Anglican Mainstream

SATURDAY IN  LENT I – Blessed John and Charles Wesley, Priests and Missionaries, 1788/91

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: Today we remember the Wesley brothers, born in 1703 and 1707, who were leaders of the evangelical revival in the Church of England in the eighteenth century. They both attended Oxford University and there they gathered a few friends with whom they undertook a strict adherence to the worship and discipline of the Book of Common Prayer, from which strict observance they received the nickname, "Methodists" despite their commitment to the Anglican tradition.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY:  In the lesson from Paul to the Corinthians he says that the Corinthians ought to regard their leaders as servants of Christ, to whom are entrusted the hidden things of God. The Corinthians should also stop judging their leaders with respect to their relative worth—including and especially Paul—because only God has this right. God will judge only at the appointed time.

It could be that this is a lesson that both the Wesley’s took solace in when their passion for mission and ministry was not always appreciated or understood.  That however did not deter Wesley either in dealing with his own flock or trying to bridge the gaps to others as is evidenced in Wesley’s Letter to a Roman Catholic, written during the anti-Methodist riots in Cork in 1749, was something of an exception to all of this. Indeed it has been referred to as an ecumenical classic.

Like st. Paul in this Epistle, Wesley makes a plea for greater understanding and  outlines what he sees as the essential beliefs of “true, primitive Christianity”, wherein most of what is said could be easily embraced by the Catholic Church. He invites Methodists and Roman Catholics “to help each other on in whatever we are agreed leads to the Kingdom”, and proposes that “if we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we may love alike”, and finally, expresses his hope that they will meet in heaven.

St. Paul attempts  facing a volatile situation in  Corinth, because they view themselves so highly in relation to the apostles, seeks to find a way forward and promises to send Timothy. WE see that the church in each and every age struggles with ego and leadership amidst renewal and transformation..

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Eternal Father, turn our hearts to you. By seeking your kingdom and loving one another, May we become a people who worship you in spirit and truth. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE : All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.” – John Wesley, from A Plain Account of Christian Perfection:

Lenten Discipline –  Think upon something ordinary that you do every day, and think about God while doing it, in a way that ties into what you're doing. Or think of a place you come to regularly, and each time think where Christ might be in this place, what Christ might do there, or what you might be led to do for Christ.

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