MACK WILBERG AND RYAN MURPHY
Conductors
ANDREW UNSWORTH
Organist
DERRICK PORTER
The Spoken Word
COME, YE CHILDREN OF THE LORD
Music: Spanish melody
Text: James H. Wallis
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
MEDITATION
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
AWAKE AND ARISE, ALL YE CHILDREN OF LIGHT
Music: Welsh tune (The Ash Grove)
Text: David Warner
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
EARLY ONE MORNING
(ORGAN SOLO)
Music: English folk song
Arrangement: Andrew Unsworth
TELL ME THE STORIES OF JESUS
Music: Frederic A. Challinor
Text: W. H. Parker
Arrangement: Ryan Murphy
THE SPOKEN WORD
“Good Works”
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Music and Text: Luacine Clark Fox
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
MY GOD IS SO HIGH
African American spiritual
Arrangement: Ryan Murphy
GOOD WORKS
The Spoken Word, April 13, 2025
By: Derrick Porter
THE NEW TESTAMENT TELLS the story of Tabitha of Joppa, a disciple of Jesus, a woman “full of good works and almsdeeds.” 1 Eventually, she became sick and died, and her body was laid in an upper chamber. Her friends heard that Peter, Jesus’s chief disciple, was near, so they called for him. When Peter arrived, he found not only the body of Tabitha but a room full of widows who were weeping. They showed to Peter coats and garments that Tabitha had sewed, piece by piece and stitch by stitch, for them. Undoubtedly the clothing she made had blessed the lives of the widows, and it was presented to Peter as evidence of Tabitha’s good works.
We, of course, were not there that day, but we can imagine the widows through their tears pleading: “Look at her good works; look at her charity and her compassion! Please, don’t let this be her end.”
Peter prayed and commanded Tabitha to arise. She opened her eyes and sat up, alive once more. Peter then presented her to the Saints and the widows, and this miracle became known throughout all of Joppa. 2
The singular event of Tabitha’s miraculous restoration to life is noteworthy. But so too were the many hours of quiet time that Tabitha spent in the service of the widows of Joppa. Piece by piece, stitch by stitch, she sewed—certainly not for recognition or fame but out of love and concern for those who were in need.
The individual pieces and stitches of our service to others may appear small and insignificant. But a tapestry could never be called beautiful without the thousands of individual stitches by which it was made. “Great things are not done by impulse,” said Vincent van Gogh, “but by a series of small things brought together.”
Piece by piece, stitch by stitch, the tapestry of our service is brought together. May we each look for the widows of Joppa in our own lives, those who are in need of care and attention, of mercy and love. Jesus Himself said: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you. ... By this shall [everyone] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” 3
1. Acts 9:36
2. See Acts 9:36–42
3. John 13:34–35