I've Got the Methodist Blues

The other day, while listening to NPR, I heard this song on the radio. "Methodist Blues." I laughed my head off at lyrics like "Problems? We've got a whole long list / But we can't say cause we're Methodist" and "Church is a club, it's downright tribal" and "Our theology gets thinner and thinner / We don't talk about saving the sinner."

Then I recalled a conversation I had with a member at a Methodist church where I'm involved, where he said he and his wife came from different Christian backgrounds and decided on Methodist because it seems to be where anyone can come in. A part of me rejoiced at that, but I began to wonder what Methodism's identity was.

And then I got sad. I recalled Jon Stewart calling United Methodism "the University of Phoenix of religions" (see it in context here). And I remembered Dr. Stanley Hauerwas calling Methodism "flaccid." I thought about a classmate who is considering leaving the Methodist church because he is disappointed in our sacramental practices.

I love how diverse United Methodist congregations are. From high-church liturgical worship to old gospel black church to parishes that more closely resemble Baptist churches, we're all over the map. You aren't necessarily going to get what you expect at a Methodist church, even if you grew up in the denomination.

It's wonderful because it allows for the UMC to bring a myriad of people into communion with one another within the denomination. On the other hand, how much are we really doing that if our church is so fragmented in terms of liturgy, theology, practice and politics? Does a statement issued by the UMC mean anything really?

Yes, the Methodist church has problems. But it is my home, the place where I grew up, the place from which and to which I am called into ministry. Wherever God may take me in my vocation, I doubt you will ever find me far from the Methodist church, even with its tribalism and aversion to facing the reality of sin. My hope is that the Methodist church's true legacy is the evangelical revivalism that John Wesley originally intended.