In January I set out to read John Wesley’s journal. Over the years I have found great spiritual nourishment in reading the works from Christian saints through the ages: Theresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, Julian of Norwich, John Calvin, John of the Cross and more. Since I consider myself “Wesleyan” in my theology, I figured I would read Wesley’s journal.
Four months later, I give up.
I still like Wesley. Wesley was an awesome person with a life to be admired by any Christian. Yet I found his journal, his account of parts of that life, boring. It started out well. Reading about his early life and his conversion experience at Aldersgate was both enlightening and encouraging. But once he was fully converted and got into the groove of his ministry throughout England…well, that is when the book got dull. It was a lot of “we preached here, then traveled there, then faced opposition, then we went over here” and so on.
One reviewer said that the last 1/4 or so breaks this monotony and is worth slogging through the rest to get to. I just couldn’t do it.
Sorry Mr. Wesley.
Here are two posts inspired by the early parts of the journal:
Asking Uncomfortable Questions
David Hershey 