I would like to share a testimony with you, I was asked to preach in a Dorset village called Lychett Maltravers. I had never been there before so I decided to visit the church the day before I was scheduled to preach. I found the church down a very narrow lane, I prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord, what word do you want me to preach to these people.” He told me in my mind to enter the church. On entering the church I met the cleaner, who told me that I was welcome to have a look around. I walked over to the pulpit and noticed the communion rail, then the Lord began to speak to me again and said, “You see this communion rail,” I replied, “Yes, Lord.” “Well, when you preach tomorrow, you must tell the people that many times in the past they have come to the communion rail to receive the bread and the wine, but this time they must come to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour, publicly, for where two or three are gathered together in my name there I am in the midst,” saith the Lord.

Well, the following day I did as the Lord had said, I began to preach my sermon, then I remembered what the Lord had said, so I told them that Jesus is standing by this communion rail, and as they had received the bread and the wine in the past, today, they were to receive Jesus, fully into their lives. I stood to one side of the rail, and we all began to sing Amazing Grace ! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see. Then one lady who had been attending that church for many years came to the front and knelt down, and gave her life fully to Jesus. Praise God. It reminds me of a scripture, where Jesus said, “ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance,” {St Luke 15 v 7}.

Now, for those who did not receive Jesus that day, they became very troubled. I received a letter from one of the Elders who could not understand how I could of heard Jesus speaking to me. He said, “Who do you think that you are? God doesn’t speak,” Obviously he was not listening to God’s word; I perceived that he to needed to come to Jesus. Another gentleman came to my home, and he was very troubled as well, he said, “Now that this lady is saved, how are you going to disciple her? For we are not going to.” Well, I thought to myself, it is Jesus who saves, and it is Jesus who keeps us, for Jesus said, “That it is He who has begun a good work in us and it is He who will finish it.” So I guess that this gentleman needed to receive Jesus as well. Maybe many others in that church should have responded to the altar call that day; my prayer is that they don’t leave it too late. But as for me, I’m going to rejoice with the angels in heaven over that one soul that was saved. Praise God.

Oh Jesus, Lord and Saviour, I give myself to Thee; For thou, in Thine atonement,
Didst give thyself for me; I own no other Master, My heart shall be Thy throne,
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

EVANGELIST BILLY BOLITHO
http://www.evangelistbillybolitho.blogspot.com

Unfortunately the sisters’ website doesn’t offer e-mail links either, just phone numbers.

I have e-mailed the Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton to see if they recognize it. I assume that to an expert, this is a very famous piece.

If Liberty means anything to me,
I will remember what my freedom cost,
By those who gave their all to keep me free,
Whose lives were sacrificed, but never lost.
I will remind myself of what they did,
And keep them dearly cherished in my heart;
Their honor never from me shall be hid
And I will know they always did their part
To save our nation and its people here,
To pledge their lives in defense of our ways,
To show that freedom always outlives fear,
And sacrifice is hallowed all our days.
If Liberty means anything to me,
I will remember those who kept me free.

© John Stuart 2008
Pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church,
Knoxville, Tennessee

Audio at:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/stushie/Memorial_Day.mp3

This great hymn, used as a canticle in Morning Prayer, is in fact a variation on the song of the angels announcing Christ’s birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:14. Then it expands from there and, in some versions, includes passages from the Psalms.

What makes it so outstanding, so beloved, is that the first verses open up to a great doxology, a hymn of praise and worship: “We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.” These words are thrilling to people of faith.

The Gloria is suppressed (not used) during Advent and Lent, and then used daily in the seven weeks of Easter Season, the time of our greatest joy.

People in the pews often experience the Gloria’s suppression, in the seasons of waiting and penitence, as a kind of deprivation; how long before the Gloria comes back again? But we all know that’s good for us, it’s the point of the seasons that we don’t get to burst out in joy; still, it’s hard to do without it.

And then when it comes back people shout from the rafters: “Glory be to God on high!”

Now as we move from Pentecost Sunday, the climax of Easter Season, to Trinity Sunday May 18 and the start of ordinary time, we’ll start pulling back on using the Gloria. This isn’t because we worship God any less, but because it makes a certain sense to confine the Gloria (and its equally non-scriptural counterpart, the Te Deum) to Sundays alone, as principal feast days. In the Northern Hemisphere we’ve entered into summer; church attendance is down, people go on vacation, this is ordinary time. It’s right to set apart Sundays as the proper days for the great worshiping hymns (since Christ rose on a Sunday, the new sabbath) and to limit their use in the rest of the week.

Of course, all this assumes the daily practice of worship, so that we all can attune ourselves to the seasons of the year, meteorological and liturgical. Most Christians don’t do this anymore, but it’s a wonderful practice to those who devote themselves to it.

Episcopalians still think it’s kind of important, and I think they’re right; it works for me.

So this is the last week, between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, that we’ll see the Gloria in midweek. I’m sorry to see it go; but I’ve long since learned to live by the calendar. It just makes so much sense.

The bright spot is that we get to say or sing this hymn every Sunday from now till December. It will become a Sunday-only thing, for reasons already mentioned. And we’ll sing out every one of those days.

The rest of the time we have wonderful canticles to sing, so no one ought to feel deprived.

Still, there’s no substitute for the Gloria and the Te Deum, and we’re about to lose them on a daily basis, as spring turns into summer and ordinary time. It can be a hard discipline to follow, which is why the Protestants gave it up and totally forgot everything.

For the rest of us, the ebbing and flowing of canticles, hymns, confessions and celebrations mark the Days of Our Lives, in tune with the seasons of the year. Those of us who live close to the land still appreciate this; while those confined in cities wonder who the hell the Good Shepherd was, and why Christians are still talking about him in the age of iTunes and FaceBook.

They have a right to their modern, post-modern questions; but in the age of $4-a-gallon gasoline, how long do they think they’re going to get 29¢ kiwi fruits from 8000 miles away in New Zealand?

We’re all tied to the land, we’re all sheep needing shepherds—and that’s why the liturgical calendar is the best thing ever invented. Sing the Gloria while you can; it’s going fast.