Becoming a Movement Again? Really?

BECOMING A MOVEMENT AGAIN….Really?

I hear these words a lot  in relationship to our life as a United Methodist Church these days.   We want to  shed the skin of institutionalism and take on the character of a “movement.” 

That’s good.

We should do that.

But we should be clear about what it is that we are doing as we shift from an institutional life to a movement reality.

Movements are unpredictable.

Movements are matters of the heart.

Movements are…..dangerous.

A movement takes flight on the wings of passion.   Often the passion is ignited by injustice or some egregious wrong.  Sometimes the movement emerges out of inspiration.   In our case as a Church, the Wesleyan Movement  set ablaze by the power of the Holy Spirit, calling people to a consuming faith in God that was to be lived out in the healing of the sick, feeding of the hungry and the liberation of the oppressed (read Luke 4:14 – 19).    People were on fire in those days, giving all to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”    In that outpouring of “scriptural holiness,”  faith communities, schools, hospitals and more were planted around the globe.   People poured out their whole lives, and some gave their lives to this movement.   Yes.   Movements are things to which people commit their whole lives, willing to risk it all for the sake of the movement.

Think of the movements in our recent history.

The Womens’ Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement.

The Peace Movement.

The Labor Morvement.

In all of these struggles people not only gave their lives but lost their lives.

People gave all to the movement to claim equal rights for women, and some died.   Tens of thousands gave all to the movement for racial justice.   Some died.

In the Peace Movement, people spent years in prison, some were exiled and yes, some died.   And in the struggle for child labor laws and an eight hour day people suffered under the clubs of anti-union goons….and some died.

If we United Methodists are serious about becoming a “movement” again then we need to think of this with clarity and focus.   Are we willing to give all to the call of Jesus Christ to go forth and heal the world?   Are we willing to pour our lives out in building communities of hope and justice?   Are we spiritually pulled, drawn into creating spaces of inclusion and new life where everyone is welcome?     At the end of the day, are we willing to give our lives….not to an institution but to a movement committed to this “way of life,” which we are called in The Great Commission (Matthew 28

So, I’m all for this movement thing.

But let’s not play.

Indeed, let’s just stop playing altogether and actually pour ourselves into being Church together.     It’s going to be dicey.  It’s going to be unpredictable.   It’s going to be….dangerous.   People will die.

But then we’re a people of the Resurrection, yes?

We’re a people who trust in God’s power for new life, yes?

We’re a people who follow Jesus wherever he bids us go, yes?

So let’s reclaim our power as a movement. 

Let’s go forth and spend our lives and sharing the love, grace

and healing that we know in Christ Jesus.