We're getting closer, friends. In less than 24 hours we'll know who will be competing against Harriet Bedell for the Golden Halo. Yes, you heard that correctly, Harriet Bedell! Did anyone who filled out a bracket have Harriet competing in the championship round? Anybody? Harriet capped off a stunning Cinderella-like romp through Lent Madness 2014 by defeating Lydia yesterday 54% to 46% and will vie for the Golden Halo on Spy Wednesday with either Charles Wesley or Phillips Brooks.
But first, Charles and Phillips stare one another down in this battle of wordsmiths. Hymn writer and preacher. Though, to be fair, Wesley preached a bunch of sermons and Brooks wrote some hymns. And many generations have been inspired by their passion and creativity.
To make it this far, Charles Wesley defeated John Wesley, Thomas Merton, and Anna Cooper while Phillips Brooks turned away Simeon, Catherine of Siena, and Julia Chester Emery.
Oh, and congratulations to the Lent Madness Faithful for helping us achieve our goal of 10,000 likes on Facebook! We had great faith in you and the milestone was tripped at 10:18 pm Eastern Standard Time by a Canadian (of all things) proving that Lent Madness is indeed a global phenomenon. Or at least that Maple Anglican is a lot more influential than we thought.
After watching Tim and Scott's last Lenten edition of the award winning (well, not yet but we're optimistic and/or deluded) Monday Madness, let's see what the Archbishops have to say about today's match-up:
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley Writing, by Richard Douglass
The other day, I asked a friend what I should say in order to convince you, dear reader, to cast your vote for Charles Wesley in today’s Lent Madness match-up. I was given a definite and absolute answer: “it’s all about the hymns!”
In one sense, of course the case for Charles Wesley centers on his 6,000+ hymns. For me, those hymns have been present at some of the most dear and cherished moments of my life –- I’ve attended weddings and funerals and sung Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. I recall the Christmas Eve eucharists as child where I would be so excited to sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Easter morning was never complete without Christ the Lord is Risen Today/Jesus Christ is Risen Today.
His hymns punctuate the seasons of the church’s year (as with Come Thou Long Expected Jesus and Lo! He
Charles Wesley, from St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, CA
Comes with Clouds Descending), and they provide language to express our desire to offer our highest praises to God (O For a Thousand Tongues To Sing!). At times, they simply stand in awe and amazement at God’s incredible love for us (And Can it Be That I Should Gain?).
But in a larger sense, I like Charles Wesley for way more than writing my favorite hymns. Because for Wesley, the hymns -– magnificent as they are –- were but other tools in his toolbox –- yet another way of striving to reach every last person with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Charles Wesley wanted every last person on earth to have that same feeling of confidence and assurance in Jesus Christ’s love for them, just as he had experienced his own “strange palpitation of the heart” and assurance that Jesus loved him on that Pentecost Day in 1738.
It’s no secret that this mission of Charles Wesley often led him right up to the edge of trouble. With his brother, Charles received disapproval from church authorities when, casting aside long-standing practice, he went out into the fields to preach the gospel to people who otherwise never would have had an opportunity to step into a church. And preach he did –- to thousands upon thousands.
And the hymns…Charles Wesley’s many hymns were to him yet another means by which the gospel could be heard, that Jesus Christ could be known, and Jesus’ love could be felt by everyone. The famous 19th century American preacher Henry Ward Beecher once confessed his understanding of the power of those hymns to stir the heart when he said: “I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley's, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth.”
Charles Wesley was described by those who knew him as “a man made for friendship.” And for him, that’s what all those hymns, all those sermons, and all his work was all about: friendship with God and with neighbor.
That’s a commitment, and a ministry, that we can sing about today and every day, even as we, like Charles Wesley, cast our crowns before Jesus… lost in wonder, love, and praise.
-- David Sibley
Phillips Brooks
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In the later decades of the 19th Century Phillips Brooks, rector of Trinity Church, Boston, was a national celebrity. It was a time when, unlike today, being widely-known, much less widely-respected and beloved as Brooks was, was no small feat.
Once clocked by a reporter at preaching more than 200 words per minute, Phillips Brooks must have been a been a magnetic, not to say breathless, preacher. We can’t know. Thomas Edison’s phonograph was not widely in use by Brooks’s death in 1893, but Martin Luther King, Jr.’s son has claimed that the cadence of Brooks’s sermons influenced his father’s preaching style. If we have Brooks to thank, in small part, for “I Have a Dream,” then we owe a great debt.
Upon reading his sermons more than 100 years later, it’s remarkable how overcome I am by a potent jolt of inspiration. I want to be a better person. I want to serve God with my best self and my whole heart. Sign me up!
Listen to the man:
The danger facing all of us -- let me say it again, for one feels it tremendously -- is not that we shall
Hall of Fame of Great Americans, Bronx Community College
make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel that life has no meaning at all -- not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God -- and be content to have it so -- that is the danger. That some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with the husks and trappings of life -- and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one's friends may be spared -- satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle and thrill which come from a friendship with the Father.
Brooks knew that it all comes down to love, as he shared so eloquently in a letter to young Helen Keller.
Trinity Church, Boston
“There is one universal religion, Helen - the religion of Love. Love your Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key to Heaven.”
The words Brooks shares are not bound by time. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Indeed, they are met in Christ every night of our lives. And his call to prayer to a God who knows no bounds sounds like it was written yesterday.
“Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings.”
-- Heidi Shott
Vote!
[poll id="106"]
165 comments on “Charles Wesley vs. Phillips Brooks”
Surrounded by my dogs, I have to vote for Charles.
I did not share with my dogs the fact that I voted for Phillips Brooks.
I didn't either, Anne. My dogs will forgive my vote because Phillips Brooks preached love and that's what they are looking for every minute (except when another dog dares to walk by our house).
The friendly one or the impressive one? I'm going with Phillips, just because he is not chummy, but so impressive--"the largest prayer" did it.
O, for a thousand votes to cast!
I know, I know. I only get one.
I agree with Paul; wish I could vote for both! As a professional writer, I'm in awe of Brooks' highly quotable sermons. I had only known him as the author of O Little Town of Bethlehem (one of my least favorite Christmas hymns). The fact that he probably influenced Dr. King also impressed me. But I personally connect with the divine through music, and as a choral singer I have always loved the hymns of Wesley. (Although that has as much to do with the tunes, which he did not write, as the words.) I really need to ponder this one before I vote!
Phillips Brooks is awesome, but I will always vote for Charles Wesley. I love that picture of him grinning and petting his dog!
But still....I think Harriet Bedell is going to win the Halo. I've felt this way for a long time.....
Chrism Mass last night, GH on Wednesday followed by the Triduum. Also, my buttercream Easter Eggs are already made. Life is good!
Thanks to the whole LM team. I have so enjoyed this season. As a Catholic, I learned about many more holy men and women, like Harriet Bedell. This has been a wonderful Lenten Season. I couldn't follow it on FB as I give that up for Lent each year. This was the hardest year ever.
Blessings on all the leaders and subscribers. Harriet for the win!
How do you make buttercream Easter Eggs?
What does GH stand for?
I'm guessing "Golden Halo"
Oh, yeah! Spy Wednesday!
Thanks, Verdery.
Jealous that Catholics have a chrism mass! In my Episcopal diocese, the bishop blesses the chrism at the clergy retreat...no lay people invited 🙁
Music speaks for me, when I can't.
Had to go with Brooks. His double vision--of the danger facing us all, and of a world suffused with the Glory of God, of missed chances and a world in need--recapitulates all that calls to us in this Holy Week.
As someone else wrote, Charles Wesley's hymns are written in my heart! And my soul! And the mission statement of my home United Methodist church, Christ Church in Manhattan, is essentially "Love God and neighbor". Charles did that and wrote many expressions of it, including "Jesus, Lover of My Soul". For me, it's Wesley all the way.
There are too many commenting here who do not understand hymnody or music. First, MUCH of Lutheran hymnody comes from Bach chorales -- with "no words", baloney. Go through all of the Cantatas -- they all have words! Second, Wesley's hymns were not "mere" poetry. They were intended to be set to music! He even suggested many of the hymn tunes! Who are you kidding?
Music is a universal language and a gift from God. As St. Augustine of Hippo said "Those who sing pray twice!" Charles Wesley's influence through his hymns is wide-spread and crosses denominational boundaries. And there is no comparison between 6000+ and 1. As the write-up indicates, Charles Wesley's influence was much more than hymns -- even in the Lutheran Church calendar, he and his brother are listed as "Renewers of the Church." But that influence is through the impact of those 6000+ hymns! Wesley's impact is certainly too broad and encompassing not to vote for him!
I voted with you today, Phil, though apparently I misquoted Luther. Anyway, I see you are starting to share my dislike of the term "mere" or "merely." It's often a putdown, not an explanation of reasons. One man's "mere" is another man's "treasure."
All those hymns! While many are quite good, the problem with them is that when I think of them I only hear them played on the organ. And given a choice between eating chitlins or listening to an organ--I would choose the pig intestines! I wish I could imagine Wesley's hymns on ... oh I don't know, ... an oboe! Now there is a fine instrument! Sorry, Charlie, O Little Town of Bethlehem would sound great on a toy piano so I have to go with Mr. Brooks. Versatility, imagination, and the humility of a Jesus that can be praised everywhere, all the time, by anyone and everyone.
Who said Wesley's hymns could not be played on a piano? Moreover, the pipe organ is the king of all instruments -- you want oboes (reeds), you've got them! You want trumpets, you've got them! You want strings, yes, there are string stops! You want horns, etc., etc., they are there!!!!! I think the key in your statement is that you think that O Little Town of Bethlehem sound "great" on a tinny instrument like a toy piano ......
Shout out to Boston today! So I must go with Brooks and Boston.
I love hymns but a good preacher speaks to my soul.
Charles Wesley: it wouldn't be Easter without him.
Charles Wesley all the way. For he (and she) who sings prays twice. Hymns often convey God's truth in ways that mere speech cannot. Sorry, Phillips. This Methodist must vote with heartfelt joy for Charles.
This was the toughest decision
yet in a season of tough decisions. With an M.Div. from Perkins, I love, admire, and revere both Wesleys. As one of my fellow Frozen Chosen at Perkins says, "Without Charles Wesley and 'Hymns Ancient and Modern,' we would't have much to sing."
Nevertheless, I voted for Phillips Brooks because I agree with him that the greatest danger is not failure but mediocrity. The last sentence, "Pray not for crutches but for wings," nailed it for me.
Pray not for crutches but for wings.
Brooks gets my vote.
I must go with the man who used music, much as Jesus used parables, to preach the Good News. Thanks, Charles.
Oh I don't know, I don't know! I thought I was going to vote for Brooks, and I may still do so, but the "man made for friendship" line really got to me. But then I had never heard of Brooks before LM, and I'm so grateful to have been introduced to him, and since he's not faring so well in the polls, that may make the decision for me.
Could I suggest that a couple of distracting typographical errors be corrected in the Brooks essay? It may be negatively influencing his votes! "Phillips Brooks must have been
a beena magnetic" and "it’s remarkable howovercome"Charles Wesley all the way! Both are deserving, but Charley touches my heart and soul. Gorgeous hymns, "a man made for friendship" and his portrait with a huge grin and his puppy. What a lovely gentleman. Need I say more?
Let us also remember that Brooks was an Abolitionist. He also supported the right of African Americans to vote, which really makes him stand apart. So, in addition to his fabulous preaching and inspiration, he was deeply popular with the people for many reasons. Go Brooks!
A really hard choice -- but the quotes from the sermon and letter of Brooks tipped the scale in his direction.
It is time to GET OUT THE VOTE...for Phillips Brooks! Sure Charles Wesley wrote some fine hymn texts, but anyone who can preach 200 words a minute and still be inspirational gets my vote and my admiration!
What?!?! Charles is trouncing Phillips?!?! This is ... No! No!
Brooks going away
Our Dean's father, in his robust 70's, re-enacts Wesley in a wonderful original presentation so miraculously that you are transported back in time during the musicale....and yes, I am indeed "sucking up"! As a deacon, I'm non-stipendiary so it's not like I'll be getting a raise or an office with a view. Brooks' sermons are indeed jewels but he is regional and everybody's not from Boston, or as the Kennedy's say.."Bah-stun". Please, no stoning of the deacon for blasphemy! Charles Wesley and his hymns ? There is hardly any corner of the world where at least one of his hymn lyrics isn't known no matter whose melody is being sung. I, too, greatly admire the sermons of Brooks but the Wesley hymn lyrics are literally imprinted on my brain and in my heart and on Easter morning that's what will come out of my mouth, gloriously I hope... for in truth, from my heart and mind and soul, I will once again know that JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN TODAY !
Apparently Charles Wesley was also a dog lover! That didn't cinch the deal for me, but it helped. Go, Charles!
And, anticipating tomorrow's match up, though the Wesleys left Georgia earlier, their spiritual descendants were very active Methodist ministers to the Cherokees, especially, and opposed Georgia's takeover of Cherokee land. It was a Methodist minister who took a case all the way to the US Supreme Court, where the Court under Chief Justice John Marshall declared Georgia's land grab illegal. Then Pres. Jackson got Congress to pass a federal removal act, creating an "Indian Territory" in what is now Oklahoma. It was one of the first official "ethnic removals" in US history.
There is O Little Town but there are
Words of a hymn will stay with you longer than words of a sermon.
Not a tough choice for me. I've been singing Wesley's hymns since childhood. And I noted a comment above comparing regional influence to world-wide influence. Both men were powerful presenters of God's message, each in their own way. But Wesley undoubtedly has touched almost everyone who has ever set foot in a church, and that is a huge accomplishment, worthy of our admiration and praise. I think I know who is going to win this thing.
Yep, another hard decision but If I cant have Bach, then it has to be Charles Wesley. Over 6000 hymns! Just imagine how he must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. But if Brooks get it, I won't be disappointed. This has been my first LM but it won't be my last unless I don't make it to the next one!
Not all sermons move one … words of a hymn stay with you and can be recalled whenever one wishes. I find myself constantly humming one of my favourite Lenten hymns. Thank you Charles Wesley.