What would an evil parallel universe John & Charles Wesley look like?  I just looked up the first of John Wesley’s General Rules (Do No Harm), and focused on creating a lazy, slobby version of the meticulous Mr. Wesley, who didn’t care about anything.  Charles uses his words to bring attention to himself instead of to God.  I imagined that in the Mirror Universe, nobody believed that Jesus really rose from the dead, so Christianity was just a dead movement altogether.  In our actual universe, I think that we become indifferent, worse versions of ourselves when we fail to trust in the resurrection of Christ.  The resurrection actually changes things, makes the stakes higher, and means that Jesus is actually worth following.  But often we venerate celebrity bodies and lives instead of the body and life of Christ.  We value attention from others more than the affection of God, and so do whatever we deem necessary to have others focus on us.  We fill our lives with personal possessions and hours of entertainment rather than practice the presence of God or give our time and possessions to those most in need.  John Wesley once said, “Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.”  It reminds me of this great line I love from the band The Head and The Heart, “Oh God I love my vices but they’ve taken me to places that I never thought I’d go / and I am ready to come home…” (“Honey Come Home”).

As we conclude this series on The Means of Grace, what does it mean for you to pursue Christ through works of piety and works of mercy, rather than pursue yourself through fashionable vices?  Live long and prosper!