Wednesday 24 May 2017

Psalm: Psalm 130

Background

Paul's letter to the Christian community in Galatia is dominatedby the question of whether Gentiles needed to conform to thepractices and rituals of the Jews before they could becomeChristians. Conservative Jews demanded this whereas Paul took avery different stance. Paul maintained that the law had served itspurpose in the past - that of restraining sin but that it possessedno power to liberate people from sin. For Paul it was the coming ofJesus which set people free and made them children of God throughfaith.

In this passage, Paul expands on what it means to be an heir.Those who follow Jesus are no longer slaves either to the law ofthe Jews or to their former pagan practices. Paul speaks of how thecoming of Jesus inaugurated a new age in which all people can beadopted as children of God, and all can become part of God'sfamily, the Church and heirs to his kingdom. Gone are the days ofslavery to rigid rules or practices.

Today is Wesley Day, the day, 279 years ago, on which JohnWesley experienced a new sense of being God's child, notthrough any merit or action of his own but through the grace of Godalone.

To Ponder

• All denominations seem to have an in-built tendency to createrules and regulations and for them to become as important as therule of love given by Jesus Christ. To what extent has Methodismsuccumbed to this over the years?

• Some Christian groups, on the other hand, have taken the'freedom' offered by Christ to outrageous extremes - what guidancecan we find in Paul and the Scriptures to prevent us from fallinginto this problem?

• How might you and the Church move forward in the middleground?