This morning's worship service was one of the most inspiring I have ever attended. Our church celebrated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Great Britain. Of course the congregation sang Amazing Grace! Then our anthem was the old gospel song "Faithful Over a Few Things".
The lyrics previewed the scripture for the day--the parable of the talents (Matthew 15:14-30). Words can't describe the experience of being in the choir singing backup to the fabulous soloist who could really wail. And yes, wail is the right word. We wailed, we swayed, we got down with it! The entire congregation erupted afterwards with applause and cries of "amen"! This is not the usual response to an anthem in a PCUSA church, let me tell you.
There were a number of references in the service to the movie Amazing Grace, which tells the story of William Wilberforce's campaign to outlaw the slave trade in the British Empire. Providentially, El Jefe and I went to see the movie last weekend. It is a great, great movie.
The late, great African-American composer Moses Hogan's "I Surrender All" was the offertory. It's a prayerful, contemplative piece that set the tone for the sermon.
Taking the parable of the talents as his text, the senior pastor tied the anthem and the movie Amazing Grace together by noting that Wilberforce continued to be faithful in his long effort to abolish the slave trade, learned from his mistakes along the way, and that his persistence and faithfulness were ultimately rewarded with success. He reminded the congregation that faithfulness in a few things means that God will set before us greater tasks to accomplish for the kingdom.
That last point is a scary thought. I tend to focus on the details of completing the work that I think I'm called to do now. I don't anticipate God sending me more difficult or larger tasks in the future. Yikes! You mean there may be more?
In the words of today's anthem, "be thou faithful unto death, and God will give you a crown of life." I guess that is the message for today--be faithful over the tasks set you today and trust God when he calls you to new work in the future. I'm going to try not to worry about what may be coming up next and have confidence that God will help me with it.
Update: Thanks to Stushie for correcting my earlier error. This was the 200th anniversary of the Act abolishing the slave trade. Slavery wasn't abolished in the British empire until 1833. I've corrected the post accordingly.
The lyrics previewed the scripture for the day--the parable of the talents (Matthew 15:14-30). Words can't describe the experience of being in the choir singing backup to the fabulous soloist who could really wail. And yes, wail is the right word. We wailed, we swayed, we got down with it! The entire congregation erupted afterwards with applause and cries of "amen"! This is not the usual response to an anthem in a PCUSA church, let me tell you.
There were a number of references in the service to the movie Amazing Grace, which tells the story of William Wilberforce's campaign to outlaw the slave trade in the British Empire. Providentially, El Jefe and I went to see the movie last weekend. It is a great, great movie.
The late, great African-American composer Moses Hogan's "I Surrender All" was the offertory. It's a prayerful, contemplative piece that set the tone for the sermon.
Taking the parable of the talents as his text, the senior pastor tied the anthem and the movie Amazing Grace together by noting that Wilberforce continued to be faithful in his long effort to abolish the slave trade, learned from his mistakes along the way, and that his persistence and faithfulness were ultimately rewarded with success. He reminded the congregation that faithfulness in a few things means that God will set before us greater tasks to accomplish for the kingdom.
That last point is a scary thought. I tend to focus on the details of completing the work that I think I'm called to do now. I don't anticipate God sending me more difficult or larger tasks in the future. Yikes! You mean there may be more?
In the words of today's anthem, "be thou faithful unto death, and God will give you a crown of life." I guess that is the message for today--be faithful over the tasks set you today and trust God when he calls you to new work in the future. I'm going to try not to worry about what may be coming up next and have confidence that God will help me with it.
Update: Thanks to Stushie for correcting my earlier error. This was the 200th anniversary of the Act abolishing the slave trade. Slavery wasn't abolished in the British empire until 1833. I've corrected the post accordingly.
