On Being Methodist

Up the road a piece there is a church where Methodist people have been gathering for a long time.  The sign out front has the cross and flame logo of the United Methodist Church, the name of the church, and a word that reads, "Founded in 1776."  While this is a few years before the Methodist Church was organized in this country, history tells the tale of a Methodist society meeting in the area before the organizational date.  When I pulled from the busy four lane onto the hardly traveled paved road which leads to the church, it seemed that the air became very holy.   

After  reading ths stories on grave markers under huge oak trees, I was admiring the church building when a car pulled up.  As it turned out it was one of the members of the church who had a key to the sanctuary so the visit included being inside this holy place where so many ordained Methodist preachers like me have preached.  I could not help myself.  I was swept away by the history of the place, by the awareness of souls saved at its altars, and the saints now gone who had served Christ over the year.  I was so swept away and stirred in my own spirit that I told my new friend if they needed a preacher to fill in some Sunday, I would welcome a call.  What a privilege and blessing it would be to preach in that church where so many have preached before me!    

Most folks would say it is not much of a church.  Tucked away in the countryside, it is seldom seen by those hurrying to get somewhere on the nearby four lane.  The membership is small and the Sunday morning crowd is around twenty plus or minus a few.  It has battled threats of being closed, moments filled with uncertainty, and the deaths of folks upon whom the church depended for its survival.  It is still there, or maybe, it should be said, it is still here among us.  These Methodists are tenacious people, the kind that do not know the meaning of the word quit, and the kind who are deeply committed to Christ and His Word.  They are my spiritual kinsmen and I am humbled and grateful to be known as a Methodist.