playbook? with anthropologist Jason Boxer, about LDS neo/colonialism in Peru & how these tactics are then applied domestically

Go Home Bible, You’re Drunk with Tori Williams Douglass & Justin Gentry

started out with them doing drinking games to bible stories, now a mix of discussing bible stories or evangelical cultural phenomena, alcohol optional. more casual / laid-back vibe

gonna be a pedant for a second, honestly now that they do more cultural commentary eps i prefer those bc as someone who reads a lot of historical-critical biblical analysis it bothers me when they refer to the way they were taught / evangelicals teach the text as the meaning of the text, when there’s cultural/symbolic background they’re not aware of (in those instances; i’m not trying to say they’re uninformed or anything). particularly bothers me when it’s about a story from Judaism

Blessed Are The Binary Breakers with Avery Arden @blessedarethebinarybreakers

more Christian than ex but lots of trans guests + broad experiences of & perspectives on faith

Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr

he’s a Franciscan mystic & panentheist (distinct & very different, as he reminds listeners often, from my pantheism lol)

this podcast discusses his book The Universal Christ, he has other audio projects

i hope some of those are interesting to / helpful for you! wishing you all the best xx