Friday's Flashback: The Metropolitan Tabernacle

Let's finish up these England posts, right!?

I actually did a re-cap of our last day shortly after we came home, but there were obviously a lot of pictures left out of that.

Sadly, I didn't really take as many pictures inside the Metropolitan's sanctuary as I should have.  I guess I refrained since we were there for an actual Sunday morning service, and it was filled with people.  

That morning we took the train into London and then navigated the Tube like old pros to Elephant and Castle, which is still one of the best intersection names ever, I think.

While riding through the Underground, I noticed a couple who looked to be in their 60s and carrying Bibles, so I figured they were headed in the same direction we were.  We eventually started talking to them and learned the man was England-born but had moved to the States, and they now lived in Iowa.  They came every year for a few months and always worshiped at the Metropolitan Tabernacle when they were there.  Since they knew where they were going we tagged along and ended up sitting with them on the front row.

I had heard the story of Charles Spurgeon's salvation, how he believed when he heard the repeated declaration of Isaiah 45:22.  The sanctuary was simply decorated, and that verse at the front of the room was the only adornment, if I remember correctly.  I liked seeing it there.

I'm really glad we had the opportunity to attend a service there.  It was interesting to see what was different among these English Baptists. :)  I liked that their hymnnal was filled with all the verses of the great English writers, but I wasn't a fan of the fact that there was no music to go along with it.  I never realized how helpful it was to be able to at least somewhat follow the notes up and down the staff when you didn't know a melody.

The other most-notable thing to both KJ and I was the 15-minute pastoral prayer during the first part of the service.  It was definitely the longest pastoral prayer during a worship service we had ever experienced.  We enjoyed the sermon, and probably the best part was meeting and talking to people around us afterwards.  KJ had a long conversation with a young man from Romania who had been saved in a (I think a Pentecostal-like) church there, but he told us how he'd wanted to learn more about what the Bible taught, and he'd gotten involved with a church plant in London that was part of John MacArthur's ministry.  That Sunday was his first to visit the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

We left talking about what it would be like to live in an international city like London and what church-planting there would be like.  Over lunch at McDonald's (of course we ate at McDonald's in London...) KJ said, "I can see us spending our golden years here."  I said, "Our golden years won't be soon enough."   Time will tell.