Ministry Matters - Serving up a Wesleyan liturgical spirituality | Approaching biblical warfare and violence

How might a Wesleyan savor the divine presence in worship? Serving up a Wesleyan liturgical spirituality by William P. McDonald   It’s hard to get our arms around United Methodist worship in general because worship practices in our denomination are so diverse and localized. Though we can name many expressions of unity—connectionalism, the Discipline, conferences, appointments, and apportionments—worship is not likely to be among them. We are a church with a liturgy, but not a liturgical church, one that derives its identity from shared liturgical forms. Read here

Can moral injury help explain why the Bible’s depictions of divine and human war and violence are a problem for contemporary readers? Approaching biblical warfare and violence by Brad Kelle   As a starting point, we may review the ways that moral injury has been said to occur in soldiers in order to ask whether similar things are happening to faith-based readers when they encounter the Bible’s war and violence texts, particularly the texts that describe God acting violently in direct and personal ways. We should note two primary causes that have been identified for the struggles associated with moral injury. Read here

If you have been raised with Christ? What can we say on Easter Sunday? by James Howell   I can never decide if preaching Easter Sunday is a holy, fabulous privilege, or a frustrating chore. Of course, it’s the resurrection! “Soar we now where Christ has led!” But folks are dressed for family luncheons, and if I talk resurrection they nod, as if I’d just spoken of how good it is to have gotten coffee and breakfast, or that gravity is still functioning. Read here

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