By Dr. Shawna Beese
“For United Methodists, the basic guideline is the love for God and neighbor…The standard is always conformity to the image of Christ, who is the incarnation of perfect love. Inward holiness (our love for God) prompts outward holiness (our love of neighbor). Faith active in love is the essence of Christian living.”1
Friends, we are living as the church through challenging times for sure! As part of my Lay Servant development, I am taking a class on eschatology through BeADisciple and the Wesley Academy. The course focuses on Dr. Craig C. Hill’s book, In God’s Time, and, through that experience, I’ve spent the last eight weeks in dialogue with lay speakers, lay ministers, and licensed pastors, studying how the Bible is situated within God’s eternal story of the future.
Our class discussions highlight in times such as these, “…knowledge of the future is a much-wished antidote to the nagging, sometimes paralyzing uncertainty of life”2 (Hill, p. 30-31, 2002). Although certainty about the details of how God’s story will unfold remains elusive, my personal daily Bible study is providing hope and peace I have never known before. This is especially true for the parts of the Bible, such as Revelation, that I confess to seldom reading unprompted.
My succinct summary is that Revelation should comfort those committed to God’s Kingdom. It should only afflict those still committed to building their own kingdoms. The message of Revelation is about the unification of heaven and earth. This is a familiar and hopeful message. It is a message of the restoration of the relationship between our King and His kingdom. Sometimes there is a tension among believers over whether to emphasize the King or the kingdom, which I believe is important for the church to reflect on during these times of uncertainty.
Some theology is deeply rooted in exclusive reverence (perhaps myopic awe) of the King. At its most extreme, that theological focus can create a separatist relationship with the natural world and with humanity that runs counter to God’s desire for us to love our neighbor. Central to our United Methodist beliefs is that prevenient grace is provided to all. Loving the Lord, our God, with all our hearts, our souls and minds, goes hand in hand with loving our neighbor as ourselves’ (Matthew 22:37-39). In contrast, secular beliefs place the natural world and humanity above all, with no regard for the Creator who gives meaning and truth to creation. Trust in God’s character, promises, and His Son are the sources of hope!
What does this mean in practice?
On New Year’s Day 2026, I became mayor of my beloved hometown, thereby ushering in a new phase of my life that is only enhancing my previous work as a community researcher. I believe that the future world will be built by the people who build it. That is, we are all capable of creating the type of world we want to live in by committing our time, talents, and effort to the work of doing so.
It is right to identify and lament the injustices of the current times. It is important to validate the overwhelming conditions while also working to build more just communities that resemble heaven on earth, acknowledging that a greater power partners with us in this work. Anyone who wants to contribute to the ‘Now and Not Yet’ Kingdom that is emerging is invited. Most of us will approach ministry not as clergy members but as Lay Servants of the church. My Lay Servant journey and the classes I have taken have been pivotal in clarifying the essential role my work plays in ministry.
Dr. Shawna Beese is a member of Spokane Valley UMC where she has recently become a Lay Servant and Lay Speaker. She is a registered nurse and research professor at Washington State University, Extension, focusing on healthy neighborhood development in rural communities. She is also the new mayor of Millwood, WA.
