Cultivating Christlikeness

Crises create unexpected opportunities. We know this is true in our personal lives. The same can be said of communities or institutions. Life seldom moves on a straight, upward trajectory. We have all experienced mountaintops and valleys. Both realities in life may have crises attached to them, but the valley-when you are in that deep dark place-can be traumatic. But I am convinced that God wastes nothing. God may not have caused the crisis; in my experience God seldom does. But God’s Spirit can rush into any situation and nudge or push us into new discoveries, fresh experiences of grace, and even the vitality of abundant life. Cultivating Christlikeness repurposes an earlier book I wrote in relation to a community crisis. Today we face a different kind of crisis. Polarization within the church, as well as society, has exhausted and depleted us. Many in The United Methodist Church feel battered, bruised, and bewildered. They feel like they’ve received a punch to the gut. Our grief is deep and real, and so is our disorientation related to competing claims about who we should be. We find ourselves in something of an identity crisis. We are asking the question, Who are we now? In moments like these, God delights in restoring God’s people. God specializes in new birth and resurrection. In this current liminal space, amazing opportunity lies before us. We are now in a position to experience the healing balm of deep connection with one another. We can also rediscover who we are by exploring God’s unique calling for the people called Methodists in our world today. Christian vocation is our calling to new life in Christ. Christ calls us to become learners ('disciples') and gathers us into a pilgrim community to teach us how to love. Then he sends us out ('apostles') to serve the present age by sharing that love with others. We are called, not because of what we have done but because we are God’s own people, formed by God’s purpose and grace. Christlikeness is the goal of this dynamic adventure. To be faithful witnesses in our own time we must ask penetrating questions about our life in Christ and our life together. Where can we see Christ at work in our lives? Our community? The world? What is Christ calling us to be and to do? How can peace and justice and love be experienced as realities in our common life? What does it mean to be part of the family of God? What is our calling at 'a time such as this?' We need to be in 'connection' with one another to answer these questions. It takes a community to make a Methodist. We must engage in what the Wesleys called 'conferencing.' This requires listening as well as talking-opening ourselves to and embracing others. We need to celebrate our unity in Christ. Questions that address the whole family can only be fully answered when all of us engage them together. This involves a process of discernment that moves us from believing to doing, from contemplation to action. Questions lead to healing, discovery, and restored identity-to renewed vision and engagement in God’s mission in the world. John Wesley, desperate to partner with the Spirit in the renewal of the church, asked his preachers: What to teach. How to teach. What to do. This is how he framed his response to the spiritual crisis of his own time by asking these questions. They can help us find our way today as well.