Explain
Last Sunday I was involved in a worship service that included the Apostles’ Creed. Over the years I observed...
General Conference
Most people who read the South Georgia Advocate are United Methodists. While we have our first allegiance to...
Dave Hanson
Reverend Dave Hanson
John Wesley's Women - #1
“Did John Wesley ever marry?”
A Very Special Chalice
John Wesley loved communion and tried to have it every day. He called it a “converting sacrament” and insisted that it be open to all who repent of their sins, intend to live a new life following the commandments of God, and are in love and fellowship with their neighbors. He was thrilled when his own mother, at the age of 70 and after a lifetime of serving God and the Church, said that while she was taking Holy Communion she suddenly realized that Jesus gave his body and blood for her.
We have a mystery on our hands
A farmer plowing in his field near Geneva, Ga. around 1967 found a box containing three beautiful silver communion items. The chalice, a plate, and a pitcher were made near Boston by the Reed & Barton Company. Engravings on the items read:
John Wesley Moment: Slavery Today?
There was never any doubt in John Wesley’s mind about the evil of slavery. As he understood the gospel of Jesus Christ, he also understood its application toward justice for all. He said in his last letter, written just before his death to William Wilberforce who was fighting slavery in England, “Unless the divine Power has raised you up ... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England and of human nature ... O be not weary in well-doing. Go on in the name of God and in the power of His might till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it.”
John Wesley Moment: Does it Really Matter?
Nope! The color of John Wesley’s hair doesn’t really matter, does it? But some of us “history nuts” are intrigued by the question. Most biographies of Wesley say that his hair was long and auburn colored. However, more than one biographer claims that it was jet black. In Tanzania at a pastor’s workshop on Wesley some years ago I was telling about all this and one of the native pastors commented, “It really doesn’t matter what color Wesley’s hair was or if he had a hooked nose, etc ...” What John Wesley did and said is more important than the color of his hair or the shape of his nose. Even more important than what Wesley did and said is what God did through him and wants to do today through the Church He founded.