Fun Wesley Facts

For those of you who know Dr. Dick Heitzanrater, you also know that he has a wry sense of humor, but you also know that he is a top-notch Wesley scholar, having taught at Duke Divinity School for many years. This post is based on his forthcoming essay. So no matter what you've learned or read about Wesley, here's the real scoop.

We all know the Wesley Grace: "Be present at our table Lord, be here and everywhere adored..." and so it goes. This was originally a poem by John Cennick, one of Wesley's early preachers. Even if Wesley used it, he was not its creator.

Then there is "Wesley's Rule": "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." This saying was attributed to Wesley as early as 1904 by George Eayrs and is then cited in Bartlett's Famous Quotations, but the best that we can say is that it sounds like something Wesley might have said. There is no evidence that he actually said it at all.

Wesley was a phenomenon in his own day with many followers and detractors. But the truth about the man is not as important as the content of his message and the presence of Christ in his life. Wesley lived out his faith the best he could. As Methodists, we can do no less.

Grace, Kathy