Charles Wesley lived in a time of personal and public poverty. In this climate, perhaps surprisingly, were born hymns of harvest and stewardship. Thus the offering of self: "Thine, wholly Thine, we pant to be; Our sacrifice receive; Made, and preserved, and saved by Thee, To Thee ourselves we give."

Charles did not view offering as his own to God, but far more God's abundant offering to us. We are stewards of God's store. "Heaven onward our every wish aspires, For all Thy mercy's store; The sole return Thy love requires, Is that we ask for more." God gives us the harvest and "Thy love requires that we ask for more." As typical for Wesley, this hymn "Being of Beings, God of Love" ends: "So shall we ever live, and move, And be, with Christ, in God."

Charles Wesley, an English clergyman, poet, and hymn writer, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, on December 18, 1707. During his time at Christ Church College, Oxford, he formed the Holy Club, a group dedicated to a methodical approach to Bible study and charitable works. Later taken over by John Wesley, this group was ridiculed and mockingly referred to as the "Methodists." In 1735, Charles was ordained an Anglican priest and with his brother John sailed to the colony of Georgia. For a while he was private secretary to General James Oglethorpe and soon returned to England because of health problems and an inability to carry out his assigned duties.

His own ill health was not the topic of his hymns. His harvest was breath and praise. "Let all that breathe Jehovah praise; Almighty, all-creating Lord! Let earth and Heav'n His power confess, Brought out of nothing by His word." Again in this hymn, Charles sees himself, his own person, as the harvest: "Wherefore to Thee (Jesus the Lord and God most high) my heart I give, For Thou Thyself doest give the power, And if for Thee on earth I live, Thee I shall soon in Heav'n adore." Charles is steward of God's bounty in his whole life all the way into heaven.

 

In "Servant of All, to Toil for Man," Wesley refers to Jesus as Son of the carpenter and offers "this humble work of mine" by joining it to "Thine." And continues "Accept my hallowed labor now, I do it unto Thee; All I think or speak or do is one great sacrifice."

 

Charles Wesley published more than 4.500 hymns and left some 3,000 in manuscript form. Among his best known hymns are "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Rejoice the Lord is King." He died in London on March 29, 1788.

Charles was filled with gratitude. He felt the enormous harvest of grace. "What shall I do, my God to love, My loving God to praise! The length, and breadth, and height to prove And depth of sovereign grace?" Then comes the stanza showing the abundance once more: "Thy sovereign grace to all extends, Immense and unconfined; From age to age it never ends, It reaches all mankind."

 

For Charles, Harvest is more than pumpkins and envelopes and tithes. Sing with this three-hundred year old voice: "What shall I render to my God, For all his mercy's store? I'll take the gifts he hath bestowed, And humbly ask for more. The saving cup of saving grace I will with thanks receive, And all His promises embrace, and to His glory live." Wesley saw harvest, offering and stewardship as Gift from God in Christ. He was steward of all that God gives. All life is God's offering to us. This is the harvest; o'er this we are stewards.

 

Charles Wesley died in London at the age of eighty-one. We can consider his gift of praise a bountiful harvest of our own, and sing with him: "My vows I will to His great Name Before His people pay, And all I have and all I am, Upon His altar lay. The God of all redeeming grace, My God I will proclaim, Offer the sacrifice of praise, And call upon His Name."

Bemerkung:
This homily is designed to be used in connection with the Hymn Festival materials available on Sermons from Goettingen for any Sunday during the fall 2007 season.

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