“SOCIAL HOLINESS” – A SERMON FOR ALDERSGATE SUNDAY
(Anniversary of the Conversion
of John Wesley)
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What good will it be for a man if he gains
the whole world,
yet forfeits his soul? Matthew 16:26
Today is Aldersgate
Sunday. This is the day when in the
Methodist tradition
we give thanks for the life of John Wesley.
You can see his portrait on the wall over there –
and the table on which he allegedly stood to preach whilst here in Exeter.
John Wesley was converted on 24 May 1738 at a meeting in Aldersgate
St in London
– and so every year on the nearest Sunday in May we celebrate Aldersgate Sunday
and give thanks for the life and witness of John Wesley.
A dozen years after that conversion experience, on 30 January 1751 to
be precise,
John Wesley, having received “a pressing letter”,
set out at the crack of dawn with a small group of friends
to ride through icy weather and biting winds –
Why? To vote in the parliamentary elections at Oxford.
A friend’s horse slipped & was injured on the way.
“Nevertheless” records Wesley in his Journal,
“about seven in the evening God brought us safe to Oxford.
A congregation was waiting for me at Mr Evans’,
whom I immediately addressed in these awful words,
‘What is man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own
soul?”
(John Wesley’s Journal)
So, in the words of a modern writer,
“Here we see (John Wesley) citizen of two worlds,
prepared to travel at some hazard to life and limb
to participate in the affairs of an earthly kingdom,
but exhorting his hearers to set their affections on a heavenly realm”
(David Guy in “John Wesley,
Contemporary Perspectives” Epworth 1988
p.115)
Like Wesley we need to keep
one eye on heaven & the other on earth –
never losing sight of our ultimate heavenly goal,
our destination and vision, yet neither forgetting the Lord’s Prayer –
“Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven”
Today is also the Sunday after
Ascension Day.
A time when we recall how Jesus ascended to Heaven.
At first sight the ascension may look like a retreat
and escape from earthly trials and tribulations.
Quite the reverse – in ascending to Heaven
Jesus is proclaiming that his victory over sin and evil
is not just some small temporary contingent event in the 1st Century
Middle East –
it is the manifestation in human history of God’s ultimate victory
over evil and death in all times and places
To follow the risen and
ascended Christ
means to live both as citizens of both earth and Heaven, -
knowing our ultimate place in heaven
but refusing to abandon or escape from earthly life.
As Wesley’s contemporary Blake
knew,
we may live amidst the dark satanic mills
but that doesn’t mean that we sell our souls to the mill owners
or accept the values of the earthly powers that be – far from it.
We may live amidst the dark satanic mills
but we can settle for nothing less than the Heavenly Jerusalem
built on a green and pleasant land….
So Wesley encouraged his
followers to live out Kingdom values
amidst the dark and dirty paths of earthly life:
¨ He
preached against slavery not just in general
but quite specifically to the merchants and citizens of Bristol
whose wealth and livelihood depended on the slave trade.
And I wonder what Wesley would have preached
to the arms manufacturers of 21st Century Britain?
“What is man profited if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?”
¨ He
preached against amassing unnecessary wealth.
Margaret Thatcher was always fond of quoting Wesley’s advice
to work as hard as you can and save as much as you can.
I seem to recall she sometimes omitted to stress
the last part of Wesley’s sermon – give all you can.
Wesley was a prolific writer and earned huge sums during his life –
it has been estimated that he earned in modern monetary terms
the equivalent of maybe £15M during his life.
When he died he left a few coins and a couple of silver spoons –
the rest he had given away.
“What is man profited if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?”
¨ Wesley
worked and gave to set up all kinds of
charitable and
benevolent institutions – helping orphans and widows
in an age which had very little by way of a welfare state.
But Wesley’s charity was very different from the
patronizing and paternalistic charity of the later Victorian age.
Oliver Twist was not allowed seconds of gruel –
but as he was turned away the trustees of the Orphanage
ate in splendour in another room.
Not so Wesley – he and his preachers would sit down
and share a meal with those they were caring for –
no top table here.
And these meals shared with the outcast and the marginalised,
Wesley saw as sacramental experiences –
foretastes of the Heavenly banquet prepared for all people.
And again I wonder how Wesley would cope
with the economic dual standards of our Global Village –
our generation’s ability to dictate rules for the good of the poor
whilst living on a totally different scale ourselves.
(If you haven’t handed in a Christian Aid envelope yet, it still isn’t too
late).
“What is man profited if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Today’s sermon title is
“Social Holiness” -
Throughout much of Christian History,
many have seen two very different paths towards Christian holiness and
sanctity.
(a) There were the “Religious” meaning those who had made
special commitments to withdraw from the world
and live in monasteries and nunneries –
they were seeking to live holy lives unsullied by earthly temptation and
distraction.
(b) Then there were the ordinary lay Christians –
they lived in the world with all its ambiguities
and consequently were often thought exempt
from many of the rigours of Godly holy living.
So (to link this back to the Ascension) there were the religious
who were already mentally following Christ to heaven
and had effectively left the world behind,
and then there were the ordinary folk,
who had their feet on the ground
but were not expected to look heavenward before they died.
And into this came Wesley
preaching Scriptural Holiness for all his followers –
by which he meant this:
As a follower of Christ you
are not to confine yourself
to the Cathedral Cloister or the Monastery Garden –
rather you are to go out into the highways and byways,
amidst the dark satanic mills, where cross the crowded ways of life…..
And there - – in those places – live holy lives.
Here was a secular monasticism,
which took the values of heaven
and lived them in the midst of urban sin and squalor.
Well it is always good to
remember the Saints who have gone before us –
to give thanks for their lives and to seek to learn from them
Here in this Methodist Chapel
I hope that
we can be forgiven some pride in remembering John Wesley.
The question is – can we be
true to his vision and example? If so,
¨ We
need to remember that conversion is just the start of our spiritual journey –
it is followed by a lifetime striving for holiness and spiritual perfection.
¨ We are
to seek social holiness and worldly sanctity –
that is, we need to be in the world but not of it.
¨ That
means that we need to remain permanently dissatisfied
with our own lives and the nature of this world -
It means never ceasing the struggle,
never settling for anything less than heavenly perfection on earth below,
never ceasing till we have replaced the dark satanic mills with God’s new
Jerusalem –
in short never being satisfied with anything short of heaven on earth.
Praise God for his promise of
heaven to come.
Let us start living heavenly lives now!
ORDER OF SERVICE
Aldersgate Sunday, 20
May 2007
10.30 am Holy
Communion led by Rev Andrew Sails
Hymn 278
“Ye servants of God”
Prayers
Bible
Reading: John 17:13-19 (p.1085)
Choir: Purcell – “Rejoice in the Lord”
Bible
Reading: Acts 1:6-11 (p.1092)
Hymn 726 “God of all
power”
Sermon:
“Social Holiness”
Hymn “Lord for
the years”
[©
Timothy Dudley Smith
NH&WS 204 CCLI No
58752]
World Methodist Council Social Affirmation
Leader: We believe in God, creator of the
world and of all people;
and in Jesus
Christ, incarnate among us, who died and rose again;
and in the Holy
Spirit, present with us to guide, strengthen & comfort
People: We believe ;
God, help our unbelief.
Leader: We rejoice in every sign of God's
Kingdom;
in the
upholding of human dignity and community;
in every expression of love, justice and reconciliation;
in each act of self-giving on behalf of others;
in the abundance of God's gifts
entrusted to us that all may have enough;
in all responsible use of the earth's resources.
People: Glory be to God
on high; and on earth, be peace .
Leader: We confess our sin, individual and
collective,
by silence or action:
through the violation of human dignity
based on race, class, age, sex, nation, or faith;
through the exploitation of people
because of greed and indifference
through the misuse of power
in personal, communal, national, and international life;
through the search for security
by those military and economic forces
that threaten human existence;
through the abuse of technology
which endangers the earth and all life upon it.
People: Lord, have mercy;
Christ have mercy
Lord, have mercy.
Leader: We commit ourselves individually and
as a community
to the way of Christ:
to take up the cross;
to seek abundant life for all humanity;
to struggle for peace with justice and freedom;
to risk ourselves in faith, hope, and love,
praying that God's kingdom may come.
The kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
People: Amen .
[Adopted by the World Methodist Council 1986 In Kenya]
Prayers and Lord’s Prayer
The Peace
Minister: The
peace of the Lord be always with you
People: And also with you
(Members of the congregation are
invited to turn to those around about them and offer a handshake or other symbol
of peace)
(The Young People join us from their
sessions)
Hymn 267 "Love divine" (KHB 55)
(During this
hymn, the collection will be taken and bread, wine and money will be brought
forward)
1. 하나님의 크신 사랑 하늘로서 내리사
우리 맘에 항상 계셔 온전하게 합소서
나의 주는 자비하사 사랑 무한 하시니
두려워서 떠는 자를 구원하여 줍소서
2. 전능하신 아버지여 주의 능력 주시고
우리맘에 임하셔서 떠나가지 맙소서
주께 영광 항상돌려 천사처럼 섬기며
주의 사랑 영영토록 찬송하게 합소서
3. 우리들이 거듭나서 흠이없게 하시고
주의 크신 구원 받아 온전하게 합소서
영광에서 영광으로 천국까지 이르러
크신 사랑 감격하여 경배하게 합소서
Holy Communion
[Eucharistic Prayers adapted from Ann Lewin, “Words by the Way”© Ann Lewin
2005]
Hymn 616 “Lord
enthroned”
Korean Blessing.
English
Blessing
Dubois “Offertoire
pour la fete de l’Ascension”