Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.        James 3:13

I am pretty sure all God’s children have different relationships to “rules.” For me, I find rules to be necessary and helpful and will generally be the one who strives to do exactly what I am supposed to do. I am also the one in the crowd who will ask lots of questions about what the rules are to make sure I get things right. In school, things like grammar and math were easiest for me because I could memorize the rules.

Others tend to push against rules and find them constraining and annoying. I was married to such a person! My late husband enjoyed nothing more than seeing my discomfort when he would break the rules, things like creating a parking space when he couldn’t find one he liked, leaving me mortified when I had to be seen getting out of a car illegally parked. One of his favorites was nudging his way forward to board a plane with me in tow, sliding ahead of the people standing in front of us, grinning all the while because he was well aware of my discomfort, but also assured I would not create a scene arguing with him there in the airport because such displays of temper are…against the rules in an airport.

I have been thinking this week about some of the expectations John Wesley put before participants in the Methodist class meetings, called “Three Simple Rules” in Rueben Job’s book by the same name.

They are:

1. Do no harm.
2. Do good.
3. Attend to the ordinances of God / Stay in love with God (Job renamed this one the latter to make it easier to understand and more accessible to 21^st century readers.)

We are finding ourselves spending a lot of time these days trying to understand what it means to “do no harm.” As we seek to discern the path forward when it comes to resuming in-person worship, matters of when to do so and what it will look like are being undergirded by this rule, to “do no harm.” Our wish to “attend to the ordinances of God” creates a yearning to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but I think there is a reason John Wesley asked us, in all things, to consider first what it means to do no harm. 

This issue of wearing masks has been a matter of consternation for me. It is NOT a rule, merely a recommendation, and I have struggled with it a lot. A mask is uncomfortable, people can’t tell when I am smiling, it is hard to breathe, difficult to communicate and makes this middle-aged woman way too warm when all is said and done. 

I read something on Facebook last week that changed the way I look at wearing a mask. Someone shared in her status a post offering words of support for persons who may be undergoing treatment for cancer, encouraging others to “copy and paste” this into their own status. Another person responded to the post saying that the best thing we can do for someone with cancer right now is to wear a mask when we are out in public. This post happened to be shared by a person who is more than a name to me, someone I actually know, someone being treated for cancer, someone who often struggles with a low blood count that has kept her inside and confined even before these days of social distancing. 

This changed the way I look at wearing a mask. I get to choose whether I do or not, but with every freedom comes the responsibility to do no harm. When that responsibility bears the face of a sister in Christ, the opportunity to choose not to do harm moves from a burden to an act of love. Jesus said a little bit about loving our neighbor, I think—maybe even more than he did about exercising our personal freedoms. I am trying to remember if Jesus actually mentioned personal freedom? He did mention freedom from sin, but otherwise, I’m struggling here! 

We all have to decide what kinds of things become rules for how we live, but I think the simple rule John Wesley put before the people called Methodists to do no harm may well be worth considering in these days! Sometimes true freedom means acting in a way other than feeding our personal preferences. This is hard for all of us and I know I violate this principle in so many ways, but I am feeling convicted this week to consider how my exercise of personal freedom leads me to choose the path of love. 

Good people of Fairhope, forgive me when I do otherwise! This is a journey we are on together and I share with you today from my place of personal struggle. I am glad you are all struggling with me and that we can be in conversation with each other along the way. 

Oh God, through the example of Jesus Christ, we learn what it means to be in love with our neighbor. Help us consider in all things how we may do no harm to those with whom we share this journey of faith. Lead us as we seek to put concern for friends and neighbors ahead of our own wants and needs. In Christ we pray, AMEN.

Whatever it takes for His Glory!

Rev. Laura