Let us suspend our service for a moment...

Over the next few days, I will excerpt some of the works of Rev. Brooke Herford. Born in England, Herford served churches there before coming to America where he served in Chicago and then at Arlington Street Church (the Church of Channing and Gannett) in Boston (1882-1892 .)  For today, this anecdote from "Heralds of a Liberal Faith."

"...he (Herford) received a call from the Arlington Street Church in Boston. It offered him a somewhat more comfortable life, which he did not want but which would do him no harm, and to enter into the tradition of Channing and Gannett was an invitation he could not refuse. The settlement was fortunate for Boston also. Two blocks from Arlington Street, Phillips Brooks was at the zenith of his power and fame at Trinity Church. Equally nearby was George A. Gordon at the new Old South Church. Brooke Herford was a worthy member of this trio, and they worked intimately and happily together.
   Herford preached twice every Sunday with the large auditorium of the Church often so full that people were sitting on the pulpit stairs. Occasionally, to be sure, some of the people at the Vesper Service would get up to leave as the musical program ended, and just before the sermon began. Once, as this happened, Mr. Herford said from the pulpit, “Let us suspend our Service for a moment, until those children who cannot sit for an hour have left the Church.”

Blessings