And are we yet alive?

The opening hymn at the annual Methodist Conference which is meeting at the moment begins with the words, ‘And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face?’

The question is a good one to ask ourselves at the moment as individuals and as churches.  ‘And are we yet alive?’  

The whole hymn is worth revisiting:

And are we yet alive,
And see each other's face?
Glory and praise to Jesus give,
For His redeeming grace.

Preserved by power divine
To full salvation here,
Again in Jesus' praise we join,
And in His sight appear.

What troubles have we seen,
What conflicts have we passed,
Fightings without, and fears within,
Since we assembled last.

But out of all the Lord
Hath brought us by His love;
And still He doth His help afford,
And hides our life above.

Then let us make our boast
Of His redeeming power,
Which saves us to the uttermost,
Till we can sin no more.

Let us take up the cross,
Till we the crown obtain;
And gladly reckon all things loss so we may Jesus gain.

Someone suggested to me recently that the Methodist Church has lost its way. Has she? I’m a cradle Methodist, having been brought up in a Methodist chapel where my faith was learnt and nurtured, I’ve been a member of the Methodist Church since I was confirmed in 1983, I was accredited as a Methodist local preacher in 1990, went to train as a Methodist minister in 1994 and was received into the full Connexion of the Methodist Church and ordained 22 years ago this Sunday, at the Methodist Conference which that year was held in Southport, in what was then called the Floral Hall, and my ordination was at Leyland Road Methodist Church. I’ve served in seven Circuits, three of them as Superintendent and I’m still a strong believer that Methodism is still here for a purpose, although I’m also a very strong believer that we are called to ecumenical partnership. Over the last few years I’ve been more and more content in the formal liturgy of the Church of England, especially Evensong - but that’s okay because Mr Wesley was an Anglican and we were never meant to be separate but a movement within that denomination.

“And are we yet alive?” Or have we lost our way or become boring and irrelevant? 

We know the old jokes:

After worship one Sunday a little boy told the minister, “When I grow up, I’m going to give you some money.”

“Well, thank you,” the minister replied, “but why?”

“Because my daddy says you’re one of the poorest preachers we’ve ever had.”

Why was Methodism raised up? It’s not often I quote from CPD!

“ The Methodist Church claims and cherishes its place in the Holy Catholic Church which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the apostolic faith and loyally accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation. It ever remembers that in the providence of God Methodism was raised up to spread scriptural holiness through the land by the proclamation of the evangelical faith and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its divinely appointed mission.”

So how are we? Alive, or dead and buried?

I’ve nearly left the Methodist Church twice. But something on both of those occasions kept me in it. Both times I needed a church that was relevant and that cared and accepted where I was on life’s journey. For me, the Arminian call of Methodism that all are welcome and accepted is the heart of our message. My Methodism does not exclude. Just count how many times the word “all” is in a Charles Wesley hymn. Charles Wesley first wrote “And are we yet alive” for his 1749 collection, Hymns and Sacred Poems. John Wesley included it in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodist at the beginning of the section titled, "For the Society... at meeting." Sometime around its appearance in that collection, Wesley began using this hymn at the opening of annual society meetings, a practice that has remained largely in use since. Every year around the world, Methodists gathered together stand and sing the nostalgic strains of Wesley's text, recalling the journey of the last twelve months. So it’s about some sort of annual appraisal, what troubles have we seen etc…

This week, the 2021 Methodist Conference is meeting in Birmingham, and I do see signs we are very much alive both nationally and locally. I want to pay tribute to our outgoing President and Vice President, Richard and Carolyn. They have had a year of office unlike any other, doing most of their leadership of us virtually. But they’ve taken time to be there for us every week in a Facebook live session and have told good news stories of small acts of kindness done by Methodist folk up and down the country and have reminded us that in Wesley’s final words “the best of all is God is with us.” It’s been great to at last hear that the small rural church is alright thank you. For too long, the small chapel with life in it has been threatened by people who just don’t get small chapels! 

Sonia our new President will be a strong advocate of justice, equality and inclusion. She’ll be great fun. We used to sit and laugh together at South East District Superintendents conferences! Barbara our new Vice President has done amazing work with our Methodist schools. I’ve sat when I was part of a Methodist primary school in her training sessions. She’s passionate about children finding faith. 

This year’s Conference will be an important one for the Church of the future as it makes decisions about marriage that will either delight or deeply upset some of our folk. I believe though we are strong enough in fellowship to walk together even if we disagree. I also want to mention what I think is a brilliant bit of our work and that is the Joint Public Issues Team, shared with the Baptist and United Reformed Church. A new focus on working for justice called “Walking with Micah” has just been launched and a few weeks ago some of us watched the first Methodist Justice Lecture given by a very animated Gordon Brown. Are we beginning again to look outwards to a world in need of knowing everyone matters? I think so. And what of our little local churches? “And are we yet alive?” Well, yes we are! I’m beginning to see after ten very strange months in a new Circuit all eight of my churches discovering a different narrative might be being written. It’s not about what we can’t do but what we can. 

I remember my dear Gran who once when we had a visiting preacher in our little chapel who seemed to shut his eyes a lot in his sermon and have very long pauses saying out loud “has he died?!?” We are a smaller and older, in the main, people, but there’s still hope! Just maybe we need to buy new coffee and not rejoice that the coffee in the cupboard we last used in March last year is still in date. Maybe we need to pour the remnants of the opened bottle of communion wine down the sink and buy a new one. Maybe the Methodist Church is believing again that God is calling us to watch for the new thing he is going to do. 

“And are we yet alive?”  What do you think?