This one has been ruminating for a while. For those not versed in the niceties of Methodism, we refer to the Methodist church as the "Connexion" using an 18th century spelling of the word (now beloved of various telecoms companies) that would have been familiar to John Wesley, and we make great play of our "connectedness" not only in terms of church government, but also as an overarching spirituality... But we are as infected by the spirit of the age as every other institution and person and can veer into individualism and division as easily as everyone else... The final nudge, prompting me to write this was immersing myself in some of John Donne's prayers and poems, including the one alluded to here...
And apologies to any Latin scholars... (Pug would shake his head in despair...)
Connexion.
An archaic spelling.
An antiquated notion
Where the individual is all?
Each person their own prince.
Each congregation their own principality.
Reformed we proclaim to the glory of God alone,
Faith alone, grace alone, scripture alone and Christ alone,
But above all these we have added ourselves alone.
The hand does not really seem to care one jot
Whether the foot is part of their body.
For whom are the bells tolling?
For each one is an island
Slowly eroding.
Sola connexio.
Selah
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