A Circuit Rider

Philippians 3:20-21

      But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling LBW 315

 1    Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down!
     Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.
      Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;
      visit us with thy salvation, enter ev’ry trembling heart.

2    Breathe, oh, breathe thy loving Spirit into ev’ry troubled breast;
      let us all in thee inherit; let us find thy promised rest.
      Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
      end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

3    Come, Almighty, to deliver; let us all thy life receive;
      suddenly return, and never, nevermore thy temples leave.
      Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,
      pray, and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

4    Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be;
      let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee!
      Changed from glory into glory, till in heav’n we take our place,
      till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise!

 Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

      Charles Wesley was the author of over 6000 hymns. You might think hymn writing was all he had time to do, but Wesley was a circuit rider, a Methodist preacher. He wrote most of his hymns in shorthand while on horseback between preaching stops!  When he got to an Inn to spend the night, the first thing he asked for was pencils and paper so he could write down new lyrics!

      One day his horse threw him, and those with him feared he had broken his back.  They took him to a nearby Inn but when he came too, he was worried that he might miss his next sermon, so hurt and hobbling, he mounted his horse and continued the journey. This is the hymn he wrote as he rode.  At the time tales of King Arthur were quite popular.  There was a popular ballad that went to this tune about the Isle of Avalon where King Arthur, after his final battle, went to die. It went, “Fairest Isle, all Isles excelling, seat of pleasure, seat of love.” The wounded Arthur dreamt of Avalon, but the wounded Wesley could only dream of the divine love of Jesus. As we consider Lent, and journey with Jesus to the cross, the great symbol of God's love for the world, may we, too, become a "humble dwelling" for HIs presence and power!

Prayer:  Lord Jesus come to us, breathe Your spirit into us, deliver us, finish us until we come to that place of rest and beauty to sit with you at your table of grace.  Amen.