Past, Present, Future


Today I was in the town of Olney, England.  It is the spot on the globe where former slave trader John Newton wrote “Amazing Grace,” and also pastored the Olny Church of St. Peter & St. Paul.  It is also the location of the Sutcliff Baptist Church which is considered the birthplace of the Baptists who first met on that site in a barn around 1650.  We were all very surprised to walk in that historic church in this quaint little village to find dual projection screens, drum set, flat screen rear monitors, sound and light board in the rear.  Coming out of the church and taking a picture of the sign, a little lady was walking by and asked why we would be interested in taking a picture of her church’s sign. 

That’s when I met Connie Page, a 90-year-old member of the Baptist Church.  Telling her we were Baptist Singing Men from SC, we asked her what worship was like in Sutcliff 25 years ago when she came to Olney.   As expected, the worship was very traditional with a pipe organ.  The church removed and sold the organ about 6 years ago which caused quite a stir in the congregation as you can imagine.  But yet, this lady was still at the church and has a love for it.  She has seen a lot of changes in her lifetime in her country, her family and in her church.  So she seemed to be taking the changes in her church in an attitude of mixed emotions—a sadness in losing certain things of the past and yet knowing that the younger generation are making changes for their future.

Before we parted I asked if we could pray for her and if she had any special prayer requests.  She had no specific request, and it struck me that perhaps she had not been asked a question like that in a while.   I asked about her family and it sounded like there were not many of her family left and that she was alone and ready to leave this world.  When I finished my prayer she had a tear running down her check.   Charlie and I gave her a hug and a little bit of God’s love fell down upon us all as we parted, each to our own, yet similar worlds.   

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