SUSANNA WESLEY: MOTHER OF METHODISM Opening Narration: (Read Luke 8:1-3). Some historians believe Susanna Wesley was named after the woman in today’s Gospel lesson who financially supported the ministry of Jesus and the disciples. During her long and difficult life, Susanna Wesley supported her family in every way possible. As the wife of Anglican priest Samuel Wesley, she gave birth to 19 children, 10 survived childhood. Two of them, John & Charles, were used by God to begin the Methodist movement, which brought renewal and revival to the Church of England, and the world, in the 18th century. On this Mother’s Day, let us remember this godly woman who said her purpose in life was “devoted to saving her children’s souls.” Script: Using railroad timetables, I structured my 19 children’s lives into segments: farming, cleaning, playing, home schooling, eating and sleeping, six days a week, six hours a day. Crying was not allowed in our home, we didn’t have time for it. The Sabbath was a day of worship and rest. My husband Samuel was the pastor of Epworth parish, here in England. Our son John was methodical in his focus and dedication to the renewal of the Church. He accepted the Methodist label, which was intended to be an insult to the Holy Club at Oxford, where he studied for the priesthood. People say he received his “temperament, methodical trait and rational mind” from me. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult. But when toddler John was miraculously saved from the 3rd floor of the parsonage fire that destroyed our possessions, I knew God had a special work for him, and I told him so. As an adult, he was touched by fire again, this time by the fire of the Holy Spirit, which made his heart “strangely warm.” I taught him and all my children to awaken English Christians from the spiritual apathy that was destroying the church. Holiness of heart and life, is what God requires. My own father, also an Anglican priest, made sure his daughters as well as his sons were education -- highly unusual at the time. I developed a hunger for knowledge, learned several languages and developed a wide vocabulary, which I passed on to my children. When I could not find appropriate teaching materials, I wrote manuals on The Apostle’s Creed, The Ten Commandments and The Christian Doctrines. They became the basis for our home schooling. I also taught the value of living the spiritual disciplines -- the means of grace -- and we all kept daily journals. This is “a good way to lead a rigidly self-examined life.” Of course, you cannot be a good mother without being a good wife. I supported my husband’s ministry 100 percent. When he traveled to church conferences, I taught Bible lessons and read his sermons in the kitchen to parishioners who did not feel welcome in the church. Most of our parishioners could not read. The attendance grew from 20 to 200, and that caused quite a few problems in the parish and our home, believe you me. Later, John and Charles preached the gospel outdoors, enduring poverty, sickness and ridicule from sometimes violent mobs, in all types of weather. Quite a few problems, indeed! As the renewal movement grew, I counseled John to allow lay men, and even a few lay women, to preach. Well, why shouldn’t they, if God calls them to preach, who are we to say they must be ordained? This is how lay speakers and licensed local pastors began within the Methodist movement. I’ve lead a full and blessed life, with nothing to complain about -- thanks be to God. When I die, I want my family to sing a hymn as I pass away to glory. “My greatest contribution to the world is my children.” Closing Narration: John Wesley preached both of his parent’s funerals. Here is part of a letter that Father Samuel Wesley wrote to son John in the early 1700s: “You know what you owe to one of the best mothers …. l often reflect on the tender and peculiar love which your mother has always expressed towards you, the deep affliction, both of body and mind, which she underwent for you, both before and after your birth; the particular care she took of your education when she struggled with so many pains and infirmities; and, above all, the wholesome and sweet motherly advice and counsel which she has often given you to fear God, to take care of your soul, as well as your learning, to shun all vicious practices and bad examples…. You will not forget to evidence this by supporting and comforting her in her age…and do nothing which may justly displease and grieve her, or show you unworthy of such a mother…. In short, reverence and love her as much as you will…. For though I should be jealous of any other rival in your heart, yet I will not be of her: the more duty you pay her and the more frequently and kindly you write to her, the more will you please your affectionate father, Samuel Wesley.” (Susanna Wesley: The Mother of John and Charles Wesley, Arnold A. Dallimore, 1993, Baker Books). Susanna Wesley was held in high esteem by the people of England. Near the end of her life they said she reminded them of the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31:10-31 (read). |