05/24/2024
Happy Aldersgate Day! On May 24th we celebrate that John Wesley, founder of Methodism, experienced his "heart strangely warmed." As United Methodists, may we seek to live in such a way that others may also come to trust in Christ and be assured in their hearts of God's love.
From Wesley's journal: "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, 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.
I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart."
— John Wesley | May 24, 1738