Nyberg had travelled to South Africa while singing with a vocal ensemble called Fjedur, and was captivated by the music of South Africa and its role in the struggle for liberation. He returned to South Africa to work as a volunteer with the Lutheran Church in the townships of Gugulethu and Athlone and collected and arranged a number of the songs he learned in the churches and rallies of the townships.

Including both ‘religious’ and ‘political’ songs, helpful advice on performance and an accompanying cassette tape, Freedom is Coming was published at a time when South Africa was rarely out of the news. I had visited South Africa three years previously, as part of a Methodist Church Youth Exchange Team. We had been taught a few songs while we were there and I was excited to find one of these (Singabahambayo thina) in the book.  When we formed a music group at Lambeth Mission we included several of these songs into our repertoire. I’ve been singing them ever since.

A mark of the ongoing influence of this little collection is that three of the songs are included in the new Methodist hymnal Singing the Faith: ‘Freedom is coming’, ‘Thuma mina’ and ‘We are marching in the light of God’.

(Oh freedom) Freedom is coming
(Oh freedom) Freedom is coming
(Oh freedom) Freedom is coming, oh yes I know.

(Oh yes I know) Oh yes I know
(Oh yes I know) Oh yes I know
(Oh yes I know) Oh yes I know, oh yes I know.

(Oh justice) Justice is coming…

(Oh Jesus) Jesus is coming…

South African traditional words collected and edited by Anders Nyberg (b.1955)
Adaptation from Freedom is coming © 1990, WGRG, Iona Community

A blue plaque on 1 St Martin's le Grand (The former GPO) marks the site of the Bull and Mouth

For several years Wesley preached regularly at a meeting house in Bull and Mouth Street. The street was the location of a coaching inn called the Bull and Mouth – the curious name is said to be a corruption of ‘Boulogne Mouth’. The location of the meeting house is clearly marked on a 1754 map of Aldersgate Ward (on the third map down it is bottom centre, above the letters INC of PRECINCT). A blue plaque on the wall of 1 St Martin’s le Grand (formerly the General Post Office but since 1986 the offices of the Japanese bank Nomura) commemorates the Bull and Mouth. The meeting house was built by the Quakers, who gave up the building in 1760, after which it was taken over by the Sandemanian Society, a dissenting sect which had recently been brought to London from its place of origin in Scotland.

Wesley had begun preaching there in September 1756 with high hopes:

As much of real religion as was ever preached there, I trust will be preached there still; and perhaps in a more rational scriptural, and intelligible manner.

However, in his journal entry for 21st December 1763 Wesley wrote:

I took my leave of the “Bull and Mouth”, a barren uncomfortable place, where much pains had been taken for several years, I fear to little purpose.

As the Sandemanians only moved in the previous year one wonders whether their occupation of the meeting house was one of the factors in Wesley’s departure.

Five days later Wesley wrote:

I began preaching in a large commodious place in Bartholomew Close. I preached there again on Wednesday and at both times with peculiar liberty of spirit.

Bartholomew Close ran (and still runs) around the south and east of St Bartholomew-the-Great church and was within the boundary of the original priory precincts. None of the buildings that would have lined both sides of the close in Wesley’s day survive. So what and where was the ‘large commodious place’?

In his detailed history of St Bartholomew’s E.A.Webb demonstrated that it was very probably the old Chapter House of the priory. In a plan of the priory dated 1821 and published in Wilkinson’s Londina Illustrata (1822) the former chapter house is marked ‘St Bartholomew’s Chapel’. Wilkinson also includes an illustration which shows the chapel fitted out with double-decker pulpit, box pews and gallery and described it thus:

The chapel of St. Bartholomew is of equal antiquity with the priory. It is neatly pewed and has a very commodious gallery, also vestry rooms at the back of the north wall from one of which a small window looks into the green churchyard, fronting the doors to the south entrance to the church.

Originally the entrance to the chapter house would have been via the East Cloister. This still survives, and the original doorways, now bricked up, can be seen. However it seems that at some point the floor of the chapel was raised by six feet to bring it up to street level and a new doorway made to provide an entrance to St Bartholomew’s Close.

The East Cloister - the door to the Chapter House would have been on the left

How long Wesley preached at the ‘commodious place’ is unknown. Indeed much of the later history of the Bartholomew Chapel seems obscure. This is compounded by the fact that there was a long-established dissenters’ meeting house within the main church over the south gallery, occupying rooms that were formerly part of the prior’s quarters. Later commentators were often confused by the relationship between this meeting house and Bartholomew Chapel. According to Walter Wilson (The history and antiquities of dissenting churches and meeting houses, in London, Westminster, and Southwark, vol.3 1810), the last Presbyterian congregation in Bartholomew Close was dissolved in 1753, to be followed, after a gap of ten years, by a congregation or congregations led by a succession of preachers who were either independent or in connexion with the Countess of Huntingdon – in other words ‘Methodists’ in the broader sense of the word. The penultimate preacher mentioned by Wilson is Thomas Madden, who

raised a congregation at Bartholomew-Close, where he preached about a twelvemonth, when he removed to a large room which he fitted up for a chapel, with an organ and prayer reader, and other requisites, and where he was much followed. After preaching there a few years, he removed towards the latter end of last year (1809) to a new meeting house in Aldersgate-street.

Webb argues that the ‘large room’ occupied by Madden was Bartholomew Chapel, i.e. Wesley’s ‘large commodious place’. The illustration in Wilkinson presumably reflects Madden’s alterations.

The modern building behind the cloisters is on the site of the chapter house/Bartholomew Chapel

Modern archaeological investigations suggest that the chapter house was built a little later than Rahere’s church – probably in the 13^th century. However, in its later Bartholomew Chapel guise, it must be a candidate for the oldest Methodist chapel. (Unless, reader, you know different.) Unfortunately, the ‘large commodious place’ was destroyed by fire in 1830. An apartment block now occupies the site.

the Gatehouse of St Bartholomew-the-Great, erected over the original west door of the church

Founded in 1123 by a courtier-turned-prior called Rahere as the place of worship for an Augustinian monastery, the church has suffered much change, damage and restoration over the years. Rahere also founded nearby St Bartholomew’s Hospital (universally known as St Bart’s) and the church gave its name to the riotous St Bartholomew Day fairs held just outside the doors of the church on Smithfield (originally the ‘smooth field’). Smithfield became the site of London’s principal livestock market and, more notoriously, a site for executions. On the wall of St Bart’s Hospital is a monument to Sir William Wallace, of ‘Braveheart’ fame, who was one of Smithfield’s victims.

St Bartholomew-the-Great: the Quire

After the dissolution of the monasteries the nave of the church was destroyed. This is now an open space in front of the church, although the original doorway survives as a gateway to the churchyard, complete with a half timbered Tudor house on top. The various monastic buildings were sold and passed into secular use or were demolished. The existing church is the quire of the original church, built in a mixture of Norman and Early English styles. A new porch and tower were added much later. Fortunately, from the Victorian era onwards, surviving buildings which had been leased out were restored to church use, included the Lady Chapel (which at one time housed Benjamin Franklyn’s printing press) and the remaining part of the cloisters (now a very atmospheric café).

The Lady Chapel

A building like this is worth visiting in its own right; however I was also interested in the church because of its connection with John Wesley and early Methodism. I knew from his Journal that Wesley had preached here on a number of occasions. However I was surprised to discover, on reading a displayed history of the church in the Cloister Café that the Chapter House, now sadly no longer extant, had been used as a Methodist Chapel. This came as news to me, and I was determined to establish the truth of this statement.

My main source is E.A.Webb who published in 1921 a very detailed history of St Bartholomew-the-Great. One of his principal sources for the early 18^th Century is Luke Tyerman, Wesley’s biographer and editor of Wesley’s journal.

John Wesley’s connection with St Bartholomew’s dates from the incumbency of Richard Thomas Bateman, rector of the church from 1738-1760. Bateman was just twenty-five years old when he came to the parish, and he would die in post. Tyerman writes:

“The Rev. Richard Thomas Bateman was a man of high birth and great natural endowments; he was not only rector of St. Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, but also held a living in Wales, where he had been converted under the powerful ministry of the Rev. Howel Davies. Being converted himself, he at once with great fervour began to pray and preach for the conversion of others. As soon as Wesley got back to London Mr. Bateman (an old friend) offered him his pulpit, and the offer was accepted”.

According to his journal, Wesley first preached there on Sunday 24th December 1738. At the time St Bartholomew’s was just one of a number of churches in the area in which Wesley, newly arrived from America, preached. However, Wesley’s uncompromising message ensured that in nearly every case he was not invited to return again. Indeed, the churchwardens of St Bartholomew’s were not particularly happy with Wesley. Tyerman tells the story:

As soon as Wesley got back to London, Mr. Bateman offered him his pulpit, and the offer was accepted. The church was crowded to excess. The churchwardens complained to Bishop Gibson, saying, “My lord, Mr. Bateman, our rector, invites Mr. Wesley very frequently to preach in his church.” The bishop replied, “What would you have me do? I have no right to hinder him. Mr. Wesley is a clergyman, regularly ordained, and under no ecclesiastical censure;” and so the matter ended.

The reason why Wesley was not barred from St Bartholomew’s as he was from so many other city churches was presumably because he was a friend of the rector, who was sympathetic to the Methodist cause. The church does not appear again in Wesley’s Journal until 1747. In the entry for Sunday, 31st May 1747 Wesley recalls:

“Mr. Bateman desired me to preach a charity sermon at his church, St. Bartholomew the Great, in the afternoon, but it was with much difficulty I got in; not only the church itself, but all the entrance to it, being so thronged with people ready to tread upon one another. The great noise made me afraid at first that my labour would be in vain; but that fear was soon over, for all was still as soon as the service began. I hope God gave us this day a token for good. If He will work, who shall stay His hand?’

Two weeks later he wrote:

“I preached at St. Bartholomew’s again. I admire the behaviour of this people; none betrays either lightness or inattention. Surely all the seed sown here will not be lost!”

And again the following Sunday:

“I preached once more at St. Bartholomew’s on the Gospel for the day—the story of Dives and Lazarus. I was constrained to speak very plain and strong words. But God gave the audience ears to hear, so that they appeared as far from anger on the one hand as from sleepiness on the other.”

Perhaps it is not coincidental that the 1747 Conference began the next day. Bateman was one of six clergymen present (including John and Charles Wesley), an indication of his identification with the Methodist movement.

The following year Wesley returned to St Bartholomew’s.

“Sunday, 12th June 1748 – I preached in St. Bartholomew’s church. Deep attention sat on every face, while I explained and by the Grace of God pressed home those words, “Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God.”

And then a final entry, three days later:

“I preached once more at St. Bartholomew’s. How strangely is the scene changed! What laughter and tumult was there among the best of the parish, when we preached in a London church ten years ago! and now all are calm and quietly attentive from the least even to the greatest.”

Although this is the last reference to St Bartholomew’s in the Journal, Wesley clearly remained friends with Bateman and in close contact with the church, for the parish register records him conducting several weddings there in 1751.

Throughout Richard Bateman’s incumbency the pulpit was open to Wesley. As a friend of Wesley and, we may surmise, to an extent Wesley’s protege, Bateman pastored a congregation well familiar with evangelical preaching. However this came to an end with Bateman’s untimely death in 1760. Wesley was forced to look for an alternative pulpit elsewhere in the area. As we shall discover, he found one not very far away. But this will be the subject of part two of this article.

For more photographs of St Bartholomew’s church and Smithfield, see this album.

There are not many hymns that connect with this theme, so this was an obvious choice. It actually draws from two other texts with a sporting metaphor, in particular 1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith…” and Hebrews 12:1-2.

The writer John Samuel Bewley Monsell (1811-1875) was an Irish-born Anglican clergyman. A collection of his hymns was published while he was vicar of Egham, Surrey, under the title Hymns of Love and Praise for the Church’s Year (1863). In addition to the present hymn, this included the hymns ‘Sing to the Lord a joyful song’, ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’ and ‘I hunger and I thirst’. In total he wrote some three hundred hymns.

Dear Lord,

Our hearts grieve as we witness the escalating violence and needless deaths in Syria. We identify with the sorrow of all Syrians who now see their country riven with conflict and the potential for increasing animosity between parties.

We pray for a speedy resolution to the political crisis and for a realisation by the Syrian Government that people’s aspirations for a stake in how and by whom they are governed will not go away.

Lord may Christians, Muslims and all people of faith in Syria unite to build peace and justice for all.

When you walked among us you rejected the way of the sword. May all parties in Syria realise the futility of violence, the right of peaceful protest and the need to protect civilian life in all circumstances.

We pray for wisdom and greater unity on the for regional and international powers, and lift before you own Foreign Secretary, as governments determine how best to respond.

We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the author of peace, to whom all hearts are known,

Amen.

The original heading of the hymn ‘To be sung in a tumult’ gives a clue as to its original context.

During the early years of the Methodist movement John Wesley and his preachers often faced opposition and even mob violence. It was not unusual for a gang to be hired to break up a Methodist meeting and sometimes preacher and congregation were abused and threatened. More than once Methodist preachers were in danger of losing their lives. John  Wesley’s practice was to look a mob in the face. Sometimes the crowd melted away; even if not, he refused to panic. One example of his courage was recorded in the Journal for 4 July 1745:

I rode to Falmouth. About three in the afternoon I went to see a gentlewoman who had long been indisposed. Almost as soon as I was sat down, the house was beset on all sides by an innumerable multitude of people. A louder or more confused noise could hardly be at the taking of a city by storm. At first Mrs B and her daughter endeavoured to quiet them. But it was labour lost. They might as well have attempted to still the raging of the sea…

They forced open the outer door, and entered the passage. Only a wainscot partition was between us, which was not likely to stand long… Among those without were the crews of some privateers, which were lately come into harbour. Some of these, being angry at the slowness of the rest, thrust them away, and coming up all together, set their shoulders to the inner door, ad cried out: ‘Avast, lads, avast!’ Away went all the hinges at once, and the door fell back into the room.

I stepped forward at once into the midst of them, and said, ‘Here I am. Which of you has anything to say to me? To which of you have I done any wrong? To you? Or to you? Or you? I continued speaking till I came… into the middle of the street, and then raising my voice, said: ‘neighbours, countrymen! Do you desire to hear me speak?’ they cried vehemently: ‘Yes, yes! He shall speak! He shall! Nobody shall hinder him! But having nothing to stand on, and no advantage of ground, I could be heard by few only. However, I spoke without intermission, and, as far as sound reached, the people were still; till one or two of their captains turned about and swore, not a man should touch him.

‘Earth, rejoice, the Lord is King’ was written to be sung in the face of such danger. In its use of imagery it is one of the most dramatic of Charles Wesley’s hymns. As usual, Charles Wesley drew on a wide range of biblical sources, but particularly the story of the Syrian army surrounding Elisha, as recorded in 2 Kings 6:15-17

‘And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.’

Earth, rejoice, our Lord is King!
Sons of men, his praises sing;
Sing ye in triumphant strains,
Jesus the Messiah reigns!

Power is all to Jesus given,
Lord of hell, and earth, and heaven,
Every knee to him shall bow;
Satan, hear, and tremble now!

Angels and archangels join,
All triumphantly combine,
All in Jesu’s praise agree,
Carrying on his victory.

Though the sons of night blaspheme,
More there are with us than them;
God with us, we cannot fear;
Fear, ye fiends, for Christ is here!

Lo! to faith’s enlightened sight,
All the mountain flames with light,
Hell is nigh, but God is nigher,
Circling us with hosts of fire.

Christ the Saviour is come down,
Points us to the victor’s crown,
Bids us take our seats above,
More than conquerors in his love.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

In the late 1980s while a member of Lambeth Methodist Mission (Now Lambeth Mission and St Mary’s) we formed a music group called Euangelion. Our repertoire included many songs from different parts of the world, some published, others collected from members of the congregation. Looking back, I think we were fairly pioneering. To put things in context, Hymns and Psalms (published 1983) was still a relatively new book. Although it had a few songs from the world church (‘The right hand of God’ was one of our favourites) we felt that its very limited selection meant that it already needed to be supplemented.

How things have changed in twenty-five years! Our new hymnbook Singing the Faith has some forty songs whose words or tunes, or both, have their origin in the World Church. Africa – particularly South Africa – is very well represented and there are a surprising number of songs from Latin America as well.

On Sunday evening I led Café Worship on the theme of world church music. I told some stories about some of the songs and how they came to us – if I get the chance I’ll post some on the blog. Accompanied by sufficient percussion instruments for everybody we enjoyed learning and singing a dozen or so songs from around the world.

We had fun singing together. But there was something deeper and more serious going on which is expressed in the following quotation from Dr S. T. Kimbrough, a United Methodist scholar and singer who has been a great advocate of global song:

If Christians, who now exist among hundreds of cultures and languages, want to relate to one another, they will have to sing each other’s songs—make music together. Music is the God-given language that gives the fullest expression to prayer, joy, suffering, and praise of the Creator. Followers of Christ will find that sharing their songs will strengthen their relationships, for they can sing about what they often find difficult to talk about. They can reach deep into one another’s souls with language, rhythm, melody, and perhaps harmony. (Music and Mission: Toward a Theology and Practice of Global Song p.3)

To which I want to say ‘Amen’. Or rather, sing Amen.

The Methodist Church has made significant progress in addressing equality and diversity issues within its own structures, the Methodist Council heard at its first meeting of 2012. Methodists working on a new equality and diversity structure for the Church have drafted a theological statement that will form the basis of inclusive policy within the Church.

The Methodist Council agreed to give more time to stakeholder forums shaping the Church’s response to equality and diversity when it met at Methodist Church House in London on 23-24 January.

Jennifer Crook, Equality and Diversity Adviser to the Church, said: “There is so much exciting work that is going on. The purpose of the theological statement is to ensure that the Church’s equality and diversity agenda is firmly rooted in Biblical values and core Methodist beliefs, so that when people ask us, ‘why are we doing this?’ we can say, ‘this is what we believe in the Methodist Church: we do equality because it is at the heart of what we know and do in the Methodist Church.’ There is a long history of equality, diversity and social justice issues within the Church.”

The theological statement, which is likely to be presented to the Methodist Council in March, has been drafted following lengthy discussions by the working groups in partnership with members of the Church’s Faith and Order committee who advised the groups on questions relating to Arminianism and the Methodist tradition.

The Council, made up of representatives from all over Britain, also discussed pensions, state-funded schools, a new ‘dignity at work’ policy and refurbishment work to the Methodist International Centre in London.

Council members agreed to create a Methodist Academies and Schools Trust (MAST) in order to comply with the Government’s new Education Bill, which received Royal Assent on 15 November last year. They also approved a development bank loan of up to £2,800,000 for the refurbishment of the educational rooms at the Methodist International Centre. Some of the rooms are expected to be refurbished in time to offer hospitality during the Olympics.

Note: The Methodist Council meets three times annually to undertake ongoing work on behalf of the Methodist Conference, which is the governing body of the Methodist Church. Methodist Conference 2012 will take place in Plymouth from 28 June to 5 July.

On 7 January 2012 the government in Fiji lifted the public emergency regulations which seriously restricted the activities of the Methodist Church there. However they were immediately replaced by a revised public order act.

This act means that the Methodist Church in Fiji is now allowed to apply for permission to hold meetings, rather than not even being allowed to apply. They are now trying to organise themselves as it has been three years since many Church meetings have been held.

The Revd Tevita Nawadra, the assistant general secretary of the Methodist Church in Fiji, has written to thank “our friends and partners who have shared our stories and given time to think and pray for the Church in Fiji; their prayers have been answered. May God bless them all. We still have a long way to go still, but it is starting anyway”.