Steve's Journey

On the fourth Sunday of each month our pastor leads a combined Sunday school class. Yesterday morning she shared what the Methodists are all about, in the brief time that she had. She emphasized the openness of the Methodist church, which often draws criticism of the Methodists being middle of the road, or too liberal.

She also introduced the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. While John Wesley himself did not name it, or categorize it, the four squares contain references to sources (Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience) that he drew from for his teaching. I sent Rev. Barbara an email after church about how we liked the lesson. She wrote back that she was pleased and added that Wesley did not give all four sources equal weight; he put Scripture at the top, with the others working in relation to interpretation of Scripture.

I think the Bible is an amazing collection of writings, but I am not able to put it on a pedestal, as many Christian denominations do. I fully realize that all I know about God, Jesus, etc. comes from the Bible and that those who have taught me over the years also use the Good Book as their source. Still, I'm interested to see just how open this church is, and Barbara in particular. She focuses on the love of Christ, demonstrated in our service to others, and I like that.