18. FOOLISH: those who profess much religion imagine separation to be no sin at all.
WESLEY:
I have spoken more explicitly upon this head, because it is so little understood; because so many of those who profess much religion, nay, and really enjoy a measure of it, have not the least conception of this matter, neither imagine such a separation to be any sin at all. They leave a Christian society with as much unconcern as they go out of one room into another. They give occasion to all this complicated mischief. and wipe their mouth, and say they have done no evil! Whereas they are justly chargeable, before God and man, both with an action that is evil in itself, and with all the evil consequences which may be expected to follow, to themselves, to their brethren, and to the world.
PRAYER:
Ezekiel 7:26 They clamor for the prophet to tell them what’s up, but nobody knows anything. Priests don’t have a clue; the elders don’t know what to say. The king holds his head in despair; the prince is devastated.
The common people are paralyzed. Gripped by fear, they can’t move.I’ll deal with them where they are, judge them on their terms. They’ll know that I am God.’”
REFLECTION:
Wesley warns of those who clamor for separation without the “least conception of this matter” - ie. disaffiliation. Again, he refers to “all this complicated mischief” and then claims there is no sin in separation without any real reason. Just mischief. Oh to see clearly, the downstream effects of disaffiliation on our church family, our community and our world. Disaffiliation is not a simple matter of claiming a new denomination – but a deep personal “separation in” our family. It is not a singular action by an individual. It is a communal shared experience *IN* our family. To fully understand, is to fully experience being in a diaspora - a separation that leaves an eternal hole in one’s heart. I pray that no one should experience such a hole in our shared family life.
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