I don’t know how it is with you but I can recall occasions when a text of Scripture grabbed my imagination, gripped my mind, buried its way into my soul, and became a part of my being. In many instances, I can relive the setting when that happened and it energizes my life.

Our Scripture lesson for this message is such a case. I may have told some of you the story. It was Senior Recognition Day at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1958, and I was graduating. The dean had invited Dow Kirkpatrick for our Senior Recognition Service. Dow was at his best – and that was great!

He told a story I think I will never forget. He came out of the World Methodist Conference, which met in Oxford in 1951. The high point of that program was the service of commemoration held at St. Mary’s Churc…