On the Way to Perfection Discipleship In the Wesleyan Tradition

“We Marching to Zion”

Come, we that love the Lord,And let our joys be known;Join in a song with sweet accord,Join in a song with sweet accord,And thus surround the throne,And thus surround the throne.RefrainWe’re marching to Zion,Beautiful, beautiful Zion;We’re marching upward to Zion,The beautiful city of God.

Let those refuse to singWho never knew our God;But children of the heav’nly King,But children of the heav’nly KingMay speak their joys abroad,May speak their joys abroad.RefrainWe’re marching to Zion,Beautiful, beautiful Zion;We’re marching upward to Zion,The beautiful city of God.

Then let our songs aboundAnd ev’ry tear be dry;We’re marching thru Immanuel’s ground,We’re marching thru Immanuel’s groundTo fairer worlds on high,To fairer worlds on high.RefrainWe’re marching to Zion,Beautiful, beautiful Zion;We’re marching upward to Zion,The beautiful city of God.

Philippians 3:12-17 (CEB)

“It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me…

“Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus…

“Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.”

Making Disciples

¶ 120. The Mission-The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs.

--The Book of Discipline

Coming in February…

Where I’m FromGeorge Ella Lyon

I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.

I am from the dirt under the back porch.(Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.)

I am from the forsythia bushthe Dutch elm

whose long-gone limbs I rememberas if they were my own.

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,           from Imogene and Alafair. I'm from the know-it-alls          and the pass-it-ons, from Perk up! and Pipe down! I'm from He restoreth my soul          with a cottonball lamb          and ten verses I can say myself.

I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,fried corn and strong coffee.

From the finger my grandfather lost           to the auger, the eye my father shut to keep his sight. 

Under my bed was a dress boxspilling old pictures,a sift of lost facesto drift beneath my dreams.

I am from those moments—snapped before I budded --

leaf-fall from the family tree.(http://www.georgeellalyon.com)

Where You’re From

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” (II Timothy 1:2)

The Great Commandment

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A Definition of “Disciple”

Wesley’s Way of Making Disciples

“A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him;’ one who ‘loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.’…And while he thus always exercises his love to God…he accordingly loves his neighbor as himself; he loves every man as his own soul. His heart is full of love for all mankind.” (John Wesley)

The Way of Grace

Sanctification: The Journey of a Lifetime

“It is thus that we wait for entire sanctification, for a full salvation from all our sins, from pride, self-will, anger, unbelief, or, as the Apostle expresses it, ‘Go on to perfection.’ But what is perfection? It means perfect love. It is love excluding sin, love filling the heart, taking up the whole capacity of the soul.” (John Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation”)

A Song of Ascents

“My song of the pilgrimage I am making from what I was to what God is making of me. I say ‘what God is making of me,’ for the best that I can say about myself is that I’m a Christian-in-the-making. Not yet ‘made,’ but only in the making at eighty-three.”

--E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973)

“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”

Finish, then, Thy new creation;Pure and spotless let us be.Let us see Thy great salvationPerfectly restored in Thee;Changed from glory into glory,Till in heaven we take our place,Till we cast our crowns before Thee,Lost in wonder, love, and praise.--Charles Wesley

Where Are You Going?

Are you going on to perfection?

Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?

Are you earnestly striving after perfection in love?

Charles Wesley’s Prayer

O Thou who camest from above,the pure celestial fire to impartkindle a flame of sacred loveupon the mean altar of my heart.

There let it for thy glory burnwith inextinguishable blaze,and trembling to its source return,in humble prayer and fervent praise.

Jesus, confirm my heart's desireto work and speak and think for thee;still let me guard the holy fire,and still stir up thy gift in me.