Recently, 50 plus scholars, theologians, and pastors from varied Methodist/Wesleyan backgrounds gathered for an event called the Next Methodism. There they produced a document called the Faith Once Delivered: A Wesleyan Witness. In the coming weeks, we will cover parts of their work in this blog.
In this section, the authors work on sharing about God and about how Christians have spoken of God throughout history. God is unified and one. God is personal and infinite. God is relational. Yet God is not contained by our definitions and is much more than many of the labels we have given Him. God is more than the limited gods we have created in our own time.
Reading this section reminds me of the importance for followers of Jesus to not just read their Bibles, but to be curious about how others around the world and throughout history have articulated their faith. Not all who worship a god or who go to church have a desire to worship the True God. The God of the Trinity has an identity which stands out for us to adore.
Here is an excerpt from the section on God the Father:
38. The term “Father” is inherently relational. One cannot understand or speak of the Father without reference to the Son. God is eternally Father, and the Son is eternally begotten, just as the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. Wesley notes that Christ shares a unity of essence with the Father, being altogether “supreme, eternal, independent” and that Christ is “distinct from God the Father,” “the Word whom the Father begot or spoke from eternity” (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, John 1:1). Something similar can be said of the Holy Spirit, who is distinct and yet, like the Father and the Son, is Lord.
Father God, draw near to us once more. We give you praise for your creation. We give thanks for your ongoing works. We relish your unending love. We thank you for the Spirit of Adoption Christ gave us in Baptism for us to know you as Father. May your will become ours. In Jesus name. Amen.
