"Give me your hand": A Protestant Reflection on Catholic Spirit

Jehu greeted [Jehonadab] and said,

“Is your heart right as my heart is with your heart?

Jehonadab answered, “It is.”

Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.”

2 Kings 10:15

It is with these sacred words from Scripture that John Wesley, eighteenth century Reformer, began his 1750 sermon entitled “Catholic Spirit.”[1]  A dear friend of mine recently led me to this buried treasure, a Protestant friend who always embodied, in word and action, a truly catholic spirit.[2] 

What a beautiful question, “Is your heart right as my heart is with your heart?”  It seems to distill down the essence of Wesleyan spirituality, a movement that dramatically influenced the church and is powerfully relevant for us today.

I find Wesley’s Christian vision so compelling for Young Life and pastoral ministers for several reasons.  First, because Wesley was a “folk” theologian.  He was not so much concerned with writing a systematic theology but simplifying and communicating the essential teachings of Christianity to common, everyday people.  This is precisely the kind of ministry Young Life staff and other youth ministers are engaged in today.

Second, Wesley was not satisfied with presenting a coherent doctrinal account of Christianity.  He was most concerned with helping people experience Jesus Christ personally.  This is something that Young Life staff are so gifted at doing with teenagers.  This is exactly what Catholic Church needs to revitalize its core today, representing the very heart of the new evangelization: “to invite men and women into a relationship with Jesus Christ.”[3]

Third, Wesley’s renewal movement was decidedly concerned with Christian unity.  Though firmly grounded in his own convictions, Wesley was constantly searching for the essential core which held all Christians together.  Wesley was deeply pained by the lack of Christian love that is supposed to define our lives.  “Where are even the Christians who ‘love one another, as he hath given us commandment’?. . . Though we can’t think alike, may we not love alike?”[4]

We might ask the question, “So what does this unity actually look like?  How are we to love the world and love each other even though we don’t always agree?”  For Wesley it was not a matter of trying to “convert” the other.  “You need not come over to me, or bring me over to you,” Wesley reminds us.  For John Wesley, the most credible form of Christian witness in the world is “the religion which breathes the most love.”[5]

I pray that you and I might listen closely to his words and let them be the words that we, both Protestant and Catholic, speak to each other today:

Love me…

If your heart is right
as my heart is right with your heart
then love me with a very tender affection,

as a friend that is closer than a brother…
as a fellow-citizen of the new Jerusalem,
as a companion in the kingdom.

Love me with a love that is patient if I am ignorant or out of the way,

bearing and not increasing my burden.
Love me with the love that 'is not provoked'
either at my follies or infirmities.

Commend me to God in all your prayers;

wrestle with him on my behalf,

that he would speedily correct what he sees amiss

and supply what is wanting in me.

Beg of him…that my heart may be more as your heart,

more right both toward God and toward man.

Provoke me to love and to good works…

Speak to me in love whatsoever you believe to be for my soul’s health.

Love me not in word only, but in deed and in truth. 

So far as in conscience you can

(retaining still your own opinions and your own manner of worshipping God),

join with me in the work of God,

and let us go on hand in hand.[6]

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[1]             John Wesley, “Catholic Spirit,” in John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, eds. Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1991, 299-309.

[2]             Many thanks to Chris Noyes, a friend and former colleague, for whom I dedicate this post and from whom I have drawn this post’s inspiration.  Chris’s paper, “Rediscovering ‘Catholic Spirit’,” was originally presented at Aquinas Institute of Theology in 2005 and served as the primary resource for this piece. 

[3]             Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, Disciples Called to Witness: The

New Evangelization, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C.,

2012.

[4]             John Wesley, “Catholic Spirit,” in John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, eds. Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1991, 301.

[5]             Randy L. Maddox, “Opinion, Religion, and ‘Catholic Spirit’: John Wesley on Theological Integrity.” Asbury Theological Journal 47 (Spring 1992).

[6]             John Wesley, “Catholic Spirit,” in John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, eds. Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1991, 307.