Grits and the Gospel - June 7, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths And I'm really really glad to be with you today We are in the second Sunday after Pentecost it is a communion Sunday So you will hear me at the end speak of that. I hope that you are inspired by The words of Charles Wesley as we come into communion this Sunday Because this Sunday starts our series on John Wesley's sermons and writings and Charles Wesley Hymns and The hymn that we will be singing Today in church for our offertory hymn is actually the call to communion put to music Come centers to the gospel feast and so Look that one up. It's a great hymn and I can't wait to sing it with everyone Together I will be using and you will see in your show notes for this sermon especially a book by Outler It is if you're interested in John Wesley, or if you're a method nerd definitely check that out the Notes of the show notes have the reference of the book in there It is you know not for the faint of heart Nothing John Wesley is it is written in the 1700s all of his works and so it is long long thick sentences so Yeah, they're fun, but there's so many good things in there So that is I wanted to point that out as one of my references for this week if you are a method nerd As we look at the writings and sermons of John Wesley over the next few weeks It is good to remember that Wesley was considered a rebel Wesley went out to meet the people where they were and did not limit his ministry to the walls of the church John Wesley did the unthinkable and with George Whitfield went to where the working-class people of Bristol, England Were meeting and began preaching in the fields and not in the church Can you feel the people of the time clutching their pearls on? Monday April 2nd 1739 Wesley wrote in his journal at 4 in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile and Proclaim in the highways the glad tidings of salvation speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city So as we study his words as we look to his ideas and life and ministry as an inspiration for our own Let us vow to be more vile together Going where others dare not step foot being willing to get on our horses and preach in the fields and in the churches In the town square and on any little eminence in any ground we are called to Here now the first reading this reading from Romans is The reading that he was hearing as he had his alders gate moment here now the word of the Lord Paul a Servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart from the gospel of God Which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures The gospel concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord Through whom we have received grace And apostleship to bring out the about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name including you Who are called to belong to Jesus Christ? to all God's beloved in Rome Who are called to be saints? Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ The word of God for us the people of God, thanks be to God As we study the things that make us a Methodist Let us remember today the things that make us a believer as We recite together the words of the Apostles Creed friends. What do we believe I? believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day. He rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of sins The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. I'm in let us pray together God of hope and assurance Help us to be unafraid And mission and ministry help us to go out and seek those who are in need of feeding and shelter and hope Guide and inspire us to go against what the world says we should do So we can be more vile in our ministry and faith and be faithful to you We ask this in your holy and sacred name and Hear now these words that your son taught us to pray our father Who art in heaven? Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for that is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. I'm in Today's gospel lesson is from the 12th chapter a court of from the gospel according to Mark Verses 28 through 34 here now the word of the Lord One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them Well, he asked them Which commandment is the first of all Jesus answered the first is Hear oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength The second is this You shall love your neighbor as yourself There is no other commandment greater than these Then the scribes said to him you're right teacher you have truly said that he is one and besides him there is no other and To love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself This is much more important than all a whole burnt offering and sacrifices When Jesus saw that he'd answered wisely he said to them you are not far from the kingdom of God and Then no one dared to ask him any questions The word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Dear Lord inspire us today With the words and actions of men and women that came generations before us centuries Before us let us hear your words and see your spirit come alive through them Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer amen John Wesley wrote a lot a whole lot Today his phone would be full of voice notes and his notes app would take up most of his phone storage He wrote medical journals My favorite favorite cure is always and will forever be his baldness remedy of rubbing raw onion on your head He wrote many many sermons and pamphlets on different topics John Wesley also journaled all the time I'm not sure how he got anything else done if he was writing a full and thorough account of each day But all of these writings give us a glimpse into the real person of John Wesley We get to see his doubts and fears and shortcomings along with his breakthroughs and triumphs of the spirit Because of all these writings we get to see how John Wesley goes from preaching and teaching the things he hoped were true To being assured that they are a deep and lasting truth of God's grace The full story of John Wesley's trek to Georgia is amazing one of hurricanes and heroism one of escape and faith-filled realizations One that shows that you can't run from your past, but you need to change your behavior and not your location On his journey to Georgia during hurricane season He needed Jim Cantori to help him avoid all of the many hurricanes they encountered John Wesley and his Methodist companions were terrified Which is understandable? But what intrigued them the most during these harrowing storms was the way their fellow travelers the German Moravians behaved during the hurricanes They were calm and singing God's praises during the storms and not screaming in terror Wesley says in his journals that they were an example that faith should be fearless and That piety can be buoyant He hoped that his faith would be as assured as the Moravians When he got back to England after his time in Georgia He began to seek out the Moravians to learn about their faith practices and how he could have the assurances of faith that they did Wesley eventually befriends a Moravian bishop Peter Bowler and begins to question and study their faith On the day of May 24th Bowler brought three other people To help make his point of the gift of grace and the forgiveness of sins they all told Wesley the same thing and Things finally start to fall into place for him he says this faith was a free gift of God and that he would surely bestow it upon every soul who earnestly and Preservingly sought it Perseveringly sought it I Was now thoroughly convinced and by the grace of God I Resolved to seek it and to the end After pondering all of these things and seeking the Moravian Moravian assurances throughout the day Wesley then goes to st. Paul's for a worship service Where he hears the marked text that we read today, and here's the anthem out of the depths I call to thee O Lord with a plea for the Lord to hear his cries and have mercy on him all of these experiences all of these moments of being delivered from the storms and Seeing examples of assured faith and talking with people who are firm in their convictions of God's grace and the forgiveness of sins Culminates and the experience he has on the evening of May 24th 1738 this is His journal entry in the evening. I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street Where one was reading Luther's preface to the epistle on Romans about a quarter before nine While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ I felt my heart strangely warmed I felt I did trust in Christ Christ alone for salvation and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins even mine and Save me from the law of sin and death This moment moves him from a hope of what he wanted to be true to an assurance that it was And it gave us a phrase that we metho nerds put on t-shirts and temporary tattoos and coffee mugs Something we all want in our lives to have our hearts Strangely warmed not many of us can pinpoint the time when we are moved to accept the assurances of God 8 45 p.m. On May 24 1738 is very specific But it wasn't just one moment in time for Wesley It was years of study and questioning and experiences and hope that led up to one specific moment of clarity I've seen that same journey of faith lived out this week At the South Georgia Conference we had a culminating moment of conferencing when we voted to affirm the unification plan with the North Georgia Conference and While that moment did strangely warm all of our hearts It took a year and a half of work to get there Or like the moment at 11 10 a.m. On Tuesday when we celebrated the congregations that have been chartered this year It was a beautiful and holy moment But all of you know that it took a lot longer to get there than just one moment with a certificate It takes time and work and planning and questioning to move from hope of beautiful things to come To being assured that they will I think it was the words of one of our Mission ministers Right Culpepper that really put the right words around this process of moving from hope to assurance in His connectional moment before the conference He spoke of moving from standing in front of Jesus and looking him in the eye for inspiration To trusting him enough to walk behind him and see where he leads there have been times in my life when I have needed to look Jesus in the face and Find solace in times of struggle there have been times when I hoped that things would work out or get better or the storm Would be calmed there are times when hope was all I had left in me and I believe That Jesus is there for us in those times when we are the ones looking for assurance and hoping for the best I'm sure that's how a lot of you felt after leaving your churches to go find and create and begin a new thing And your faith journey and in the journey to this church I am sure at some point each of you has had your alders gate moment Maybe it was the day we chartered and you were able to join the church Maybe it was the first time you came and sat in these pews and saw that there was a way for you to live out your faith together Maybe it was when the ultimate method nerd and our friend flow Martin met you at the back of your former United Methodist Church after the vote to get your information and assure you that you were not alone Or maybe your alders gate moment has yet to occur Maybe you're still hoping that God's grace really does cover us all What that moment did for John Wesley what it has done in my life and what it means for this church and each Of you is that you can move from standing in front of Jesus Needing our fears and doubts to be satisfied to walking behind him and letting him show us the way Our assured faith means that we know that Jesus will lead us where he needs us Our assured faith means that we know Jesus is already ahead of us waiting for us and making a path of salvation for each one of us A path that can still be filled with hurricanes and sickness and grief but one where we trust That we can continue to walk behind Jesus and they have he will guide and direct us One where we no longer need the Reassurance of looking in his face because we are assured of our salvation as we follow him John Wesley speaks of this very thing and the next few journal entries after his alders gate experience His temptations never went away He still struggled But he had a different approach to how he dealt with them than before That day and the next he wrote in part After my return home I was much Buffeted buffered with temptations, but cried out and they fled away They returned again and again. I was striving yay fighting with all my might under the law as well as under grace But then I was sometimes if not often Conquered now I am always conqueror The next day he wrote The moment I awakened Jesus master Was in my heart and in my mouth And I found all my strength laying keeping my eye fixed upon him And my soul waiting on him continually Let us to always strive to be the conqueror Of sin and temptations And let us always keep our hearts our mouths and our eyes open to Jesus as he leads our souls On to perfection through assured grace One of the places that charles and john wesley were able to find god's grace was at the table I encourage you to go look for that hymn Come sinners to the gospel feast and read it in its entirety But the first few lines are call to communion Come sinners to the gospel feast Let every soul be jesus' guest You need not one be left behind for god hath bidden all mankind today as We go throughout our week Searching for ways to be vile in ministry Let us remember this benediction as We close today It says this as you go May injustice inspire you May unrighteousness give you courage may suffering help you find compassion May you sometimes get it right. May you laugh when you don't Love those who are wandering care for those who do not know how to ask May god who goes before us bless us May jesus christ who redeems us lead us into freedom May the holy spirit give us peace because in life in death In life beyond death God is with us We are not alone Thanks be to god amen