He is Risen!

It is clear that March forgot that if it came in like a lion it was supposed to go out like a lamb. But April is sure to bring spring, and with it the reawakening of God’s creation after a long, cold winter. Crocuses and daffodils will not be stopped; they will bloom and we’ll know that winter is at last behind us.

April brings Easter as well, and all the wonderful, moving worship services that lead to that day when we gather to shout out “Alleluia! He is Risen!”. We begin the month with our Service of Wholeness on April 6. We’ll once again reconfigure the chairs in the Sanctuary to form circles of 12, each circle “hosted” by an Elder. We’ll share the Lord’s Supper within each circle, passing the bread and cup around the circle in much the same way the disciples did when they shared their Last Supper with our Lord, each person receiving, each person serving.

Then we’ll move on to Palm Sunday on April 13, our lively service punctuated with our shouts of “Hosanna!” as we all wave our palm branches. Palm Sunday worship has always been joyful and festive – as  attested by this 600-year-old life-sized sculpture of Jesus astride a donkey, the donkey mounted on a wheeled cart to be used in a Palm Sunday processional. The sculpture, which is part of the collection of devotional art in the Cloisters Museum in New York City, seems to sing out, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord”.

 

We want to jump directly from Palm Sunday to Easter so we can echo our “Hossannas” with our “Alleluias”, but we cannot get to Easter without first remembering our Lord’s betrayal, arrest and crucifixion. Our Maundy Thursday Tenebrae service – our “Service of Darkness” – will lead us as we walk with our Lord from the Last Supper to Jesus’ last breath on the cross. The service reminds us that for three days the world walked in darkness, until Mary Magdalene found the empty tomb on that first Easter Sunday.

Then, on April 20th, we will celebrate the joy of the empty tomb, the joy of our Lord’s resurrection as we gather on Easter Sunday, each of us eager to shout out “Alleluia! He is Risen!” – and, of course, wave our alleluia wands.

So come and be part of all of our worship opportunities this month, as we finally put winter behind us, the earth reawakening, and all of us born to new life through our Risen Lord.

 Alleluia, indeed!

Pastor Skip

Taste and See

With March comes Lent, 40 days that lead us from the solemnness of Ash Wednesday to the joy of Easter. Lent is a time for reflection and prayer; Lent is a time for preparation. Lent is not a time for giving things up; it is a time for taking things on – taking on new practices and habits that will help us grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

In lives that for most of us are too full, too busy, too hectic, how do we find time for reflection, prayer or preparation? How do we find time to take on new habits and practices that will help us to grow spiritually? The answer is, of course, that we will never find time, so we’ll have to make time. And the easiest way to make time is to participate each week in the special offerings planned for Lent.

Begin by coming to the Ash Wednesday service on March 5. A simple soup supper at 6:30 pm will precede the service at 7:30 pm. It is a solemn, somber service in which we are called to reflect on our need to acknowledge our waywardness so that we can know the joy of forgiveness.

Then come join Melissa Kirkpatrick and me for the five-part series we will offer on Thursday evenings entitled, “Hungering and Thirsting for God”. Running from March 13 through April 10, we’ll gather for a soup supper at 6:30 pm and then have a time of learning and prayer from 7:30 till 9:00 pm.

It was the psalmist who wrote, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” We know we hunger and thirst for God, yet we try to satisfy our appetites with spiritual junk food and empty calories, feeding on food that neither satisfies nor nourishes. We’ll talk about spiritual practices that can help feed us in ways that help us to know the “fullness that is God.”

We’ll end our Lenten season offerings on Maundy Thursday, April 17, with our powerful, moving Tenebrae service. We’ll walk with Jesus as he and the apostles gather for the Last Supper, and we will continue to walk with our Lord through his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. There is no worship service that is as powerful, as moving as our Maundy Thursday Tenebrae service.

Give yourself the gift of time this Lenten season: time for reflection, for learning, for prayer, for fellowship, for growing spiritually, for growing as disciples. Make time and join us for these special offerings each week throughout Lent. Come and participate: O taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34)

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

Keeping Things "Crunchy"!

We begin February with a rush, our first Sunday filled with activities. February 2^nd is, of course, a Communion Sunday, when we gather around our Lord’s Table and are nourished, renewed and refreshed with the bread of life and the cup of salvation. What a perfect way to begin a new month: coming to the Table, the guests of our Lord, all the saints, reconciled one with another.  

The first Sunday of the month is also a Manna Sunday, when we bring our food offerings for the SERVE Food Pantry, to feed the hungry in our community. Last year we collected more than 6,000 pounds of food for hundreds of men, women, and children who rely on SERVE to keep food on their table. Those whom we feed are our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors.

 

It is on the first Sunday of February each year that we hold our Annual Meeting of the Congregation.It is a time for us to look back on the year just ended and celebrate all the many ministries God has called us to. The meeting also provides us with the opportunity to thank those who have completed terms of service on our Session or Board of Deacons. Those ordained to the office of Elder or Deacon are called for life, but faithful service for a term on a board does deserve a respite, along with our profound gratitude.

And if all this isn’t enough, it is also Super Bowl Sunday, with the two best teams in the National Football League facing off to determine which team will be known as champion. Our Middle Schoolers will feed us with their Super Bowl subs as they raise money for their summer trip to Massanetta Springs. They’ll also collect food for SERVE through their Souper Bowl of Caring Offering.

All this is just the first Sunday of the month! It reflects the wonderful vibrancy and liveliness of our church. We do keep things wonderfully “crunchy”!

What will you do this year to build up this body of Christ God has called you to be part of? What will you do to help keep things “crunchy”?

Don’t say you are too busy – everyone is busy! In fact, I’ve always liked the quote attributed to Ben Franklin: “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” God will grace you with the gifts you need to get the job done, whatever is asked of you. 

“Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Grace and peace, 

Pastor Skip 

"Do You Not Perceive It?"

Last month we wrapped up an exciting year of Session meetings. “Exciting Session meetings”? Can we really put the words “exciting” and “Session meetings” together? The answer is most definitely, yes!

Composed of 15 Ruling Elders, one Youth Elder, and me, the Session is our governing body. We are called by God to “strengthen and nurture the faith and life of our church.” We do this in a variety of ways, but our most important role is as spiritual leaders of the church.

The past two years we have made a concerted effort to look ahead, to think and plan for our future. We read constantly of a growing number of people turning away from churches of all denominations. Last year we spent time with the Rev. Dr. Ed White from the Alban Institute, who challenged us to think about how church is changing, and how we are called to change in response.

This year I split the Session into three groups and asked each group to discuss what they think our church will look like in the future – one group looking back from 2015, the second group looking back from 2016, and the third group looking back from the end of our 150th anniversary in the year 2017.

The groups thought creatively and faithfully about our many ministries – how we worship, how we offer Christian Education for all ages, how we can draw more families to our Early Learning Center, how we can expand our Mission outreach, and the ever-present challenge of remaining healthy financially.

Our work has been part of the foundation that will lead, I hope, to our launching a Capital Campaign later in 2014. We know we need funds for imminent capital repairs, including a new roof, but we’d also like to have funds for “venturing” – creating new ministries, as well as enhancing current ministries.

As just one example, a group has already begun to gather ideas for a Columbarium – a place where the ashes of those who have joined the Church Triumphant can be interred, perhaps in a wall, or perhaps in a memorial garden, reminiscent of the old “Church Yard”. Other ideas that have sprung from this work include the possibility of building an outdoor worship pavilion, prayer garden, and labyrinth. 

The “Imagine” board our Stewardship Ministry Team put in the narthex has inspired more creative and wonderful ideas for our future. Our Elders will have the challenging, yet joyful task of sorting through many wonderful, faithful, inspiring ideas to discern where God is calling us to put our time, energy and resources.

“I am about to do a new thing,” says the Lord; “now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” This may mean more meetings for our Elders in the new year, but yes, they will be exciting as we seek to perceive and discern God’s future for us.

Blessings for joy through Advent, Christmas and in the New Year!

Pastor Skip

A Sense of Gratitude

I said it from the pulpit, and I will say it again through this Pastor’s Letter: I look forward each year to filling out my pledge card for Stewardship. It is something I do with a sense of joy; but even more, it is something I do with a deep and profound sense of gratitude. Yes, gratitude.

Gratitude because, as I think and pray about the upcoming year and how I hope to support the work we do here in the name of Jesus Christ, I also look back and reflect upon all the many blessings that fill my life.  It is easy to complain and grouse; it takes more of an effort to keep a focus on gratitude for blessings small and large, on living with a constant sense of thanksgiving.

Blessings abound, even as life throws stumbling blocks at us, challenges us, and sometimes even knocks us down. Still we have beds to sleep in, homes to keep us warm and dry, food in the cupboard, family and friends, colleagues and mentors. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who help us through difficult times, offering us their encouragement and support as they help us get us back on our feet.

Irving Berlin wrote a song for the movie Holiday Inn called, “I’ve Got Plenty to be Thankful For.” Bing Crosby croons the tune in the movie, singing that even if he has “no private car, no caviar, no carpet on my floor, still I’ve got plenty to be thankful for.” He has love, he has friendship, he knows peace.

To live in a state of gratitude is to live in the peace of Christ, that peace which surpasses all understanding. It is to live in the warmth and brightness of God’s ever-loving presence. It is to remember God’s promise that no matter what life might throw at us, “I will be with you.”

What are you thankful for? At home? At work or school? With your family and friends? What are you thankful for here at our church? We have so many wonderful ministries that all of us together support and make happen and through which we find spiritual nourishment.

November seems to be a particularly appropriate month to keep a “Gratitude Journal”, noting the things you are thankful for. Focus on the small things: the music of the birds in the morning, the smell of coffee, a child’s giggle, a favorite meal, a conversation with a good friend, a hug, a smile.

You may not be able to croon like Bing, but still we can all sing with him, “I’ve Got Plenty to be Thankful For”!

With joy and thanksgiving for abundant blessings,

Pastor Skip

The Writing on the Wall - and the Easel

Have you ever taken a look at the two easels we have? We have one in the narthex and the other in the hallway outside the office. They are designed for children, with a whiteboard on one side and a chalkboard on the other. We put them there and keep them stocked with markers, chalk, and erasers because we know how much children love to draw and write.

I love looking at the boards to check out the newest creations. Sometimes I’ll find beautiful flowers or perhaps a simple drawing of a tree or a person. Other times our children will leave the most heart-tugging messages. Last May I found this message on Mother’s Day Sunday: “Dear Mom I love you for ever and ever.”

A few weeks back I spotted this message written in the lower corner of the board outside my office: “there is no war in the kingdom of god”. Wow – the wisdom of a child! Is it any wonder our Lord says to us, “it is to such as these that kingdom of heaven belongs.” 

 Our older youth find the lure of the whiteboard irresistible as well. Last July our Triennium-bound youth couldn’t contain their excitement and wrote “TRI, here we come. Yay!” I still am awestruck by the fact that 11 of 50 participants from our Presbytery came from our church.

These writings tell me that we are honoring well the covenant promise we make with our children to nurture their faith and help them to grow in Christ. We do this in so many ways: through Sunday School, Youth Groups, and choirs, but most important, we nurture faith by our own example, each of us, living lives of grace, forgiveness, and love.

How many young lives have we touched and shaped within our church over the past 146 years? Thousands upon thousands - more than we can count! And we should not overlook the more than 7,000 children who have been part of our Early Learning Center the past 50 years. We have touched their lives as well through an extraordinary ministry that is joyfully celebrating its golden anniversary this year.

Have a look at all the boards around our building, including the many creative bulletin boards that fill our walls. But take special note of the children gathered around the easels – have a look at what they are writing and drawing, and hear the words of our Lord, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

And all God’s children said, “Amen!”

Pastor Skip

A Refreshing Plunge

The sidewalks of Dorset Vermont are all marble, slabs of white veined by nature and stained by time, beauty from the hand of God. This quaint, picturesque village was once home to a thriving quarry business dating back to 1785. For more than 150 years the quarry supplied marble for homes and office buildings as well as tombstones.

The drills, dust and dynamite are long gone, but the quarry is livelier than ever: it is now filled with water from a mountain stream and has become the local swimming hole, a favorite gathering place for young and old alike. The water is brisk and refreshing, and daredevils love to plunge 25 feet from the sheer rock face into the murky depths. 

 

 I’ve swum in the quarry over the years, but it seems that each time I return to Dorset I spend my time immersed in books rather than water. One author I return to every time I’m in Vermont is the Rev. Frederick Buechner, who lives just up the road from Dorset. I find his writings still as brisk and refreshing as the waters of the Dorset Quarry.

Buechner is 87 and no longer travels or preaches, but his voice carries through so powerfully and timelessly in all his many books. His writings are grounded in faith, wisdom, and compassion, reminding us that Jesus Christ reveals to us what it means to be fully human, as well as who God is; that to be fully human is to live in love, peace, and reconciliation; that love is not an emotion as much as it is an act, something that defines how we are called to live as disciples of Jesus.

“Power, success, and happiness as the world knows them, are his who will fight for them hard enough; but peace, love, joy are only from God,” he writes, reminding us that “to become fully human as God intended us to be is to become compassionate,” caring for others, friend and stranger alike.

“We are above all things loved – that is the good news of the gospel.” That is the good news revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ, who “never approached from on high” but is always in our midst, in the web of our lives, knowing each of us by name, calling us to follow him to new life.

If you are not familiar with his writings, I encourage you to pick up one of his books. In particular, I recommend Secrets in the Dark, a collection of his sermons, and Listening to your Life, a book with daily devotionals and reflections. Dive in – Buechner’s words always refresh, just like the waters of the Dorset Quarry!

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip