'Musical Preacher' Pens Book on Communion as Way to UMC Unity

by

A United Methodist Insight Exclusive

In these days of church turmoil, it may be hard to find someone more in love with the blessings of Methodist heritage than the Rev. Dr. Stephen P. West. That's a good thing, because out of his service as a pastor, his affinity for Charles Wesley's hymns and his doctoral project he has written a book about the heart of Methodism – the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Dr. West sees John Wesley's theology about the Lord's Supper as a way to spread the balm of God's grace over the UMC's turbulent waters. His scholarship and his background appear to make him an ideal channel for a new appreciation of Wesley's theology about Holy Communion, also known as the Lord's Supper or Eucharist.

Senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Ala., in northwest Alabama's Appalachian foothills, Dr. West has been an ordained elder in the North Alabama Conference for 33 years. Together with his clergy spouse, the Rev. Sandy O'Quinn West, he has seen United Methodism in nearly all its aspects, from its intimate ministry in small local churches to the challenges of tall-steeple congregations to the vicissitudes of jurisdictional politics. A "cradle Methodist" as the son and grandson of Methodist pastors, Dr. West told United Methodist Insight in a telephone interview that he nonetheless made a "conscious decision" to stay in the UMC.

His commitment to the UMC is well known in his conference. Dr. West has been a key figure in StayUMC, an unofficial group of United Methodists who began by working to prevent the North Alabama Conference from voting to leave the UMC in 2020, when legislation to enact the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation was first proposed. With General Conference now postponed to 2024, and the traditionalist Global Methodist Church under way, Dr. West's group now works to educate laypeople about the true realities of disaffiliation.

While he actively refutes the misinformation being spread about the UMC by some dissident forces, Dr. West said he bears no ill will toward them.

'We're all trying to follow Christ'

"Traditionalist, centrist, progressive, we're all trying to follow Christ," Dr. West said. "The minority group that's leaving the church is leaving over issues not mentioned in the gospels or ancient creeds. Nor are they addressed by Wesley. I talk about Wesley's abhorrence of schism in the book."

He sees his new book, "Something Happens Here: Reclaiming the Distinctiveness of Wesley's Communion Spirituality in Times of Divisiveness" (Wipf & Stock, 2022), as "a way to reclaim how the gift of the table can move us forward into the future.

"What will keep us together is to focus to on the things Christ focused on and not focus on those things Christ didn't focus on," Dr. West said.

Although his book is a scholarly work that could serve as a seminary text, "Something Happens Here" roots itself in Wesley's theology of the Eucharist as the central act of the gathered worship community, an unparalleled means of grace. Dr. West said he thinks the book would be accessible for laypeople to study in small groups.

"It's natural that someone would land on communion as central, because the UMC is both sacramental and evangelical in its shape and character," Dr. West said. "Bridging between sacrament and evangelism is so much a part of our identity."

Dr. West recalled what while at Sewanee working on his doctorate, he took a meditation walk that brought him to a natural bridge "that sent me into an almost a mystical experience," he said.

"I realized that Christ is our way and our path forward," Dr. West said. "In times of stress Jesus sat with his disciples and gave them a meal. When people ask me why I stress communion as a practice during times of division and uncertainty, it's for the same reason that Jesus did."

The lens of communion

Dr. West said he believes that Holy Communion can serve as "a lens to get back to the core of who we are and discover our true self.

"The lens of communion will help us to see that the UMC has a bright future," he said.

Dr. West said he has long loved the "big tent" idea of contemporary United Methodism.

"The culture wars have dumped themselves on the church," the author asserted. "We've been focusing on our divisions rather than on what unites us.

"The culture wars have dumped themselves on the church. We've been focusing on our divisions rather than on what unites us."

"We're a diverse church founded in Christ," he said. "We take the Bible seriously and we trust that everyone has a relationship with scripture. We're called to make disciples when young people have been leaving the church because they perceive division. The Table can lead us back to life-giving and lead us forward.

'More of Charles'

So where does the "musical preacher" tag fit amid Dr. West's scholarship?

Dr. West styles himself as "husband, father, minister, musician, & writer" on his blog, "Musings of a Musical Preacher." A singer, pianist, and trombone player, he joked during his Insight interview that "I'm more of Charles than of John," given that music has played a major role in his spiritual formation.

"Early on I felt called into music ministry, but then I got direction from the Holy Spirit to go into the pulpit," said Dr. West. Along with heading music teams for North Alabama events, he leads music for the Upper Room's Academy for Spiritual Formation in various settings.

His affinity for Charles Wesley led him to include an overview of Charles' vast catalog of hymns related to Holy Communion in his book.

"Part of what the book does is to look at Charles' hymn writing on communion," he said. "Charles wrote about communion more than just about anything else."

His book has drawn praise from several United Methodist scholars, including a longtime friend and colleague, the Rev. Dr. S T Kimbrough, Jr., author of the "Global Praise" songbook series, and the Rev. Dr. Don E. Saliers, who wrote the foreword for "Something Happens Here."

One of contemporary Methodism's most noted experts on worship, Dr. Saliers wrote: "Many of us are aware of the current struggles in the Methodist church traditions for integrity and self-understanding. In a time of confusion and lack of clarity, West calls us to examine the essentials: What is the meaning of Christ's sacramental presence? What is it to be a community of love and justice grounded in a redemptive meal of grace? What is it to begin to practice a way of life that flows from the words and actions of Christ at the table?"

"For those of us who find our home in the United Methodist Church, nothing is more important than reclaiming our sacramental distinctiveness in these times of great divisiveness." 

Dr. West summarizes his hope for the book's influence in a chapter titled "Prelude." In good musical fashion, the book also ends with a chapter called "Postlude."

"For those of us who find our home in the United Methodist Church, nothing is more important than reclaiming our sacramental distinctiveness in these times of great divisiveness," Dr. West wrote.

"The purpose of this book is to take a careful look at John Wesley's core teachings on the Lord's Supper. I believe that our unique Communion spirituality must be the prism through which we behold the colors of life and love together. We long to see clearly because, simply put, our life at the table is at stake."

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011 based on her 30 years' experience covering The United Methodist Church. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.