Monday, June 18, 2018

Happy Birthday, Wesley: New Quiz" from The United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
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A quiz for Wesley's birthday
The man credited with creating the Methodist movement was born in June. How much do you know about his life?
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John Wesley's guide to aging
Photo courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History
John Wesley often ministered to the sick during a life blessed by good health.
Marking John Wesley’s birthday in his words:
A UMNS Commentary by the Rev. Robert J. Williams
As John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, grew older, he frequently commented on his birthday how he was still in good health and this was largely due to the way God had blessed him.
Wesley was born on June 17, 1703, while England was still using the Julian calendar. England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and thus Wesley's birth date became June 28.
His birthday reflections give us a glimpse into how he viewed his life, health and ministry. On June 28, 1770, he wrote:
I can hardly believe that I am this entered into the sixty-eighth year of my age! How marvelous are the ways of God! How has he kept me, even from a child! From ten to thirteen or fourteen, I had little but bread to eat, and not great plenty of that. I believe this was so far from hurting me that it laid the foundation to lasting health. When I grew up, in consequence of reading Dr. Cheyne, I chose to eat sparingly and drink water. This was another great means of continuing my health, till I was about seven and twenty...; (He then speaks of various ailments.); Since that time, I have known neither pain nor sickness, and am now healthier than I was forty years ago! This hath God wrought!
He started to set a pattern for indicating his age and his good health. One year later, he wrote:
This day I entered the sixty-ninth year of my age. I am still a wonder to myself. My voice and strength are the same as at nine and twenty. This also hath God wrought.
In 1774, he wrote:
PRIMITIVE PHYSICK
John Wesley and the Methodist movement always had a commitment to the health of body and soul. Wesley is well known for his work "Primitive Physick," which can be found online. The October 2007 issue of Methodist History has two other articles about health ministries as well.
This being my birthday, the first day of my seventy-second year, I was considering. How is this, that I find just the same strength as I did thirty years ago? That my sight is considerably better now and my nerves firmer than there were then? That I have none of the infirmities of old age and have lost several I had in my youth? The grand cause is the good pleasure of God, who doth whatsoever pleaseth him. The chief means are: (1) My constantly rising at four, for about fifty years. (2) My generally preaching at five in the morning, one of the most healthy exercises in the world. (3) My never travelling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles in a year.
In the intervening 10 years, he repeated these sentiments numerous times, and even in 1784, he wrote:
Today I entered on my eighty-second year and found myself just as strong to labour, and as fit for any exercise of body or mind, as I was forty years ago. I do not impute this to second causes, but to the sovereign Lord of all...; I am as strong at eighty-one, as I was at twenty-one, but abundantly more healthy, being a stranger to the head-ache, tooth-ache, and other bodily disorders which attended me in my youth. We can only say 'The Lord reigneth' While we live, let us live to him!
In 1788, after praising God "for a thousand spiritual blessings," Wesley listed as questions what may be some of the "inferior means" for achieving such good health into old age.
To my constant exercise and change of air? To my never having lost a night's sleep, sick or well at land or at sea, since I was born? To my having sleep at command, so that whenever I feel myself almost worn out, I call it and it comes, day or night? To my having constantly, for above sixty years, risen at four in the morning? To my constant preaching at five in the morning for above fifty years? To my having had so little pain in my life and so little sorrow or anxious care?
Finally, on June 28, 1790, less than a year before his death, he wrote:
This day I enter into my eighty-eighth year. For above eighty-six years, I found none of the infirmities of old age: my eyes did not wax dim, neither was my natural strength abated. But last August, I found almost a sudden change. My eyes were so dim that no glasses would help me. My strength likewise now quite forsook me and probably will not return in this world. But I feel no pain from head to foot, only it seems nature is exhausted and, humanly speaking, will sink more and more, till 'The weary springs of life stand still at last.'
As this remarkable man aged, he reflected on God's blessings and how his lifestyle contributed to his good health. This is but a brief glimpse into his humanity and can call on us to do likewise on our birthdays.
Editor's Note: This story was first published on June 25, 2012.
*Williams is the top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History in Madison, N.J.
News media contact: Maggie Hillery, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Thanks to his many journals, we can find insights about Methodism's founder and how he viewed his life, health and ministry.
Learn more
Photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications
Visiting John Wesley’s tomb, participants in the 2016 Wesley Pilgrimage in England learned from his epitaph a lesson about the ministry of every Christian.
What we can learn from the words on John Wesley’s tomb, A UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino*
Motivational experts sometimes encourage us to write eulogies for ourselves. Looking at life from some imaginary time in the future can help us order our priorities and focus on the things most important to us.
During the Wesley Pilgrimage in England, participants pause before the tomb of John Wesley located in a quiet spot behind Wesley’s Chapel, London. The epitaph of this founder of the early Methodist movement contains a lesson etched in stone as poignant today as it was in the days immediately following his death.
John Wesley’s tomb is near Wesley's Chapel, London. Photo by Joe Iovino, United Methodist Communications.
A lesson in stone
On March 2, 1791, in the home on the other side of the property, “with a simple ‘Farewell’ upon his lips, John Wesley, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, passed from the scene of his great evangelistic toils on earth to the joy of his everlasting reward,” biographer Richard Green eloquently writes of Wesley’s death (John Wesley—Evangelist, 1905).
A week later, early on the morning of March 9, a small group gathered at the tomb where Wesley’s body was laid to rest. Beginning the service at around 5:00 a.m. helped keep the gathering intimate. Reports indicate that tens of thousands visited City Road Chapel (as Wesley's Chapel was then known) the day before to pay their last respects.
The epitaph on Wesley’s tomb is remarkable. It shares the story of his life and ministry. Describing Wesley as a great light that enlightened the nations and called the church to renewal, the inscription references his lengthy career of writing and work for the church. He “witnessed in the hearts and lives of many thousands,” the epitaph reads, and saw God’s provision for his work to last for future generations.
Before giving the date and circumstances of his death, the inscription concludes, “Reader, if thou art constrain’d to bless the instrument, give God the glory.” We might more commonly say, if you feel compelled to honor the person, praise God more.
JOHN WESLEY'S EPITAPH
To the memory of the venerable
John Wesley, A.M., late fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.
This great light arose (by the singular providence of God) to enlighten these nations, and to revive, enforce, and defend, the pure apostolic doctrines and practices of the primitive church:
which he continued to do, both by his writings and his labours for more than
half a century:
And to his inexpressible joy, not only, beheld their influence extending, and their efficacy witness’d in the hearts and lives of many thousands, as well in the western world as in these kingdoms:
But also, far above all human power of expectation, liv’d to see provision made by the singular grace of God, for their continuance and establishment to the joy of future generations.
Reader, if thou art constrain’d to bless the instrument, give God the glory.
After having languished a few days, he at length finished his course and his life together, gloriously triumphing over death, March 2nd An. Dom. 1791 in the eighty-eighth year of his age.
*Capitalization and italics have been edited for easier reading.
After reading these words, one pilgrim whispered, “ever the evangelist, even in death.” Even his tomb calls us closer to Jesus.
A tool in God’s hands
In the Bible, Moses receives an extraordinary call from God while standing before the burning bush. God tells Moses to go to the leader Egypt—the superpower of the world at the time—and ask him to free the Hebrew slaves. Moses’ immediate response is to tell God all the reasons why he is not the right person for the job.
God reminds Moses, “I will be with you.” God is not asking Moses to acquire the people’s freedom, but to be the instrument through which God will obtain the release of the Hebrew people.
As if to illustrate the point, God asks Moses a simple question, “What is that in your hand?” Moses is carrying a shepherd’s staff, an instrument of his trade, a tool. God then uses Moses’ hands to transform the staff into a snake and back again.
As Moses is able to use the staff, God can use Moses to save the Israelites from slavery (Exodus 4:1-5).
Wesley’s tombstone reflects the humility of one who like Moses understood his role as an instrument in God’s hands.
What’s in your hand?
We will not likely influence the spiritual lives of millions of people over hundreds of years, as John Wesley has, but God desires to use us also. Each of us has a role to play in sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with our neighbors and the world.
That sounds overwhelming, but like Moses and Wesley, we are not the primary actors. God is. Our role is to serve as instruments through which Jesus’ love for the world flows to all.
John Wesley's epitaph offers a lesson for us today. Photo by Joe Iovino, United Methodist Communications. Click to enlarge.
God asks us the same question, “What is in your hand?” What gifts, abilities, passions, and resources do you have? Are you willing to allow God to use them to bless another, to love people the way God loves you?
Our role is not to do the work of God, but to make ourselves available so God can act through us. We are tools in the hands of God, instruments through which God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
Wesley was an instrument of God’s grace. So was Moses. We too can allow God to use us.
Through words etched in his tombstone more than 225 years ago, John Wesley continues to teach us what it means to live fully as disciples of Jesus Christ, and to give all the glory to God.
Editorial note: This story was first published on February 27, 2017.
*Joe Iovino works for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. Contact him by email or at 615-312-3733..
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