Category: John Wesley

Wesley is funny.


Photo by flickr user Serendigity.

On this day in Wesley’s journal, we have an entry from 1760 in which Wesley discusses the problems that Ireland has faced over the years. He bases his thoughts on a book written by Sir John Davis (which may be Sir John Davies, but I haven’t looked thoroughly) regarding the history of Ireland, and it’s interesting stuff, especially since it discusses issues which still resonate in Ireland. No, that’s not funny.

What’s funny is the entry above it, from January 16th:

One came to me, as she said, with a message from the Lord, to tell me that I was laying up treasures on earth, taking my ease, and minding only my eating and drinking. I told her God knew me better; and if He had sent her, He would have sent her with a more proper message.

I love that God worked through this man. It gives me hope that I can overcome my often sarcastic, petulant attitude.

Christian non-Christian music


It now seems trite for a Christian to say “I don’t like contemporary Christian music”, but somebody’s still buying all those cds and concert tickets or there would be no market. And actually, there’s such a broad range of Christian music now that you can’t lump it all together. Several people I know recommended Derek Webb, and that has kept me looking for good Christian music and finding lots of songs and streams that I hadn’t seen before because of the tangled thickets of theologically and musically worthless songs that hid them.

However, I also like songs that have themes that are Christian even though they’re not made for a specifically Christian audience. Musically these songs are often superior to Christian songs because they’re not necessarily starting out with the message in mind. As a good Wesleyan, I see prevenient grace in these songs. God calls even when people may not realize the call is there.

This video is not a complex example of this idea. It’s obviously a humanist perspective. You don’t have to be Christian to appreciate it. It’s also not a new song, just an old one that I came at through a twitter search. The producer’s name is Christian Falk. It’s not a type of music that I am drawn to, but it’s worth hearing.

Yancey on Wesley

Christianity Today has a brief article by Philip Yancey about his travels through England while reading Wesley. It’s worth a read.

One of our most difficult challenges as Christians is to order our desires—to maintain a proper balance between our investment in this world and in the next.

Article is here.