Lunch ministry fueled by engaging pastor

By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com

It’s lunchtime Wednesday, and the Jackson Hall cafeteria at First Presbyterian Church is filling up for what has become one of Columbia’s best-kept secrets.

The crowd today — retirees, office workers, other preachers and public officials — is 175 strong. People sit for a meal, chat and sing “Though I May Speak With Bravest Fire,” accompanied by a well-tuned seven-foot Steinway grand piano.

There’s a prayer, and then the Rev. Sinclair Ferguson, First Presbyterian’s senior pastor, rises.

In the high-ceiling room, softly lit by stained glass windows, he begins his “message” — not quite a sermon but more than a talk.

His topic at the lunch ministrytoday: “All You Need Is Love? — Reflections on 1 Corinthians 13.” It’s the passage by the Apostle Paul that begins, “If I speak in the tongues of men ... but have not love ...”

During the next 35 minutes, Ferguson elaborates on the difference between the self-indulgent kind of love of the Beatles song, “All You Need Is Love,” and the Apostle Paul’s kind.

“Paul is saying that there is a kind of love we see in the world that actually is an obsession with the self, and there is a kind of love we see among God’s people that is a blessed obsession with God, and of forgetfulness of self.”

By forgetting self, a heart can be kind to others, Ferguson says, reminding the audience of what St. Augustine said to Ambrose, his spiritual teacher: “The thing that drew me to Christ was that you were so kind to me. You were so kind to me.”

In being kind, we show God’s love, he says.

The audience is rapt.

“People talk about his sermons all week long,” says state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, a church member and Wednesday attendee. “They’re able to relate what he says to their own experience.”

Ferguson, 60, has written children’s books and scholarly works on the Bible and Christianity. Once an expert golfer, he now plays when he can. He is the latest in a long line of gifted First Presbyterian preachers.

His scholarly, intellectually curious side is seen in his many allusions to pop culture, history and saints.

Wednesday, he mentions the French national anthem, Walt Disney’s Goofy and Donald Duck, Bach, Yankee stadium, the Rolling Stones, C.S. Lewis, tattoos and pierced noses. The references flow easily, gracefully illustrating his points.

“Many people, like myself, pull out pens and paper and write down what he says,” says church member and state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

Ferguson speaks without notes, in perfect paragraphs, turning slowly from side to side, always keeping eye contact with the audience and using his hands to make points. Now and then, he repeats a phrase for emphasis.

A native of Scotland, he has kept his Scottish accent.

Above all, Ferguson has soul.

“He connects,” says Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, who himself is regarded as a top pastor at one of the state’s largest black churches. Jackson heard Ferguson a while back.

“He has the ability to reach people from an emotional standpoint as well as the spiritual. He was great,” Jackson said.

People who know Ferguson, who has been at the church 2½ years, say he is humble, has a great sense of humor and — like the point of Wednesday’s message — is genuinely interested in others.

Tim Huebel, a photographer and First Presbyterian member, recalls he had shared with Ferguson his love of photography.

Not long after, Ferguson saw Huebel in the churchyard cemetery — a block-long jewel of sun-dappled ancient markers and tall crepe myrtles and dogwoods — as Tim was watching a blue jay snatch a butterfly.

“Dr. Ferguson said, ‘Tim, that would make a great photograph.’ It was an example of him finding out what’s important to you, and engaging you in a gentle way. I hope he stays here a long time.”

Reach Monk at (803) 771-8344.