Fred Speakman, great preacher of...
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Fred Speakman, great preacher of another era, tells this story. Wheeler Robinson, great
New Testament scholar, slipped into the back of a Paris Cathedral one day as the choir
was practicing. They were singing the 23rd portion of the mass: "Agnus Dei, qui
tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis!" "Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the
world, have mercy upon us!" Dr. Robinson said he noticed a man standing beside him
visibly distraught. And as the choir sang, the troubled man began to whisper out loud, "O,
God! O God, what a dream! If only he could! If only he could!" Then the man turned and
ran out of the church. As we come back to the old table and the old words that go back to
Egypt and slavery we are reminded that this redemption of ours is more than a dream. No
wonder, through the years, on the eve of Good Friday and Easter the church has come
back to remember. Here, with bread and cup we recall that most powerful of truths. It is
more than a dream, this Lamb of God who really does take away the sin of the world. He
can! He can! He can!