Adam and I shared a short conversation after teaching the youth in which we pondered the percentage of people (nice alliteration, right?) in our congregation, more particularly adults, who know who John Wesley was and why his name is associated with our denomination. It's an interesting question - How many of our congregants would be able to speak intelligently on John Wesley? By "intelligently," what I mean is who could give us more than: "He felt his heart strangely warmed and 'bam' there was Methodism"?
I've been a Methodist for ten years now, and I am able to give a pretty decent account of John Wesley's life. It's not without its holes, but it is passable. I want to encourage you to do some research on his life. In his life is the root of our movement as Methodists. You can very easily find fairly comprehensive biographies through search engines or even at the library.
I am calling this on-going blog article "Meet Your Maker," because with it, I plan on taking you by the hand as I read John Wesley's teachings. Once a week, you will find yet another volume of this post here on the SOTHblog in which I will post an excerpt from one of his teachings and comment on it. My hopes are that you will not only join in the commentary by posting your own thoughts, but that you would also grow a greater understanding of some of the foundational thoughts behind our particular set of beliefs.
If you are like me, you seek knowledge when it is readily available. As I sit in my office, I face four bookshelves full of books; many of them, as Adam showed me this afternoon, are devoted to the life and teachings of John Wesley. So I am taking what is readily available to me and making it readily available to you. Each week, you will literally be a click or two away from the same materials I have access to.
Join me each Friday as I expand my knowledge of what we profess each Sunday morning.
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