Pastor Blog

A Note From the Senior Pastor

Dear Friends,

THE BIBLE MAKES at least two contributions to the huge matter of human beings getting along with each other, with respect, honor, justice, decency, two which I shall name shortly.

I also have to admit the Bible, and our religious faith, our Christian religious faith, our Protestant Christian religious faith has contributed enormously to the Problem.  We have a record of prejudice, exclusion, disregard, harsh judgmentalism about which we should ceaselessly be repentant. It will take eternity to undo the harm inflicted by one race, culture, gender, age, religion etc upon others. To our shame.

Where does this name-calling, ridicule, vilification come from? Remember the song in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, SOUTH PACIFIC, “you’ve got to be taught to hate, you’ve got to be carefully taught”.  Is that it?  Would we naturally NOT hate and only do so because someone, somehow has “schooled us” to do so?

I have been listening to the debate weighing in from all sides over the recent slander against the

Rutgers

Women’s basketball team.  Some say it’s a matter of up-bringing; some, lack of cultural-sense, lack of any civility, any common sense.  It’s ignorance, that is what brings such indecency about.

About this particular slander, one commentator, with several others agreeing, said, it’s the RAP culture, they initiated those terms, now others are picking them up, no complaints when RAP music did it.

         A sociologist from a near-by University explained, this is a deep philosophical issue that will require substantial ideological shift.

         I shall add my own; as long as we have War we shall have human hatred. We might have it without war, but as long as War is acceptable, practiced, and perpetrated by the best, human hate will not stop.

         The Bible’s two contributions to an answer? Romans, chapter 14: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Why do you despise your sister or brother?  We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God . . . each of us will be accountable to God.”  That is one thing: you shall have enough work accounting for yourself to God.

         Pretty harsh, negative; but the point is, that being the case it behooves you and me to be both tolerant and respectful toward every other.

         Two: Christ Jesus, at the very least, the finest human being ever, eradicates all differences and distributions about human beings used as a means of ridicule, hurt, indecency, or humor.  Distinctions aren’t eliminated, they are honored; differences aren’t homogenized, they are respected, and welcomed.

         My point is, there is One God, we are all God’s people; try not to hurt any one, ever.

                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                     Pastor Condon

Dear Friends

As I sit to write this newsletter, the sun is coming up over the trees and shining right into my home office.  It’s hard to imagine something so far away can still generate such warmth on us.  A warmth, not just of the sunray’s heat, but after this last cold spell, a warmth of heart in inspiration and anticipation of the arrival of spring.  I actually saw a robin in my yard yesterday. 

I remember as a child being told by my parents that at this time of year, spring was just around the corner.  Confused by this saying, I kept asking, “What corner?” Where should I look around?  (I actually would look expectantly around each corner for a while.) This idea of spring “just around the corner” excited my youthful hopes.  Of course, my parents got a kick out of this, and so, continued to make this comment just to watch me become so excited.  Eventually, I came to understand that it is just a “play on words.”  Yet, even knowing this today, I still get a childlike feeling of excitement as I visualize this time of year, nearing winter’s end. 

Along this line of childlike excitement, I’d like to share with you an incident that I witnessed many years ago at a department store.  I was in the checkout line.  Ahead of me, trying to finish checking out, was a young mother with a 6-year-old and an infant.  She was trying to decide with the clerk what couple of things to put back because she was short of money.  While this was taking place, the 6-year-old wandered over to a game machine.  It was one of those big windowed boxes with a crane-like contraption and claws that drop down to grab special trinkets—like small stuffed toys—inside.  One must manually maneuver the claws to pick the prize one wants and deposit it into the shoot so it falls down, and then YOU WIN!  I think we all know the odds of actually winning anything (except lighter pockets & purses from using up the quarters). 

The 6-year-old came racing back naïvely excited, exclaiming, “Mom, Mom! I just saw the “tiger” I wanted to get.  I know I can’t buy anything, but this is only a quarter, and it’s just what I want!”  The mother looked distraught, as she tried to explain to her son that it was a waste of money, and she did not have quarters to keep giving him to try to win “that special stuffed toy.”  His excitement was unrelenting.  “Mom, just one quarter?  Just one.  I know I can do it.  I just know it.  Just one quarter, and I won’t ask for another one.  I promise.”

I felt angry that department stores allowed such machines that preyed on the young minds and hopes of innocent youth for profit.  This poor child would end up disappointed one way or another. Either his mother would not give him the quarter, or she would give him the quarter, and he’d use it, and get nothing.  Either way, he’d be sad.  Those were the options I saw as an experienced and wise adult. 

Eventually the mother relented and gave him just one quarter.  As he began to bolt away from her, she grabbed his arm and said, “I can’t give you another one.”  He replied, “That’s okay Mom.  I won’t need another one.”  And off he ran to the machine.  My heart was saddened for what was about to take place.

As the mother finished checking out, I heard the boy shouting with glee.  “See, see I told you!  All I needed was one quarter.”  He was carrying the toy stuffed tiger he had been determined to get.  I could not believe it! J

This incident made me reflect on the childlike excitement—the “daring to dream”—that I had pushed aside, now that I was an adult.  I felt it was God’s way of reminding me to have the faith of a child.  While we all have to face the facts of life, every once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to relive our childlike excitements. 

Over this month of March, as we say goodbye to winter and hello to signs of spring, may your hopes and dreams come to bear fruit in you.  Dare to dream like a child and your outlook will change.  Spring is just around the corner!

God bless,

                Pastor Deborah

Dear Friends

                IT IS USUAL for we ministers and preachers to rail about the lack of concern for things spiritual among even church folks, church members that on a Sunday many can be found at the Mall, the grocery store, the golf course, or at home sleeping!  Many aren’t at their place in the pew; and so, we preachers complain and criticize and rail against that.  We say things like, “if gold rusts, what shall iron do”?!

I am not for relaxing the discipline (or the disappointment!) one bit; BUT (and it is a large BUT) I find absolutely no backing in the Christian way for scolding, none.  People have their reasons why they cannot always be in church at an appointed hour; I am inclined to respect that.

I notice also that our Lord began his ministry, according to St. Luke, amidst much opposition and blatant rejection.  His first sermon at Nazareth started our wonderfully well, people were falling all over themselves with admiration and applause; before he finished they tried to throw him off the edge of a cliff, they were so incensed.  He got himself out of that and, after, said nothing about it.  He didn’t blame those who were not interested, not open, not positive, just not present; he turned his attention to those whose spirits were parched, troubled, tormented.  When “gold rusted” he sought out the “iron folks”

In other words he did not spend much time trying to convince the at-the-moment satisfied and doing o.k., where they were missing the mark, he concentrated on those who needed the help and support he could give.  Maybe he thought, “If we have something and people need it bad enough, they will come.”

More than that, and I think much more than that, Jesus took these experiences of disinterest and opposition and applied them to his own work.  He believed what he had come to offer people was important, that it would benefit in a great many ways. So, he set out to do his level best with what he had for those who found a way to receive it.  He knew there would always be those folks too.  Again and Again in those early, first days of his work, he brought peace and healing to those who were not well, he expelled the evil forces that dragged people down, he welcomed others who might join, might assist, might offer their own contributions.  He extended the realm of God wherever he went.

So, I think about that as I do my work, as we do our work as a Church.  We are not the ones to decide who needs what the Church and our Lord Jesus have to give, we are to do all we can to make that available wherever there is the need.  Bringing others together with God in joyful and fulfilling ways is what we are to do; the outcome is in hands other than our own.

It really isn’t a matter of how many, it’s a matter of how much and how well.  The pronouncement “Well Done” still rates highest.

                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                                       Pastor Condon