Sunday morning we got up, cleaned up, and headed out to church.
In London, that involves walking, a bus or two, and the Underground/Overground trains.
When we arrived at the church, we were quickly greeted by an usher and shown our seats. There was a very nice time of worship in music and prayer which was of course quite different from our regular Sundays with a wonderful organ and hymns from their revised Spurgeon hymn book.
Dr. Masters was present, and not long after he began preaching, a gentleman just in front of us began to show signs of distress. He wobbled as if he was going to faint, and his wife sat him down. I paid little attention to the service as I watched to see if I could help. He was sweating profusely and quite pale.
I really thought a deacon or usher would come to him since we were at the front of the church and since people could surely see the slight activity of his wife caring for him.
After a few minutes of this, I wrote a note to ask the wife if I could help somehow. She wrote back that a cup of water would be helpful, so I got up to find an usher. I found a man standing in the back and he told me he would bring some water, which he did.
Longer story short, he soon recovered somewhat and began to sit more upright.
I felt bad that I essentially missed the sermon, but thankful that I could help this couple in some small way. Following the service was a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Being visitors, we were instructed to see an usher to receive a card to allow us to partake. He asked us if we were members of a church, and quickly “approved” us. The communion was quite different, but beautiful. Ask Colin or myself about the service and we’d be glad to share more.
After church, Colin and I visited the church bookstore where we met the couple who had trouble in church. The man was fine, and said that it was likely a low blood pressure situation.
As we left the church, we found a nearby pub, had some lunch, and headed back to the hotel to pack up and get to the airport.
London provided a helpfully restful prelude to the remaining travel and the week that followed.
I was especially grateful to meet up with Colin’s friend Adam for a wonderful meal of fish and chips at the historic, and very old Mayflower Pub at the original site of the launch of the Mayflower. It was a bit sad to see some drunk revellers, but also nice to think about those original godly folks setting out to do God’s work in a new country.
In some ways, India is a similar for Christian pilgrims, and a godless country that needs the light of the Gospel. I pray that the pilgrims that we are partnering with will continue in the same sort of zeal that moves them to take the gospel out from their homes and villages into the land of pagan worship around them.
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