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THE CIRCUIT RIDER
Over the years the Methodist Church has been a joy, an inspiration and truly a blessing as I have, over these many long years, grown more steadfast in the utter simplicity of a Christian faith that began when I was a mere child.
The fact is, that I cannot remember when I was not at home in a Methodist Church and I am one of a few people still alive today that once rode to church on a horse with a genuine circuit rider on Sunday morning.
Back during the early depression years of the 1930’s when I was probably five years old I was “acting up” in church. As a matter of fact, I was in my own world playing alongside the wood heater with the kindling and making log cabins with the sticks. I would have been OK if I had kept my mouth shut with my make believe construction project. You see I was the boss and was telling my imaginary workers what to do and I plain forgot about my Grandmother who was known to any and all people for miles around as Aunt Lou. I called her Grandma to her face, but when I was talking to anyone else I called her Aunt Lou. There was not a child of any size in the whole country that had not experienced the wrath of Aunt Lou once they “acted up” in church.
As I was telling one of my imaginary workers where to place a log, Aunt Lou grabbed me by my left arm and right there in front of God and everyone carried me down the aisle of that church and out the front door. My feet never hit the floor. We then proceeded out behind the church house beneath the pulpit windows where she somehow whipped out a pocketknife and cut a keen birch switch while still holding my arm; all the while my feet were pawing the air. Aunt Lou proceeded to give me an attitude adjustment that I remember to this day. The preacher could see everything as he delivered his sermon. He didn’t miss a word.
She dried my eyes with her homemade apron, kissed me on my cheek and told me that it was time for me to learn that God is displeased when we disrupt the preacher’s sermon.
We walked back into the church as she held my hand. We passed the heater, then went back and placed my sticks of kindling in a neat pile and proceeded on to the amen corner where she put her arm around me. That was the first sermon I ever really listened to. I never did “act up” in church again.
The next Sunday after the attitude adjustment the preacher came by to give me a ride to church. He rode the prettiest Tennessee Walker mare you ever laid your eyes on. I never did figure out whether he felt sorry for me for “acting up” or whether it was because I paid special attention to his sermon after the attitude adjustment.
Everyone including my parents, always called him Preacher and to this day I do not remember his name and those who did know are now long gone.
The Preacher could make that little mare dance a jig as we made our way to the church house each Sunday. I would hold on to the saddle horn as he put her through her paces; a thrill that has lasted for a lifetime. The Preacher and his mare was something to see as they covered those last remaining miles ending a lifelong series of circuits preaching the utter supremacy of the Scriptures to convince his fellowman to accept Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior. The Preacher maintained Gods plan for salvation was very simple; you believe that Jesus Christ is exactly who He said He was or you don’t. Rejection, the Preacher claimed, is always self-destructive.
An analogy.
Looking back, the hoofs on that little mare seemed to waltz through dust, ice, sleet, snow and mud and somehow they were always shiny clean and ready for the next ride. Nothing seemed to stick to those hoofs, not even the slickest of red clay on those mountain trails. The Preachers messages of salvation and education were always poetic simplicity, pure and clean and always devoid of psychological nonsense and egos tainted gloss. I still see the dancing hoofs of that little Tennessee Walker mare when I hear a good sermon.
The Preacher and his mare left our church about a year later. In those days the WPA was very busy improving our roads and the next minister came driving up in a new Ford automobile.
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Change was inevitable!
Today the United Methodist Church is in trouble.
The reasons are quite obvious. The leaders of this religious denomination, like all institutions, sooner or later, begin to perpetuate their own image. Invariably, the institution becomes a separate entity unto itself and they seem to forget their intended purposes for existence. I call this Barney’s Law of Institutionality.
God’s plan for salvation is a joint venture with His own creation. When Jesus Christ arose from the dead and ascended into heaven he left with us a spirit of goodness that abides with us and is on call at a moments notice. God then became a completed spiritual triune, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - the past, the present and the future.
Believe this and you are assured of eternal life! (See Chapter 12 of Monkey See, Monkey Do - Of Good and Evil)
The simplicity of our Christian faith has remained unchangeable for two thousand years
and all the learned men throughout the ages find it hard to accept this awesome and simple truth.
Wisdom starts when a Christian realizes just how utterly stupid he really is and like Job,
he discovers that the answer always lies with God. I have actually known wise men who could not read and write; they simply believed and God saw fit to give them wisdom far beyond that of so called intellectual PhD’s.
The UMC is in trouble partly because the leaders cannot understand that they have literally thousands of wise men and women scattered throughout their congregations and they refuse to hear their voices.
John Wesley never thought that the Methodist movement would cease to exist but he was well aware and he was cognizant that it could become a form of godliness while denying the true power. Wise members of the laity realize that this very thing is happening right now throughout the UMC. The broad interpretation of the clergy and the leaders of UMC of the Wesleyan “Quadrilateral” is to treat all four sources - Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience - as being equal.
In the Discipline we read: “While we acknowledge the primacy of Scripture in theological reflection, our attempts to grasp its meaning always involve tradition, experience and reason. Like Scripture, these may become creative vehicles of the Holy Spirit as they function within the church.”
John Wesley depended upon and taught us the utter supremacy of the Scriptures and would insist that it be placed in a separate category by itself. The other three are tools to be used in helping us to understanding the Scriptures.
The overriding of Scripture by tradition, experience and reason by the leaders and clergy of the UMC is an invitation to disaster. The result is doctrinal chaos and incoherence. Wisdom demands a clear and concise Christian doctrine for the laity and also the clergy.
This serious flaw, intentional or otherwise, with the Scriptural intent of John Wesley and his ministry leaves us with challenges to the Christian truth that becomes manifest in our faith. Things like New Age precepts, elements of Eastern religions and American Indian rituals, all kinds of non-scriptural theologies, the actual worship of Sophia and a host of ideas and concepts foreign to our beliefs. The leaders of the UMC have allowed these abhorrences to be permeated within our midst and taught in our seminaries and schools of theology.
On the other hand, those of us who reject pagan and non-Christian practices like those listed above, along with homosexuality and abortion on demand are criticized and are looked upon as having an unchristian spirit.
Politically correct language is now used throughout our denominational seminaries. They claim to be centers of academic freedom but in their political correctness they are denying students their constitutional right to freedom of speech and their Christian right to their own theological convictions. (See Chapter 2 - Monkey See, Monkey Do - Political Correctness/Postmodernism)
On June 10, 2001 the Clarion-Ledger published the following Editorial:
RACIAL PROGRESS - METHODIST BISHOP MAKES IT A PRIORITY
United Methodist Church Bishop Kenneth L Carder has issued a call to the state’s 190,000 United Methodists to put racial reconciliation as their top priority this year - a timely issue given the recent vote on the state’s flag.
Speaking at the 13th session of the church’s annual conference in Tupelo last week, Bishop Carder called for the healing as a result of the “barriers among us.”
Although Mississippians don’t want a divisive debate to continue, the uneasy racial issues that were underlying in the flag controversy were not resolved April 17 when voters chose to retain the Confederate battle emblem.
Bishop Carder is right to make reconciliation a priority. This state needs constructive dialogue on race relations. It can only lead to better understanding and a better future.
I agree with the Bishop and the Clarion-Ledger that racial constructive dialogue should be a continuing issue for all the people of this state and better understanding will no doubt help us all but this issue is a far cry from our top priority - for the church and the state.
The Bishop and the Clarion-Ledger do not approve our state flag. They appear to be sore losers. The following is a quote by the Bishop in an article entitled Faith and the Flag by Charlotte Graham, Staff Writer that appeared in the Clarion-Ledger on January 27, 2001.
“Being a newcomer to Mississippi does not justify keeping silent on issues that are central to our faith,” he says. “Though a newcomer to Mississippi, I am not a newcomer
to issues which the flag represents.”
I always thought the cross was the emblem central to my Christian faith! (See Chapter 20 of Monkey See, Monkey Do - An Open Letter To My Bishop)
So, I must ask the members of the United Methodist Church to consider the following as our top priority until the problems with the hierarchy of our church is resolved to our satisfaction.
On Monday June 25 the United Methodist Church made the national news on the Fox TV
network. It was reported the UMC were downsizing similar to the squeeze on many of the businesses in corporate America over the past several years. The UMC have been loosing members by the thousands and is now in the process of literally closing thousands of small churches across the entire nation. The hierarchy of the UMC are urging the members to congregate to the nearer and to the more affluent churches. This downsizing has been deliberately planned for months and possibly years.
Bishop Carder must have known this when he made race his top priority as stated in the Editorial by the Clarion-Ledger during the annual convention in Tupelo. A reasonable person would think that the leader of these 190,000 Methodists and over 1000 churches in the state of Mississippi would have made the downsizing crisis the top priority for this year at our annual convention.
I would suggest that the Bishop re-examine his priorities! I am sure that the Clarion-Ledger would be more than happy to follow this national story and keep the 190,000 UMC Mississippian members informed of the truth and real reasons concerning the downsizing as reported by Fox TV network news.
This downsizing crisis poses a host of serious questions for the members of these smaller churches that are scheduled to be closed. For instance, what happens to the building and property? Could the congregation convert to another denomination and what would it cost them? What is the true reason for the downsizing; to save money, shortage of clergymen, more control by the hierarchy? Wisdom demands that the Bishop tell the 190,000 Methodist in this state how, where, what, and when this will affect their spiritual lives.
The United Methodist Church is also in trouble due to the lethargy of the majority of the lay members. I am referring to each and every congregation throughout the entire church body. We have, as lay members, allowed ourselves to be subjugated by the clergy. There is no such thing as a better Christian, yet we have allowed this premise to take hold and grow within our midst.
We abdicated our responsibility when we decided that our church was somewhat similar to a country club and our pastor should hold several degrees in order to preach the simple gospel like the circuit riders that brought Gods plan for salvation along with education to a new nation. Someone once said (I credit my Father with this gem of a statement) that education was the only thing that keeps us from the horrible and deadly danger of taking the educated too seriously. Oh how that statement rings so true, especially when you realize that majority of the learned men leading us have never had the Godly experience of “a call to preach” or never gives evidence that they know that the Holy Spirit even exists.
The political correctness that has permeated our culture and our denominational seminaries leads me to believe that the United Methodist Church is well on its way to becoming a tool of political correctness/postmodernism. Just imagine; super churches like the super centers of Walmart or Home Depot, treating our faith like it was a commodity, offering only those fast moving A, B or C brands that are most popular or on sale at the moment.
A large majority of us actually have the audacity to get up before our fellowmen and before God we promise to be responsible Disciples of Christ with our tithes, our talents and our attendance. Some of us mean it. Some don’t.
We, the lay members of the United Methodist Church must ask ourselves - what is our intended purpose for existence? What do you want the United Methodist Church to be? You are the one paying the bill!
REMEMBER, YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN CHANGE IT!
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The memory of a circuit rider, a wise man that God called to teach and to preach, a fervent Disciple of Jesus Christ named “Preacher” and a young child astride a small Tennessee Walker mare dancing their way to church on Sunday morning inspired me to write the following:
HERO
Samson slew the Philistines; Noah made an ark
David slew Goliath; Jacob wrestled in the dark
Jonah rode within a whale; Alexander conquered all.
Columbus found a whole new world; Hitler saw his world fall.
Lee fought a loosing cause; Napoleon met his Waterloo.
Linclon freed the slaves; and Cochise counted coup!
I have read the feats of mighty men that have trod the paths of time,
With deeds of saintly godliness, and acts in violent crime.
From Adam to my own kind sire, all tried to fill a need.
The good intents within their souls were squelched by selfish greed.
Then judgment came collecting toll, due billed from up above,
And can only be marked “Paid in Full”, when sealed in God’s true love!
been searching for a hero, a person large as life.
Unstained by vengeful violence, not marred by war and strife.
I've searched for men in every tribe that have sailed the seven seas.
Or stamped a page in history books with big I’s and larger Me’s.
With one exception, all were marked with ego’s tainted gloss.
I’ve been searching for a hero and I found Him on a cross!
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