More on the United Methodists and the Sacrament

Jennifer of The Scandal of Particularity has written me further on the new statement of the United Methodist Church on the Sacrament of the Altar. While it still falls far short of orthodoxy- and would not allow for intercommunion between the United Methodists and a truly Lutheran church body even if it were not for the Methodist group's other doctrinal aberrations- it certainly is an improvement on the position held by most American Protestants:

Thanks for your email and for the discussion on my blog as well.

We believe Christ is "truly present" and a "living reality" in the eucharist. But we don't try to explain precisely how that occurs. As the document says, "The Wesleyan tradition affirms the reality of Christ's presence, although it does not claim to be able to explain it fully." Sorry I can't be more specific!

I'm very glad the Methodists are returning to weekly communion. Our church has started an additional service with weekly communion, in response directly to the document. Of course, the head of the committee that authored the document is our pastor's husband and a seminary professor, so we had to set a good example!