The following is a hymn sing designed for Heritage Sunday/Aldersgate Day in the United Methodist Church.
L: As Methodists, we have been called “A Singing People”
P: We love singing praises to God - it warm our hearts,
L: In his Directions for Singing, found in the United Methodist hymnal, John Wesley encourages us to learn the hymns in the hymnal before all other songs.
P: He says that we should all sing together as frequently as we can! That even for those who find it a cross to bear, singing will be a blessing.
L: He says we should sing lustily and with good courage and to beware of singing as if we were half dead or half asleep.
P: We lift up our voices in strength! We strive to unite our voices together to make one clear melodious sound to God.
L: We sing together: hymns that we love, clearly and melodiously, with strength and modesty, in time and in tune - an act of fellowship and worship.
P: But above all we sing spiritually, with an eye to God for every word we sing.
L: Today as we sing and learn, may we worshipfully and continually offer our hearts to God.
P: We sing today and every day until that time when we sing before the throne of God.
All: Let us worship God in song! Amen!
Opening Hymn
O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing, vs. 1, 3, 7, UMH 57
Scripture Lesson
Colossians 3:12-16
Heritage Sunday Explanation & Hearts Strangely Warmed
Today is what The United Methodist Church calls Heritage Sunday. According to The Book of Discipline, "Heritage Sunday shall be observed on Aldersgate Day (May 24), or the Sunday preceding that date. The day provides an opportunity for reflection on heritage, celebration of where the Church has been, how it understands itself as it shapes us today, and the meaning of Christian conferencing. Heritage Sunday calls the Church to remember the past by committing itself to the continuing call of God." And that is what we will do today through hymns from our Wesleyan heritage and small teaching moments about our history, theology, and the United Methodist Church then and today.
Heritage Sunday is held the Sunday preceding Aldersgate Day, May 24th. Aldersgate Day is the anniversary of the day that John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Movement, had a life-changing and heart warming experience on Aldersgate Street. The son of an Anglican minister who was ordained himself and a fellow at Oxford, Wesley had gone to the colonies to be a missionary. To make a long story short, it did not go well. It’s almost like a sordid soap opera: making a bad first impression among his parishioners by throwing liquor overboard of the ship, a scorned lover, skipping bail, and secretly getting on a ship back to England in the middle of the night. His stint as a missionary only lasted two years. And so in May 1738, Wesley’s spirits were low. He was questioning his faith, his calling, his place in life. And he reluctantly went to a Bible Study on Aldersgate Street. That evening after the study he wrote this in his journal: "while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
This “strangely warming” heart experience is what we as Methodists call justification - when we realize that God’s grace is active in our lives and accept it for ourselves, making our relationship with God right or justified.
The hymn “And Can It Be” reflects that heart strangely warmed experience and God’s justifying grace. It was written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John and co-founder of the Methodist movement. Charles himself had a heart strangely warmed and justifying moment just 3 days before John, on May 21st. After his experience Charles wrote in his journal, “I have found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.”
As we sing the words “Amazing love, how can it be?” let us remember God’s grace and goodness in our lives and allow our hearts to be strangely warmed.
And Can It Be That I Should Gain, vs. 1 & 3, UMH 363
Children’s Moment
(Recommended: Wesleys Take the Web: a Mobile Friendly History of the UMC video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Zx7xVw14I)
A Hymn for Every Season
Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, and co-founder of the Methodist movement was an Anglican minister and above all, a prolific hymn writer. He wrote over 9,000 poems in his lifetime, over 6,000 of which have been hymns. Our hymnal has almost 70 of his hymns and poems in it. His hymns shaped and reflected the theology and life of the Methodist movement. It’s one thing to say that Jesus is the incarnation of God. It’s another to belt out with all your heart and soul, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.” His hymns were sung as part of the early Methodist movement and in our churches today, shaping the life of the church and theology just as much as sermons. Charles remained an Anglican minister his whole life, never agreeing with the Methodist split to become their own denomination when John ordained Methodist ministers to go and serve and offer sacraments to Christians in the revolutionary United States of America as most Anglican ministers fled back to England at the start of the American Revolution. Nevertheless, he was a founding member of the Holy Club, a group of Christians doing their best to live out their faith at Oxford, which became the foundation and launching point for the Methodist movement. He also oversaw Methodist groups throughout England, preaching, writing hymns, and shaping the theology of a movement that continues today.
All the hymns we are singing as a congregation today were written by Charles Wesley. He wrote hymns for every season of the church year. Some of his most popular hymns that we are not singing today are Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Maker in Whom We Live, Jesus, Lover of my Soul, and A Charge I Have to Keep. We will now sing two of his most favorite hymns, a nod to how Charles Wesley shapes the life and theology of our church. A hymn for Christmas and a hymn for Easter. Let us sing, above all spiritually, as we remember the one who helped shape Methodists into “a singing people.”
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, vs. 1, UMH 240
Christ the Lord is Risen Today, vs. 1, UMH 302
Conferences & Connectionalism
Heritage Sunday is held the Sunday preceding Aldersgate Day, May 24th. Aldersgate Day is the anniversary of the day that John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Movement, had a life-changing and heart warming experience on Aldersgate Street. The son of an Anglican minister who was ordained himself and a fellow at Oxford, Wesley had gone to the colonies to be a missionary. To make a long story short, it did not go well. It’s almost like a sordid soap opera: making a bad first impression among his parishioners by throwing liquor overboard of the ship, a scorned lover, skipping bail, and secretly getting on a ship back to England in the middle of the night. His stint as a missionary only lasted two years. And so in May 1738, Wesley’s spirits were low. He was questioning his faith, his calling, his place in life. And he reluctantly went to a Bible Study on Aldersgate Street. That evening after the study he wrote this in his journal: "while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
This “strangely warming” heart experience is what we as Methodists call justification - when we realize that God’s grace is active in our lives and accept it for ourselves, making our relationship with God right or justified.
The hymn “And Can It Be” reflects that heart strangely warmed experience and God’s justifying grace. It was written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John and co-founder of the Methodist movement. Charles himself had a heart strangely warmed and justifying moment just 3 days before John, on May 21st. After his experience Charles wrote in his journal, “I have found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.”
As we sing the words “Amazing love, how can it be?” let us remember God’s grace and goodness in our lives and allow our hearts to be strangely warmed.
And Can It Be That I Should Gain, vs. 1 & 3, UMH 363
Children’s Moment
(Recommended: Wesleys Take the Web: a Mobile Friendly History of the UMC video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Zx7xVw14I)
A Hymn for Every Season
Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, and co-founder of the Methodist movement was an Anglican minister and above all, a prolific hymn writer. He wrote over 9,000 poems in his lifetime, over 6,000 of which have been hymns. Our hymnal has almost 70 of his hymns and poems in it. His hymns shaped and reflected the theology and life of the Methodist movement. It’s one thing to say that Jesus is the incarnation of God. It’s another to belt out with all your heart and soul, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.” His hymns were sung as part of the early Methodist movement and in our churches today, shaping the life of the church and theology just as much as sermons. Charles remained an Anglican minister his whole life, never agreeing with the Methodist split to become their own denomination when John ordained Methodist ministers to go and serve and offer sacraments to Christians in the revolutionary United States of America as most Anglican ministers fled back to England at the start of the American Revolution. Nevertheless, he was a founding member of the Holy Club, a group of Christians doing their best to live out their faith at Oxford, which became the foundation and launching point for the Methodist movement. He also oversaw Methodist groups throughout England, preaching, writing hymns, and shaping the theology of a movement that continues today.
All the hymns we are singing as a congregation today were written by Charles Wesley. He wrote hymns for every season of the church year. Some of his most popular hymns that we are not singing today are Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Maker in Whom We Live, Jesus, Lover of my Soul, and A Charge I Have to Keep. We will now sing two of his most favorite hymns, a nod to how Charles Wesley shapes the life and theology of our church. A hymn for Christmas and a hymn for Easter. Let us sing, above all spiritually, as we remember the one who helped shape Methodists into “a singing people.”
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, vs. 1, UMH 240
Christ the Lord is Risen Today, vs. 1, UMH 302
Conferences & Connectionalism
In 1784, John Wesley ordained Thomas Coke and others to do ministry in America. With the American Revolution brewing, Anglican ministers, who took vows of allegiance to the Church of England and the King, found themselves in sticky situations by staying in the American colonies. Many left to return to England for their own safety. This created a pressing pastoral need. There were not enough ordained ministers in America to perform the sacraments. To offer Communion and baptize. Many of those living in America considered themselves part of the Methodist movement so Wesley made a pastoral decision: if the Church of England wouldn’t send ministers or couldn’t safely send ministers to meet this need, the Methodists would. The only thing is, as an Anglican minister, he did not have the authority to ordain, only Bishops could do this. So this act is the official start of Methodism as its own separate denomination instead of just a movement within the Church of England.
And still, life in much of the colonies and then the early United States, was more spread out and there weren’t enough clergy for every community to have their own and so the circuit rider - or saddlebags preacher - was born. Circuit riders were ministers who rode their horses from community to community, creating a circuit. They would offer the sacraments and preach in a town then get on their horse and travel to the next, ever riding in a circuit. Lay ministers would preach and organize the church until the circuit rider returned. Circuit Riders were so committed to their charges that the phrase “This weather is only fit for crows and Methodist preachers” was coined. This early structure continues to shape the structure of the church today with United Methodist ministers being appointed to charges and being itinerant while the church belongs to and is shaped by the laity.
Francis Asbury was the most famous circuit rider and Bishop in that first Methodist church. He rode over 270,000 miles on horseback traveling to his charges. That’s enough to travel around the globe nearly 11 times.
On Christmas Eve in 1784, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury gathered with all the known Methodist preachers in America, about 86 at the time. The call had gone out for all of them to ride to Baltimore, Maryland and meet to officially establish The Methodist Episcopal Church, making its own denomination. This first conference was called The Christmas Conference.
Still to this day, Methodists are organized by conferences. General Conference which happens once every four years is composed of half laity and half clergy and they are the only body who can set polity and officially speak for The United Methodist Church. We also have Jurisdictional, Annual, and District conferences for regional conferencing.
Moreover, the United Methodist Church continues as then: as a connectional system. We believe we are stronger together than apart. Our polity, our ministers, and even outreach, mission, and ministry are done at a level beyond the local church. From itinerant ministers and the seminaries that educate them; to the United Methodist Committee on Relief that is often the first to arrive and the last to leave after disaster strikes; to our general boards which address systemic issues in our world and equip and educate our churches to survive and thrive in our modern world; to the relationships and partnerships our clergy and churches can have together. We are a connectional Church and stronger for it.
Shortly after its publication, John Wesley started using the hymn “And Are We Yet Alive” at the start of every Methodist society meeting, a tradition that continues today at Annual Conferences across the world as they meet. The song reminds us of our connectional system, of being stronger together than apart, and how God’s grace has seen us through the last year apart.
And Are We Yet Alive, vs. 1, 3, 4, UMH 553
And still, life in much of the colonies and then the early United States, was more spread out and there weren’t enough clergy for every community to have their own and so the circuit rider - or saddlebags preacher - was born. Circuit riders were ministers who rode their horses from community to community, creating a circuit. They would offer the sacraments and preach in a town then get on their horse and travel to the next, ever riding in a circuit. Lay ministers would preach and organize the church until the circuit rider returned. Circuit Riders were so committed to their charges that the phrase “This weather is only fit for crows and Methodist preachers” was coined. This early structure continues to shape the structure of the church today with United Methodist ministers being appointed to charges and being itinerant while the church belongs to and is shaped by the laity.
Francis Asbury was the most famous circuit rider and Bishop in that first Methodist church. He rode over 270,000 miles on horseback traveling to his charges. That’s enough to travel around the globe nearly 11 times.
On Christmas Eve in 1784, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury gathered with all the known Methodist preachers in America, about 86 at the time. The call had gone out for all of them to ride to Baltimore, Maryland and meet to officially establish The Methodist Episcopal Church, making its own denomination. This first conference was called The Christmas Conference.
Still to this day, Methodists are organized by conferences. General Conference which happens once every four years is composed of half laity and half clergy and they are the only body who can set polity and officially speak for The United Methodist Church. We also have Jurisdictional, Annual, and District conferences for regional conferencing.
Moreover, the United Methodist Church continues as then: as a connectional system. We believe we are stronger together than apart. Our polity, our ministers, and even outreach, mission, and ministry are done at a level beyond the local church. From itinerant ministers and the seminaries that educate them; to the United Methodist Committee on Relief that is often the first to arrive and the last to leave after disaster strikes; to our general boards which address systemic issues in our world and equip and educate our churches to survive and thrive in our modern world; to the relationships and partnerships our clergy and churches can have together. We are a connectional Church and stronger for it.
Shortly after its publication, John Wesley started using the hymn “And Are We Yet Alive” at the start of every Methodist society meeting, a tradition that continues today at Annual Conferences across the world as they meet. The song reminds us of our connectional system, of being stronger together than apart, and how God’s grace has seen us through the last year apart.
And Are We Yet Alive, vs. 1, 3, 4, UMH 553
A Theology of Love and Grace
It is not just our unique history and polity that defines us as Methodists but also our theology. When people ask what sets Methodists apart, two of the top answers are Love and Grace. While these are prevalent in the whole Christian Church, they play an especially central theme in Wesleyan theology. John Wesley asserted that Love was God’s Reigning Feature. That means that God’s Love is the crown upon the head of God and the throne on which God sits. God’s sovereignty cannot be separated from God’s love. Therefore, Wesley strongly asserted that we as humans have free-will to respond to God’s grace as we choose. The God who is Love, loves us and all creation above all else and therefore does not force Grace upon us. This was in direct contrast to the Calvinist theology of predestination, something which Wesley adamantly preached against.
And while God does not force Grace upon us, God is always always always offering us grace, even before we know there is Grace to be had. As Methodists this is a defining aspect of our theology. We call it prevenient grace. The grace that comes before. When we accept God’s grace that is always offered to us, we call that Justifying Grace - the experience of strangely warmed hearts that we talked about before. And then there is Sanctifying Grace, the grace of God that is ever with us, our whole lives long, helping shape and guide us to more perfect love of God and neighbor.
God’s Love and Grace are always with us and this is the central theology of Methodism. Let us now sing of that love and grace.
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, 1, 2, 4 UMH 384
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
It is not just our unique history and polity that defines us as Methodists but also our theology. When people ask what sets Methodists apart, two of the top answers are Love and Grace. While these are prevalent in the whole Christian Church, they play an especially central theme in Wesleyan theology. John Wesley asserted that Love was God’s Reigning Feature. That means that God’s Love is the crown upon the head of God and the throne on which God sits. God’s sovereignty cannot be separated from God’s love. Therefore, Wesley strongly asserted that we as humans have free-will to respond to God’s grace as we choose. The God who is Love, loves us and all creation above all else and therefore does not force Grace upon us. This was in direct contrast to the Calvinist theology of predestination, something which Wesley adamantly preached against.
And while God does not force Grace upon us, God is always always always offering us grace, even before we know there is Grace to be had. As Methodists this is a defining aspect of our theology. We call it prevenient grace. The grace that comes before. When we accept God’s grace that is always offered to us, we call that Justifying Grace - the experience of strangely warmed hearts that we talked about before. And then there is Sanctifying Grace, the grace of God that is ever with us, our whole lives long, helping shape and guide us to more perfect love of God and neighbor.
God’s Love and Grace are always with us and this is the central theology of Methodism. Let us now sing of that love and grace.
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, 1, 2, 4 UMH 384
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer
Invitation to Generosity
Offertory
The Doxology
The Lord’s Prayer
Invitation to Generosity
Offertory
The Doxology
(If observing Holy Communion, suggested focus on the UMC's Open Table and the hymn "Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast)
The Holy Club & Holiness Today
The Methodist Movement has always been one centered on living out our faith. In their days at Oxford, John and Charles Wesley joined with other friends to form a spiritual support group, if you will. They studied the Bible and prayed together. They shared in Holy Communion at least once a week, They also held each other accountable to living out their faith. They cared for the poor and needy together: visiting the elderly, teaching children, and going to the prison to visit those there weekly. This group had zeal and dedication to their faith and living it out. And other students there didn’t understand it - they gave the group deriding nicknames including Bible-moths, The Holy Club, and Methodists. The last one because of their almost methodical method of living out their faith.
As the movement grew beyond this Holy Club of friends at Oxford, they adopted the name Methodists, proud of the way they encouraged people to fully live out their faith.
In Methodist theology we talk about Means of Grace - the ways we experience God and live out our faith in this world. And it can be divided into four categories. Individual acts of piety: like prayer and reading the Bible. Communal acts of worship: like receiving the sacraments and singing hymns together. Individual acts of charity: like volunteering at the soup kitchen, making a donation, lending a helping hand. And communal acts of justice: like standing up and speaking out for equity and justice in this world. Wesley was a strong anti-slave trade advocate and often got kicked out of churches for speaking against the slave trade. Methodists continue to be advocates for justice today and we are proud that our greater connection includes The Commission on the Status and Role of Women, The General Commission on Religion and Race, and the General Board of Church and Society. Methodists are not silent on issues of injustice.
Indeed, Methodists are encouraged to holistically live out their faith as individuals and in a faith community, to ever strive to more perfect love of God and neighbor. As we sing our closing hymn “Forth in Thy Name I Go” may you be encouraged and embolden to reflect Christ in all you do.
Forth in Thy Name I Go, vs. 1 & 4, UMH 438
Benediction
Today I pray that your hearts were strangely warmed. To sing of God’s love together, to learn of our heritage, to be encouraged to live out our faith. Now go in peace, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Holy Club & Holiness Today
The Methodist Movement has always been one centered on living out our faith. In their days at Oxford, John and Charles Wesley joined with other friends to form a spiritual support group, if you will. They studied the Bible and prayed together. They shared in Holy Communion at least once a week, They also held each other accountable to living out their faith. They cared for the poor and needy together: visiting the elderly, teaching children, and going to the prison to visit those there weekly. This group had zeal and dedication to their faith and living it out. And other students there didn’t understand it - they gave the group deriding nicknames including Bible-moths, The Holy Club, and Methodists. The last one because of their almost methodical method of living out their faith.
As the movement grew beyond this Holy Club of friends at Oxford, they adopted the name Methodists, proud of the way they encouraged people to fully live out their faith.
In Methodist theology we talk about Means of Grace - the ways we experience God and live out our faith in this world. And it can be divided into four categories. Individual acts of piety: like prayer and reading the Bible. Communal acts of worship: like receiving the sacraments and singing hymns together. Individual acts of charity: like volunteering at the soup kitchen, making a donation, lending a helping hand. And communal acts of justice: like standing up and speaking out for equity and justice in this world. Wesley was a strong anti-slave trade advocate and often got kicked out of churches for speaking against the slave trade. Methodists continue to be advocates for justice today and we are proud that our greater connection includes The Commission on the Status and Role of Women, The General Commission on Religion and Race, and the General Board of Church and Society. Methodists are not silent on issues of injustice.
Indeed, Methodists are encouraged to holistically live out their faith as individuals and in a faith community, to ever strive to more perfect love of God and neighbor. As we sing our closing hymn “Forth in Thy Name I Go” may you be encouraged and embolden to reflect Christ in all you do.
Forth in Thy Name I Go, vs. 1 & 4, UMH 438
Benediction
Today I pray that your hearts were strangely warmed. To sing of God’s love together, to learn of our heritage, to be encouraged to live out our faith. Now go in peace, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thank you for this post. For more on Asbury and his early years, please visit the website for the book series, The Asbury Triptych.
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