John Wesley relayed the following account in his Journal on January 1, 1739:
Mr. Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother Charles were present at our love feast in Fetter Lane, with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his Majesty, we broke out with one voice, "We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord!"
It is unfortunate that some people present a false dichotomy between the freedom and spontaneity expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit and the formal liturgy of the Church. They pit "revivalism" over against "sacramentalism" and "formalism." It is even more unfortunate when those within the Wesleyan camp do this.
John Wesley, on the other hand, held all of this together. He was committed to extemporaneous prayer and to the written prayers of the Church. He gathered for extemporaneous prayer meetings and for the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. He was committed to God at work through the revival and through the sacraments. For him, the Methodist Society Meetings were essential, and so was the corporate worship of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
Further, the above excerpt of Wesley's Journal is an example of these complimentary commitments. In the quote, one finds a love feast and apparent spontaneous prayer, along with the manifest power of God in their midst. What is interesting is the response of those Anglicans. With one voice they declared, "We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord!" - This is a quote of the Te Deum Laudamus, a prayer from the 4th Century. It was known to those faithful Anglicans, because it was a regular response to the Old Testament lesson during the Daily Office of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.
Wesleyan Christians, particularly those from the Holiness and free church branches of Wesleyanism would do well to embrace those forms of worship that helped to shaped John Wesley's faith, as well as the development of his understanding of holiness of heart and life. They are not opposed to life in the Spirit. They are vital conduits of such spiritual life.
No comments:
Post a Comment