God Is Our Hope And Strength

Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir, 1/22/2012

Service music for a Missions Conference...

The introit is a classic hymn from the hymnal, on which the congregation joined the choir for the fifth verse.

"O Breath of Life"



And the anthem is not from the hymnal. A South African piece.

"Mayenziwe"

How Lovely Are The Messengers

Mendelssohn wrote wonderful choral music...



This is from last week, 11/6, at Park Street Church.

A little piece of history

Along with Billy Graham, one of the most important individuals of the modern evangelical movement was Harold John Ockenga. "Dr. Harold Ockenga co-founded and first presided over the National Association of Evangelicals, co-founded the Fuller Theological Seminary, and was the first president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary all while serving as Park Street's Minister, a role he defined while occupying the seat from 1936-1969."

And now, Park Street Church has made available the Ockenga Sermon Archive, recordings of sermons preached by Dr. Ockenga over the years, with more than 50 available now, and more coming. It's very interesting to go back and listen to the sermons from earlier times...

Upon This Rock

Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir, Park Street Brass, 4/17/2011

"Achieved Is The Glorious Work"

Park Street Choir and Orchestra, from Haydn's "The Creation," on 2/20/2011.

Achieved is the glorious work,
the Lord beholds it and is pleased.
The Lord beholds, and is well pleased.
In lofty strains, let us rejoice.
Our song let be the praise of God.

Beautiful Savior

Beautiful Savior



Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir, 1/30/2011

"Science & Faith: Conflict or Complement"

Yesterday morning, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health and leader of the project that mapped the human genome, spoke at Park Street Church in Boston. He gave his testimony, much of which was covered in his excellent book, The Language of God.

It was a wonderful message, and I'd encourage people to take the time to listen, if you couldn't make it live. The sermon is now online as an .mp3 which may be downloaded here.

"Science & Faith: Conflict or Complement"

For anyone out there who's ever been told that science has dispensed with God, this is a wonderful corrective...

Reminder: Francis Collins

A reminder to everyone in the Boston area - Dr. Francis Collins will be speaking at Park Street Church at all four services tomorrow, 8:30, 11:00, 4:00 and 6:00.

Dr. Francis Collins

For the past 16 months or so, Park Street Church has been celebrating its 200th anniversary. Founded in 1809 at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets in Boston, it is located between the Granary Burying Ground and Boston Common, and has been home to many historic events. The pulpit of Park Street Church is where William Lloyd Garrison gave his first abolitionist sermon, for one example.

Anyway, we've had, over the past year-plus, a special speaker series, where about once a month someone comes in from outside to preach. The list reads includes the likes of NT Wright, John Piper, Ravi Zacharias and Franklin Graham, as well as former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson and former Patriot Grant Williams.

This coming Sunday, February 28, 2010, the speaker series comes to an end with Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institute of Health and the man who led the Human Genome Project which mapped the human genome. Dr. Collins is a high-level scientist, an expert in biology and human DNA, and a believer. For anyone at all interested in, or curious about, the issues related to the intersection of science and faith, this is an excellent opportunity to hear some of your questions discussed. Anyone is welcome, so if you're in the greater Boston area on Sunday and interested in the topic, well, come on down. Services are at 8:30, 11:00, 4:00 and 6:00.


next speaker: Francis Collins [February 28, 2010]
8:30 & 11 am and 4 & 6 pm


Park Street is pleased to have Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health and previous Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, as the last speaker in our bicentennial series. Collins has led the effort to decode human DNA, along the way developing a revolutionary method of screening genes for disease. Yet according to Collins, the newfound power to “read our own instruction book” is no obstacle to faith in the existence of God.


“In the 21st century, increasingly shrill voices announce that atheism or religious fundamentalism are the only world view choices available. Reflective people should challenge that. An entirely harmonious synthesis of the truths of science and the truths of the Christian faith is not only possible, but deeply satisfying."
 
Collins claimed his faith in his late twenties through a quest to find truth and evidence. Converting to Christianity from atheism, he remarks that Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, helped confront the question of God’s existence, yet more importantly, Collins found the evidence he had been longing to understand. Evidence that provided proof that God cares for each of us, individually. Some 30 years later, he stands by his convictions, positioning science not as substitute for theology, but as a subset of it.

What to know more about Francis Collins? Read his interview with PBS or listen to his interview with NPR.

A strange encounter

The following is a true story.


I was standing in the welcome center at church this morning, between services, visiting with a friend, when we saw a middle-aged woman come walking through, looking as if she needed something. There were a lot of people around, but they tend to be bunched up in groups, and it can feel awkward to try to get someone's attention. But we noticed her, and she, seeing us looking, walked towards us. We said, "Good morning," and asked if we could help.

"I'm new here," she said, "and I need to get my mother over to the elevator, but I need to park the car. Can you help and walk my mother to the elevator?"

"Sure," I said, "I'd be happy to." So I walked with her back to the other lobby, and met her mother, a black woman (I'd not mention her race were it not relevant to the story) who looked to be in her mid-70s, standing there with her walker. The woman introduced us, and went out to park the car, while I started walking her mother through the welcome center towards the elevator. As we walked, we chatted, and she told me that she lived in New Jersey, but had been born and raised in Mississippi. She told me that she had been a teacher for years, and that she was very concerned about the educational system. Hey, I'm concerned about the educational system, too. I'm a white man from Maine and she's a black woman from Mississippi, but in addition to the fact that we're both in the church, that sounds like some common ground. So I told her that my wife and I were home-schooling our kids, and, as we were getting on to the elevator, she told me that didn't approve of home-schooling, "the way you do it up here in Boston."

"OK," I thought. I didn't know what, exactly, she thought was "the way [we] do it up here in Boston," but that's her problem, not mine, so I just kind of nodded and smiled. At which point, alone in the elevator, she told me that, and I quote, "my people in Mississippi were better off when they were slaves."

How do you respond to that? If there's a good response to an elderly black woman who says that "her people" were better off as slaves, I'd never actually taken the time to figure out what it was. It was not a situation and comment which I'd ever anticipated dealing with, or spent any time preparing for, and it caught me unawares. While I think my eyebrows went up, I just kind of smiled and nodded. What can you say to that? And after telling me that she didn't actually approve of slavery (what a relief!) she continued:

"Martin Luther King, Jr.," she said next, "sold them out."

A brief pause. I found that I had nothing to add to that comment, either.

My habit, in conversation with strangers with whom I'm unlikely to meet again, is to be generally agreeable, to smile a lot (although I suspect that smiling is more of an intention than a habit) and to genially agree with what the other is saying, or, very politely, suggest that my opinion might differ on this topic or that. Nothing in my arsenal seemed adequate for this situation.

"We haven't had a good President in this country since Abraham Lincoln."

"So," I thought, "she's not an Obama fan." Smile and nod. Nod and smile. Praise the Lord.

We got off the elevator while she was, I believe, quoting Lincoln to me. I didn't catch the quote, as I had found myself eager to get her safely, and quickly, to a pew. Which I did, with her explaining to me that there was not enough preaching about hell, and the best way to reach people was through tracts, and people weren't doing enough of that, but she had a couple, and wanted to give them to me. Smile and nod, nod and smile, murmur polite nothings as she digs through her bag, thank her for the tracts which I'm now sticking in my pocket and smile and nod and "I hope that you enjoy the service," and I don't remember ever being at quite such a loss for words as I am right now.


But I do hope that she enjoyed the service...

Sheep May Safely Graze

The Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir
October 18, 2009

Flocks Of Sheep May Safely Graze

Johan Sebastien Bach
The 'Hunt' cantata, #208 (1713)

Flocks of sheep may safely graze
while in their shepherd's tender care,
Safely slumber, free from danger, free from hunger,
in their shepherd's tender care.

As the shepherd leadeth well,
so God with kind and loving mind
leads all who in his care will dwell

As the shepherd leadeth well,
there rest is found and peace abounds,
rest and peace and all that make a joyful land

Flocks of sheep may safely graze
while in their shepherd's tender care,
Safely slumber, free from danger, free from hunger,
in their shepherd's tender care.

The Omnipotence

The Omnipotence
Franz Schubert



Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir with the Park Street Brass and the Park Street Strings. Park Street Church, Boston, MA, 9/13/2009

Bicentennial birthday

On February 27, 1809, the Park Street Church of Boston, a "'trinitarian, evangelical and orthodox' alternative to the emerging Unitarian hegemony," was founded. Today marks the 200th anniversary of that founding, for a church that is still "trinitarian, evangelical and orthodox." And active, as thousands of people pass through the doors of the historic meetinghouse between the Boston Common and the granary burying ground every Sunday.


Park Street Church

So a bicentennial Happy Birthday! And here's to 200 more!