A Methodist Way of Life

We now come to perhaps a hard hitting part of “A Methodist Way of Life” We will challenge injustice.

For the Wesleys, 'works' as well as faith were essential to the whole of Christian living, and caring for the poor, for prisoners, for widows and orphans mattered a great deal.

Methodists were not only interested in welfare, they were concerned to remedy social injustice, and John Wesley's last known letter urged the abolition of 'that execrable villainy' slavery.

The Wesleys were an influence in prison reform and, inspired by Susanna Wesley, they earned a reputation as pioneers in education.

John Wesley himself wrote, edited or abridged some 400 publications. As well as theology he wrote about politics, music, marriage and slavery and medicine.

Methodists were encouraged to work to their utmost to improve the lives of others. John Wesley exhorted them to "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can."

Following this Methodist Tradition, Martin Leckebusch has written hymn based upon a verse from the book of the prophet Micah (Micah 6: 8): “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Each of the hymn’s three verses echoes one of the “requirements” of God. In verse 1, Martin declares that to “stand for justice” is to reflect the “immense compassion” of God in the lives we lead.

Where verse 1 emphasises the wider social implications of acting with justice, in verse 2, Martin writes of mercy (in other Bible translations: “kindness”) in terms of personal experience – as a response to our forgiveness and acceptance by Jesus, God’s Son.

Finally, in verse 3 (which has affinities with the Methodist Covenant Prayer), the requirement to “walk humbly with your God” is paraphrased as submitting “in humility… to the truth which I have heard”:

Show me how to stand for justice:

how to work for what is right,

how to challenge false assumptions,

how to walk within the light.

May I learn to share more freely

in a world so full of greed,

showing your immense compassion

by the life I shoes to lead.

Teach my heart to treasure mercy

whether given or received -

for my need has not diminished

since the day I first believed

let me seek no satisfaction

boasting of what I have done,

but rejoice that I am pardoned

and accepted in your Son.

Gladly I embrace a lifestyle

modelled on your living word,

in humility submitting 

to the truth which I have heard.

Make me conscious of your presence

every day in all I do:

by our Spirit’s gracious prompting

may I learn to walk with you.

Singing the Faith 713 -  Martin Lekebysch (c) 1990 Kevin Mayhew Lts CCLI 814800