So much has been written and so many emotions have been expressed about the events of Sept. 11, 2001 - a day that will truly live in agony and infamy. We are mourning and we are in shock. We are still grappling with the unreality of this awful thing and still trying to convince ourselves that this is not some special effect from a Hollywood blockbuster or a plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. A Miami Herald reporter describes it as, “The worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and probably, the history of the world.” Slowly but with dogged resolve we as a nation are straightening ourselves up, tending to our wounds, beginning to bow our necks and focus our response as individuals and a nation.

It is not the first time Americans have had to respond to violence and threats of violence from abroad. Japan learned something about how determined we can be following the raid on Pearl Harbor. Nazism was thwarted in its attempts to insert itself in American interests. When challenged, the American spirit has an amazing resiliency. This “melting pot” of a nation responds with one voice, standing shoulder to shoulder when threatened and struck from the outside. It’s the American way. It is the American spirit.

John and Charles Wesley themselves came up against that amazing American spirit. The Wesleys strongly opposed the rebellion of the American colonists against what Wesley referred to as “the Lord's anointed.” In his poems on the American war and patriotism, we see Charles not as a genteel, thoughtful Tory, but as an angry and uncritical supporter of the crown, his government. His language is intemperate and abusive as he presents George III as almost saintly and those who question him as “demonic and witting pawns of Satan.”

However, it should be noted that American Methodism flourished during the seven years of the Revolutionary War. Despite the loss of all but one of the British preachers, despite the suspicion and persecution to which their loyalist-inspired movement was subject, the American Methodist societies continued to grow. The number of preachers, of circuits and of members approximately tripled. In time, Wesley recognized all that was meant by the American spirit.

John Wesley was not a sympathizer with the American colonists on matters concerning independence from the crown. There was no question about where his loyalties were. In one of his writings to Americans he said, “Come to yourselves ... .” According to Wesley, the problem was neither taxes nor politics. He writes, “You have ... exactly what your ancestors left you; not a vote in making laws, nor in choosing legislators; but the happiness of being protected by laws, and the duty of obeying them” (Stuart Henry).

Wesley did not understand the American mentality. As rebellious children might do, the American reaction was to regroup and bow the back as if to say, “You'll see!” In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, that is the intense focus beginning to be heard across the land. This terrorist effort to tear us apart has brought us together again in a way that few people today can recall. “You’ll see,” the nation cries out. “You’ll see!” You’ll see what the American spirit is all about, just as did John Wesley.