STOP! Take a deep breath…. PAUSE.

The COVID-19 global pandemic pressed the pause button, causing life to slow and literally stop on many occasions. Many have wondered whether such moments are fate, human making, or divine intervention to provoke human attention; whatever the case, it worked.

The world dynamics slowed down to a halt! I am reminded of the fourth commandment on “Sabato” (Swahili for Sabbath) that God gives the Hebrew people a national constitution to govern their lives. (Exodus 20:8-11)

What could have been God’s intended purpose for observing Sabbath to his chosen people? My interaction with the passage in the light of contemporary human activity and natural occurrences demonstrates that the law of the sabbath is essential for:

1. Remembering: The evolution of the clock, the dawn of industrialization, and the 24-hour, 7-day economy have put pressure on more production than provided time. Priority has shifted to work, causing many to forget the need for space in time. Rest creates a moment of “reflection” over occurrences and sobriety of response to the cause and effect.^[1]
2. Keeping: Knowing about the sabbath (Hebrew) “rest” is insufficient. I knew I was entitled to annual leave, but I got so busy working, that the organization could not release me for my “efficiency,” instead, they chose to pay me my leave days to keep working. The result of such behavior is the reason “church workers” like me die of exhaustion and burnout, “spiritual suicide.” The “keeping” has several components:
   • Sacredness: “Keep the Sabbath Holy.” The Hebrew people are instructed to a season of worship concerning the creator. Appreciating the “Lord of the Sabbath,” God is giving a moment for the creature to reflect on the Creator. Christ assures his critiques that “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27
   • Business: On the Sabbath, “YOU SHALL DO NO WORK.” Disengagement from work is the second component, the call to create space to keep the Sabbath intentionally.
   • Ethics: The institution of justice mechanism ensures that individuals, their family members, employees, settlers, livestock, and farmland are preserved from abuse due to overuse.
   • Rejuvenation: The writer of Leviticus quickly reminds the Hebrew people of the consequences overtaking them because of neglecting the sabbath. The people would be sent by God as a punishment into captivity as refugees scattered around the world to give the land room to “rejuvenate” for the years they disobeyed the sabbath. (Leviticus: 26:31-35) Our personal and corporate lack of “sabbath” robs us today of the opportunity to experience intellectual, physical, spiritual, social, and economic wholeness and invites chaos as life is shaken out of rhythm.

What? Yeah, those days we spend in isolation and admission seclusions, to recover from mental disorders, lifestyle diseases, habitual therapies, conferences on climatization, and global starvation interventions … name them, are a taste of the consequences of neglecting years of Sabbath-REST for humans, animal, and plant life! In our digital age that is continuously “on,” I invite you to PAUSE! And welcome the “Sabbath” as a response to Christ’s invitation, “Come to me all who are weak, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

God breaks seasons in Days and Nights, times to function and replenish. The preacher in Ecclesiastes is right on point that “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. As stewards of God’s time, every day, create hours for rest; every week, take a day of rest; every month, make space to retreat; and every year, seek a break to rejuvenate. An invitation to “Remember” and “Keep,” for “God presents the sabbath as a shelter we can enter” (Charles R. Swindoll)^[2]

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^[1] https://www.journeyfilms.com

^[2] https://brightspace.indwes.edu/content/enforced/209232-2SU2023CONG-630-41A/Thoughts%20on%20Sabbath%20Keeping_TGrimm2.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=ZuGiLD6o0b5qa8qkTqJ7012ak&ou=209232

In a world that craves a “full package” in one delivery, John Wesley goes to great lengths to explain to his generation what the whole package of salvation offers. As one reflects on what happens “Before, Beneath and Beyond” Salvation, the Christian gets treated to a cocktail of sorts, which is the work of the Holy Spirit in “convicting, converting, consecrating and comforting” the soul to an eternal hope.

Every Christian believer claiming to contain the “full package” of Salvation must demonstrate the characteristics of a Christian believer, what John Wesley called “Full Salvation.” The apostle Peter was concerned with the slothfulness of the early Christian believers and asked them a question worth our response today. Since the world and all its elements will be destroyed with the coming of Christ to establish his kingdom, “…what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…?

In response to elder Peter’s concern, I believe our generation must embrace the “full salvation” by:

1. Loving God: with all our intellectual, physical, social, and emotional faculties. Active love engages our passions, mind, and strength through intentional spiritual disciplines that draw us to God and “draw God to us.”
2. Loving Neighbor: The current Israeli and Palestinian war are poking holes in the gospel of love, yet amid the turmoil but great to see that the “Red Cross” and “Red Crescent” are working together to alienate human suffering, the Christian community must “Redden our crosses” and engage the hurting wounded world to see the love of Jesus.
3. Full of the Spirit: One who gets filled with wine shows the “joy and glow” of the winery, and so must we who claim to be filled with the “new wine.” We must desire, seek, and live in the fullness of the Spirit expressed through infectious Joy. Wesley was concerned that “It is incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works… And these are so necessary that if a man willingly neglects them, he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified.” [1] The world recognizes that the Christian believer is full of the Spirit only when we overflow. The church must continue to uphold the Christian faith as upheld in the Acts of the Apostles and the sound tradition of the Christian community.
4. Full of the Holy Scriptures: In African Christianity, many still wait for “Men of God, Prophets, and Apostles” to read and interpret scripture. Many have fallen prey to cultic false teachers who reap from them, leaving the flock wounded and naked. I have taken steps to train the church to read, study, and obey the Holy Scriptures, as the word of God is essential for the rule of life.[2] There is a need to uphold the supremacy of scripture over human ideology and phraseology, which entails respect for the soundness of scriptural interpretation as practiced in the Christian faith.
5. Longing Hope: Beyond Salvation is the living in hope of complete restoration of the Kingdom of God, with the second coming of Christ.

Soteriology encompasses the “plan, power, and posterity” of the Holy Scriptures on matters of “Salvation,” that is, “Full Salvation.” Despite the Holy Spirit working incognito from the inside, the fruit is evident on the outside.

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[1] (“The Scripture Way of Salvation” in Sermons II [vol. 3; ed. A.C. Outler; Abingdon, 1985], 164).

[2] Character of a methodist, pg 34.

Do you feel guilty, judged, you do not deserve, you have fallen short of the standard, be encouraged for today: “… God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all…” through Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11). Nothing is too dark that God’s grace cannot satisfy!

Among the Samburu community of Kenya, if a person accidentally commits murder, they must undergo a cleansing ritual. The community identifies a traditional healer who takes the individual through the stipulated steps of “redemption” to receive grace to continue being a community member.

The guilty man is called “black” because he has committed a “dark deed.” To appease the community a “dark” mediator in complexion is sought from a neighboring community to perform the cleansing ceremony. The “dark” mediator slaughters a spotless sheep or goat, empties the bowels, and smears the victim with the bowel contents of the sacrificed animal from head to toe. During the cleansing season, this guilty victim cannot enter any homestead and even receive water to drink. After the season of banishment, a sacrifice is done to cleanse the victims and restore them back to the community.

Similarly, today, you have been “…sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). God’s grace has ushered in your salvation, ending your abandonment like the “dark” man. You have now become part of the community of the children of God. Besides, God’s grace empowers you for service and commissions you for a mission to form others in the likeness of Christ. Better still, God’s grace assures you “hope” a life of eternity with God in the Kingdom of Christ.

Welcome to the grace of God that is “redemptive, rewarding, and restorative.”

An African Analogy on Wesley’s Means of Grace

In the attempt to describe the “means of grace,” some have attempted to explain it as a “Pipeline.”[1] While appreciating the analogy of the “pipe” as a conduit to God’s graces, Dr. Tammie Grimm takes issue with the simplicity of the analogy as a “transmission system” to explain the complexity of the means of grace as a “continuum.” Dr. Grimm explains “means of grace” in the faith growth as “…a divine resource available in abundance.” Pastors and those engaged in the spiritual formation of communities and congregations will, from time to time, seek means of how to communicate the need for spiritual maturity.

Emanating from an African oral culture that thrives in storytelling from one generation to another, I would modify the “Pipeline” analogy to discuss the Christian as a “Bamboo at the Master’s disposal.” It is said of the “Bamboo” that was so precious and would dance in the Master’s Garden at the center of the field. The Master was so impressed with the “Bamboo” that he demanded, “Bamboo, I need to use you.” Bamboo, excited that the Master needed him, worshiped the Master and said, “Master, take me and use me.” The Master was quiet and, in sudden urgency but in deep sorrow, said, “Bamboo, Bamboo, if I have to use, I must cut you open, rip you apart, and empty you completely.”

The Bamboo stopped his dance and appealed to the Master to use him as he was upright and steady. To which the Master replied, “Bamboo, Bamboo, if I do not cut you, rip you, and empty you, I cannot use you. Thus, it is said that the Bamboo yielded to the Master was cut open, ripped apart, and emptied completely. The Bamboo that was once “alive” in its “dead” form got laid on the ground as a conduit to water a dry field, and thousands have been fed from the yield since the Bamboo died.

The complexity of the Bamboos’ life in the Master’s hand is Paul’s analogy of “…treasures in jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Reflecting on the “means of grace” among the Christian community, it is proper to say that, the “Divine Grace” is endowed to us by God’s favor, poured in us for God’s service, and used in us for God’s glory.

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[1] “Tammie Grimm ~ A Pipeline of Grace: Pros and Cons – Seedbed,” n.d., accessed September 20, 2023, https://seedbed.com/tammie-grimm-a-pipeline-of-grace-pros-and-cons/.

A study of John Wesley’s Teaching on Salvation.

Contemplating the journey of faith since I made an intentional commitment to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior as a young Anglican youth thirty-six years ago, the readings in soteriology have made me rethink my understanding of “salvation.” The “orienting concerns” emerging from my faith formation can be grouped in three dimensions, that is “Before, Beneath and Beyond.”

Before Salvation

First, my expectation is to emulate the thought of John Wesley to interrogate the belief “Before” that led to my faith in Christ. Those experiences some “mundane” and others “strange encounters” like Wesley at sea with the Moravians accompanied by what John Wesley would come to call the “Prevenient Grace”, as the workings of God to get the most beautiful works of a thirsty soul.

“Before” salvation as in John Wesley’s study defined that human problems are caused by sin and the solution is found in God’s gracious redemption through Christ Jesus. Currently as the lead pastor daily I am faced with individuals, families and communities that are wrestling with “Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups” desiring to be broken fee.

Beneath Salvation

“Beneath” Salvation, seeks to appreciate the power behind the redemptive work of Christ as John Wesley saw God as source of all existence and value.[1] While rebuking the vices that hold captive the human soul, it is evident that the solution is found in Christ. Beneath salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit to restore and empower the believer to a victorious life. John Wesley sees this as God’s initiative while the human response in the process of salvation is obedience and complete faith in Christ to procure redemption.

Beyond Salvation

In sync with John Wesley that salvation is not the end of things, I desire to explore the workings of God “Beyond” salvation into eternity. My expectation is the need like John Wesley, to engage “theology on the go.” I endeavor the Implementation of practical theology that addresses issues of life of the daily ordinary fork in their day-to-day business.[2] In this emphasis John Wesley helps me realize the present and future dimensions of the reign of Christ and means of salvation.[3]

Secondly the hopes, expectations, questions, or concerns I have for the class, will develop through the daily engagements in the program. I will be seeking from my colleagues to help me understand what became of “Wesleyan Movement” in the Methodist church. The pain of division and theological departures that have seen the Methodist ministry once revered today is shrouded in splits and spiritual deviations.

Finally, as I integrated the readings with my daily practice of faith, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I can commit to myself, my colleagues, to God, to my professor, the Africancommunity I serve in the Dallas Metroplex to relieve the tenets of the marks of a Christian believer. Beyond stating the Character of a “Methodist” today my focus shifts to the Character of Christian believer in the church today. I commit to “believe, belong and build” the Kingdom upon the solid rock that is Christ.

Conclusively, “Before, Beneath and Beyond” Salvation, seeks to engage the believer to appreciate the “plan, power and posterity” of the Divine economy on matters “Salvation.”

[1] Ibid.

[2] Maddox, Randy L.. Responsible Grace (Kingswood Series) (p. 17). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] Maddox, Randy L.. Responsible Grace (Kingswood Series) (p. 235). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

In 2018 a dangerously overcrowded party boat sank in Lake Victoria, killing at least 33 passengers in Africa, Kampala Uganda.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/11/25/dangerously-overcrowded-party-boat-sinks-killing-passengers/

This is how one of the media houses defined the boat;

The rickety vessel was in poor condition and had been docked for some time before people started piling into it near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, The owners of the boat did not have a license to operate and overloaded the boat well past the point of being safe. (90-120 instead of 50)

From https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/11/25/dangerously-overcrowded-party-boat-sinks-killing-passengers/