Connections - Clayton Hensley

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them

Matthew 18:20

Throughout the course of a week, hundreds of people gather at 1st UMC for worship, small groups, clubs, practices, and to volunteer for ministries like The Welcome Table.  1st UMC is definitely a busy place and while we are connected through our work in the church, that connection goes much deeper.

I describe myself as being "hopelessly United Methodist."   For starters, my first name is Wesley.  I was baptized as an infant in the UMC, my mother married a UMC minister, I went to Emory & Henry College (A UMC affiliated college) where I joined Emory UMC. I  married the daughter of a UMC minister and both of my kids were even born at Methodist Hospital in Oak Ridge.  Now I find myself working in a United Methodist Church.

My list of connections keep growing, but when you become busy with the day to day aspects of work and life very active kids, it is far too easy to lose sight of that ultimate connection, the one we have to our creator and his gift to us, his son Jesus Christ.

Over the past few months, I have been privileged to be a part of the Leadership Holston Class of 2014. On our reading list was the book Vital, by Jorge Acevedo, the senior pastor at Grace Church, a multi-site United Methodist congregation in Florida.  In the book he talks a lot about accountability and how its roots run deep in our Methodist tradition. 

John Wesley's Methodist movement involved a "connexion" of preachers and groups bound together by shared beliefs.  The structure involved not only a tie to the beliefs, but also included a structure of accountability.   Acevedo explains that early Methodists were called to ask themselves these questions before meetings:

·         What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

·         What temptations have you met with?

·         How were you delivered?

·         What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

·         Have you nothing you desire to keep secret

Now, if you ask me these are pretty tough questions. I can't imagine having to answer each of these questions before staff meetings on Wednesdays, but I certainly see the point.  In order for us to do our jobs as disciples of Christ we need to understand that without that spiritual connection we are not able to bear much fruit.  (John 15:5, I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit.  Without me, you can't do anything.)

In this season of Lent, we are all called to look inward in an effort for God's love to shine outward to help transform lives and create disciples for Christ.   While churches often have disagreements over things like music, worship styles, or even the color of paint used on the walls,  there is far more that connects us than divides us.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

  

Throughout the Lenten season I've reflected more on what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  As several people have said, "it ain't an easy job!"  But what kind of a world would we live in if we were not  "training" future disciples and making sure we remember our own "training."  Clearly it would be a world with NO Welcome Table, NO mission teams, NO Habitat for Humanity projects, NO prayers for healing, and ultimately a loss of connection with people united in a mission to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."