Wesley Bros: Beating the Air
When we think about the Wesleys' missionary journey to Georgia, we usually only hear about John Wesley’s strange and inappropriate relationship with young Sophy Hopkey (we’ll get there soon). But Charles Wesley also spent time in America, and he was also accused of inappropriate conduct with a woman. While John most definitely used his pastoral power in unenlightened and inappropriate ways, it seems that Charles was actually on the other end of the power dynamic.
Though Charles had high hopes of a positive church placement, he started out rocky. Charles was the personal assistant to Governor Oglethorpe, a trustee with command over the colony. Within the first week, he was stuck in the middle of a domestic abuse dispute where the town Doctor’s wife (Mrs. Hawkins) had struck their house servant. Wesley had convinced the servant not to run away, and he attempted to reconcile them, but Mrs. Hawkins became outraged with Wesley’s interference. Oglethorpe was not pleased with Charles either, and Charles felt a growing coldness and unnecessarily harsh vibe from the town’s chief trustee. Mrs. Hawkins and Mrs. Welch (I’ve conflated them into one character for the comic) would become Charles’ key adversaries in America. Welch came to Charles to accuse Oglethorpe of seducing her, but she was secretly accusing Charles of the same behavior to Oglethorpe, hoping to create a rift between them to get rid of Wesley.
Charles had supported Oglethorpe’s law that no one should shoot guns on the Sabbath. Dr. Hawkins decided to test the law and began shooting his gun nearby as Charles conducted Holy Communion. When he was arrested, the doctor hollered, “What, do you not know I am not to be looked upon as a common fellow?” Mrs. Hawkins went crazy at the arrest of her husband and also began firing a weapon, “threatening to kill the first man that should come near her.” She blamed Charles for all of it. Soon after, a woman in the town miscarried, and folks, including Oglethorpe, believed it wouldn’t have happened if Charles hadn’t had the doctor imprisoned. (Learn more from Assist Me to Proclaim, by John Tyson, or at SGAUMC.org).
This story is pretty crazy, but it draws together the strange power dynamics at work in the church community. In one sense, Wesley as a white, well-educated male pastor represented both the power of the State and the religious establishment (think Church of England). Wesley was clearly subordinate to Oglethorpe’s civic authority, serving as his personal secretary. But in the case of his parishioners, who did not value his authority, he felt helpless and constantly undermined. The call to be a holy people can be constantly pushed down by those who would prefer a church that doesn’t require them to change their ways in order to be more Christ-like. This sort of power dynamic is regularly at play in the church, and those who wish to use their pastoral authority to guide the church can feel, as Charles did, as if they are “beating the air,” with no hope for meaningful change.
It can be frustrating to pursue a calling only to find that no one will allow you the power or authority to actually lead. Charles would very quickly decide to leave Georgia, which was probably the best choice, even if it meant that the nastier church members “got their way.” But there is always something to learn from the seasons of our lives, even if those seasons seemed to produce nothing but failure. Ultimately, it is Christ who transforms the world, and the Holy Spirit who changes hearts. Our faithfulness may not always produce the fruit we had hoped to see, but I promise you that it produces fruit, one way or another.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as minister of discipleship for youth and families at Highland United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.