What is most important to us? What is essential? These are questions not only for our society during these unprecedented times, but questions the Church should be asking regularly. We don’t need to redefine what is important, we need to remember what is essential to the life of faith and to the community of faith.

     In John Wesley’s general rules, he laid out what is essential for the people called Methodist. Wesley’s three rules were: do no harm, do good, and attend upon all the ordinances of God. The ordinances include worship, hearing and searching the Word of God, the Lord’s Supper, family and private prayer, and fasting or abstinence. These rules and ordinances will be our focus for the month of August.

     This past Sunday we focused on worship and the Lord’s Supper. Worship is central to our life of faith and Holy Communion is central to our worship. In worship we offer prayers of praise and thanksgiving to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the holy mystery of the Lord’s Supper, we commune with Christ and with one another as brothers and sisters in his name. The essential church is gathered in worship at the table.

     This week we will turn our attention to Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is revealed to us through the written word of the Bible. Wesley expected all Methodists to be present in worship for the ministry of the Word, read and proclaimed. But that is not enough, he also expected all members of the society to search the scriptures on their own. The essential church is rooted in the Word.

     Next we will look at the importance of prayer. The life of faith really can be summed up as a life of prayer. Prayer is more than simply a conversation with God. At its heart, and at its best, prayer is our relationship with God. It is more than the time we spend with God - it is our life lived with him. The essential church is devoted to prayer.

     The life of faith is both private and public. It is something we live for ourselves, but also something we do together. In fact, Wesley believed that our personal faith could never grow without being connected to others. That is why he united his Methodists into classes and bands. These small groups focused on growing in faith and holiness. The essential church is banded together.

     Finally, our faith is about more than us individually or even the church as a whole. That was at the heart of Wesley’s first two rules: do no harm, do good. We are sent in the name and love of Christ himself to take the Good News to others by meeting their physical needs like food and housing, and by meeting their spiritual needs through prayer and evangelism. The essential church is sent in love.

     Church is essential. It is not a place, not a building, but a people. We are the Church - the people of God gathered at his table, rooted in his word, devoted to prayer, banded together, and sent in love. And Church is essential, to our lives of faith and to our world that desperately needs to know the love and mercy of God.

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Sunday morning worship will begin onsite on June 7th.

There will be two services: one at 8:30 a.m. for people who are at a higher risk of contracting the virus. 

The second one will be at 10:45 a.m.

You can only attend one service per Sunday.

All Sunday School classes and events are still cancelled until further notice!