Meditation for Aldersgate Day (May 24)

(The Rev. John Wesley at Oxford)
(The Aldersgate Flame memorial, London)

I felt my heart strangely warmed…” The immortal words of John Wesley describing his moment of awareness of having his sins forgiven are quoted frequently in United Methodist circles. Often, however, they are used jokingly to refer to some silliness. I know I’ve done it - haven’t you?

But Wesley’s experience on May 24th of 1738 was anything but silly. It was the culmination of years of study and effort, doubt and faith. He was trying to describe in his journal something that goes beyond words. He was trying to describe what he felt like when he finally “got it” that all this religious business was about him.

In a shift of perspective, listening with differently attuned ears, Wesley understood that God’s love made known in Jesus Christ wasn’t withheld from him. He understood that love was not something to be understood only in the mind, but felt in the heart or soul. And for some reason, led by the Spirit beyond Wesley’s control, that soul-knowing arose in his consciousness.

I think sometimes we joke about things because they are so serious, even frightening. In our own spiritual journeys, those times of close encounter with God bring a whole variety of possible emotions: Comfort, relief, awe, fear, peace, tears, laughter, quiet, an urge to tell. We know what Wesley meant by a heart strangely warmed. It was his attempt to describe the ineffable knowing of God’s touch on his life.

I like to think that it wasn’t the only time he felt his heart so warmed. I like to think that his life continued to be drawn into that space of mystery, and out of those ongoing experiences came his mature theology of grace.

“My heart strangely warmed” may be a quaint description, but it is a useful one. Just as hearts can grow cold or be made of stone, so can they warm up and be pliable and open. It is the open heart that is the God-filled heart. It is the giving heart that is the spirit-led heart.

This Aldersgate Day is a good time to take our own heart’s temperature in memory of Wesley’s experience. So much in the world today contributes to a cynical heart, an unbelieving heart, a hurting heart. But the same grace that opened Wesley’s mind and heart to God’s personal and saving love is still in our world today. Where and when we next encounter that grace is a matter of the spirit, but certainly we can be attentive and expectant. God’s love, after all, is meant for you and me as well.

Kristin L. Sachen is Assistant General Secretary, UMCOR, of the General Board of Global Ministries.