A Methodist Way of Life

We now turn  to the learning aspect of ‘A Methodist Way of Life’ and ask the question, “How and what are we learning now?”

As an advocate of Lifelong Learning in the realm of education I put great store in those who share such a vision. For example, many of the great minds over the years have put such an adventure with words like;

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” ― Samuel Johnson, The Rambler

There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley, Way to Be!: 9 Ways To Be Happy And Make Something Of Your Life

I particularly like Eleanor Brownn’s observation, “The amazing thing about a long journey is that you can miss exits, run Stop signs, head the wrong way down a one-way street, get lost, misplace your keys, find them, make a U-turn, and still, somehow, miraculously reach your proper destination.” 

Of course we all remember the advice from another era that suggested that we should “Read, Learn and Inwardly Digest.”

But what about learning in a faith context? Is one way of thinking about this to consider such leaning as ‘Christian education’ the processes whereby people learn to be a disciple of Jesus.

The word discipleship never occurs in the Bible. The term is ambiguous in English. It can mean my discipleship, in the sense of my own pattern of following Jesus and trusting him and learning from him. That is my discipleship. It could mean that. Or it can mean my activity of helping others be disciples in that sense of learning from him, growing in him.

I think that it is helpful to think of our discipleship in much of the same way in which the early Church was was viewed as people of the “the Way”

The way was based on Jesus’s teaching recorded in Mark 12:28-34. An unnamed questioner asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” and Jesus responded with what is now called the Great Command: “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Loving God and neighbour was, according to Jesus, the way of the Kingdom of God and the path of salvation. In the account of this teaching in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus adds, “do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28). . . .

Jesus’s followers took these words seriously. In many cases, and unlike contemporary practice, the process of becoming a Christian took several years, an extended time of teaching spiritual inquirers the way on which they were embarking. Christianity was considered a deliberate choice with serious consequences, a process of spiritual formation and discipline that took time, a way of life that had to be learned in community. . . .

In many quarters Christian communities are once again embracing the ancient insight that the faith is a spiritual pathway, a life built on transformative practices of love rather than doctrinal belief.

Teach me, my God and King,

in all things Thee to see,

and what I do in anything,

to do it as for Thee.

To scorn the senses’ sway,

while still to Thee I tend;

in all I do be Thou the Way,

in all be Thou the End.