Charles Wesley: And Can It Be

Acts 16:26-34  – Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.  27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.  28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”  29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.  34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

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Psalm 51:1-12  A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  ⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.  ⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.  ⁶ You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.  ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.  ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.  ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.  ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

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Romans 8:1-8 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  ⁴ so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  ⁶ To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  ⁷ For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law– indeed it cannot,  ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

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Welcome to the second installment of our summer sermon series featuring stories from the hymns! This Sunday we’ll be focusing on a hymn written by Charles Wesley: And Can It Be, which is #363 in our hymnal.

This hymn is one of my personal favorites. It has a special place in Methodist history, as well as in the hearts of many Christians around the world, particularly in the UK. This hymn almost always makes the “Top 10 Favorite Hymns” list in England, currently residing at #6. It’s not as well known in the States; but the churches here that know it, love it.

As with all hymns, it helps to know the back story: when was it written, why was it written, what inspired it? We’re very fortunate with this hymn that Charles Wesley wrote extensively in his diary about what he was thinking and experiencing in the days leading up to writing this hymn.

The text of the hymn was written in 1738: 38 years before the United States became a country. It was written in thanksgiving to God for Charles’ conversion on May 21^st of that year. The words were set to a number of different tunes over the years, but the best-known (and nowadays really the only) tune was written in the early 1800s. The music is said to have been influenced by the music of George Frederick Handel (who wrote Messiah) – which could help explain why it’s a little bit challenging to sing – and also why it’s worth the effort.

Back to the story: By the year 1738, the Wesley brothers – John and Charles – had already:

• started ministries to the poor in Oxford
• founded the Methodist movement (Methodism was a movement at the time – meant to reform the Church of England)
• gotten ordained
• ministered all over Great Britain and in parts of the American colonies – including evangelizing Native Americans and visiting slave plantations in Georgia
• preached in the dockyards of Bristol

They had done all these things, for which the Wesleys became famous – without ever experiencing, on a personal level, the salvation of God or the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives!

The Wesleys accomplished all these things based on their intellectual knowledge of the Bible and what it says God requires of people. The message of Jesus, his forgiveness, his death and resurrection, his mercy to sinners – even though this was in their heads and in their preaching, it hadn’t yet touched their hearts. Which goes to show it’s possible to know a lot about God, and sit in church every week, and read the Bible and pray, and not actually know God. It’s possible to grow up in the church – like the Wesleys did – and dedicate one’s life to serving the church, without grasping that the real church – the body of Christ – is the family of God, and has nothing whatsoever to do with a human institution.

Both John and Charles, in 1738, were sensing that something was missing in their lives and in their faith. They were touched very deeply spiritually when they got to know some local Moravians. The Moravian movement was a Protestant movement that started in the Czech Republic, predating Martin Luther by about 100 years. The Moravians were persecuted and driven underground in their home country; and they became refugees of conscience scattered all through Europe and the Colonies, which is how the Wesleys met them. (Side note: some of those Moravians came to Pennsylvania and founded the town of Bethlehem PA!)

The Moravians were known for having very personal relationships with God. They were known for a simple way of life that included a lot of scripture reading and prayer and singing; their faith was not complicated – it was easy for the average person to grasp; but at the same time it ran very deep, and it required a very deep commitment. And in May of 1738, the faith of the Wesleys’ Moravian friends began to sink in with the brothers, and both John and Charles experienced what they called “spiritual awakenings”. Charles came first, by three days.

I want to share with you Charles’ faith experience, in his own words, paraphrasing into modern English (because the English language has changed a bit in 300 years!)

The date, as mentioned before, was Pentecost Sunday, May 21, 1738. On that day Charles Wesley was feeling very ill, and was recuperating in the home of some friends who lived in London. The fact that Charles was not in church on a Sunday tells us how lousy he was feeling. He was resting on the sofa in living room of the house… and I’ll pick up with his own words… Charles writes:

“I woke up in hope and expectation of God’s coming. At 9:00AM my brother (John) and some friends came, and sang a hymn to the Holy Spirit, which gave me great comfort. In about a half an hour they left, and I started to pray using words similar to these…”

(side note: the words Charles is talking about praying were taken from Scripture. Charles had a habit of praying the Scriptures, which is always a good idea! Talking with God about what God has said opens our hearts and minds to understanding God, as well as opening dialogue. Anyway, on that day, Charles was praying – and quoting the scriptures, he said):

“O Jesus, you have said ‘I will come to you’; and you have said ‘I will send the Comforter to you’; and you have said, ‘My Father and I will come to you, and make our home with you’. You are God and you cannot lie; I totally trust your promise; may it come true in your time and in your way.”

Having prayed this, (Charles says) “I was about to go to go to sleep in the quietness and peace of the house, when Mrs. Musgrave came in (or so I thought by the sound of her voice) and she said, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and believe and you shall be healed of all your infirmities.”

(Charles writes he was not entirely sure the voice he heard was that of Mrs. Musgrave; he also wasn’t sure who she was talking to. He only heard her voice from the next room. Charles continues with his story, saying…)

“I wondered what motivated her to speak in this way; but the words cut to my heart. I sighed and said to myself, “Oh that Jesus would speak this way to me for my recovery of body and soul. […]

“I rose and opened the Bible nearby, and the first words I saw were: “And now, Lord, what is my hope? truly my hope is in thee.” And then I opened the book again and read Isaiah 40:1 –

“Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God: speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sin.”

(Side note: these also happen to be the opening words of Handel’s Messiah, and Charles Wesley and Handel knew each other. Coincidence?)

(Charles continues: ) “I now felt totally at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of loving Jesus. My mood for the rest of the day was mistrust of my own weakness, which I hadn’t known until now. I saw that I stood by faith, always by faith, which kept me from falling, even though I am always sinking deeper in sin. I went to bed still very aware of my own weakness – and I humbly hope to become more and more weak – to be more confident of Jesus’ protection.”[1]

Charles wrote later in his journal that the Spirit of God “chased away the darkness of [his] unbelief.”[2]  Two days later, on Tuesday May 23, he wrote:

“I woke up under the protection of Christ, and gave myself up, soul and body, to him.”[3]

The very next day, May 24^th, his brother John had the experience we’ve all heard about, where his heart was “strangely warmed” while at a worship meeting of the Moravians in London. John immediately shared this good news with Charles.

Charles wrote:

“Towards ten, my brother was brought in triumph by a troop of our friends, and declared, ‘I believe.’ We sang the hymn with great joy, and parted with prayer.”

What a difference a day can make! Before these few days, John and Charles Wesley were struggling to do God’s will in their own power, and they were constantly running into roadblocks and discouragement. After these events, their ministries caught fire – and changed the course of history, worldwide.

Do we want to make a difference in our world, and in the lives of our relatives and friends? Then we need to follow in the footsteps of the Wesleys: reading the Bible, hearing and believing God’s promises, and praying! All Godly work begins and ends with prayer.

All of this is the context in which today’s hymn was written. Let’s open the hymnal now to #363 and follow along with the text. Again I’ll need to sort of ‘translate’ this into 21^st century English. But starting with…

Verse 1

“And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?” Charles, as a new believer, can hardly believe he’s been accepted into God’s kingdom! He takes nothing for granted. He does not even begin to think that he’s got a seminary degree, and experience in preaching, or anything like that. As the apostle Paul once said, these things are like filthy rags next to the joy of knowing Jesus. But the words Charles uses here could almost be taken from the world of investing. To have “an interest in” something is to be a part-owner. It’s like Charles has just bought stock in KOG – the Kingdom of God.

And what a humbling investment this is! The blood of Jesus, shed for every sinner, covers you and me and Charles Wesley. We are all totally equal in the blood of Jesus: equally in need of forgiveness, and equally saved. Charles says: “can it be?” We haven’t done anything to earn it. We haven’t paid for it. Jesus paid for this KOG stock with his life – and gave it to you and me for free.

Charles goes on: “Died he for me? Who caused his pain? For me – who him to death pursued?” Again, confessing that our sin is what makes Jesus’s death on the cross necessary.  “Amazing love! How can it be that you, my God, should die for me?”

Verse 2

“Tis mystery all: the immortal dies” – This thought is beyond human understanding. God, who by definition lives forever and cannot die, has found a way to die – for our sakes.

“Who can explore this strange design?” Charles asks. People have spent the last 2000 years trying to explain how Calvary works.  How it is that Jesus’ death on the cross saves us? How is it that the immortal God could die? And why was it necessary? You want to start an argument among theologians? Toss these questions into a roomful of them and shut the door.

Charles Wesley says: “In vain the first-born seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine”. How can anyone measure the depth of God’s love? We can’t. God’s love cannot be comprehended. Even the citizens of heaven, the angels themselves, can’t put it into words… can’t find the end of God’s love.

Charles says, “Tis mercy all! Let earth adore” – Our job is not to figure out  ‘how’ but simply to accept God’s mercy as it’s offered, and worship Jesus. “Let angel minds inquire no more.”

Verse 3

In verse three, Charles turns his attention to Jesus specifically. “He left his Father’s throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!)” That phrase in parentheses is an exclamation of praise to Jesus that Charles can’t help it, he just has to put it in there.  He goes on describing Jesus: “Emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”

THAT is the Christian message in a nutshell. For all of Adam’s descendants, this is all we need to know, and it’s all we need to share. Jesus gave up everything: his throne in heaven, his intimacy with God, and his very life – for people who were and are unable to save themselves. That’s the gospel message, right there.

Charles says: “Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!”  It’s all God’s mercy, from beginning to end; it’s none of our doing. God searches us out; and if we’re honest, we know that God is so far above us and so perfect that being in God’s presence – just the way we are – would destroy us, because we’re not able to stand in God’s perfect, holy presence and stay alive. But Jesus changes all this. His love for us changes the whole story.

Verse 4

Verse four refers to the events in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas had been thrown in jail under false accusations after having cast an evil spirit out of a young woman. They were in prison, singing songs to God (while the other prisoners listened) when there was an earthquake. The foundations of the jail were shaken, and the cell doors popped open, and the prisoners were free.

Charles Wesley says it was like that for him, when he finally saw the truth and mercy of Jesus. He says: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, bound up in sin and nature’s night” when God’s eye “diffused a quickening ray” – (“quickening” is an old-fashioned word meaning ‘to bring back to life’.) So just one glance from God brought Charles to life.

He continues: “I woke; the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went out, and followed thee.” Just like Paul and Silas in that prison, God set Charles Wesley free not only from his sin but from all his efforts to be good or to be holy. And once he was free, Charles was then able to follow Jesus the way he’d always wanted to.

Verse 5

Verse five is Charles’ reflection on all that has happened. “No condemnation now I dread” – all the fear of judgement or hell is totally gone: not because of anything Charles has done, but because of what Jesus has done.

“Jesus, and all in him, is mine.” – What an amazing thought that is!  It’s not just that Jesus saves us. It’s not just that we get to go to heaven. It’s that we now have Jesus AND EVERYTHING ELSE.  All things in heaven and on earth are in Jesus, and in Jesus, all of it is ours. Think on that for a moment. We are, as Charles says, “alive in Jesus, our living Head, and clothed in God’s righteousness.” Everything that Jesus has, is ours, in Him.

Given this truth, Charles – and every one of us – can be bold enough to approach the eternal throne of God “and claim the crown (of eternal life) through Christ my own.” (“My own” is an old-fashioned way of saying “my beloved.”)

It is never about what we do. It’s about what Jesus did. In him each one of us has a crown of life waiting for us, waiting for our arrival in God’s kingdom. Picture that for a moment, as we look around this congregation. Picture a crown on each head.

Jesus gave it all for us – so that we could be with Him forever. Jesus gave these crowns to us. And for that reason (and many more) we sing His praise.

Let’s sing vs 5 (hymn #363) one more time…

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in him is mine;

Alive in him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine

Bold I approach th’eternal throne

And claim the crown through Christ my own.

Sources include:

The Journal of Charles Wesley

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/blog/may-21-1738-charles-wesleys-experience-of-assurance

Also  https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/john-and-charles-converted

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/blog/may-21-1738-charles-wesleys-experience-of-assurance

[2] https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/john-and-charles-converted

[3] https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=26139

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Trinity and Aldersgate

Isaiah 6:1-8 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.  ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.  ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  ⁴ The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.  ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.  ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”  ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

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John 3:1-17 – Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.  ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”  ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”  ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’  ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”  ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?  ¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.  ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  ¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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For the past few weeks we have had Sundays on which multiple holidays were being observed, and today we continue with that trend! Today is Trinity Sunday – a day to reflect on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This past Friday was also Aldersgate Day (which we observe today) – the day when John Wesley had an experience of the Holy Spirit that basically launched the Methodist movement. And I should also mention that on this day in history, back in 1521, the German monk Martin Luther was declared “an outlaw and a heretic” by the Edict of Worms – which basically launched the Protestant Church.

So we’ve got some rich history today!  Without Martin Luther there would never have been a Protestant movement; and without the Wesleys we would not be sitting where we are sitting where we are today. And of course, without the Trinity, none of these things would have happened!

Looking at all three of these events… it’s fairly easy to see how we got to where we are today; but it’s not all that easy to understand how these things happened at the time. What I mean is this: Why was it that the Catholic Church back in 1521 couldn’t see that Luther was speaking the truth? They know now that Luther was right – but why not back then? Why was it that John and Charles Wesley both had been priests for years before they were sure they were saved? And the answers to both of those questions were influenced by how people understood and experienced their relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Answering these questions in detail would take longer than we have this morning. I recommend to your reading any parts of the journals of the Wesleys, or any of the writings of Martin Luther that you can find on Google. For today, though, here’s where we’re headed:

I’ll start off with a brief description of the Trinity. Then we’ll take a look at what today’s scripture readings tell us about the Trinity – first in Isaiah and then in the Gospel of John. And finally we’ll listen to what John and Charles Wesley had to say as they struggled to understand God, and what it means to really have a living faith as a Christian.

So starting off with a brief description of the Trinity: God is a mystery in so many ways! When we really think about God, our minds boggle. When we go out on a starry night and look up at the sky and try to imagine the One who created every star, and every planet that revolves around every star, and every living thing on every one of those planets… God is way beyond anything we can grasp. For most of us it’s enough to know that God is big enough, and powerful enough, and creative enough, and enough of an artist and a scientist, to design, create, and maintain everything we see around us. I like what one website had to say about creation:

“Describing the nature of God is not rocket science – it’s more difficult than that!”[1]

The second thing I want to mention is that the word ‘trinity’ is not found in the Bible. In fact if anything the Old Testament seems to argue against the concept. God says at the very beginning of the Ten Commandments: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One… and you shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:4-5) Jesus said this was the greatest commandment ever given, and that the second was like it: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The idea of the Trinity grew out of the early church – during the first few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. The concept came about as people talked about the Old Testament scriptures alongside their own experiences of God. Here’s the complexity they were trying to describe:

Jesus said, “the Father and I are One.” (John 10:30) So when the disciples were talking to Jesus, they were also talking to God; and when Jesus spoke, he spoke God’s words with God’s authority.

At the same time, Jesus sometimes spoke about God the Father as being distinct from himself. Jesus said the Father had sent him. Jesus prayed to God while he was on this earth – and this was not Jesus talking to himself, he was talking to God.

Jesus also taught the disciples that the Holy Spirit is a guiding presence in the lives of God’s people, and that the Spirit would arrive on Pentecost. Jesus described the Spirit as “power from on high” – and he said the Spirit couldn’t come to us while Jesus was still on earth, which is why Jesus needed to ascend to God before the Spirit could descend (so to speak).

So we see in scripture that God is God, and Jesus is also God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and God is the Creator, and Jesus is the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. And these three roles generally speaking don’t overlap.

I like to sum it up this way:

“In a world saturated with divine presence, we have a God ‘in whom we live and move and have our being.’”[2]

God the Father created us; Jesus saves us; the Holy Spirit indwells us… and yet all three persons are one God. (Does this make sense? If yes – great! If not – you’re in good company!)

Turning to our scripture from Isaiah, at first glance this passage seems to have very little to do with the Trinity. The prophet Isaiah is describing a vision of God that he sees while he’s in the temple. This is a mystery to begin with: how could God fit inside the temple? Isaiah himself said, “the hem of his robe filled the temple”. In other words, God can’t begin to fit inside this building – just his hem is enough to fill it, metaphorically speaking. And yet, in some very real way, God is present in the temple.

One of the interesting things about the Old Testament is that, in ancient times, it was totally OK to be faced with a mystery without feeling compelled to solve it. In our culture today we like to have everything analyzed and explained. How did this get here? What caused it? How did it happen? What is it made of? There are good reasons why we ask these questions.

But in the ancient world it was perfectly OK to say, “this represents God in a way that we don’t fully understand” – and just leave it at that. So Isaiah doesn’t feel it necessary to explain what he’s telling us. We do, however, see hints of the Trinity in this passage. First off, God is called holy, holy, holy – three times holy.

Second, God says, “who shall go for us?” – with the word ‘us’ being plural. Is this kind of like the British “royal we” – where the king always talks about himself in the plural? Or was God talking about the other persons of the Trinity, when God said ‘we’? Isaiah’s words are not clear on that; the question remains open.

Then in his vision, Isaiah sees himself as “a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips”. But God provides the cleansing – which parallels what Jesus does for us – and then God asks, “Whom shall I send?” – a question that’s frequently asked by the Holy Spirit. So we catch a glimpse here of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, working together but not specifically named. Isaiah, of course, answers God’s question by saying: “send me”.

Next we turn to the Gospel of John, chapter three, where we see Jesus in conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus. We looked at this passage not too long ago, leading up to Calvary. Today we look at this conversation again, more in terms of the ‘new birth’ that Jesus describes. Jesus says that God’s people are “born of water and the Spirit” – that is, physical birth and spiritual birth. Both of these things need to happen in order for a person to have eternal life. Jesus explains it this way: “what is born of the flesh is flesh, what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  And the fact that human beings can be described as both flesh and spirit – it’s a kind of duality, and an echo of God’s image in us.

But in order for life in the Spirit to be open to all of us, Jesus must go to the Cross. He says to Nicodemus: just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that all who looked at it would live, so Jesus will be lifted up (on the cross) so that all who believe in him can be cured of sin and live.

The Holy Spirit plays a part in bringing people into God’s Kingdom through being ‘born again’ or ‘born anew’ as Jesus says. So it’s God’s love + Jesus’ sacrifice + the Holy Spirit’s new birth that adds up to salvation for humankind. It’s a mystery that’s not easily understood.

But with all of this as backdrop let’s listen now to the witness of John and Charles Wesley.

The Wesley brothers were raised in a deeply religious household by their father, Samuel, who was a pastor, and their mother, Susanna, who was also a brilliant theologian in her own right. So the Wesley boys were “PKs” – preachers’ kids. If you’ve known any PKs, you know preachers’ kids typically struggle with their faith, because it’s not easy to be raised as children in a church that’s run by your parents. Talk about living in a fishbowl! PKs tend to be a little bit rebellious and they ask a lot of questions and they really wrestle with the faith. I have been blessed to be friends with a number of PK’s in my life, and I love them dearly because they’re very insightful and they ask good questions. And when they wrestle with the faith it’s an honest wrestling.

Both John and Charles grew up and attended seminary at a college called Christ Church in Oxford. Christ Church College is a stunningly gorgeous place! It was built in the 1400s or 1500s and it contains fountains, and flower gardens with walls around them, and a chapel decorated in marble and gold. If you’ve ever seen the Harry Potter movies, some of the exteriors of Hogwarts were filmed at Christ Church Oxford, and the dining hall in those movies was inspired by the dining hall at Christ Church Oxford. Christ Church is one of my favorite places on the planet – I never get tired of wandering around that campus!

The thing is – as John and Charles Wesley quickly realized – Christ Church Oxford is the world’s pinnacle of privilege. It’s the best of the best of the best. Both of the Wesley boys were accepted into the school on academic merit; they were not rich enough to afford it; they were good enough scholars. And now they were surrounded by the kind of wealth that most people can’t even imagine. And they realized that, in many places (not all places) the Church of England back in the 1700s was often attended by people with wealth; church was a place to be ‘seen’.

At the same time, literally only a few blocks from Christ Church, stood the Oxford Castle and Prison. This was a place for criminals, but not just hardened criminals. Pickpockets, petty thieves, and back in those days it was even a crime to be in debt. People who couldn’t pay their debts were thrown in prison. How you’re supposed to earn money to pay off your debts while you’re sitting in prison is a mystery – and of course it was a misery as well, for the debtors’ wives and children.

John and Charles Wesley looked at this system, and they saw injustice, and they heard the call of scripture to show mercy to the poor and the hurting. They and their friends pledged themselves to be members of a “Holy Club”: to study scripture together and pray together, and lead disciplined Christian lives, and finding ways to do good for people in the prison: collecting money; educating their children (schools were not free back then); teaching housewives the basics of first aid and medicine.

This kind of practical, down-to-earth spirituality was considered a bit methodical by the Wesley’s classmates, who poked fun at them and called them ‘Method-ists’ – and the name stuck. What was meant as an insult, the Holy Spirit took as an honor.

The Wesleys did all these things motivated by their intellectual understanding of the scriptures. The Bible says ‘do this’ so we do it. The Bible is God’s word and we believe in God.

But the Wesleys had a nagging feeling that this wasn’t enough. So they signed on to travel to the New World – to be missionaries to the Colonies (back before the Colonies were America) – and they ended up in Georgia.

Things didn’t go very well for them there. Charles really didn’t like Georgia – I gather it was too hot and humid for him – and he went back home to England pretty quickly. John stayed for awhile in hopes of reaching the Native Americans with the gospel. Meanwhile one of the young women at his church in Savannah developed an interest in Mr. Wesley – and he was not really in the mood to be interested in. Let’s just say things did not go well. John Wesley slipped out of the colonies and hightailed it back to England.

John and Charles both – separately but at the same time – went through a period of deep discouragement. They had worked hard; they had taught and preached about the faith well; but their experience in the colonies left them questioning their own salvation. They knew all the right stuff; they were doing all the right things; but their hearts were discouraged. At the same time they both noticed a kind of spirituality in a movement from Germany called Moravian. John said the Moravians were passionate in prayer, fearless in adversity, cheerful with each other, free of evil speech.

John writes that he was starting to say to himself, “I should give up preaching. How can I preach to others, [when I don’t] have faith myself?” You can hear how down he was. And he shared this thought with [a Moravian preacher friend], and asked whether he should [quit preaching]. [His Moravian friend] answered “By no means.” And John asked, “But what can I preach?” His friend said, “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”

I suspect his Moravian friend saw more in John Wesley than Wesley saw in himself in that moment. Around that same time John wrote:

“I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me?”

God rarely leaves questions like that un-answered for very long. I think most of us are familiar with the story of how John found himself one night attending a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate, London, on May 24, where he “felt his heart strangely warmed” – and his life was never the same after that.

But today I’d like to share with you more about Charles Wesley’s story. Charles’ story is not as well-known, or as dramatic… but for myself, I’ve always found his story inspiring because he’s a musician, and I can relate to that.

Charles’ experience with the Holy Spirit happened three days before John’s. It was Pentecost Sunday – May 21, 1738. On that day, Charles opened his Bible for a word from God, and put his finger on a text that described in detail the mighty work of God in his life. The passage was Psalm 40:3 and it said:

“He hath put a new song in my mouth…. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”

This became a prophetic word in Charles’ life: he went on to write thousands of new songs – most of them hymns – some of them even set to music by the composer George Frederick Handel of Messiah fame.

Charles describes his experience of fully coming to faith in a hymn called And Can It Be.  I love this hymn; it’s one of my favorites. Three days after this hymn was written, John had his “heartwarming” experience.

After these things happened, the brothers found that many churches and pulpits were closed to them; the society people in London didn’t consider it ‘proper’ to be ‘enthusiastic’ about your faith. So the brothers took to the fields and the factories and the town squares… anywhere where people would listen to the Good News of Jesus.

The emphasis John and Charles placed on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer went on to influence the Holiness movement, the Pentecostal movement, and the Charismatic movement, as well as the Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church. And the Church of England was influenced, too, whether they like to admit it or not.

I’d like to finish the story of John and Charles Wesley today by reading Charles’ own description of his conversion… And Can It Be.  If you like you can follow with me in the hymnal – It’s #363  Charles wrote:

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

‘Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies!
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love Divine!
’Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness Divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

AMEN.

Trinity Sunday – Aldersgate Sunday – May 26, 2024

[1] https://cmj-israel.org/learn/mystery-trinity

[2] SALT, https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/6/1/relationships-are-who-we-are-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-trinity-sunday

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