Harbor United Methodist Church
55 First Parish Road, Scituate, MA 02066
Church office: 781.545.0818
Marshfield United
Methodist Church
185 Plain Street, Marshfield, MA 02050
Reverend Rick McKinley is also available by appointment
Volume 60 Issue 6
Dear friends:
I read an article recently that said that John Calvin, 16th century theologian and principal figure behind the sys-
tem that came to be known as Calvinism, was touted in 2009 by 3 major magazines as the “come back kid,” declaring
him one of the 10 most-often quoted people in America. One of the central tenets of Calvinism is predestination - that
God has a plan for your life - that everything is preordained, preprogrammed, and predetermined. One popular author in
recent years wrote in his book: “Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born, every
single detail of your body and the uniqueness of your personality, and how long you will live. He planned the days of
your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and your death.”
This way of thinking about God has had tremendous appeal, and I think for good reason. In a world that often
seems out of control, it’s comforting to think that someone is in control. In a time of social, economic, and political up-
heaval, it’s comforting to think that somehow, despite of how unsettled and anxious we might feel, there is a greater pur-
pose to it all and that things are happening just like they are supposed to.
There are significant problems with this theology, however, (and one of the contributions of the people called
Methodists though they are certainly not the only ones who offer this), is that it fails to account for human freedom. You
and I were created in the image of God. Therefore, the spark of divinity is alive in each person, a spark that includes
freedom, the freedom to love or to not love, the freedom to choose God or to reject God. If that were not the case, then
our so-called “choice” to love God and love each other is really no ch