What's Up with the Wesley Stuff?

picture of John Wesley's sitting room, New Room, Bristol

taken by Donna Fowler-Marchant, June 2017

The Apostles' Creed, used by millions of Christians for hundreds of years, contains the expression "communion of saints," and devout Methodists dutifully roll those words off their tongues whenever it is the chosen confession on a given Sunday.  Ever wonder what it means?  Well, Methodists, like most Protestants, tend to use the word "saints" in a somewhat slippery fashion.  Sometimes it specifically refers to women and men who were canonized by the Catholic Church before the Reformation, sometimes it simply refers to people who have been recognized as being exceptionally good examples of faith, and sometimes it is used to denote any and all Christians.  Drawing on the beautiful words from Hebrews about the great cloud of witnesses, the idea of saints dead and alive still being held by God in each other's presence has brought comfort to many a weary and burdened soul.

Given the latter two possible understandings of "saints," it's not hard to see why one might term John Wesley a saint.  By any standard, the man was a follower of Christ, and it is safe to say that he lived an exemplary life of service, prayer, worship, and mission.  He was dedicated to pursuing a life of holiness powered by the Holy Spirit, and though his methods (pun intended) might seem odd or extreme to modern sensibilities, his commitment to sharing God's love and the gospel of Jesus Christ was undeniable.

Given that Methodists don't have quite the same level of awe for those we term "saints" as do our Catholic sisters and brothers, and given that we don't believe relics of long-dead saints to be objects of exceptional piety and power, it is curious that there are so many artifacts of Wesley and representations of him in existence.  There was an explosion of the creation of Staffordshire and Wedgewood as well as other pottery figurines of John Wesley after his death. The oddest examples of his likeness in the 19th century were fashioned from the vertebrae of horses or other large animals  and were available at cheap prices so that any devout Wesleyan Methodist could purchase an image to commemorate their beloved "Father" in the home and express their affiliation with the movement bearing his name.

The World Methodist Museum at Lake Junaluska, the New Room in Bristol, Wesley's Chapel in London, the John Rylands in Manchester, and the Old Rectory in Epworth are among the many places special to Methodists with significant numbers of these and other artifacts.  Since we are not Catholic, you will never hear them referred to as "relics" but as artifacts and more broadly as items of "Wesleyana."  The picture above is of my own Wedgewood Wesley plate, one of the prettiest examples of such Wesleyana, but there are dozens of other types of memorabilia, including candlesticks, scissors, glasses, preaching bands, and pieces of furniture that have been lovingly assembled and displayed.  Below is a photograph of a small selection from the New Room in Bristol, taken by Scott Marchant in June 2017 --

There are authenticated locks of Wesley's hair and even a copy of his death mask at the World Methodist Museum (these two pictures taken from https://methodistmuseum.com/artifacts/) --

Now, you may think this is weird or even morbid, or you may think it is fascinating beyond words, but either way, have you ever wondered why it is that Methodists feel the need to preserve and display these tangible evidences of the life and faith of John Wesley?  We even have Wesley bobbleheads available through Cokesbury, for Pete's sake!  What is that all about?  I mean, how many Lutherans or Presbyterians do you know who have figurines of major figures of their traditions?  Did anyone even make representations of Calvin or Knox or Luther, for that matter?

These bits of Wesleyana are special for a number of reasons, I suspect.  Not that we think they hold the power to heal or mystically change someone's life, but they are special, nonetheless. Just as some people collect baseball cards or put posters of their favorite musicians on the wall, some of us Methodists like having a little piece of history that we can turn to as a reminder not just of John Wesley or other early Methodists but as a symbol of the whole great cloud of witnesses.  These bits of hair or pottery or riding crops are visible reminders that these were real people with real lives whose belongings still witness to the Word of God in Jesus Christ as we behold them in our real lives here and now.

I would argue that Wesleyana serves an even greater purpose than that.  It reminds us that we worship a living God whose Word actually took on human flesh in the Incarnation, and though we have nothing that Jesus wore or made or touched, he, too, was a real person with a real life who still has a word of love and salvation for you and me in our very real lives today.  And if looking at a curl of hair or a pair of spectacles or some other "Wesley stuff" points us towards that, then Wesleyana and John Wesley himself will have served their purpose as vehicles of the good news of God's grace.