It’s the putting right that counts”¦
The Anglican-Methodist Covenant, to be signed this Sunday, May 24, is a significant step towards the healing of a broken relationship.
It’s the putting right that counts”¦
The Anglican-Methodist Covenant, to be signed this Sunday, May 24, is a significant step towards the healing of a broken relationship.
Though the article does not mention it, May 24th is “Aldersgate Day” in Methodism. On May 24, 1738, “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
While future Wesleyans/Methodists put much more emphasis on Wesley’s “Aldersgate experience” (he never mentions it again), it is an example of one of his theological emphases: the assurance of salvation.
Surely, the date for the covenant is no coincidence.
William Shontz
[url=http://theleca.org]The Lake Erie Confessing Anglican[/url]
That’s the much quoted excerpt from his May 24th entry in his journal, William. But for my money, the real gem of that day’s entry is found a couple of paragraphs later:
[blockquote]After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations; but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and he sent me help from his holy place. And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace; but then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered: now I was always conqueror.[/blockquote]
Well cited, Kevin.
William Shontz
[url=http://theleca.org ]The Lake Erie Confessing Anglican[/url]
The assurance of salvation as a direct gift from God, without my merit, and without the Church’s mediation, is what unites my Calvinist and Wesleyan tendencies under law and grace and makes me a Protestant Anglican.
Knowing that I have been saved frees me to be perfected in love. No priest, presbyter, or bishop can take that away from me.
I’d be interested in knowing more about the content of this covennt. The Episcopal Church has an interim agreement with the United Methodist Church while dialogue looking to full communion continues and GC will be asked to approve both full communion with the Moravian Church and a less-than-full-communion agreement with the Presbyterian Church USA.
Thanks; I have a soft spot for John and Charles Wesley, their mother Susanna and the Methodists. That is interesting , good news.
Do these two churches believe the same thing when it comes to Communion?
I don’t know about New Zealand in particular, but Methodists and Protestant Anglicans in general agree that Holy Communion is more than a memorial but not a literal re-enactment of Christ’s unique sacrifice on the cross. We receive His very essence in a heavenly and spiritual manner by prayer as we take the bread and wine and we receive it directly from Christ with the priest, pastor, or minister as His servant. Jesus gives us the bread and the wine, not the preacher.
#7: Wesley believed in “constant communion” and received it daily himself. In his sermon, “The Means of Grace,” he writes: “Is not the eating of that bread, and the drinking of that cup, the outward, visible means whereby God conveys into our souls all the spiritual grace, that righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which were purchased by the body of Christ once broken and the blood of Christ once shed for us? Let us all, therefore, who truly desire the grace of God, eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” In his sermon “The Duty of Constant Communion,” he writes: “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 for our souls; this gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection.”
Whether or not Wesley’s heirs have maintained his sacramental theology is another matter. Perhaps it’s best to say that they have, but many have forgotten that they have. Hopefully, more interaction with Anglicanism will awaken their memory of Wesley’s own Anglicanism.
William Shontz
[url=http://theleca.org]The Lake Erie Confessing Anglican[/url]
While I can’t speak for the Anglican or Methodist churches in New Zealand, if it is anything like my recollection of England, Methodists and Anglicans were largely indistinguishable except for the sign on the door. One would think ecumenical reunification would be much easier in that venue than, say, here in the States, where Methodists are all over the board. I know of a Methodist church in Chicago that uses incense, and the Methodist church where I grew up in Tennessee was virtually indistinguishable from the Baptist church across the street. I would why that is why we have had more problems with Methodist and Anglican dialogue here. Just a late night thought…
We should have listened more closely, been more open to suggestions about post-Reformation reformation, and should never have let the Methodists feel that they had to separate.
#9 William,
You are clearly a Wesleyan scholar and gracious in your words about today’s Methodists, which, in my opinion, have generally abandoned Wesley’s beliefs about communion. Good for you (and the Methodists and Anglicans!)
In the United States, the 1776 Revolution, sparse populations and long distance between communities probably had more impact on the separation of Methodists from Episcopalians than differences in the theology of the two Christian churches.
Small newly established communities could build churches and find places to pray together but they often had to rely on “Circuit Rider†preachers and priests and if I remember my history correctly the evangelical Methodists planted churches in many communities this way.
The Civil War also had its impact, the Methodist church which was then called the Methodist Episcopal Church did not separate into two branches (the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Southern Methodist Church) until the Civil war and they are now united in the United Methodist Church.
It seems to me that this is a very good time for both Episcopalians and Methodists to affirm the Christian beliefs that we share with each other.
#13 Betty,
Small correction: The MEC, South was formed before the Civil War, in 1844. And not all MEC, South, churches decide to reunite with their Northern brethren in 1939: the Southern Methodist Church is headquartered in Orangeburg, SC.
First, the Methodist church is small in New Zealand — larger than the Baptists but tiny compared to the Anglicans, Presbyterians and Catholics. This is particularly true of Sunday attendance — as in recent years the Methodist church has been so “Inclusive” that it has driven away members faster than any other denomination. In fact they had whole congregations leave (largely to the newly established Wesleyan Methodist church) and even with all those “intolerant” folk moving out, they have had to develop two separate-but-we-all-love-each-other-areally groups within their own church. This internal split has been so bitter that they were only able to deal with it through a legal memorandum of understanding that effectively established that each side would basically have as little to do with the other as possible while still living under the same name. My understanding is that even this has broken down regularly.
So the agreement with the Anglicans is hardly that between two strong parties. Indeed it could be seen as the Methodist church clutching at straws to stop it sinking into oblivion.
Secondly, the actual covenant is a feel-good-but-do-very-little-in-reality document. In fact it does not even allow for ministers to transfer from one church to another — something the Methodists and Presbyterians have had in place for many, many years– though they promise to talk about it.
If you are interested you can read about it here:
http://www.methodist.org.nz/index.cfm/Home/Anglican_Methodist_Covenant/Anglican_Methodist_Covenant_Leaflet.html/Anglican_Methodist_Covenant_Leaflet.pdf
The guts of it are that what they have committed themselves to is:
[blockquote] In this covenant we commit ourselves:
1. To develop a safe ecumenical space in which there is opportunity to explore together uncomfortable questions.
2. To an ongoing dialogue that seeks to:
– realise more deeply our common life and mission and to share the distinctive contributions of our traditions, taking steps to bring about closer collaboration in all areas of witness and service in
the world.
– To further explore together the meaning and exercise of episkope in both our churches’ life and work
– Work towards a united and interchangeable ministry to more fully express the visible unity of our two churches.
3. To continue to provide opportunities to welcome each other’s baptised members to participate in the fellowship, worship and mission of our churches, and to encourage forms of eucharistic sharing, including eucharistic hospitality, in accordance with the rules of our respective churches.
4. To provide opportunities to listen to each other and to take account of each other’s concerns, especially in areas that affect our relationship as churches.
5. To provide opportunities to celebrate together annually throughout the country in an intentional way, our common faith through a focus on the offerings to the church of John and Charles Wesley who owned both the Anglican tradition and the Methodist way, on either the date set in the Anglican calendar (the Sunday nearest 8 March), or that provided for in the Methodist calendar (the Sunday nearest 24 May).
In this covenant we seek these outcomes
1. An ongoing and intentional dialogue that will deepen the present relationship of our two churches and move us towards visible unity.
2. A greater commitment to dealing with the issues that presently prevent closer communion between our two churches.
3. An open and generous relationship that holds an awareness of the other in everything we do.
4. A focus on a common mission to the world. [/blockquote]
I think the Anglicans may be getting in some indaba practice!!