Choose Life

Easter is all about life!  I enjoy Easter the most when it falls later in the spring because the flowers and trees look so much more resurrected than when we have Easter in late March.  Easter is all about life and not just the rebirth of the nature around us but most importantly about the spiritual life that comes when people experience a resurrection in their soul through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Spiritual resurrection is what the church is all about but sadly at times the church can become stagnant and more about preservation than about outreach and transformation.  When that happens it is on a path of death and uselessness. In a recent visit from the General Board of Global Ministries Rev. Patrick Friday addressed our mission conference with a compelling call to becoming a “movement” once again.  He showed a YouTube video clip (produced by ConnectnMission) entitled “The Movement” in which he described the resurrection decisions that John Wesley made that changed the world forever.  Wesley was a priest in the Church of England and for the Methodist movement to happen Wesley had to decide between:

• The status quo (institution) or the uncertainties of a movement
• The comfort of tradition or the adventure of experience
• The security of a building or the passion of the people
• The organization of the rich or a church of the poor
• The life of stability or the life of unending persecution

Wesley chose the latter because of his “heart-warming” spiritual encounter with God and the Methodist Movement was born.  Still today the choices are before us.  The one brings sure death to our beloved church the other brings life, growth, transformation.  Ask yourself how does your church stack up against the choices that John Wesley made.  Where can you make some changes? The call is every before us to choose life…now is the time.