What The Means of Grace Mean to Me

I’ve always loved the means of grace even before I knew what the means of grace was! My mom loved to tell the story of when I was about four. I had seen a church sign about Pontius Pilate and asked her, “why would ‘punch the pilot’ want to kill Jesus any- way?” One time in the sixth grade, I went to church and the pastor preached about Samuel's call in 1st Samuel 3 of the Old Testa- ment. He asked the congregation if we had ever heard God call our name. I wanted to stand up and tell him, “Yes!” But I was a little timid in that Pentecostal congregation. In the eighth grade, when I was attending mass at Saint Ann’s Catholic Church, I saw my best friend Chris who was an altar boy hold the book for the priest saying mass. I knew then that the place I belonged was at the altar presiding at the Lord’s Supper even though I couldn’t talk about it that way yet.

When I got to seminary and found out that the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, had named the usual means of grace as one of the ways that we know, experience, and receive God‘s love on a consistent and Scriptural basis, I was overjoyed! The usual means of grace are prayer, searching the Scriptures, the Lord‘s Supper, fasting, and Christian conferencing. Even though I did not know those words while I was growing up, I was already interested in keeping these practices and becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Now as a pastor, it is my joy to share these practices in the Christian community so that we may all deepen our devo- tion to follow Jesus Christ.

The means of grace offer us the method that brings us to a greater depth of faithfulness and Christian community. These means of grace are in fact the Good News of Jesus Christ put into practice by his disciples. These means of grace drive us inwardly in the practices of piety, devotion, and worship, and drive us outwardly in greater avenues of mercy, justice, and compassion. When John and Charles Wesley were at Oxford they put these practices into place in their life and formed what they called the "holiness club.” That’s how they became known as the “Methodists," they had a method to living out their faith in Jesus Christ.

I invite you to come learn more about the practices that we call the means of grace, both as a time of learning and growing togeth- er, and as a time of putting our faith into action as we begin the new year together.

By Rev. Jon Stouffer

Where Work Meets Passion

Chrissie Joyner has seen hundreds of faces pass through the doors of Some Other Place (SOP) in her 32 years of service. She knows stories of people’s lives that most of us can’t imagine.  Some stories have happy endings but many others are not so fortunate.  She is very passionate about her work at SOP.  She has a heart full of kindness that breaks for those caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. She celebrates with those who fight their way out. 

Chrissie’s calling for mission work began when she worked at First Methodist.  She realized missions was what she really wanted to do. So began her personal pursuit of helping the less fortunate.

From interviewing clients, to sorting clothes, to organizing supplies and volunteers, her days are overflowing with the various tasks that need to be completed.  This is the busiest season for SOP and twelve- hour days are pretty normal. The day before Thanksgiving, over 200 people were there to pick up food for their Thanksgiving meal. Wednesday morning brought another 150 who needed food to prepare for their families. 

The Christmas season will bring many more opportunities to help the less fortunate. Hundreds of toys have been collected and many still need to be wrapped. Eight hundred stockings will be made and filled for elderly residents of local nursing homes.  Food and Christmas gifts will be distributed. There is never a shortage of things to do at SOP. Volunteers are always needed and appreciated. It is very inspiring to see what SOP does and to understand the vast amount of good they do for our community. If you have never been there, stop by sometime and lend a hand.  If you are lucky, maybe Chrissie will be cooking up some white chicken chili and you can share a meal and hear a story.

By Michelle Holland