The Power of Holy Communion

How often should we celebrate the Lord's Supper?

Wesley Report's Shane Raynor recently wrote that he has received real spiritual benefit from weekly participation in Holy Communion. At my church, we celebrate monthly. But moving to that level of frequency after I arrived as pastor a year-and-a-half ago was a big change for my congregation. Previously, the church celebrated very infrequently.

At our chapel services at Duke Divinity School, there is at least one Eucharistic worship service per week. The Duke Chapel, right next door to the seminary, also has a mid-week celebration of Holy Communion every week. Those multiple celebrations of the sacrament mean that all members of the Duke community can receive the Lord's Supper every week if they so desire.

But what is the reason for coming to the Lord's table at all? And why should we do so frequently?

People with little experience in regular participation in the Lord's Supper (and often with little inclination to increase their frequency), sometimes say that the sacrament is "special" and should be celebrated infrequently lest it become too "common." But would we use that same argument with prayer? Or preaching? With those particular means of grace, don't we assume that increased frequency - matched with a willing heart - is a spiritual benefit to the Christian believer?

In the Wesleyan tradition, one of our best resources for looking at the importance of regular participation in Holy Communion is John Wesley's sermon on "The Duty of Constant Communion." In the sermon, Wesley points out that "Do this in remembrance of me," is a command Jesus gave to us at a pivotal moment in his life - right before he was arrested and killed. That it is a command shows its importance on one level; Jesus' timing of it only emphasizes that importance.

Wesley argues that, if the command were all we had, that should be enough to compel us to go the Lord's table at every opportunity. But the great joy we find is that there are other reasons as well - true spiritual benefits that we receive when we partake of the Lord's Supper with a willing heart. Assuming the liturgy of a Eucharistic worship where confession of sin and assurance of pardon would be made prior to the consecration of the elements, Wesley names these benefits as "the forgiveness of our past sins and the present strengthening and refreshing of our souls."

He goes on to speak of the "grace of God given herein," and says, "As our bodies are strengthened by bread and wine, so are our souls by these tokens of the body and blood of Christ. This is the food of our souls: this gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection." Thus, he can conclude, "We must neglect no occasion which the good providence of God affords us for this purpose. This is the true rule - so often are we to receive as God gives us opportunity."

Also helpful for our thinking about Holy Communion is Wesley's sermon, "The Means of Grace." He believes that there are many ways God makes grace present to us in our lives, but in this sermon he focuses on the "chief means" of prayer, searching the Scriptures, and the Lord's Supper. Wesley makes a point in this sermon that is worth considering: He distinguishes the means of grace themselves as practices from the power that can be received through participation in them. That is, he points out the common error of some Christians in thinking that the means are actually ends - that simply participating in them earns "merit" in the eyes of God.

But that is not only false; it is dangerous. As Wesley writes, "[A]ll outward means whatever, if separate from the Spirit of God, cannot profit at all." He goes on: "We know that there is no inherent power in the words that are spoken in prayer, in the letter of Scripture read, the sound thereof heard, or the bread and wine received in the Lord's Supper; but that it is God alone who is the giver of every good gift, the author of all grace; that the whole power is of him, whereby through any of these there is any blessing conveyed to our soul."

So why are the means of grace in general (and Holy Communion in particular) so important? If the power we receive through them is really the power and presence of God in our lives, why can't we leave off the means and simply wait for the Holy Spirit to descend upon us?

Wesley's answer is that God has ordained the means as the "ordinary channels" through which we receive his grace. It's not that God couldn't do it another way if God so chose. But he didn't! He has chosen to give us his grace through these wonderful practices of the faith. And we come to know that truth as we commit to the means of grace and allow the life of discipleship we live to be patterned by them.

We come to know Jesus Christ more fully, and we find that the Holy Spirit draws us ever closer to the Father through the Son.

In short, we find ourselves transformed.

So while the command of Christ would be enough to convince us to receive at every opportunity (as Wesley says), we have so much more than just that. We have the possibility of a transformed existence, where we find ourselves - over time - being remade into Christlike children of God.

News from the UM Reporter

Robin Russell, my editor at the United Methodist Reporter, was in Durham this week for a conference of Christian publishers hosted by Leadership Education at Duke Divinity (LEADD). It gave Robin and me the chance to sit down for lunch and have a conversation - a rare treat, considering she lives in Dallas, Texas, and I live here in Bull City.

There are changes afoot at the Reporter these days. After four years of impressive leadership as Chief Executive Officer, Sarah Wilke left UMR Communications earlier this year to become the world publisher and editor for the Upper Room Ministries in Nashville. That left a gap in leadership that has just been filled with the selection of a new CEO. His name is Robert Mathews, and he comes to UMR after having held executive positions at a number of corporations in publishing and print media. Sarah left big shoes to fill, but it looks as if UMR is getting a great person to do just that in the addition of Bob Mathews.

Robin herself generated news this past week when she was named the "Communicator of the Year" by the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC). The award was, as Robin told me, a complete surprise to her. It was a well-deserved one, though, as I can attest from having worked with Robin for the past several years.

Readers of the Reporter see Robin's excellence in journalism through the stories she pens and by the overall products that both the United Methodist Reporter and the UMPortal website represent. I see a side that many others do not, in the patient and careful editing she does of the Reporter's content that appears under my own name. That kind of editing is not just the result of a sharp journalistic mind; it also requires a relationship between editor and writer, where advice, understanding, and a keen insight into the heart of an article's message are all a part of the editor's approach to her writer's work. I have been fortunate - nay, blessed - that Robin possesses those qualities in abundance. And so her recent award is recognition of both the obvious and more hidden talents she has that go into being a great communicator in journalism.

[BTW: Some people do not realize that the United Methodist Reporter, and its parent company UMR Communications, are not organizations within the United Methodist Church. The company explains its relationship to the UMC on its website:

"UMR Communications, home of the United Methodist Reporter, is related by covenant to seven United Methodist Annual Conferences: Central Texas, New Mexico, North Texas, Texas, Northwest Texas, Rio Grande (a Spanish-language conference) and Southwest Texas. This covenantal relationship, similar to that of church-founded hospitals and homes, acknowledges the previous ownership of the organization by these annual conferences and its United Methodist heritage. UMR Communications is not funded directly by the United Methodist Church or by any other denomination it serves. It is financially independent, and derives its income from fees paid by clients for its services, along with grants and bequests from donors."

The same page also relates UMR's mission: The mission of UMR Communications is to enable the Christian community to make disciples for Christ by providing communication services and resources."

Though I write a bi-weekly column for the UM Reporter, I am not an employee of UMR Communications. That said, I write for the Reporter because I believe strongly in its mission as an independent source of news and commentary for issues related to the life and ministry of the United Methodist Church. If you would like to subscribe to the newspaper, see this link.]

Vocatus Dei - Called of God

In the midst of the blogging I've been doing around the issue of vocation, I came across a wonderful piece of counsel in Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ. It speaks of the great honor and joy, as well as the freedom, to be found in serving God:

"It is a great honor, a great glory to serve You and to despise all things for Your sake. They who give themselves gladly to Your most holy service will possess great grace. They who cast aside all carnal delights for Your love will find the most sweet consolation of the Holy Ghost They who enter upon the narrow way for Your name and cast aside all worldly care will attain great freedom of mind" (III.10).

There is really so much in Kempis about the calling of the Christian life that it makes me wonder if all these thoughts and conversations I've been having recently are somehow arising from my meditations on the Imitation of Christ.

If you'd like to read the other recent posts on Christian vocation, you can find them here and here. The

Do you have a calling?

Do you have a calling? Have you thought about your daily work and tasks not just as your job or your hobby, but as your vocation?

This is a question that has been on my mind a lot lately. And for some reason, I find myself in a lot of conversations about it as well.

The English word vocation comes from the Latin verb vocare, which means to call, to summon, or to name. Thinking about what we do in terms of a vocation instead of just a job or an occupation makes a difference. It causes us to approach our daily work not from the standpoint of what we choose, but rather from the standpoint of how we are called by God.

One of the biggest obstacles for the church to overcome when thinking about vocation is the assumption on the part of many that it is only ministers who are called. But when you get a chance, read the material from the Apostle Paul on spiritual gifts: Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:1-16.

It's clear from the New Testament that spiritual gifts are given to all members of the body of Christ. They "are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each on individually just as the Spirit chooses" (1 Cor 12:11).

When I was in ministry in Searcy, Arkansas, I led our congregation through a study on spiritual gifts where the authors of the study tried to fit all Christians into one of the gifts specifically mentioned in those three Scripture passages. But I don't think Paul is trying to give us an exhaustive list at all. (That's part of the reason the lists differ in each place.) Instead, Paul is showing us a sample of the diversity of gifts that God gives to the church. That's why the Scripture mentions such things as encouraging, helping, and administration. These are expressions of gifts that admit of a great deal of particularity in expression, exactly because the Holy Spirit uses many different means to build up the church.

I firmly believe that God calls every woman and man. We see that visibly in baptism, but the promise of Jesus is that we will also receive a new birth through the Spirit. In that same Spirit, we can - with patience and discernment - discover the gifts that God gives each of us to bear witness to the gospel and build up the body of Christ.

Here's a prayer for discernment, from the United Methodist Book of Worship (p.510):

Almighty God, in a world of change you placed eternity in our hearts and gave us power to discern good from evil. Grant us sincerity, that we may persistently seek the things that endure, refusing those which perish, and that, amid things vanishing and deceptive, we may see the truth steadily, follow the light faithfully, and grow ever richer in that love which is the life of all people; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

I think sharing about our Christian vocation can be a fruitful form of mutual witness. I shared about my own sense of vocation a few days ago in this post. If you'd like to share about yours, please feel free to do so in the comments section.

Putting my vocation into words

I was filling out a 'profile' statement this morning, and I found myself wanting to name my sense of calling in a few short sentences. For me, that calling is both to academic research & writing and practical ministry. And the substance of the calling is the same in both areas, even if it gets expressed in somewhat different ways given the different contexts of university classroom and local church.

Here's what I settled on:

My vocation is centered around exploring and reflecting on how the church can live into a more faithful way of being through disciplined participation in the means of grace. I try to embrace that vocation personally through reading and study, writing for both academic and church audiences, teaching and preaching in both university and church settings, and - perhaps most importantly - through the practical ministry to which I am dedicated as a presbyter in the church of Jesus Christ.

I am drawn to this vocation out of a strong belief that it can help the church live into its calling to be the people of God. That is, I believe most challenges that Christians face in the present era - from the need to embrace fully our identity as disciples of Jesus to the calling to renew the church in its witness and ministry - are dependent on our willingness to pattern our lives in those graced practices given to us by God for our sanctification in faith and the mutual upbuilding of our common life.

I have known of people who spend their entire working lives in occupations they dislike but feel compelled to pursue for one reason or another. In fact, that might describe the majority of the population. And so I'm doubly grateful to be able to approach each day's work as a labor of love, finding great joy and fulfillment in that which God is giving me to do.

The Way of the Cross

I've been reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, a book that was important to John Wesley. As a part of that, I've been sharing some of Kempis' thoughts and reflections that are particularly striking to me. (For previous posts, check out here and here and here.)

Check out Kempis' thoughts on the Way of the Cross from the Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter 12:

"In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross."

Kempis is reflecting on Jesus' teaching in Luke 9:23 (paralleled in Matthew 16:24), where Jesus speaks of denying yourself and taking up your cross in order to follow him.

Wesley focused on this passage as well. In fact, he thought the teaching it contains is crucial to our salvation. He also saw two distinct movements of discipleship in it - the first is denying yourself, and the second is taking up your cross.

In Wesley's sermon, "Self-denial," he draws the distinctions by explaining that denying yourself means saying 'no' to our own will in order to say 'yes' to the will of God: "It is the denying or refusing to follow our own will, from a conviction that the will of God is the only rule of action to us."

He goes on, "The will of God is a path leading straight to God. The will of man, which once ran parallel with it, is now another path, not only different from it, but in our present state, directly contrary to it: It leads from God. If, therefore, we walk in the one, we must necessarily quit the other. We cannot walk in both."

Wesley then explains what is meant by taking up our cross: "Now, in running 'the race that is set before us,' according to the will of God, there is often a cross lying in the way; that is, something which is not only not joyous, but grievous; something which is contrary to our will, which is displeasing to our nature. What then is to be done? The choice is plain: Either we must take up our cross, or we must turn aside from the way of God."

But Wesley is also clear that bearing the cross is not a suffering imposed by God to no end. In fact, it is quite the contrary. He writes, "It is prepared of God for him; it is given by God to him, as a token of his love. And if he receives it as such, and, after using such means to remove the pressure as Christian wisdom directs, lies as clay in the potter's hand; it is disposed and ordered by God for his good, both with regard tot he quality of it, and in respect to its quantity and degree, its duration, and every other circumstance."

Christ acts in this way "as the Physician of our souls." And if, "in searching our wounds, he puts us to pain, it is only in order to heal them."

Now read some concluding thoughts by Kempis on the Way of the Cross, again from Book II, Chapter 12, of the Imitation of Christ:

"Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and up0on it He4 died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory."

In a world where the dominant cultural message we receive is to follow every urge and appetite within us, those are saving words, indeed.

The Church and Higher Education

It's taking me a bit longer than I expected to try and catch up here in Durham after my recent mission trip to Chincha, Peru. I think that's a result of the time of year, both with respect to church life and university life.

I'm going to write more about our time in Peru in the coming days, but until then, I wanted to let you know about a new feature piece in the United Methodist Reporter, in which my friend and colleague Eric Van Meter and I sound off on the issue of higher education and the United Methodist Church.

The feature - which is titled, "Dialogue on higher education and faith," - gave Eric and me a chance to share ideas and examine the relationship of church and academy. It's a topic I've thought a lot about over my adult life, since I've spent more than 12 of the past 15 years either attending or working for various colleges and universities. Interestingly enough, every one of those schools was founded by Methodists: Hendrix College, Vanderbilt University, Lambuth University, and Duke University. Of the four, all but Vandy continue to maintain some affiliation with the UMC.

But the church's understanding of its educational mission has changed significantly from the late 19th- to early 20th-century founding of most of its institutions of higher learning. Administrators at Methodist schools will be quick to tell you that they are not "church schools." The very term makes admissions officers shudder with sectarian horror. Instead, they are at best "church-related," a term that is vague enough that it can mean a great deal or nothing at all.

Sometimes the Enlightenment desire to appear blessedly free of religion - which is very strong in campus culture - leads the uninformed to overreach in their speech. I have personally walked behind tour groups led by undergraduate students on Duke's campus on a couple of occasions, when the guide pointed up to the statues of John Wesley and Francis Asbury on the facade of Duke Chapel. The university was founded by Methodists, the guide explained each time, but we here at Duke haven't been affiliated with any church for a long, long time. That isn't true, of course. But to prospective students and parents who might be offended by the idea that the Christian faith should have a robust place in the academy, a little white lie is one way to apologize for the beautiful-yet-unmistakeably-Christian presence of a big church in the middle of campus.

Generally speaking, I think there are about three ways to think about Methodism's historic mission in higher ed. One is as an avenue for the education of the poor and the children of preachers. Varieties of that rationale were behind Methodist establishments of everything from John Wesley's school at Kingswood to the post-Civil War foundations of most Methodist colleges in the U.S. But take a look at the price tag of United Methodist-related colleges and universities today. Many still give discounts to PK's, but "half-off" tuition still is pretty pricey when your tuition is northward of $25,000 per year. And the poor? You're much more likely to find them in junior colleges and state universities than in private church-related schools.

A second way to think about the educational mission is as a way to form pastors for ministry. Since the M.Div is now required for ordained elders, and some master's-level degree is (almost always) required for deacons, that means the mission of theological education is mostly with the 13 UM-related seminaries. In my opinion, this is a continuing area where the church really needs to be involved in an educational mission. Unfortunately, there is just about zero consensus as to what theological education should look like. I happen to think Duke Divinity School is the best theological school in the connection, but someone educated at Claremont School of Theology or Iliff School of Theology would probably think they had landed on another planet if they spent much time around here. Is it okay for a church's seminaries to have widely divergent understandings of the church's own educational mission for its future clergy? And if not, how does the church bring about a consensus in its seminaries? Those seem to me to be open questions.

And then a third way to think about the church's mission in higher education is simply to say that it is the way the church contributes to a healthier, more robust, better educated society. That, I would argue, is the de facto reason the UMC continues to support undergraduate education at all. Though most UM-related schools have an active campus ministry affiliated with the denomination in some way, that is a far cry from the idea that the church has a vision for how higher education itself should be done. It is instead the secular paradigm of higher ed in a liberal democratic society that has won the day; it took the thought of Enlightenment-era French and German intellectuals about 250 years, but they have now successfully displaced the confessionally-oriented, communally Christian model of Methodist college life. And so the church's continuing support of its offspring can really only be justified with the affirmation that "our" schools are making a better society overall. But for my money, here's the really interesting question: What happens when the society we've bettered no longer has a use for something as odd and illiberal as the church?

These points really go beyond what Eric and I are doing in the feature piece, but I've been mulling them over since we finished it. He and I both focus a lot on the way the church can have a formative role in the lives of college students. And whether we're doing that in old ways or new, we simply must not let 18-22 year old men and women continue to fall through the cracks. If you get time to read the dialogue, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Estoy en casa; mi corazon, en Peru

Got home from Peru about noontime today. Wow. What a wonderful week. The group I was with from churches here in North Carolina saw God's hand at work in many ways: in ministry with children; in worship through preaching, testimony, singing, and sacrament; and in missional outreach in new and challenging areas around the city of Chincha Alta.

It'll take a few days to get caught up on things here in Durham. But after that I plan on writing a few posts to describe the tremendous work of the Holy Spirit among the Methodists of Chincha and its surrounding communities. Under the pastoral guidance of their district superintendent, Rev. Pedro Uchuya, they are witnessing to the salvation of Jesus Christ in both word and deed. And the fruits of their labor are evident in lives transformed by grace.

I look forward to sharing some stories from our mission in the coming days. Hasta entonces, I give thanks to God for an invigorating experience with my brothers and sisters in Peru. It is good to be home, but as always, I left a part of my heart there.

Methodist ministry in Chincha, Peru

I'm in Peru this week, working with the Iglesia Metodista here in the area of Chincha (about three hours south of Lima on the Pacific coast). I feel like Peru is a second home to me - this is my seventh trip since 2001, and every time I leave here I leave a little more of my heart behind.

My last visit here was in May 2008. If you want to read a little about that, check out my posts on "A Respite in Lima" and "Chincha, Peru." While a lot of the trip last year was focused around the effects of Peru's devastating 2007 earthquake, this year's trip is much more about helping the church here to move forward in its ministry of outreach, evangelism, and formation in the area of Tambo de Mora - a coastal community about 15 minutes from downtown Chincha Alta.

I'll share more about my trip when I return at the end of this week. Until then, if you'd like to know more about the ministry of the Methodist Church in this area, see the blog of my friend, Pastor Pedro Uchuya, at this website. Pedro is the district superintendent for the Distrito Costa Sur, and you can find his district's homepage here. You can find out more about the Iglesia Metodista del Peru at the national church's homepage.