Why I Am a United Methodist

Actually, there was a four-week sermon series I gave with that title before heading off to General Conference in Fort Worth.  I think it was pretty good.  The four reasons I gave were:

1. The United Methodist Church is where I found true Christian Community.  I talked about Sunday School and youth group and shared some of the high points of Christian community that I’ve found in the church.  And I talked about some of the low points.
2. The United Methodist Church taught me about the bigness of God’s Grace.  Prevenient grace.  A grace so amazingly big that it’s given to me without even waiting for a response.  The grace is prior to my response.  For someone who deals with some pride issues, this understanding of grace takes it all out of my hands and puts it in God’s hands.
3. The United Methodist Church taught me about practical divinity.  We believe that faith should be put into practice in the world.  Faith without works is dead.  Got to talk about some of the great ways the larger church is involved in mission around the world.
4. The United Methodist Church taught me about worship.  Here I shared some of the memorable worship experiences I’ve been a part of, even in my present congregation.  And I also shared about some of the challenges of conducting worship in a small congregation.

That’s kind of the long answer for why I am a United Methodist.  The shorter answer (and no less relevant) is that, when we moved from Massachusetts to New York in the mid 1970s, the United Methodist Church seemed more friendly than the Presbyterian one.  If the Presbyterian Church in Yorktown Heights, NY has seemed a little more friendly on the Sunday we showed up, perhaps this would be a very different story that you’d find on this blog.