(the photo is of Edwin at his graduation from Princeton in 2011 and his baby neice, Alana who was there to celebrate!)

Dear Friends,

Coming off Holy Week, I have so much to be thankful for.

I have the opportunity to teach at a Jesuit University, Universidad Rafael Landívar, as well as teaching English to people who want to serve as translators for mission groups from the US.

I have an opportunity to work on my reports for Princeton Seminary by spending time with different indigenous families, and living with them.

I have travelled all over:  Lago Atitlán, Flores-Petén Itza, Tikal, Antigua, and so many other adventures.

And lastly, I just heard that I have been accepted into the Lily Residency as a Pastoral Resident at Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago, for 2 years.  It is a wonderful opportunity, and I am truly thankful.  Of course, that means I only have a short summer to spend with my family, July and August.

I am grateful for the prayers of the WAPC family and leave off with the following reflection:

Celebrating Holy Week, for the second time in Guatemala, has been a rich blessing.  As a child, I couldn´t stand ritual, routine, tradition, repetition, etc, etc. It was boring, unexciting and kept me from playing in the woods with friends or kickball on the street.

As I grow older, and especially after graduating from seminary, I realize how important ritual is, how important tradition can be.  In fact, in Guatemala, which due to its strong Catholic community, the Holy Week tradition is a BIG DEAL.  It means families gather, on vacation, to prepare for processions, as they decorate the streets, prepare food, and spend a great deal of time together. In fact, on Thursday and Friday night, families stay up through the night, in a sort of vigil, making all of the preparations.  These are not quiet nights.  In fact, with the processions come a ton of live marching bands and fireworks.  It is beautiful, the night is alive in the way American 4th of Julys are alive with BBQs and family gatherings.

But most of all, in the midst of transition, both in my own life and in the world around, and especially in Guatemala where one can so easily find a great deal of poverty, sickness, orphans, marginalized peoples, crime, and murder and death, Holy Week tradition is what gets me through. It reminds me of the mystery of Jesus as the Christ, his own life, suffering and death, which tells us the story of a God who enters our world, our history and therefore, our painful stories.  God with us, Emanuel, in Christ, even in the suffering.

But it is also that wondrous, mysterious Resurrection morning, that offers us a way and a world beyond our greed, thirst for revenge, anger and hate, and points us to our true humanity and identity in Christ Jesus, as a Resurrection people called to be a part of life, to be life-giving, healing, and tranforming agents in this world.  And in this, we are also called to rest in the God that goes before us, among us, around us, with and within us, and for that, I am most thankful.

Peace to you,

Edwin Estevez

HOPE IN THE DARK DAYS

-by Sister Joan Chittister

Note from Pastor Shannan:

This is a Holy Week reflection from Joan Chittister, a Roman Catholic nun.  Joan's work has ranged over many themes throughout the years, and she is not just considered a teacher in the Roman Catholic tradition, but in the Protestant one as well.  This reflection uses the traditional Christian practice of the Stations of the Cross for Holy Week for reflection.  Her words are powerful and I hope that they are a help and guide to any of us who reads this as we journey through Holy Week.  Many thanks to WAPC member Sarellen Hogan for passing along this beautiful devotional! 

The Stations of the Cross, unlike many traditional private devotions—novenas, for instance—are not designed to beg God for favors or graces or special attention of any kind. They are instead simply an excursion through the hard moments of life as those periods are demonstrated in the life of Jesus himself. They remain universally popular throughout the ages not because they concentrate on suffering, surely, but because they give us a model of how to live life when our own suffering is unavoidable and life seems most impossible. I invite you to use these for reflection during Holy Week.  -J.C.

MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK
Station 1 – Jesus is condemned to die.

The first station of the cross requires us to examine our entire philosophy of life. Jesus is condemned to die because he defied the standards of both the state and the religious establishment in which he lived. To both, he brought a truth they did not want to hear. He set out to witness to the love and justice of the God of all creation: Jews and non-Jews, women as well as men, underlings as well as the professional types of his time.

 The question with which the first station confronts us is a stark one: What is it in life for which we are willing to be condemned? The goal of life is not to avoid condemnation. No one does. Life’s greatest challenge is simply to decide who will condemn us and why.

TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK
Station IV – Jesus meets his mother.

The fourth station of the cross teaches us the freedom that comes with real love. Jesus and Mary meet under the worst circumstances. He has become an enemy of the state, an outcast from the synagogue. She is a widow left alone in a male world without the sustenance of her only son and no visible means of support. Both of them, in a way, are condemned to death. But she does not beg him to change his life for her sake and he does not tailor his life to please her. In this case mother and son love one another enough to respect the place of God in both their lives.

The question with which the fourth station confronts us is, Why do we love and how well? If we love another for our own sake, that love is doomed for both of us. If we love them enough to respect the place of God in their lives, love can never fail us.

WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK
Station V – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross.

The fifth station of the cross demonstrates for us the power of presence in the life of the poor and oppressed. Being where suffering is, associating ourselves with it, standing with those whom society has condemned is a great and gracious witness.

At times, this witness is thrust upon us: the state wants more tax money to support the poor or a neighbor turns to us for help we did not freely offer and do not want to give. But sometimes, if we’re lucky, we find ourselves in one of life’s great acts whether we want to be there or not. Then we so often discover that it is not so much what Simon did for Jesus as what Jesus did for Simon that counts.

The questions of the fifth station are, What are we being called to do for someone right now for which we are a disinclined observer? What does the situation have to offer us, as well? When we open our hearts to the other in need, we are very likely to discover that our own hidden needs have been healed in the process.

HOLY THURSDAY
Station X – Jesus is stripped of his garments.

The tenth station of the cross confronts us with the inevitable in every life: somewhere along the way, we each get stripped of what we have spent our lives acquiring, of things closest to our hearts, of possessions or positions that made us who we thought we were. Then, thrown back on ourselves, we are left to discover who we have really become. It is a frightening moment, often an embarrassing one, always a difficult one.

The question of the tenth station is, What is underneath the garments of pomp, authority, dignity and wealth that we have so carefully cultivated around us? Anything at all? The Jesus who stands before us naked and unashamed, dignified and full of conviction is calling us to pay more attention to who we are than what we have so cunningly conspired to pretend to be.

GOOD FRIDAY
Station XII – Jesus dies on the cross.

The twelfth station of the cross brings us face-to-face with the finality of defeat. Sometimes things don’t have a happy ending in life. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we’re humiliated. Sometimes we’re misunderstood. Sometimes we are abandoned by the very people we love most in life and whom we thought also loved us. At that point, without doubt, something in us dies.

The question of the twelfth station is, Am I able to accept the daily defeats of life, both the great ones and small, knowing that death is not the end of life, only its passing over to something new in me?

HOLY SATURDAY
Station XIV – Jesus is laid in the tomb.

The fourteenth station of the cross brings us to grapple with the grace of closure. Some phases of life end and cannot be retrieved. They go by before we’re ready to see them go. Worse, their going may feel like ignominy at the time or may even look to the world as failure. But only in the ability to realize that life goes on from one moment to another, from one task to another, from one kind of presence to another, can we ever come to new life. When Jesus submits to the death of his ministry, when Jesus allows both state and synagogue to cast him out, one life ends so that another one can begin.

The question that this station of the cross leaves in our soul is a resounding one: Am I able to trust that the tombs of my life are all gateways to resurrection?

                   

                    

Sharing resources, Changing lives

In my sermon on January 15th I will be talking about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

Every year I re-read his most famous piece of writing, his Letter from Birmingham City Jail as a personal spiritual practice.  This year I am putting copies of it out on the mission table at the church for people to pick up after worship on Sunday morning, but there is also a link to it on here on the church website.  I hope that reading Dr. King's letter will become a spiritual practice and inspirtation for you too.

Peace,

Pastor Shannan

Link to the Letter from Birmingham City Jail

Interactive Prayer Stations for Advent—Week #1

This past Sunday (November 27^th) we tried out something new in worship.  Interactive Prayer Stations!  My friend from Seminary, Theresa Cho who is at St. John’s Presbyterian in San Francisco is a whiz at prayer stations and offered advice to us!  This is an idea that been around for a while, I remember engaging in these at worship conferences, and there are all sorts of great ideas out there.  So thank you Theresa for some help getting going! 

Our Session retreat in November focused on some new ideas for worship and prayer stations were one idea we all really liked and we spent time looking at Theresa’s ideas for prayer stations and decided to spend the season of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) in worship experimenting with this different way of praying.  

I of course, was nervous about trying something new, wondering what the reactions would be.  I have learned through, over my two and a half year (so far!) time with Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church that this is a very adventurous and forgiving congregation—which gives so much freedom to try all sorts of new things!   That is a huge asset and a gift beyond all others!

This is how prayer stations work:  Instead of the usual prayers of the people (one person praying while others sit quietly in the pews), stations are created around the room/sanctuary that can be just about anything that invites and elicits prayer.  Because they are different (and use different tools for praying, like markers, ribbons, etc.) they evoke new senses out of us in our response to the movement of the Spirit in our lives.  We see new things and we hear a new Word from God as we pray.  

Our stations this past weekend focused on our scripture readings from Isaiah and Mark that were the cornerstone of our worship service. 

These were the descriptions of our five prayer stations:

Today in place of the Prayers of the People we will share the practice of interactive prayer stations.   The idea is to get up and to interact in silence with others as you offer prayers to God in a variety of ways.  You may go to as many or as few stations of prayer as you want to.  

There are five prayer stations throughout the Sanctuary…

Prayer Wall—This prayer station is located on the back wall of the Sanctuary.  Here you are invited to write short prayers to God, reflecting on prayer questions related to the Isaiah and Mark readings for this Sunday.  

Prayer Ornaments—This prayer station is located on the side of the church near the front.  Here you will find small clear glass ball ornaments.  You are invited to write Advent "spiritual intentions" on strips of colored paper and then place them into your ornament to take home.  You can then place your ornament on your Christmas Tree at home as a way of remembering the spiritual commitments you have made today to God at the beginning of your Advent journey.

Prayer Ribbons—This prayer station is located at the front of the church in front of the Christmas Tree.  Here you are invited to write Advent prayers for the world.  Leave one prayer tied to the tree and take one prayer home with you. 

Remembering Your Baptism—This prayer station is located at the front of the church at the Baptismal Font which is filled with water.  Come and dip your hands in the water and remember that as one who has been baptized into Christ you are loved by God.   As you dip your hands into the water ask God to help open your heart to the new places that God in Jesus Christ is calling you during this Advent Season. 

The Silence of the Moment—Quiet music will be played throughout this time in worship. You can always return (or stay) in your pew to pray silently.  

I noticed many things this Sunday in worship as people went to the prayer stations:

·         Children and youth in the church smiling and having fun

·         People pausing in prayer on the steps in front the baptismal font, some with their hands over their eyes, some with their hands raised in the air

·         Tears

·         Smiles as people passed each other and got near to each other as they moved through the prayer stations

·         Thoughtful pauses and some people stopped to contemplate the questions on the prayer wall

The space felt different, worship felt different.  I am hearing good feedback, but seriously, if people have other feedback—I really do want to hear it so we can keep making this the best possible experience of worship for everyone! 

And some samplings of the prayers that were written on the prayer wall this Sunday:

·         Find ways to do more with less and then have more to give

·         Remember the “real” Christmas!

·         Give my time and talent to those in need!

·         To dig deeper and share with those in need

·         Supporting our military always!

·         Be with us as we await your return

·         Thanks to our military, but God, let there be no need!

·         Remember to begin and end the day with “global” prayer

·         Agonizing over the writing of Christmas cards

·         Away from commercialism and toward the reality of God in Christ in our lives

·         To prevent violence against children

·         God thank you for our food  --from a child

There are a few photos in this posting, but if you want to see all the photos from the prayer stations click here

So what do you think about this?   How did you sense the Spirit moving on Sunday morning?

…And see you this Sunday for worship at 10AM in the Sanctuary, we’ll be doing more prayer stations, and yes, they will be different, we’ll be doing this all the way until we get to Christmas!  

See you this Advent as we prepare our souls and spirits to once again be as open and ready as possible to welcome the Christ Child into our world--into our lives--so that we and the Creation might be transformed....

Peace…..

The WAPC Session met on Sunday November 13, 2011 to talk about ideas about changing up how we worship.  We used this powerpoint presentation to help us through our conversation and we also shared some of our thoughts/hopes/dreams.  Below are the rough notes from what ideas and conversations we had.   We made a few decisions out of our meeting:

1.       We are going to look into the use of increased media in worship (projection, sound)

2.       We are going to try out the idea of prayer stations in worship during Advent

3.       We are going to look into signage issues all around the church property and come back with ideas and a plan for this in the coming months

4.       We are going to try out the idea of worship at an alternate time in 2012.  From January-June 2012 we will have worship on the Second Sundays of each month at 4PM with a shared potluck dinner afterwards.  There will be no morning worship service on these Sundays.  We hear lots of feedback across the spectrum at WAPC that morning worship does not work for many people, so we are going to give it a try for part of 2012 and evaluate with the full participation of the congregation what we thought about this change.  This is not a final commitment, but a trial that we feel we should take at this time.   There will be full details about this in the December church newsletter!  We are very excited about this!

5.       A small group of “dreamers” will work with Pastor Shannan and Elder Bob Goellner on a variety of these issues around worship/community in-between Session meetings, always reporting back to the Session.

Question to Elders:  Where have you experienced the mystery of God/Spirit?

·         Mountains.  Once I climbed a mountain and seeing what was beautiful around me and the expanse was humbling

·         Repetition helps me with mystery in worship.   I don’t have to think about the words and can “give into” the Spirit

·         When we sing the Doxology or We Are An Offering after the offering

·         The Cross in the front of the church is a focal point for me in worship

·         Big Sky out West

·         When I have recovered from illness or health-crises and experienced God in the midst of that

·         When my senses are woken up

·         Beauty outside

Question to Elders:  Why do you come to worship at WAPC?

·         Communion.  Some like the liturgy, others do not.

·         For silence

·         Worship grounds me when I am stressed

·         I stay away from worship when I am stressed

·         I have a sense of belonging here—HOME

·         Sometimes I am angry with God

·         I like being Presbyterian, our polity is a democracy and I appreciate that

·         Worship gives me perspective—gives me an opportunity to know what others are facing and see my life through that lens

·         Opportunity to express gratitude

·         Helps with raising children (morals/intergenerational experiences for them)

·         Time to give thanks and ask God for help

·         I feel we have community here.  We might believe different things, but we have a shared community with each other. 

Issues that we have raised to think about:

·         Maybe we change the location of the prayers of the people in the service.  Right now it is at the end which is where it is “supposed to go” liturgically, but so many people feel safe to raise “heavy” issues during this time which is wonderful.  But we want worship to end with joy, and so perhaps moving that to a different spot in the service might help with that.  Sometimes I feel “up” after the sermon and this can make me feel a bit down again. 

·         Signs—We need better signs out front of the building about worship time, handicapped access, which doors to use, buzzer system, etc.  Also, inside building for visitors.   To be followed up on with BNO.

·         We’d like to do hymn-sings 1-2x/year

·         Can we use incense in worship?  More smell?  People liked the oil two Sundays ago and the smell of that.

·         Can we have Bob’s band play more often or Leslie’s harp?  We love that!

·         Let’s bring back the Halleluiah Chorus at Easter

·         More songs we can sing easily

·         New songs, Jeremy to lead/teach it at the beginning of worship

·         Can we cut the divider down between Jeremy and the congregation so we can see him when he’s at the organ and he can give us more signals for singing? 

·         We like variety in music, we know we are moving away from it for good reasons, but can we mix it up a bit?  

·         Want to do interactive prayer stations

·         Timing of worship, especially for families (Sunday mornings do not work for many)  Elders shared positive feedback on a time change of worship in their conversations with members.  A trial balloon of this for six-months in 2012 will happen

·         We like having communion 2x/month, but we need to get others to take charge of this.  Beverly and Andy are tired and it isn’t fair that we give them all the work to do alone.  Others must step up to do this and we must lead on this as the Session

·         Children’s sermons—we need to get the kids to not sit on the chancel steps but face Shannan so they can hear her!  Hard to teach a new habit.  Judy will make special worship pillows for the children to sit on to encourage new seating for them.

·         We want to use more video/projection in worship and looked at the two videos linked on the WAPC blog as examples. 

Video One

Video Two

Wayne is going to look into projection equipment for the Sanctuary.  We have a gift to the church we want to use for this purpose.  The youth group’s video presentation a few Sundays ago was very well-received and we heard feedback from our Elders in the youth group that more video in worship would be something they would like

·         We want to film an entire worship service at WAPC and put it on the website for visitors.  We understand that many people are afraid of churches, have had negative experiences or seen them via media that is negative on TV, etc.  We cannot assume that people will come to worship to check us out, without knowing what they will “get” and that this is a safe space.  This works against us.  So, one of the ways we want to show this to visitors is via the website so they know we are not scary and that we have a welcoming, inclusive congregation and worship service

·         We really liked the idea of prayer stations in worship.  We plan to do a trial run of this in Advent 2011.

·         We talked about use of design in the worship space, color, banners, prayer tree etc.  We plan to implement these ideas over time in 2012

We looked at this video about fun design ideas in church as a jumping off point

·         We also discussed the location of the pews in the Sanctuary and the idea of reconfiguring worship space for intimacy

Coalition of Immokalee Workers  This is the group of workers Pastor Shannan described in her sermon.  Their website is highly informative and tells the story of their successful campaigns against hunger and for fair-worker practices.

Information about Fair-Food Campaigns that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is taking in regards to Publix Supermarkets, Taco Bell, and Trader Joes. 

US Census Data on Poverty in the United States.

Questions from Pastor Shannan's Sermon:

"The task before us as Christians living in the world that we are a part of today is very hard work.   It means we have to get educated on what is going on around us.  It means we have to study and know the Bible and what God’s call to us is.  And then it means we have to connect all those dots and then engage in faithful personal living and choices—and community action."   

What is God calling us to do?  

How is God asking us to recognize the blessings in our lives so that we can be a part of reversing the cycle of desperation in the lives of others—creating a new way of living—a way of abundance, rather than a way of scarcity and hoarding?   

What is God calling us to do?  

What sort of a system, what sort of a society have we created?   

Does it resemble the sort of culture that God would want for us to have?   

Do we need a new Moses or a new Aaron to lead us into a new reality?   

How can we as people of faith take a critical look at what is going on around us, in places far off and places near to home—and be courageous enough to name the evil and the sin-sick system that we are live in?   

How as people who follow God should we work against or even resist this sort of a system?

1 in 6 children in our country live in poverty.   What would God want us to say and do about that?   

REMEMBERING, RELEASE, AND RESURRECTION

A Meditation on Romans 14: 1-12 by Rev. Shannan R. Vance-Ocampo

Sunday September 11, 2011 (Ten Year Anniversary of September 11^th)

Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church

Let us pray: Your presence like treasure hidden in a field.  Your Glory like gold buried on the pathway of every moment.  Your Wisdom like the finest oil waiting to be pressed from the human heart from every nation from every people from every child.  Your Wisdom, O God, to show us the way.[i] 

            I began thinking about this anniversary months ago.  It hit me that the 10^th anniversary of September 11^th was going to fall on a Sunday, meaning that this milestone of the first decade would be on the day when you and I gather together as a community of faith.  It seems appropriate to me that we would be here, that we would be in this place as we think and reflect on that day.  

            For me personally, I have been a mix of emotions this whole week as we have approached today.  As you know, I was just two months into my first call in ministry when the attacks of September 11^th happened.   I remember that I was full of the excitement of just starting ministry, and I was also nervous, still trying to get my bearings.  Like everyone, that day is etched into my memory forever.  One of the things that I find myself reflecting on is that the tragedy that was September 11^th happened right as I started ministry—and that the day and what has happened afterwards is now a constant part of my ministry. I knew hardly anything of ordained ministry before that day, and will never know ordained ministry without that day.   It’s something I think about a lot. 

Of course, the day happened.  There are so many details to that day, I can still remember exactly everything that we did and went through.   Most of all I remember the stress, the worry, and how rapidly the day went.   I remember the sky turning a strange burnt orange color as the smoke made its way to us from the city.   I remember a hastily called meeting of the local clergy group, about 15 of us crammed into the study at the Red Bank Presbyterian Church.  Cell phones going off and the church secretary at that congregation running in and out of the room as each of us received news and updates about members of our congregations.  I remember participating in a worship service that evening, people streaming into the church and sitting in the pews covered in ash and soot.  And I remember being called into our local hospital ER the next day to help the staff chaplain there deal with the droves of people admitting themselves into our local hospital for emergency psychological care, who were having nervous breakdowns after everything they had seen and experienced in New York City.  And I remember the funerals and the aftermath for so many months after. 

            Just last Sunday I was with Sofia in Summit at this new place in town she loves, a frozen yogurt shop.  I was sitting with her, eating yogurt, my chair facing the storefront window, and I glanced up at the sky outside.  Flying unnaturally low was a huge plane and it was wobbling wing tip to wing tip—flying in a strange way.  The sky was hazy, and the plane was going in the direction of New York City.  I panicked, and ran outside to look at the plane, and in that moment realized that there were other people in the same panicked state as I was in standing on the street with me staring at the sky.   It was a huge plane, it was the size of one of those C-17 military cargo jets.   I had never seen one of those in the skies above Summit.   Later in the day I realized what I probably saw was part of the President’s security detail, he had been in Paterson viewing flood damage from last week, and his security detail tends to fly decoy planes.  But, as I stood on the sidewalk in Summit last Sunday with other people, I stopped to look around me, and saw looks of fear and panic on their faces.  I realize in moments like these just how affected we all are in our own ways—how much fear still lives inside of us ready to jump up and be at the forefront of our emotions in a second.   The trauma we all know as we live near New York City from that ten years ago is very deep. 

            I have told the story before, that prior to September 11^th I was registered to attend a clergy conference up at the Stony Point Center in the first week of October of 2001.   It was to be led by the renowned Catholic priest, John Dear—who has dedicated his entire life to the practice and teaching of nonviolence.  I remember that weekend away helping begin the process of healing my hurt soul from the ministry I had been engaged in for the few weeks before.   John spoke eloquently about the need for peace and nonviolence in a time of fear.  He spoke out just three weeks after September 11^th against the use of military force as a way of responding to what had happened, and he connected the dots for me theologically between what I had experienced so early in my ministry and what sort of lived out response as a person of faith that I might choose to take.   I remain so grateful for that weekend to this day because John reconnected me to what had been taught and modeled my whole life growing up in church.  He pulled me out of the pit of anger and the pit of wanting a vengeful and reactionary response to what had happened.   He pointed me in a direction—to a path that I continue to try to walk to this day, a path of peacemaking in ministry and in life—as way of attempting to faithfully respond to the violence and trauma that I was pulled into so early in my ministry.  

            I believe this really is the question for us today, ten years later.  What choices are we going to make?  How are we going to live?  And, what are we going to do with the lives that in love and grace were given to us by the living God in Jesus Christ?  

We have to live with not just September 11^th, but with all of our lives—the good, the bad, and the ugly.   The answers for each of us to these questions are going to be different.   Even without the event that was September 11^th in our lives individually and collectively, we would have to answer these questions—these are the questions God asks of each of us.  What are we going to do with our lives?  What is authentic for you, what is authentic for me, in how we choose to order our lives as a response to the gift of love and grace that we have in Jesus Christ?   How can we live with deep intention and with careful thought about what is and is not appropriate as people who call ourselves by the name “Christian”?  It is a journey, and the only choice for each of us is whether or not we are going to take the journey seriously or not.  

            Now let me just say—we are not expected to be perfect!  Just look at the reading for today from Romans if you want to be reminded of this!  Paul is writing to the Roman Church—he is suggesting that they live in a non-judgmental way, he is suggesting they practice forgiveness, but in this very same passage Paul himself cannot do it!   Out of one side of his mouth Paul is saying to forgive and out of the other side of his mouth he is saying that the people who he disagrees with are weak in their faith.  

We are like that—confused and multifaceted.  And when we are under threat—we are even more confused—even less able to make sense of our lives and the direction God wants for us.

            One of the commentators on this passage in Romans writes this:  “Our strength comes not from our traditions or our church membership.  Strength is not defined by how much Bible we know, or even how much we contribute financially to the congregation.  Our strength lies in understanding that the integrity with which we live our lives is tied directly to how our beliefs guide our actions…there are many who self-identify as ‘strong Christians’, when the truth of the matter is that their judgmental spirit renders them weak in the eyes of God and the community.”[ii]  

            There are lots of stories that you and I know of these last ten years.  The stories that lift me up the most and remind me of my calling are the stories of hope and determination—while at the same time acknowledging the wounds and scars.   We are not perfect and yet we live.

PBS showed a documentary[iii] this week that followed some of the wives of the firefighters who died in the Towers.  

One woman and her husband had two autistic sons that needed round-the-clock supervision and care before September 11^th.  When her husband died, it was all left to her.  The reality of her life after September 11^th was so painful, but she found the strength to build a Foundation which to this date has built two new group homes for autistic young men in memory of her husband and the love he had for their two boys.  

Another woman founded what has grown to this day to be a huge marathon called “Tunnels to the Towers” to commemorate the firefighters who drove through the tunnels to the Twin Towers and to their deaths—all in the name of service and choosing to stand in those terrible moments on the side of life rather than death.   That woman said these words, “Before September 11^th I never would have done something like this: led something.  My husband did things like this, and I stood on the sidelines and cheered.  But I realized after he died I had to pick myself up, and become something more that who I had been before.” 

These women are not perfect.  They still get together for support, to cry with each other, to let their children play with each other.   They are wounded, scared, and broken—but they are also moving forward with grace—and each day thinking carefully about the question: What are you going to do with your life—how will you live as an expression of your faith, what will you do?  

            There are always September 11^ths.   We feel this once deeply and acutely because we lived through it.  But there are other tragedies in life that cripple, maim, and change us.  It is nearly impossible to go through this life and not escape without a scar or two.   God is present in it all.  God is asking us the question—what are you going to do with your life, how are you going to choose to live?  What intention as a person who follows God in Jesus Christ will you have?  

            Two chapters before this one we heard today in Roman’s Paul writes these words: 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)[iv]

            How will you live? 

How will we live? 

What will we make of the next ten years of our lives, and of the life of this

world that God in Jesus Christ with great and unimaginable love has given

for us to tend and care for? 

What will we do? 

What will we do?  Amen.

This is the sermon Rev. Richard Williams preached at WAPC about their work in Colombia and the status of oversees mission today:

Romans 8:26-39
Watchung Ave Presbyterian

July 24,2011

"All things for the Good"

My wife, Mamie Broadhurst and I have spent the last two years serving as Pastoral Accompaniers for Human Rights and Displaced People in Colombia, South America. We serve with our partner church, the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia (or the IPC), as they work to promote life and life abundant for all the people of Colombia, but with particular concern for those who have been forced to leave their homes because of the violence that has plagued the country for over 60 years.

The good news is that I am a part, and you are also a part of the mission and ministry of Presbyterians that spans around the globe, with people in need and negelct in all parts of this world.  And for the first time in decades, #’s of Presbyterian mission workers are increasing. But the jobs of mission workers, including us, is changing.

Earlier generations of mission workers worked in church planting, and later in church building.  In 50s and 60s, along with many other shifts around the world, these churches that Presbyterian mission workers had founded were maturing, with their own leadership and direction.  Our relationship with them needed to change too.  Partnership is now the key word in mission in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  So today, more and more, PCUSA MCWs are doing less building, planting, and doing, and more relating, connecting, and accompanying.  We are careful about which jobs are best and most appropriately done by people in our partner church, and which are done by mission workers.  Our work in Colombia focuses on how our two churches connect to one another, how we can work together as equals, each striving to be a part of the great, wild, exciting plan that is God’s mission.

This difference is clear as Mamie and I work with the only other MCW in Colombia from the US, Alicia Winters.  Rev. Winters has been in Colombia a bit longer than us – about 33 years longer, but we have a great relationship and love sharing and listening to her stories of her many years of work in Colombia.  She has been a part of starting many of the local churches we work with in Colombia.  She has trained almost every one of the Presbyterian Pastors in the country.  She has helped form the organizations that work nationally and internationally that we now connect with.  But our job is different.  We aren’t starting new churches – our Colombian colleagues are, and with gusto.  We aren’t professors in the seminary or pasturing local churches.  Those are all jobs that the Colombian church has taken as its own work.  Mamie and I work with both our churches to find ways to be two strong, faithful, and prophetic peoples, speaking God’s truth and wisdom into each of our societies.  We work with programs that link our two churches together through delegation visits and sharing of resources.  We work with pastors in their development and education.  And we work with our church here in the US, to understand the story of our sisters and brothers  - who are very far and lead very different lives – but are linked to us by our common humanity and our shared faith. 

And a funny thing has happened in these past 20 years of focusing on the partnership aspect of Presbyterian mission.  At first people focused on the ways that  our church could step back from previous roles, and be more supportive, maybe like parent’s watching their children grow, gain independence, and chart their own course.  But the most exciting thing I see in our partnership with the Colombian church now is that our partners in Colombia are seeing ways that they can help our church.  We all are seeing how our involvement in God’ mission changes everything – not just those who are being helped, but those who are helping – even those who are just standing on the sidelines are changed.  Mamie and I see Colombian churches sharing their worship services and resources with churches in here in the US they have a relationship with.  The Colombian church has a spirit of faithful evangelism and spirited worship – and churches here are hungry to learn from it.  The Colombian church is showing people here how to speak up about the call of the Gospel towards the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized of society.  The Colombian church knows this well because its work with these people in Colombia comes with risk to the church – but they chose not to be silent.  The Colombian church has always been a small church in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic society.  But they have a disproportionally large impact on the country as a whole, mostly through its educational institutions, which have always imparted the Reformed focus on a commitment to service and working for social justice.  Presbyterians in the US have so much to learn about how we can be a small yet faithful body of believers working for God’s will in our country, in our community. 

In our scripture passage this morning, Paul raises several questions – who could be against us?  Who will bring any charge against God's people?  Who will condemn us?  And in Paul's argument, these are rhetorical questions, and we usually breeze on by them for the coming theological payoff.  But I find it interesting to follow them up a little more here.  Because in our lives, we know they are more than rhetorical.  These are the challenges of our daily lives.  We may know that God is for us, but it sure seems like a lot of the world is against us.  Being a child of God is great, but it still seems that there is much stacked up against us. And on any given day, it seems that there are no shortage of people offering their judgment, scorn, or worst of all, apathy towards those of us struggling to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

As I think about these questions looking at the mission and ministry of our partners in Colombia, I can often be overwhelmed.  When Paul asks “With God with us, who can be against us?”  the mother of a child lost to violence between armed groups fighting over control over a strip of land will point to the senseless violence as a testament to what is against her family.  When Paul asks “Who will bring a charge against God's people?”  our Presbyterian partners there will point to the harassment , suspicion, and threat that the church has faced because of its work with those persons most at risk of death and violence.  When Paul asks “Who will condemn”, Colombian human rights victims will point to a judicial process that offers impunity to the aggressors, a blind eye to those who benefit, and a closed  door to those seeking truth, justice, and restoration of their loved ones.

My mind always searches back to Paul's question – Do all things work together for the Good of those who love God?  Is this a shallow platitude that is just meant to make us happy and quiet, or does this passage offer us a direct challenge as Christians in this day and age? 

With all of the evidence to the contrary, how do we believe that all is working for the Good?

This might just be where we find our calling as Christians today – to be agents working with God for the Good.  You see that difference?  Instead of everything around happening for the good, which, lets be honest, is almost always our personal good – instead of that, maybe we are supposed to be agents along with God working for the good in this world.  Instead of waiting for all the world around us to become better, we are called to make our selves better, and to make our families better, and to treat our neighbors better, and to keep working together for the common good until our highest hopes for ourselves and our families are what we hope for the person we'd least like to help.  Maybe then we will know that all things are working together for the good of those who love God.

Allow me to share with you a few snapshots. Some glimpses of what working together for the common good can bring out of the most infertile soil:

The Presbyterian Church of Colombia has about 5000 members. A small fraction of the  45 million people in Colombia. If you wanted to be logical, it would make perfect sense for the men and women of the IPC to duck and cover – keep their heads down. They could fly under the radar and just try to help their own members make ends meet – to work for the good of all those just like themselves. Instead, the church is part of regional and national groups working toward peace by denouncing human rights violations. They offer solidarity to women who clamor for justice for their children who were killed by the military and dressed up as guerrilla fighters in order to get a pay hike or hit a quota. They see their education efforts as part of the peace process, and they have churches in which 90% of the members are displaced but who are selling tamales to raise funds for their church because guns can take your home but they can't take your faith.

Then there is Camillo who has been forced to leave his home 3 times. In his work as a leader  on a banana plantation, he was elected to village council, and he attempted to educate people about their rights.  As a result his life was threatened. After his brother was killed he left his home and went to work in another part of the country. Unflinchingly he worked there to organize people to protect their lives and livelihoods, and death threats began again. He had no choice but to move. Moving to the city he was not able to get steady work, but he helped organize other displaced persons to inform them of their rights.  Since we have been in Colombia once again he has had to move when his name appeared on a letter threatening to kill those listed for being enemies of the state. We saw him just before we left and left him our cell phone so he could keep organizing.

And finally Adrian and his band of merry men. Adrian is a tall, lanky man with a crooked smile and a silly laugh. He is seemingly limitless in his kindness and his energy, especially as he dedicates his time to teaching Sunday school to the littlest children and youth in one of the most complicated neighborhoods of Barranquilla. However this saint who carries his professor's books to her door each night can also yell the loudest, burn the brightest, fight the hardest for the rights of others to a safe and (heaven forbid!) abundant life. La Chinita, where he works, has the highest murder rate in Barranquilla and is filled with youth who are vulnerable to very dangerous possibilities, but rather than give up or give over those youth to gangs or worse – he invites them to church. On Easter Sunday this year he brought 9 of them to the Presbytery-wide service in which the pastor asked all those gathered to think about what the good news of Christ's resurrection stirred in them and what commitments they would make now that they had been shaken up a little themselves.   Everyone wrote their commitment down on a slip of paper and placed it in the plate as an offering to God. One of those youth wrote, “I will behave for my parents, and I will not be afraid.” That is working together for the common good – and that is something that we all need to lend a hand in.

The question for you all this morning then is how can we be a part of working together for God's common good? You as an individual (an Camillo or Adrian), and you as a church (Watchung Ave Presbyterian)? What is the way in which you can live your life so that you know you are part of working for the good of all that God has created? This is important. Not only for you but for your sisters and brothers in Colombia and in places of violence and despair around the world because there are days that Camillo is tired and Adrian is scared. There are days in which the IPC feels small and overwhelmed and paralyzed – feeling captive to the powers and principalities and worrying over a drying well. On those days they need to see the way you are alongside them in the work for a better world – to the way you link your arms with theirs to steady and encourage them. To see the way in which you push for change in your home so that they may do so more safely in theirs.   This morning we can take this risk, because we know the rest of the story.  We know that God is working for the good.  We know that indeed, God is beside us in this work. 

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Nothing...  Nothing?   Nothing.

So what do people of faith say about this?  What is the policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and what does the Bible call us to?  

One great way to think about this is to join up with our summer book study, there is still time to join us as we read together a timely book, Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery.  We're about halfway through the book, but there is still time to join us, we meet in the downstairs lounge after worship to talk and pray together!  

Our faith as Christians calls us to not be concerned primarily with ourselves, but with the "least of these", the poor, the orphaned, the widow, the resident alien, and the stranger.  Those voices are missing from the debate, and as more and more programs to help the needy around us are cut--this is a time for people of faith to speak up for the values we hold dear.

This past week the national leadership of all major Christian and Interfaith denominations converged in Washington DC to call for a fair, balanced, and moral federal budget that does not shut out the poor.   The Presbyterian Church (USA) was well-represented by Rev. Gradye Parsons, and Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson--and others.   Presbyterian News Services covered their Christian witness in DC with this article and this one.   The National Council of Churches of which we are a part produced a video to describe what people of faith want from Congress which is stuck.

You can call your elected officials as a person of faith this weekend to ask them to turn back to biblical principles of justice and peace, to God's concern above all else for "the least".   The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness in Washington DC has materials to help you make this call.  

Let us also pray for those in Congress, for open minds and open hearts, that they might not turn their backs on the poor, and in doing so, turn their backs on the God of Jesus Christ.     

So what do people of faith say about this?  What is the policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and what does the Bible call us to?  

One great way to think about this is to join up with our summer book study, there is still time to join us as we read together a timely book, Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery.  We're about halfway through the book, but there is still time to join us, we meet in the downstairs lounge after worship to talk and pray together!  

Our faith as Christians calls us to not be concerned primarily with ourselves, but with the "least of these", the poor, the orphaned, the widow, the resident alien, and the stranger.  Those voices are missing from the debate, and as more and more programs to help the needy around us are cut--this is a time for people of faith to speak up for the values we hold dear.

This past week the national leadership of all major Christian and Interfaith denominations converged in Washington DC to call for a fair, balanced, and moral federal budget that does not shut out the poor.   The Presbyterian Church (USA) was well-represented by Rev. Gradye Parsons, and Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson--and others.   Presbyterian News Services covered their Christian witness in DC with this article and this one.   The National Council of Churches of which we are a part produced a video to describe what people of faith want from Congress which is stuck.

You can call your elected officials as a person of faith this weekend to ask them to turn back to biblical principles of justice and peace, to God's concern above all else for "the least".   The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness in Washington DC has materials to help you make this call.  

Let us also pray for those in Congress, for open minds and open hearts, that they might not turn their backs on the poor, and in doing so, turn their backs on the God of Jesus Christ.     

A Garden Grows....

Our garden is growing and blossoming.   Together with the Catholic Community of Saint Joseph, and with some wonderful seedlings from the Organigaya Cafe in North Plainfield, we are off to a great start! 

Join us for our next BIG GARDENING DAY!  Saturday July 16th from 8:45-10AM in the garden at St. Joseph's!  

Today we harvested summer squash, cucumbers and jalepeno peppers.  All the food will go to the hungry of our community with a flyer telling them about the food they are recieving and who grew it.   There will also be some cooking and recipe suggestions.

Everyone is welcome to join us as we work on the garden.  If you'd like to help out please be in contact with Gwyn Gronlund.  

Be a part of our ministry of serving the community we live in and supporting them with our love and care, especially with fresh, healthy food to eat this summer!

You can see all our photos of the week here!

 Rob

It’s Friday, not in the TGIF kind of Friday, but a Friday that has us packing and anticipating heading home. We walked the shady drive following breakfast and worship this morning— fields and hills opening out beyond with tall green trees reaching to the heavens. We ramble past the herb garden and I think, this garden contains possibility— basil for red sauce, sage for French lentil salad, rosemary for new potatoes, chives for cream cheese.  Henni, the cook here at Stony Point is in league with the Devil. Her food is so delicious that everything I encounter conjures up thoughts of recipes and our next meal. I must focus on the task at hand this morning, to remove the pitched roof, rafters, and plywood, the last hurdle of our whirlwind week.

Benji and Mike head up the ladders to begin removing the roof. Fernando just looks at Jake and myself and says slyly that the makeshift scaffolding only holds 600 lbs. I guess Jake and I are grounded for the duration of the roof removal. Mike and Benji work steadily, sure-footed, and safe as board after board comes down. I envy them their youth and endless energy until Benji puts his foot through the flat roof underneath. By lunch the roof and rafters are down. My mind wanders back to the herb garden and what awaits us at lunch.

Beyond the low cut building we are working on are the gardens. At the fringe is a locust tree. Shelby calls this the “tree of death”. It has a huge, weathered branch that Shelby pulls until a twig is released. We can see the large thorns as she makes her way to us under the sycamore tree. I silently wonder if Jesus’ crown of thorns were made of these. As I sit sharing water and a bench with the work crew I think of how fortunate I have been to spend the week with these amazing co-workers. I do not want to leave. The friendship, work, sweet peas, chicken paprika, corny jokes, and late night smore fires. I do not want to leave this day, this hour.

 Benji

After lunch the crew was back at it again except this time it was deconstructing the tools of deconstruction. Everyone pitched in to clear out nails from 2x12 boards and plywood so that the wood could be reused in future projects. Windows were knocked out from the remaining shell of a building and put into the overflowing dumpster. At about 3 pm. the dumpster was picked up to be emptied which meant the crew had picked up and dumped 90 yards of wood, scraps, and metal from the dilapidated garage. Finally, at the end of the day everyone took it easy and just picked up small bits of garbage from around the site and helped our crew chief, Fernando with collecting all of his tools we used that week. We returned our hard hats and thanked Fernando and his assistant, Jason, for guiding us through the weeklong journey of destruction and keeping us all safe.


 

So it is the final day. We have apparently worked the youth group so hard, they are too tired to type a blog! It’s either that or all of the S’Mores Shannan has forced them to eat!

Yesterday, everyone worked so hard getting the flat roof off the garages. We also started on the pitched roof. Shelby and Jasmine were the brave ones to go up the ladder and start scraping the shingles off the roof. Lily was carting the shingles to the dumpster. When the shingles were all off, the girls were able to help Varga in the garden again. They were excited about this because Varga is so nice!

Meanwhile, the boys continued to demolish the flat roofs. Things seemed to be going much quicker…maybe because our bodies are starting to get used the hard work!

We met with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb who talked with us about the connections between humanitarianism and Judaism. In the evening, Rob talked about the labyrinth and how they were used in the early churches. We walked the labyrinth and used the time to reflect and meditate. We ended our night with card games and a lot of laughing.

Today: the boys will be demolishing the pitched roof (last one!!!). We are so far ahead of schedule that we are able to expand the scope of our work and do other jobs Stony Point needs done: painting porches, weeding etc.

I can say that I, and Shannan and Rob, are truly amazed at how hard the kids have worked and how much they have accomplished. I have had a lot of fun with them this week. I still have muscles, ones I didn’t know I had, but still had fun! You should be very proud of your kids. We are!

You can see our photos from today here

Last night we made smores on the fire pit after the Taize service.   Everyone was tired from working all day.  

Today we went to morning prayer and then to our work site.   Shelby and I worked on taking down two garage doors and filling the dumpster. It was very hard.   After taking down the doors, Shelby and I helped with tearing down a roof over one of the garages.   Today everyone worked really hard. Chris was doing lots of clean up and demo this morning of an old bookcase with Jasmine and Lily and Jake were doing various jobs.    We had a few cuts this morning, but nothing major.     

We’ll write more tonight!    Heading back to the site!   Thanks everyone for reading our blog and keeping up with us this week, we're having fun reporting back to you!

You can see our photos from today here

Here I go again with the news from this afternoon. Well I don’t know where to start! Well I am go to start from lunch. We all had a good lunch, which included lettuce grown in Stony Point’s own garden, and we had a good time. We played cards and talked about stuff.

We all went back to the site and started up again with our work on the garages. It was hard work for all of us. Jake, Ben and I helped remove the roof off one of the garages (You can see a video of this). The other helpers helped separate metal and wood from all the mess we made. Shelby, Lily, Chris and Jasmine they finish pulling down the ceilings inside the rest of the garages. Fernando, our fearless leader and contractor, is amazed how far ahead of schedule we are. Rick, co-director of Stony Point Center, is stunned at how we are doing.

After another hard day of work and another good meal we went with Varga, Stony Point’s gardener, for a class on the food system. We learned about fair trade products. This means that everyone in the food system is treated fairly and equitably.  Smaller farmers will be able to get a foothold in the marketplace.

Then we had Bible study and read from part of Luke 6:

Jesus Teaches and Heals

17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Blessings and Woes

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
   for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
   for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
   for you will laugh.

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you* on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 ‘But woe to you who are rich,
   for you have received your consolation.
25 ‘Woe to you who are full now,
   for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
   for you will mourn and weep.

26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Love for Enemies

27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.* Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Ok now it’s time to go to bed because it will be a long day of work tomorrow. Well good night.

You can see our photos here especially our ones of the beautiful canoeing trip we took and the lily pads we saw on the lakes.  It was so nice.

This afternoon, when the brutal physical labor had taken its toll on all of our bodies, we were met with an offer that brought tears of joy to our eyes. We were told that Rick Ufford-Chase would take us CANOING!!!!?!?!?! Okay, so maybe we didn’t really cry with joy, but we were really excited to get out on the water. With Rick guiding us in his kayak, we made our treacherous journey through two terrifyingly dark and dangerous tunnels and across the vast expanse of two rough lakes where a wave could have toppled us at any moment (LOL no, no I’m joking). We made our way to a nearby bank and brought the canoes ashore. Then we took the chance to enjoy the serenity of the lake by taking a well deserved swim. While a few of us were showing their pro skills in the water, others were obviously a bit skittish when it came to traveling out into the deeper sections of the lake. Overall, we had an amazing time that produced memories I am sure none of us would trade for the world. The look of dismay that appeared on a few of our faces was probably palpable when we had to return because we had so much fun. 

This night was filled with another surprise. We attended a Taizé service led by the interns of the Farm the Land, Grow the Spirit. The service was a new experience for all of us because it mainly consisted of short hymns that were repeated in a chant-like fashion. I, and I hope my fellow youth members, had a good time at the service. It is time to go to bed now so I will wrap this up. Rob, John, and Shannan are doing well. I can’t say who my favorite is so far because that could cause jealousy between the other adults watching us. Good night readers and I cannot wait to see you in four more days.

Photos from our day can be found here

This morning we all woke up tad a banged up and sore from yesterday’s events. Despite the grogginess that showed within each of our eyes we all went down and had a lovely breakfast of waffles, fried eggs, oatmeal and fruits. Following breakfast we went to our morning devotion in the meditation house where we read and discussed psalm 56. It was an interesting psalm in which man admits feelings of hatred towards those that look down upon him, and thus asks God to have horrible things befall those that have wronged him. After devotion, we returned to our rooms and suited up for another long day of work with Fernando and Jason. Today the dumpster for unneeded metal arrived and we began removing fridges, a dryer, a stove, and other scraps of metal. A few of us swept the trash and debris out of the rooms while others began removing the insulation and plaster from the ceilings. When we took a break for lunch we arrived in the mess hall to an astounding aroma of deliciousness. 

Once we finished the lovely meal that was provided for us we convened in conference room B for a learning experience of the Muslim religion. This experience was enlightening because the insight into the Muslim religion gave an opportunity to realize that there is not a huge difference between that and the Christian religion. Except for a few key people and a few differences in names, the similarities between the two religions are astounding. I personally enjoyed the prayers we learned today because of their deep, inner meanings in which most refer back to the main prayer which Sabiha, the Muslim resident here at Stony Point, translated for us as, “there is no god except the one, true God.” All in all, it was an amazing experience that I believe we were all lucky to have experienced. Until later. Bye.

Day One of our Mission Retreat (and part of our arrival) -- Lily and Shelby

                Last night, we arrived at approximately 5:20pm. Upon arriving, we were sent to our dorms which are in the Africa building. (We learned that the camp used to train missionaries that would go off to help in other countries, such as Africa, Latin America, Asia, etc.) We were happy to find that each room had a ceiling fan, which helped A LOT with the heat, though the weather here doesn’t seem to be as bad as it is lower down in North Plainfield à Mwa ha ha ha!!! We got here just in time for dinner yesterday and were able to eat together, and then meet some of the directors who organized the programs that we would be taking part in. Rick met us in our dorm’s lobby to give us a tick orientation and give us some history about the camp as well as the camp’s reasons for doing what they do. Afterwards, we all went to bed, but we couldn’t go to sleep right away because we were too busy having conversations through the walls.

              The next morning, we all woke up and took showers. Then, we went to breakfast together. We had eggs, croissant egg sandwich, oatmeal, fruit, muffins, and tons of other good stuff. After breakfast, we went to morning worship. In the beginning of the worship we did ten minutes silence before the Psalm forty two. After the service we met Fernando, our contractor and his assistance, Jason. There we saw the format of the new building. After learning about what demolition had to be done, we got to work. The work was hard. So we split into two teams; boys working with the garage and the girls working on the vineyard.

The arches in the vineyard needed to be taken down, so our team, consisting of Jasmine, Lily, Shelby and Shannan, with help from John, Jason, and Chris, cleared away all of the old, rotting vines so that the also rotting pillars and supports could be taken down. There were a lot of bugs, so it was a job that required much caution so as not to disturb any big spiders or anything, but we managed to get out job done before we even took a break for lunch! (Beating the boys by a long shot).

Jake, Michael, Rob, and Benji worked on clearing out the garage/workshop/whatever it was and filled up a good amount of the dumpster that was brought in for all of the junk to go in to. Strangely enough, they found two sleighs, some windows, old automated piano scrolls, (the ones with the cuts in ‘em so that the piano’s keys can play), fireplace materials, a couple big fish tanks, (WHICH I REALLY WANT!!!! –Shelby), a refrigerator, and a lot of other random things. It was kind of weird to be digging around through trash and junk, but thank goodness we had respirators, because at times, the dust was just awful, and Fernando said that there could be lead in the paint chips so it was a good thing that they had all of the materials that we would need. We were also the first ones to use the materials provided, (i.e. hard hats, respirators, etc.) so we don’t have to worry about them being misused or anything before we received them.

Overall, it was a very busy day, and it feels like we did a week’s work of demolition in a time frame of about seven hours, and we’re all tired and starving since no one felt like eating a big lunch today, but we’re looking forward to boating tomorrow in order to escape the heat of the day, and who knows. Maybe we’ll be done ahead of time and get a break à Haha. Not likely. See ya. ^^

                More photos from tonight here, we learned about the gardens at Stony Point Center, and also about some of the things growing here!  

                After dinner, we met with the local food and environmental educator, Varga Garland, and she took us around the camp, showing us the various gardens that they have, and the compost piles that they’ve started. They have a very large compost pile in the back of the camp, closest to our worksite where we found out that they once threw out old pumpkins and now they have small pumpkin plants starting to grow. We also learned that every spare piece of food or every morsel of food that doesn’t get used from the kitchen is put into a bin that they leave at the Drop-Off dish counter, helping other people staying at the camp practice reusing organic materials in order to make fertilizer for the various fruits and vegetables that they grow on their own.

                After our tour around the camp, we came back to our lodge to have our Bible Study, and we all discussed Luke 6, verses 1-11.  It was interesting, and we learned a lot about the ways that everyone else in our group thinks about the phrases in the Bible into a better and easier context. Afterwards, we all sat down and played Pictionary; the teams were myself, Michael, Jake, John, and Jasmine, and Lily, Rob, Shannan, Benji,  and Chris. We had some weird clues. . . Bastille Day, Anubis, Theory of Relativity, Hermione Granger, and Tanzania, but it was a lot of great fun, and we had some wild guesses. Overall, it was an eventful night, and while we can’t wait to get to bed, I don’t think that we’ll be able to get to sleep for a while.

We are going canoeing  tomorrow, YAY  :D

                (Yes we said that earlier, but we are excited. Fantastic Grammar, all of that schooling definitely paid off)

We leave this Sunday June 26th and return on Friday July 1st and are headed to the Stony Point Conference Center, one of the three national conference centers of the Presbyterian Church (USA).   We'll be working on their new arts center, learning about sustainable food systems and food justice, and learning about the Community of Living Traditions, -a residential multi-faith community at Stony Point that is committed to living out nonviolence as an act of religious faith.   We will learn about how all these systems (art, conferences, food, and religious traditions) come together--and what it means for us as people who follow Jesus.  

We'll be traveling with the youth group from Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church and the trip will be lead by Pastor Shannan and Pastor Rob.  It's going to be a great trip, a great week of spiritual learning and growth for all!

Keep track of this page all week!  The youth group will be blogging our experiences, posting photos, and keeping everyone posted about what we are up to!    Please keep us in prayer this week as we travel together to go and learn more about how to be the people that God has called us to be!  

Published in the Courier News on 6/16/11

Dear Editor:

Every week the doors of our churches welcome low-income women, men, and their children for worship and fellowship. Watchung Avenue Presbyterian hosts the town’s local Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program. The director of the program is a member at The Catholic Community of St. Joseph. This program weighs babies, hands out food and nutritional information, and encourages parents.   Every week these families enter the doors of our churches, and we pray for their well-being. We are honored to support WIC, to be a part of a nationwide network that provides the most basic of safety net to help families in need.   We see is one of the ways we live out our calling as people who follow Jesus.

Right now our Congress is debating how to balance the federal budget.  However, we are disappointed to see that the current budget proposals in Congress are focused on the wrong things to cut: vital programs such as WIC for hungry and poor people—especially children.

All our major deficit-reduction packages in the last 20 years exempted programs that meet the needs of hungry and poor people. The current proposals will reduce our deficit on the backs of people who can least afford it. It offends our values as a country and as a “compassionate” society. It offends our values as people of faith and as members of the clergy.

Unemployment and poverty rates have risen to record levels since 2008, but the number of families struggling to put food on the table did not rise because of federal nutrition programs and school meals. More than 49 million Americans—including nearly 17 million children—live in households that have difficulty feeding their families. Yet nutrition programs such as SNAP and WIC are on the chopping block. Our Congress is poised to abandon “the least of these.”

Our budget is a moral document and tells the world what our priorities are as a nation.  In the heated political debates on the budget, our Representatives and Senators need to get the message from every single one of us that hunger and poverty are not partisan issues.

We encourage all members of our community to reach out to our elected officials today. We do not have a minute to waste. These essential programs that save and preserve the lives of people right here in our local community are on the chopping block today. Tell your elected officials that the budget is a moral document, and that cutting aid to the hungry and poor in our country offends the conscience of all of us. Tell them that we will vote them out if they cut aid to our neighbors. We can longer remain silent.

Sincerely,

Rev. Shannan R. Vance-Ocampo

Pastor, Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church

170 Watchung Avenue

North Plainfield, NJ 07060

Rev. George Farrell

Pastor, The Catholic Community of St. Joseph

Corner of Watchung and Jackson Avenues

North Plainfield, NJ 07060

Peace,

We are reaching out through Church World Service.  Our church school children, Presbyterian Women, and Deacons have banded together to send five clean up buckets.  We will be mobilizing to gather funds for more buckets as we reach out to help.  

Lord, be with your people who are suffering in these days.  Offer them healing, hope, and peace.  Amen. 

Joplin, MO on May 23, 2011

Mississippi River Flooding, May 2011

Assignment Earth: Flower Power from Rainforest Alliance on Vimeo.

Christ Came Juggling

Christ came juggling from the tomb,

flipping and bouncing death's stone pages,

tossing those narrow letters high

against the roots of dawn spread in cloud.

This Jesus, clown, came dancing

in the dust of Judea, each slapping step

a new blossom spiked with joy.

Hey! Listen - that chuckle in the dark,

that clean blast of laughter behind -

Christ comes juggling our tombs,

tossing them high and higher yet,

until they hit the sun and break open

and we fall out, dancing and juggling

our griefs like sizzling balls of light.

Eugene Warren 

The Risk of Birth  

We are all worried about our brothers and sisters in Japan and want to help.  Here are some important ways to be of assistance:

1.  On your cell phone, text CWS to 50555 to donate to Church World Service (who we support via CROP walk and Blanket Sunday).  You can give up to $30/month this way!
2. You can mail a check to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  P.O. Box 643700   Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700  Make sure you list DR000117 – Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on your check. 
3.  Continue to hold the people of Japan in your prayers, and stay tuned to the WAPC Blog and Twitter Feeds for ongoing information about ways to help. 

Every year our congregation participates in the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering.  This is an offering taken by the whole church and supports in equal thirds: Self Development of People, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

Church School Families:  The children's FISH boxes and sharing calendars were handed out in church school on March 13.  If you need one for your child, please contact the church office.

Just this past Sunday, when we got home from church I quickly changed into my gardening clothes and got outside. It was late in the afternoon and I knew that I only had a few hours of daylight left. I had been wanting to get out in the garden all week—to rake out the flower beds and create more space and room around the bulbs that were just beginning to come up.   I spent the next few hours digging in the dirt, clearing away dead branches and cutting back a few plants that were damaged by the heavy snow that sat on them for so long this winter.   It felt wonderful to be outside again, to get some fresh air, and to get rid of the vestiges of winter in my garden.   Getting rid of the old and making space for the new is always very exciting!  

That is the season we are also in as a church, making space for the new. This month, after long last, our new church website will be launched!!!! We are envisioning new ministries, and re-engaging in mission and outreach.   Our youth group is getting ready for their summer mission trip, launching some fun and exciting fundraisers along the way. We are also next week beginning the season of Lent, a time for renewal of faith—reflection on who we are and what we are about. Clearing the cobwebs out of our souls and making room for something new to blossom and bloom.  

So, the question is, what are you interested in having bloom and grow in your soul or in your life this spring? A new relationship, a deeper relationship with God, a job, a renewed sense of confidence, the letting go of things that are old and tired—taking on a new sense of joy? What are you looking for?    Lent is a great time to reproritize, renew, and remake yourself. As Christians we know that we do this from the inside out—starting with our souls.   That is what Lent is for—creating something new.   I want to encourage you to renew your commitments, to yourself, to God, to this community during Lent…see you in church!  

Peace,

Here the Psalmist is “pouring out the soul,” or as the Hebrew can translate “soul,”: pouring out one’s emotions, breath, life. Literally, the Psalmist has been “poured out,” marking it with tears which have served as "food day and night." The soul is “downcast” and “disquieted" or "disturbed.” “Why have you [God] forgotten me?” the Psalmist queries.

You know this. In some deep way, you know this wintry mix of cold and darkness in your own life, and your own “pouring out of the soul.” You are spent, empty, tired. You feel isolated, disconnected. All around you, your “enemies” jeer—people who feel threatened by you or who have yet to welcome you; there are the failures at your feet, the disastrous program, the loss of income, unmet expectations, the work that overwhelms and the injustices that anger; critical funds have been pulled, relationships have broken, faith falters, the kingdom of God seems, not at hand, but certainly far off.

A choice soon approaches, like the moistened air just before a snowfall. You know you cannot live on this way. You make a choice to believe--if only out of a desperate need and not some noble ability on your part. You choose to believe that God, the One whose very presence connects all living things, the One who has called you, sustains you just as all creation is sustained, this One, is good. You realize that as cliché as it can sound, or as poster-perfect but intellectually unsatisfying it can be, believing that God is good is like gathering around a warm fire on a long, winter’s night.

There, even in the darkness, God is present, at work. “Deep calls to deep.” Beneath the frozen ground, there is life anew, blossoming and approaching. There, in the darkness, you will receive your strength. And from there, you will offer your life’s song to others. Amen."

This week we begin the season of Advent, that month of expectant waiting for the Christ Child.   We know what happens at the end…Christmas comes—and we rejoice once again that Jesus is with us.   I always think in this time of year about what the time of waiting must have been like for the people who God had announced the birth of the Baby Jesus to, the people who really did have to wait for all that time, and who knew that this new and amazing thing was about to happen.   Maybe it is because I am a parent, but I think a lot about Mary and Joseph, what their time of waiting must have been like.   Mary gives us a bit of a glimpse into what she was thinking about as she waited, and she does it in a song, in words that are some of the most poetic in the Bible:

“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”

There is a lot in this season of Advent for us to get caught up in…lights, shopping, parties, celebrations, and gifts.   In the end, the season is really about Jesus.  The story of Jesus, of who he was, and what he has the power to do for me is more like a poem than like a story with a definite ending.  Poems make you dream, they get your mind wandering, and they can send your spirit to new places.    Take some time in this Advent season to open up your Bible and look for some of the poetry in it.   Re-read Mary’s song of praise, and open up your Spirit to let the Christ Child enter in new and unexpected ways this year.

Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, Blessings in this Season to You…..

[“Nativity” by He Qi, a Chinese Artist]

Preached to the joint worship service of the Plainfield Presbyterian Mission Partnership.