First Guest Post: Jonathan Powers!!

When I started Weekly Wesley, I had in mind, among other things, that there would be guest posts. I did not do any work towards that until yesterday... I just threw the idea out to four friends, and got two posts already. Jonathan Powers' submission came in first, so here it is. Teddy Ray will post here Thursday, let's hope this continues, and we can crank out some good content. And no matter what, guest posts will bring some class to this place.

I should have asked Jonathan for a bio... he is a student at Asbury Theological Seminary and leads worship for Offerings, a service at First United Methodist Church in Lexington, KY. He has a great blog here

He thinks and lives a lot about worship. I hope you are edified, challenged, and encouraged by his post on Charles Wesley's recasting of Scripture in Methodist hymnody.

Sola Scriptura

When considering key figures in early Methodism, immediately almost everyone thinks of John Wesley. Certainly, the Methodist movement was mainly due to the efforts of John Wesley. However, the contributions of John’s brother Charles should not be overlooked. Though Charles Wesley is mainly remembered in Methodist history as a writer of over 9,000 hymns, it is important to know that by vocation he was a pastor and not a songwriter. Charles had a deep compassion for people, especially the poor and desolate. While serving a parish in London, Charles would often spend time ministering to prisoners at the Newgate prison. Like his brother, John, he was a great evangelist, though he preferred to stay closer to his family and did not travel as often or as far as his brother.
Like his older brother John, Charles disciplined himself daily through rigorous Scriptural study, reading the church fathers, and prayer. For Charles, much like the early church Fathers he studied, the Bible was not seen primarily as a history book but rather as a testimony to an ongoing saving reality. He was so saturated in Biblical knowledge that a thorough study of his hymns hardly finds a line that is not somehow tied to a passage of Scripture. He spoke the Bible so fluently, moving through Scriptural images, vocabulary, and references, it felt as if his tongue knew no other way to speak. In fact, Charles could not see his own experience of Christ outside of the scriptures, seeing allegorical connections of Biblical events to those in his own life. This is perhaps most evident in, “Wrestling Jacob” (read it here: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comeotho.htm).
Though his hymns are deeply embedded with theology, Charles was not a theologian, at least in the contemporary sense that a theologian is one who critiques and develops systematic theologies. Yet, it could easily be claimed that the fullness of Methodist theology was composed through Charles Wesley’s hymns. Charles found the hymn form as a way to communicate his pastoral concerns. His hymns became a method of theological reflection through praise, prayer, and study. They were as much devotional as they were worshipful. Simply knowing or remembering right doctrine and theology, however, was not Charles’ reasoning for including such theological reflection in his hymns. A large part of his role as a songwriter was to keep theology related to both service and worship of God.
It was upon the experience of Christ in the life of the believer that Charles Wesley began to find a specific message in his songwriting. Lyrical expression was more than a cathartic experience for his soul. Instead, Charles deeply felt the importance of communicating the theme of God’s universal invitation to salvation. This led to his and John’s development of a hymn collection that would trace the journey of an individual through faith, resulting in A Collection of Hymns for the use of People Called Methodists. Remembering that Charles was devoted to the Anglican Church, the Methodist societies met initially as supplementary meetings to Anglican worship services. It was in this context the hymnbook was used to help focus spiritual growth from the time of conversion to the incorporation with the fellowship of believers. The hymnbook gave the believers a guide through song to experience the life of Christ, the seasons of the church, and the sacraments. Since these hymns were so deeply embedded with scripture, the hymnbook served also as a guide to show how the Bible speaks into every action of worship and moment of life. Hence it was for Charles Wesley that the inner experience of salvation was manifest through Scriptural testimony in lyrical praise of God.
It cannot be overlooked that these hymns were also written for worship. Understanding that holiness was a central focus in early Methodism, it is important to recognize that the hymnbook prepared a holy people to enter into holy worship. Everything from the preaching to the singing reflected holiness. This holiness was grounded in such a deep knowledge of Scripture that it provided a particular grammar. Scripture was the language on the tongues of the Methodist people, whether spoken or sung. The entirety of the spiritual life was found in and encompassed by the Scriptures. The Scriptures then provided a language in which praise could return to God in worship.
Unfortunately, Scripture often is not the language spoken in the church today. Church leaders often do not have a grammar of Scripture, and the congregation frequently does not reflect it in worship.
Holiness requires discipline. It requires taking the time to know the Scriptures. It requires the care of learning a new language to the point of speaking it fluently. It requires the humility of allowing it to speak into every season and action of life. It requires using the voice of Scripture in praising and proclaiming Christ.
Just as we need to be a people of one book, so also we need to be a people of one language – Scripture. What does the lack of Scriptural language in our churches say about how we view the experience of Christ’s salvation in our lives? Does the pursuit of holiness die when the Scriptural testimony of our lives ceases to speak? Does our worship tend to be less holy?
Let us work together to reclaim holy living and holy worship by committing ourselves to this powerful language.