“Remember who you are”. Words immortalized by James Earl Jones as Mufasa in The Lion King, charging the main character Simba to reclaim what is his by birth and remember who he really is.
The importance of remembering who we are is too important to miss for us these days, especially when we continually hear different messages all around us about who we could be or who we should be. If we can recall who is it that God has called us to be, who God has made us to be, we can rest content with the assurance that in a world of anxiety and chaos we are at peace with ourselves.
But this begs the question: who are we? What or who are we called to be?
While we proudly affirm that we are Christians who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we must also remember our unique place within the body of Christian believers that distinguishes us from our brothers and sisters in faith. We are Nazarenes, members of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement who believe in the beauty of grace and the message of holiness or sanctification to be our core. Now this does not mean that other Christian traditions do not hold to these beliefs, but rather that we as the Church of the Nazarene have a unique understanding concerning these doctrines.
So if this is what makes us unique, let me ask you: what is holiness? What does it mean to live a holy or sanctified life? If you are unsure how to answer that question (or feel you know pieces but not the whole story), you are not alone by any stretch. Many within our tribe have lost or muddled our central message of holiness over the years, yet a resurgence of remembrance and revival has sparked in recent years. We are beginning to remember who we are and the brilliant message we have to offer our world.
And in the spirit of that remembrance, we’d like to offer you an opportunity to join us as we seek to reclaim our sanctification story. Beginning January 10th, there will be a small group on Wednesday evenings seeking to better understanding the theology of holiness and sanctification from our particular Wesleyan-Holiness perspective. This informal class will meet over a period of 12 weeks with two goals in mind: First, that we may better remember and understand this story of sanctification that makes us a unique people within the universal catholic church. Second, we will discuss how our understanding of sanctification and holiness applies to our daily living and especially what it looks like in the 21st century postmodern world.
I will be leading us through these discussions, primarily be using Diane Leclerc’s phenomenal text Discovering Christian Holiness as our roadmap for this adventure (I would encourage everyone to buy a copy, read along, and bring it for discussion, but it’s not required by any means). So if you are someone who wants to “remember who you are” as a Nazarene, want to get more acquainted with a Nazarene/Wesleyan view of Christianity, or simply want to better understand what holy living in the coming years might look like, we welcome any and all to join us on rediscovering our story of sanctification.