by Rev. Eric Folkerth

For as long as Methodists have gathered together to sing, we’ve sung one of Charles Wesley’s great hymns, “And Are We Yet Alive?”

I am thinking about it because we sang it yesterday morning at the Clergy Session of the North Texas Conference.

The first verse goes like this:

“And are we yet alive,
and see each other's face?
Glory and thanks to Jesus give
for his almighty grace!”

When I was a young pastor, I sort of thought the title a bit of a joke. Perhaps something akin to a scene from Monty Python.

“We’re not dead yet!!!”

But especially these last several years —as we have collectively lived through first a global pandemic, and now a sometimes painful church schism— I find myself thinking about it a little differently.

Almost as if our yearly gathering to sing this ancient hymn has a deeper meaning.

Like we’re getting together to say, “Hey! We made it! You made it! I made it! We’re back together, just as we always were….”

That is something of the the hope that we’re meant to have on Sundays in church, too, of course. We’re meant to breathe a little easier once we see familiar faces in our KPUMC sanctuary. We’re meant to be grateful that God has given us another chance at worship.

The third verse strikes me in a new way too….

“What troubles have we seen,
what mighty conflicts past,
fightings without, and fears within,
since we assembled last!”

What hit me today was, we could easily change-round the third line, and it would really fit our situation:

“fighting within and fears without…”

The song assumes a blissful harmony inside the Church. But that hasn’t been the case over the last few years. There’s been quite a bit of strife. Far too much denominational “fighting within…”

But our world is full of “fears without,” too. That also fits our time.

Here is my prayer:
That whomever you are, you find some rest and recovery this summer. The fall —with its looming election— portends to be full of “fears without.”

But perhaps this fall will also be a truly hopeful time for KPUMC. I believe we’re poised to welcome many new neighbors who will be visiting us soon, and my intention is for us to be ready for them.

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We Are Yet Alive