In the last two Sundays, I’ve worshipped in two historic American churches. The first, last Sunday, was Park Street Church in Boston. Its heritage being a key stop along the way for slaves fleeing their oppression in the earlier 19th century. The worship style was a traditional liturgy. It was a blessing to sing hymns that were rich in theological content and classical in style. The sermon was an excellent O.T. exposition which was illustrated with fascinating archeological facts seasoned with illustrations and humor.
Today we worshipped at the historic Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia. The Falls Church is older than the USA. Among its historic parishioners is George Washington, who served as a vestryman. Falls Church is well known in some circles for its stand against the culture that has developed in the Episcopal church. Falls Church is now an Anglican congregation but lost their historic building in a court fight. The church now meets in a rented high school gym and has an amazing music ministry. You can’t really tell there is a leader, the music was contemporary in style and just flowed naturally in the service of worship. The music was worship of God without calling attention to itself. The sermon was well crafted: biblically sound, culturally relevant and punctuated with personal stories that supported the theme without distracting from the theme of the sermon. It was good to join the people in saying the Apostle’s Creed.
Two historic churches, biblical, gospel centered, diverse. The body of Christ is wonderful in its varied expressions.
kingdom travelin' 