Excerpts From: The Messenger |
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"Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus summarized the entire bible in two statements, "Love God and love others." At first glance, it appears that Christ is giving us two commands to follow but they are actually one in the same. We love God by loving others. Jesus is teaching us that people, and caring for them, is more important than anything else we do. In fact, showing kindness and caring for others is an act of worship in itself.
I heard a true story about a man who was a great admirer of Mother Teresa and her work. While visiting India, the man had high hopes of meeting her. Time after time, he would visit the places where she often went to minister to the people, but he never saw her.
On his last day of his trip, while worshiping in the local church, the man, to his amazement, found himself in the presence of Mother Teresa who was attending services as well. He could hardly believe it! The man excitedly began pointing and whispering about Mother Teresa to those around him. Quietly, Mother Teresa stepped out of her pew and escorted the man outside into the poverty stricken streets.
Without saying a word, she led the man to an alley where the walls were lined with old boxes, junk and smelly trash. She told the man to push aside the rubble. Obeying her command, he began to remove the fragments of garbage one piece at a time. Lying under the rubbish, and to his surprise, was a naked, frail, old man. He stood there speechless. Then, he heard Mother Teresa say to him the four most powerful words he had ever heard..."Behold the body of Christ."
In one short sentence, Mother Teresa echoed the words of Christ spoken long ago, and yet, still relevant today. "For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25: 35-40)
I leave you with some points of reflection as we journey together in Lent
Loving others is how we love and worship our God, who is the author, creator, and meaning of true worship. It is in God's love that we discover our true security and our true hope and our true worth-whileness and our true rescue from the fear of death. The more we trust in God to make our life worthwhile, the more effective our deeds are in the long run, for they come out of our true self -- our true center where God is nurturing and God is healing and God is empowering us to be men and women for others.
We need to push back the rubble in our life today and see who needs to be loved, cared for, or encouraged. Then take advantage of the moment. The next time we see a person in need, don't shrug it off. Instead, "Behold the body of Christ."
Take care and have an inspiring Lenten season. Peace be with you all.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Samuel King-Kabu
The church was nearly filled to capacity. The Bach organ prelude played by Thomas Leslie got the ball rolling. St. Ansgar’s church Pastor Samuel King-Kabu, the host of the evening, bid everyone welcome with an invitation to sit back and enjoy the musical offerings of the evening.
First on the program were two selections by St. Ansgar’s Bell Choir under the direction of Thomas Leslie followed by a rousing rendition of Once in Royal David’s City sung by the congregation and led by Vivienne Deane with organ accompaniment by Thomas Leslie.
Kenika Martinez read the story of Silent Night followed by a lovely rendition of the carol by young Chelsea, accompanied on the piano by Vivienne Deane. The Raging Grannies followed with some original songs and read stories written by grandmothers in Africa who were raising their own grandchildren, the parents of the children having died of AIDS.
Vivienne Deane’s trio entertained us with two Christmas carols and two songs written by Deane and dedicated to Reverend Dr. Jan Dijkman, who had passed away that very morning after a short illness. The trio’s close vocal harmony and strong voices of Nancy Hinckson and Deborah Burrowes, supplemented Deane, who doubled as lead singer and piano accompanist.
Next, the audience sang Go Tell it on the Mountain, directed by Deane followed by several selections by a wind trio, with Philip Cumyn on flute, Irene Lipper on bassoon and Linda Tae at the piano. A women’s barbershop ‘octet’ (actually a septet, as one member of the group was absent) followed with members of Sweet Adeline International singing in 4-part harmony, a capella, of course.
The message, written by Dr. Jan Dijkman when he first fell ill was read by Pastor Samuel King-Kabu. Dr. Dijkman was the president of Zerf Productions until his death. He had been involved in the community for many years preaching awareness of HIV/AIDS here and in Africa. A native of South Africa, he was well informed and aware of the devastation visited upon the African countries by the AIDS epidemic. His passing leaves a big void.
Following the message, Thomas Leslie sang O Holy Night, with his lyrical tenor voice, accompanied by Linda Tae while the Raging Grannies collected the donations from the audience to support the work of Zerf. Quite an amount was collected from the people present, an amount expected to rise as more donations are mailed in.
The Sweet Adeline’s octet returned with some more songs. You could tell they were enjoying themselves, and it was contagious. They finished off with a very funny rendition of The Twelve Days after Christmas that had everyone laughing aloud. Dan Delaney sang a couple of songs with piano accompaniment and then the audience was once again asked to participate by singing Silent Night, directed, once more, by Vivienne Deane.
Before St. Ansgar’s Bell Choir returned to finish with two more carols, Wilhelmina Fredericks came to the lectern to tell us about her experiences when bringing medicines to Africa. A key item now is getting enough of the new rapid test kits to test African children for HIV. Wilhelmina related that while testing 150 children in one hospital in Tanzania, only 15 children were found to have the virus. The funds collected at the concert will go a long way towards helping purchase medicines and test kits for the ongoing work of Zerf and Wilhelmina Fredericks.
The concert, which originally had been scheduled for December 16 2007, was cancelled due to a big snowstorm. It was rescheduled for January 20 with the same program. It seemed like everyone enjoyed the evening and the Christmas music, perhaps even more so at this time when the pre-Christmas rush was over.
The concert was recorded by local recording artists David Bloomer and Gil Hymer. CDs are available by calling St. Ansgar’s church office at 514-486-5404. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this exciting concert with talent, food for the NDG Food Bank and last, but not least, monetary donations to Zerf.
Jette Blair
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner
& Jette Blair.
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St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal