Building Ministry

Don’t leave: On Sunday, after worship, after you’ve had your coffee and visited with friends, don’t leave. Stay for an hour and walk the halls listening, watching, taking in all the activity. I think you’ll be amazed at how busy our building is long after our worship services have ended.

On a recent Sunday I walked by the Choir Rehearsal Room, where our children were busy learning a song they’ll soon be singing for God and us in worship. Across the hall, our Middle School Youth Group were having a wonderful time laughing and learning together. Down the hall, the members of our High School Youth Group were in the Sanctuary with Matt and Melissa preparing to lead us in worship on November 9^th.

 

Crossing over to the office wing, a family had gathered in room 36 for a joyous luncheon celebration following the baptism of the newest member of their family.  The Nominating Committee was in the Associate Pastor’s office checking in with one another as they continued their vital work discerning and reaching out to those whom God has called to serve our church in the coming year as elders and deacons. They finished their meeting and the room quickly filled with members of our newly-formed Technology Committee as they continue to evaluate all of our technology needs, from staff computers, to building-wide WiFi, to audio/visual needs in classrooms and the Sanctuary.

Our building is busy 7 days a week all year long! Our building hosts men and women, boys and girls, members and strangers, church groups and community programs. Our building provides a safe, warm, comfortable place for all who enter our doors. The roof keeps out the rain and the snow, the winds, and the blistering heat of the sun, topping this place of hospitality, this place of welcome, this place of respite, this place of comfort, this place of renewal, this place of joy, this place of filled with the presence of Christ. Even the roof is part of our ministry.

  

In the book of Acts, Paul spoke of the exemplary hospitality shown by the people of Malta when he and his group found themselves on that island: “The people showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcome all of us around it.” Strangers showed Paul hospitality. Our building helps us to show the same warm hospitality to all who enter our doors.

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

Love, Give, Grow!

It is a powerful story, recorded in the book of Chronicles, a book in the Bible that few people read. It tells the story of how the people of Israel all supported with their offerings the building of the Temple. They did this not because the King had commanded them, but because they chose to, each giving freely:

“Then the leaders of ancestral houses made their freewill-offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work. They gave for the service of the house of God …the people rejoiced because these had given willingly, for with single mind they had offered freely to the Lord.”

Giving, sharing, offering – these are not obligations, they are opportunities for us to respond to God’s goodness to us. When we bring our offerings and our tithes we are returning to God a portion of what God has given to us. We should rejoice as we bring our offerings freely and willingly.

As he watched the people bring their offerings forward, King David marveled and asked, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill-offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. … O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.”

We are taught at an early age to share: share our toys, our games. We learn the joy of sharing. It’s easy to say “it’s mine and I am not sharing”, but that is neither godly nor faithful.

All the things that we do here at MPC in the name of Jesus Christ take resources: our time, our talent and our treasure. None of these things can be done if we don’t share our time, share the gifts we’ve been given by the Holy Spirit, and share financially in what we do.

Love, Give, Grow: joyfully, generously, thanking God for what we’ve been blessed with and then sharing. “Those who are generous are blessed” says the Proverb (22:9).

And we are a blessed congregation as we look ahead to our 148^th year. We will worship, we will learn, we will teach. We will celebrate joys together and comfort one another in times of grief and sadness. We will pray together for ourselves, for one another, and for the needs of all our neighbors, friend and stranger alike.

All these things we will do eagerly and joyfully as children of God and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. To God be the glory!

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

The Lifelong Adventure

Last year we had a demographic blip and had no Confirmation Class. This year we have, at last count, five students who will be part of this year’s group, and I couldn’t be more delighted. I missed teaching the class last year and I look forward to working with this year’s class.

I’ve been teaching Confirmation classes for more than 25 years and I always look forward to the energy, enthusiasm and especially the questions the young people bring to the class. I have tried over the years to create a class that is focused on providing a safe place for students to raise any and all questions they may have about their faith. 

It is a new experience for the students to be asked, “what do you think?” It usually takes a month or so for the students to get comfortable with the structure of the class, and to trust that my teaching partner, Mary Langley, and I really mean it when we ask, “what do you think?” 

The class is structured around themes: God, The Bible, Jesus, Good & Evil, Right & Wrong, Christian History, Worship, and other topics. We move quickly in the short time we have in each class and we do a lot of myth-busting, distinguishing what we think we know from what the Bible actually tells us. For example, we don’t want our students to buy into the myth that the God of the Old Testament is an angry, vengeful God. We show the students the many different verses in the Old Testament where God speaks so tenderly and lovingly to his children. We want the students to feel the embrace of a loving God. 

Confirmation should be the beginning of a life of learning, which means it should be the beginning of a life of questions; questions that more often than not, won’t have answers to be found somewhere on the Internet. Confirmation should be the beginning of a life of walking purposefully in faith, understanding that even as our Lord calls us to firm belief, doubt often is a part of faith.

Even for those of us whose own Confirmation class experience was long ago, the words from scripture ring true, “I believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

The Future Before Us

Were you as thrilled as I was to see the big, wonderfully enthusiastic group of Middle Schoolers who stood before us in worship last month as we commissioned them for their trip to Massanetta Springs? We saw before us the future of the church – our church and the church of Jesus Christ.

The future of our church is very much on the minds of all the officers of our church, our 16 elders and our 18 deacons, as we continue to work with Tom Norwood from Horizons Stewardship, planning for the Capital Campaign we envision launching in anticipation of our 150th anniversary in 2017. Tom has met one-on-one with most of the officers of the church, as well as the staff, and he has been very impressed with our energy, our faithfulness, and our commitment.

Elders, deacons, and staff met with Tom on Saturday June 21 for a morning retreat to focus on what we have identified as priorities for our campaign. We know we’ll need to replace the entire roof of our building within the next few years, at a cost of close to $200,000, so that’s where we’ve started. But lots of other wonderful ideas have come out of all the imagining we’ve been doing the past year as we listen to the call of the Spirit and think about our church 5 years, 10 years, even 20 years down the road.

The idea of a Memorial Garden as both a place for interring ashes, and as a place outdoors for contemplation, prayer and quiet has generated very enthusiastic responses. A growing number of churches have embraced the idea of providing an outdoor space for interments and remembering loved ones, and a place for prayer and worship.

At our June meeting the Session voted to establish the Technology Task Force, chaired by elder Mike Yelanjian, to look at all our technology needs, from building a reliable and workable WiFi network throughout the building, to providing technology for all our Christian Education efforts. We are also looking at audio visual needs we have in the Sanctuary, both for worship and for music, drama, and other offerings. It is hard to believe, but much of the A/V equipment installed when the Sanctuary was renovated is now dated and needs to be replaced.

Our Early Learning Center has been imagining a completely redesigned playground. Much of the equipment is old, rusty, worn, and dated. Our playground is popular after hours with neighborhood children, and we want to encourage their use of the space, which means we need to provide equipment designed for older children. There is no shortage of wonderfully innovative and creative ideas for outdoor play spaces.

We estimate we will need to raise about $500,000, including setting aside 10% for special Mission projects. Can we raise that much? That’s up to us – and God working through the Spirit. We know that “for God all things are possible”, but we also take on faith that with God, all things are possible. God is calling us to strengthen our foundation for the future of our church— the future of those wonderful young people who stood before us in the chancel.

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

What Do You Know?

Noah of Arc and his wife, Joan, build a boat to survive a great flood. Moses climbs Mount Cyanide and receives 10 enumerated commandments; for all the differences among religious denominations, the Ten Commandments are a common bedrock that Jews, Catholics and Protestants agree on. Sodom and his wild girlfriend, Gomorrah, soon set the standard for what not to do and are turned to pillars of salt. The Virgin Mary, a young Christian woman, conceives Jesus immaculately and gives birth to him in a Jerusalem manger.

 

Nicholas Kristof, a columnist at the New York Times, wrote this paragraph as part of a recent article and challenged his readers to find the more than 10 mistakes. His column focused on the numerous studies that show that while Christians may be deeply faithful, we come up well short in our religious knowledge.

Kristof cites the 2008 book, Religious Literacy, by the scholar Stephen Prothero, as one example of many that point out a disturbing paradox: that we Christians combine great faith with a surprising level of biblical and religious illiteracy. A study done in 2010 by the prestigious Pew Forum found that acknowledged atheists answered more questions correctly on a survey of religious knowledge than professed Christians.

Learning has always been foundational in the Presbyterian Church. We certainly see that here at MPC, with our commitment to Sunday School classes, Adult Education, Bible Studies, Circles, and other special offerings. Two thousand years of Christian history means we have much to learn, but it also means that there is a great deal of myth and misunderstanding woven into that history that we have to separate out and unlearn.

I have always found great joy in learning, and I’ve found that teaching is one of the best ways I grow in knowledge and understanding. I particularly enjoy leading the Wednesday Bible Study class where our focus is eclectic and ecumenical. This past year, for example, we learned about the Byzantine Empire, Constantine’s great legacy, which provided the incubator for Christianity and helped it flourish. We looked at some of the writings of retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with his focus on justice and equality. We took a trip to the Holocaust Museum to witness how easy it is even for followers of Jesus to let ignorance and its partner fear breed hatred and violence.

And of course, we read from the Bible. We spent more than two months walking through the pages of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, learning how timeless the teachings of that 2500 year-old book are. 

Rabbi, or Teacher, is the word used most frequently to refer Jesus. He was a master teacher, constantly helping those who listened understand. He reminds us that our learning follows no calendar, but is something we are called to do every day throughout our lives. 

How will you continue to learn this summer? What will you read? Let the words of the Proverbs guide you each day, all the year through: “For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight…let the wise hear and gain in learning.” (Proverbs 1:2)

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

Not a Tweet

I remember my first computer – it was called a slide rule, and when I was a high school junior it was a required and useful tool for helping with calculations in both my Chemistry and Physics classes. I advanced to a calculator in college and early in my business career the company I worked for installed one of the first generation IBM personal computers. I can remember all the staff gathered around the machine as the IBM technician set it up, all of us wondering, “What are we supposed to do with this?”

  

My first home computer was an Apple Macintosh I set up in 1990. Twenty-four years and 6 models later, I am a confirmed Apple user. Technology that was a novelty 30 years ago is now a regular and routine part of our lives. We use our desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones for everything from social networking to watching movies, downloading music to shopping, and yes, even for doing work and making telephone calls! 

   

Churches – ours included – have been slow to use technology, limited both by knowledge and budgets. Up until a few years ago, the “technology plan” at MPC was little more than replacing one computer each year so that every six years each staff member got an up-to-date computer. Our technological progress has come in fits and starts as volunteers have stepped up from time to time to help and as generous donors have also provided us with equipment.

Part of our vision as we look ahead to our 150^th anniversary in 2017 is to develop a more comprehensive plan for how we use technology and what we need to do to upgrade and expand its use in all its forms. Computers, Wi-Fi, audio/visual in classrooms, and even how technology affects and shapes how we worship are all part of the conversation. We know we will need to look for additional financial resources both through annual budgeting and through the planned Capital Campaign. 

Our younger members, especially those under the age of 30, look to screens all day long to glean information; it is simply how they are learning. We need to respond to that within the church: how we teach, how we reach out, and even how we worship.

I use my laptop computer and the television screens regularly for Bible Study, Confirmation Class and other classes I teach. Technology has allowed me to “take” my classes beyond the walls of our building to far distant lands and times. More and more of our teaching involves audio, visual, and technology. Studies have shown that we learn far more when we combine the visual with audio. It seems that even God understood this when he spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush.

We’ve come a long way from the days of film strips with accompanying narration and sound on a record player, but the lesson is the unchanged: we need to look for better and more effective ways to teach, evangelize, connect, and reach out as we take the gospel of Jesus Christ out into the world. No, Jesus was not Tweeting when he said, “Follow me”, and he “friends” us without Facebook. Still, technology is woven into every part of our lives, including how we live and learn in faith.  

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip

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