The Reverend Marion Easterling, Pastor
Worship Style - Traditional Methodist
This Sunday represents the halfway point in our pilgrimage! We chose Old West for many reasons. First, our son, who lives in the North End of Boston, has begun moving out, so we were heading to Boston to pick up some of his belongings. Also, Georgene, a good friend from Florida, had invited us to visit the Museum of Fine Arts to view the Pilgrim/Roy Quilt Exhibit with her. Paul Pilgrim (who is now deceased) and Gerald Roy are old friends of ours from California, and Gerald Roy is the brother of Georgene. Finally, since we had thought that this was the last Sunday for this church's pastor (he has been reassigned), the church has a rich history and it was in walking distance of the North End, it was a good choice.
Our pilgrimage is entitled, "Looking for Jesus in all the right places." We must humbly confess that although we found Him on the steps of Old West, alone, asleep and homeless, we simply walked around Him. We don't exactly know, even now, what we could have done differently, but we know we wish we had done something different. We do know that we missed an opportunity to serve Him.
We entered this beautiful old church and were greeted (we later learned) by the Chair of the Finance Committee, John Bengel, who was the speaker for the day. He informed us that the previous pastor's last Sunday was the week before and the new pastor was starting the next week so we were privileged to hear from him. John's sermon was based on a favorite book of his entitled, "The Shaking of the Foundations" by Paul Tillich. He quoted the following from the book, "Grace transforms our fate into a meaningful destiny." He also said, "If we say yes to accepting grace, it changes guilt into confidence and fear into courage." We were treated with an impressive music offering by the soloist, Stephanie Benkert. She sang a musical selection, "Kyrie" (words in Ancient Greek, music based on Mvt. II from Symphony No. 9 by Antonin Dvorzak). Her voice filled the sanctuary and raised the hair on our arms. It was simply stunning and gave such glory to God.
Worship Style - Traditional Methodist
This Sunday represents the halfway point in our pilgrimage! We chose Old West for many reasons. First, our son, who lives in the North End of Boston, has begun moving out, so we were heading to Boston to pick up some of his belongings. Also, Georgene, a good friend from Florida, had invited us to visit the Museum of Fine Arts to view the Pilgrim/Roy Quilt Exhibit with her. Paul Pilgrim (who is now deceased) and Gerald Roy are old friends of ours from California, and Gerald Roy is the brother of Georgene. Finally, since we had thought that this was the last Sunday for this church's pastor (he has been reassigned), the church has a rich history and it was in walking distance of the North End, it was a good choice.
Our pilgrimage is entitled, "Looking for Jesus in all the right places." We must humbly confess that although we found Him on the steps of Old West, alone, asleep and homeless, we simply walked around Him. We don't exactly know, even now, what we could have done differently, but we know we wish we had done something different. We do know that we missed an opportunity to serve Him.
We entered this beautiful old church and were greeted (we later learned) by the Chair of the Finance Committee, John Bengel, who was the speaker for the day. He informed us that the previous pastor's last Sunday was the week before and the new pastor was starting the next week so we were privileged to hear from him. John's sermon was based on a favorite book of his entitled, "The Shaking of the Foundations" by Paul Tillich. He quoted the following from the book, "Grace transforms our fate into a meaningful destiny." He also said, "If we say yes to accepting grace, it changes guilt into confidence and fear into courage." We were treated with an impressive music offering by the soloist, Stephanie Benkert. She sang a musical selection, "Kyrie" (words in Ancient Greek, music based on Mvt. II from Symphony No. 9 by Antonin Dvorzak). Her voice filled the sanctuary and raised the hair on our arms. It was simply stunning and gave such glory to God.