Britain celebrates Charles Wesley's life, legacy

Charles Wesley's life and legacy was honored at a 300th birthday celebration at St. Marylebone Parish Church in London. Wesley penned more than 7,000 hymns in his lifetime. Artwork by Frank Salisbury.

By Kathleen LaCamera*

LONDON (UMNS) -- Three-hundred years to the day since prolific hymn writer, poet and priest Charles Wesley was born, worshippers gathered at St. Marylebone Parish Church to celebrate the life of a man whose 7,000-plus hymn legacy has shaped Christian worship ever since.

Like his older brother John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, Charles was ordained in the Church of England and remained an Anglican all of his life. When he died in 1788, he was buried in the St. Marylebone's churchyard.

At the Dec. 18 evening service at the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, and the president of the British Methodist Church, the Rev. Martyn Atkins, were among those who acknowledged Wesley's substantial contributions.

"We thank God for the life and ministry of Charles Wesley, for his winsome, passionate, integrated and authentic faith, for his infectious love of Christ," Atkins said during a sermon.

Atkins called Wesley a model Christian who shared his faith through songs that "touch eternity and the deepest place in our spirits."

The service was jointly organized by both St. Marylebone and the Hinde Street Methodist Church. The two congregations recently signed a covenant agreeing to work together more closely.

Year-long remembrance
The worship service closed a year of events honoring the tercentenary anniversary of Wesley's birth, ranging from an ecumenical Evensong in Westminster Abbey to academic conferences to BBC radio and television programs about Wesley.

A series of Advent programs currently airing on the BBC's prestigious Radio 4 network has taken its theme and title from the great Wesley hymn "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus."

In October, the BBC television's flagship religious program "Songs of Praise" aired two hour-long programs about Charles Wesley and his influence. Producer David Taviner noted that for a television series with a 46-year history of celebrating hymn-singing, Wesley is a central figure.

"On Songs of Praise, hymns are our bread and butter," he said, "so Charles Wesley is right up there for us."

Taviner, who also is a Methodist local preacher, said he wanted to make a program that helped a broad range of television viewers get to know the man who gave the world "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Oh, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and other beloved hymns.

"Three-hundred years later, Charles Wesley's impact is still felt worldwide," Taviner told United Methodist News Service. "Brought up in rural Lincolnshire at the back end of nowhere, it's amazing what (Charles and his brother, John) did during with their lives and all those they have affected."

Christian troubadour
One person interviewed for "Songs of Praise" was S T Kimbrough, an American scholar, musician and performer. With his one-man show "Sweet Singer," Kimbrough has brought Charles Wesley to life for audiences around the world. Wesley, he explained, was "a man who sought above all else to live in the presence of God every day of his life."

S T Kimbrough has brought Charles Wesley to life for audiences with his one-man show "Sweet Singer." A UMNS Web-only photo courtesy of S T Kimbrough.

Daily Bible study and prayer, meditation, fasting and taking part in the Eucharist were all part of the spiritual discipline that gave birth to Wesley's prolific hymn-writing, according to Kimbrough. Wesley understood that hymns establish bridges among people; that they could not only "convict but also bring people to Christ."

What many do not know is that Wesley did not confine his poetic skills to religious hymns and poems. Among his manuscripts is a poem written for his children about horseback riding and another about a cat called Grimalkin. Kimbrough said it is in these bits of verse that "you can just see Charles Wesley the man, with a twinkle in his eye, entertaining his children."

Regarding his relationship with his brother, Kimbrough added that although Charles and John were very different men, they complemented each other.

"Charles was the troubadour, and John is the guy carrying the bag of songs, editing them, collecting the tunes, doing all the organizational stuff. Charles is curves and ellipses, while John is all straight lines and angles," he said.

A lyrical faith
Like Kimbrough, Donald Saliers, the William Cannon Professor of Theology and Worship, Emeritus at Emory University, believes that the two brothers really were "yin and yang" to each other; very contrasting in terms of their sensibilities.

"Charles' hymns and poems are full of both great doctrinal integrity and biblical imagination, but also great affection, emotional fervor and deep piety," observed Saliers.

He believes Wesley's greatest contribution is in his hymn texts which "awaken that lyrical side of faith and doctrine and make it accessible."

Saliers cites the phrase "lost in wonder love and praise" from the last line of Wesley's hymn "Love Divine All Loves Excelling" as an excellent example of his lyrical theological sensibilities at work. They are also words that Saliers takes as a motto for his own personal vocation.

"Charles Wesley gave us a lyrical faith and doctrine and, above all else, a hidden imaginative force that is still carried in the body of the Methodist and Wesleyan family," he said.

"If we can recover it and practice it, it will make all the difference in a time of literalism, dullness and cultural silliness."

*LaCamera is a UMNS correspondent based in England.