WB Spiritual Refreshments
On Easter Sunday, when the pastor proclaims, “Christ is Risen!” the church responds, “He is risen, indeed!” It’s a proclamation that demands some sign of proof, and with the ascension of Christ and the lack of a physical Jesus for us to see and touch, the proof lies in the way Jesus’ disciples have been changed by meeting the risen Christ. Jesus is God-in-the-flesh, God-with-skin-in-the-game, and his death and resurrection unleashed that spark of God into the skin of real people, you and me. To follow a risen Christ is to put your own skin in the game, to practice holy living shaped like the self-giving love of Jesus. Christians are the Easter people whose “Christ is risen indeed” is proven in deed, in our actions that show the world that the crucified/risen Christ is alive and active and for them.
John Wesley’s evangelistic religion of the heart drew crowds in big numbers. Masses of people were “awakened” by the gospel message proclaimed with such power. But with these powerful proclamations, Wesley would set up small groups of people, (called ‘class meetings’), with the purpose of putting skin on the faith. Wesley once said:
I am more and more convinced, that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half-awakened, and then left to themselves to fall asleep again. Therefore I determine, by the grace of God, not to strike one stroke in any place where I cannot follow the blow.
March 13, 1743, Wesley’s Journal.
These meetings were small enough and consistent enough for men and women to challenge one another to grow in their faith. The emphasis was both on how you were seeking God and how you were loving your neighbor. The question of “How are you doing?” would be met with what David Werner paraphrases, “How is your doing?” We spur one another on to living more like Christ, we ask hard questions and challenge one another to move past the junk food of quick spiritual pick-me-ups, and on towards the deeper, more difficult works of resisting evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves in the world.
This week’s comic is not meant to promote a grumpy, mean, or judgmental Christianity. It IS meant to challenge us to think of a Christianity that goes WAY deeper than just being nice and positive. I’ve been in a lot of small groups and know how easy it is for us to keep things on the surface. I commend you to the difficult work of not just asking one another how you’re doing, but how is your doing? How have you cared for the poor and the oppressed since we last met? How have you spent time with the lonely and the forgotten? How have you gone past the surface-level “niceness” and shown the at-risk or underserved population that you genuinely care about them? How have your actions born fruit in your faith, and how has your faith born fruit in your actions?
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as minister of discipleship for youth and families at Highland United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.