Demonstrating the kind of innovative and thoughtful worship that keeps people returning again and again to the Worship & Music Conference put on annually by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the 650 or so people gathered on the first day of the first week of the event in June in Anderson Auditorium at Montreat Conference Center sang beautifully and listened intently to testimony taken from Colossians 3:12–17, the central Scripture for this year’s gathering with the theme “Clothed in Love.”
Singer and songwriter David LaMotte offered up his song “Just One Candle,” with the recurring theme, “And all the darkness in the world can’t extinguish the light of just one candle.”
Youth played a prominent role during worship, reading Scripture and liturgy written by the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, the PC(USA)’s Associate for Worship.
And as might be expected from a large gathering of musicians and clergy, the hymn-singing was glorious. Hymns were accompanied by varying combinations of piano, organ, drum, guitar and handbells.
A worship highlight was brief testimony on six qualities found in the Colossians passage: Compassion by Dr. Tom Trenney, the conference’s co-service musician; Kindness by LaMotte; Humility by Gambrell; Meekness by Ana Hernández, this year’s Routley Lecturer; Patience by Dan Trabue, the conference’s artist in residence; and Love by Dr. Margaret Aymer, the conference preacher.
Trenney donned a green sweater, then talked about his “spiritual superhero,” Fred Rogers. “I learned a lot about the gospel from Mister Rogers before I heard it in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” Trenney said. Rogers used to tell the story of eight Special Olympics sprinters who helped a hurt competitor up and finished the race together arm in arm, all of them tied for first place. Rogers noted that spectators clapped and cheered for a long time, “and we know why: What really matters is helping others win, too,” Trenney said. “Each of us has the opportunity every day to change course and clothe ourselves in compassion, like those children did that day.”
“When I was young, I didn’t distinguish between nice and kind,” LaMotte said. “As an adult, those have come to be very different words.” Being nice can mean being polite and not upsetting people. “I have come to understand that kindness often means making waves,” LaMotte said. “I’m thinking nice is not what Jesus was going for. Kindness is not a feeling. It’s a way of treating people.”
Gambrell recalled buying some new tennis shoes a day before a long hike that was part of a pilgrimage, holding the offending sneakers high for everyone to see. “Something about these shoes did not agree with my left foot,” he said. “I had to use crutches to lead the Easter vigil at my church.” But even more humbling was sharing that dusty roadway with his fellow pilgrims, many of whom had “left their own crutches behind, praying for God’s healing ministry.”
While in graduate school, Aymer moved from New York to Atlanta, where she knew “not a soul,” and so Aymer, a single woman in her 30s, placed an ad on match.com, which was answered by “a strange-looking Frenchman” named Laurent. The two had their first date on Sept. 9, 2001, and spent four hours in a café talking about New York. After the terror attacks two days later, the first person in Atlanta to check on her well-being was Laurent. When she saw him, he was wearing an “I love New York” T-shirt with a matching hat. “That was my husband,” she said. “He wore his heart not only on his sleeve, but on his chest and his head.”
Last fall, Laurent died suddenly in his sleep. “He believed how we clothe ourselves can show our love to our neighbors,” Aymer said. She herself sported a stole Sunday that said, “Clothed in Love.”
Sunday’s blessing and charge included these words: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothes yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Beverly Bewley, Customer Service Representative, Operations, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Teresa Bidart, Mission Specialist, Self-Development of People, Interim Unified Agency
Let us pray:
Loving God, you who gave us eternal life, you who shares the power of your love through others, you who amaze us when we expect the worst, help us to love others as you have taught us to love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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