February 26

I visited those that were sick.  One of these had kept her room for many months, so that she had never heard the voice or seen the face of any Preacher of this way: but God had taught her in the school of affliction.  She gave a plain and distinct account of the manner wherein she received a sense of her acceptance with God, more than a year before; and of a fuller manifestation of His love, of which she never doubted for a moment.  (February 26, 1743, emphasis in original)

It impresses me that Wesley always found time to visit people who were sick.  With all of his traveling, preaching, and checking in with different societies that he did, he still found time to visit the sick.

Many leaders in the Church today seem to forget about the importance of doing this.  Not that it's too surprising...   Pastors find themselves having to be preacher, teacher, program organizer, counselor, administrator, and sometimes janitor, among other things...  And to add visiting people in hospitals and nursing homes on top of that!

But Wesley did it.  And he didn't do it half-heartedly.  He describes this woman, whose only relationship with God, it seems, has come through her suffering.  This, along with Wesley saying that she hadn't heard the voice of a preacher 'of this way,' suggests that the woman wasn't even a member of one of his Societies.  On top of that, he didn't just stop by so that he could mark her off a list of people to visit, but took the time to find out where she was in her relationship with God, to really engage her and her faith.

February 18

There is an unfortunate thing that happens to some of us when we are in seminary...  We sometimes get so caught up in talking ABOUT God that we forget to talk TO God.  We spend a lot of time reading ABOUT God's word, but forget to read it for ourselves.

I find myself falling into this trap myself.  We talk so much about how to help people in their relationships with God in classes, that I just assume that I'm doing well myself.  I realized the other day that I hadn't picked up my bible outside of class and church in a few weeks.  I hate when that happens.

And then yesterday, I actually woke up at 7:30 when my alarm starts going off.  I showered, and then spent about an hour reading the Gospel of Mark.  And it was amazing.  And God is able to speak through the Bible, and Jesus is able to come alive in a way that reading about Jesus doesn't quite fill.

John Wesley's journal entry for February 18, 1743 addresses a similar issue.  Wesley writes:

February 16

I reached Epworth. I was to preach at six. But the house not being able to contain half the congregation, I went out and declared, "We love him, because he first loved us." (Wesley's Journal, Feb. 16, 1743)

This journal initially made me laugh. I picture Wesley preparing to preach, and finding out that even more people came than he expected. I imagine what many of us would do in our own churches: stressing out about how we don't have enough bulletins printed, how we don't have enough coffee made, and how big of a mess it's going to be to get out of the sanctuary in a timely fashion after the service ends promptly after an hour. And I bet not all of them are going to give... Twice as many people as we expect, but our collection isn't going to reflect that influx? This is going to look TERRIBLE to the Bishop...

Wesley's response is different.