John Wesley is my boy. I don’t know if he feels the same way about me, but I’m a big fan of him. He was short (only about 5’2″) but he was a spiritual giant. He helped to birth a movement that changed the landscape of the entire British Empire and without question shaped the spiritual landscape of the US. He rode over a quarter million miles on horseback and preached over 40,000 sermons in his life. But he never had a ‘church home.’ In fact, he was eventually banned from preaching in every Anglican Church in London and a great many others across Britain.
A few years ago, Irene and I had the opportunity to go to Europe for a week. We hit London, Paris, and Rome (in that order). Care to guess the first place we stopped in London? Irene practically begged me to go to John Wesley’s house…I reluctantly agreed (or maybe it was the other way around? Who can say, really…). And on a monument in his ‘front yard’ was a quote from his journal, “I look upon all the world as my parish…” This man who had no ‘church’ found that he had a church everywhere he went.
Last week, we opened this season of Advent with our series Supporting Cast considering how minor players in the story of Jesus’ birth really have bigger roles than we think. They aren’t the main character, but God chooses to use them to bring the story about in an amazing way. Next week, we’ll look at some more of those characters in the Jesus story. But this week, we’re going to hear from some of those characters in our own day. We will hear from three individuals serving our Great God in different ways and different parts of the world: Irene Hopkins (I’m partial to her) will be talking about Eternal Freedom Counseling and how we can address addiction of all kinds in our day; Sergei and Marina Ahkmedzianov will be sharing about their ministry in Vladimir, Russia; and Paul Wingfield will be talking about his work with Nexus International discipling youth leaders in South America.
“I look upon all the world as my parish…” What a great line, right?
The wonderful reality is that God still uses ordinary people to bring his Good News throughout the entire world. Don’t ever forget, before John Wesley changed the world, he was just a preacher’s kid who went by Jack. Don’t ever underestimate what God can do in and through you. You may be a part of the supporting cast in the story of God’s redemption, but that doesn’t mean you’re not important – you’re just not the hero of the story…make sure you come on Christmas Eve if you want to hear his story!
See y’all Sunday!
Pastor Steve
