As the Fenimore Street United Methodist Church (FSUMC) Joint Board of Ushers on Sunday, Dec. 1, celebrated their 47th Annual Usher Sermon, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Roger Jackson, has urged the ushers to “keep on keeping on.”

“You have given us good reason to acknowledge and celebrate who and whose you are because, in the face of all that some congregants put you through, we thank God that your good work amongst is produced by your faith in the Lord almighty,” preached Rev. Jackson in her sermon, based on 1 Thessalonians 1: 2-3, on the topic, “Equipped to Service.”

“We see that the favor of the Lord’s hand is rested upon your ministry among us because, you knowing that no good thing will the Lord withhold from them who love Him and are called according to His purpose, have kept you steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord,” he added. “Your labor in the Lord will not be in vain.

“You have given us good reason to acknowledge and celebrate the usher board here at Fenimore Street UMC because, in the face of all that some congregants put you through, your labor has proven to be prompted by your love for the Lord,” Pastor Jackson continued.

He said FSUMC ushers have been “a reflection of the goodness of God in speech and faithfulness.

“You have been truly servants working with your whole hearts because you know that you are working not to please men and women but to please the Lord, knowing that you will receive an inheritance for your labor from Jesus Christ,” he said. “You have given us good reason to acknowledge and celebrate the usher board here at Fenimore Street UMC because, in the face of all that some congregates put you through you have endured, proving that you have been inspired by hope in the Lord.

“So, ushers, keep on keeping on for you know that the race is not for the swift nor is the battle for the strong, but for they who can endure to the end,” Rev. Jackson added. “So, ushers, keep on keeping on for you know your hope is not wishful thinking but an assurance that all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose.

“So, ushers, keep on keeping on, for you know that your confidence is in that He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ,” he stressed. “I thank God that the ushers here in Fenimore Street UMC are equipped with what’s needed to serve. You are growing spiritually, you are hope-filled, and you are determined to keep on keeping on to the glory of our God.”

Rev. Jackson noted, according to biblical history, the Apostle Paul had made his way to Corinth, and that it was while in Corinth that his letter to the Thessalonian Church was written and sent to them by way of Timothy and Silas.

He said the Thessalonian Church was, for the most part, comprised of paganized converts.

“These new converts had little to no support outside of the confines of their gathering place, because the city was populated by people who were living in ways that were in stark contrast to the ordinances of God,” Pastor Jackson said. “God commands ‘that thou shalt have no other God besides me’ was being adhered to by the gathered community of believers. But, all around the church, were people worshipping animals and images created by man.”

Rev. Jackson said the Apostle Paul, serving as the spiritual father for these new converts to the faith, is writing to encourage the church to hold on to what they were taught regarding the finished work of Jesus Christ, “in the face of all that they are going through, because God has a predestined plan for their lives – that they were recreated into image of Christ, which makes it possible to  live in right standing with God.

“And the ultimate reward for living in such a way that ran contrary to the present societal norms is that, when Jesus returns for His church, they would be included in the number,” he added.

But while waiting for the Lord’s return, Pastor Jackson said Paul reminds them of “the ways in which those whose hearts are yielded and subjected to God will prove beneficial for them in the long run.

“Paul says that those in the church and God are witnesses of those character traits of Jesus Christ that became evident in their behaviors, while being among them and experiencing that same kind of persecutions from people,” he added.

In verse two, the Apostle Paul thanks God for “who they are given – all that they had to put up with.

“They are faithful servants of God, which the same can be said about the Usher Board here at Fenimore Street UMC,” the pastor said. “We who are beneficiaries of your service in the household of God also remember all of you in our prayers.”

Usher Lavern Harrison, of Brownsville Community Baptist Church, served as liturgist during the celebratory 47th Annual Usher Sermon.

Junior ushers Kaiden Goodman read the scripture (1 Thessalonian 1: 2-3)​, and Nicholas Charles brought the welcome.

The Special Guest Ushers of Brownsville Community Baptist Church and FSUMC men were the Honored Guest for the evening.

“The celebration was a success in many ways,” FSUMC Joint Board of Ushers Jamaican-born President Gail Murray told Caribbean Life. “Since last year, our membership has grown with the addition of one junior, Angelica Nedd, and two senior ushers, Susanna Amissah and Valcia Williams​, and we are not finished yet.”

President Filmore F. Gregory, ​of The Church Ushers Association of Brooklyn and Long Island,​​ was present ​with members from over 25 churches​ from the organization.

“We are grateful for all God has done for us and continue to do, and, in line with our theme, ‘Hope, Endurance and Spiritual Growth’, we, God pleasers, look forward to continuing our work as greeters and doorkeepers in the house,” Murray said.

Ushers from the following churches attended the sermon: Berean Baptist Church, Bethany Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, Bethel Tabernacle AME Church, Brownsville Memorial Baptist Church, Brownsville Community Baptist Church, Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Evergreen Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, Glover Memorial Baptist Church, Greater Saint John’s Community Church, and House of the Lord Pentecostal Church.

Others were Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Newman Memorial United Methodist Church, People Institutional AME Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Stuyvesant Heights Christian Church, The Cathedral of Hope, Union Baptist Church, and Zion Baptist Church.