~ by the Pastor and guest writers ~
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Jesus (December 30, 2002) As the curtain closes on the calendar year of 2002 I have Jesus on my mind. We have waited expectantly for his coming during the weeks of Advent and now we have celebrated his birth. In the words of Frederick Buechner, “The Jesus Who Is is the one whom we search for even when we do not know that we are searching and hide from even when we do not know that we are hiding.” Have you ever noticed that the Bible ends with, “Come, Lord Jesus”? It is as The One Who Comes that we know him most truly. Perhaps no one has said it more movingly than Albert Schweitzer: “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as, an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.” A. Schweitzer, The Quest for the Historical Jesus, trans. W. Montgomery (London: A. and C. Black, 1922), p. 401. May the Lord Jesus bless and keep each of you as we begin a New Year to His service and ministry.
 “What Do I Want for Christmas?” (December 17, 2002) As much as I decry and grouse about what goes on this time of year during the Advent and Christmas season there has always been something magical for me about the celebrations of Christmas. This past Sunday I was deeply moved when Lucy played “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” as our prelude for worship. Music and poetry have a way of speaking to me that I have always found comforting. I suspect the same may be true for you. Each year about this time I pull down a collection of poems by Ann Weems, “Kneeling in Bethlehem.” If you have never read her poetry I strongly encourage you to do so. She always helps me get past my “Bah! Humbug!” attitude about the commercialization of Christmas. Writing of the Christmas season, she confesses, “For those of us who believe, the whole world is decorated in love!” Ann sees beyond the season’s festivities to the day-to-day living and asks, “If Christmas is not now, if Christ is not born into the everyday present, then what is all the noise about?” One of my favorite poems from Ann Weems is entitled, “What Do I Want for Christmas?” This poem about sums it up for me: What do I want for Christmas? I want to kneel in Bethlehem, the air thick with alleluias, the angels singing that God is born among us. In the light of the Star, I want to see them come, the wise ones and the humble. I want to see them come bearing whatever they treasure to lay at the feet of him who gives his life. What do I want for Christmas? to see in that stable the whole world kneeling in thanks for a promise kept: new life. For in his nativity we find ours. God bless and keep each and everyone of you. May your Advent and Christmas days be filled with the joy of family and friends and the peace of Christ! Merry Christmas and I’ll See You Sunday!
A Season of Thanksgiving (December 2, 2002) By the time you receive our newsletter this week most of you will be, I hope, enjoying a time with family and friends in this season of Thanksgiving. Take time to push yourself away from the dinner table long enough to give thanks to God for all blessings. I have a laundry list of “thanksgivings” in no particular order. While jogging earlier today a litany of thoughts invaded this time to myself. Here are some of mine. Add your own to see what is on your list: · I’m thankful to God for the youth of First Presbyterian Church, from tiny babies to kids of all ages. Here among us are young minds and hearts that daily face the challenges of being faithful to Jesus Christ and who seek to follow him as Lord and Savior in an increasingly alien culture where the Good News runs counter to what they hear in a market economy that seeks to serve only one’s self. On Sunday our junior high group demonstrated their service to our Lord with the gifts of food to share with those who often have so little. · I’m thankful to God for a church that demonstrated it’s service to our larger church by working hard to host a Mission Presbytery meeting that was second to none. Calls, comments, emails have come across my desk thanking all of you for what you did to make visitors feel a part of the extended church family at the October meeting of presbytery. You set the standard for others to follow. · I’m thankful to God for the ministry and service of Mimi Rhea who stepped in to serve as our Director of Christian Education at a time when God was calling her. How can we ever thank Mimi enough for her countless hours to nurture, direct, and shepherd education in our congregation? And I’m thankful for Don who supported, supports, and loves Mimi and this congregation. Thanks Don, for sharing Mimi with all of us! · I’m thankful to God for the many committees in our church and those elders who chair these committees. They make the work of the church look “easy” but we know better. They work hard to make sure the life and work of this church goes on each day. Thanks to all of you for responding to the call to serve! I eagerly await those newly elected elders now called to serve with their gifts of ministry. · I’m thankful to God for continuing to give me a deep passion for the future of the church and for Scripture. I’m thankful that God has given me an inquiring and demanding mind, unwilling to accept unexamined information. On the flip side, I’m thankful for a God that understands and forgives my impatience or my tendency to speak out so strongly that other voices are silenced in the room and a God who sees my stubbornness that I too often mask as righteousness. · And last, but not least, I’m thankful to God for each of you who are such an encouragement from day-to-day. How can I not be thankful to God when I am surrounded with a congregation of Barnabases? (Learn more about Barnabas in Acts 4:32-37). So, in this “Season of Thanksgiving”, may the Spirit of the Living God be with our families, our colleagues, our neighbors, to those sitting in our pews and those who refuse to sit in any pew, to those who have been members here for fifty years and for those who recently joined our church family, and to the entire landscape of God’s broken and beloved world. Look around this Thanksgiving and look far beyond this church and may God give us eyes to see so many gifts from God for which we can be thankful!
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