DAY 5

M0RNING

PSALMS 24–26

Psalm 25:4 “Show me your ways, O Lord teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour.”

Zinzendorf and Herrnhut

John Wesley was impressed not only by the Moravians’ piety and good works but by their calm assurance of faith during storms at sea, something he lacked. In Wesley’s day Moravianism was a new movement with ancient roots. In 1722 a
small group of Moravians had settled on Count von Zinzendorf’s estate at what was called Herrnhut. Zinzendorf saw these new Moravian communities as a way to extend dramatically the ‘ecclesiolae in ecclesia’ or ‘little churches within the church’ approach to church renewal. The Moravians on board The Simonds were travelling from Germany to the Americas.

Wesley remained in contact with the Moravians during his two years in Georgia, including August Spangenberg, who was
a missionary. While in Georgia, Wesley experimented with some changes, such as hymn-singing and using lay men and women in parish work. What he saw as genuine attempts to recover early Christianity by the Moravians he put into practice himself. Wesley had a zeal for holiness which in turn became “a passionate desire to bring a new vitality to church” and build “a modern Christian community” in one Anglican parish. 51

However, although there was genuine 
zeal in Wesley and a strong desire for early Christianity to be restored, the energy
and motivation was largely his own. As a missionary for the society for the propagation of the Gospel, which detailed strict rules for its missionaries, Wesley did much in an effort to obey the instructions of the society. Wesley was very strict in his discipline and much of his work in Georgia was driven by his own efforts, and not by a confidence in the grace of God.

Prayer

Lord, show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth. Lord, you guide the humble in what is right. Show me where I am proud and confident in my own strength and abilities. I yield to you, Lord. I yield my dreams, my goals and my aspirations to you, Lord, and I take them to the cross. Come and have your way in me, Lord. Be my teacher, Lord, for you are my God and my Saviour.

51 Snyder, H. The Radical Wesley and patterns for Church Renewal, 18, 19, 21.

DAY 5

EVENING

PSALMS 27–28

Psalm 27:5 “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe.”

Leaving Georgia

Wesley did not hide the main
reason for his mission to Georgia
in America, which was for his own personal spiritual growth. “My chief motive, to which all the rest are subordinate,” he 
said, “is the hope of saving my own soul.”52 
He wrote in a letter, “I hope to learn the true sense of the Gospel of Christ by preaching it to the heathen ... They have no comments 
to construe away the text. They are as little children, humble, willing to learn, and eager to do the will of God; and consequently they shall know of every doctrine I preach whether it be of God. By these therefore I hope to 
learn the purity of the faith which was once delivered to the saints.”53 However, life in Georgia was very different from all that he anticipated and it was no long before his illusions were dashed.54

Although Wesley did not actually resign from his position in Georgia, he effectively ran away from a situation that had become, largely because of his clumsiness, completely impossible. As a result of repelling Sophy Williamson, a member of his congregation, from Holy Communion, legal proceedings were taken up against him. before her marriage he had been romantically involved with her, and this exacerbated the situation considerably. Wesley was angry and fed up and left Georgia in disgust. In the official list of early settlers there is a record of Wesley’s departure, with a short entry “run away”.
On his arrival back in England, Wesley reached a critical point in his life and ministry. He had come to see how futile his whole spiritual journey had been. It had been simply a refined way of trusting in his own works. He now saw at last the futility of this course. What could he do next? He did not know. However God had it all in hand.55

This was the end of a chapter for John Wesley. He had to face the fact that all his attempts to earn salvation had resulted in despair. Realising that his ecclesiastical rigour had been fruitless was the main thing that he had gained from the Georgia experience. His ecclesiastical rigour had led him to a dead end and he knew it. Another positive result from his missionary endeavour was his encounter with the Moravians and the importance that they attached to the doctrines of “justification by faith” and “personal conversion”.56

Prayer

Lord, we pray for those who are living lives of quiet desperation, and who do not know that there is a free gift of salvation that does not need to be earned but has been paid for at a price. You are our Deliverer, who rescues us from all our troubles who saves us from all despair. Rescue us and save us. We pray for the end of one chapter and the beginning of the new. Turn the page, Lord, and do a new thing in our land!

52 Wesley, J. Letters, Volume 1, 188 to John Burton, 10 October 1735.

53 Wesley, J. Letters, Volume 1, 188 to John Burton, 10 October 1735.

54 Skevington-Wood, The burning heart, 51.


55 Skevington-Wood, The burning heart, 56, 57.

56 Skevington-Wood, The burning heart, 57, 58.