A little emotional support, please

I'm mulling over a possible companion piece to an upcoming report on how United Methodist churches are helping job seekers.

Here's what I'm wondering: How does Wesleyan theology help assuage the ever-increasing anxiety over the economy's bad news?

A recent open letter to United Methodists from church leaders reminded us of ministry goals (keep reaching out to the poor, etc.), but seemed to lack pastoral comfort for today's emotional anxiety.

Keeping on doing good is all good, of course, but I suspect some United Methodists are having trouble sleeping at night.

So here's the real devil's advocate/overly simplistic question: Seems to me that Calvinists may be in better shape, trusting in God's complete sovereignty even in hard times. What sayeth ye Arminianists?

What practical difference does being a Methodist make in times like this?

Comments

[Andrew C. Thompson]

That's a good question that may not have a quick answer. I'd mention a couple of things:

1. Weseyan Arminians would claim that they have just as high a view of God's sovereignty as Calvinists. God is the lord of creation, and all things will be brought to fulfillment by him. Where the two traditions differ is primarily in the issue of election. We don't believe that God has predestined some to damnation and some to salvation from all eternity. But we also don't believe in the bastardized view of "free choice" that we are sometimes smeared with in popular religiosity. Rather, salvation is always at God's initiative, and whatever ability we have to respond is wholly due to the work of God's grace. We are instruments capable of response through grace, but we are not 'free actors.' So in some ways, the idea that sovereignty is an issue is no accurate (however much it gets played out in the public realm).

2. Wesleyans believe in a strong doctrine of assurance, meaning that we believe that - in the words of St. Paul - "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16). Wesley wrote two important sermons on this topic, and they can be found through the church's General Board of Global Ministries' site here:

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/10/

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/11/

So when it comes to needing to find solace in the trials and anxieties of life, we rely on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit - who is, after all, the one who "makes intercessions for us with sighs too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). This is not the static fatalism of Calvinist predestinarianism but rather a hope-filled reliance on the constant and dynamic work of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives and in the midst of the church.

[ken carter]

I sent this to our church council (Providence UMC, Charlotte):

Friends and Members of the Church Council,

Just a brief note to say that I am also reading the brief volume, Cultivating Fruitfulness, with the members of the Church Council during the days of Lent. I hope you have your copy. If you do not, there is one for you at the welcome center. If you have a copy, I hope you glanced at today's reading (day three). These words spoke to me, and I quote them below. Schnase is asking the question, "what do people need from the church?" and wondering how we can answer this question with integrity. He then writes:

"People need to know that God loves them, that they are of supreme value, and that their life has significance. People need to know that they are not alone; that when they face life's difficulties, they are surrounded by a community of grace; and that they do not have to figure out entirely for themselves how to cope with family tensions, self-doubts, periods of despair, economic reversal, and the temptations that hurt themselves or others. People need to know the peace that runs deeper than an absence of conflict, the hope that sustains them even through the most painful periods of grief, the sense of belonging that blesses them and stretches them and and lifts them out of their own preoccupations. People need to learn how to offer and accept forgiveness, and how to serve and be served..."

I would encourage you to read this brief passage more than once, and stop at any phrase that speaks to you in particular...and, if you feel led, I hope you might forward the passage above to someone you know and love, as a sign of encouragement or gratitude.

Have a blessed day,

Ken Carter