Day Sixty-Two- 3/3/11 Celebrating the Wesley Brothers' Feast Day

Day Sixty-Two: 3/3/11
New Thing: Celebrating the Wesley Brothers' Feast Day
Inspiration: John and Charles Wesley; my sermon partner, Jessica
Cost: $0   
Time: About a half an hour.      
Bottom Line: My heart is strangely warmed--though some of that has to be the bike riding.

The Wesley Bros.

 Reflection: Today is the feast day of John and Charles Wesley. John is the father of the Methodist church and his brother Charles is one of the most famous hymn writers of all time. I have a great love for the Methodist tradition and the Wesley brothers (I actually wrote a paper on Charles in seminary looking at his hymns and identifying theological points which were unique to their movement), and hope that we will soon be in Full Communion with them. One of my best friends from seminary, Jessica, is a Methodist Pastor in NYC and she and I still read and critique each others sermons. I am always so moved by her sermons which touch on her tradition and celebrate her faith. I highly recommend reading about them here. 

So to honor them all, I decided to sing all of the Wesleian Hymns in our Episcopalian Hymnal before Evening Prayer. It was a great joy and I felt very peaceful afterward. I would go to so far as to borrow John's famous line which he used to describe his moment of conversion and say that, "my heart was strangely warmed."

Lord God, who inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen