Our Elders and our Deacons gathered last weekend for our annual Officers’ Retreat at Massanetta Springs. It was a wonderful weekend as we learned together, prayed together, shared stories with one another, and grew in faith.
We began our time on Friday evening with an exercise that divided the group into teams, with each team on a variation of a scavenger hunt. Teams were given numerous passages from our Book of Order, Directory of Worship, and Book of Confessions with blanks and they had to locate the passages and fill in the blanks. The books that make up our Constitution are rich with the history and theology of the Reformed tradition, along with the beliefs and practices that distinguish us as Presbyterians.
As we reviewed our responses on Saturday morning, there were lots of questions, and the questions led to wonderful, thoughtful conversations about why we do things the way we do. We learned especially how important the Bible is to us: reading it, studying it, and seeking understanding with God’s help through the Holy Spirit.
After lunch the Board of Deacons and the Session went off to separate room so each group could meet. On the Session’s agenda was passing the Budget for 2008. We are in the process of changing and updating much of our financial reporting with our new Financial Administrator, Lisa Faust. We also made the decision to hire an outside Accounting firm to review our reports and practices, something we have not done in quite a few years.
We also agreed to restore a practice our church had not that long ago, one that many other churches use with great success: designating one night a month as Ministry Team Meeting Night. We want to improve communication about our Teams, as we all work within this Body of Christ. Making the Meeting Night work will require some schedule adjustments from most of us, including me, but churches that follow this practice all find it well worth the effort.
We ended our time on Sunday morning with a worship service. What made it truly special was that everyone was involved, from Call to Worship through the Benediction. When it came time for the Lord’s Supper, we took a common cup and a loaf of bread and passed it around the circle, each person served, each person serving. We were gathered in a meeting room in the beautiful setting of Massanetta Springs, but we were also spiritually gathered in that Upper Room.
I find it such a joy to work with our leadership groups. Our Elders and our Deacons work hard and work faithfully serving God and this church. I encourage you to learn more about their work, pray for them, support them, and thank them, remembering that we are all called to the work of “promoting the Body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
It's Finally Here!
It’s started. It’s not even Thanksgiving as I write this, and yet I am already listening to Christmas hymns and carols and I have already begun to get out the Christmas decorations. Just a few, of course – I try to wait until after Thanksgiving, but when a new nativity I had ordered from a catalog arrived the other day, it seemed a shame to box it back up for just a few weeks, so out on the table it went, ready for the season.
I am not sure who sprints out of the gate earlier: me or the stores in the mall. I love everything about Christmas: the lights, the scents, the sparkle of tinsel, the greenery, the ornaments, children filled with excitement, the carols, the sense of wonder. I am always eager to step over the threshold that leads into the wonderful room we call December as we await the coming of our Lord.
Yes, the season brings with it a rush of activities; it is certainly the busiest month at the church. Still, the season brings with it a sense of peace that falls so gently upon us, like snowflakes drifting down touching us, filling us, stopping us even for moment in the midst of the crush, calling us to pause, to remember, to wait. The peace reminds us, as the composer John Rutter wrote in one of his beautiful hymns, that love came down from heaven on that first Christmas Day.
But even as I look forward to Advent and Christmas, I am also already looking ahead to the New Year, as we begin our 141st year. Our Session and Board of Deacons will begin the new year together with their annual retreat at Massanetta Springs, where we will continue working on what it means to be leaders in the church, work we began last spring. Our Book of Order reminds us that Elders are called to lead us “continually to discover what God is doing in the world and to plan for change, renewal and reformation under the Word of God.” It is exciting and challenging work, as we seek to discern the will of God as we follow Jesus.
We will take the wonder, the glory, the peace, and the Spirit of the Christmas season into the New Year, as we should. The Spirit of Christmas should fill us all year round, for the Spirit of Christmas is, after all, the Spirit of Christ. My hope and my prayer is that the Spirit will blaze in your hearts throughout the Season and throughout the year ahead.
Glory to God in Highest Heaven!
Pastor Skip
I am not sure who sprints out of the gate earlier: me or the stores in the mall. I love everything about Christmas: the lights, the scents, the sparkle of tinsel, the greenery, the ornaments, children filled with excitement, the carols, the sense of wonder. I am always eager to step over the threshold that leads into the wonderful room we call December as we await the coming of our Lord.
Yes, the season brings with it a rush of activities; it is certainly the busiest month at the church. Still, the season brings with it a sense of peace that falls so gently upon us, like snowflakes drifting down touching us, filling us, stopping us even for moment in the midst of the crush, calling us to pause, to remember, to wait. The peace reminds us, as the composer John Rutter wrote in one of his beautiful hymns, that love came down from heaven on that first Christmas Day.
But even as I look forward to Advent and Christmas, I am also already looking ahead to the New Year, as we begin our 141st year. Our Session and Board of Deacons will begin the new year together with their annual retreat at Massanetta Springs, where we will continue working on what it means to be leaders in the church, work we began last spring. Our Book of Order reminds us that Elders are called to lead us “continually to discover what God is doing in the world and to plan for change, renewal and reformation under the Word of God.” It is exciting and challenging work, as we seek to discern the will of God as we follow Jesus.
We will take the wonder, the glory, the peace, and the Spirit of the Christmas season into the New Year, as we should. The Spirit of Christmas should fill us all year round, for the Spirit of Christmas is, after all, the Spirit of Christ. My hope and my prayer is that the Spirit will blaze in your hearts throughout the Season and throughout the year ahead.
Glory to God in Highest Heaven!
Pastor Skip
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Thanks Be To God
This is the time of year when we are filled with thoughts of thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for, so many blessings for which a prayer of gratitude is appropriate.
What are you thankful for? Your family? Your home? Your health? Counting our blessings may prove too formidable a task, but still, naming things we are thankful for is a wonderful exercise to do all year round. Here are just some of the things that are on my list:
I am thankful for my family: for my wife, my sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. I am thankful for wonderful friends, many scattered in far distant lands. I am thankful for good health, my home, for having food and clothing.
I am thankful for the colors of the rainbow, colors created by God to give us beauty. I am thankful for the magnificent colors that come with autumn. I am thankful for the rains that refresh the earth and wash things clean. I am thankful for the squirrels, whose antics seem so amusing this time of year as they prepare themselves for winter.
I am thankful for men and women who have been called to serve: called to serve as firefighters; police officers; utility workers who restore power even in the worst weather; men and women who endure heat, cold, loneliness, and fear as they serve in our military. I am thankful for men and women who serve in hospitals, in every capacity, twenty-fours a day, to care for others.
I am thankful for our church as we close our 140th year and look to our 141st year filled with such promise and hope. I am thankful for the wonderful staff I work with each day. I am thankful for our special ministry in the
I am thankful for the season that lies before us, the season of Advent, a time of watching and waiting. I am thankful for those who have written so many wonderful hymns and carols that help us to focus on the coming of our Lord. I am thankful for the talents of countless artists who have captured that radiant, peace-filled scene of the birth of our Lord in so many ways to bring us the mystery and the hope of God with us.
This is my list today. It may be different tomorrow, and different yet again the day after that. But one thing will remain the same each day: my gratitude to God. The Psalmist said it so many times with good reason, “O give thanks to the Lord.” And so I will, and not just in November, but every day.
Pastor Skip
Thursday, October 18, 2007
You Want Me To Serve On WHAT Committee?
Twenty years ago I served as co-chair of the annual Stewardship campaign at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo. I was an active member of the church, the third generation of my family to worship there, but I was not at all interested in serving on the Stewardship Committee, much less take the co-chair’s role. The pastor would not take “no” for an answer, however, (and no: we don’t learn that skill at Seminary!) and so I found myself helping to lead the annual campaign.
Six months later, after an effort that we all considered successful, I concluded that God had blessed me richly by calling me to serve on the Stewardship Committee. My eyes had been opened in a way that never would have happened had I not helped with our campaign. Serving on the Stewardship Committee helped me to think about not just what I was giving to the church, but why I was giving, and who was calling me to give.
I realized that I was not making a donation to the church. I wasn’t making a gift. I was simply returning a part of what God had blessed me with. And it wasn’t the Committee that was asking for the pledge, nor was it the Session, nor the minister; it was God who was putting the pledge card in my hand. It was God who calling me to respond. God was gracing me with the opportunity to bring my “first fruits” to his table to do his work.
I think everyone should serve a two-year term on the Stewardship Ministry Team. In fact, I think we should require it of every active member. Your eyes will be opened in ways you might not have thought possible. You’ll develop a better appreciation for where and how we spend our funds on all the ministries we do here at our church. Indeed, you will see how everything we do is ministry. You will see how even painting a door or shoveling the walk is ministry.
In this month of thanksgiving, make sure you thank those who have helped with our Stewardship efforts this year. It was a small core Team led by Elders Mishelle Noble-Blair and Jim Crane. But there were many helping hands. Find them, and then, after you have expressed your gratitude, offer to serve on the Team next year. And don’t be surprised if, at the end of two years, you find that you have been “enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God…”
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Six months later, after an effort that we all considered successful, I concluded that God had blessed me richly by calling me to serve on the Stewardship Committee. My eyes had been opened in a way that never would have happened had I not helped with our campaign. Serving on the Stewardship Committee helped me to think about not just what I was giving to the church, but why I was giving, and who was calling me to give.
I realized that I was not making a donation to the church. I wasn’t making a gift. I was simply returning a part of what God had blessed me with. And it wasn’t the Committee that was asking for the pledge, nor was it the Session, nor the minister; it was God who was putting the pledge card in my hand. It was God who calling me to respond. God was gracing me with the opportunity to bring my “first fruits” to his table to do his work.
I think everyone should serve a two-year term on the Stewardship Ministry Team. In fact, I think we should require it of every active member. Your eyes will be opened in ways you might not have thought possible. You’ll develop a better appreciation for where and how we spend our funds on all the ministries we do here at our church. Indeed, you will see how everything we do is ministry. You will see how even painting a door or shoveling the walk is ministry.
In this month of thanksgiving, make sure you thank those who have helped with our Stewardship efforts this year. It was a small core Team led by Elders Mishelle Noble-Blair and Jim Crane. But there were many helping hands. Find them, and then, after you have expressed your gratitude, offer to serve on the Team next year. And don’t be surprised if, at the end of two years, you find that you have been “enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God…”
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Light on the Horizon
Pat and I thank you all for your words, your notes, your cards, and your prayers these past few weeks since my mother died. Every word, every thought, every gesture has been a great comfort to us and our hearts are filled with gratitude.
The presence of Mom’s absence has become apparent in countless ways. I have noticed it each afternoon. As her health deteriorated this past year, the late afternoon was usually her best time of the day, so I would telephone her and talk with her while I drove home. I have felt her absence even more acutely on Sunday afternoons. For more than 30 years that was our time to talk, a routine we fell into when I first went off to college and long-distance calls were something done sparingly.
But even as I feel the presence of her absence, I am also filled with a sense of relief: relief that she is beyond the reach of cancer, relief that no pain can touch her, relief that she no longer needs to fear yet another trip to the hospital, relief at knowing that she is at peace, bathed in love in the presence of God.
How blessed we are to have the promise of eternal life in God’s Heavenly Kingdom awaiting us at the end of our journey here on earth. At the end of our mortal lives it is not death that comes for us, but Christ himself. So, as Paul reminds us, “if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
I took comfort in knowing that my mother embraced this promise as she neared the end of her life. She knew where she was going. Her faith gave her the strength and courage to bear her final few months with grace and peace. The twinkle never faded from her eye.
“Death be not proud”, wrote the poet John Donne. “Mighty and dreadful: thou are not so… One short sleep past, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.” This is the promise we take on faith, for it is the promise we have in Jesus Christ.
The absence is real and the grief deeply felt when a loved one dies. Yet even in death there is hope, a ray of light that shimmers over the horizon that reminds us that our lives here are only a prelude for what awaits us: eternal life in the presence of our Lord. Thanks be to God!
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
The presence of Mom’s absence has become apparent in countless ways. I have noticed it each afternoon. As her health deteriorated this past year, the late afternoon was usually her best time of the day, so I would telephone her and talk with her while I drove home. I have felt her absence even more acutely on Sunday afternoons. For more than 30 years that was our time to talk, a routine we fell into when I first went off to college and long-distance calls were something done sparingly.
But even as I feel the presence of her absence, I am also filled with a sense of relief: relief that she is beyond the reach of cancer, relief that no pain can touch her, relief that she no longer needs to fear yet another trip to the hospital, relief at knowing that she is at peace, bathed in love in the presence of God.
How blessed we are to have the promise of eternal life in God’s Heavenly Kingdom awaiting us at the end of our journey here on earth. At the end of our mortal lives it is not death that comes for us, but Christ himself. So, as Paul reminds us, “if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
I took comfort in knowing that my mother embraced this promise as she neared the end of her life. She knew where she was going. Her faith gave her the strength and courage to bear her final few months with grace and peace. The twinkle never faded from her eye.
“Death be not proud”, wrote the poet John Donne. “Mighty and dreadful: thou are not so… One short sleep past, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.” This is the promise we take on faith, for it is the promise we have in Jesus Christ.
The absence is real and the grief deeply felt when a loved one dies. Yet even in death there is hope, a ray of light that shimmers over the horizon that reminds us that our lives here are only a prelude for what awaits us: eternal life in the presence of our Lord. Thanks be to God!
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Happy New Year?
September marks a “New Year” in most churches, as we come back from summer activities and travels. Following Labor Day we will resume our schedule of two worship services (but not till September 16th!), the choir will be back in the chancel, Sunday School will be ready to greet learners of all ages, and the building will buzz seven days a week with activity. I will particularly enjoy the beginning of the new year for our Early Learning Center – weekdays have been much too quiet without the sounds of children talking, giggling, singing, and learning.
Our Session will continue the conversation we began in June about where we believe God is calling us in the years ahead. Our priorities have changed over the past decade since the first thoughts that led to the Vision 2010 program were discussed. We now realize that rather than adding space, we need to put more effort into maintaining and enhancing what we have. Our 30-year-old building needs to look as bright, warm, and welcoming as all the new church buildings that have sprung up all around us over the past few years.
Our Reformed heritage reminds us that we are the “Church Reformed, Yet Always Reforming”. As important as tradition is, change is also an equal partner in our discipleship. The Holy Spirit calls us to changes and leads us, gracing us with the wisdom and courage we need to walk forward boldly and faithfully. Changes come in small ways: fresh paint all around our building, including splashes of welcome color; more graphics, pictures, and helpful information on our website; or new volunteer leaders for our Youth Groups. And changes come in bigger ways as we think about new ministries and missions, or plan for how we can restore the position of Associate Pastor.
One of many changes we made this summer was to update our computer database to help us capture information from Time & Talent surveys that our Stewardship Ministry Team has put together. Our Deacons will be sending you the Time & Talent form for you to fill out and return – right away, please! Our database is vastly improved thanks to the efforts of Ann Curtis and Sarah Slader, so be assured that we will match interests and needs.
Where will God be calling us in the weeks and months ahead? Where will God be calling you to serve in the weeks and months ahead? We have only to “be still” and listen – God will make our paths clear. And as Paul teaches us, whatever we do in word and deed, whatever the path, let us be sure to do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Our Session will continue the conversation we began in June about where we believe God is calling us in the years ahead. Our priorities have changed over the past decade since the first thoughts that led to the Vision 2010 program were discussed. We now realize that rather than adding space, we need to put more effort into maintaining and enhancing what we have. Our 30-year-old building needs to look as bright, warm, and welcoming as all the new church buildings that have sprung up all around us over the past few years.
Our Reformed heritage reminds us that we are the “Church Reformed, Yet Always Reforming”. As important as tradition is, change is also an equal partner in our discipleship. The Holy Spirit calls us to changes and leads us, gracing us with the wisdom and courage we need to walk forward boldly and faithfully. Changes come in small ways: fresh paint all around our building, including splashes of welcome color; more graphics, pictures, and helpful information on our website; or new volunteer leaders for our Youth Groups. And changes come in bigger ways as we think about new ministries and missions, or plan for how we can restore the position of Associate Pastor.
One of many changes we made this summer was to update our computer database to help us capture information from Time & Talent surveys that our Stewardship Ministry Team has put together. Our Deacons will be sending you the Time & Talent form for you to fill out and return – right away, please! Our database is vastly improved thanks to the efforts of Ann Curtis and Sarah Slader, so be assured that we will match interests and needs.
Where will God be calling us in the weeks and months ahead? Where will God be calling you to serve in the weeks and months ahead? We have only to “be still” and listen – God will make our paths clear. And as Paul teaches us, whatever we do in word and deed, whatever the path, let us be sure to do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Monday, June 18, 2007
How I'll Spend My Summer
Summer looms: long languid months in which to relax, lie in a hammock, drink lemonade, and listen to the birds in the trees…. Somehow I don’t think that describes what summer will be like for most of us! Summers seem to be as busy as the rest of the year, with travel, vacations, camps for children, and projects to be done around the house.
Still, summer allows us a change of pace, and a chance to focus on different things. This summer will provide me with an opportunity to have some concentrated time on my doctoral work. In September 2004, I began work on my Doctor of Ministry degree at Princeton Theological Seminary. I completed all my required classroom work last summer, leaving me with “just” the dissertation, or what the program calls the “Final Project”.
I spent much of this spring developing and refining my Final Project Proposal, a process that is rather like trying to corral mercury loosed from a thermometer. Papers and responses flowed back and forth between me and the Seminary’s Doctoral Committee over the months, all part of the normal process that every doctoral student goes through. Happily, the Proposal stage is nearing completion, so I can begin work this summer on the Final Project.
My Project will focus on leadership in the church. Every year God calls a new group of women and men to leadership roles in the church as Elders and Deacons. Amazingly, though, there is no training program from the Presbytery, no handbook written by the Synod, no workshop offered by Louisville, no ready resource to help us become better leaders in the church. There are more than 11,000 churches in the Presbyterian Church in this country and it appears that there are 11,000 different ways we go about trying to develop leadership!
What I hope to develop is a program we can use at our church to help officers become more comfortable in their role as leaders as they serve God and this church. Our Book of Order charges our Elders in particular to “exercise leadership…by seeking together to find and represent the will of Christ”. How best to do that is a challenge when we all struggle with discernment, demands on our time, and different interpretations of the word “leadership”.
Of course, we begin our study of leadership by remembering that we are also followers: followers of our Lord Jesus, who is Head of the Church. As we go about our ministry, as long as we “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly…and…do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” we can be confident that we will be both faithful leaders and faithful followers.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
Still, summer allows us a change of pace, and a chance to focus on different things. This summer will provide me with an opportunity to have some concentrated time on my doctoral work. In September 2004, I began work on my Doctor of Ministry degree at Princeton Theological Seminary. I completed all my required classroom work last summer, leaving me with “just” the dissertation, or what the program calls the “Final Project”.
I spent much of this spring developing and refining my Final Project Proposal, a process that is rather like trying to corral mercury loosed from a thermometer. Papers and responses flowed back and forth between me and the Seminary’s Doctoral Committee over the months, all part of the normal process that every doctoral student goes through. Happily, the Proposal stage is nearing completion, so I can begin work this summer on the Final Project.
My Project will focus on leadership in the church. Every year God calls a new group of women and men to leadership roles in the church as Elders and Deacons. Amazingly, though, there is no training program from the Presbytery, no handbook written by the Synod, no workshop offered by Louisville, no ready resource to help us become better leaders in the church. There are more than 11,000 churches in the Presbyterian Church in this country and it appears that there are 11,000 different ways we go about trying to develop leadership!
What I hope to develop is a program we can use at our church to help officers become more comfortable in their role as leaders as they serve God and this church. Our Book of Order charges our Elders in particular to “exercise leadership…by seeking together to find and represent the will of Christ”. How best to do that is a challenge when we all struggle with discernment, demands on our time, and different interpretations of the word “leadership”.
Of course, we begin our study of leadership by remembering that we are also followers: followers of our Lord Jesus, who is Head of the Church. As we go about our ministry, as long as we “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly…and…do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” we can be confident that we will be both faithful leaders and faithful followers.
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
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