Monday Reflections: Perfection

“Yet when the work is done, the work is just begun.”

— Charles Wesley

Sometimes I feel like a perfectionist. Last weekend, I was working on my backyard. I was redoing a section with pavers that have misaligned over time. I was obsessed with having them perfectly aligned. Of course, as these things go, I became quite frustrated with the process, my skills, and the final product. It took my wife coming outside, observing, and saying, “Eduardo, they look great!” Of course, she could see what I could not. Sometimes perfectionism can blind us from seeing what is good.

Methodism has a long history with the concept of perfection. In 18th-century England, perfection or perfectionism was understood the same way it is today. Perfection meant something without error or blemish. John and Charles Wesley, and the early leaders of the Methodist movement, understood perfection differently. In their practice, perfection was related to the Greek term teleio, which conveys maturity, wholeness, and completion.

The early Methodists referred to the Sermon on the Mount when thinking about Christian wholeness. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus challenges his followers to “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” This exhortation comes at the end of the section where Jesus calls the listener to love their enemies and those who persecuted them. Christian perfection means exercising mature love, just as God loves us. John Wesley summarized this in his sermon On Christian Perfection. He wrote, “This is the sum of Christian perfection – loving God and loving our neighbor.”

They believed that when we filter our thoughts and actions through love, we become closer to loving as God does. A friend would advise me that when I face any circumstance, I should ask, “What is the loving thing to do?” I believe this anticipatory reflection is essential in our daily walk. I also believe, as early Methodists did, that practicing love matures our intentions. This walk toward wholeness helps us see the world through a different lens that is more joyful and more filled with hope.

Prayer

Divine love, complete our love. That we may see the world differently, and that our intentions be more pure toward others. May we never think we have achieved this goal, but pursue it every day. In your name. Amen.

Rev. Eduardo Bousson
Senior Manager, Collegiate Ministries
The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry
The United Methodist Church