"Thanks Sophie..."
Yesterday was a historic day for Methodists. A Facebook friend posted the entry from John Wesley's journal, written on August 8, 1737 in Savannah, Georgia. John and Brother Charles were in Georgia as Anglican missionaries. All had not gone well. John had fallen in love with Sophie Hopkey and when she married someone else...well, here's the entry:
"Sunday, August 7, 1737, I repelled Mrs. Williamson from the Holy Communion. On Monday, August 8, Mr. Recorder of Savannah issued out the warrant: 'to all constables and others to whom it may concern, you are hereby required to take the body of John Wesley and bring him before the bailiffs of the said town to answer the complaint of Mr. Williamson for defaming his wife Sophia and refusing to administer her the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper'."
The rest, as they say, is history. John Wesley skedaddled himself over the county line and out of the country. In another journal entry on shipboard Wesley writes "I went to American to convert the Indians, but oh, who will convert me?" Out of that personal tragedy and professional failure, Wesley would ultimately come to Aldersgate and the moment of his own new faith when he would "feel his heart strangely warmed" and the fire of the Wesleyan revival would spread from there.
I met with a person yesterday who is coming through his own personal crisis and professional disaster. Yet out of the difficulty of the past few months, he is finding new strength and new courage. I talked with a family last week who lost a loved one and in the midst of their grief, you could see the strength of their family surrounding them with love. You don't look for failure, sorrow, disappointment and despair, but sometimes it is in those moments that the miracle of God's love and grace comes through. I remember someone somewhere saying "I learned more in the darkness than I did in the light." I think Wesley would agree.
So I guess we should say, "Thank you, Sophie." Because of his experience as a jilted lover, a failed missionary and a discouraged faith, Mr. Wesley came to know the redeeming love of a transforming God and the whole world has been warmed by the flame. Maybe August 7 is a day Methodists should celebrate more often.
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