A Moment With John Wesley: A Skit

Write the song printed below on newsprint or a blackboard large enough for all program participants to read, or make copies of it to hand out at the beginning of the program.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was apalled by the suffering of the poor and was very troubled by the misuse of money and accumulation of wealth. A saying from his 1760 sermon, "The Use of Money," exhorts believers to "gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can."

One of Charles Wesley's many songs about the poor includes the following verse. Let us sing it to the tune of "My Hope Is Built," No. 368, The United Methodist Hymnal.

Song: Listen to the Music

Thy mind throughout my life be shown,
While listening to the sufferer's cry,
The widow's and the orphan's groan,
On mercy's wings I swiftly fly,
The poor and helpless to relieve,
My life, my all, for them to give;
My life, my all, for them to give.

John, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield - 8298 Bytes
Charles Wesley, John Wesley, and George Whitefield (left to right)

John Wesley's message to the poor was that Christ died for them and calls everyone to a life of holiness and service. George Whitefield, a preacher in Mr. Wesley's circles, took this message to the fields and experienced dramatic results. The lives of coal miners, poor people and others on the bottom of English society were transformed. This led Mr. Wesley to break out of the formal pulpit. Imagine a scene between Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitefield:

Wesley: George! George! I know you are going to say "I told you so." It was so powerful. God is at work in the fields! I finally realized that Jesus did most of his preaching in the fields -- so why not try it?

Wesley: People heard God's word today who never would be allowed to sit in the pews of the church. The men who brew liquor sit proudly in their reserved pews but the poor miners get sucked into buying gin while their children go hungry. The poor heard the good news! They are turning from drink! They want a way out!

Whitefield: Now we can preach to thousands about Christ calling them to be new people. It's the first word of hope poor people have had all their lives.

Wesley: Pausing, in a more serious tone. George, I respect poor people. I know what it is to be poor. My mother had 19 children. Ten of us survived to be adults. She once had to go to the archbishop to ask for money for food. He had the gall to ask her, pompously, "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, have you ever really wanted for bread?" Back to normal tone. My mother looked him straight in the eye and said, "Strictly speaking, no. But, sometimes the agony of getting bread and paying for it has been the next degree of wretchedness to having none at all!"

Whitefield: Pausing. John, I had heard things were difficult for you. I'm sorry.

Wesley: Trying to brush it off. It was a struggle, but we survived. It was most difficult when my father was sent to debtors' prison. We were not sure he would ever get out. I was young, but I knew what they did to poor people. Thousands of men, women and children have been hung outside London for stealing a loaf of bread or pair of shoes. I can't help but think of our Lord hanging on a cross, suffering like the powerless.

Whitefield: Trying to lighten the mood. Praise God, you and your father survived.

Wesley: Yes, but so many people don't. The women and children who are beaten senseless by drunk husbands, the hopeless drunks who think they are condemned to hell -- we have to tell them they are no less than children of God, called to love and be loved.

Whitefield: John, they heard you today! Boldly. You stood up there and quoted Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." They heard you and gave their lives to Christ -- our loving Christ who can transform lives.

Wesley: Yes! And now we need to serve our sisters and brothers like they were Christ among us. We will all learn to serve.

Wesley and Whitefield: Slowly walk off stage together thinking out loud about ideas of service and economic development for the poor.

Wesley: I have dreamed of starting an orphanage and a school for the children.

Whitefield: We need to organize a soup kitchen, and heal those who are sick.

Wesley: My mother had some wonderful home remedies. We could put together a book to teach people how to be healthy.

Narrator: Mr. Wesley and the Methodists went on to build all these ministries of service and many more. Our church's mission work is based on the ministry of Christ who broke the chains of the poor and outcast. The Wesleys saw this clearly and the church still serves to this day. Let's sing Charles Wesley's words one more time.

Graphics
The drawing near the top of most the web pages for Holiness of Heart and Life depicts the Reverend John Wesley (1703-1791) at age 48. All of the black and white drawings have been scanned by Nancy A. Carter for the General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church from public domain nineteeth century or early twentieth century Methodist history books. Please acknowledge this web site, John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life, http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/, if you reproduce these. We now have some graphics available in high resolution format, suitable for print media.

J. Ann Craig is executive secretary for spiritual and theological development for the Women's Division.

Used with permission from Response Magazine (July-August 1996), copyright © 1996 the Women's Division. May be freely reproduced with credit to the author and the magazine for church educational purposes. For reproduction in sale items, contact the editor of the magazine for permission.

*To order the "Wesley Fair" script, contact J. Ann Craig, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 1501, New York, NY 10115, 212-870-3725. E-mail: acraig@gbgm-umc.org

John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life, the study book for United Methodist Women on John Wesley can be purchased in English, Spanish, or Korean.

A Moment With John Wesley

by J. Ann Craig