John Wesley's "Glorious Day"

Are you headed for a storm in your life? Remember John Wesley's "glorious day" aboard a wooden ship in a fierce storm on the Atlantic.

In 1735, John Wesley spent eight weeks (yes, eight weeks) on board a wooden ship crossing the Atlantic with 80 English and 26 Moravian missionaries from Germany. They were sailing to the colony of Georgia. Wesley was on his way to convert Indians to Anglicanism. But God had a different conversion in mind.

In his journal, Wesley wrote of a fierce storm that arose just as the Moravians were starting to sing:  

"In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, 'Was [sic] you not afraid?' He answered, 'I thank God, no.' I asked, 'But were not your women and children afraid?' He replied, mildly, 'No; our women and children are not afraid to die.'”

A couple of sentences later, Wesley wrote: "This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen."

The personal, living faith demonstrated by the Moravians touched Wesley deeply. It was a kind of faith he himself had never known. At the time, Wesley was fearful of death. 

Upon his arrival in Georgia, Wesley got to know a Moravian Pastor by the name of Spankenberg. This man asked Wesley if he personally knew Jesus Christ. That question led to many more questions.

Through his continuing contact with the Moravians, observing their lives lived by simple faith in Christ, Wesley was drawn to the Scriptures. Eventually, after returning to England, Wesley experienced his "great change," to use the language William Wilberforce employed in describing his own personal encounter with Christ, via Wesley’s witness. 

You may have seen the classic film, It’s A Wonderful Life. I love the scene where Clarence Oddbody, the guardian angel of George Bailey, says: “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?”

We all know about John Wesley and the Methodist movement that touched England and so many other nations and families, including my own, as my great-grandfather was a Methodist minister. Yet few know of Pastor Spankenberg, and the small band of Moravians whose living faith prompted John Wesley's “glorious day,” and led to his conversion.   

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman