Asbury Seminary
Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., isn't an official United Methodist school, but it trains many United Methodist clergy who consider themselves "evangelical."
To the Editor:
The article "Tell Asbury Preachers to Preach the Whole Truth" by the Rev. Dr. Mary John Dye is excellent. She explains with clarity the situation and what has happened through the years that led to separation.
I have been ordained for 50 years. I have been close friends with Asbury grads/clergy. When I was pastor in my first Church in Western Kansas I became friends with Ralph and Beth Barcelo and with some of their friends in the Kansas West Conference. Asbury graduates. Ralph took me under his wing. I knew we were totally different in theology, but we were alike in heart. I remember saying to Ralph one day, "Ralph, I get it I think. It is not very hard to be a Christian. But it is very difficult." He applauded me. We knew we didn't agree, but we agreed on many things. I could sing with him, It is well with my soul, or his Eye is on the sparrow and our hearts would connect. It is easy to be a Christian. But it is hard to live it.
I had not much experience with Asbury until I was befriended by Beth and Ralph. My experience from those early years in the 1970s was "Who or what is this Asbury that seems so rigid, conflicting, out to separate and beligerate many of us into something we are not. I am always reminded of John Wesley's comment to a Roman Catholic. "If thy heart is as my heart, give me your hand." Unfortunately too often the hand offered is not one of peace or congeniality, but one ready to slap another into compliance. That is not John Wesley, nor is it Methodism. There are times when I have felt more welcomed, loved and cared for in a synagogue than in one of our churches. Asbury seemed to be more out to judge than love.
The bottom line is: Do you believe in Jesus? Yes. Good. Do you believe in what Jesus taught, Love? Yes. Good. Do you DO what Jesus taught? Do you Love? Yes. Then you are a follower of Jesus, a Christian if we must use that term, and we are brother and sister.
What's the phrase Paul uses, "There is nether Jew nor Greek ... ?" We are one. The same must apply to our United States that has currently forgotten the reasons why the colonies and immigrants came together.
Emma Lazarus' poem on The Statue of Liberty says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free." Sounds rather "Christian" doesn't it?
2026 is no time for churches to go into battle. It is time to give each other a hand and a hand up, even in our disagreements and faults. I found the most powerful force among 12 divided churches in the last town I served as pastor was to bring the pastors all together, sit them down, feed them, and say nothing but, "We are brothers and sisters who follow the same Love. I love you." Love never ends. Love always wins. They went away astonished. and at least changed for a little while.
I celebrate Dr. Dye and what she has to say. I hope it is read far and wide.
Rev. Thomas L. Shanklin, Lutz, Florida
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