REMEMBER YOUR BAPTISM

At the past General Conference (legislative gathering for the whole United Methodist Church) there was a change made to the official membership vows of the church. At the various places where the candidate is traditionally asked,”…will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, presence, gifts and service?” The General Conference would have us add the word “witness.”

These are the promises made by every person who joins a United Methodist Church so they are not something we should take lightly. Let’s take a look at them:

Our Prayers – Most of us kind of take this one for granted. We pray in church. We even have the “prayer prelude” at which we are told to focus our prayers on the service and ministry of the church. So there you have it. We are participating in the ministries of the church with our prayers. That’s good but I think this promise is meant to go a little deeper than that. We should be praying regularly and including the church and the church people in our prayers. That includes paying attention when prayer concerns are shared in worship, at meetings, over e-mail or prayer chain. It also includes praying for the church in all our prayers especially when issues arise and new programs are started. We should not overlook the importance of this promise.

Our Presence – We all know that this means—“being here.” Members who are not shut-ins are expected to attend worship on a regular basis. However, “presence” seems a stronger word than attendance. This is more than just being here to be counted. It suggests that we are to be attentive, participating, involved in what is taking place. We have promised to be “present” with each other, with the service as it is conducted, with God.

Our Gifts – Most of us understand this one to mean financial gifts. That is a true, but not quite complete, understanding. I’ll take a moment to mention that we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how much we should give. The biblical standard is the tithe, ten percent of our income.  The United Methodist Church is not one that expects you to turn over your W-2 to prove that you are tithing but we do encourage tithing as healthy and responsible stewardship of our financial resources.

There is another dimension to this particular item in the membership vows. God has gifted us all in more than material ways. Spiritual gifts, talents, and highly developed skills are also gifts included in this promise. From time to time we offer a spiritual gifts class to help you discern your gifts. I highly recommend that you seize that opportunity when it comes around again. In addition, if we can sing or play an instrument, I would understand this promise to mean we would at least make ourselves available on an occasional basis for some part of our music ministry. If we can do fine woodwork, or draw or are especially adept at house painting or administration, we should offer those gifts as well. God has been wonderfully generous with us in the amount and diversity our giftedness and it is only right that we as disciples use those gifts in his service.

Our Service – This one overlaps with the second understanding of gifts. Church membership is a promise of discipleship which is much more than just attending worship once a week. We offer our service. It might be to spend a Sunday morning in the Second Cup Café, showing up at a work day or helping to decorate the church. It might be sitting in a Church Council meeting or Worship Team, or serving as a liturgist. Possibilities seem endless for us to fulfill our promise to offer God our service through Calvary Church.

Now for the new one, Our Witness – This is an addition to our membership vows because the United Methodist Church had come to believe that the other vows were a little inward directed. This promise is to make us more “outward in our focus” as one publication put it, we are now being called to not only “show up but to show forth.”  It is a fundamental understanding of Christian discipleship that we witness to our faith. This may include standing on the street corner handing out tracts but that certainly isn’t the extent or fullness of the call to witness. To witness is to tell your story. That you are a follower of Christ, that you worship, that you find meaning and purpose and hope and joy in your faith should not be secrets. Everyone has a story. Just tell your story to people you know or people you meet.

The fact that this is new to the membership vows doesn’t change the basic truth that it is part of discipleship. Don’t go looking for a loophole here. These vows are meant to reflect God’s claim on the faithful person, ways that his love is made manifest in our lives. Regardless of the words we say at membership, these vows of prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness are the very bedrock of the church.

In Christ,

Pastor Rob