A New Spiritual Birth
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle A
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit ... For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (vv. 5--6, 16)
John was the son of a minister, and learned the faith at his mother's knee. He studied to be a minister at a very prestigious university. While in college, he organized a Bible study group that also helped feed the poor and visited the imprisoned.
After he was ordained, he moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he became the minister of a local church for his denomination. A young woman in his congregation, Sophia Hopkey, began to study the Bible with John. They were romantically attracted to each other, but John was hesitant to proceed. She was a member of his congregation, which posed one problem. Another was that John was not sure about marriage. He wondered if he could be an effective minister if he had responsibilities to a wife and possibly children. John was torn between two lovers - Sophia and the ministry. The nature of his relationship with Sophia was never clearly defined.
Sophia became tired of John's indecision and apparent disinterest. She began seeing another man. That relationship led to a proposal of marriage. After stalling in hopes that John would finally admit his love for her, she accepted the proposal and was married.
Sophia and her new husband attended John's church. John knew he had made a mistake with Sophia. Instead of confessing it, he took his frustration out on the newlyweds. With a flimsy excuse, he refused to serve the couple communion one Sunday. The couple became irate and began the process to have John removed as the pastor of the church. But before any decisions were formally made, John desperately left Savannah in the middle of the night.
John questioned his faith, his calling, and his own salvation. On his return trip home, he met a group of Christians who shared with him their belief of grace - that God loved the world enough that a simple passionate belief in Jesus would save humanity.
When John arrived home, he went to a Bible study with some of the Christians he met on his return trip. That night they studied the book of Romans. John experienced a new birth. He described it saying, "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 John - the jilted lover and minister who was born anew - was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
John was the son of a minister, and learned the faith at his mother's knee. He studied to be a minister at a very prestigious university. While in college, he organized a Bible study group that also helped feed the poor and visited the imprisoned.
After he was ordained, he moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he became the minister of a local church for his denomination. A young woman in his congregation, Sophia Hopkey, began to study the Bible with John. They were romantically attracted to each other, but John was hesitant to proceed. She was a member of his congregation, which posed one problem. Another was that John was not sure about marriage. He wondered if he could be an effective minister if he had responsibilities to a wife and possibly children. John was torn between two lovers - Sophia and the ministry. The nature of his relationship with Sophia was never clearly defined.
Sophia became tired of John's indecision and apparent disinterest. She began seeing another man. That relationship led to a proposal of marriage. After stalling in hopes that John would finally admit his love for her, she accepted the proposal and was married.
Sophia and her new husband attended John's church. John knew he had made a mistake with Sophia. Instead of confessing it, he took his frustration out on the newlyweds. With a flimsy excuse, he refused to serve the couple communion one Sunday. The couple became irate and began the process to have John removed as the pastor of the church. But before any decisions were formally made, John desperately left Savannah in the middle of the night.
John questioned his faith, his calling, and his own salvation. On his return trip home, he met a group of Christians who shared with him their belief of grace - that God loved the world enough that a simple passionate belief in Jesus would save humanity.
When John arrived home, he went to a Bible study with some of the Christians he met on his return trip. That night they studied the book of Romans. John experienced a new birth. He described it saying, "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 John - the jilted lover and minister who was born anew - was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
