Something Happens Here: Reclaiming the Distinctiveness of Wesley’s Communion Spirituality in Times of Divisiveness

Written in an accessible, casual style for non-experts, Stephen P. West’s Something Happens Here seeks to provide a vision of a way forward for the United Methodist Church that is grounded in Wesley’s eucharistic piety. The author is a pastor from Alabama who describes himself as ‘representing centrist voices’ (141). This book is not so much a work of pure scholarship—though the author has clearly done his homework on the topic of Wesley and communion—as it is an exhortative reflection on the ways in which a robust Wesleyan vision of communion should shape the future of United Methodism.West sees a central problem at the heart of the crisis facing The United Methodist Church: it is being divided by political culture wars that threaten the integrity of the Body of Christ and the radical community it is called to be. The sacrament of Holy Communion, he believes, holds the theological and practical key to renewing the Body and cultivating community in a way that can allow the church to move forward in pious, charitable unity.Throughout the book, West deploys the image of a prism to describe how communion helps us understand the Christian life, especially the ecclesial Christian life of radical community. The light that shines through the prism is the true presence of Christ. And every turning of the prism reveals something new about the implications of that light. Among the colours manifest by this refraction are communion as an open table, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, and a channel of grace. All of these aspects are rooted in the presence of Christ. And we are called to live in the refracted light of that prism as a community of grace, whose very union is a source of sanctification. Such an understanding of communion, West opines, can provide a way forward for a Church rent by political and cultural division. If we take seriously the real presence of Christ in communion, then we must take seriously the work of grace making us into the Body of Christ, differences and all.Although West is writing for a popular audience—educated laity and clergy alike—this is an erudite book. West incorporates historical voices, from the earliest generations of Christians to the English Nonjurors and, of course, the Wesleys themselves, in order to educate his reader in some fairly nuanced theological ideas. He does so nimbly, demonstrating both his knowledge of the subject matter and his ability to communicate that knowledge with unusual clarity. Indeed, this is a book to be recommended to all United Methodists struggling with the current crisis who desire a rich, reliable theological resource for thinking about things in a way that transcends the surface-level issues.But herein also lies the problem that some might have with this book. While West’s centrism will appeal to many, for others it may seem like he is spiritualizing very real, concrete concerns. Is his centrism not a privilege of one who is not directly affected by the denomination’s policies? Is his dismissal of such matters as mere culture wars a failure of nerve to take a stand on what a transformative eucharistic theology of grace and divine presence might mean for the question at hand, or, rather, for those who have been turned into a ‘problem’ to be solved?Beyond this, I have only one other critique about the book: West’s use of Pharisees as theological bogeymen. While it is a long-lived Christian trope for condemning legalistic approaches to faith, it is time to retire it. Our Jewish siblings have made it clear that such caricatures of early Judaism—yes, the very ones used in the New Testament—contribute to anti-Semitism. I am not suggesting that West is anti-Semitic, only that a more careful use of language could easily avoid such problematic tropes.These critiques notwithstanding, Something Happens Here is a valuable resource for the United Methodist Church as it discerns a way forward in the midst of schism and conflict. West makes his case persuasively and readers will be rewarded for entering into his vision of a radical ecclesial community rooted in the practice of communion through which the true presence of Christ shines so that his grace might perfect us in love.

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