Seeking Salvation : Christianity, Faith, Methodism

       There was a day when the world consisted of small villages subsisting on agriculture. Tiny places where everyone knew and were probably related to each other. Education was a rare commodity in such places that even the elite found it difficult to attain. During this period, the most educated within society were the clergy. The church needed clerics to be able to read scripture, translate the Bible, and educate the landed elite and future clergy and monks. At the advent of the Industrial Revolution, there was an increasing need for basic elementary education and universal elementary and eventually, high school became an expected rite of passage for children. College education became increasingly critical as the post-war economy shifted from factory-based work to a knowledge, technology, and financial services-based economy.        Fewer Americans are going to college now. In fact, fewer parents support their children attending high...

      Sometimes I struggle to love my neighbors. Today's society makes it very easy to avoid other people and live heads down on our phones and laptops. Now, if one is careful, community, if organized, can be found on Threads, Bluesky, YouTube, and Reddit groups. But too often, the screens are merely a reflection of the person's face. Time is spent on work projects, video games, and mindlessly doom-scrolling. These are not acts of community but of isolation and there is too much isolation today.      I recently went on a pastoral visit, and on my way, I was asked by another resident to come and visit. Meeting someone outside my community, listening to their story and praying over them was awesome. Inviting them to our community and letting them know that they are not alone is central to being a good neighbor.       When we love our neighbor, we love God. Why? Each of us is created, and crafted as unique people and is worthy of ...

  Pictures and poem by Carol Meile We have forgotten, and it saddens me. We have forgotten the simplicity of the Gospel message in America. We now worship wealth, power, sex, and money as gods. And the price we have paid as a society is horrible. People sleep on the streets, children hunger, the elderly are forgotten, the poor are vilified, and migrants are treated worse than common trash. We have lost our humanity and have placed ourselves before others.       People are asking theologians and pastors to reimagine the Gospel around these values of rugged individualism, personal responsibility, greed, power, and competition. This is a rubicon that many pastors will not cross. In the Gospel of Luke, the writer speaks in song of God's faithfulness from generation to generation. He writes about how the proud are scattered in their thoughts, the powerful are brought down from their thrones, and the hungry are filled with good things, while the rich are sent away. (L...

                    I remember watching members of the evangelism team at a local megachurch wandering the streets of Downtown Minneapolis, handing out tracts and praying with people in an attempt to lead them to Christ. My kids attended Sunday School there because the Sunday School at my home church wasn’t very good at this point, so I was a regular at their Sunday evening services.  I noticed that I never saw people who had prayed with this team in the auditorium. Instead, I met a lot of folks whose lives had been changed through the food pantry ministry, the chemical dependency clinic, their children’s participation in the private school on campus, and the bookstore. All of these spaces provided acts of signs and wonders in these people's lives that they could expressly point to, and that led to them changing their lives in the way God was calling them to.  Just preaching the word isn’t enough. It must be follo...

By Carol Meile   I have a bee in my bonnet. Lately, I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the plague of binary thinking that pervades our culture. It is literally tearing it apart. We have good and bad, light and dark, red and blue, MAGA and progressive. All these binary dualities of thought and to what end? We haven’t solved any of the major issues in our country. In fact, we have used our binary culture to kick the can down the road to the point of garbage being in the streets, homeless people in mass encampments, and the poor, regardless of location, largely forgotten, and we treat migrants inhumanely.  This has to stop. There are millions of color combinations hundreds of economic and political approaches, a country can do things other than erect walls at its border, and we house and feed everyone on Earth. All of this is doable. We have the technology. What we don’t have in this country is any form of will. A pervasive laziness has taken over society. We have a...

         (Photo by Ian Stauffer)       I have had a horrible bout of writer's block this week. I have done all the things that a writer/ pastor should do. I prayed and studied the scripture and sought counsel. I just started writing because sometimes you can write yourself out of a funk. All to no relief. And the longer it went, the more I panicked because Sunday was coming, and I needed to say something.        I woke up this morning four days later, and poof, it was gone. No idea why it just lifted, and it got me thinking. Sometimes we have problems that are not up to us to solve. We may want to solve them, and others around us may want us to solve them, but sometimes it's not our problem to solve but God's.       In the case of writer's block, going on with life and doing other things like pastoral visits and reading pushed the problem into God's lap. I had prayed, I had studied, I had sought co...

 According to CNN, an “Oklahoma lawsuit seeks to block opening of first publicly funded religious charter school in the US”. [1] This false narrative is that religion and public schools should not be separate but interwoven. The question is which religion, even if we assume Christianity, there are hundreds of variations within the US alone!  The truth is that God is present and doesn’t need human endorsement or funding. God was there before the staff and kids arrived. God is there through how our children and staff treat each other. As kids seek to love their neighbors as themselves, and teacher and staff seek to show patience, perseverance, and excellence, in all of this, God is present.  God doesn’t need human approval to act, so what is really driving this push? Let me argue that families desire to get a parochial education at taxpayer expense. The Constitution, though, is clear in the First Amendment “Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or pro...

Difficult things happen to all of us. It’s part of the creation that God orders for us. Pain is part of life; you can’t avoid it. The United Methodist Church teaches that “suffering begets holiness”. The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, added a little more nuance when he argued that: · Suffering keeps the believer humble, even as a little child. [27] [1] · Suffering alters the believer’s focus, from this world and toward God. [28] [2] · Suffering teaches the believer obedience, just as it did for Christ. [29] [3] · Suffering cultivates an attitude of full submission toward God. [30] [4] · Suffering increases our earnestness for pure love. [31] [5] · Suffering prepares the believer to fight temptation. [32] [6] Ultimately, “Whatever raises the mind to God is good; whatever draws the heart from its center is evil [7] This is great to know; however, Pain, Suffering, and illness seem to contradict what many know about God’s nature that: o God is all-powerful. o God is all-kn...

 If you are like me, your attention was on your phone screens this past weekend as Russia experienced the closest thing to a real coup since 1917. The Wagner Group, a private military company, marched on Moscow because of working conditions. They were speeding towards their objective, a mere 123 miles from Moscow when their leader turned his troops around and went home. Hundreds of miles were conquered in hours, with public support, yet when the goal was in sight...the inability to capitalize. What happened? Before I answer that, let's contrast this with Jesus. Jesus started a movement in the first century focused on simplifying humanity's relationship with God. He actively protested against the religious powers, demanding a complex religion and living standards. Jesus slowly and methodically healed, taught, and challenged authority all the way into Jerusalem. Yet, when facing death by crucifixion, he finished the last mile. He poured out his life for everyone now and going for...

           Have you ever experienced a disconnect between how you appear externally and how you feel internally? Do acts of kindness become tainted by guilt, shame, and anger, robbing you of the joy they should bring? Do you struggle with feelings of worthiness, questioning whether you deserve happiness, fulfilment, love, a rewarding career, or a fulfilling relationship? The concept at the core of all these experiences is worthiness. Jesus once remarked, "You can be a clean cup on the outside but dirty inside." Feeling unworthy has the power to tarnish a person's inner being. So, what causes this feeling, and is there a way to overcome it?      Throughout my life, I have grappled with feelings of unworthiness. I constantly felt like an outsider, never truly belonging. This sentiment was amplified by public rejection, such as unsuccessful political campaigns, missed opportunities for promotions, and failed relationships. For some individu...

       In today’s rapidly changing society, the church faces a significant challenge in engaging with young people. Research from the book Unchristian reveals alarming statistics about how young adults perceive Christians, with negative associations ranging from judgmental and hypocritical to anti-LGBTQ. These perceptions indicate a branding problem that contradicts the fruits of the Spirit we should be known for. Rev Adam Hamilton and his team at the Church of the Resurrection have identified five key areas that turn young adults away from the church, highlighting the need for introspection and reform. In this blog post, we will explore these issues and discuss potential ways to bridge the gap and reestablish meaningful connections with young people. Evolving from a Habit to a Movement: In the past, attending church was viewed as a positive habit, much like working, buying a home, or voting. However, to effectively engage with young people, the church needs to tr...

Sin can often hinder our spiritual growth and create separation from God in the faith journey. However, Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross transformative power, as Paul highlights in Romans 6.1–14, offers hope and redemption. This blog post delves into the significance of Sin, the role of communal and individual Sin, and how faith can help us overcome Sin and rediscover spiritual renewal. Sin is a spiritual separation from God, not societal or legal transgressions. It is unique to each individual and should be seen as a personal offense against God. Societal norms are not Sin. They may have consequences for breaking them, but God isn’t in them. Right now, the US is in the throes of communal Sin. It is tearing us apart. How can we differentiate communal Sin from individual Sin? When communities and countries collectively fail to protect marginalized individuals or seek justice for those wronged by society, they lose the collective soul of the country or community. Many popular political an...

  In Romans 6:1-14, the apostle Paul writes about abandoning sin and choosing faith. But what the heck is sin? We talk about it; we assign human traits and judgements, but what? Sin is a spiritual state in which we are separated from God. The core teaching of the church is this. God saw that we were spiritually distant from God because of our sin. God put on flesh and came to Earth as Jesus. Jesus simplified the various laws given in the 10 commandments. The commandments had two purposes: to ensure humanity loved God and their neighbors. Right? But society set many guidelines, rules, and institutions that God was not loved, and our fellow humans were hurt! The Roman authorities executed Jesus because he represented a threat to their order. Something happened during this execution because Christians believe that our sin was forgiven in dying. God sacrificed God’s self to may our relationship right with God. But people began to have encounters. They claimed to see and experience a ...