Grace and peace to you. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is Wednesday, October 11, 2023

On February 9, 1709, a five-year-old boy by the name of John Wesley was caught in a house fire. Young John Wesley was the son of Susanna Wesley and Rev Samuel Wesley, a priest in the church of England, and they lived in the rectory in the town of Epworth in central England.

On the night of February 9, the rectory caught fire, and John was trapped in the second-floor nursery. John’s father tried in vain to rescue his son, but the flames beat him back each time. Convinced that John could not be saved, the family knelt in the garden and prayed God to receive his soul.

A couple of quick-thinking neighbors acted to save John, one standing on the shoulders of the other, pulling John through the open window to safety, just as the house fire brought the roof down on John’s room.

After the fire, Susanah referred to John as the brand plucked from the fire, which is a Biblical reference to Zechariah 3:2, in which God saves a High priest of the Temple from ruin.

John Wesley would grow to become a priest in the Church of England like his father and when he was in his mid-20s John Wesley led a group of fellow college students at Oxford University in daily and weekly bible studies and acts of service to those in need. Those were the first methodists.

That small group grew and expanded beyond Oxford into all of Britain and into the British settlements in North America. In 1784, the methodists in America established the Methodist episcopal church, the first Christian denomination established in the new United States.

We at Peakland United Methodist Church are reading this book Being United Methodist Christians, and this week we consider how United Methodists read and understand the Bible.

From our start, we United Methodists have been people of the Bible. Scriptures are at the heart of every Sunday worship service. We United Methodists read our Bibles individually and in small groups. When we consider how we are to be in mission out in the world, the first place we look is our Bibles. At Peakland our mission is reaching out, serving all and extending God’s table, and that comes straight from the stories of what Jesus and his first disciples did. When we consider God’s actions throughout the Bible, we see God reaching out to all of humanity, serving us with grace and mercy and salvation, and extending God’s love and God’s table to all.

We United Methodists have no official version of the Bible. I tend to read the New Revised Standard Version. Many folks like the NIV or the Message or the Common English Bible.

And in the same way, we United Methodist have no one person who is the end all be all authority in interpreting the Bible. As your pastor, part of my ministry is preaching and interpreting the scriptures in the way God has laid on my heart, and you may agree or disagree with what I say. That’s normal. That’s one of the best parts of being United methodist. We read the scriptures and talk about them and debate them and maybe disagree and then we go about our ministries with each other and out in the world. As I said this past Sunday in worship, that’s one of the things I love about being a United Methodist.

This upcoming Sunday, October 15, Peakland welcomes Rev. Denise Bates, our Mountain View district superintendent to preach in our worship services. She will share with us the challenges and blessings she sees in being a united methodist and what we United Methodist have in common with other Christian churches.

Join me on Sundays in person at our 8:30 and 11:00 worship services in the sanctuary, our 9:45 contemporary Horizons worship service in the fellowship hall and online beginning at 11:00 a.m.