O let me commend my Savior to you!

This statue of Charles Wesley stands in the entrance to the newest part of the New Room in Bristol, and he is clearly impassioned.  You can almost hear him exclaim, "O let me commend my Savior to you!" (which is what the inscription on the bottom reads) 

The Wesleyan/Methodist revival was characterized by many things, not all of them theologically original, but THE theological distinctive that was the Wesleys' gift to the Church Universal was their firm conviction that one could be made perfect in love during one's earthly lifetime.  They believed that all have sinned,  that all can be saved, that all can know they are saved, and  that all can be saved to the uttermost.  

Christian perfection, also called entire sanctification, or holiness, is not something we can earn or achieve; it is a gift from God that we receive as we pray for it, attending on the ordinances of God, doing acts of mercy and piety, and actively seeking to live our lives motivated only by love of God and neighbor.  As Gayle Felton, my professor at Meredith and at Duke Divinity School put it, "It is possible, not because we are so good, but because God is so great!"

John and Charles Wesley, as well as the other early Methodist exhorters and preachers like Mary Bosanquet and Sarah Crosby, firmly believed this and preached it with great fervor, taught it in their classes, and sang it in their hymns.  It is part of the DNA of the United Methodist Church, and when we are ordained, we are asked if we are going on to perfection, if we are earnestly seeking it, and if we expect to be made perfect in this lifetime, and you better believe the bishop and other clergy expect the answer to be a firm and resounding YES!

Today, I ran across the manuscript of a Charles Wesley hymn that I had never heard of before.  It is a good example of this emphasis on being made perfect in love so that even though sin remained, it did not reign in one's heart.  Here it is, as I have attempted to transcribe it from Charles' lovely but small script --

Come, Lord, with thy disciples sit

Assembled in thy name

And let us kiss thy bleeding feet

And let us love the Lamb. 

Is this the time, say, Jesu, say

Wilt thou, O Lord, restore

Thy kingdom in our souls today

And bid us sin no more.

Now wilt thou make an end of sin

The kingdom of thy peace

The joy unspeakable bring in 

The perfect righteousness.

We wait till thou the gift impart

The unction from above

Come quickly, Lord, in every heart

Set up thy throne of love.

Or (for it is not ours to know)

The times by God assigned

Give us till thou thyself restore

An humble, patient mind.

Thee let us praise with one accord

And in thy temple say

Wait for the coming of the Lord

And without ceasing pray.

Still at Jerusalem abide

In prospect of thy peace

Till thou shalt in our hearts reside

And sin forever cease.

Give when thou wilt the blessing give

The kingdom from above

But let us all at last receive

The power of perfect Love.

On this day, may you, too earnestly seek for Jesus to set up his throne in your heart, to bless you with the power of perfect love, and to be made holy even as he is holy.  Remember and take comfort that the One who told us to be perfect even as God is perfect, is mighty and faithful to keep all promises made to us!  

O let me commend my Savior to you!

Amen.