Being Methodist: Amazing Grace

I want to make a case for mainline Protestant Christianity, which gets a bum rap these days.  According to statistics, people no longer are flocking to our churches. There is a marked increase of people in the U.S. identifying themselves as "spiritual but not religious," or as "nones," no religion at all. I don't understand how one can be "spiritual" on one's own, and not part of a community which holds one accountable and  helps one in the practice of one's spirituality.  I do understand the concept of no religion at all, but am saddened by it.
There is also an increase in membership in non-denominational churches, and what are commonly called independent, Bible churches particularly in the South and Southwest.  That's fine.  But we shouldn't forget why mainline Protestant churches exist in the first place and how they came to help shape and form the identity of us as Christians and to a certain extent as Americans. 
It was the mainline churches who, in all their denominational diversity, helped spread the Gospel as our country was formed and expanded westward.  It was the mainline churches who, with their boundaries of faith and doctrine, helped articulate a pro-active Christian faith, devoted not only to spreading the Word, but to DOING the Word of God in mission and ministry.
I have always said without denominations, there is no denominational accountability and relatively little oversight.  And that is a good thing, when overseen properly and used for the honor and glory of God, not the honor and glory of a preacher, a building, or a church.
But we have also become closed-off in our denominationalism, the danger being that those of like mind and belief may not be welcome in our midst.
This is why I really want to make a case for United Methodism's brand of mainline Protestantism, with a bow of love and respect to our brothers and sisters in other denominations.  We aren't supposed to behave that way.  Our motto is "Open Minds. Open Hearts. Open Doors."  We are a big tent with room for diversity.  In many ways, we need to be better about explaining that, so here goes:
What does it mean to be a Methodist?  I can sum it up in two words -- "amazing grace."  
There are others who articulate a theology of grace, God's unmerited love unconditionally given in the person of Jesus Christ.  But (and I am biased to be sure) I don't think others articulate it as well.  Methodism started as a reform movement in the Anglican Church in England in the 18th century.  It started with accountability groups of a dozen or so, meeting every week to explore the Gospel, hold one another accountable, and answer the Gospel's mandate of mission and ministry to those who were hungry, sick, illiterate and downtrodden.  It grew because its founder, John Wesley, preached a Gospel not of condemnation but of God's abiding and enduring grace, forgiveness, generosity and love.  Methodism grew and became a formal denomination of its own in the brand new United States, growing with the country, and taking its identity right alongside it.  Methodists have always been known as people of action.  We haven't always done it well (see Civil War era split of Church between the Northern abolitionists and the Southern slave owners), but the mechanisms have been in place to try. 
I went to Perkins School of Theology in the early 1990's as a Roman Catholic, to study to be a  hospital chaplain.  I didn't know much about the Methodists except that they were the cool folks my parents always did civil rights work with back home when I was growing up in Mississippi in the 1960's.  I certainly didn't know much about Perkins, except they welcomed me unconditionally, and honored my presence there and valued what I thought and contributed.  But what really made me finally convert to Methodism was my seminary colleagues, all shapes, sizes, colors and from all parts of the globe.  Many had sacrificed so much to study and commit to the church.  Many faced uncertain futures and had come from troubled pasts, but understood one thing: amazing grace.  And they lived it, every day. 
I never dreamed of becoming a minister, much less being Senior Pastor of a vital, wonderful church.  Yet, God's amazing grace has never ceased to support, to beckon, and to lead.  That's what I STILL see in my United Methodists, and am grateful each and every day.
We are doing a sermon series for Eastertide about our denomination, and how its central doctrine of grace still gives life to the church today.  Come. Listen. And, receive --- a.

Peace, peace and more peace. Please . . . .

Goodness sakes . . . it is 2013 already! I can't believe how the time -- and life -- flies by.  It seems to drag when one is younger and anxious to get on with life.  But it seems to fly as one gets older, and life gets on with us.  But life is life -- and it beats the alternative as my mother used to say.
Always, when the end of a year approaches with a new one on the horizon, we get nostalgic and reflective -- and we should.  We remember what has passed, what and who we have lost all the while looking forward with excitement to what the future will bring. 
And we pray.  I hope sincerely that we pray. 
My prayer for 2013 is a simple one:  "Dear Lord, give us peace -- peace, peace and more peace.  Please."
We need peace in our lives -- so we aren't driven by anxious doing, running here and there and everywhere, and mostly feeling like we accomplish nothing.
We need peace for families, many of whom are torn apart and fractured.
We need peace for our children -- that the world they inherit from us will be a good one, one that affirms and supports them as created in the image and likeness of God.
We need peace in our community, where so many still suffer from so many things -- addiction, separation, fracture, and violence.
We need peace in our country -- not contentious disagreements that dominate the discourse and our relationships with each other.
We need peace in the world.  Too many places and people suffer from violence and war, with lives shortened by disease, malnourishment and neglect.
We need peace.  Period.
Yet, it seems that in 2013, as always, peace must begin with us.  I hope and pray each and every one of us finds a center of peace in our lives.  For me, that center is God -- the one, loving, transcendent, very present and accounted for God who created us, redeems us and -- daily -- sustains us.
The God  I know in Jesus the Christ, who said -- at a time when he was about to face the worst violence humanity could throw at him on the cross -- "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you."
Dear Lord, give us peace -- peace, peace and more peace.  Please!