One of my favourite hymns in our Book of Praise, which unfortunately we very rarely sing, is And Can it Be That I Should Gain, by Charles Wesley. We sing many of Wesley’s hymns, and I have often wondered just who he was, that he seemed to be able to provide a hymn for every occasion. Our Book of Praise contains 19 of them. The Methodist hymn book Hymns and Psalms contains 150. I had a vague idea that he was a churchman, perhaps from the eighteenth century, but I knew nothing else except that he wrote a lot of hymns. (I didn’t know that the total was close to 9000!)
Charles Wesley was born on December 18, 1707, in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Susanna and Samuel Wesley and brother of John Wesley and eighteen other siblings. Ordained in the Anglican Church, he became a leader of the Methodist movement, which encouraged personal holiness and a disciplined (hence “methodical”) Christian life. He spent many years as an itinerant pastor, essentially preaching from the back of a horse, until at age forty-nine he no longer had the stamina to continue being “rain-soaked, frozen, poorly-fed, and assaulted by angry mobs.” He established residence in Bristol with his wife Sarah and the three of their eight children who survived infancy.
While searching around on the internet to find out more about Charles Wesley, I ran across a sermon preached on Feb 22, 1998, by Victor Shepherd, a Canadian Presbyterian minister, theology professor, and author living in Toronto. The sermon, entitled simply “Charles Wesley, 1707-1788”, is magnificent, and paints a picture of a brilliant, eccentric man who, in the throes of poetic inspiration would become almost deranged, totally unaware of his surroundings, unable to focus on anything at all until he had his poem safely written down. He wore his winter clothing all year, even on the hottest summer days, and if he happened to be on horseback when a poem popped into his head, would ride to the nearest house, leap off his horse, and hammer on the door, crying, “Pen and ink! Pen and ink!”, in order to preserve his poem before it left him.
Following Charles’ ordination to the Anglican priesthood, he travelled with his brother John to the colony of Georgia in America, in the entourage of James Oglethorpe, the governor of Georgia, returning to England a year later. There, he rejoined his sister Kezia and became heavily influenced by her new-found maturity and conviction that God could and did “work a work of Grace in the human heart”. On May 21, 1738, he wrote in his journal “By degrees the spirit of God chased away the darkness of my unbelief. I found myself convinced…I saw that by faith I stood.” Thereupon he wrote the lines that prompted my curiosity about him:
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, should’st die for me?
Charles Wesley tried, in his poetry, to empathize with his fellow human beings and with all the trials, stresses, and griefs of the human condition. He wrote about “wives and widows, coal miners and criminals, high school students and highwaymen, saints and soldiers, particularly soldiers who were loyal to the crown of England during the American War of Independence.” (Victor Shepherd)
At church we are treated to only a small sampling of Charles Wesley’s genius. Every liturgical high point is represented. Some favourite Wesley hymns are: “Christ the Lord has Risen Today”, “Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”, “Rejoice, the Lord is King”, and “Soldiers of Christ, Arise”.
On 24th May 2007, many celebrations were held throughout England to commemorate 300 years since Charles was born. Although this occurred in December, the May date was chosen to coincide with the spiritual awakening of first Charles and then his brother John, in 1738. In November 2007, the Irish Post Office issued a 78¢ stamp to commemorate the 300th Anniversary of Charles Wesley’s birth.
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Here is a post I found on Facebook, which I thought was interesting and worthy of sharing with those of you who don’t do Facebook. I know many of you shop at Walmart and/or Costco, which carry Bonne Maman jams, and I have bought it a few times. This was posted by Michael Perino, although he didn’t write it. An attached note said“Credit unknown.”
“At the supermarket today, I found a small, elderly woman standing in front of a high shelf holding Bonne Maman preserves. She was having trouble finding the flavour she wanted because the jars were set back on the shelf.
She couldn’t read the labels. She could barely reach them. I offered to help. After I handed her the raspberry preserves, she thanked me, paused, and then asked, “Do you know why I buy this brand?”
I laughed and replied, “Because it tastes good?”
“Yes, it tastes good.” She paused again. “I am a Holocaust survivor.” This was not the conversation I expected on a Sunday grocery run.
“During the war, the family that owns the company hid my family in Paris. So now I always buy it. And whenever I go to the store, my grandkids remind me, ‘Bubbe, don’t forget to buy the jelly.’”
I told her that that was the best reason I ever heard to buy any company’s product. And then we both smiled…and went our separate ways.”
Research revealed that indeed, the town that was home to Andros Company, the makers of Bonne Maman products, hid and saved Jewish families in WW2. The town was called Biars sur Cere, which then had about 800 villagers.
Another article declared that: “You have to understand what it was like then. There were posters on the walls, from the Nazis and from the collaborators, and they said that if you are found to help a Jew, … you will be shot on sight.” Despite the great danger which helping them put the villagers in, still they kept (people) safe.”
A good reason to buy Bonne Maman products, and a poignant reminder that when we look out for each other it can change lives, and that there are good and selfless people in the world.