From the Pastor's Pen, November, 2005:

From the Pastor's Pen, July, 2007:

“O4A1000”

This year, 2007, marks the 300th birthday of Charles Wesley, younger brother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, which eventually became the United Methodist Church. John Wesley’s 300th birthday was a couple of years ago. As a younger sibling myself, though, I like the idea of highlighting what’s going on with the baby of the family!

Both Wesley brothers, raised in a parsonage as two of the nineteen ( ! ) children of the Rev. Samuel and Susannah Wesley, were priests in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church, in England. Their passion, however, was to bring the gospel to as many people as possible, including those who never saw the inside of a church. They preached to the poor, they preached out in the countryside, and wherever people would listen. They believed that the message was (and it still is!) too important to be shut away only on Sunday mornings, and only inside the church.

John and Charles were not the same, though. They had a similar passion, similar life stories, and similar faith journeys, but where John was the gifted preacher and passionate for proclaiming the gospel, especially as it would spread to a new land, America, Charles was a poet. Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns (some say over 9000) many of which are still in our hymnal today. At times the words may seem dated to us, but the theology they carry speaks clearly of the grace of God, experienced in human life. Charles wrote about the sacraments, about the ways God encounters us, and great hymns of praise. He even set his lyrics at times to the popular music of his day, making the message even more accessible to common people. He was so moved by the love of God, by God’s grace that refuses to ever let us go, that it seems he couldn’t stop writing hymns—both to thank God for God’s saving love, and to witness to others the power of God in our lives.

One of Wesley’s hymns in particular speaks to me. “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” is traditionally printed as the first hymn in our United Methodist hymnals, throughout many years of editions and changes.

Wesley wrote a lyric of some 17 verses, several of which originally preceded the one we know as the “first” verse. (For the full text, see p. 58 in the Hymnal). It began: “Glory to God, and praise and love be ever, ever given . . .”

It’s a good thought—that in everything we do, at all times, we can give glory and praise to God, who has never left us alone, who has never stopped loving us! Wesley went on to paraphrase the words of his friend and mentor, the Moravian pastor Peter Bohler: “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise God with them all!” What a marvelous affirmation of who God is! What a wonderful response of gratitude. That’s what moves me so about this hymn—the idea that everything we are can praise God, and the “triumph of God’s grace”—Grace wins, every time! The words capture that feeling that I sometimes have, that the love of God is real and tangible, for me and for all the world, that wells up in my mind and heart, far beyond my ability to express it in words.

I think that’s an important message to carry us through the summer months, or really anytime. Our praise to God, for all God is and all God has done—and all God is doing, is not limited to what we do when we gather in worship. Praise is not just for Sunday mornings. It’s not just for those high moments in life when we feel “close to God.” Those moments can be fleeting and unpredictable. Praising God is for all the time, and all the times, of our lives—when we “feel” it, and when we don’t, when we’re following God’s path, and when we’re not, when we’re at home, and when we’re away. Praising God means living lives that reflect the goodness of who God is, every day. Praising God means naming the reality that we choose to follow a God of infinite Love. Praising God means trying to live as if we understand what God’s grace is, even when we don’t “get it.”

Bishop Leontyne Kelley, the first African-American woman bishop in the United Methodist Church, is one of my preaching heroes. In the several times that I have heard her preach, I’ve been moved by the power of the Holy Spirit at work through her. When she was first consecrated as bishop, in 1984, she was appointed to serve in California. I heard or read a story that she applied for a personalized license plate shortly thereafter: O4A1000. I imagined her driving around to her various places of service, perhaps with folks wondering what that might mean. It makes me smile:

“O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace!”

This summer, may we never stop praising God! Wherever we are—in Lansing, at worship, at work, on vacation, with family, with friends, may our praise of God be in our hearts and on our lips. May it be as visible and ever-present as the license plate on our car; may it come into our conversation as easily as saying hello when we answer the phone.

We have a thousand different ways to live, a thousand different places of influence, a thousand conversations we carry on. May God be so present to us, and in us, and through us, that the world may know the love of God. May we say with Peter Bohler, and sing with Charles Wesley: “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise God with them all!”

Singing with you, praying with you, and

On the Journey with you,

e-mail Pastor Baker-Streevy