John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had some great ways to communicate vital messages to those early Methodist’s congregations.
One of his often quoted lines is :
“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all souls you can, in every place you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.”
He is also known for summarizing God’s directives in what he called “Three Simple Rules.” Wesley said that if we could “Do No Harm, Do Good, and Attend to the Ordinances of God" (or stay in love with God), we would be following God’s plan for our lives.
Change Requires Risk...
Wesley wasn’t Jesus but he was a great Christ follower and helped countless people do the same. My goal as your pastor is to help Edgemont grow spiritually and numerically. I certainly hope that in working to achieve that goal, I do no harm, do good and stay in love with God.
.....But I also hope we take risks together. Before we adopted our current mission statement as a conference, we had one that invited us to take risks and change lives. Someone has said that when nothing changes, nothing changes. So if we are not getting the results we seek for ourselves or for God’s church, we take some risks, step out of our comfort zones and do something different. I hope we do that at Edgemont. That we step from the past with courage into what’s next together.
This Sunday we will celebrate those who have stepped into eternity and joined the communion of the saints since last year. You’ll have an opportunity to call names of friends or family on Sunday and to light a candle in their memory as we come to God’s table together remembering God’s love in Christ for us. We remember and give thanks!
