Monday, October 30, 2017

NOVEMBER EDITION... 2017   (Dr. Keith J. Wise) 


I. Introduction: The month of November has been historically a month of reflection.  In agricultural areas of our country people have begun to see the result of the harvest. The old hymn, "Come, Ye Thankful People Come" reflects in the lyrics of the hymn the place of harvests home before the winter storms begin.  I will attempt to inform and place in proper perspective how this country has been abundantly blessed and how in these days of turmoil, we can rediscover peace of mind and heart.  We will continue with another denomination study and its history and legacy while providing a sermon outline concerning outline. 


II. DIGGING DEEPER: The Methodist Church denomination has been on the American landscape from the beginning of our nation.  But their genesis was in Europe, through a number of interesting developments that were a result of the need of revival in the Church of England. The religious atmosphere in the British Isles in the 17th and 18th century has been described by historians and theologians as "sterile."  The worship of the Protestant Churches were gear exclusively in intellectual language of the day.  Common people where often excluded or seated in special areas of the sanctuary on Sunday.  In the Catholic Churches the Mass was almost forgotten as within the British Isles many churches were abandoned and many closed.  

In this atmosphere, a populist movement of piety reasserted itself in what became known as "Praying Societies."  In 1729 four students at Oxford University by the names of Charles Wesley, Robert Kirkham, William Morgan and John Wesley determined to study Koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament and the Septuagint.  The secularist pushed by to this piety movement by calling these men names.  They were called Bible Bigots, Bible Moths and a recurring title of "Methodist" because they studied the Bible "methodically."  By 1735 other such groups joined together by a later notable his name was George Whitfield.(1714-1770).

John Wesley (1793-1791) was the fifteenth child of a family of nineteen children.  His mother was so busy with child rearing that often to pray she would put her apron over her head for a period of quiet and meditation.  John became an Anglican Priest and was a graduate of Oxford.  He also received a Masters degree from Oxford.(1727)  John and his brother Charles decided to come to America in 1735.  In the southern part of the colonies, General Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia, set up the Wesley brothers to evangelize the growing population. Here, they collaborated with another pietistic  movement called the Moravians.  This group was much older and had been founded in Europe in the 15th century by Jon Hus the early reformer.  In 1736 Charles Wesley returned to England to write hymns while John Wesley sought to return in 1738 with certain Moravians.  During their return, they were in a shipwreck, and John counts this crisis experience as to date of a true conversion.  On May 24, 1738 he begins his preaching ministry.  With his enriched connections with the Moravians he traveled to Germany to the estate of Nicholas Louis (1700-1760) the Count of Zinzendorf.  Eventually returning to England to fellowship with the Moravians, he decides to break with them and found the Methodist Church. (1740)

Calvinism eventually found its way into Methodism and its various forms.  There were the Wesleyan Methodist who believed in "Universal Salvation" while the Methodist movement under George Whitfield became Calvinist and saw a "Limited Salvation" for those who were called as the "elect." These Calvinist Methodist in turn divided again in Whitfield Methodist, Lady Huntingdon's Connection, and the Welsh Methodist.(from the Westminster Confession of 1647).  The established Anglican Church frowned on Methodism in its various forms, but were powerless to deal with their good works among the poor, and their piety in daily life. 

The Methodist in North America were much more prolific.  They establish themselves in the New York area by 1760 but found a lack of ministers to post in their churches.  They were much more successful in the South.  Francis Asbury (1745-1816) was sent by Wesley to remedy the situation. This is done in the systematic method of the Methodist tradition.  The American Revolution hurt the Methodist movement in America.  Wesley and other European Methodist were Pro-Torrie, while Asbury stayed until the end of the American Revolution.(1783)  Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke decided to set up a new governing body, no so connected to their English roots.  On Christmas December 24, 1884 a conference was set in Baltimore, Maryland.  Known as the "Christmas Conference" they incorporated a creed of the 24 Articles of the 39 Articles of the Anglican Church.  By 1804 they added one more Article now called the "25 Articles."  The Methodist from this point seem to grow rapidly in the American soil. In 1784 they had 15,000 members, while by 1850 they had grown to one million members. They will grow rapidly on the American frontier by adjusting to Camp Meetings and Circuit Riding Preachers. 

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there developed in the Methodist camp continued divisions for various reasons in America. Here are a few examples: (1793) O'Kelly's Succession who called themselves the "Republican Methodist," (1816) African Methodist Episcopal Church, (1821) African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, (1830) Methodist Protestant Church.  (1845) Methodist Episcopal Church. All of these the strongest in the South to the mid-south region and the frontier.  By 1963 there were twenty two different groups under the Methodist tent through various mergers.  Eventually they unite in what is called The United Methodist Church.

III. DID YOU KNOW?

The Rule of Three... 

Three things to govern: temper, tongue, conduct.

Three things to love: courage, gentleness, affection.

Three things to hate: cruelty, prejudice, racism.

Three things to wish for: health, friends, a cheerful spirit.

Three things to fight for: honor, country, home.

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When Martin Rinkart, a German minister, penned a poem with these lines, "Now Thank We All Our God," in 1636, he had no thought of it ever being used as a song. It was designed as a prayer before a meal as grace which was the custom at the time.  It was not long that this poem was known outside Germany.  Ironically, Rinkart wrote it during the Thirty Years War when his pastoral duties were quit difficult.  He conducted as many as forty funerals a day, including that for his own wife; yet he wrote those beautiful word as a table grace for his family.  In spite of war and plague around him and sorrow within him, he was able to give thanks to God from a grateful heart.  For over three hundred years it was recited as the "Te Deum" of the Germans.  In 1858 it was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth, and now it is in most hymnals in the Churches around the world. 

The Mother of Thanksgiving- by Emma M. Campbell- The Overlook Magazine

It is generally thought that William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony, was the Father of Thanksgiving.  It was he who called the people of his colony together in 1621 for a service of thanksgiving.  At the close of the Revolutionary War, George Washington issued a proclamation for the observance of a day of thanksgiving. Again, this was noted at the end of the War of 1812 as a day of thanksgiving by then President James Madison.

But it was not until 1864 that President Abraham Lincoln, declared that by annual proclamation, the last Thursday of November ought to be a national day of Thanksgiving.  And it was Sarah Josepha Hale who persuaded President Lincoln to issue this Thanksgiving proclamation.

Mrs. Hale had an interesting background. She is remembered as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book.  She was remarkable for her time.  Left a widow with five young children to support, she wrote stories and poems that led her into the editorial office of the Ladies Magazine of Boston, which, in 1837, was merged with Godey's Lady's Book, of Philadelphia. 

Godey's Ladies Book in 1850 had a circulation of 80,000; in 1860, 98,500.  Under the editorship of Mrs. Hale, the women of the United States were helped to remodel their cottages and homes and to select their furnishings.  In 1859 Mr. Godey sent artist abroad to describe and picture the fashions in England and France.  These fashion plates are still cherished today for their quaint styles and coloring.  Furthermore, the magazine published verses and stories by the best writers in America. Edgar Allan Poe,Washington Irving, and Nathaniel Hawthorne often found their works published and read.  

In summary, Mrs Hale continued her editorial duties until she was nearly ninety years old. Her portrait shows a bright-eyed pretty women with natural curls and smile.  She had inspired our President and help to influence the idea of Thanksgiving to an Almighty God for blessings he has bestowed upon our nation through the years.

IV. NUGGETS OF NOURISHMENTFour Words that Capture the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Text: Psalm 100

Introduction:  The book of Psalms is a book of Songs.  These have encompassed every emotion, petitioning God in every way.  Any number of the Psalms seek to increase and describe the thanksgiving of the human heart, and the almost impossible tasks in which we express our thanks. Before you take this Psalm verse by verse, read it several times quietly and then speak as you read it out loud.  We and the commentators do not often capture one unique aspect of this Psalm, but it is designed to "evoke" a sluggish mind to a level of thanksgiving.  You will see four words that pull us out of our seats to an upward glace to Yahweh who is Elohim. (LORD who is God).  Let us look at these four words that are found in the first four verses of the five verses of this Psalm.


   A. Shout- For joy to the LORD, all the earth. 

We live in Michigan.  There is no time of the year you can peer out your door and not see the glory and complexity of God's creation.  I am writing this in the fall of the year.  We have had an unusually warm fall.  The rains and the cooler temperatures have arrived late.  However, the beauty of colors and stark contrast of frost on fallen leaves can leave you breathless.  It shouts for joy as it ends its season of life and purpose. We can "shout for joy" because of the creators handiwork.

    B. Worship-  The LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

In our modern era we have whole books written about worship.  Definitions abound; but this English word comes from an old Anglo Saxon word meaning to "give worth to something."  I don't give much worth to those "dust bunnies" that appear under my couch in the living room.  However, I give much worth to my wife and children.  Because God has placed within me a quality of being able to establish worth to certain items in my life, I can exceedingly look to him with gladness and express it with "joyful songs."  Sometime these are songs from a praise band on Sunday, or an old hymn found on my bookshelf of hymnbooks read during my devotions. It may be when I am driving my car and the tune is not so great, the feelings of my heart of wonderful.  Anyway, knowing what makes me joyful makes me sing for such a wonderful father and loving savior.  

    C. Know-  that the LORD is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

One of the reasons the Psalms are so loved and enduring is that it seeks to engage the whole mind and spirit of the human being.  Here, after drawing us through "joyful songs" in emotion, he beckons us to focus our minds on "Knowing."  Knowing means study and detailed thought.  Yes, he is the creator, we and this world did not come about by some hap-harassed means.  The KJV version in this sections translates: "It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves."  He made us and knows us and loves us.  How about that for a joyful song?  The greatest travesty is not that man has place some pseudo-scientific idea of evolution on our tables, but that that this moves us to attempting to say "we are god!  No, he is the shepherd and we are sheep of his pasture.  He leads, he provides, he instills, he knows, and we celebrate that knowing.

    D. Enter-  his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the LORD (YHWH) is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. 

The Psalmist now moves us into the holy city to the temple, the gathering of the people of God.  This encompasses both the old city and now the new Jerusalem. We have now been so completely surrounded by God's goodness and grace that we enter his gates with a new sense of thanksgiving, because of all the areas of our sensory systems have been engaged.   In fact, the Psalmist includes the eternal qualities of God that illuminate still further, our volume of thanksgiving.  Notice: The Lord is "good" so much so that "his love endures forever."  Think about it.  He is so permeating that his "faithfulness" is not wavering or capricious, but it "continues through all generations."

Conclusion: The Holy Spirit, indwelling the Christian today is so powerful and without comprehension that we can sing songs of thanksgiving in a jail of persecution like the Apostle Paul, or waiting in a dungeon like Joseph of old when we have been accused unjustly.  We can look beyond the darkness of the moment to his light, his hope and his coming glorified kingdom.  Sing with thanksgiving with joy in mind and heart and spirit, because "we are more than conquerors through him who loves us."

IV. Great Thoughts on Thanksgiving

1. The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart.(Plutarch)

2. Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. (Henry Ward Beecher)

3. O Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.(Shakespeare)

4. A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.(Cicero)