Well, we’re in the home stretch! If you’re reading this on Sunday, March 26th, I have 55 days until graduation with my Masters of Divinity degree at United Theological seminary on May, 20th. It has been a fulfilling time of study and engagement with my classmates and professors. This experience has broadened my perceptions of ministry in valuable ways…so much so, that I’ve applied for the Doctor of Ministry program. I have been invited by the Fresh Expressions House of Study to explore new ways that Church can be present and impactful in our culture in the future to make disciples for Jesus Christ. My thanks to those at HPCUMC who have donated to make this possible, to the Rev.’s Johns who informed me of the opportunity, and to Hyde Park Community’s Scholarship Committee for awarding me the Master’s Scholarship. Sherman and I are grateful for your continued partnership, prayers, and support for all that is happening down at The Warehouse, including our new OTR collaboration with Wesley Chapel Mission Center.
One of my favorite singers of all time is Luther Vandross. As a love-song crooner, he has one of the smoothest and most soothing tones I’ve ever heard, it gives you “all the feels” as they say. You might have heard his song “Here and Now” sung at someone’s wedding, or his dynamite version of Burt Bachrach and Hal David’s “A House is not a Home,” originally sung by Dionne Warwick. Luther had another hit song, “Never Too Much,” that describes the giddy feeling of someone just falling in love and wanting to express it in the most extravagant way. The lyrics say, “Oh, my love, a thousand kisses from you is never too much…A million days in your arms is never too much!”
That’s the sentiment of this worshipping woman in Mark 14 who lavishly pours out her love for Jesus by breaking open an expensive alabaster jar of perfume. In the midst of His greatest trial, and despite the criticism of His closest disciples; this woman performs a “beautiful deed” that not only expresses her loving gratitude to and worship of Jesus, but prepares and anoints Him for His burial. I’m wondering…when was the last time you’ve lavishly poured out your love on our Savior because of all He’s done for you? When people become expressive in church services, they are generally judged as showing too much emotion. In the African-American church the colloquial phrase when people feel someone is going overboard is, “It don’t take all that,” When people commit themselves to giving tithes and offerings to their church, they are often criticize… but is any price too expensive to pay for the One who has saved your soul and made you whole? Is any action that expresses your deepest love and adoration, even before a watching crowd, too much?
No. It’s NEVER too much.
Pastor Sadell Bradley