Dear Father Charles

December 18, 2006

Dear Father Charles,

It is one week until Christmas, which means today is your birthday — number 299 by my count. Because it comes in the middle of Advent and our churches' preparations for Christmas, it will likely not be a major event on the actual date. But rest assured that we haven't forgotten you. We're going to make it a year-long celebration, counting down to your 300th in 2007, with hymn festivals, worship services, concerts, new books, articles, hymnals and songbooks, choir musicals, pictures and artwork, drama, trinkets and baubles to wear on our clothing, but probably most important of all, publication and singing of more of your thousands of hymns.

We did this same thing just three years ago for your brother, John. That all seemed rather prolonged to me. We spent a year building up to his big day on June 17, 2003, and then we had nearly another full year of celebration. By the time it was all over, I think most of us were glad it didn't last longer. I expect that your celebration will be a bit more modest, if not restrained. Of course, in some respects you remain overshadowed by your big brother, even in death. But we will give you a grand celebration, full of meaningful and vital worship and glorious singing.

We musicians count you as father, Father Charles, not so much because you were an Anglican priest, but because your hymns have nurtured us much as a parent nurtures a child. We have grown in spiritual maturity as we have studied and sung your hymns. Through them, you have taught us theology and liturgical practice. You have instructed us in the sacraments. And you have taught us so much about the love of God, salvation by grace through faith in Christ, the work of the Spirit, and the mission of the church in the world. We are truly your descendants.

In all honesty, however, I must confess that we have strayed quite far from the path you put us on. Your hymns that did so much to feed the Wesleyan movement and the early Methodist Church are still with us, although not in such numbers. Our early hymnals and songbooks were largely the work of you and John, with a few others like Watts and Luther. But as each generation of your descendants has come along and produced its own new hymnal, and as the church has grown and spread through the world, your hymns just don't hold the same place for us that they once did. We sing hymns and songs you never heard, many of which might cause you to wonder if we are even worshiping as we sing. Oh, we still sing your hymns and newer ones that don't sound much different, but we also sing praise songs, short choruses, meditative prayer responses, gospel songs, songs in a variety of modern styles, including one called "rap," which is more of a spoken, rhythmic chant without any melody. Many of us clap, dance, shout, sway, and move around as we sing. Your brother took great delight in accompanying your hymns on his flute; today we use many different instruments. And as the church has spread throughout the world, we have incorporated texts, languages, and musical styles from many ethnic and geographic groups. Our official Methodist hymnals have gradually replaced the hundreds of hymns that you wrote with many of these newer ones, and our hymnal's content is now less than ten percent hymns that you wrote. Most of our churches probably don't sing more than eight or ten of your hymns a year, and most of our people probably can't sing a single one from memory.

Don't misunderstand — I'm not complaining. The world today is quite different from what it was 300 years ago. The church is different, having adapted to many ages and cultures. We worship differently, and we need different songs to sing. But for now, for this coming year, we will again put you and your hymns in an honored place. You will once again teach and nurture us, Father Charles. We give thanks for your birth, your life, your faithfulness, and your gifts to us.

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See the Charles Wesley 300th anniversary resources.

For a bulletin or newsletter insert, see "Happy Birthday, Charles Wesley (December 18)"