May has been a busy month for the 20s and 30s of LCPC with a number of social, teaching, worship and cultural events!
On Saturday the 7th there was a Puritan History Tour guided by Keith Berry, the pastor of Hammersmith Christian Fellowship. The group began at St Mary’s Woolnoth and visited several locations related to Puritan history in London with Keith’s guidance and commentary. This included St. Stephen’s Walbrook, where Thomas Watson was the minister until 1662, and the information from Keith detailed all facets of this history from the theological elements to the politics of the time. The group also visited the Guildhall and St. Mary’s Cripplegate, gaining much knowledge on the people and places significant to our church history. This was followed by lunch together in St. Paul’s Churchyard on what was another beautiful spring day.
The following week on Saturday the 14th there was an afternoon tea and Psalm singing at the Silvas’ house, where many of the group gathered to eat together in the sunshine and sing Psalms. Ten Psalms were sung, precented by both Jack and Mary, in the immense natural beauty of the Silvas’ garden, praising God in the midst of His glorious creation. Our host, Gillian, was as generous as ever in her provision of wonderful food and her characteristically kind and warm welcome to all who came.
On Friday the 27th we had a gathering at Rob’s flat for dinner and a talk by our associate pastor, Harrison. It was a warm Friday evening and we began by eating pizza and relaxing together, catching up and enjoying each other’s company at the end of the working week. After dinner, Harrison talked on the topic of singing the Psalms in corporate worship. His discussion explained in depth why we sing the Psalms, outlining how God commanded us to do so and wrote for us inspired songs, in the sufficiency of Scripture, with which we can and must worship him. In Harrison’s own words, ‘LCPC is in some ways distinct in London for how we include acappella singing of the Psalms in our worship. Many coming from other church backgrounds, a common thing for us in cosmopolitan London, ask why we do this. The time together as 20/30s was meant to explain why we should sing Psalms at church, emphasizing the reasons to love psalmody as something good for us spiritually and rich for us experientially. If nothing else, we ought to be moved with gratitude that God’s Word is sufficient for our worship as he has not left us to our own devices even to need to write our own songs to sing his praises as his people.’
After the discussion we sang a Psalm together, precented by Jack, and the talk came to an end. The evening was closed with the eating of many desserts, and everybody left with full stomachs, engaged minds and looking forward to seeing each other again on the Lord’s Day.
It has been a blessed month for the 20s and 30s, and already plans are underway for many more activities of fellowship, teaching and glorifying God in the months to come. The next immediate event is a social at the Haffendens’ on the 11th of June. If you would like more information and/or to stay up to date on all church events, please get in touch or consult the calendar!
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