29th November 2024

Today I’m due to take part in a thanksgiving service for the life of a gifted musician who sadly died at the end of last month from a brain tumour. Peter Wilkinson had been organist at Horfield Baptist Church for a number of years before I arrived to be its next minister, and, in truth, he was one of the main reasons I accepted the call there. He worked as a solicitor, mainly in the family courts, but I think his preference would have been to be a professional musician. He never saw himself as a classical church organist, though I was more than grateful for his abilities in that role. His special gift was for more syncopated rhythms, so he could turn his hand to just about any musical genre, including church pantomimes, for which he sole-handedly provided all the accompaniment, musical interludes and sound effects!

Peter set himself high standards, and he expected a similar commitment from any musicians playing alongside him and from the folk singing in choirs he directed. His enthusiasm for the best possible music was infectious, but when it came to congregational worship, his aim was never to show off any personal brilliance or to win the praises of those hearing him. I think for him the organist’s job above all was to enable the congregation to worship, to bring their music to heaven’s door, to lift their voices and allow their hearts to overflow in love and gratitude towards the God who’d made and saved them. Today, therefore, I gladly salute a Christian brother and friend whose life and gifts were truly used to the glory of God.

Ken Stewart