Ted N.C. Wilson Speaks at Berean Church Today
THE BUILD-UP: EARLY SABBATH SCHOOL
The early bird, 8:30 am Sabbath School at Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church is conducted by Elder Douglas Wright, usually with an assist by Elder Jimmy Essex. It commences before the sound technicians arrive, so Elder Wright provides his own, a microphone and amp. Today’s service was such a special event, however, the sound team was in place by 8:30. Shy folk, like myself, who lurk in the back of the sanctuary could clearly hear the lesson. Elder Essex prefaced his Thanksgiving themed remarks by asking if anyone had a testimony to share. Sister Perdue had one. Brother Long thanked God for seeing him through a difficult year. Then Elder Wright himself made an extended remark.
Elder Wright said he could make a testimony every day. On five occasions in his life he should have been killed. Once the car he was in was flattened by a passenger train. All he suffered was a scratch on the ear. He commented on the current buzz over immigration. “They say we should stop all the people from other nations from coming here, all out of fear. Fear applied to God means ‘respect.’ Why do we want to put up walls, barriers, carry guns? Is that respect? If we show love one to another, we will be like Him.”
Elder Jimmy Essex expounded upon the theme of thanks. He quoted from and commented upon one of his favorite Psalms, number 100. This psalm, edited and set to music, furnishes the lyrics to a song that is a reliable component of every Sabbath service at Berean. “Come Before His Presence,” words and music by Richard Smallwood. This link to YouTube features a sedate, extended performance. At Berean the song comes across as a short, triumphant anthem that accompanies the entry of the pastoral staff and selected Elders into the sanctuary, in order of seniority. This infallible part of the service used to be described in the program as the “Introit,” but it is such a fixture they no longer bother to mention it. When it kicked off the 11:00 am service, I expected to see Pastor Fredrick Russell leading the procession, as usual. I was temporarily taken aback to see, instead, Ted N.C. Wilson leading the group. He definitely has seniority. But I am getting ahead of myself. At the end of early Sabbath school I was fortunate to have as my prayer partner the indefatigable Brother Roderick Long.
THE PRELUDE: SABBATH SCHOOL
Every Seventh-day Adventist on the planet, all 19 million I suppose, studied the same lesson this morning. Lesson 8 in the study guide focusing on the prophet Jeremiah is entitled “Josiah’s Reforms.” Elder Jimmy Essex is the teacher in the class I attend. His knowledge of scripture is extensive. An occasional attendee, Brother Harper, showed up today. Brother Harper know
is even more than Elder Essex, as he has been studying the Word an additional couple of decades.
One of the questions raised in the lesson and by the class was this: with all of the undesirable
attributes most of the Israelite kings displayed, how is it that Josiah managed to be a good king? Here is a partial quote from Ellen G. White (from “Prophets and Kings,” page 400), making her first, but not her last, impact upon the course of the day: “…the Lord had not withdrawn opportunity for repentance and reformation; and Josiah, discerning in this a willingness on the part of God to temper His judgements with mercy, determined to do all in his power to bring about decided reforms.”
A paragraph in the lesson book caught my attention, as I am currently revisiting the subject of church aesthetics. It begins with a reference to the beauty of the Temple, and winds up as follows: “History is replete with the sad stories of people who one minute were ‘worshiping’ in some beautiful church somewhere and the next minute were walking out and committing some atrocity, which was perhaps even instigated by what they learned inside that beautiful structure.” This statement is quite a harsh indictment of the bad influence false doctrine can have!
THE MAIN EVENT: DR. WILSON”S SERMON
To view the entire service (a good investment of your valuable time) you need simply click right here. All I ever do is hit the high points, and append marginally relevant asides.
President Ted. N.C. Wilson’s sermon was introduced by Dr. Jiri Moskula, Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. President Wilson was attended today by what must have been at least 100 Adventist theologians and professors, in Atlanta for a convention of the Adventist Theological Society. I was sandwiched between two of them during the service. The service begins at 11:00 am. A seminar had been scheduled for 2:00 pm. This plan did not take into account just how protracted a service at Berean may become.
Dr. Moskula provided some interesting tidbits about President Wilson, who has been trotting the globe since his infancy. Dr. Wilson spent part of his childhood in Egypt, and can speak Arabic as a result. He can also converse fluently in French. He is a second generation Adventist President (a dynasty, kind of like the Grosvenor family at National Geographic), his father having served before him. Dr. Moskula presented seven topics that President Wilson emphasizes:
- Christ
- Unity
- Evangelism
- Mission to the cities
- The health message
- Daily reading in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy
- Importance of prayer
The introduction also noted that President Wilson plays the clarinet, and sings in a quartet. He has a near infallible memory for names (President Kennedy, in contrast, had practically no memory for names; a functionary stood by his side at receptions whose job was to remind him). He has been married for forty years and has three daughters (just like Job), and is, fundamentally, a man of the Word. This set the stage for the sermon, one entitled “God’s Sure Word.”
Here the Inspirational Voices of Berean, under the direction of capable Luther Washington II, sang two songs. The first of these was “My Jesus I Love Thee,” pretty, inspirational, and expertly arranged and executed, but also the kind of thing you can hear anywhere. The second song, however, reflected more of the Berean (or more precisely, Oakwood University) character that is not mainstream, and should have made the service more memorable to the distinguished guests. The title is “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord.” There is no version on the net as fine as the one performed today, so I can only offer again the link to the entire service, where you may find the song at marker 1:31:00. Check out time marker 1:44:45 for President Wilson’s recognition of 98 year old Dr. Richard Tottress, a classmate of Wilson’s father at Pacific Union. I gushed about Dr. Tottress a few days ago on the post entitled “Thanksgiving 1, and a Distinguished Elder.”
President Wilson offered a few prefatory remarks before jumping into the main body of his sermon. He lauded the aforementioned song, and said that it had, for all purposes, completed the worship service. He noted that Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church is the second largest non-institutional Adventist church in the world. He praised the church, Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy (hosts for a get-together the previous evening), and Atlanta itself, site of the General Conference 5 1/2 years ago. He complemented three elderly Adventists, including Dr. Tottress.
My experience at Berean belies it’s 4000+ plus membership. For starters, not more than half show up for church. The heart of the church is a nucleus of maybe 200 dedicated people. My Community Service family is like a church within a church. I do not feel lost in the throng.
Last Sabbath’s post reported Pastor Fredrick Russell’s emphasis upon the Word. This Sabbath’s sermon was also focused on the Word of God. Pastor Wilson stated that “the Devil has always hated God’s Word, and will do everything to thwart the living out of Bible principals in your life.” Recent events such as the massacre in Paris were deemed points in an end time checklist. “We are living in the last times,” he said. Ineffective government. Bad morals. The economy a house of cards. He said hermeneutical (I had to look this one up) application to scripture displays this. He quoted some of the keynote verses his address was based upon: II Peter 1:15-21: the Bible is not a cunningly devised fable, (vs. 16), the benefits of prophecy (vs. 19), as well as the inapplicability of private interpretation to scripture (vs. 20). The later precipitated an allusion to the dubious practice of “higher criticism.” The theologians in attendance knew what he meant. Pastor Wilson advocated the “historical Bible approach,” and quoted from Ellen G. White’s “Testimony to the Church:” “We must accept the Bible as it reads.
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This mention of Ellen G. White was attended by the mildest of disclaimers. Pastor Wilson is one of her biggest fans. He said that Adventists do not place the works of Sister White with the canonical writings. It is a lesser light. But both she and scripture were inspired by the same source.
Pastor Wilson made a few autobiographical remarks about his personal Bible. He was currently using the New King James Version. One of his old King James Versions was ruined by water in the Congo. It’s replacement was lost in South Africa. He said he received a waterproof Bible in Brasilia, product of an evangelist who wished to minister to surfers. This is my cue to scratch up an image of Brasilia, it’s church in particular, a masterwork of modernism by architect Oscar Niemeyer (who, like his mentor Le Corbusier, did not let their communist sympathies keep them from designing houses of worship). The Niemeyer link is to his New York Times obituary. He lived to be as old as an Adventist, 104 years.
Now Pastor Wilson asked a rhetorical question: “In an age of existentialism are we still known as “People of the Book?” A gloss upon rebellious peoples, based upon Numbers chapter 16 was planned for this portion of the sermon, featuring Korah and Abiram (another Bible episode ripe for a musical treatment). But Pastor Wilson, who I figured had pretty much seen it all, was nonetheless surprised at how far the day had progressed. There would be no illustration. We would have to settle for a reference only.
Pastor Wilson now said some courteous things about Bereans from Acts 17:10-11: ” …These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word in all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” He quoted Ellen G White in regard to the virtues of Bereans. A variety of her statements may be viewed by clicking this White Estate link.
Now Pastor Wilson cautioned against emotionalism (I have lamented this in a September 27 post entitled : Church Yesterday. TV Church Today. I even had the nerve to question Sister White’s elevation of music to the level of preaching). Pastor Wilson informed us that “feelings can lie, but God’s Word never lies.” A very Victorian remark from Ellen G, White was cited in regard to the dangers that lurk in popular art forms: “Thousands are in the asylum from reading novels.” Amen! There are thousands of books that I dearly wish I had never read.
Pastor Wilson compared the wisdom and riches of the Bible to a “pearl of great price.” He related a story about an ancient Greek farmer who told his sons, on his deathbed, that he had buried his treasure somewhere in the fields. After he died, his sons dug and dug until all of the land was well tilled. A bountiful harvest was the real treasure the late father had alluded to. Our greatest treasure: Jesus Christ our Lord. Another story related the life and death of Constantine’s nephew and successor, Julian the Apostate. His final words yielded the empire from his pagan grip back to the Christian fold. Below is a quote from Wikipedia about this remark:
Considered apocryphal is the report that his dying words were νενίκηκάς με, Γαλιλαῖε, or Vicisti, Galilaee (“You have won, Galilean, supposedly expressing his recognition that, with his death, Christianity would become the Empire’s state religion).
Pastor Ted N.C. Wilson’s last challenge to the congregation: “Be a Berean. If you wish to commit yourself to being a Berean, join me in standing to sing…”
Consistent with the day’s emphasis on the Word of God, the closing hymn was Wonderful Words of Life.
I hope that this gloss will motivate you to view the entire service, or at the very least, Pastor Wilson’s sermon. Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church excelled in playing the role of host this morning. But I am not an impartial observer.
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