Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

I love that "Spread The Love" T-Shirt on the site you linked to. It reminds me of the slogan on a young girls t-shirt I photographed once at a "Be-In" at Rock Creek in 1967 at Washington D.C.. Ah, yes, spread the love ya'll.
 

Ha! Ya know, some of this stuff, and some of the words in the 1990s hymnal, are so way-out-there optimistic, or something, it makes me laugh. But then I think: Good! if WE can't be audacious to the pointe of naivete, then what're doin' here?
 

Fools for Christ! :-P
 

If you want "fools" pay attention to the Disciples theology. 1830's Ecumenicalism!
What we have ended up being is the safe haven for ex-Southern Baptist and apostate Catholics.
 

Being an ex-Southern Baptist married to a cradle Catlick, may I sxay, Thanky you.
 

"may I sxay, Thanky you."

umm. Too much chilean Cabernet.
 

?? Jut my regular Sunday night llaxin'.
 

"... there is yet more light to break forth from Your word..."

In case you didn't know, that's from John Robinson's address to the Pilgrims in 1620 (as told by Governor Winslow), before they left for America. It's where the group "More Light Presbyterians" (the LGBT advocacy organization in the PCUSA) gets the name.

The full quote from Winslow is, "For he [Robinson] was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word."

Another great quote, "He [Robinson] took occasion also miserably to bewail the state and condition of the Reformed Churches, who were come to a period [full stop] in religion; and would go no further than the Instruments of their Reformation. As, for example, the Lutherans: they could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw, for whatever part of God's will He had further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it.

'And also,' saith he, 'you see the Calvinists. They stick where he left them, a misery much to be lamented...."

(Heh. Timely, given that last Friday was Calvin's 500th birthday.)

"... For though they were precious shining lights in their Times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them; and were they now living,' saith he, 'they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light as that they had received.'"

For all the grief the UCC gets for it's "God is still speaking" motto from the so-called protectors of tradition, it's an old, old notion that was right there at the very beginning of their birth in the US. But then, few people who claim to uphold traditional values know or understand what those values actually are.
 

Very cool, Alan. I did not know those details, but amn not surprised. A lot of the language at my church is real pilgrimy, starting with the name: Mayflower. :-)
 

I was baptized, grew up, and was confirmed in a little Congregational Church (UCC), so I know a little of the history of the denomination. That was before I moved my membership to the PCUSA church I now attend.

There are lots of times I really miss congregational polity. But the benefits outweigh the downsides .... most of the time. :)
 

All you Reformed types make my Arminian skin itch :)

While not quite the age of Dear St. Jean of Geneva, Wesley, too, saw much wisdom in the ancients, his reading being quite broad in the Greek Fathers. From this his theology of the Trinity has much more affinity for the near-Tri-theism and mysticism of the Greeks than the essentialism of the Romans and Protestant Reformers. Odd for some that he would see the link between the pietism of the Moravians and the neo-Platonism of the Cappadocians; yet, I think the link should be clear enough because it lies not in philosophical or theological presuppositions, but flows from Wesley's final surrender to God's prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. This reflection of the Trinitarian life of God flows through one's life, informing and enforming one's practice of piety and discipleship. For Wesley, there was no artificial division between what one believes as a series of propositions and how one lives. A kind of early hermeneutic circle of action and reflection.

Kind of far afield in a way, yet rooted in the same notion that new light can be shed from the most ancient of paths.
 

Not far afield at all. It's not for nothing that the Wesleyan "quadrilateral", I believe it is called, includes "experience", which is a bit of pragmatism that I wish Calvin would have emphasized more.
 

Wesley scholar Albert Outler added "experience" to the Anglican "Scripture, tradition, and reason". Wesley very often said he was a hairs-breadth away from Calvin, at least on the matter of grace being irresistible. I also think that Wesley's teaching on the fruits of gracious living - if one isn't at least attempting to live a life of piety, charity, prayer and meditation on Scripture, and regular attendance at worship then one might want to look inside whether one has really accepted the grace of God - is close to Calvin, although Wesley saw a greater role for the individual's will than I think Calvin did.

Anyway, the ancient path provides enough light not to curse our present darkness too much.
 

GKS, I'm glad to see you acknowledge the source in Anglicanism, specifically the three-legged stool from Hooker two hundred years prior to Wesley.

Also, it should be said that Albert Outler almost immediately regretted his formulation of Wesley in the sixties.

And, finally, the way the Cambridge Platonists formulated Reason, it is the more expansive, nearly Romantic and Ideal notion of Human Reason that is Experience.