In the hospital, "Do No Harm" has a very specific nuance.

As a chaplain, I realized we rarely apply that same clinical rigor to how we handle Scripture. I’ve seen how a misapplied text can be just as dangerous as a misapplied medicine.

A Wesleyan Style

This isn't about a denomination or a "club". It’s about a rigorous style of reading, built on John Wesley’s teachings to the siblings in the faith:

• Show up.

• Do no harm first.

• Have faith that Grace was already moving before you arrived.

Faithful Iridescence

I believe the Bible is iridescent by design—it shifts and reveals new truths depending on where you stand. Openness to considering different perspectives can enrichen a community’s relationship with Scripture.

About the Author

Hope Hilton is a preacher, writer, and composer, holding an MDiv from Pacific School of Religion at the Graduate Theological Union, and a Bachelor of Arts from University of the Pacific with a double major in Psychology and Religious Studies.

She has worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, directed a United Methodist family camp for ten years, composed hymns played in over 60 countries a month, and teaches at Bishop's confirmation retreats and Annual Conference camps. She is a lifelong United Methodist — baptized, confirmed, and still there.

Her approach to Scripture follows the Wesleyan method: a foundation of Scripture, built with tradition, furnished with experience, tempered by reason — and guided by Wesley's three rules in their original order: do no harm, do good, stay in love with God.

“Do no harm” comes first.

This project applies that method where it is most urgently needed: the biblical questions where people get hurt.

The goal is to offer well-reasoned, experience-enriching scriptural interpretations based in methods that are faithful to God, Scripture, and Tradition:

A life-giving method of Bible study.