Missionary Renegade: The United Methodist Church Prays of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Thursday, 31 August 2017 "The Rock of Heavenly Love"

Thursday, August 31, 2017

The United Methodist Church Prays of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Thursday, 31 August 2017 "The Rock of Heavenly Love"

The United Methodist Church Prays of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Thursday, 31 August 2017 "The Rock of Heavenly Love"

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017
A Word from John Wesley
Q. But how can a liableness to mistake consist with perfect love? Is not a person who is perfected in love every moment under its influence? And can any mistake flow from pure love?
A. I answer (1) Many mistakes may consist with pure love. (2) Some may accidentally flow from it: I mean, love itself may incline us to mistake. The pure love of our neighbor, springing from the love of God, thinks no evil, believes and hopes all things. Now, this very temper, unsuspicious, ready to believe and hope the best of all people, may occasion our thinking some people better than they really are. Here, then, is a manifest mistake, accidentally flowing from pure love. [John Wesley, The Character of a Methodist, ¶19.]
A Hymn from Charles Wesley
1. How happy then are we,
Who build, O Lord, on thee!
What can our foundation shock?
Though the shattered earth remove,
Stands our city on a rock,
On the rock of heavenly love.
2. A house we call our own,
Which cannot be o’erthrown:
In the general ruin sure,
Storms and earthquakes it defies,
Built immovably secure,
Built eternal in the skies. (Collection-1781, #65:2 & 3.)
Questions for Reflection:

In John Wesley’s description of the character of a Methodist he wants believers to know that Jesus Christ can save them from all sin on the one hand; and, at the same time he makes it clear that Christian perfection in love is not always absolute perfection in knowledge, perception, and action. Why is this important to John Wesley? Is it important to you?
The gift and the challenge of the Wesleyan way of discipleship is this vision of Christian perfection—not human perfection. Every man and woman can be perfected in love, guided by love, and fully alive in Christ. Every one of us! What difference would this make for you? For your family? For your church?
What is the meaning of Charles Wesley’s hymn for us today?
This hymn implies God’s is the one and only solid rock. What are your thoughts about this? Would your spiritual friends agree or disagree?

Prayer:
God of Miriam and Moses, you are our help from age to age. Accept our worship, our living sacrifice, and transform us by your Spirit, that, being many members of our true body, we may dare to pray together in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

*The Wesley excerpts are from A Disciple’s Journal—2017: A Guide for Daily Prayer, Bible Reading, and Discipleship, by Steven W. Manskar. Copyright © 2017 Discipleship Resources, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The prayer is reprinted with permission from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, copyright © 2002, Consultation on Common Texts.