First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, New York
Spiritual Life
Weekly Lectionary Readings for August 2010LINK to PC-USA to listen to weekly podcasts of the Sunday readings
The Sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated on Sunday, September 5
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"Music and More: Psalm 98" 05/25/08 |
The Reverend Laurena Marie Wickham Will "Being the Church" 07/26/06 |
Lay Preacher Mary Ellen Frackenpohl "For God, All Things Are Possible" 10/11/09 |
Response to Pastor’s Message in the May 2010 Parish Paper (on giving up something so that one can make a special donation to the church):
I was thinking about what Pastor Will wrote in May’s church newsletter, trying to figure where I could be less self-indulgent so I could donate money to the church. What I came up with is not going to garage sales this year. They are a kind of free entertainment and can be helpful if I find something that would be very useful I hadn’t even thought of. But mostly I buy (1) stuff I don’t need at all, (2) stuff I like for a while and then don’t, (3) stuff I think I’m going to repair or change somehow and never do.
You get the idea. I have too much stuff at home already.
So this is what I decided – I will not go to garage sales and I am donating $50.00 to the church (money added on to what I usually give). I hope this sets others to thinking.
- Jean Dawson
Monthly "Pastor's Message" from Pastor Rich
(published in the Parish Paper - September 2010)
Well, here we are again, election year and the primaries!! By the time you read your newsletter, you may have already 1) made a decision to vote for one candidate or another, 2) called your candidate and expressed your dismay at all the chaos in Albany, 3) decided to wait and see until November, or 4) chosen to ignore any race, any candidate, any party because, “What’s the use??!” 20th Century theologian Karl Barth admonished his students who presented a desire to be successful leaders. He stated, “One should begin his (pre inclusiveness) day at the breakfast table with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper (NY Times for him) in the other.” Knowledge of one’s community and the world is essential in making decision for the future of both. Working for peace and justice is more than rhetoric and good intentions. Respecting the rights of others to protest when they feel the government is heading in the wrong direction is part of this country’s heritage and rights given by the constitution. As we contemplate our participation toward a peaceful society and world, as Christians, we must be led by God’s Spirit and guided by our conscience and God’s Word, living and written.
Before you think this is a cry for political involvement, I would like us to make a correlation between our personal activities that make our society a better place in which to live, and our life in the church. As participants in the Body of Christ, we make choices about our involvement, to what extent and the amount of energy we are willing to expend. First of all, we need to decide that the life of the church is important to us and to those within the community of faith and those beyond our community. If this is a given, then we decide we will ‘vote’ by our actions and contribution of time, talent and treasure. If we are concerned about the direction in which the church is going, then it is our obligation to ‘call’ on the leaders of the church to question, suggest, advise and cooperate with whatever changes appear to be needed. However easy they may seem, ‘waiting’ for, ‘ignoring’ or choosing non-involvement in the activities in the church needed to sustain a viable, thriving ministry within and beyond the church are really not healthy options for faithful members.
Even though this is an election year, and politicians are urging their constituents to get out and vote (which includes assisting others to register, providing transportation to the polls, furnish a breakfast or lunch for voters, etc.), effective community involvement does not stop after one votes. The Apostle Paul’s letters contain many references indicating that followers of Jesus are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” If we are to be in the world, we are to be actively professing our faith in all aspects of our lives. This includes being agents of change and peace in a world that begs our wisdom, creativity, actions and our thoughtful prayers. Can we not juxtapose this thinking and these actions to our church life and participation in it? I trust that we can. Make a decision to get involved!!
Call your leaders and express your gratitude, make creative suggestions, promise to faithfully support them!! Don’t wait to see what is going to happen or what someone else is going to do!! Don’t ignore the needs of the church, but be a supportive, enthusiastic, active follower of the Christ as the church moves excitedly into the Third Century of ministry here in the North Country.
Love, grace and peace,
Pastor Rich Will
MOST RECENT SERMON:
“BUSY SIGNAL” — POTSDAM FIRST — AUGUST 22, 2010
Jeremiah 1: 14-29 —Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” 9Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them.
Luke 13: 10-17(10-13) — Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. Hebrews 12: 18-29(25-29) — See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
Kicking and screaming, a two by four experience—that is generally how I describe my call into the ministry. Doubts, fears, anxieties, feelings of inadequacies—all of these entered into the process of God’s whispering, shouting, murmuring, beseeching me to do something worthwhile with my life. There always (at least for ten years) seemed to be within me a busy signal when God called. It was a busy signal on my part, God rang, and lo and behold, bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz, David Richard was always on the phone, attending to something, someone, else. Primarily, he was attending to himself, his needs, his wants, his self-interest, his self-absorption. When I read the call of Jeremiah, I hardly think of myself being called as a prophet by any means but do relate to the reluctance of Jeremiah and feeling of inadequacy his answer to God reveals. I’m certain that any who have felt the call of God (and that means every one of us sitting here today!!), there have been doubts and fears and feelings of shortcomings when asked to participate in the ministry in one way or another. It matters not what the call might be, it matters not how sophisticated we are or how sophisticated the task might appear, the call is there.
Rev. Dr. Kimberleigh Buchanan, Pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ, Marietta, GA acknowledges her call to the pastoral ministry but says the following about ‘the call’: “I'm not the only person in my church community who has a specific calling from God. I see it over and over, people claiming their calls by God. * Calls to work with youth or preschoolers or older adults. * Calls to attend to the church's physical facility-thank goodness for those! * Calls to work with the finances of the church. * Calls to work not only in our church community but outside the church. * Calls to work with the homeless and the hungry and refugees, and with the earth. * Calls to be good accountants and bankers and teachers and doctors. * Calls to be good moms and dads and grandparents and neighbors. There is not one person in my church community or in yours who has not been called by God. All of us are known by God. All of us have been called by God to specific tasks. God will supply everything we need to fulfill our callings. And when we do fulfill our callings, when we live our lives, not only will it be good for us, but it will be good for the whole people of God.”
I can’t say it any better. My question for us today is this: “What if we all left our spiritual, practical, church work phones off the hook and all God would hear is a busy signal?” What if none of us answered the page from God, the twitter call, the Blueberry notification, the email directing us to “Speak whatever I command you, gird up your loins, build up and plant, stand up and tell?” Rev Dr. Roberta Hestenes, long time educator, author and speaker, currently Executive Consultant with Koinonia Theological Seminary in the East Bay area of San Francisco has been involved with World Vision for years, speaks of grumbling when hearing the call of God, but being reticent to answer:
“Sometimes we are tempted to live in the past and think that those good old days were better than anything that is going on now or anything that might come in the future. Grumbling falsifies the past. Grumbling also teaches us to distrust God. It is a denial that God is good and that God means good for us, that even in difficult and hard circumstances, the loving God is compassionately reaching out that we might know that we are loved, redeemed, called out of bondage into freedom. Grumbling denies the goodness of God.”
While Jeremiah’s hesitation to God’s call can hardly be called grumbling, it is a form of placing a busy signal on our receptors when we know God desires our service and obedience. We, as servants of the Most High, often put filters of ‘busyness,’ ‘other priorities,’ ‘me-first,’ on the line of communication from God and us.
The Rev. Dr. Susan Andrews, former moderator of the General Assembly and Pastor of Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD gives a relevant four point explanation of a call from God, (remember, all of us are called by God, for a purpose, with God’s promise of steadfast faith and accompaniment):
First, God’s call is seldom instantaneous or clear.
Not all of us have had a top of the mountain, breathtaking (away), spontaneous, audible call from God. Even when the call from God comes to us, there is often static on the line, garble in the email, break-up in the text-message. Yet, we have to do our part to keep the phone on, keep the lines open, do what we can to avoid missing God’s call.
Second, what God calls us to do and be may not meet with the expectations of others—particularly our parents or the biases of our culture.
No one in my high school or college classes would ever have guessed that I would be in the ministry—Eureka!! Neither did I!!!! As much as my Aunt Joyce said that, at the age of 10 I told her I was going to be a minister, no way did I feel called (especially because my phone was off the hook for at least 15 years!)! Perhaps many of you had expectations placed on you in the past that told you that service in a church or mission field was out of the question.
Third, oftentimes what we are called to do and be is not easy or comfortable.
Some of you formerly or currently in leadership positions in this church or in a previous church probably had great doubts and reservations about to what you were called and/or to what extent you could make a difference. Even many who have been hesitant to say ‘yes’ to serving felt that the calling of God would be just too hard. Perhaps some might even wonder about the church as a whole and is it even relevant to today and can the church satisfy my needs, or live up to my expectations.
Fourth, if we are biblical people, then nine times out of ten we will resist what God is calling us to do. Our resistance will most likely be based on a sense of inadequacy or unworthiness.
My mentor during my internship cautioned me about putting biblical personalities up on pedestals because the parishioners would feel unable to live up to their feats of service, strength or character. While I think there is a modicum of wisdom in that, I know that many of those leaders, prophets, teachers and faithful had flaws, weaknesses, doubts, reservations just as we do here and now in the 21st Century. What I am certain we all can relate to is the resistance many of us feel or have felt when it comes to actually living the life of a Christian servant and freely giving of our time, talent and treasure. And, as Dr. Andrews suggests, much of it comes from our feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness.
I would add implicitly that resistance also comes from our own busy signals, busy with work, busy with family, busy with self, busy with superfluous ‘busyness’ that gives us those great maladies of excusitis, detailitis, and procrastination.
“What if we all left our spiritual, practical, church work phones off the hook and all God would hear is a busy signal?” What if none of us answered the page from God, the twitter call, the Blueberry notification, the email directing us to “Speak whatever I command you, gird up your loins, build up and plant, stand up and tell?” I encourage us to acknowledge and be mindful of our resistance to God’s call; however, this is only the first step. I call us to be attentive to that call, knowing that God holds us, strengthens us, comforts us, leads us always. God is a God of promise — “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” Do not be afraid of the nay-sayers, the doubters, the fearers, or even your own strengths and weaknesses. God will give us what we need to accomplish God’s vision for us. Let us listen, yet again, open our heart lines of communication, our wavelengths of service, knowing that our Creator God through Christ is forever faithful, forever with us and abiding in and through us in all that we say and do.
AMEN
(Other Recent Sermons by Pastor Rich)