A pastor-friend of mine once shared the following “tongue-in-cheek” definition of what it means to be a United Methodist:
“United Methodists believer fervently in prayer, but almost faint when asked to pray in public.
United Methodists like to sing, unless the song is new or has more than four verses.
United Methodists love good preaching, so long as it does not scratch where people itch or make the worship service last beyond 12Noon.
United Methodists enjoy watching the generous give and stingy squirm, so long as the generous ones are someone else.
United Methodists believe in the Bible, although they have a hard time getting around to reading and studying it very often.
United Methodists want visitors and guests to feel welcome, as long as they don’t sit in their seat.
United Methodists like sermons to be very intelligent, very comprehensive, very simple, and very short.
United Methodists will come to any meeting at church… as long as a free meal is served.
As Baptist preacher-comedian Grady Nutt once said, ‘Baptists probably sin as much as United Methodists; they just don’t enjoy it as much!’”
[-Shared by Rev. Dr. Ferrell Drummond in the bulletin of Carrollton First UMC (Carrollton, GA), July 16, 1995]
I hope you’ll join me in worship January 15-February 12 as I begin a new sermon series called “Christianity the Wesleyan Way,” exploring what it really means to be a United Methodist Christian in today’s world, and how that identity and practice can make a true different in our lives! Remember that God loves you and I do, too!
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