London Journal #7

I’m on a break between lunch and the afternoon meeting, so I’ll take the time to begin the blog for today. Today I’m at Willesden Church. The study of the Sabbath School Lesson was cut short so that I could have about 20 minutes to talk about Music and Worship. And then I spoke for the main Service. But even though many said that they were blessed by my sermon “Trials 101,” I personally was more blessed by the rest of the Service especially the Praise team and the music. We had church today! It is a long time since I have participated in the singing of hymns with such power, rhythm, soul, sincerity, – everything that lifted one up to a higher plane! As you can see in the photos, I was sitting on the platform, but I had to come down into the audience to fully experience the worship. I was transported to a higher plane! I’ve gotten my corporate worship “fix” today! It will hold me for a good while. They also gave me a gift of a dress shirt. It seems to be the British thing to show appreciation with a dress shirt (of course I have also received an honorarium for my services this week)….

This afternoon I did a mini seminar on culture and worship and spent most of the time answering questions and listening to comments. Most of the comments came from the more traditional segment of the audience. As expected they latched on to the quote from EGW that in the last days there will be drums in the church, etc. This church however, has gone past that segment of the congregation, and their worship is vibrant, and God is being praised.

After coming home and catching up a bit, the entire Core of Adventism team went out to a vegan Chinese restaurant to eat. The food was awesome, and the fellowship was great – especially my conversation with the Portuguese and African (quite progressive) pastors with whom I shared a table. The work here in Britain is complex, but it is exciting. I have lots to bring back to WWU that will enhance my teaching and preaching.