Beacon Lite article

"Taking up" some years, "giving up" others?

2012-02-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

Several years ago I stopped giving up something for Lent. I value the spiritual discipline of fasting and respect those who practice it, but prefer to take up a spiritual practice during our forty day preparation for the season of Easter. To "take up" something, I focus on an area of my life and faith in which I want to follow God more faithfully.

This year, however, I may need to give up something. I may need to give up rage. My dictionary defines rage as "violent and uncontrolled anger." I have not resorted to violence lately, but I have had thoughts and feelings that, if expressed publically, would contribute nothing to the common good. I need to give up those thoughts and feelings and ask God to help me to channel my energies more productively.

I need to give up my rage at Roman Catholic bishops for what I deem hiding behind a cloak of defending First Amendment rights to impose their archaic opposition to birth control on our society. I willingly participated in a form of birth control for a significant portion of my adult life and do not consider that remotely sinful. The bishops have a right to their opinion, but they have no right to force that opinion on those outside their community. So I'll ask God to help me to listen respectfully and express myself passionately, but with an eye toward the common good.

I need to give up my rage at news media for referring to the Roman Catholic Church as "the church." A number of faithful religious bodies comprise "the church." When I rant as yet another ill-informed or ignorant newsperson incorrectly calls one church "the church," I accomplish nothing. So I'll ask God to help me to write a letter or email explaining the situation, hoping that when enough of us do that the pundits will choose more correct words.

I need to give up my rage at our Supreme Court for changing the rules to allow essentially anonymous contributions to political action committees that spew negative advertisements into our airways. Our political process needs no help oozing with sleaze, but wailing and wearing sack cloth will accomplish nothing. So I'll ask God to help me channel my energy into turning off the offensive ads and to contacting elected officials with my complaint.

I need to give up my rage at people who unabashedly offer as truth words and figures they know to be untrue. I learned that technique in debating, but it does nothing to help the uninformed. Perhaps shouting, "That's a lie" offers little help, so I'll ask God to help me to ask, "On what do you base that claim?" or "Where can I verify those figures?" Uncivil discourse keeps us in a negative spiral. We need models of civility to guide us toward the common good.

Expressed appropriately, anger communicates intense thoughts and feelings. Rage simply gets in the way and begets additional unhelpful responses. So I'll try to give up rage for Lent. God may use that space to help me to become a better listener. Perhaps I'll even hear the good news more clearly just in time for the season of Easter!

Grace and Peace,

Blessed by Our Past, Welcoming Our Future

2012-02-17T17:15:00.000-05:00

At 1 p.m. on 27 June 2007, I met with Clairanne Hann and Fran Isaly and asked them to co-chair a Steering Committee to plan a celebration for our centennial year as a congregation. They accepted the challenge and began recruiting team members. More than once, they and those they recruited asked, "Do we have to begin now?" In the next thirty-eight weeks the nearly five years of prayer, reflection, discernment, planning and preparation will yield almost a year of celebration in our congregation.

Our Centennial theme is "Blessed by Our Past, Welcoming Our Future." That points to two of my greatest hopes for our Centennial. I hope that we deepen our appreciation for our heritage. Please read our history and view the displays of facts, photos, and figures of our past. From humble beginnings we have become one of the largest and most influential congregations in our presbytery and a far above average congregation in our denomination. Pastors receive too much credit, so when noting the triumphs and achievements to which God had led us in one hundred years, ponder the hours, energy, and faith people in the pews have devoted to our ministries. For every ministry we find meaningful, we have hundreds of forbearers to thank.

I also hope that during this year we will renew our commitment to the present ministries that lay a foundation for our next one hundred years. Adopting feeding the hungry as our signature outreach ministry has inspired and enlivened us. Who knows what ministries will emerge on that foundation! Our commitment to being a faith community that eschews homogeneity to live into the message often on our sign, "All Are Welcome Here," proclaims that we value what we have in common more than what makes us distinct. Living into that proclamation challenges us and prepares us for the reformation God always works in us.

I have another hope that, at least in my mind, has the potential to deepen our joy and discipleship. I hope that what we do this year will inspire us with awareness of how special this time, these ministries, and these people are. We have reason to look back with gratitude; yet, our heritage also fills today with blessings. We have reason to look to the future with hope; yet, the presence and promises of God fill today as well. We provide our greatest legacy as we faithfully discern God's call and participate in Jesus' ministries here and now. Who knows what worship will look like in 2112? Today's services certainly differ from those of 1912. Vibrancy and integrity now make room for what will become. Who knows how we will communicate in 2112? In 1912 our government licensed radio stations for the time. Yet, the faithful will need to communicate in order to feel connected with God, reach out to those in need with compassion and love, and work for justice for all. No group does that like a congregation, especially a congregation in a connectional church. The relationships we form and ties that bind us today fill our lives with meaning now and yield blessings for future believers to receive with gratitude.

Let's party for thirty-eight weeks. Let's recognize how blessed we are to have this time and each other and let's do all we reasonably can to strengthen our connections with each other, so that in failure and fidelity we receive the embrace of God, "who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine, to whom be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 2:20-21).

Grace and Peace,

Accept the embrace of the complex wonder of a moment

2012-02-09T17:44:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday we celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. I fell under the spell of Dickens's writing during my thirteenth summer. Before our family vacation I noticed a book with small print that I assumed would take me a while to read and purchased for sixty cents (ten cents more than my weekly allowance) a paperback copy of Hard Times. My mother insisted that I not read during the day because she wanted me to play outside. So in bed at night with a flashlight I opened to chapter one and read:

Now what I want is the Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to the Facts, Sir!

What a deliciously true and deceptively false statement. I reread and pondered that opening paragraph for quite some time before continuing. Even without knowing why or how, I understood that this was a book to savor more than finish, words to chew before swallowing, thoughts meant not simply to entertain but to form. Some of my most profound journeys began that summer evening.

Many novels, songs, and poems entertain and/or delight, but thanks be to God for those that challenge us not to tread lightly over what they say and mean. Many speeches and sermons amuse and/or inform, but thanks be to God for those that change who we are. Clichés and repetitive phrases have their place, but thanks be to God for musicians, orators, novelists, preachers, and other artists who invite and compel us to think, reflect, consider, grow.

So much of what and how we now communicate is relatively quick and simple. Emails and texts have replaced most letters and notes. The volume clearly has increased. What about the depth? I do not desire to turn back the clock. With email I can contact more people in an afternoon than I could have reached in a week not long ago. I appreciate and depend on that. Yet, all that now happens in an instant only increases our need to take time to accept and offer words and images to savor, dwell on, masticate, contemplate. Life is too short and our potential is too vast always to rush from word to word, event to event, commitment to commitment. Deep joy and meaning regularly come not as we rush to the finish, but as we accept the embrace of the complex wonder of a moment and allow it to awaken, enrich, and expand who we are.

Thank you, Charles Dickens, for teaching me to expect more of those who vie for my attention and of myself. Thank you for making me aware that some works are to fathom more than finish, that the comfort of clarity may obscure the wonder of ambiguity, and that time spent thinking often takes us where feeling alone cannot go.

Friends, take time not simply to complete a task but to ponder why it matters and how it shapes us. Expect the same of others. Such moments may seem to accomplish little, but the foundation they lay endures.

Grace and Peace,

A tension between form and freedom in worship

2012-02-02T16:53:00.000-05:00

"The Church has always experienced a tension between form and freedom in worship." "... the order for worship should provide for and encourage the participation of all." Those sentences from our denominational constitution remind us that during worship we come to God together. Private devotions, an important component of our spirituality, can reflect each individual's unique gifts and needs; but corporate worship seeks to unite us all in prayer and praise.

Contemporary music and language often help new pilgrims to hear and tell the old, old story in words they understand. The rumbling of a pipe organ and an occasional "thee" and "thy" often refresh long-faithful saints. Some feel especially close to God when our children gather for our Time with The Younger Church. For some, God speaks most clearly when we share silence. Drama and drums say to some, "You are welcome here." Some hear that message at font and table. The familiar provides something on which to depend. The new or different keeps us alert and alive. As we plan worship for a community, we typically choose not between right and wrong, but between trying to include everyone or making room only for those like us.

I rejoice that pianos have 88 keys; that some are black and some white, and that in three hundred years composers and pianists have not exhausted the possible melodies and interpretations. I rejoice that we do not have to worship alone, that parts of the liturgy evoke memories while others make memories, and that we all have opportunities to receive God's gifts and offer God gifts. Worship is rarely flawless. With us there, how could it be! Yet, flaws and all, God is praised and we are fed. Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace,

Mix in some new experiences with the familiar

2012-01-27T09:24:00.000-05:00

A variety of studies have shown that to remain healthy the human brain (like those of other higher organisms) needs a balance between the familiar and the different, the customary and the novel. When the brain encounters too much new information, it becomes anxious and may even oversimplify the situation in order to cope. When the brain encounters too little new information, it becomes bored and may even create doubt or complexity. The latter gives rise to the adage, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." The former explains why we sometimes "freeze" in situations utterly beyond our experience.

That echoes in a study I encountered several years ago that defined leadership as "helping people to change at a rate they can absorb." Without some change, nothing happens, which is not good. When change overwhelms us, nothing good happens. If we want a congregation to learn a new hymn, it works best to have a familiar tune in the liturgy as well. We need the new to keep growing, and the familiar reminds us where we are.

How's the balance with our life-mates? All couples have favorite traditions and activities that gain meaning through the years. Yet, unless we add some new experiences, our under-stimulated minds may create complexity where there is none. There's enough real complexity in relationships without creating more. Take tango lessons or try some new food.

This applies to grief as well. The death of someone we love fills our awareness with the newness of a loss we did not seek and may not have anticipated. Since we cannot change that, we need to have lunch with dear friends, play with the grandchildren, sit in our usual pew even when it hurts, or engage in another familiar activity. Good friends and comfortable rituals ease our anxious minds and help us to keep our balance.

Teachers, politicians, and preachers face a similar challenge. Repeating the same exercise ad nauseam may work well for multiplication tables, but offers little help in understanding geometry. Varied illustrations help us to see the shapes move. Similarly, sayings that become cliché clearly once worked; but when we retreat to them without exploring new dimensions or possibilities, inquiring minds become suspicious. We say something new not for the sake of novelty, but for the sake of healthy balance in thinking, responding, and living.

Next month we will ordain and/or install a new class of elders and deacons. Fortunately, those presently serving on our Care Ministry Team and Session have some institutional memory and experience. Fortunately as well, those beginning their terms have a fresh perspective and new questions. The Spirit (and our minds) works in both.

Mix in some new experiences with the familiar. That's good for the mind, body, soul, and spirit. We are indeed wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

Grace and Peace,

Become even more aware.

2012-01-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

Each moment of our lives our nervous systems and brains weave billions of bits of information together in ways that allow us to perceive, evaluate, and respond to our environment. Our brains not only receive information from our sensory systems, but also collate, sort, heed, and ignore that data and discern optimal ways to respond. That is a neurological wonder that even our most creative engineers cannot replicate. Yet, something more wondrous occurs as we receive and respond to all this sensory input. Somehow and in some way we perceive that we exist. We have self-awareness. Nothing neurological explains our self-awareness. Scientists and philosophers hypothesize, but cannot say with certainty how we know that we are.

Other creatures may also have self-awareness. Montaigne mused in his Essays, "When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not more pastime to her than she is to me?" No cat or kangaroo has stepped forward to assure us of their self-awareness. Nor have we communicated at that level with them. Nevertheless, we remain aware. How? Why?

Awareness seems to be a gift to receive with gratitude and to develop. Perhaps awareness links us with our Creator. It certainly is too precious to take for granted.

In a handbook for prospective monks, Thomas Kelty (Thomas Merton's mentor at the Abbey of Gethsemani) noted that religious communities sought those who could smell the bread and taste the soup. He wanted people aware of the wonder of being alive. How aware of the wonder of having life are we? Awareness comes to us mysteriously, but we can cultivate and develop it.

Our local produce stores have fresh oranges. Pick up one, carefully peel it, and enjoy it slowly and intentionally. Place a wedge on your tongue, hold it and notice the aroma and texture, then bite into it and savor all that your senses perceive. Ponder as well how much sunlight, rain, and soil came together to make the pleasure of an orange possible. Then, while savoring another wedge, ponder how many hands it took to move that orange from the field to your tongue. Then, while enjoying another wedge, ponder the people with whom you have enjoyed an orange. Gratitude and wonder will accompany the sensory data flooding your wondrous mind and self-awareness.

Or try this. Read our annual reports and attend our Annual Congregational Meeting. Reflect on how many hours of service and relationship stand behind each fact and figure included. How many people does it take to teach a Sunday School class, go on a mission trip, deliver PowerPacks to our local elementary school, offer a worship service, support those who grieve, have a fellowship meal, or offer any of the other ministries that comprise the life of faith we share? That evokes gratitude and wonder as well.

Life is short and it is filled with wonder. Smell the bread. Taste the soup. Become even more aware. No one can explain how that can happen, but the more we cultivate and develop that gift, the more linked with life we are. Something good surely flows in and from that.

Grace and Peace,

Embrace Pluralism

2012-01-13T09:54:00.000-05:00

Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and one of our Centennial guest preachers, recently responded to the rancorous divisiveness in our culture by challenging us to accept the fact that "there really are a variety of ways to be faithfully and fully human." In other words, Jinkins invites us to embrace pluralism.

As Dr. Jinkins notes, scripture illustrates and supports this approach. Our Bible includes not only the two creation accounts in the opening chapters of Genesis, but also several other understandings of how what is came to be. We rarely benefit from pitting them against each other to determine which rings most true, but we have much to learn as we consider them complimentary accounts that point to the mystery behind all that is. Similarly, our four Gospels offer distinct portrayals of Jesus. When we attempt to conflate them we fail to hear their unique messages. As we ponder how they intersect and collide, we glimpse more clearly into the wonder to which all four point.

Yet, accepting the fact that there are a variety of ways to be faithfully and fully human does not mean they all have equal merit or even any merit. How can we measure the validity of worldviews or understandings of faith? I'm not ready to offer a manuscript proposal, but here are a few suggestions.

First, does the worldview or faith system appeal to a broad variety of people? Jim Jones's Peoples Temple had a few hundred adherents, but most considered it reprehensible. To lead to faithful and full humanness, a system must make sense to those not already committed. We cannot reduce everything to numbers, but a faith that works only for an identifiable group (white males who own property or blue-eyed, left-handed tenors) deserves suspicion.

Second, does the worldview or faith system hold individuals and groups accountable to others and "the Other"? All that is exists in relationship. Every action and attitude affects someone and something else. We cannot change that, but we can look for measures and means to hold each other accountable. Faithful and full humanness balances belief in the preciousness of each individual with adamant devotion to the common good. Devotion to the common good extends our relationships to all creation, including all that precedes and follows us, and to the Mystery behind, beyond, and within.

Third, does the worldview or faith system awaken and deepen a sense of gratitude? We have varied ways of asking, "Why is there something instead of nothing?" No matter how we respond, the fact remains that there is something! We exist. How utterly wonderful! Too wonderful for a cynical, "So what?" or a despondent, "And we have to deal with it" or a fatalistic "Yes, and one day all that is will die." A worldview or faith that does not awaken and deepen gratitude lacks awareness of the wonder of it all. Yes, there is hunger, poverty, war, and myriad ills and evils. Yet, they exist only because there is something instead of nothing. That makes it worth the effort to seek ways to help everyone pulse with gratitude.

When we debate who's right and wrong, we regularly end up in a brawl or worse. Why not try to identify basic values and principles to which all can aspire in varied ways. That will not come easily, but it seems a lot more satisfying than what we spend so much time doing now.

Grace and Peace,

Christmas Eve memories including "It's my Jesus, too"

2011-12-22T14:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve is my favorite day in our liturgical year. Nearly every Christmas Eve service has provided memories from which I derive peace and joy year after year. Here are two of my favorites.

The church in which I received baptism offered to our town a live nativity tableau on the front lawn on the evenings leading up to Christmas Eve. In snow and sleet, unseasonable warmth and chilling cold, junior and senior high youth donned costumes depicting Mary, Joseph, shepherds, magi, and an angel (on the roof of the wooden stable) and joined sheep and a donkey to provide a living nativity scene to passers-by. Some evenings the sidewalk filled and the street traffic slowed to a crawl to celebrate the season. Those involved in the tableau immediately before the start of our 11 p.m. Christmas Eve Communion service moved directly from the dark of the night into the candlelit sanctuary. The pipe organ sounded out a favorite carol, the aroma of wax from the candles exuded warmth, and everyone's face seemed bathed in wonder. I have always had more questions than answers, but on Christmas Eve all else gave way to hope, peace, and a profound sense of the holy. Christmas Eve draws the willing into its story from wherever we are.

Another favorite memory comes from another 11 p.m. Christmas Eve Communion service. In our congregation many parents did not allow young children to partake of the loaf and cup until they had completed what we call confirmation. That night an active family of four stood among those coming forward to receive the bread of heaven and cup of salvation. Mom took the elements first, followed by two tall sons. Then came dad, holding four year old Kate by the hand. After dad broke some bread from the loaf, Kate reached out her hand to do the same. Dad quietly whispered, "No, Kate. That's not for you." Kate replied in a crystal clear voice given only to children, "Why, daddy? It's my Jesus too!" Dad looked at me, his puzzled face seeking direction. I knelt with the plate and said, "Give the child the bread." As my hand brushed Kate's when I handed her the bread, I touched holiness. "It's my Jesus, too." We have many doctrinal differences and varied understandings of God, but grace and wonder draw us together when we choose to participate in a community of faith.

No one stumbles into a sanctuary by accident on Christmas Eve, especially for the final service. Some come to appease a family member and some come more in spite of than because of what they believe; but only some degree of intentionality brings us to Christmas Eve worship. As we gather this year, pause and ponder the wonder: bright eyes and clear voices of children; familiar and unfamiliar faces aglow in candlelight; memories of those not present but very much with us; the story even the occasional worshipper knows by heart; that stirring moment of stillness between the last note of "Silent Night" and the sounds of our departure into the world. Hope, peace, and the holy come looking for us. Thanks be to God.

Advent Blessings, Holiday Cheer, and Merry Christmas!

It's Advent -- "Keep awake!"

2011-12-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

During Advent we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and look for signs of him breaking into our lives. A primary scriptural message of Advent is, "Keep awake" (Mark 13:35, 37). I have not always kept awake; but, by the grace of God, I have glimpsed Jesus' advent.

This year our children and youth have lighted our Advent candles during worship. One particular Sunday the children approached this with obvious joy. They took their places well before the service and watched closely for the sign that the time had come for their parts of the liturgy. When the time came they leapt to the lectern to read their lines and the light of the world shone brightly in the pleasure they found in that opportunity to lead worship.

As I returned to church one afternoon someone I did not know was carrying something into the building. I offered to help and discovered that she had taken an angel from our angel tree and was delivering the presents she had purchased. She does not belong to our congregation and does not participate in a faith community. She had noticed our Giving Tree and taken an ornament while attending an event held in our building. She said that purchasing the requested item had reminded her of the meaning of the season. I handed her our schedule of Advent and Christmas services and invited her to return. She said she was not interested in "organized religion" but I feel confident that Jesus winked in the sparkle in her eyes.

Another day I spoke with a person who once belonged to our congregation and whose children participated in many of our ministries. With downcast eyes she told me the stories of her departure from our congregation and two others. The tales she told were specific to her, but uncomfortably familiar. When she said that she believes in God but doesn't trust the church, the wounded healer surrounded us. We see each other often, so the door remains open for further conversation. She also received word about our upcoming services, especially ones where she could blend into the crowd easily. The one who comes calls her. I hope she discerns his voice and answers soon.

The next day I overheard a conversation between two people comparing busy schedules. One noted how hard he had worked to keep a particular evening open for Christmas caroling. When he said it would not be Christmas unless he went caroling, the one who comes appeared.

Too often we think God breaks into our lives only in dramatic, earth-shaking moments. More often the advent takes place quietly, tenderly. The one who comes speaks in unexpected places and treads on ground we do not deem holy. Perhaps that is why Mark's Jesus advises, "Keep awake." We never know where and when the coming one will find us. That, friends, is good news. Look around and keep awake!

Advent Blessings,

Mary invites and advises us to take time to ponder...

2011-12-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

Early in my ministry I wrote these words in my journal: "The most effective sentences for prayer have frequent commas: points of rest stationed amidst the flow of ideas. The most effective structures for prayer have many pauses: time to reflect, time to prepare, time to be prepared. The most effective times of prayer have sustained silence: a period of waiting, listening, being still. Our words gain even more significance when they emerge from the depth of quiet encounter."

Those words came to mind as I read and reflected on Luke's depiction of Mary. When Gabriel initially greets her and when the shepherds visit Bethlehem, Mary pauses and reflects (Luke 1:29; 2:19). Luke uses different verbs, but they have similar meaning. Luke depicts a great deal happening while Mary ponders. Angels do not visit daily even in scripture and the shepherds arrive shortly after a long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the birth of a first child. Mary could understandably have been caught up in the busyness around her; but like a good theologian Mary not only sees and hears but also ponders. I wonder what she could have written in her journal.

Most of us have full schedules in the next few weeks. Mary invites and advises us to take time to ponder. The synapses in our fascinating brains make connections constantly and process far more than we consciously know. Slowing down to ponder allows those synapses to probe deeper into our memories and farther into our experiences. That in turn allows the greater meanings within and beyond our activities to discover us. When greater meanings discover us, we more readily live what we most deeply believe.

Surely some late afternoon we can pause between appointments and responsibilities, pour a cup of eggnog, and reflect on what we enjoy most during this time of year. What memories and hopes do we attach to that activity or tradition? How has our experience of it changed? How long has it been since we truly savored it, instead of checking it off and moving to the next item on the list?

Our children and youth are lighting our Advent candles this year. As always, they approach Advent and Christmas in their own way. Watch them closely and take time to ponder how our services and traditions must look in their eyes. What do they have to teach us? Where do they most want to guide us?

In the Magnificat, Mary declares, "the Mighty One has done great things for me" (Luke 1:49). Advent and Christ focus on what God offers us. What has the Mighty One done for us? Have we pondered long enough for gratitude to seep to the depths of our being?

There are many other ways and things to ponder, but to ponder we must stop "doing" for a spell. Life's too short for us never to take time to allow greater meanings to discover us. Join Mary and ponder. God alone knows how a little pondering may transform our saying and sharing a Merry Christmas.

Advent Blessings,

New realities...scripture and carols

2011-12-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

In the past few weeks Nancy and I have enjoyed the blessing of spending time with our children. Even though I think we know them well, such times together provide opportunities for the pleasure of learning more about who they are and how they view the world. Some of the things they say and do affirm what we already understand about them, but other responses and statements offer glimpses into their core character and the persons they are becoming. It warms my soul to learn something new about them.

I have a similar relationship with scripture. For two decades I read all sixty-six books of the Bible annually. I have a reasonable knowledge of the content of scripture. Yet, daily Bible readings not only affirm previous awareness but also provide new insights. Sometimes that happens because I've changed. Our visit to Israel and experience in the desert gave new meaning to the word "wilderness" when it appears in scripture. The way the lushness of Galilee contrasts with the road from Jericho to Jerusalem shapes my reading of many biblical texts. I find it stimulating for a fresh word to greet me from passages I have known and read for years.

The same goes for Advent and Christmas. I know the stories of scripture and the words of the carols well. Each one evokes memories of the places where I have heard them and the people with whom I've shared them. Yet, the light that emerges from them does not come solely from the past. Last Sunday two children made requests as we sang carols at the start of the service. As we sang those songs, I saw them afresh in those young eyes. What a blessing to know that our children enjoy not only "Rudolph" and "Frosty" but also "Joy to the World" and "Go, Tell It on the Mountain." In addition, our focus on Mary has helped me to view Luke 1-2 from an entirely different perspective. My Advent and Christmas Eve messages may come from "the same old texts," but for me a new word has presented itself to be heard.

We all have our favorite parts of Advent and Christmas. As we enjoy revisiting special times from the past, I pray that we also will remain awake to new experiences and insights. On Christmas Eve we once again will sing "Silent Night" while lighting individual candles that fill the worship space and illuminate each face with a warm glow. We've done that before, but we've never done it this year with these particular people and at this unique point in our lives. As we remain awake to the movement of the Spirit, blessings flow to us not only from the past but also in the present. We may even glimpse a future we had not previously envisioned.

Even when we walk what appears to be the same path, new realities appear to those willing to remain awake and alert for them. God, life, goodness constantly breaks into our world anew. Even when we know enough to anticipate what will happen next, we do not know what blessing may find us. Therein lie hope, peace, joy, and love. Even so, Lord, come, and help me to remain awake.

Advent Blessings,

Advent Message: Why Mary?

2011-11-23T16:31:00.000-05:00

My messages during Advent will ponder the impact of Mary, the mother of Jesus, on the way we live our faith. Some consider that thin ice for a Reformed pastor.

Nearly every follower of Jesus seems to have an opinion of Mary. A fifth century monk named Caelius Sedulius, who extolled Mary despite holding women in low esteem, declared of her: "She ... had no peer / Either in our first mother or in all women / Who were to come. But alone of all her sex / She pleased the Lord." Surely other women have "pleased the Lord." John Calvin deemed Martin Luther heretical for concluding that Mary gave birth to other children after Jesus. Calvin railed against the Rosary, but referred to Mary as "a mirror of the faith that we must bring to God." Scottish Reformer John Knox, who seldom spoke kindly of any Mary (or nearly any woman), surely bristled at that. Knox reportedly threw a statue of Mary into the North Sea and touted: "Let our lady now save herself. She is light enough; let her learn to swim." Why risk the wrath of Knox and focus on Mary?

Why Mary? She piques my curiosity. Why does she so captivate us? Several years ago, under Nancy's direction, I sang John Bell's Songs of Mary. A Roman Catholic sister preached in that service and made two observations that have remained with me. She declared that the more we venerate Mary, the more we cloak the courage it would have taken for her to respond to God's call. Surely Mary struggled to say, "Let it be" as much as any other human being. The sister also noted that as the church declared Mary more saintly it pronounced Mary Magdalene more sinful. The church often has feared femaleness. Augustine considered men nearly powerless against female wiles and Milton blamed a woman for Adam's sin. Women played a prominent role in first century Christianity that soon disappeared and that many deny them now. Mary exemplifies that.

Why Mary? As a pastor I want to assure our saints with Roman Catholic roots and connections that although we do not venerate Mary or seek her intercession, we respect and admire her role in the life of Jesus. I promise to tell no jokes about Jewish mothers, but will ponder the words and actions Luke places on Mary's lips and heart.

Why Mary? Many of us refuse to let her be human. In the twelfth century Hildegard of Bingen declared that Jesus emerged from Mary's side (not her womb) without causing her pain. Can any mother believe that? In 1854, Pope Pius IX pronounced it orthodox to insist that Mary never sinned. What did he want to protect? Is Jesus' incarnation so vulnerable that we have to deny Mary's humanity to uphold it? Do we fear Mary or humanness itself?

Beverly Gaventa, a Reformed professor of New Testament, describes a human Mary, who deserves our respect: "[Mary] is ... blessed not because she sins less, or has keener insight into the things of God. She is instead blessed (as we are) because she is called by God to participate in the work of God." That's a Mary to trust and in whom to find guidance and inspiration.

May our reflections on Mary help us to journey through Advent and celebrate Christmas. Even more, may they draw us closer to each other and the Jesus we follow.

Grace and Peace,

Let's pray -- "Lord, help me to care"

2011-11-17T14:43:00.000-05:00

I consider the formation and nurture of healthy relationships central to living our faith and being fully human. We all love and relate with some people more deeply than others. Yet, along with those primary relationships, as we connect with others in meaningful ways we discover and experience the most profound joys and sorrows of human life. We also find our lives interwoven with the Author and End of Life. Similarly, vibrant personal relationships with God shape the ways our lives intersect with others. Our denominational constitution declares, "Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage" (Confession of 1967; 9.17). Healthy relationships produce that gratitude and evoke that courage.

My heart has ached recently as we heard the allegations of sexual abuse of a child by a Penn State football coach. I dare not claim to know what did and did not happen; but if there was wrongdoing I believe that a healthy sense of connection could have made a difference. Most of us would like to think that if we witnessed the abuse of a child we would try to stop it. If we recognized the child as a member of our church, we would be more likely to respond. If the child were our next door neighbor, we would be even quicker to do something. If the child were our own, we would charge into action ignoring nearly any risk. The more connected we feel with another human being, the less the letter of the law matters and the more what we believe to be good, noble, and true comes to bear.

I do not suggest that we should become moral vigilantes, who prowl the streets to distribute justice. I simply believe that our capacity to do the right thing increases as we see others as people of worth. We lack the ability to know the names of all those we encounter and we cannot solve all the problems they face, but we can care what happens to them. Healthy connections begin with caring. Perhaps that is why Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

This weekend we observe Reign of Christ or Christ the King and ponder where and how Jesus reigns in our lives. Do we, who sing "Jesus Loves Me," display the love we receive in our interactions with others? When we confirmed our baptism, we called Jesus Lord and promised to obey his Word and show his love. What difference does that confession make in the lives of those we encounter daily, occasionally, and rarely? This weekend let's pray, "Lord, help me to care." We lack the wisdom and strength always to see or do what is right, but we can care. Caring will not make our lives easier. The more we care, the more vulnerable we become. Yet, that vulnerability connects us with others and makes us truly alive.

One of our saints reminded me that this is National Adoption Awareness Month. May we all say a prayer for families with chosen children, children awaiting adoption, and parents who love the children for whom they have made adoption plans. May we pray for our children and all children. And may God use our prayers to help us care more deeply and broadly. Relationships that shape the world will follow.

Grace and Peace,

Vision and hope (and more)

2011-11-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

Item One: Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) recently announced that beginning in 2015 it will not charge tuition for students in its master's degree programs in divinity, marriage and family therapy, and religion. Current tuition is a little more than $10,200. This change addresses the rising amount of debt students have when they matriculate from seminary and the ways that debt forces them to make compensation the primary concern as they accept calls to ministry. Some even return to "secular" employment despite having trained for ordained ministry. Thanks be to God for this bold action by LPTS and those whose generosity makes it possible.

Item Two: Nancy and I have taken advantage of the recent good weather to work on a path from our back door to the creek behind our house and to build a small deck near the end of it. We presently have only one grandchild old enough to walk, but visions of grandchildren scampering up and down that path and playing on the deck dance in our heads. We have also started college funds for our grandchildren. They will need more than we can provide, but every little bit helps and interest adds up as years pass.

Item Three: At some point next year session will receive two major recommendations. One will address audio and video improvements to our sanctuary and gathering area. The other will address replacing our rapidly failing pipe organ. The technological improvements could enhance worship and other ministries AND help us to welcome a generation that cut its teeth on instant and visual communication. The organ could support our existing worship services and musical ministries AND welcome the increasing number of young people who prefer traditional worship. Yes, traditional worship appears to be resurging.

Now a quotation. In Life Is a Miracle, Wendell Berry posits: "No individual life is an end in itself. One can live fully only by participating fully in the succession of generations... Some would say (and I am one of them) that we can live fully only by making ourselves as answerable to the claims of eternity as to those of time."

Finally a question. How far do our vision and hope extend? We cannot know precisely what the next generations will face, but we can try to serve them as faithfully as those who preceded us served us. When we keep those who will follow us in mind while we make decisions today, we provide an intentional (rather than accidental) legacy. Extending our vision and hope into the future will assure our descendents that we had them in mind (Even if some of our legacy makes them wonder what we were thinking!) AND will offer us the blessing of being people who give as well as take.

Enjoy the day, MWPC saints, AND think about how to bless those who will walk in faith long after us. In the mystery of the ways of God, living in mindfulness of a tomorrow we will not see makes us more alive today.

Grace and Peace,

All Saints, We Are

2011-11-03T14:45:00.002-04:00

This weekend we will celebrate All Saints. During worship we will light candles to remember and give thanks for the life and ministry of saints in our congregation who have joined the Church Triumphant since last All Saints Day. We also will focus on the blessing of having each other with whom to travel in faith. Our tradition considers ALL members of the Body of Christ saints. That does not mean we all live perfect lives. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We become saints not by performing miracles, but through the claim God makes on us in baptism. By water and the Spirit, God makes us members of the church of Jesus Christ, saints in his ministry.

Saints often have more impact than they realize. Sometimes seemingly simple acts of ministry make a great difference. That impact flows from the gifts of the Spirit abundant in every ministry and from the wonder woven into the relationships we share. A recent practice initiated by Le Bonheur Hospital in Memphis has provided concrete evidence of this. La Bonheur works with four hundred churches in the area it serves in a program in which hospital staff members, called "navigators," work with liaisons in congregations to arrange visits, transportation, and follow-up care for hospitalized members or friends of those congregations. From 2007 to 2009 hospital officials noted that patients in this program had 50% lower mortality rates and 20% lower readmission rates. As saints from congregations visited, helped with transportation, and made follow- up calls, the health of other saints dramatically improved. As in any scientific endeavor, only further testing will validate these results; but the message is clear. Good things happen as we stay in touch with each other.

I see this often. Our saints understandably expect a pastor to visit when they are hospitalized. Yet, when any of our saints also visits, the hospitalized saints almost always tell the story with obvious and emotional gratitude. We all know about being busy. When someone with whom we worship and serve takes time to express concern for us, the community becomes more vibrant and God seems more personal and near. For those less able to travel, please know that handwritten notes have similar impact. Saints experience the blessings of Jesus' promise, "I am with you always," as other saints take the time to let them know they are valued, loved, and worth a few moments of time.

This weekend we will read the names of departed saints, light candles, and thank God for them. We can further honor those saints by looking for opportunities to strengthen the ties that bind us. All 1000 plus should not make hospital visits next week! That would not help our convalescent saints and it might make the hospitals file restraining orders! But all 1000 plus of us can make personal contacts weekly. When a child sings a song we enjoyed during worship, we could write a note or make a call. When we do not recognize a face, we can extend our hand or even invite that person out for coffee. Only our imaginations limit the possibilities, and when the Spirit touches our imaginations, anything becomes possible.

Those who traveled in faith before us bless us. So do those with whom we travel now. May our celebration of All Saints inspire us not only to give thanks for those blessings, but also to add to them.

Grace and Peace Saints,

Time, time, time...

2011-10-28T16:16:00.000-04:00

Scientists estimate that the Big Bang occurred approximately fourteen billion years ago. Some scientists hypothesize that billions of years from now the universe will spread so far that it will cool and go dark. Others propose that one day it will retract and then explode all over again. Many of us believe that God, who was before there was a before and who will be after there no longer is, extends beyond that. Whichever way we look, we find infinity. That means that time actually has little meaning.

T. S. Eliot pointed to something like that in these lines from "Burnt Norton":

TIME present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.

What might have been is an abstraction

Remaining a perpetual possibility

Only in a world of speculation.

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

If we find our home in One who was before there was a before and who will be after there no longer is, every moment always has been and will be. Time is merely a construct, a useful tool to help us measure and order life - nothing less, nothing more.

A sense of time's progression seems to be woven into my DNA. For as long as I can remember, I had awareness of things drawing near. On the way to the gym Monday morning, I reminded my bride that it was two months until Christmas Eve. I'm not certain why I realized that. I just did. Nancy was not overjoyed with that awareness.

Part of my awareness of time's progression reflects an inclusive leadership style. When leaders plan ahead, others have greater opportunity to contribute and critique. But awareness of time's progression offers a more personal gift as well. Looking at what is drawing near helps me to set goals (like losing weight to keep up with our grandchildren), to set priorities (like seeing our children more often), and to decide what matters most. Time may be a construct, but my earthly life isn't. I hope and want to move purposively in certain directions, and not simply to react.

Time may be a construct, but my earthly life isn't. That brings awareness that life is short. Today is the best day to live. Today is the best day to express gratitude for life by living well, gladdening hearts, touching lives, awakening faith. If, for example, I wait until Christmas Eve to celebrate incarnation, I miss the preciousness of God With Us here and now. After all, since every moment of time always has been and will be, it is Christmas Eve today. I can savor our candlelit celebrations even while preparing for them!

What's the point? Like most of us, I have more to do than I can do. Sometimes that makes me fret about time. I don't like leaving important things undone. That should not, however, keep me from celebrating what is done, and more importantly, the people whom I touch and by who I am touched. That viewpoint springs from my conviction that, by the grace of God, in fourteen billion years what will matter most is the relationships.

Grace and Peace,

Reading feeds

2011-10-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and our Centennial Guest Preacher next June, sends out a weekly reflection much like our Beacon Lite. This week he encouraged pastors to read omnivorously. His comments reminded me of how I encouraged seminary students to read not only works of theology and biblical study, but also novels and varied works of non-fiction. That counsel sprang in part from the fact that every troubled pastor I had ever visited had no new or recently read books on the desk. Failure to read left them with little or nothing to give, because when we don't prime the pump, no water flows.

In recent months several of you contributed to my reading. Members loaned me a book on worldwide hunger and a collection of "ecological essays" that supported last Sunday's sermon. Another member allowed me to read a book he wrote several years ago. Another loaned me a work on the intersection of science and religion. I cannot read what all of us recommend, but knowing what feeds your spirit and intellectual curiosity provides valuable insights into who we are and what matters to us.

I vacillate between reading several books at a time and becoming totally absorbed in a single tome. At bedtime I currently read a book on the making of Scotch and another on a new understanding of resurrection, having recently finished Mindless Eating in quest to reach my weight goal. [It didn't help because it made me hungry!] On my desk at home are a collection of essays by Wendell Berry and a copy of Cal Jackson's (our Centennial Guest Preacher next February) memories of life and ministry. And I'm anxiously awaiting Peter Tremayne's latest novel to learn what happens next with Sister Fidelma.

All these and many other books (along with blogs, newspapers, etc) feed my desire to learn and deepen my appreciation for language. Like Dr. Jinkins, I prefer omnivorous pastors, and extend that to bankers, doctors, plumbers, painters, attorneys, teachers, and everyone. When we feed our intellectual curiosity, we have more to talk about, which makes us more interesting, which gives us greater reason to talk with each other. Mark Twain quipped that the person who does not read good books has no advantage over the person who can't read them. When we talk about what we're reading with others, that advantage extends to the community. So, what are we reading, MWPC? Please feel welcome to click on the link below and share what book presently feeds you and/or any recommendations for others. That can help our lives not only to intersect but also to connect. God abides in those connections.

It doesn't quite fit, but I'll close with perhaps my favorite quotation about books. It comes from Erasmus: "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." I enjoying eating too much for that, but reading isn't far behind.

Happy reading,

Centennial Celebration - it's a big deal!

2011-10-13T14:57:00.002-04:00

Saturday, 18 February 2012, marks the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of our congregation. From that evening through Sunday, November 4, 2012 (All Saints Sunday) we will hold our Centennial Celebration. Al Davies will worship with us on the opening Sunday and in the following months former pastors Cal Jackson (and his son Pat), John Muntz, George Baird, Jeff Kane, Paul Hammer, Sarah Sarchet Butter, and Marilyn McNaughton will preach, as will Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. We have commissioned an anthem/hymn that we will hear for the first time on February 19, we soon will release a new history of our congregation, we will have Marcus Borg as our Jenkins Lecturer, and we have a variety of special fellowship activities planned as we celebrate. As some point during the year we will reach our goal of raising $100,000 to celebrate our heritage. Blessings always flow in our life and ministries, but next year promises to be extraordinary.

Why talk about this now? Well, a centennial is a big deal. Not everyone makes it to one hundred. There are older congregations, but ponder what members of this congregation have endured and accomplished to make it this far. In thanksgiving for their efforts, now is the time to spread the word, invite folks to participate, and commit ourselves to even greater participation during this special year.

The fact that we will soon celebrate our centennial also reminds us that we "inherit" the church from the saints who travel ahead of us. We have a beautiful sanctuary, ample classrooms, spacious grounds, and a large multi-purpose room because of the vision and stewardship of those who went before us. Our most revered traditions and the traditions we change as the Spirit calls us in new directions both build on the foundation laid by others. Even the trees beneath which our preschool children gathered leaves this week grace our lawn and clean our air because previous saints had the foresight to plant them.

Do we believe that saints will still gather here in 2112? What do we plan to do to bless them? We lay a foundation for them as we follow when the Spirit guides us in new directions, learn about faith and scripture and teach the stories of Jesus to our children, make ourselves known as a congregation committed to feeding the hungry, protect our green space and care for our physical plant, and bear witness in word and deed to the difference it makes to have a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Every lesson taught in our classrooms, every discussion we have about how to live our faith, every can of food provided to the hungry, every song sung and bell rung, every meal delivered to someone in a bind, every invitation to worship or service, and every other seemingly small act places one brick on another in the spiritual house of which we are a part. Stewardship season and our upcoming Centennial challenge us to recommit ourselves to our ministries. We'll never have this opportunity again. Let's live faithfully, gratefully, and boldly. We turn 100 in less than five months! Do something to get ready today!

Grace and Peace,

Happy Stewardship Season!

2011-10-06T14:49:00.003-04:00

It's stewardship season! Don't groan. This year I promise not to talk about stewardship in every Beacon Lite from now until mid November. Yet, stewardship is important. I try to bring up the topic regularly. This is the only life we have. That makes our management of it, our stewardship, critical.

Now to the message. A stewardship campaign is not a capital campaign. We typically conduct capital campaigns to cover expenses too great for or substantially different from our operating budget. Such things as replacing a pipe organ, adding technological improvements to a worship space, renovating an educational wing, or building a new mission house usually involve a capital campaign. In a capital campaign we make the case for an "over and above" expense and invite everyone to make a one-time contribution.

Some people approach a stewardship campaign like that. They look at the details of the annual budget and try to discern their "fair share." But stewardship campaigns support our annual budget and reflect not "over and above" expenses but what it takes to conduct our ministries and take care of our staff and property. Stewardship campaigns help to generate the revenue that makes us who we are as a community. Not everyone who pledges or contributes rings a bell, participates in Super Wednesday, comes to worship at 11 a.m. on Sundays, meets with a book discussion group, or belongs to the Men's Discovery Group. But all that and more is part of what makes us who we are. Our annual budget supports all of that; it allows us to answer God's call.

We now have a fiscal year that runs from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next. That means that we currently live on pledges made last fall and will enter next year with the support of pledges made this fall. That gives our leaders opportunities to adjust our budget as needed. It also gives all of us an opportunity to ask not, "What's my fair share?" but "What do I want to give to the ministries of Jesus Christ to show my gratitude for my blessings?" Yes, our pledges keep the lights on, but they also express our faith and gratitude. Approaching our pledge as an act of faith and gratitude, however, makes it more meaningful and joyful.

Please take a look at our stewardship brochure and note how much we are and do as a congregation. Then, instead of placing a price tag on those ministries and trying to discern a "fair share," reflect on our gratitude for the ways God uses and blesses us, think about the joy and comfort that faith and this community of faith bring us, and make a pledge that reflects thanksgiving for those blessings. Some of us have more time than money to give. Others of us have little time but more financial means. What matters most is a contribution that means something to us and expresses our faith. Happy Stewardship Season!

Grace and Peace,

Sharing laughter ... and humility

2011-09-29T21:09:00.000-04:00

Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, has conducted a series of studies that strongly suggest that the physical act of laughing increases the release of endorphins into our bodies. The endorphins produced by our brains make us feel good. Previous studies have shown that focusing on positive thoughts and things for which we give thanks when we awaken in the morning pushes endorphins into our systems and helps us to begin the day with a brighter outlook. Now we also have evidence that laughter makes us feel better. A good laugh will not make diseases disappear, solve the global financial situation, or keep us from worrying about our children (or aging parents), but it can give us more peace of mind as we respond to those and other challenges.

Dr. Dunbar's tests also indicated that laughter increases our ability to resist pain. Laughing will not keep it from hurting when we smash our hand with a hammer, but developing and feeding a healthy sense of humor may help to deal with chronic discomfort or to relax and give bodies a better chance to heal.

Speech coaches and homileticians have known for years that humor helps people to hear the messages speakers deliver. I personally loathe preachers who consider themselves stand-up comedians and waste precious time in worship trying to amuse us. Yet, I am very aware that when we can laugh at ourselves, we become more amenable to change. When a preacher points to the humor inherent in the human situation, we see the truth more clearly and scoff at the foolishness of our excuses.

I am also convinced that when a person lives a good life, it is very appropriate to share laughter along with our tears during memorial and funeral services. Life is good. It hurts when someone we love dies, but appreciating the foibles and idiosyncrasies that made a departed saint unique lays a solid foundation not only for laughter but for giving thanks to God for that saint's life.

No one truly benefits when we have a good laugh at the expense of others; but when we laugh together, chuckle at the lameness of what we initially deemed good ideas, or see the humor of our limitations, we admit our need of reformation, acknowledge the humanity we share, and have a greater opportunity to remain appropriately humble. God knows our culture and society could use more humility.

I do not want to encourage us not to take life and faith seriously. The nearly one billion hungry people in the world, the partisan bickering among politicians and our present economic situation deserve serious thought and prayer. Nor do I suggest that we jettison our favorite news programs and documentaries and sate ourselves on a steady diet of situation comedies and joke books. The point is that life is good and comedy is woven even into tragedy. We've always enjoyed laughing. Now we know it's good for us. That's good news!

Grace and Peace,

Connections are too precious to take for granted

2011-09-22T18:03:00.000-04:00

When you receive this I will be behind a locked door in a jury room with seven people I met for the first time two weeks ago. When we answered the call to potential jury duty, we did not know each other. Now we know what each other does for a living, the special ingredients several of us add to chili, how many grandchildren three of us have and the fact that two of us expect grandchildren soon, that two of us anticipate changing jobs in the next year, how strong we like our coffee, our dietary restrictions, and more. Each of us takes pride in performing our civic duty by serving on this jury and, despite the disruption to our schedules, we have enjoyed the experience. We have connected with each other. We may never meet again, but we will carry pieces of each other with us for the rest of our days.

After nearly five years of ministry together, you know how much emphasis I place on relationships. I believe that we relate to God primarily through the ways we relate to each other. I also believe that our relationships make and keep us alive. A newborn deprived of human contact will not develop into a healthy human being. Imprisoned people denied contact with others will add significant deviancies to whatever landed them in prison in the first place. We need genuine contact with others. For many, perhaps most, of us, family provides the majority of that contact. Yet, most of us need more.

The connections we share in Mount Washington Presbyterian Church are too precious to take for granted. The more healthy the links we share, the stronger we become as individuals and community. I dream of the day when each one of us has lunch or dinner with at least three others at some time during the year, especially if one of those three is someone we do not know well. As we break bread together, in a jury room, a home, or a restaurant, we know and understand more about each other. The more we know and understand about each other, the harder it becomes to harm each other and the more natural it becomes to support each other.

If the folks with whom I serve on this jury had not been called to this service, we probably would never have connected with each other. Our shared responsibility provided the context for our connections. That applies to congregations as well. Those elected to service on our Session or Care Ministry, and those who serve on our various ministry teams truly connect with each other. This weekend, we will focus on and celebrate such connections with our Exploration Event. Following each of our worship services, representatives of most of our ministry groups and teams will have representatives in our fellowship hall to let us know when they meet, what they do, and how to join. Please do not wait for a summons. Attend the Exploration Event and hear God offering ways to connect. As we become more connected, our light will shine more brightly in the world, our membership in this congregation will grow more meaningful, and our participation in the Body of Christ will more completely shape our lives. Plus we may pick up a tip to make even tastier chili!

Grace and Peace,

2011-09-15 Why Do We Pray? [Harold Kolenbrander devotional from session meeting]

2011-09-15T18:00:00.000-04:00

I find myself on jury duty for the next two weeks or more, which makes it harder to complete my usual tasks. Instead of preparing a Beacon Lite item this week, I'm including, with permission a revised version of the opening devotion Elder Harold Kolenbrander offered during our September session meeting.

Grace and Peace,

Why Do We Pray?

"This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, Thy name be hallowed; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us the wrong we have done, as we have forgiven those who have wronged us. And do not bring us to the test, but save us from the evil one." -Matthew 6:9-13 (NEB)

I did not begin with the reading of the Lord's Prayer because I plan to try to provide an exegesis of the prayer. I lack competence to do that. I began with the prayer because I hope each of us will reflect on how the prayer and my remarks about prayer intersect for each of us. Or, perhaps, for you they will not.

A week ago in our Beacon Lite, LP had some thought provoking comments about prayer. I hope we all had the opportunity to read the piece. He suggested that God is about relationships, a concept that is a regular part of LP's sermons. He went on to suggest that prayer is about relationships and helping us establish more meaningful ones, and that the power of these relationships becomes the basis for the salutary effects of prayer that some attribute to direct divine intervention.

I do not know about you, but my journey in the world of prayer began with bedtime prayers said on my knees invoking God's presence with me through the night and his taking my soul to be with him should I die before I waked.

Moreover, prayer was a regular part of each meal at my boyhood home, both before and after each meal. With very few exceptions, we ate each meal as a family. Prayer in those situations was offered to thank God for the food we had and to invoke God's blessing on family and friends and God's assistance in healing the sick, etc. Prayer was offered to thank God and to ask God for his continuing blessings, fully believing that God intervened directly in the affairs of all humans including dispensing or withholding favors depending on the fervent, honest supplication offered in the prayer.

I am certain that my parents moved to the church triumphant with full belief in the accuracy of those perceptions of God and the purpose of prayer. I do not want in any way to make light of or to denigrate the faith that they had in prayer. But it is no longer mine. That is not because my concept of God has moved to believing that God is not omnipotent, but rather that God chooses to give us the freedom, the capacity, indeed the responsibility to use the minds he has given us and the ability he has given us to love and help each other to do what we might pray for him to do for us. In my mind this does not diminish God. Rather, it places, appropriately, on us the responsibility to use our God-given abilities to do what needs to be done - whether that is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those who are in prison, or any of the other myriad responsibilities that we have to each other as we truly seek to live in community - in relationship - with each other.

As LP noted in his comments, my goal is not to convince you that my concept is correct, but rather to share with you a bit of why I am where I am and to encourage each of us to explore more deeply how prayer can strengthen our relationships and the effectiveness of our work together.

Will you join me in prayer?

Triune God, we ask your blessing on this Session as we seek to discern your will for each of us and for MWPC. Help us to understand and truly appreciate the opportunity you have given each of us to fully realize the gift, indeed the joy, that comes from serving others through our relationships with all the other wonderful people with whom we share this world. Bless our deliberations this evening, that they may all be done seeking to further your love for your world. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Harold M. Kolenbrander

We do not fear remembering; we have courage...we find sufficient strength...

2011-09-08T15:25:00.000-04:00

This weekend our worship services will include prayers of commissioning and dedication for our education and music ministry volunteers and leaders, prayers of remembrance of 9/11/2001, and Holy Communion. At least one leader has considered that a peculiar combination of liturgical actions, so here's a glimpse at why I deem it helpful, if not necessary, to combine these in each service.

People who live in faith do not accept what is as final. Because of our confidence in God we have hope for a new day, assurance that defeat can yield to new beginnings, trust that life and love lead us through brokenness into wholeness, and conviction that reconciliation can link what seems permanently severed. It takes courage to live like that. It also demands action. As people of faith, we do not trust solely in our own devices, but we stand accountable for the ways we respond to the gifts of God.

We will light candles and have guided prayers of remembrance of 9/11/2001 not to deny or relive the horror of that day, but to express our confidence that God leads us through those painful images of death and destruction into life and community. We will pray, hoping that grace and the Spirit's embrace have brought healing to those most affected by the tragedy. We will pray, longing for a day when ways of peace, justice, and reconciliation will render such violence and hatred uncommon.

Prior to our acts of remembrance, we will dedicate and commission our volunteers and leaders. We educate our children because we long for the gospel and love of Jesus to shape who they are. We have programs for and ministries with our youth because we want them to learn to hear and discern the voice of God amidst the other voices that call for them. We study together because we recognize our need to be formed and reformed. We make music because some prayers and praises need melody more than words. In our less than perfect world and with our less than perfect lives we stretch to touch what we cannot reach. We do what we can, aware that although we will fall short in many places, goodness and mercy will seek us, find us, and fill our lives with wonder.

Then we will come to the Lord's Table and feast on the gifts of God for the people of God. Holy Communion reminds us and proclaims that life overcomes death, light drives back darkness, holiness pervades the ordinary, love transforms hatred, and even sin finds One before whom it must bow. At the Table, solemn remembrance opens to the joyful feast of God's presence.

We live surrounded by brokenness, but we believe that wholeness most shapes us. So we do not fear remembering, we have the courage to respond to God's call in Jesus, and we find sufficient strength in the gifts God provides. That sounds like reason enough to worship. I hope to see you there.

Grace and Peace,

Prayer - deepening relationships with and awareness of God (and others)

2011-09-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

A week after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March, the Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service conducted a survey of religious opinions. One question asked whether floods and other natural disasters are a sign from God. 59% of the evangelicals, 34% of the mainline Protestants, and 31% of the Catholics who responded said "yes."

Count me among those who say "no" when asked such questions. I do not believe God controls natural disasters or other events because I do not believe that God "works" that way. An anthropological reason stands behind my opinion. Although everyone suffers when such disasters strike, the greatest impact falls on those already in marginal situations. No one can replace a life, but people of wealth and influence recover and rebuild far more readily than the poor. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, but I do not believe that God intends to harm those in need more than those with greater comfort. I also have a theological reason for my opinion. I do not believe that God directly intervenes in human affairs in ways contrary to the laws of nature. Two members of our congregation and I had very similar back surgery in the past two years. Whereas I have not experienced pain since the surgery, my friends continue to have significant discomfort. I do not believe God gave me relief not offered to those friends. When I expressed that thought recently, another friend asked, "Then why do you pray?"

My response begins with the doctrine of the Trinity, which claims that God exists in relationship. God is not a solitary being. Rather God exists in a dynamic relationship traditionally identified as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that God, who exists in relationship, primarily affects the world through relationship. I pray not to bring to God's attention something God failed to notice, but to express and deepen my relationship with and awareness of God. I believe that God relates to us primarily through our relationships with others, especially other believers.

For example, recent studies have affirmed that people who believe in the power of prayer experience health benefits when they pray and know that others are praying for them. I do not believe that God intervenes for those people more than for others. Instead, I believe that the relationships between believers and their relationships with God bring strength, peace, and other blessings that aid the healing process.

I write these words not to prove that those with whom I disagree are wrong, but to point to why I believe what I do. God is ultimately beyond our knowing. That leads to varied opinions and convictions about how and whether God relates with the world. Surely the best way forward is to try to understand each other. As we do, we have the potential to form relationships that change the world. Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace,

Caring For Our Veterans

2011-08-25T15:18:00.000-04:00

A close friend returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam with what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For several years he bounced from job to job and relationship to relationship. Then a concerned church official and an astute physician at a Veterans Hospital discerned some of the root causes of his behavioral patterns. He received the help he needed and now serves as a chaplain, spending much of his day assisting other veterans. No one chooses to have PTSD or other emotional or mental disorders. They are not weak or weird. They, like all of us, have areas of brokenness. We all need help moving toward wholeness.

A recent report by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) estimates that one-third of the homeless people in the United States are veterans. On any given night approximately 107,000 veterans sleep on city streets. According to the VA, many of them suffer from the effects of PTSD. News agencies recently reported that an average of eighteen veterans commit suicide daily. Yet, judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth District noted that 70% of our VA health facilities lack systems to track potentially suicidal veterans.

Why am I stating this here? First, my heart breaks for these wounded veterans, who received their injuries after answering a call to serve in our military forces to help to preserve our liberties. When our veterans return with physical, emotional, or mental injuries, they deserve the best care we can reasonably provide. Second, I want to challenge all of us to do some research on this topic and then contact our elected officials to plead with them to help the VA and other agencies respond to this need. Christians believe that we can measure the health of a society by its care for "the least of these." It saddens me to know that "the least of these" includes so many veterans. It also makes it urgent for concerned citizens to say something to those in a position to improve our responses. Third, it feels good to know that in at least a small way we are responding with our hunger ministries. None of us knows how many veterans are among those to whom we recently distributed 10,000 pounds of food or how many veterans we assist monthly through the SEM and Batavia food pantries. Statistics suggest the number is not small. We lack the ability to provide the psychological support they need, but what we do can and probably does make a difference.

No one can do everything, but I feel blessed to participate with a congregation that increasingly responds to Jesus' call to feed the hungry. Every step we take toward the kind of community Jesus envisioned gives us all reason to hope. Let's live out our baptism by being concerned, informed, and be involved.

Grace and Peace,

Changes in 29 Years

2011-08-18T22:12:00.000-04:00

August 22 marks the twenty-ninth anniversary of my ordination into what we Presbyterians now call ministry as a teaching elder. A lot has changed and I have changed a lot during those years. As I reflected on the blessings of congregational ministry, these changes came to my mind first.

1. When I entered ministry, congregants expected me to spend 25-50% of my time visiting - not only visiting the hospitalized and shut-in but also calling on active members. I regularly showed up unexpectedly on a parishioner's doorstep and was welcomed in for a chat. If I showed up unexpectedly on the doorstep now, most of you would ask, "Is something wrong?" The lack of desire for unscheduled visits frees time for other ministries, but it also means making the most of any conversation, especially with those I see only on Saturday or Sunday.

2. My first congregations expected a thirty minute sermon and a 60-70 minute worship service. We've added a few items to the liturgy since then, but we expect the services to end sooner. We're also less tolerant of lengthy orations. Shorter sermons require greater skill because preachers must introduce and develop the message quickly with little help from nuances. Yet, we still expect sermons to inform, form, educate, inspire, and entertain. That asks a great deal from 15-17 minutes; but I enjoy that challenge as much as ever.

3. Twenty-nine years ago, a larger percentage of us stayed at church for 2-3 hours on Sunday. A significant number of adults joined children and youth for an hour of education before or after worship. That percentage has fallen significantly as simultaneous education and worship hours became popular and we added various activities to our weekends. When worship provides our primary exposure to scripture and theology, it makes it harder to achieve biblical and theological literacy. I wrestle regularly with how to function more faithfully as a teaching elder.

Not all change is wonderful, but change is a wonderful part of life. Change has forced me to grow, challenged me to set priorities, allowed me to develop strengths, and kept the task fresh and invigorating. I feel blessed to have served in the representative ministry of Jesus Christ for nearly three decades and I give thanks for the ministries we share. May we discover new and renewed blessings daily as God moves in us to transform (i.e. change) us from all we now are to all we can become.

Grace and Peace,

The First Amendment, The Second Amendment, and Common Sense

2011-08-11T16:46:00.000-04:00

I grew up with firearms in the home. My father enjoyed hunting small game. When I was twelve years old he gave me my first shotgun. For more than three decades we hunted together during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. In his home and mine, the firearms and munitions were kept in separate and secure locations. Before I even touched my shotgun, my father taught me about firearm safety. Any responsible father would do that. Unfortunately not all fathers are responsible. Sometimes they need encouragement.

I have said that to preface my incredulity that the governor of Florida has signed a law that bars Florida physicians from asking their patients whether they own a firearm. Some pediatricians regularly ask parents such things as, "Do you have a swimming pool?" "Do you have alcoholic beverages in your home?" and "Do you own a firearm?" When a parent responds affirmatively, the physician offers advice on how to protect children from potential harm. According to a recent article in the New York Times, the National Rifle Association considered such questions harassment and lobbied for a law to protect people's second amendment rights. In response, the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups have filed a suit asserting that the law violates their members' first amendment rights. I cannot fathom the expenditure of so much time, energy, and money on this issue - especially given the myriad challenges law-makers and their constituents face.

When a pediatrician asks whether there are firearms in the home, instead of feeling harassed, a parent, NRA member or otherwise, could say, "Thank you for your concern about my child's safety. We keep our firearms in a locked cabinet and take other measures to protect our children." Parents who do not understand why the physician asked the question can ask and then work together for the well-being of the child. Physicians, pastors, and other professionals often ask personal questions in the normal practice of their profession. It's common sense. During my annual physical my doctor always asks how much alcohol I consume weekly. He doesn't favor reinstating the eighteenth amendment and isn't exercising his first amendment rights. He's assessing how my lifestyle affects my health. It's common sense.

We live in the freest country in the world and I consider myself a patriotic supporter of our liberties. Freedom comes with a cost; but paranoia about losing a freedom benefits no one. Greater practice of common sense would go a long way in promoting and protecting the common good.

Grace and Peace,

Feeding the Hungry - Presbytery Mission Spotlight on MWPC

2011-08-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

Severe drought and food shortages in Africa, especially Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti, have put more than ten million people at risk. For several weeks news stories and photographs from the region have touched my heart deeply. The presence and malice of Islamist militants complicates everything. Tribal conflicts and institution corruption increase the cost and the difficulty of helping those experiencing the greatest need. Yet, my faith will not let me abandon hope that some aid will reach people facing greater hunger than I can imagine. Nancy and I respond to such crises through our denominational agencies. Nothing in Africa is risk free, but we trust our traditions to respond as faithfully as possible. Our contributions are meager in comparison with the need, but we want to do something. I encourage all of us to respond as we deem best and to pray for the hungry and homeless in Africa, for the people there making it harder to help, and for those trying to offer aid.

Here at home, hope comes more readily. Each month our presbytery issues an electronic Presbytery Mission Spotlight that celebrates ways our congregations reach out in Jesus' name to those in need. This month that resource lifts up MWPC and some of the ways we are making feeding the hungry our signature outreach ministry. Rather than comment future on this item, we are including a link to it and encouraging us all to read it for ourselves(http://www.mwpc-cincinnati-presbyterian-church.org/images/pdfs/MissionSpotlight2011.08.pdf). We are not eliminating all hunger in Southeast Ohio. Nor are we dealing yet with root causes of hunger. But we are responding in Jesus' name and our responses are enlivening our faith and congregational life. Jesus promised it would work that way and I am inspired and humbled by the ways his words are ringing true in our midst. Read and celebrate, friends. Then let's keep committing ourselves to feeding the hungry and see where else God in Christ will lead us.

Grace and Peace,

Preferences? Time for reflection/greeting?

2011-07-28T15:47:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of our 11 a.m. service on July 10, Kim Heindel offered as a prelude Marcel Dupré's "Cortège and Litany." He played this seldom heard piece to the glory of God and in memory of Jim Edgy, a friend who devoted his life to the arts. Jim's partner and sister attended the service, so prior to the prelude I invited us to suspend our conversations and enter a time of prayer. Gail held a sign to let those who entered the sanctuary later know why we were not conversing as usual.

I enjoy the ways we receive guests and each other with warm hospitality. Yet, I confess that I found the relative quiet before that service refreshing. As I allowed the music to speak to God, my pulse slowed, I set aside thoughts of how to lead the service faithfully, and the Spirit embraced and fed me. I usually have such quiet moments in the office before entering the sanctuary to meet and greet. Having them in our beautiful worship space along with our congregation blessed me.

So I'm torn. I want guests to know that their presence honors us and we want to make them feel at home. When we greet saints we have not seen for a while, we assure them that we miss them when they're away. As we catch up with each other, introduce ourselves to those whose names we've yet to learn, and share signs and words of friendship, it feels like a mini Pentecost and the Spirit moves in our midst. Yet, I deeply appreciate time for reflection as worship begins and consider that good for our souls. As we savor a few moments of quiet, allow music to guide our thoughts to God, and keep silent and know that God is God, that same Spirit moves in ways just as profound. Besides, it seems insensitive to "talk over" an offering musicians have labored to prepare. We do that at dinner parties and other social gatherings; but the music there seems to have quite another purpose.

I am not calling for a change at this point, but I'd like to hear the preferences of folks who usually worship in our traditional service. Old habits are hard to break and it would take considerable effort to embrace the discipline of stopping our conversations when the prelude or voluntary begins. Would we like to do that periodically - perhaps, for example, during the season of Lent? Would we like to suspend conversations during the prelude for services in which we celebrate Holy Communion? Or are we happy as we are? Enter your thoughts on our blog, send me an email, or chat about that with family and friends. Again, I'm not calling for change at this point. That responsibility lies with our Celebrate Ministry Team. But I'd like some insight into how best to feed our varied spiritual hungers.

Grace and Peace,

Vacation Bible School

2011-07-21T18:10:00.002-04:00

It is time to celebrate. We promised our kids that sharing God's love would bring a summer of fun. I think we have kept our promise. Throughout the summer we have had music, games, food, and fun, all surrounding the centerpiece of God's love in our lives.

Our Vacation Bible School curriculum, Shake It Up Café, gave our children the chance to celebrate the biblical festivals from both the Old and New Testaments. Our children have had the opportunity to discover how events that happened thousands of years ago can impact their lives today. In the Old Testament God commanded festivals in celebration of the many blessings that had been bestowed upon the Israelites- freedom from Egypt and slavery, the first fruits of the harvest, and the bountiful crops that followed. God required celebration of God - a constant awareness that God turns slavery into freedom and hopelessness into hope.

From the past, what did our children learn? As they studied Passover, they learned that the children of Israel prayed to God for deliverance from their oppressive life in Egypt. God heard their prayers and made a plan for their departure. They learned to be strong and ready for God. In the festival celebrations of harvest, the lesson was to thank God through giving and sharing the bounty. As the children listened to the story of Jesus celebrating Passover, they learned a new way that Jesus created the Passover meal as a way to remember his life and teachings.

It has been said that Christianity is a continuous festival - a continuous celebration of the life we have in Christ. The common denominators of festival living are all around us - celebration of worship, joyful thanksgiving, helping those in need by sharing our bounty, communal feasting at the Lord's Table and the experience of kinship as we journey together.

It is time to celebrate: in the pew as we sing and worship, at the Pantry Shelf stacking canned goods, at the Super Wednesday dinner table, or wherever we gather in God's name!

Blessings,

Kandy Stone

Director of Children & Family Ministry

It's All in the Small Things

2011-07-14T15:33:00.000-04:00

When I was in the first or second grade we did a section on how to count money. My mom thought it would be a great idea if I could apply this practice in real life. She went with me to the store and told me to buy some gum by myself. It was my first time purchasing anything alone and I had been given money specifically to buy gum. So I got the gum and walked up to the register. The clerk rang in the item and asked for payment. I was 10 cents short. I felt pretty embarrassed and there were three or four people behind me waiting to make purchases. My mom was about 20 feet away, so I told the clerk I would go and get the extra money if she could wait a bit. However, I didn't have to because a gentleman gave me the extra dime I needed. I paid for the gum, said thank you to the gentleman, and walked to my mom and told her what had happened. She thanked him too and we headed home.

I don't remember the faces or what store we were in, but I remember that small act of kindness. I remember a feeling of disbelief and gratitude that someone would do something so kind for a stranger. It was an act of grace before I knew what grace was. He showed a side of the human condition I didn't know existed. As a relatively spoiled child, I expected to receive things from people I knew; presents at Christmas and birthdays and money for small things like gum. But, from a stranger it was a different experience all together. That small act still sticks with me to this day and is a reminder to me of the kindness we can offer to one another.

Sometimes the small things we do can have the biggest impact on someone we may not even know. Contributions to the Backpack Drive and our Hunger Ministry can go a long way to reassuring a stranger that someone is there and cares for them. Going to the grocery store and picking out one food item or a donation for the Pantry Shelf can mean a world of difference for someone in need of assistance. We may never know who we are helping, but they may always remember those times when help came at its most needed.

It's probably unlikely that the man who gave me the dime remembers that moment at all. It was probably just another part of his day. But I will always remember the feeling of that moment and the way it has shaped my view of the best the world can offer. All he did was give me a dime.

Peace,

Raymund Ocampo

Director of Music Ministry

Confession is good for the soul and for community

2011-07-07T16:37:00.000-04:00

Nancy and I have been staining our deck. It is hot work, but I enjoy looking at the finished product and seeing what we've done. As I stained the stairs, the roller slipped and I left a streak of stain on a concrete wall. I tried to clean it, but for the next several years I will see that mistake every time I use the stairs. Others may not see it; but I will.

While doing some visiting this week I watched workers paint a crosswalk and the arrows in a turning lane. I had to watch because they had the road blocked. They did the job well, but if they had made a mistake, the paint would have remained in the wrong place on the road for a long time and many people would have noticed.

Assuming that a mistake made when painting a crosswalk did not make it more dangerous for pedestrians, is a mistake that everyone sees more significant than one that no one notices? Many elected leaders and public figures seem to think so. They do not confess a mistake until it becomes public knowledge and even then they seem more disturbed by being caught than by what they did wrong. They don't get it. Confession is not good for the soul only when forced on us. Confession, with repentance and forgiveness, helps to prepare us to begin again.

I'm talking about more than paint. When my sin remains hidden and I try to ignore it, I can convince myself that other sins will also remain hidden and that there was no real harm done. Both of those paths lead in dangerous directions. Honest confession and genuine repentance pave the way to forgiveness and new beginnings. Along that path we discover not only the harm done by our sin but also the wonder of forgiveness and renewal. When practiced in healthy ways, confession liberates us. It cannot and does not erase all of the harm done, but it points to the good that has been and can be. The less we have to hide from those we love, the more energy we have for living and loving.

Our tradition calls for a prayer of confession in every worship service. We do that formally during our traditional services, but depend on the person praying to lead us in confessing during ConnXions, Daybreak, and Morning Glory services. I suspect that many of us prefer the latter because we would prefer not to confess. Some even complain, "Our prayer of confession does not name my sins." The Prayers of the People may not mention our specific concerns either, but that does not mean we cannot and should not offer them while we pray. The purpose of a prayer of confession is for us to recognize how we add to the brokenness of the world to offer ourselves humbly to God. The words of forgiveness remind us of God's call to repentance and renewal. The words are not magical, but they point to the grace on which we all depend.

I'll never be good enough with a brush or roller to keep from splashing paint or stain where it does not belong. That is not required of me. I'm called to do the best I can, be honest with myself, God, and others, and move past my mistakes into renewed life. Confession is good for the soul and for community. It helps to draw us into the light of open relationships. From time to time that becomes messy, but it has far more to offer than life in the shadows.

Grace and Peace,

Now is the time to say, sing and dance a large "Thank You" to God and each other

2011-06-30T14:03:00.000-04:00

The Giving USA Foundation has reported that last year charitable giving in the US increased 3.8% (2.1% when adjusted for inflation) over 2009 totals. That marked the first increase since 2007. Although only substantial increases would return us to our 2007 level, that is good news. In that same period, however, religious giving increased only 0.8% (a 0.8 decrease when adjusted for inflation). That continues a disturbing trend. Since 1970 giving to religious organizations has increased more slowly than the rate of inflation. Despite that trend, I want to share some very good news!

Around this time last year we were planning cottage meetings to share some disturbing trends in our congregational life. Several related to finances. We, the members and friends of this congregation, have responded to those conversations in inspiring ways. During our annual stewardship campaign, 49% of us increased our financial pledges. Those and other pledges allowed us to pass a budget that continued to support our ministries, gave raises to staff for the first time in three years, restored some staff benefits, and funded necessary repairs and improvements to our property. The very good news is that we have kept and exceeded those pledges. Even after we set aside some funds to complete the approved repairs and maintenance, we will end our fiscal year in the black and will roll money into our reserve fund for the first time in recent history.

Even more good news! Based on our current trends and modest projections, session approved a budget for July 2011 through June 2012 that funds all our present ministries, restores study leave to non-clergy staff, provides raises to all staff, helps to fund our February to November 2012 Centennial Celebrations, funds needed roof repairs and exterior painting, and sets aside money in a reserve account for the day when we need to improve or replace our HVAC system.

Even more good news! During this time we have contributed more than 900 items to our food pantry each month and increased our monetary gifts to hunger ministries. We set what we considered the ambitious goal of raising $100,000 for hunger related ministries by the end of our Centennial Celebration. We have already received $21,000 toward that goal, and the excitement about and commitment to this priority ministry continues to spread and deepen.

Thank you! Thank you, MWPC members and friends, for your commitment to the ministries of Jesus Christ and this congregation. As we draw closer to the new program year we will hold a few cottage meetings to share some of these details, look at where our leaders hear God calling us, and have conversations about the life we share. I could not wait until then to share this very good news. There are always financial challenges to face, but I give thanks to God for the ways we are responding to God and each other. The time will come to talk about a new organ, technological improvements, building repair and updates, "ideal" staffing, and more. That's always true. As we close this fiscal year, now is the time to say, sing, and dance a large "Thank You" to God and each other.

Grace and Peace,

Finding True Life in Healthy Relationships

2011-06-22T14:01:00.001-04:00

My Trinity Sunday sermon included this quote from “Three Hands Clapping,” a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor: “All I know for sure is that if human beings were created in the image of God, then a) God is wonderfully diverse and b) we are more alike than we think.” Many of you made substantive comments about the sermon and some requested a little additional reflection on these words, so …

The doctrine of the Trinity claims that God is and exists in relationship. Western theology’s dominant image for the Trinity has been God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That and other images have kept the focus on relationship. If God exists in relationship and if human beings were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), “then God is wonderfully diverse.” Take a look around. Where two or three people are gathered, diversity abounds. When anyone quips, “All ___ look alike to me,” that person is astoundingly uninformed or sinfully blinded by prejudice. Even identical twins differ significantly. Creation teems with diversity.

What about Dr. Taylor’s claim that “we are more alike than we think.” Despite what makes us distinct, we come from the same cloth and share the same basic needs and desires. We all long for enough to eat and drink, for people to whom to belong, and for freedom of self-expression. Not everyone wants to become a nuclear physicist, but all have dreams. We all have the capacity for love and compassion. We also all sin. Theologians differ on how sin entered the mix, but Christian faith proclaims that God, who is and exists in relationship, does not withdraw when we sin. Rather God works in and with us to overcome sin. That challenges us to appreciate our diversity and to allow what we have in common to help us to overcome whatever drives us apart.

Our Greek heritage enlivens this discussion by using the term perichoresis to describe the Trinity. That word literally means “dancing around.” When I read this term I envision something akin to the dancing at a Greek wedding – male and female, youthful and mature, friend and stranger, agile and clumsy, on-the-beat and utterly clueless circling, laughing, and sharing life together. What a picture of God (and faith)! Yes, we face trials, disappointments, and defeats. Yes, sometimes evil gains the upper hand. Betrayal, desertion, abuse, and crucifixion find their way into Jesus’ story. Yet, the embrace of the dance and the call to relationship continue beneath, behind, and beyond it all. That does not deny trials and tribulations, but it affirms that we find true life in healthy relationship and that as our relationships broaden and deepen we more fully enter God’s embrace.

I’ll close by saying that it warmed this soon-to-be teaching elder’s heart to receive so many comments about a sermon on a theological concept. I think you meant it, but even if not, you added to my joy of our relationships. I think I’ll do it again!

Grace and Peace,

PCUSA Approves a New Amendment

2011-06-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

Recently a majority of the presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) approved an amendment to our constitution that changed our standards of ordination. When the decisive vote occurred, major newspapers across the United States reported it. A few weeks later a majority of our presbyteries approved an amendment that significantly changes the shape and content of Part II of our constitution. That vote will affect what Presbyterians do and how we do it for decades. Yet, few of us know about it. In our congregation I accept responsibility for that. I supported this change, but could not make educating us on this issue a higher priority than other ministries. In the months ahead, I hope to help our session and all interested members understand and live into these significance changes.

I’m far from an expert, but the primary difference I see is that our revised constitution gives greater freedom and flexibility to sessions and presbyteries by challenging them to define their mission and ministry in light of their unique contexts. On July 10, 2011, when our new Form of Government takes effect, our session will be called to shape our mission and ministries not by requirements written for all congregations but by the gifts of God we have received and needs in the community we serve. We started that process in the last two years. This change recognizes that our denomination is a “big tent,” i.e. we have varied theological perspectives but regularly unite in our mission in Jesus’ name. For example, few members of MWPC have as liberal an outlook as I do; yet, when we declared feeding the hungry our signature outreach ministry nearly everyone readily joined the effort. Focusing on mission will not make our theological differences disappear, but it directs our energies into service. As we serve together, who knows how the Spirit will deepen our unity.

Our new Form of Government has fewer regulations. Our old Book of Order resembled an operations manual. By focusing on core principles rather than guidelines for everything, our revised constitution should enable us to respond more quickly. That may not result in fewer meetings, but perhaps our meetings will stress how to be faithful more than how to follow the rules.

Our new Form of Government calls each session to develop “manual of administrative operations that will specify the form and guide the work of [our] mission.” In other words, a single document will define the essentials of what we seek to do in Jesus’ name and how we seek to do it. I hope that becomes a living document that helps to orientate new leaders and reminds experienced leaders of what we value most.

Our new Form of Government includes some changes in terminology. In July I will no longer be a Minister of Word and Sacrament. I will become a teaching elder and our other elders will become ruling elders. Those terms from our heritage emphasize that we share a basic ministry but have different functions within it. Personally, I appreciate the challenge to make certain that those with whom I serve derive some benefit from the excellent education I have received.

Most of us will notice little change after July 10. The differences will come as sessions and presbyteries ask, “What does Jesus Christ most want us to do and be in this particular place and time?” If our new Form of Government helps us take that seriously, fresh winds of the Spirit will blow. That’s good news!

Grace and Peace,

More than one God?

2011-06-09T11:09:00.001-04:00

In last week’s Beacon Lite I quipped that we may not want to offer God sliced ham as a gift because “God is probably not solely Christian.” A few folks found that troublesome or confusing, and requested a response. I included those words as a humorous aside, but gladly will point to the conviction behind them.

I believe in the God revealed in and through Jesus Christ, whom I deem the only God. As a child, everyone I knew worshipped that God except a Jewish merchant who owned an excellent clothing store. I now know that people of various faiths populate the earth. Many of them honor God as much or more than I do. No religion, including Christianity, can lay exclusive claim to the one God. We all lack complete insight into and understanding of the one God to whom we pray and whom we serve. That limitation stood behind my comment about ham. Scripture and tradition prohibit devout Jews and Muslims from eating pork and many Buddhists do not eat meat or fish. I do not think God gets her knickers knotted about what we eat (apart from cannibalism), but from the perspective of many religious traditions God would not consider a plate of ham an acceptable offering.

If there is only one God, how should we respond to the faithful in other religious traditions? Our Book of Confessions advises: “The Christian finds parallels between other religions and his (sic) own and must approach all religions with openness and respect. Repeatedly God has used the insight of non-Christians to challenge the church to renewal” (“The Confession of 1967”; 9:42). Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel have shaped much of my theological perspective. The writings of Elie Wiesel point to where we find God in the midst of horrors such as the Holocaust. Gandhi used Christian principles to resist tyranny and injustice. I have received spiritual guidance from Hafiz, Thich Bhat Hahn, and the Dalai Lama. Although I am thoroughly Christian, guides from other faith traditions have shed light on my path. I do not embrace every tenet or principle of other religious, but I believe that non-Christians can point to the one God.

Is God “solely Christian”? That question seems wrong. God defies definition. We worship a presence and reality beyond comprehension. Doing that faithfully means standing within our religious heritage. Doing that with humility means acknowledging the limits of our understanding and accepting any help that leads us closer to God.

Happy Easter!

Giving God Something "Personal"

2011-06-01T10:47:00.000-04:00

Our youngest daughter really likes country ham, so we decided to prepare a ham for the brunch on the day following her wedding. We could have paid someone to do that, but I wanted to do it myself. I received a surprise in the process. As I sliced the ham, quite unintentionally I recalled her life. Memories of Elizabeth as an infant, a toddler, a little girl, a young woman, and the wonderful adult she has become all wafted through my mind. That did not make it easier to see the ham, but it certainly made preparing it a blessing.

Truly personal gifts nearly always have such a profound impact. Even with their imperfections they convey depth of feeling. I have become somewhat hooked on a television series entitled Bones. In a Christmas episode, a team of researchers becomes exposed to a potential contagion and has to remain under quarantine on Christmas. They decide to draw names and make something for each other to exchange on Christmas Day. The most joyful part of their Christmas festivities comes as their family members visit them behind glass panels; but next in line is their exchange of simple, handmade gifts. Some might deem that maudlin, but it rang true for me.

We have two Sundays remaining in our seven week celebration of Easter. During Easter and Christmas we celebrate “personal gifts” from God. During the twelve days of Christmas we celebrate the Incarnation, God taking flesh. During the fifty days of Easter we celebrate the Resurrection, God’s triumph over all human limitations by defeating death. In response to God’s gift of Easter, why not give God something “personal.”

God probably is not solely Christian, so slicing ham may not make the right statement! We have other options. We’ve finally had the right weather to begin planting our church garden. An hour or two of work will help us provide food pantries with fresh produce. We still need helpers for Vacation Bible School and nearly always can use extra hands in children and youth ministries. Volunteered lately? Monthly we prepare meals for a spouse abuse center. If cooking is not your gift, buying paper goods or a bakery sweet will work. Those who travel to the Drop Inn Center would enjoy some company and the SEM Food Pantry often needs folks willing to pick up the items they distribute. It could be fun. Each week hands-on opportunities (possible “personal gifts”) abound. Financial gifts can be personal as well, especially when we reflect on how God has blessed us as we provide them. When we have that awareness, blessings often surprise us along the way.

Truly personal gifts nearly always have a profound impact. For fifty days we are celebrating God’s personal gift we call Resurrection. Think about some ways to get personal in response. We always have room for more faith and love.

Happy Easter!

"Blessed to Give" by Raymund Ocampo (LP on Study Leave)

2011-05-25T22:43:00.001-04:00

Friends,

To help me devote my time on study leave to working on a manuscript, Raymund stepped forward to compose this week’s Beacon Lite reflection. That’s a double blessing. His thoughts not only let us know more about him, but also inspire us with a view of our ministries through his eyes.

Happy Easter!

My parents and I moved to the

when I was three years old. Only recently did I realize how hard my parents' life must have been when we moved. They came with hardly any money, no credit, no car, no anything. Without credit; a car, a house, and any major purchase was out of reach. All we had when we came was each other and a couple of bags and boxes of clothes and general stuff.

Fortunately, two of my aunts and my grandparents were in the States already. They helped with everything. They helped take care of my brothers and me when my parents had to work, helped cook dinner with us, and helped find us a home. I remember vividly my grandfather handing my dad a check with the first mortgage payment on our first house. They also came with presents that first Christmas and helped to take care of my parents through the birth of my two younger brothers. They did so much more. Actually, they provided for us a normal life in an abnormal environment.

As I think about what my aunts and grandparents did for my family those early years, I can’t help but see a resemblance to the things we do here at MWPC. We provide those who have fallen on hard times with food, a helping hand with kids, presents at Christmas, and more. But, we provide more than tangible goods. All the things we do can help a family feel welcomed, loved, and thankful. That backpack from our backpack drive may have cost $20, but to a child and family it may represent an education and an opportunity to learn and grow.

The gifts that my aunts and grandparents gave during those early years resonate with me to this day because they helped to form and shape who I am. The gifts and generosity we share through the food pantry and other ministries may form and shape those who receive them; but here’s the surprising part of the good news. The gifts we give also form and shape us.

My family gave thanks for the gifts they received those early years. Those who receive gifts and love from this church may feel thankful for those blessings. But, those who give are thankful for the ability to give. As a congregation we have realized our many blessings and give our time and love in Jesus’ name to those who need it most. We care for church members and strangers alike. We live Christ’s love for us all by caring for those in need. As we walk together through Easter, let us remember the gifts we have received and the gifts we feel blessed to give.

Happy Easter!

Raymund

Church website

Accountability for Our Actions

2011-05-19T13:51:00.000-04:00

When I was young a comedian named Flip Wilson became famous with routines that included the declaration, “The Devil made me do it!” Wilson avoided personal responsibility by claiming that his sins resulted not from his personal mistakes or poor judgment but from an evil force that took control of him. Some compare that with Paul’s confession, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19). Paul, however, does not offer an excuse. His confession leads to the question, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) and the response, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). When we confess our sins, we claim accountability for the mistakes we have made. We honestly admit that we did something wrong and turn to the grace and forgiveness of God for a new beginning.

No religious tradition lacks skeletons in its closet. Our tradition often has denied and rejected the grace and will of God. Awareness of that calls for humility and honest confession of our sins. I say that to preface my admission that the recent report from the Roman Catholic Church that attempts to provide a definitive response to the priest sexual abuse crisis deeply saddens me. The report attributes the abuse of minors by those under holy orders to poor preparation, poor monitoring, and the sexual turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. That sounds a great deal like, “The devil made me do it.” The report even lowers the age of a minor to children under 10 years old from the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of children under 13 years old as minors. Rather than pick nits and ignore the ways the hierarchy chose to protect its priests rather than its children, why not honestly confess: “We’re sorry. Our priests and bishops made poor decisions and took actions that harmed innocent children”? Why not honestly confess what went wrong and, like Paul, appeal to God for rescue.

I live in a glass house and cannot throw stones. I sin daily. I make poor decisions and take actions contrary to the way and will of God. Outside influences affect me, but my way forward comes not through attributing my sins to external forces but through honest confession. Honest confession makes room for repentance and reception of God’s forgiveness. I have no desire to single out the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Why can’t Bill Clinton confess that he sinned instead of hiding behind technicalities and professing, “I did not have sex with that woman”? Why can’t Newt Gingrich confess that he sinned instead of claiming that he committed adultery because of his love of this country? Why can’t we all accept accountability for our actions and confess our sins? Without honest confession, how can we expect to repent, receive the forgiveness God graciously offers, and begin anew?

Explicitly in our traditional worship services and implicitly in our ConnXions and Morning Glory services, we confess our sins. We do not blame others or offer excuses. We confess that we sin. That is not the most popular part of our worship. Many people want to minimize confession of sin. Yet, minimizing our complicit contributions to the brokenness of the world distances us from the wholeness God offers. May we all confess our sins – not to bend beneath the weight of our wrongdoings, but to receive and enter the wholeness to which God calls us.

Happy Easter!

2011-05-15T11:19:00.001-04:00

During our 11 a.m. service this Sunday, the members of our Confirmation Class will confirm their baptisms, profess their faith, and become active members of our congregation. By baptism they became members of the church of Jesus Christ. Through confirmation they accept the claim God made on them in baptism and declare that they choose to live into their baptism for the rest of their lives. Their actions challenge all of us to remember and renew our baptismal covenant this weekend.

I consider baptism countercultural. Through baptism we declare allegiance to a presence and power far beyond and different than cultural and societal norms.

In baptism we follow one who commanded, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). In a world that extols the corner office, largest house, most toys, and most enviable salary, we emphasize on our relationship with God and the relationships into which God draws us. The baptized do not consider a nice office, a good salary, a large house, or creature comforts evil; but neither do we deem them the highest good. That affects (or should) both whom we admire and what we aspire to become. We value becoming a better person over becoming better off.

In baptism we accept as valid the judgment, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these … you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Some seem to consider people in need lazy and contemptible. Others deem those who lack dependents on the largess of those who have. The baptized consider us all “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and long for everyone to have life’s basic needs. Yes, scoundrels sometimes take advantage of the baptized. Yet, we believe that “one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” and that we “will be enriched in every way for great generosity” (2 Corinthians 9:6, 11). The baptized reach out not to express gratitude to God.

In baptism we accept the claim: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). In a world that exalts those who claim to be the greatest and willingly stand alone, we respect those who excel by helping others reach their potential as well. In a society that admires those who take care of “number one” and celebrates those who seek first and foremost the benefit of their group, we seek the greater good and rejoice when dividing walls tumble to make new connections possible.

In baptism we promise to “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart … soul … and mind” and to “love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Matthew 22:38, 40). The baptized know that no one is self-made. Humbled by our dependence on God and others and aware that our lives belong to God, we seek to live with courageous gratitude. Courageous gratitude seldom makes the headlines and probably will not get us elected, but it leads to life abundant and eternal. As we claim and celebrate that this weekend, may we pray that our confirmands have seen and will continue to see some of that in us, just as we long to see it in them.

Grace and Peace,

Who are Christians?

2011-05-11T18:09:00.000-04:00

Most of us can respond relatively coherently when someone asks what Christians do. We worship God, respond to Jesus’ call to service, welcome strangers, educate our children, and provide opportunities for youth and adults to grow in faith. We attempt to keep our baptismal promise to obey Jesus’ Word and show his love. We know something about what we do, but when someone asks who we are, we typically stumble and stammer.

Who are we? Some insist that we should answer that question in a single sentence. I consider few essentials of life and faith that easy to describe. Here is my response to the question, “Who are Christians?” I’d enjoy hearing yours.

We are the baptized. God has claimed us and made us members of the Body of Christ by water and the Spirit. We respond by turning from evil, turning to God, and professing and following Jesus as Lord.

We are called. We embrace the mystery expressed in Jesus’ words: “You did not choose me but I chose you” (John 15:16). Something and/or someone drew us to our journey in faith. We make decisions about how to follow, but at the heart of it all we feel led and guided: called. Sometimes we have little more than our call. We lack confidence and clarity; yet, cling to the conviction that God calls us to the path we travel.

We are followers of Jesus. We strive to obey the commandment: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35), and to serve Jesus who said, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). We do not claim always to understand Jesus and we certainly do not declare that we have a particular claim on him. As best we can, we follow him.

We are people shaped by hope. No matter who scoffs, we believe that light conquers darkness and life ultimately triumphs over death. We always hope or want to hope because we believe that life is precious, that God always remains with us, and that reaching for what we cannot yet touch makes us more alive.

We are a community. Although we have distinct personalities, identities, talents, and abilities, we believe that common good matters more than personal gain. We believe that God exists in community, which we describe as the mystery of the Trinity, and that we glimpse at God, whom no one can know, as we live in community.

We are grateful people, who seek to live our thanksgiving with courage every day. We experience heartache, defeat, and disappointment; but in and around those realities we can see and count blessings. We know that the realities that most shape our lives come to us as gifts. Yes, it takes effort to open and express accountability for those gifts; yet, the best of life remains just that: a gift.

That, for me, is the heart of who we are. All we do flows from our God-granted identity. Thank you for helping me to strive to live with courageous gratitude. I look forward to hearing other responses to the basic question. “Who are we?”

Grace and Peace,

Church website

Baptism is countercultural

2011-05-05T11:33:00.001-04:00

I consider baptism countercultural. Through baptism we declare allegiance to a presence and power far beyond and different than cultural and societal norms.

Grace and Peace,

Church website

Easter Is a Season!

2011-04-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

When we arrive for worship this weekend, it still will be Easter! Easter is a season, the Great Fifty Days from Resurrection of the Lord through Pentecost. For fifty days we sing lots of Alleluias, hear lots of brass, and celebrate God’s victory in Jesus. No single day can express the joy of our conviction that life triumphs over death. So don those soft soled shoes and dance to the music of resurrection. Those who prefer not to dance can try these ideas.

Follow the example of the women, who discovered the tomb empty, encountered the risen Jesus, and spread the word. Surely we have a co-worker, neighbor, or friend who would benefit from worshipping with us or participating in another of our ministries. What better time to ask than the season of Easter!

During Easter we celebrate the victory of light over darkness. Human beings did their worst to Jesus and sealed his body in a tomb. Yet, life broke out of that tomb and the risen Jesus continued to proclaim the light of his Word. We can celebrate by bringing light into darkness by helping someone in need: hand a weary traveler a gift certificate; offer a few hours of childcare for an overburdened parent; or help to prepare a meal for a Spouse Abuse Center (Call the church to learn how to participate). Do something anonymously, if desired. Light shines even when we do not know its name.

During Easter we celebrate God’s triumph in Jesus, whose ministry welcomed children. We can honor Jesus and continue that ministry by spending extra time with a grandchild, volunteering in our nursery on Saturday or Sunday, helping in a Sunday School class, or making a donation to our Hunger Ministry (A disproportionate number of the hungry are children.). Children know how to celebrate. Let’s join them!

Our Easter celebration will include these highlights during worship:

April 30 – Celebration of Chuck Land’s Ministry with ConnXions;

May 1 – Baptism of Triplets during 11 a.m. Worship

May 7 – Pizza Party following ConnXions

May 8 – Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion at 11 a.m.

May 15 – A Favorite Anthem in Both Services and Psalm 150 at 11 a.m.

May 22 – Recognition of Graduates at 9:30 a.m. and Queen City Bronze in the

Afternoon

May 28 – Our Own Vicki Abend Preaches (ConnXions)

May 29 – Our Own David Warner Preaches (Sunday)

June 5 – Choir Offers Bach’s Christ Lag in Totesbanden to God during 11 a.m.

Worship

Our celebration extends beyond these highlights because we want to give thanks to God for the blessings of life in the risen Christ. The more we celebrate, the more people will want to know about the good news. May it be so, to the glory of God!

Grace and Peace,

mwpc website

Triduum Prayer - 2011

2011-04-20T16:48:00.001-04:00

As we approach the Triduum, I offer this prayer. May God bless our final days of Holy Week and celebrations of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Grace and Peace,

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, the path is long and steep but Jesus continues his journey in Jerusalem. We know where the road leads. That wearies us. We understand that fidelity to you means turning from paths less demanding and discipleship comes with a cost; yet, we confess that we find it hard to make our discipleship a priority. We face so many needs, temptations, and difficult decisions.

Jesus keeps walking. Help us to keep our eyes on him and remind us that he must continue. Jesus must keep walking because we are weak and need the benefit of his conviction that you travel with us and never forsake us. He must keep walking because we focus on ourselves and need his ministry in which life finds us as we offer our lives to you. Jesus must keep walking because our ways are not yours and we need the forgiveness, reconciliation, and new beginnings you extend in and through him.

We confess, God of grace, that we lack the strength to stay with Jesus and the determination not to betray or deny him. May we at least have the faith and the longing for faith to bear witness to him. In a world infatuated with physical prowess, help us to work for transformation not by submission forced from the outside in, but by love flowing from the inside out. In a world in which we often stand safely behind our resources to care and provide for our children, help us to take our children on our knees as Jesus did, sit with our youth as he would, and share ourselves with them. In a culture devoted to pleasure, gratification, and security, help us to empty ourselves more completely that we might live more fully in him who gave everything that we might have life abundantly.

We know we do not walk with Jesus alone, so we pray for those who travel with us. We pray for those who help us find the path, those who give us strength, and those who have found their home in you, whose presence remains in us. We pray for those most affected by recent storms, those whose storms are more internal, those who hunger of body, those who hunger of spirit, those who have lost their way, those too weary to travel, and those whose names and concerns weigh heavy on our hearts.

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, we thank you for the journey: for dreams worthy of our lives; visions that stretch our faith and imaginations; and for judgment that holds us accountable and inspires us. We thank you for baptism. Help us to follow Jesus, so that we may be found in you. We pray in the name of Jesus, who lives with you in holy relationship, one God, Mother/Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

mwpc-church.org

Walk with Jesus this Holy Week

2011-04-14T06:38:00.000-04:00

Once again we approach the end of our Lenten journey, Palm/Passion Sunday and Holy Week. This weekend we enter a week of contrasts, juxtapositions of conflicting thoughts and actions that challenge us, if not force us, to see ourselves as we are. Members of the crowd that wave palm branches and shout, “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday later that week exclaim, “Crucify him!” and taunt a dying man. The disciples begin the week cheering Jesus and standing with him as he teaches in Jerusalem; then end it betraying, abandoning, and denying him. The Gospel narratives become even more distressing when we note who moves closer to and farther from Jesus as his last week unfolds. Watch Jesus’ movements as well. He begins the week atop a donkey, falls to his knees in anguished prayer in Gethsemane, stands before the authorities and Pilate, stumbles beneath the cross he carries through Jerusalem, is lifted high on a cross to die, and is laid lifeless in a borrowed tomb. As we follow him we enter the sunlight of his procession into Jerusalem, the darkness of Gethsemane, the torch-lit homes as authorities question him, the firelight of Peter’s denial, the daylight of the crucifixion, and the darkness of death. All power in this story appears to belong to the religious and secular authorities; yet, Jesus never bends. He kneels and stumbles, but never bends. During Holy Week true Power waits until others do their worst before offering the best.

We need our Holy Week journey because Jesus’ story belongs to us. It is our story not simply because Jesus calls us to follow him but because it reveals who we are. It is the story from which our faith emerges and in which our life converges. Like the crowds, our passions often run hot and cold, depending on which proves popular and convenient. Like the disciples, we experience moments so joyful that even stones seem to sing and moments scarred by failure when we most want to remain faithful. Like everyone in this story, we know sins so heavy that only grace can bear their burden and death so real that only new life can overcome it. The blessings of Holy Week impress the goodness of life on us; the bitterness points to life’s preciousness.

During Holy Week, please don’t simply watch Jesus. Walk with him. Experience the light and fullness, and the dark emptiness with him. Travel with him long enough to experience anew how much we depend on God for everything that matters. That, by the grace of God, prepares us for an Easter feast.

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

Lenten Opportunity: Ecological Stewardship on Good Friday!

2011-04-06T22:35:00.000-04:00

On most mornings Nancy and I take a walk through our beautiful neighborhood. Along with the songbirds, whatever flowers are in bloom, and rising sun, we also see litter left by lazy and inconsiderate people. That doesn’t ruin our walk; but it adds nothing of value to it. While Nancy drove to work one morning this week she watched workers picking up trash along the highway, filling bag after bag with trash, most of which someone tossed onto the highway.

Why mention this? This year Earth Day, April 22, falls on Good Friday. In 1970 Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator, and Pete McCloskey, a Republican congressman, collaborated to heighten awareness of air and water pollution. Twenty million Americans joined them in activities supporting better care of our environment. That was the first Earth Day, which helped to prompt creation of our Environmental Protection Agency. This year some Christians will focus on caring for our environment while meditating on Jesus’ crucifixion.

Why mention this? Let’s start by observing that a psalmist declared, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1) and Paul proclaimed, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God ... in hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19, 21). I claim not that Jesus was an environmentalist, but that following Jesus and caring for the earth are compatible. According to Matthew, Jesus noticed lilies, fields of grain, birds of the air, the color of the sky, fruit bearing trees, mustard shrubs, and at least one fig tree. We depend on the earth from which, according to Genesis, we were made. We glorify God as we follow Jesus and as we practice good stewardship of the earthly home God provides.

In keeping with our Lenten challenge to “pick up” a ministry rather than “give up” something to eat, let’s do something “green” along with our acts of discipleship in preparation for Easter. The theme for Earth Day 2011 is “A Billion Acts of Green”®, personal and corporate acts of sustainable living. We can express our gratitude for Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection by doing something for our earthly home. That need not be our only act of Lenten discipleship; but it’s not a bad one. Let me save a few folks the trouble and confess that I drive a pick-up truck, have some clothing dry cleaned, and live in a larger home than I need (among other sins). I planted twelve trees this spring and plan other acts to remind myself of God’s call to faithful stewardship. I write not as someone sinless, but as one who grieves my sinfulness. Only God can cleanse me, but I can say thank you by participating, even if only in small ways.

On Good Friday, as our choir proclaims the gospel through John Rutter’s Requiem, I will continue my Lenten confession of my sins that add to the brokenness of humanity and prayers for God to lead me in new paths. This year I will also reflect on my impact on the earth and pray for God to lead me into more faithful ecological stewardship. Care to join me?

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

Visual Images & Technology: skill, not trickery

2011-03-31T05:48:00.000-04:00

I have preached regularly since 1979. That and the opportunity to teach homiletics for seven years are blessings. I still have much to learn, but enjoy using words to shape an event in which we encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preachers attempt to find evocative and “visual” metaphors that help all who hear to “see” what they mean. Effective verbal pictures need no explanation. They convey rather than merely illustrate the message. For example, when the Gospel of John describes Jesus and his ministry by declaring, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5), we can “see” the message.

As technology finds its way into worship services and sermons (as it has found its way into classrooms and business meetings), “old dogs” like me need to learn a new trick. Actually, it’s skill, not trickery. We need to learn how to select visual images and film clips that support and convey the message God has given us. If I needed to describe the difference today (and since the deadline is here I guess I do!), I would state it this way. Preachers use words to paint a picture that helps us to see the message as we apply it to our lives. Preachers use visual images to help us interpret what we see and apply it to our lives. Both tasks have value. One stresses description in order to interpret. The other moves more directly into interpretation. Both can make the message an event. Developing a new skill requires effort, but I find it intriguing and inspiring to look for images that not only make a point but also are the message.

Take a look at the photograph below. Before beginning the next paragraph, ponder what you see.

There is more darkness than light in this print, but the light most catches the eye. The photograph echoes John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Even in the darkest portion of clouds, light breaks through. Rain threatens and wind blows, but light prevails/overcomes. That’s the message. Now it’s time for application to our lives.

On this Sunday, April 3, and the first Sunday in May (May 1) we will hold our Morning Glory (9:30 a.m.) service in our fellowship hall in order to experience worship with greater technological support. We have no plans to move this service to our fellowship hall permanently, but we are contemplating technological improvements in our sanctuary. The services in our fellowship hall will provide helpful experiences and information. I look forward to seeing what we learn and discovering new ways to proclaim the good news.

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

Blessings of a Connectional Church

2011-03-23T20:28:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we prayed for the Babcock Presbyterian Church in Ashaway, Rhode Island, where Marilyn McNaughton, former MWPC Associate Pastor and daughter-in-law of David and Carol Legg, serves as pastor. On March 17 vandals broke into their church building and severely damaged furnishings, musical instruments, and more. To see footage of the damage, go to www.wpri.com and enter Babcock Presbyterian in the search box. We continue to pray for this community. Clean up and repairs have begun, but these saints will need spiritual healing as well. A sense of violation always accompanies vandalism of a sacred space.

I mention this not only to encourage prayer support for a sister congregation, but also to note that the day after this vandalism Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) arrived on the scene with two first responders, a pastor from Maryland and an elder from Florida. We often mention PDA in association with floods in the Midwest, hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, and events like the tsunami in Japan. It will not make the news, but PDA now assists the saints of Babcock Presbyterian as well. That is a blessing of belonging to a connectional church. The funds we provide to our denominational agencies allow us not only to respond to needs across our nation and the globe, but also to support other Presbyterians long before we could mobilize to assist in person.

Many Christians question the legitimacy of denominations. Since we’re all Christian, why be Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, or Methodist as well? Denominational identity can impede the ministry of Jesus Christ. Yet, it permits Christians to gather and participate in ways that express and feed distinct spiritual hungers and gifts. Not all Christians are or need to be Reformed; but our focus on an educated approach to faith, the centrality of the Bible, “decent and orderly” conduct of church affairs, and trusting representative groups to discern the will and guidance of God have made and still make valuable contributions to the ministries of Jesus. If many of us lack awareness of what makes Presbyterians distinct, leaders like me need to do more teaching and those with questions can do more asking and seeking. My perspective reflects the fact that I felt drawn by God to become Presbyterian after receiving ordination in another tradition and considering moving to yet another. I feel led by God to our tradition and theologically at home in it. We’re not perfect, but we have something to offer the world in Jesus’ name. We often have conflicting opinions about important issues, but the folks at Babcock Presbyterian and in Japan probably have little interest in that now.

We cannot stop vandals from destroying church property or flood waters from devastating communities, but we can and do respond in Jesus’ name. That’s a blessing, privilege, and requirement of being a connectional church.

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

Prisoners of Hope

2011-03-17T09:40:00.000-04:00

Like everyone, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the news from Japan and praying. The devastating earthquake, tsunami, and aftershocks illustrate our dependence on and vulnerability to the earth. Our hearts break for the victims and their families, and also for the survivors, many of whom lack sufficient food, water, and fuel to keep warm. The radiation escaping from the damaged nuclear reactors reminds us that sometimes our best plans and preparations fall short. We pray for containment of the nuclear fuel and for the workers who remain on site trying to minimize the damage. May God bless them for their personal sacrifices for the good of the whole. Some folks in our community have friends and associates in or near the affected areas. Attaching names to some of the faces makes this tragedy ours. This is happening to us all. God have mercy on anyone who remains untouched by this disaster.

As the death toll rises and the nuclear risks increase, it can be hard to hope. How and why can we hope? Here’s the best response I can muster today.

Often people respond to tragedy and suffering with astonishing compassion and kindness. Nations, communities, and individuals regularly deepen their generosity in the face of desperate need. Similarly, seemingly unsolvable problems sometimes prompt creative minds to reach new heights. The capacity to think outside the box often increases as the box begins to collapse. Hope quickens when we remember such times. Human beings do not always respond with compassion and creativity. Yet, we do it often enough to affirm belief in human goodness, the goodness I believe God breathes into us.

We can also fall back on our conviction that we are not left to ourselves, that we exist amidst a power and presence not our own. I believe not only that light overcomes darkness and life finds away even in the face of death, but also that the power and presence in which we exist point and call us to light and life. I have no choice but to believe this. I cannot keep my balance without such faith. During the struggle against apartheid Archbishop Desmond Tutu borrowed a phrase from Zechariah 9:12 and called himself a “prisoner of hope” who could not shake off the longing to believe that goodness, love, and caring ultimately prevail.

Hope does not diminish the challenge and suffering faced by the people of Japan. Hope challenges all of us to reach for our best as we respond. We cannot rid the world of natural disasters or human limitations. We can fill the world with prayers and acts of compassion, hope, and faith. We can express our conviction that goodness and love will prevail. Life is too precious to believe anything less.

Grace and Peace,

P.S. If you’d like to pray through a monetary donation, you may make an early gift to our One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

mwpc-church.org

Wandering in the Wilderness; Stumbling in the Light

2011-03-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday we walked about with ashes on our foreheads, which means the season of Lent has begun. During Lent we not only prepare for Easter but for more faithful participation in the ministry of Jesus Christ and the church. On the Sundays during Lent and Easter we will read and ponder passages of scripture that provide varied metaphors for the church. We’re calling the series, “Church: A Faith Community Wandering in the Wilderness and Stumbling in the Light.”

Like the Hebrew slaves led to freedom in Exodus, the church often wanders in the wilderness. We usually lack certainty where we are going and almost never travel in a straight line. That’s good! In the exodus narrative the people took forty years to travel a relatively short distance as the crow flies. According to the biblical account, that’s how God intended it. What happened during the journey mattered as much as reaching the destination. In the church, we do not know precisely where we are going, but we know who has called us and whom we follow. That’s what really matters.

Similarly, the church often stumbles in the light. The first disciples walked with Jesus and first generation Christians experienced Jesus in their midst, but they all stumbled. If we remove the missteps of people of faith from the New Testament, it’s a short read! Similarly, we follow the Light of the world, but still encounter darkness and stumble. We seek to obey Jesus’ word and show his love, but still fall over questions and issues constantly. We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), confident that Jesus leads us but often falling over our own feet and obstacles along the way. That’s good! Stumbling reminds us of our dependence on God and need for each other.

Because God calls us to wander in the wilderness, discomfort can be our friend and guide. Grace is only amazing when we know how much we need it and how abundantly it flows. Like all growth, growth in faith requires exercise, and exercise means moving and changing. Because we stumble in the light, it helps to be gentle with ourselves and others. According to St. John of the Cross, “To be truly humble is to feel a tender acceptance of all reality just as it is, which includes compassion for ourselves just as we are.” When we stumble, the humble smile and help us regain our balance. Because we are a community, traveling faithfully means traveling together. Traveling alone may go faster, but there’s no one with whom to sing and dance, cry and grieve, tease and please, serve and be served.

The words “wandering” and “stumbling” probably appear in few mission and vision statements. Yet, those words honestly describe our ministries, the ministries to which Jesus calls us and through which he changes life. Isn’t that good news?

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

A Call for Connections

2011-03-02T11:05:00.001-05:00

Like several of you, on Sunday evening Nancy and I hosted members of the Concordia Choir following their concert at Christ Church Cathedral. Although dinner started late, our guests chose to sit at table rather than take their plates elsewhere. That blessed us with an hour or so of conversation with them. We covered a variety of topics, even a couple that some would deem controversial. It felt good to connect with folks half my age.

That reminded me that several months ago a group of MWPC men, who meet regularly at a local restaurant, invited me to drop in sometime. I’ve yet to accept that invitation, but plan to do so this month. I see these fellows regularly, but can enjoy a cup of coffee and connect around a table in ways not possible elsewhere. Ministry, like life, is about relationships and table fellowship connects us in a sacramental way. Indeed, the communion table points to the sacredness of all tables because of the connections we make there.

While I prepared this item, an invitation came via Facebook to “Dinner with Church Friends.” A quick look at the invitation list made it clear that I see most of these folks often, but, again, things happen at table that do not happen elsewhere. The invitation came from an elder who is resurrecting our Communication Team. Our elder envisions improving the ways we communicate as a means of improving our connections. [Please do not confuse these connections with ConnXions, our Saturday worship service. We support ConnXions as well, but that’s another team!]

What’s the point? As we noted during worship last weekend, when we travel in faith we can go places together that we will never reach alone. Because we belong to each other in Christ, along with feeding the hungry and loving God and neighbor, God calls us to connect with each other – not necessarily agree, share the same priorities, or even friend each other on Facebook; but connect. Along with our plans to grow in faith, reach out to others in Jesus’ name, and worship weekly, we need a plan to connect with other members. Please don’t wait for a program to make this happen. Invite someone to coffee, host a dinner party, ask a few folks to join you at a local restaurant, or take the initiative in another way to connect with our part of the Body of Christ. Whenever two or three gather in Jesus’ name, he’s in their midst. That connection blesses us all.

A final note: This is Youth Weekend. Our youth will lead all three worship services. Please participate and following the service connect with one or more of our youth. They could use the encouragement and any connections with them strengthen the congregation we all love.

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

A United States Vote Against Peace

2011-02-23T16:56:00.000-05:00

Last week the United States stood alone in blocking a UN Security Council resolution that called for Israel to stop building settlements in occupied territory and condemned Israeli settlements as illegal. The resolution had more than 100 co-sponsors and received support from the remaining fourteen members of the Security Council. The United States vote troubles me deeply.

I understand that Israel has security concerns and that Palestinians often have violently disrupted peace in the Middle East. Yet, that can be said about other players in the region as well, including Israel. Daily life in the Palestinian theater often affirms Paul’s declaration that we all sin. I understand the strategic interest the United States has in Israel, our long and important relationship with Israel, and the significant financial aid we provide to Israel annually. I do not understand how we can condone Israeli settlements on occupied land. Few impartial observers consider Israel’s actions anything less than hostile encroachment.

While we visited Israel last year, we experienced a little of the ill will these settlements foster. Volunteer “Peacekeepers” from several nations explained how Israel slowly and methodically claims occupied land as its own. They also described how they often walk Palestinian children to school to dissuade Israeli settlers from throwing rocks at them. Adults walk with children to keep other adults from throwing rocks at them! We met Palestinians with two sets of keys: one set to their present house and another to the house Israel took from them. Israel has an army. When Israeli settlers complain about Palestinians, troops come out with force. Palestine has no army to respond when Israel encroaches on, occupies, and then builds a settlement on Palestinian land.

Because we are a trusted ally of Israel and because of worldwide interest in peace and stability in the Middle East, I wish the United States would challenge Israel to discontinue this practice and to consider pulling out of existing settlements. This is not a simple matter. Negotiations between Israel and Palestine probably will continue for the rest of my life, perhaps even beyond the lives of my grandchildren. Yet, how can we have any legitimate hope of peace when we participate in denying the legitimate hopes of an entire people? A peace secured by holding one’s foot across another’s neck is not a true peace and will not last. Shalom/Salaam seeks the welfare of all. Pray for the shalom/salaam of all Middle East, not only for citizens clamoring to be freed from tyrannical rule but also for citizens longing for their home to be truly theirs.

Grace and Peace,

mwpc-church.org

Worship is not a tandem bicycle

2011-02-16T15:03:00.000-05:00

This month we celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of ConnXions, our contemporary worship service at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays. While evaluating that service, we will invite everyone to share personal perspectives and opinions. We want and need that data. Yet, worship is not primarily about “me,” regardless who the “me” is. Worship is about God and us. Here are a few guidelines for worshipping together.

Prepare for worship and come expecting to encounter God. We would never plan to attend a pot luck meal without bringing a dish. Do we come to worship expecting to be fed but to contribute nothing? Reading the designated scripture passages and praying for our leaders and guests involves us in worship before we arrive. Looking for God in faces new and unfamiliar and in each component of the liturgy helps to make room for the Spirit. Preparation and expectation respect God and those with whom we gather.

Welcome and support those around you during worship, especially if you don’t know them. Greet everyone with a smile. If they’d rather sit alone, that will be obvious. Otherwise let them know you’re glad they’re present. If they have trouble following the liturgy or finding a songbook/hymnal, lend a hand. We all come hungry for the gifts of God. Let’s help everyone feast.

Understand that we all have favorite parts of the liturgy. I’m particularly fond of well crafted and delivered sermons. Yet, if I only participate during the sermon, I get in the way of those who most experience God in the songs, the time with the children, the silences, or another aspect. Engage in the entire service. It’s like eating vegetables. Some prefer meat or grains to vegetables, but our bodies need them all. During worship the body of Christ needs the entire “course” to remain healthy.

We are blessed to have three distinct services. Select the one that works best for you, but avoid getting in a rut. Some think that God intended worship to begin at 11 a.m. on Sundays. Some think that the Spirit doesn’t move in us unless we’re in motion as well. We all have preferences. Select the service that meets your deepest needs and rejoice that others have another option. From time to time, sample what others are doing. Even if that only reinforces our preferences, it helps to keep us open to God’s movement in our community.

Tell our Celebrate Ministry Team members or worship staff what you find meaningful as well as what gets in the way. We try to provide meaningful worship experiences for all our members and guests and currently plan more than 170 services a year. Knowing what feeds the saints and prepares us to serve in Jesus’ name helps us to focus our time, energy, and creativity.

Don’t judge how others respond. If I’m not clapping, that does not necessarily mean I’m not engaged in the song. God meets us where we are, and our responses can vary from week to week as well as from year to year. Worship is not a tandem bicycle. We all don’t have to peddle at the same time or even to be pointed in the same direction.

Worshipping together offers gifts not available in private devotion. Let’s intentionally worship together. That gives God even more room in which to welcome and move in, through, and for us all.

Grace and Peace,

Meaningful Relationships Are Messy

2011-02-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an item entitled, “Where Have All the Presbyterians Gone?” The author noted that denominational loyalties have waned as non-denominational churches have become the fastest growing Protestant group in the United States. He attributed this to a “revivalist” movement driven by people who “tended not to talk about issues that might divide their congregants. They avoided questions like: Who should be baptized and when? What does the Lord’s Supper mean? Should women be ordained? And so on.”

Even if that implication were accurate, why avoid those questions? Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and ordination reflect the heart of our identity as followers of Jesus. The fact that Christians have varied opinions about them does not render them insignificant.

Ordination. We baptize all who accept Jesus as Lord, but reserve ordination for those called to specific leadership positions. Our discussions about ordination qualifications have been long and often heated; but I give thanks to God for them. When I felt called to become Presbyterian, I had two theological degrees and had received ordination in another denomination. Yet, I was required to take ordination exams and be examined by designated Presbyterian bodies. That took time and effort, but it manifested our commitment to qualified leadership. I learned a lot and forged meaningful relationships along that journey.

My recent reflections about ordination standards sparked several conversations. One was with a person with a different conviction. Our conversation changed no minds, but allowed me to grow in friendship with and respect for that person. If we ignored our different convictions, that would not have happened.

Lord’s Supper. When we gather for the Lord’s Supper, we invite all the baptized to receive the bread and cup. Some Christians place stricter limits on who may receive the elements. We have varied convictions about communion, but none of us considers the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist insignificant. God moves in and through us as we feast on the loaf and cup. The communion table points to the sacredness of all table fellowship. Communion means too much to take it for granted, even if that results in some challenging conversations.

Baptism. When, by the grace of God, I am privileged to baptize a child or adult, God seems as real to me as the water I place on a precious forehead. Our session authorizes all baptisms. Meaningful discussions regularly take place as a session ponders how to support and guide those who present children for baptism or adults who feel God calling them to the font.

Following Jesus is not all about us. Jesus calls into servant ministries: feeding the hungry; seeking justice for and having compassion on all; and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Yet, who we are and who leads us are important. I thank God for the faithful followers of Jesus fed by the “revivalist” movement. I also thank God for those who remain committed to the ministries of Jesus even when they lead us into challenging conversations unlikely to end soon. The best of life and faith lies not in what we avoid but in the often messy relationships forged as good people of varied convictions try to live, love, and serve together.

Grace and Peace,

2011-02-03 Light

2011-02-05T08:57:00.006-05:00

I am composing this item on Candlemas, the fortieth day of Jesus’ nativity, 2 February. The traditions associated with this day relate to Luke’s story of the presentation of Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:22-40). I saw few people streaming into sanctuaries today, but historically many Christians have gathered on this day to bless the candles that will be used during worship throughout the year and to receive lighted candles that symbolize the light of Christ. This reflects the description of Jesus in Luke’s story as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32).

Our New Testament reading this Sunday refers to followers of Jesus as the “light of the world” and my favorite metaphor for scripture is “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). With all this light converging, it seems only right to reflect on it. Light illuminates indiscriminately and shines for the benefit of others. That makes it a fitting symbol for the ministry of Jesus.

I recall a specific time in my early ministry during which the light of Jesus offered particular guidance and inspiration. Once upon a time I valued being right above nearly all else. Because of that I studied hard, learned to express myself, and participated in activities that drew me out of my introversion and into public settings. One of the downsides of valuing being right so highly, however, was that I was not always kind in disagreement. Jesus does not offer the option of respecting only those with whom we agree. As the historic principles in our denomination’s constitution remind us: “there are truths and forms with respect to which [people] of good characters and principles may differ. And in all these we think it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other.” Fortunately, I witnessed such mutual forbearance first-hand as a pastor confronted racism with passion but respect, as two elders expressed acute political disagreement while remaining friends, and on other occasions. I still value being right, but recognize showing respect as a greater good.

Light has an astounding capacity to spread. When I turn on my desk lamp, it not only illuminates my desk and most of the room, but also slivers through small openings to shine in the closet. Similarly, when we light each other’s candles on Christmas Eve, one candle lights ten or a hundred others without its light diminishing in the least. Our most Christlike traits and practices can be shared without diminishment. Love, patience, faith, hope, and more are not reduced when shared. They even increase.

On this Candlemas, I have taken time to give thanks to God for those through whom the light of Jesus has shone on me. Some knew I was watching; others didn’t. They all offered light that has helped me to travel this far. I have a long way to go, but the light continues to shine through other saints. I’m not certain what I would do without them, and, by the grace of God, I’ll never have to learn.

Grace and Peace,