Reflections (Aldersgate)

May 24, 1738.  Something significant for the people called Methodists took place on that date 262 years ago. 
Had we been in England in the spring of 1738 we would have served King George II.  Perhaps we would have heard the rumors of Robert Jenkins presenting a pickled ear (he claimed it was cut off by a Spanish captain in the Caribbean) to Parliament.  The act stirred up sentiments for war leading to the War of Jenkins Ear.  
There was a riot by laborers in the woolen industry, over price cutting actions.
David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature was published. 
(All this according to the totally reliable source, Wikipedia).
There was another event on May 24, 1738.  John Wesley writes in his journal.
"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
262  years later we find ourselves in America.  History will note 2020 was the year of coronavirus.  There was great division in the nation.  There was a spreading sickness and death.  Religion bumped up and settled back. 
In the middle of all that, God moved.  God stirred the hearts of many.  People re-discovered a living, vital faith.  People's hearts were "strangely warmed".  Sins were forgiven.  Assurance was granted.  Many were set free from their fears and anxieties.
Could you be one whose heart is strangely warmed today?
This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
steve