It’s a rough week to be a Methodist.
First, Jesus Needs New PR snarked at Methodists, saying they would be left behind (#6). Now yesterday Jon Stewart took some potshots at the characterization of Methodists as “not standing for anything” followers of Christ. Start out at 4:20 then watch for at least 30 seconds:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Wedding of the Decade of the Century of the Millennium | ||||
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Transcript:
Stewart: Being a Methodist is easy. It’s like the University of Phoenix of religions: you just send them 50 bucks and click “I agree” and you are saved.
Ha! Then again, you look at John Wesley’s requirements for membership and compare them with today’s and he may not be far off the mark.
It was kind of a laugh then grimace moment for me. Although I think it was more of a pot shot at the wedding, there is a lot for us to think about.
If only we had Phoenix's numbers…
Methodism as an order of preachers and brethren within a larger Arminian Anglicanism makes sense. You lose those anchors, and honestly it does start to look extremely watered down and unnecessarily complicated. Just being honest. You guys chose to lose touch with the other aspects of the Wesleys' spirituality, which was a warm, non-Roman imitating high churchmanship, not unlike the Farrars of the previous century. Granted, the Anglican establishment disdain for those whom the Wesleys and co. sought to reach was also a part of the problem too; there's plenty of blame to go around. But the sooner this rich heritage is once again embraced and the free churchmanship downplayed, Methodism will once again start to really look like something instead of milquetoast mainline irrelevancy. This doesn't mean a mass exodus into the Episcopal Church, just an acknowledgement that those roots are as important as all the preaching and gospel singing.