IV.
The Pattern Of Christian Life
1.
The Gift of New Life
39.
Faith in Jesus Christ involves assent to the truths of the Gospel.
In confessing these truths we likewise confess our new identity
as sons and daughters of God. As our minds are filled with the truths
of the Gospel, they are transformed, and that transformation brings
about a new life. St. Paul tells his converts to be "transformed
by the renewing of their minds" (Rom 12:2). Through the hearing
of and response to the Gospel a crucial change of both heart and
mind takes place. So it is that Paul prays to God for his new converts
"that you may be filled with knowledge of God's will in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy
of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good
work and as you grow in knowledge of God" (Col 1:9-10).
40.
Through Christ's death and resurrection the way is opened for reconciliation
to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, the sacrament of faith,
is the sign of that new life which the Father gives us through Christ
in the Spirit. Christ's death has put to death sin in our lives;
it has freed us from the bondage of sin and death. The new life
that replaces the old is a life of love: it is a sharing in the
inner life of God that is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit:
"God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). This love is pure
gift, and in virtue of it we are drawn ever more deeply into the
inner life of God and are able to cry "Abba, Father" (Gal
4:6). It is other-centered and boundless in its range and scope,
directed to the whole world. In particular, it pushes us out to
the poor, the weak and the unloved. It is love without preference
and without distinction since, because of the work of Christ, there
is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Gal 3:28).
2.
The Challenge of New Life
41.
This gift is also call and responsibility. Paul tells the Colossians
that it is precisely because they have died and been raised to new
life that they must put to death those features of their old way
of life which still persist. They must put away their old garments
and "put on the garment of God's chosen people" (cf. Col
3:12). The obligation of Christians to change their lives is rooted
and grounded in what God has done for them. For a few, the transformation
comes quickly, as John Wesley noted in his "Plain Account of
Christian Perfection". But for most the putting-to-death of
the old way of life and the taking on of the new involves Christians
in a long and painful process of maturing in love. It is a costly
journey and inevitably involves suffering since the pattern of Christian
life will reflect the pattern of Christ's dying and rising. It was
the constant concern of Paul to foster and nurture this growth.
Individuals, then, are changed by the saving action of God in Christ
that is appropriated through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the
bestowal of the gift of new life on individuals constitutes a new
principle of unity. The baptised share together in the life of love,
and this sharing is a vital dimension of the koinonia which is the
Church.
3.
The Communion of New Life
42.
By allegiance to Christ the believer becomes part of the community
in which Christ is remembered (anamnesis). Christ's words to his
disciples are relevant here. The Christian is brother, sister, mother
to Christ in community with others (Mk 3:31-35, Mt 12:46-60; Lk
8:19-21).
43.
The early Christian believers were part of a community where life
was lived in common with others, the disunity of Babel being reversed
by the events of and after Pentecost (Acts 2:44; 4:32). In Acts
2:42 we read of the four fundamental elements in their life together:
hearing the teaching of the apostles; communion (koinonia); breaking
of bread; and the prayers.
44. In their worship on the Lord's day they experienced his presence
and renewing grace as they celebrated the Eucharist together. In
the service itself the profound nature of their relation to each
other was manifested in the giving of the peace and, pre-eminently,
in the Holy Communion: "The bread which we break, is it not
a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we
who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread"
(1 Cor 10:16-17). The Eucharist remains the focus where the pattern
of life specific to Christians is shown forth.
45.
It has been customary to state that Methodists regard the preaching
of the Word as the central act of worship, while for Catholics the
Eucharist is "the center and culmination" of Christian
life (Vatican II, Presbyterium ordinis, 5). This contrast should
not be put too strongly. In the beginnings of Methodism, the Wesleys
encouraged and practice a much more frequent observance of the Lord's
Supper than was customary in the Anglican Church of the time, and
in recent decades Methodists are increasingly appreciating the centrality
of the Eucharist and Catholics the fundamental importance of the
preaching of the Word.
4.
The Source of New Life
46.
By baptism we are received into the community of belief and are
nurtured there as the faith is passed on to us ("traditioned"
to us) through the family and the Church. Unless this "traditioning"
takes place, we receive little of the Christian faith. Each generation
and each person must claim for themselves the life of faith. We
receive the faith in more explicit terms through hearing the preached
Word, Sunday schools, catechism classes, first communion classes,
confirmation classes, and Church-sponsored schools. Sustained growth
in the Christian faith requires time spent in study of the Scriptures
and in prayer based on the Scriptures. The faith is nourished in
both our traditions by devotional life that plays a significant
part in its growth. There are also many ways in which the spiritual
life has been nurtured among us, e.g., Christian family life, Methodist
class meetings, various lay apostolates and renewal movements in
the Catholic Church, the practice of retreats, ecumenical house
groups and marriage enrichment courses. In all these situations
"heart speaks to heart" (cor ad cor loquitur).
5.
The Practice o f New Life
47.
The Christian hope is that humanity will one day be gathered into
Christ when the Gospel has been preached to all nations (Mt 24:14;
28:19). In the widest sense of the mission of the Church, there
is the mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick
and the prisoners, welcome the stranger (Mt 25:31-46). These "works
of mercy" belong to the Christian mission in the widest sense
and Catholic-Methodist cooperation has often been most successful
in this area. In particular, both churches have tried to promote
true Christian community without respect of race, sex or class.
In places that are hostile to Christianity, missionary endeavor
has been difficult, and fidelity to the Gospel has proved very costly.
The picture in Hebrews of the saints who watch from heaven and encourage
us is pertinent here (Heb 12:1).
48.
The proclamation of the Gospel by words is an essential task for
each generation of believers. Christians also bear witness when
they seek to let their light shine before others so that their conduct
as well as their words may bring others to glorify God (Mt 5:16;
1 Pt 2:12). Personal evangelism contributes to the corporate mission
and is vitally important in making new believers.
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