In the last battle of a full week, John Wesley takes on Edith Cavell. Will the Methodists among us rally the troops for the de facto founder of their denomination? Or will the compelling story of an English martyr carry the day?
In Thursday's action, upstart Maria Skobtsova soundly defeated Thomas à Kempis 74% to 26% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen where she'll face Quiteria. Thursday was also a big day for Lent Madness fans in Hannibal, Missouri, as an article titled Churchgoers Participate in Lent Madness Activity made the front page of the local paper, the Herald-Whig. Kudos to all the Lent Madness fans at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hannibal!
As we prepare to take a deep weekend breath, please do try to survive without voting on Saturday and Sunday. Symptoms of Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) are real and we encourage you to reach out to Lent Madness-playing friends and family to see you through this two-day wilderness. LMW support groups are forming in church basements everywhere. And fear not! We'll return bright and early Monday morning as Esther takes on Lazarus. Now go read and vote!
John Wesley
The impact on the religious landscape made by John Wesley is undeniable and far-reaching. John was an Anglican priest and theologian and the founder of the Methodist movement.
Born in 1703 in England, John was the son of a clergyman and the youngest of fifteen children, including his brother Charles, a well-known hymn writer and Anglican priest. At five years old, John survived near-death in a rectory fire—he was saved thanks to parishioners who formed a human ladder to rescue him. This event marked him for life.
He was highly educated and a graduate of Christ College, Oxford. At school, he prayed and studied scripture with his brother, Charles; their friend, George Whitefield, also a priest; and others in a group deemed “Methodists” because of their method of spiritual disciplines.
Ordained in 1728, he and Charles were sent in 1735 to Savannah, in what was then the British colony of Georgia. John did not fare well—there were personal issues and ineffective ministry. After two years, he returned to England in defeat. While onboard, through stormy waters, he befriended Moravians and took to their ways, which he found calming and Spirit-filled. John underwent a religious experience in 1738, in which he said his “heart strangely warmed.” He believed that God charged him with initiating a revival in the church. He parted ways with the Moravians and embarked on his own ministry. Along with Charles and George, John traveled the country, forming Christian groups and worshiping communities. The Methodist movement flourished.
He became a prolific preacher and writer, delivering an estimated 40,000 sermons in his life. John wrote or edited more than 400 publications on issues such as theology, music, prison reform, marriage, medicine, slavery, and politics. Some of his more famous works include Forty-Four Sermons, Notes on the New Testament, Thoughts Upon Slavery, and Collection of Psalms and Hymns, the first Anglican hymnal published in America.
Wesley died on March 2, 1791, at the age of eighty-seven. In 2002, John Wesley ranked number 50 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
Collect for John Wesley
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Edith Cavell
When Edith was a young girl in the late 1800s, she informed the bishop that her father’s church in Swardeston, near Norfolk, England, needed a room for the growing Sunday School. The bishop offered help—so long as Edith raised money as well. Edith and her sister began painting cards and raised some 300 pounds (about $30,000 in today’s funds), and she contacted the bishop. St. Mary’s, Swardeston, built the addition, and Sunday School classes thrived.
As an adult, Edith continued her life of service. Her early work as a governess in Belgium was interrupted when she returned home to Swardeston to nurse her father back to health. This experience led Edith to explore nursing, and she was eventually placed in charge of L’Ecole Belge d’Infirmieres Diplomees, a nursing school for women in Brussels.
World War I began, and Brussels was invaded. Edith was visiting family in England, but she immediately returned to Brussels. Realizing the danger for citizens and soldiers alike, Edith helped provide an underground escape route for those fleeing to the Netherlands. More than 200 soldiers escaped to safety. German military authorities discovered her acts. Edith confessed—which likely saved the lives of others who assisted her—and was sentenced to death.
As she awaited execution, the Germans allowed an Anglican priest to visit her. He recalls that in their final meeting, Edith received communion and prayed, expressing forgiveness toward her executioners. She said, “I thank God for this ten weeks’ quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of rest has been a great mercy. But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness toward anyone.”
Edith’s execution on October 12, 1915, horrified the world. Her grace stunned even her captors. After the war ended, Edith’s remains were exhumed, and she was reburied with great ceremony in a cemetery near her childhood home in Swardeston.
Edith believed that patriotism must be examined through love for our fellow humans and through the commandment of Christ to love and forgive without regard to nationality, ethnicity, or our own bitterness.
Collect for Edith Cavell
Holy God, in grace and mercy your Son asks us to love our enemies and forgive those who persecute us: Grant us the desire to follow the example of your servant Edith Cavell who, in your name, healed the wounded, guided those in danger to safety, and forgave those who persecuted her as she was sustained by your word and sacrament; through the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[poll id="212"]
251 comments on “John Wesley vs. Edith Cavell”
Having moved to Norfolk, my vote goes to the local woman. But even without the local connection, I am inspired by her bravery, grace and forgiveness, and her recognition that God is beyond and above all borders and nations.
Once again, despite my respect and admiration for John Wesley, the one who gave the ultimate sacrifice for her faith is the one who gets my vote. Edith Cavell it is!
In 1988, I composed a fiddle tune for the 250th anniversary of the Methodist Church that I performed on the hammered dulcimer during the meeting of the United Methodist Church's Council of Bishops in Morristown, NJ that May. I titled the tune "The Bicentennial Bit;" its latter half is highly syncopated, to represent John's horse balking as he rode his circuit to preach! However, I voted for Edith Cavell because her story somehow seemed more compelling. I'm fine with the outcome of this vote, whichever way it goes.
I’d love to hear that!
John was not the youngest of 15 children. Charles was about 5 years his junior and Charles had a sister younger than himself. Some have said there were 18 or 19 children, but some did not live to maturity.
Edith was a very courageous woman, and I'm glad to have become acquainted with her story today. But John got my vote for his enormous impact on Christendom.
Here's something I'm pondering about myself and my voting tendencies in LM. I tend to go for martyrs in a big way. Yesterday I voted for Maria Skobtsova, and I consider her to be a martyr. I don't consider Edith to be a martyr who died for her faith, though she was indeed a courageous person who gave her life for others. Why is that? Perhaps I view Maria's actions to rescue Jews from the Nazis as being more tied up with her Christian faith in some way? Edith was undoubtedly motivated by her Christian faith when she made the decision to help those soldiers escape. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Maria acted during WWII and Edith acted during WWI. Hmmm....
"the commandment of Christ to love and forgive without regard to nationality, ethnicity, or our own bitterness." Or our own bitterness. Well, @#$%! I was going to vote for Edith even before I read that last bit. Wesley is already beloved. I didn't know Edith and think she deserves to be better known. We all can't hike that mountain, I don't think I've ever even seen a stained glass window of her. I do like her picture. Plus, the only way for me is to forgive without regard for my own bitterness. I didn't even realize I was bitter. Ahk. I'm going to look up that mountain and find that angel glacier. Next year I'll use another name. By the way, I have yet to vote for the underdog.
Right on! Judy!!
its pretty hard not to vote for someone who is killed for her faith.
Edith Cavell, and others like her need to be put to young men and women today, to give them an example of selfless dedication, and devotiomon.
I lived in Belgium when I was in my 20s so I had yo vote for her. O had never heard of this amazing woman, bit felt so connected to her after reading the bio.
Even though I voted (apparently in the minority) for John Wesley, I feel compelled to note that the "collect" at the end of the write-up is, in fact, not a collect. There is a specific formula that a collect follows, and this ain't it. https://anglicanway.org/2014/04/26/the-form-and-structure-of-the-collect/
Isn’t Lent Madness meant to be fun?
I voted for Edith. That doesn’t mean I do not love and treasure John.
Let us enjoy this time with the saints triumphant!
Edith: such courage, such grace, such love.
Edith got my vote. Thank you, Becky, for sharing the Norwich Cathedral link to the Art that tells her story. She is truly beloved. So happy to know LM is not partisan madness, but Lent Madness. What a fun way to learn! Until Monday, LMW support group and Blessings, all!
Edith for my elderly friend Edi who is loving to all
Edith for me - My mother's name is Edith, I am a nurse, and I admire Edith living out the courage of her convictions.
Two of my favorite hymns thanks to JW - Give to the Winds Thy Fears and Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me. I have no doubt we will learn more about Saint Edith, so voting Wesley this time.
Despite the fact that I am the great-granddaughter of John Wesley B., a Methodist circuit rider, I felt required to vote for Edith, whom I only dimly knew. Some of this Lent Madness thing is undoubtedly about stretching our boundaries!
I was solidly convinced I would vote for Wesley, until this paragraph stopped me dead in my tracks:
"Edith believed that patriotism must be examined through love for our fellow humans and through the commandment of Christ to love and forgive without regard to nationality, ethnicity, or our own bitterness."
Okay, Edith for the win!
There is a wonderful podcast from the BBC named Witness and for those of you who don't use iTunes on a computer or the iOS Podcast app, here is the link to go to to stream or download the approximately nine minute-long episode they did on Edith Cavell back in October of 2015: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034cf4x.
If you do do podcasts, I'd highly recommend subscribing to this wonderfully educational history programme from the BBC.
What a compelling story about Edith.
thought I'd try again to pick..started re-reading the bios and right away came to a decision! The saint and martyr here is Wesley...Mama Wesley, that is! 15 children?!?
And no microwave and no washing machine!
And pretty much all by herself because Samuel was never home . Of course when he came home there would be another baby on the way soon. She was an incredible woman!
This is Lenten Madness at its best. I had never heard of Edith Cavell -- and I'm glad to have discovered this remarkable person.
Of course, John Wesley, whose work invented such phrases as "getting your ticket punched" has a truly remarkable place as well.
This vote was so difficult for me, I waited till the last 15 minutes AND spent time reading MANY of the astute comments of my fellow voters. John Wesley's sainthood cannot be diminished by a victory for Edith today. However, Edith's faithfulness to the Christian principle of forgiveness arrives at a time in my life when anger is trying to prevail. May I be granted her faith and strength. Thanks to all of you who helped today.
I was intrigued by the Moravians of whom I was not familiar. I read up on them. Fascinating. Thanks Lent Madness to opening a bit more of the world to me.
If you ever get a chance, Nora, visit Old Salem in North Carolina. It’s a living town from the 18th c. My ancestors were Moravian, and my Christmas memories are all wrapped up in beeswax candles with red paper frills, sugar cake and coffee, molasses spice cookies, and a white multi-point paper star hanging from the porch ceiling.
Me too.
Bethlehem, PA also.
"Edith believed that patriotism must be examined through love for our fellow humans and through the commandment of Christ to love and forgive without regard to nationality, ethnicity, or our own bitterness." This is what the world needs now, and has always needed. She gets my vote.