Kindred in Christ,

As Methodists, our connectionally has always been one of our hallmarks. The idea that God connects us to all people and all creation is one of the reasons Methodists have sought to be anti-slavery and be inclusive across racial lines since our inception. Yet, sadly, white supremacy also been present throughout our history and worked to put out our spark of connectionism.

Richard Allen, born enslaved in Philadelphia in 1760, came to the faith at 17 years old after hearing a Methodist itinerant preacher proclaim a gospel that all where equal in Christ and that slavery was sin. He later bought his freedom and became a Methodist preacher and teacher. Allen was hired at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a congregation that prided itself to be progressive and inclusive. Yet they only allowed Allen to preach at the 5am service that was mostly attended by Black members. And when Black membership began to grow, segregated seating was instituted at the main service. Frustrated with the white supremacy of the congregation, in 1787 Allen and the Black congregants ignored the segregated seating rule and took up space at the center of the sanctuary. They knelt down to pray and refused to stand up until the prayer was over (even though the trustees where physically trying to remove them). After the prayer they stood up in one mass and left the church never to return.

Historians suggest that this event, which later became known as “The Great Walk Out,” is the first overt protest action by African Americans against racial discrimination in Philadelphia. Allen and the Black congregants went on to start a new congregation in a blacksmith’s shop named Bethel Church. Bishop Francis Asbury (consecrated by John Wesley) consecrated Bethel church in 1794 and ordained Richard Allen as the first Black Methodist Elder in 1799. Eventually, Bethel became the start of the first ever Protestant denomination to be founded by Black people in the United States—the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.).

Join us this Sunday, as we learn more about Rev. Richard Allen and the blessing and the challenge that it is to be a connectional church that resists white supremacy and strives to live into collective liberation. See you on Facebook Live!

– Rev. Paul Ortiz

One of the defining marks of John Wesley’s own faith and the eighteenth-century Methodist revival was that it involved not only the emotions but also the intellect—the head as well as the heart. This is of course was partly due to the fact that the leader of the revival was, after all, a faculty member of Oxford University. When I first joined the United Methodist Church as a young adult, I was drawn to the fact that I was encouraged to think critically about my faith and the world. It was okay to have questions and doubts. I didn’t have to “check my brain at the door.” But I also appreciated not having to check my heart at the door either!

Tragically, many vocal expressions of Christianity today seem to be anti-intellectual. There is a sense among many religious “nones” that I meet that the only way to be a follower of Jesus is to reject modern science, adopt a narrow world view, interpret the Bible literally and woodenly, and to refrain from asking difficult questions. Yet Wesley, the Oxford fellow and preacher, had a way of holding together a passionate faith and a rigorous intellect. I believe that approach to Christianity holds the greatest promise for reaching an increasingly secular society today.

On the flip side, many of us that lean more toward the “head” have difficulty embracing heartfelt worship and connecting our faith in God with our real-life experiences. Indeed, I was discussing the “head and heart” balance with someone from our own community this week and they reflected that, “Our commitment to antiracism must be more than just an intellectual pursuit. But a lived heartfelt reality.” As a community with much heart and head, we are challenged to discover the balance between both of these in order to forge a new Methodist reveal of sorts today in the U District and beyond.

As we will consider this Sunday, Christ comes to us full of both truth and grace, head and heart (John 1:14-18). Join us this Sunday as we explore further the early sparks of the Methodist movement and what they might mean for us today as we continue in our Reignite worship series. Hope to see you in the comments on Facebook Live!

– Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

For many us, the inauguration this past week grants us a sense of renewed possibilities and hope. Yet, I must confess that I often struggle with hope. I am hesitant to get my hopes up because, like you, I have been disappointed many times in the past. I do not want to make hope my starting point only to end with disillusionment once again. The Apostle Paul speaks about a “hope that will not disappoint” (Romans 5:1-5). Could there be such a hope within our imperfect world of frail human systems?

As I meditated on this text for this Sunday, what stuck out to me was that the apostle does not make “hope” his starting point, but rather our real-life human problems and struggles. He writes, “We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” The Greek word translated to problems is thlipsis, which also connotes suffering or tribulations. Rather than a cheerful optimism that ignores the brokenness in our world, the scriptures point us to a hope that can emerge in the midst of a global pandemic, loneliness in lockdown, economic collapse, and systemic racism. And that kind of hope will not disappoint. The surprise encounter with this type of hope is what we call grace, for it is an unexpected gift to us.

John Wesley, the founder of our Methodist tradition, was an intellectual from Oxford University who had many ways of thinking about God, but he eventually came to experience God in the midst of one of the lowest points in his own life. He famously writes, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” And this unexpected encounter with the Divine eventually led to a felt sense of interior assurance and a peace from God that goes way beyond all scripts, self-understanding, and belief (or lack of belief). This encounter with surprising grace is what empowered Wesley to find a hope that did not disappoint, and to help create a movement that brought renewal to the church and the world known as methodism. Join us this Sunday as we reflect upon God’s grace and the unexpected hope that emerges in our world. See you on Facebook Live!

P.S. If you look closely at the above picture of John Wesley, you may notice it to be yet another Bernie Sanders meme from the presidential inauguration

– Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

What an unbelievable couple of weeks we’ve had so far in 2021. An armed insurrection and assault on our democracy in the U.S. Capitol. And COVID cases continue to rise. Yet I have also found much encouragement by the power of the people to make change through the efforts of Black organizers such as Stacey Abrams. And I continue to be hopeful in the slow yet steady administering of the COVID vaccine in our country. In all these struggles, I am reminded of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” These prophetic words are a reminder that we do not strive for a better world in vain. Rather, any small act of compassion, mercy, and justice is in line with the (albeit long) arc of the universe toward God’s coming justice in the world. As we join our country in remembering the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King this weekend, may you rely on the spiritual truth that you are always held in God’s moral arc towards universal justice.

Rev. Paul Ortiz