Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 12 – John Wesley on Communal Christianity

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

John Wesley once said:

“The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.”

Often this has been taken to be a reference to action relating to social justice – work in the community and the world around us and while Wesley would support such work as evidenced through his efforts against the slave trade, that’s not what he was talking about with that quote.

Wesley was convinced that our faith, our religion, could not be pursued in isolation; that a healthy Christianity was lived alongside other followers of Jesus where we are accountable and can both encourage and challenge one another, learning and growing together.

It is easy to isolate ourselves, to pursue the faith on our terms and when challenged, simply shift to another faith community – except that shifting causes isolation as we never experience the gamut of human ups and downs if we only place ourselves where we feel like things are going well.

The pursuit of faith is to be done in relationship with other disciples of Jesus. It is here, in both the ups and downs, that we find the strength to pursue the challenges of Jesus to serve the world around us even when it involves sacrifice and hurts.

Isolating ourselves simply sets us up for arrogant self justification around our thought processes and removes us from the checks and balances of community thus reducing our effectiveness in the world.

As we prepare our hearts for Easter, let’s examine our approach to living in relationship with other Christians. Are we just looking for what makes us feel good or are we allowing holiness to be built through the challenges of Christian community as well?

Pray

Jesus, help us walk the journey of relationship with other people who identify themselves as your disciples even when it might not feel good.

Amen