For Wilshire Baptist Church
At Wilshire we are halfway through our “fAll In” emphasis that highlights the four key ways we are encouraged to participate in the life of the church: worship, learn, give and serve. We’ve had Promotion Sunday on August 19 and Generosity Sunday on August 26. Still to come is Service Sunday on September 2 and Worship Photo Sunday on September 9.
You might know that I dabble in writing hymn texts, and more than a year ago I started thinking about these four practices in the context of meter and rhyme. Here’s a rough draft, which could be sung to the tune ST. PETER, which is most often associated with “In Christ There is No East or West”:
In gratitude for God’s great gift, Of grace we don’t deserve, We worship and commit ourselves, To Learn and give and serve. We worship God with voice in song, And heads bowed low in prayer, Then hear the stories told again, Of God’s unceasing care. In pages of the holy book, God’s word brought from above, We learn the way to richer life, And how to share God’s love. This life’s a gift from God alone, A bounty not our own, We give it back in faith and love, So others too may know. Beyond the stained-glass window waits, A world in pain and need, It is our sacred calling now, To serve in word and deed. United in this fellowship, Obedient to God’s word, We worship and commit ourselves, To learn and give and serve.
These words may never become a hymn, but the dabbling has helped etch these four ideas into my memory. And with the head resting just above the chest, I expect some of these ideas to tumble down into my heart. And from there it’s not so far to the hands and feet.