The Epistle of Q — Chapter Sixty-Eight (Part B-2)

So what was the main service like?

Because of the inspiration I received during the early morning service, I decided to stay around the church and attend the 9:30 a.m. “main service”. I’m not sure how many people the sanctuary will actually hold (Fourth Presbyterian has a membership of 5,200 congregants) but it’s a lot. Perhaps if you watch the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” you can get a sense of its size. But I figured the 9:30 a.m. service might have more space. There were ropes on some pews to move the majority of people towards the front, but they had left the final two pews open (for late-comers according to the usher, but when he heard I was a minister’s son, he allowed me to sit there!!) which gave me the opportunity to watch the church fill up (and observe the ushers slowly remove the ropes, three pews at a time). By the time the service started, people were sitting in all the pews, right back to within one row of me… I was impressed — in a time of declining church participation, it felt good to be in a church that can attract 75 people for an 8:00 a.m. Communion Service and then several hundred for the early “main” service.

The organist treated those that arrived a bit early to a Prelude that started with J.S. Bach’s “When We Are in the Greatest Need” and then as people began to fill the sanctuary he then replayed the selections from the 8:00 a.m. service, which was fine by me as I would listen to them as often as he wished to play them. This led to the Introit where we were blessed with Jim Leininger’s “Cantate” which should show any praise band leader that lively music can be spiritual and classical — the choir made this a beautifully energized piece and then they effortlessly transitioned to Richard Proulx’ “Even Now, Says the Lord, Return to Me” (which they had done at the early service). Again all this led us to the Doxology which had the entire church reverberating.

The service unfolded in much the same way as the early service although the anthem was Johannes Brahms’ “Ach, arme Welt, du trugest mich” (Alas, poor world, you deceive me; indeed I recognize this for sure, and yet I cannot avoid you. You false world, you are not true; your visions dissolve, as I surely know, with woe and great sorrow. Your honour, your goods, you poor world, are lacking in death, and in real necessity, your treasure is vain, false money; from this help me, Lord, find peace.). This was special. The sermon was based on Mark 12: 1-12 and was okay — not as good as the early service, even though it was delivered by the Senior Associate Pastor (Lucy Forster-Smith). It took too long to get to the point and then it was suddenly over (she needs to have a lesson in homeletics from Doug Rollwage of Zion Presbyterian in Charlottetown or maybe Richard Topping of VST). After the sermon we sang “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” which helped me accept a less than rousing sermon (the title of which was “A Rousing Word”!!).

The offertory anthem was by Brahms — “Wenn wir in hochsten Noen sein” (When in the hour of deepest need, we know not where to look for aid…) and it more than overcame the somewhat ordinary sermon. It was reflective and uplifting — certainly on a par with the choir at St. Andrew and St. Paul Presbyterian in Montreal. Wonderful harmonies delivered by strong voices and supported by a very powerful yet not overbearing pipe organ. Twelve ushers were needed to bring the offering plates forward after the collections had been completed. The service concluded with the hymn “Let All Things Now Living”. After the Benediction and Response, the organist gave us a rousing send off with Eugene Gigout’s Toccata which was more than delightful — it sent us all out into the cool sunshine feeling energized and glad that we had been to the house of the Lord.

g.w.