Living in Gratitude

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The apostle Paul wrote these words to the people of Philippi in a letter that was filled with words of warm praise. While Paul found much to criticize among the people of Corinth and the people scattered throughout the Galatian region, Paul was delighted with how the Philippians had embraced the gospel and were living their faith.

What adds zest to these words is the fact that Paul wrote them while he languished in prison. Locked up, possibly even chained to a wall, Paul still managed to write “Don’t worry! Be thankful!” Despite his situation, the words reflect how Paul lived his faith: filled with trust, confidence, and hope. 

Paul knew the inside of a cell all too well. He had a least three stays in prison, possibly as many as seven. He spent the last two years of his life imprisoned in Rome before he was executed. He probably wrote his letter to the Philippians during an earlier imprisonment, mostly likely during a two-year incarceration in Caesarea. Still, “Don’t worry; be thankful; lift up your concerns and requests to God.”

Paul lived in gratitude and thanksgiving even as he endured an arduous life. In addition to his numerous times in jail, he was beaten for his faith, shipwrecked, and was often mocked and laughed at. He had no permanent home from the time the scales fell from his eyes, living out of a suitcase as he traveled constantly to share the good news.

He saw every setting as an opportunity to share the gospel, even the inside of a prison cell. His calling was not to convert, but rather simply to share the good news of God’s grace and love revealed in Jesus Christ with any who would listen, including his jailers. Indeed, he told the Philippians, “I want you to know that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that is has become known…that my imprisonment is for Christ.”

Paul helps us to learn to live our lives in gratitude to God for blessings small and large. And this life of gratitude and thanksgiving is not limited to the month of November, of course, but one we are called to live year-round. A 16^th century prayer reminds us “not to be thankful when it pleaseth me, as if thy blessings, O Lord, had spare days.” For in Jesus Christ, we know that God does indeed “bless us and keep us” -- always and always.

Grace & peace

Pastor Skip

Welcoming All

In 1961 Temple Beth Zion, one of Buffalo’s oldest and largest synagogues, burned to the ground. The congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church, where my family and I worshiped, immediately opened the doors of the church to the members of the Temple for worship and meetings. It was almost five years before the Temple was rebuilt, and throughout that time Westminster served both congregations.

In the early 1990s the favor was returned when the people of Westminster worshiped in the sanctuary of the Temple while Westminster’s facilities underwent major renovations. As they shared space, the two congregations learned about one another: they learned about their histories, their practices, and their beliefs. They learned that they had far more in common than they had differences that set them apart.

Those experiences have been on my mind these past few weeks as we have witnessed so much anger directed at members of the Muslim community. A community center that also will have a place for worshiping the God of Abraham is told it is unwelcome. A man who claims to be a minister of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ threatens to burn the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

If a neighboring synagogue burned to the ground, would we open our doors to the congregation? If a neighboring mosque burned to the ground, would we open our doors to that congregation? Muslims, Christians, and Jews: we worship the same God.

Christian history is filled with many shameful episodes of bigotry, prejudice, and even violence directed at the “different”. Intolerance is inevitably built on a foundation of ignorance. But the more we learn about other people and other communities, the more we realize, like the two congregations in Buffalo, we have in common.

Frederick Buechner has written that the very essence of any religion must be “compassion – that capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside another’s skin, knowing that there can never really be peace and joy for any until there is peace and joy finally for all.”

The apostle Paul reminds us that Christ calls us to the ministry of reconciliation grounded in love. And, as Paul so famously teaches, “love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” If we learn this lesson, then we’ll know we are called to stand at the door with Christ, our arms stretched out in welcome – to all.

Grace & peace

Pastor Skip

Bits & Bytes

I’d been thinking about it for more than a year, and in early August I finally did it: I bought a Kindle, Amazon’s e-book reader. I have always been a voracious reader, but more than that, I have always loved books. The idea of an electronic book reader at first left me cold. Still, my fascination with things technological stirred me, so I finally hit the “Order” button. 

Now, a month later, I can say I am hooked. I love the fact that I can order a book and have it downloaded into the Kindle within minutes. I love the fact that e-books are less expensive than paper books. I love the fact that I am saving a tree or two. But what I like best is the fact that I can enlarge the typefont on the screen and make the pages of any book easier to read. 

I’m still buying regular books – many of the theological books that fill my shelves aren’t available in e-book format and probably never will be. But still, the technology fascinates me. I have always been an eager consumer of new technology. I was an early Apple fan; my home  computer has consistently been a Mac for 20 years. I have always found Windows a poor and cumbersome attempt to mimic the best of Apple. 

I don’t plan to lobby for an “All-Mac” office at the church, but I am always looking for new ways to incorporate technology in the church. You may not think we are a “high-tech” church, but just look around: you’ll find technology everywhere.  We’ve been working the past few years to update and upgrade all our office computers to assure that everyone has a reliable and efficient workstation.  We’ve installed wireless connection in the office and are hoping to expand our wireless capability to the rest of the building over the next year or so. 

We’re putting a flat-screen television in Room 5 to provide us with more opportunities to view the growing number of excellent DVD presentations available on the books of the Bible, the life of Jesus, and the story of the church. This Fall I’ll be leading our Wednesday and Thursday Bible Study groups through Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch’s 6-part series entitled Three Thousand Years of Christian History. We hope to have a Sunday morning Adult Education class use the DVDs as well. 

If you haven’t visited our website in a while, have a look (www.mpc-va.org). Ann Curtis works diligently to keep it up to date. We are hoping to be able to provide MP3 audio files of worship services and sermons before long as yet another addition to the site. 

In giving us the Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations…” Jesus may not have been thinking about the Internet, or iPods, or texting, or blogs, but he would no doubt encourage us to use all means available to us to share the good news. Bits, bytes – it doesn’t matter, for it is always the Word of the Lord.

Grace & peace

Pastor Skip 

Time for an Associate Pastor!

It’s official: we are going to fill the office next to mine with an Associate Pastor! At its June meeting the Session enthusiastically received the report from the Personnel Ministry Team and unanimously approved the Team’s recommendation that we call an Associate Pastor.

Six years ago, before I was called as Pastor, this congregation made the difficult decision to eliminate the Associate Pastor position. This was done reluctantly, solely for financial reasons. When the decision was made, virtually all agreed that it was a “temporary” decision until we were able to fund the position.

We know we need a second pastor – we have too many ministries that we are either underserving or not serving at all, especially our ministries focused on our youth. Our newest group of high school graduates have had constantly changing leadership since their Middle School days, when what they have wanted is stability. Our young people need someone they can develop a relationship with, someone to help them walk those stressful years that come with adolescence and early adulthood, someone who will be there to help them grow in faith.

The Personnel Ministry Team recommends that the Associate Pastor’s time be divided, on average, among the following ministries:

Middle School Youth       20%

High School Youth           25%

18-30 “Not-So-Youth”     20%

Adult Ed. /Programs        10%

Worship                             12.5%

Administrative/Other      12.5%

These are averages, of course. There may be weeks when the AP is committed completely to one ministry, such as a Youth Group Mission Trip, or preaching and leading worship, while other ministries are set aside for that week. Most of the emphasis will be on our Youth, but we also want to give our Associate Pastor the opportunity on occasion to teach Adult Education classes, as well as assist with worship, including preaching regularly. And the AP will also need time to participate in staff meetings, visit, and work with a Ministry Team or two.

This is such an exciting step for our church. But we still have a great deal of work to do. Calling an Associate Pastor is a process we will do jointly with the Presbytery, just as we did when I was called as Pastor. The biggest hurdle we have yet to overcome is financial. Last year’s economic recession took its toll on our finances; we will need a successful Stewardship campaign this Fall to close the gap and fully fund the position. We are close, but not quite there yet.

You’ll be hearing more from our Personnel Ministry Team and from Stewardship in the months to come, but my hope and prayer is that we will all share the Session’s excitement and faith in our future. “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

Grace & peace

Pastor Skip

The End of Another School Year Already?

June always brings the end of the school year accompanied by shouts of joy from children released from classrooms for a summer of fun and adventure. Of course, there are more than a few joyous shouts from teachers, too! But even as children and teachers celebrate the end of the year, there is also a sense of wistfulness as everyone scatters. Classrooms are community with bonds built over the course of the year and June breaks those bonds.

For those who are moving up through graduation, new adventures lie ahead: the move from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to college, college to …where? We have a large group of high school seniors this year and it’s been such a joy for me to learn of their plans for next year. And as reports have trickled back from our new college graduates, I have been so pleased that most have either found jobs or are hopeful. This is wonderful news in an economy that still is sluggish.

Our Early Learning Center ends its year with a lively closing program in our Sanctuary featuring the children performing wonderfully creative songs. I get to participate as the narrator.  Then our building grows quiet; too quiet and too empty without their smiles and laughter.

Even as this school year comes to an end, the ELC Board and staff are already looking ahead to next year. Among the changes the ELC is considering is asking all parents to covenant that they will not use cellphones or other electronic devices when they are driving through the parking lot. We have been astounded and disturbed by how many people drive through our lot talking on phones or using other devices, even as other parents and children are walking through the lot. This has become a serious concern for us; the safety of everyone on this campus must always be our top priority.

Session has also discussed whether we should adopt what I call a “Hang-Up-The-Phone” policy. Studies have shown that a person who is talking on a cellphone or using an electronic device is significantly more distracted from their driving and considerably more likely to  cause an accident. Everyone who comes onto our campus, whether for ELC, church activities or a meeting of an independent group, becomes a part of the larger MPC community and we should expect every member of the community to abide by our concern for the safety of all.

A church is a community, bonded by the love God has graced us with in Jesus Christ. School communities may change, work communities may change, but the church community is always there, with arms wide open in welcome. This is the place where God calls us all to turn off our phones and Blackberries so we can more readily find “the goodwill of all people” and find the peace which surpasses all understanding.

Grace & peace

Pastor Skip

Happy Easter - Every Sunday!

Every minister in the Presbyterian Church is provided with a wonderful opportunity each year: every minister, from the newest to the most experienced, is required to take at least two weeks of study leave each year. This is time separate and apart from vacation; it is a time for study, for reading, for learning, and for reflection.

Over the years I have used my study leave time in a variety of ways: I’ve taken quite a few two- or three-day seminars on a variety of topics. I spent time with other pastors learning about church growth, stewardship, and governance at the Presbyterian Church’s Stony Point Center in upstate New York. I spent a week as a Fellow at the Engle Institute for Preaching at Princeton Seminary. And, from September 2004 through last May I worked on my doctorate at Princeton.

Last month I spent a week taking a fresh look at the theology and practices we have developed over the centuries within the Reformed tradition and the Presbyterian church on how we look at death and all the issues that come with the end of life. The combination of the excellent workshops our Christian Education Team offered on Finding Hope in the Chaos of Aging, along with the promises that are ours in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ made my study particularly compelling.

In John’s gospel Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” This is the very foundation of our hope in eternal life. Paul reinforces this in his letter to the Romans: “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.”

We capture our belief concisely in the Apostles Creed when we say: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” What this means for us as followers of Jesus Christ is, as Paul has taught us, nothing in life or death can separate us from the love of God given us through Christ.

This is a glorious promise that allows us to live our mortal lives filled with hope. Yes, we will all die, all of us returning to the dust. But we will live this life knowing the love of God in Christ, and we will continue to live in that love in the life to come.

Death is still very much a subject that most of us prefer neither to think about nor discuss. But in Christ’s resurrection, death has been defeated; death has no power over us, because death cannot separate us from God’s love. For us, this makes every Lord’s Day a “Happy Easter”.

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

Ministering Together

Congregational care is always on my mind: who is in the hospital? Who is looking after an ill family member? Who’s concerned about employment or finances? Who is struggling with family issues? Who is anxious, hurting, suffering? And who has a joy to celebrate, a blessing to share?

Congregational care is not just my concern, of course – it is something that concerns us all, every one of us, something we all do together. Congregational care has been very much on the minds of our leaders the past few months as we look for new and better ways to look after one another.

You’ve heard about the step our Deacons took in January: with approval from the Session, the Deacons expanded from 15 to 18 to provide for more involved care and concern for the more than 500 men, women, and children who are part of our church family. We did not stop there, though: each of our Elders is now paired with a Deacon to help provide additional support and care.

This past winter’s snowstorms reminded us that we have many folks who live alone, so we have created a “Home Alone” list to help us be more attentive in looking after them and checking on them, not only during bad weather, but year round.

We have also created a better system to remind us of who is sick, facing surgery, or in the hospital, or who might be looking after a loved one who is sick or in the hospital.  Hospital stays are so short these days that it seems that I often don’t hear about a hospitalization until after the person has come home. If you know of someone who has been hospitalized, please make sure you tell me – I would rather hear it four times from four different people than not at all.

Congregational care is not just the pastor’s job, or the Deacons’ job; it is OUR job, all of us working together to look after one another. A simple telephone call to someone you haven’t seen in a while; an offer of a ride to worship, or some other activity, to a member who no longer is able to drive; a note, a visit – there are so many different ways we look after each other.

When Jesus gathered with his disciples for their last meal together, he said to them, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34) These words should guide each of us each day as we go about our service as disciples of Jesus Christ, caring for one another within our own church family, and looking after all those in every corner of the world who need our Risen Lord’s love.

Glory to God, for Christ is Risen!

Pastor Skip