I’m about to make my annual visit to Britain, the land of my birth and where I spent the first 27 years of my life. Also the country of John Wesley, who was born a little over 300 years ago. Wesley was, of course, the founder of Methodism, an evangelical grouping that began within the Church of England but eventually found life more comfortable as a separate denomination. Today, sadly, it is in decline throughout most of the world. In Canada most Methodists joined the United Church, a denomination shrinking away before our eyes.
There are still a few Methodist churches that remained detached and thrive, and indeed the United Church does tremendous work in many areas. But the church of Wesley was something different. And something so very grand and great.
Thing is, to a large extent Wesley laid the foundations for the Canada we know and love. The welfare and care society we have here was based strongly on the British model and that in turn was part of the old Labour Party tradition. A Labour Party, it was always said, that owed more to Methodism than to Marx. In other words, a social democratic party that rejected the extremism of Marxism and embraced the fraternity and justice approach of Christ.
Thus Labour Party activists and their Canadian social and political reformer friends across the sea looked not to revolution but to an evolution of fairness, social balance and a partial closing of the economic chasm. So appealing was this approach that until recently it was the overriding political philosophy not only of left-wing parties but of centrist and conservative ones as well.
Just to show how influential John Wesley actually was, it has always been said that he was the reason that Britain did not have a French style revolution in the late 18th century. Parisian aristocrats were prepared to ignore popular suffering but the British ruling class was pressurized by Wesley and his followers to introduce sweeping reforms. Never enough, of course, but sufficient to convince the people that society was worth changing peacefully rather than overthrowing by hysterical violence.
The ending of the extraordinarily lucrative slave trade was largely the triumph of Wesley's people; influential politicians such as William Wilberforce, Tory by nature but swept along by the social gospel of Methodism.
Similarly with the ending of child labour and the improvement of living conditions for the urban working class, a Christian-based social justice was the cause. The point was, however, that these campaigners never compromised their orthodox Christian faith in their fight for societal change. Sadly, today we seem to have lost most of that bipartisan tradition.
Supposed Christians on the left have all too frequently abandoned God and the Bible and made socialism and relativism their idol. On the other side of the church, more traditional believers have remained true to the faith but have too often looked to the political right and ignored their great heritage.
Of course there are many exceptions to this but Wesley himself would hardly recognize the church he created. He would also be staggered at the reversing of the progress made over the years in Canada as well as in Britain, both in terms of the lowering of moral standards and the decaying of public ethics, as well as the adoration of wealth and materialism.
We have been polarized. If we care for the poor and the helpless, we are obliged to champion immorality. If we stand up for the family, we are supposed to obsess about law and order and low taxes. No, no, no. It does not have to be that way. He knew it and so do many of us still. Political party means nothing anymore.
I shall raise a glass, teetotal or not, to the man who changed the world for the better and is not always recognized as such. As I look around at the various political leaders of this country, it breaks my heart that none of them could even walk in good John's shadow. Time for a long overdue change.
