Doylestown Presbyterian Church

This article is printed in the August Tidings.

Later this month, I reach a professional milestone as I deliver my 1000^th sermon.  If you count the homilies I prepared as a seminary student, or my message as a high school senior on Youth Sunday or even the very first sermon I gave to my family in our living room when I was about seven years old (the topic was “Jonah and the Whale”), the total is closer to 1025 lifetime messages. Still, I am using my ordination date as the starting point for this official count.

That kind of event got me thinking and led me to pull out my calculator.  If you assume  each of those sermons averaged 15 minutes (and some have certainly been shorter or longer), that means I have spoken for 15,000 minutes as a minister of Word and Sacrament which results in 250 hours or nearly 10 and one-half days of talking non-stop. The total is actually higher still for 681 of the sermons were delivered twice on the same day or night, 37 offered three times on the same date, and one Christmas Eve when I was the only pastor at DPC, I preached the same sermon four times. By my tally, that means I have sought to share insights from God’s Word on 1796 occasions.  However you measure it, that’s a lot of talking!

I also looked at the book where I record every sermon of mine by date, title, Scripture lesson, and location to see what kinds of patterns emerged.  593 of my sermons have been based upon a New Testament text alone, 284 on an Old Testament passage and 123 drawn from lessons found in both portions of the Bible. The most frequent source for a sermon is Luke’s gospel which has served as the basis for 147 messages with Matthew a close second at 138.  Among Old Testament books, Genesis has provided a sermon text 48 times with Exodus next at 32. I have preached from 56 different books of the Bible which means that ten books have never been the source of a sermon for me so don’t be surprised if one Sunday in the coming months you arrive in church and hear me preaching from Song of Solomon or Lamentations, Obadiah or Philemon.

The settings for my sermons have varied, too as I have preached in twelve different congregations representing five denominations, seven retirement communities, one synagogue, one lakeside setting and one outdoor park. The vast majority of my sermons have been delivered as part of Sunday worship, but there have been 28 that occurred as part of an afternoon vespers service, eight at a community service such as Thanksgiving Eve, Easter sunrise, or Labor Day, two at Presbytery events and two more at the installation of a new pastor.  As I look back on those numbers, I am guessing one member of DPC has heard about 950 of those messages and some of them more than once. Truly I am blessed with such a patient partner in life and ministry!

Even with that sermon total, you should know I continue to count it a privilege to stand in a pulpit and share a word with you that God might use. I continue to be amazed by the ways God can take the thoughts and stories and dialect of this former North Carolinian and bring the written Word to life in ways that others can hear it. And I continue to be humbled by those occasions when the Spirit’s work through me allows others to experience the grace, love and power found in those holy pages as persons hear and take away a message I often did not know they needed.

While there are no favorite texts above all the Scripture lessons I have interpreted in a sermon, there is one passage which speaks to my ongoing conviction about the source for all preaching.  It comes toward the end of his second letter to a young man in ministry when Paul writes these words:  “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may  be proficient, equipped for every good work.”  (1Timothy 3:16-17)  Words that not only describe my trust in God’s living Word, but suggest I better start pondering sermon number 1001, too!

--John

This article is printed in the July Tidings.

It was an unexpectedly grace-filled moment.

Some of you heard the news last month about the perfect game that wasn’t. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, a perfect game means the pitcher retires all 27 batters of the opposing team without one of them reaching base—no hits, no walks, no errors. It is such a rare event that in the 131-year history of Major League Baseball, there have been only twenty perfect games ever pitched and two of them occurred earlier this season.

On June 2, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from pitching a perfect game as well. The batter for the opposing team hit a ground ball which was fielded by the Tigers first baseman and then thrown to Galarraga covering the base. The ball was caught and the pitcher’s foot touched the base before the runner arrived.  It should have been an out, thus ensuring the perfect game was completed.  The pitcher, his teammates, and the fans were ready to cheer the historic moment, but for some reason the umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe.  Teammates and the manager ran over to Joyce and argued the call, but Galarraga did not.  He looked puzzled and then smiled in a way that seemed to say “Oh, well!”  Once the argument ended, he got the next batter out which meant that the game officially ended with one hit.

Part of baseball’s culture is an acceptance that mistakes are part of the game and the umpire has the final word. Other than times when a home run is questioned, Major League Baseball doesn’t allow for rulings on the field to be over-turned through the use of instant-replay technology either.  So the most remarkable part of that drama for me was what the two key participants did next.  Joyce went to look at a videotape of the play.  Upon seeing that he had made a

mistake, he immediately sought out the pitcher and apologized with tears in his eyes. Joyce told the media “I just cost the kid a perfect game.  I thought [the runner] beat the throw.  I was convinced he beat the throw until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my career.”

For his part, Galarraga told reporters that after the apology he felt worse for Joyce than himself. “You don’t see an umpire after the game come out and say, ‘Hey, let me tell you I’m sorry’” the pitcher said. “He felt really bad.  We all make mistakes.  None of us is perfect.”   (Noonan, Peggy. ”Nobody’s Perfect, But They Were Good,” The Wall Street Journal, June5-6, 2010, p. A15.)

While not all of us are baseball fans, each one of us encounters moments when we miss the call in countless other settings, reacting to something we thought we saw or heard which turned out to be untrue, hurting someone else as a result.  We all have times, too, when we are bruised by the actions of others; deeds whether intentional or not cause us to miss out on a wonderful celebration, fail to receive an honor we’ve earned, or worse. Yet whatever part we play in such occasions—the one who made the mistake or the one hurt by it—we have the opportunity to choose if we will extend grace or accept it, forgive or hold onto resentment.

I hope over the course of this summer you experience and model the kind of unexpected choice by one baseball umpire and pitcher in June.  Chances are your decision   will not cause you to be credited with a perfect game, but it can allow you to experience once more the surprising and unmerited grace that set each one of us on this playing field in the first place.

John

This article is printed in the June Tidings.

The day after our wonderful ground-breaking ceremony, your Session received the Guaranteed Maximum Price from our contractor, Caldwell, Heckles & Egan. While there are still some adjustments to be made in their number (which would not increase, but lower the price), we are now hopeful that we might add the new sanctuary elevator and possibly chancel renovation to the scope of their work.  We won’t know for sure until we get the final numbers in from our Anniversary Celebration and run one last cash flow analysis, but I am hopeful one or both of those deferred components to our project can occur as well.

As we near this time of excitement and new activity, I’m sure that you have questions.  Here are some of the ones I have been asked most frequently:

When will the work start?

We hope CH&E can move onto the site (offices in 109 Mechanics Street) around June 7.   If all permits fall into place, construction activity could begin the following week.

Where and when will the nursery be moved?

The nursery will be re-located from its current location to Room 104 in Andrews Hall (first room on the left when entering the Mechanics Street door nearest the driveway). The new location will be in place beginning Sunday, June 20.

What will be some of the first things you will see?

Shortly after construction begins, many of the trees around Andrews Hall will be removed.  The main entrance to Andrews Hall will be closed as well so that the excavation work in front of the former nursery can begin.

What will happen to summer church activities during construction?

All DPC events (worship, Adult VBS, Children’s VBS, Scottish Communion, committee meetings, and fellowship events) will occur as planned. The contractor will work around our schedule to ensure ministry is not interrupted.

We are currently devising a strategy using multiple forms of communications (website, bulletins, e-mail, and signage) to keep everyone updated on the latest word about progress. Until that time and beyond, if you have questions, please ask me or any staff member and church officer.

It all begins soon.  I look forward to sharing in the adventure with you!

John

This article is printed in the May Tidings.

Things change.

It doesn’t take long for one to realize the truth of those two words. Return to your hometown after months or years away and you’ll see things are not exactly as you remember them. Pull out a photo album and it will soon become clear there was a time when your parents did not have gray hair. Rent a favorite movie from years ago and you’ll likely discover that while the plot is vaguely familiar its impact upon you is not identical to the first time you saw it.  In every aspect of life, there are circumstances that do not remain the same. Things change.

On May 16^th, we will formally recognize that truth in our financial lives as part of the day’s worship services when our Anniversary Celebration will occur. Twelve months ago, members and friends dedicated commitments for the “Bridging the Generations” capital campaign totaling $3.6 million. Those pledges were designed to be spread out over a three-year period of time and each was offered as a faithful estimate.  Yet because things can and do change, on the third Sunday of May during our Anniversary Celebration we will ask you to dedicate your plans for the remaining two years of this campaign. We are taking that step because we know that in this part of life, too, things can change.

Some of you who were part of Celebration Sunday realize now that the economic uncertainty of last May caused you to hold back on making a pledge or to offer a commitment that was less than what you wanted to do.  Perhaps now, though, with the passage of twelve months, your financial circumstances are a bit clearer and you feel ready to make a pledge or increase your goal for the remaining twenty-four months of our effort.  If that situation is yours, our Anniversary Celebration will provide a simple way to express that intention.

Others of you stepped forward in faith last May and made a pledge that is no longer feasible. Perhaps a job has since been lost or unexpected expenses have depleted your savings.  Maybe you are now caring for aging parents or your college graduate has moved back home and neither of those circumstances was part of your thinking twelve months ago. If the goal you chose twelve months for “Bridging the Generations” is no longer realistic, our Anniversary Celebration will offer an opportunity to reduce your pledge for the final two years.

Maybe you had not joined DPC at this point last year or perhaps were a member, but still wanted to see if the renovation plans would be approved before making a financial commitment. If those circumstances describe where you were last May, our Anniversary Celebration will be your time to join fellow members in making a pledge for the final two years of this effort.

For others still, the goal you set last May is still the one God has placed on your heart and you remain comfortable that it is a realistic commitment for the next two years.  If so, our Anniversary Celebration is an opportunity for you to formally declare you are still on target toward that goal as you present a new commitment card with the same total on it.

Things do change.  Yet on May 16^th, we will gather for worship and then assemble for our ground-breaking as a clear reminder of things that have not changed; namely that we have been blessed and continue to be led by a loving God.  For that gift and the certainty it will never change, we remain a grateful family of faith ready to move ahead together.

John

This article is printed in the April Tidings.

In a few days, we will gather with family and friends to celebrate the joy of Easter. The discovery of an empty tomb and its message that Jesus has forever overcome the power of death is the central message of the Christian faith. All that we do as his followers grows out of that gift and every other occasion for praise pales in comparison to what we received on that day.

Even so, this month provides us with an occasion to celebrate what has happened in our shared life in another way. Eleven months ago, amidst a time of economic uncertainty, our members and friends made commitments totaling $3.6 million to the “Bridging the Generations” capital campaign so that we might begin our renovation effort. Not only was that response one which demonstrated great sacrifice and trust, but the giving toward those pledges since that day has been wonderful, too, as soon we will have received the first million dollars toward our goal!

While those gifts have been coming in, much has occurred in regards to the enhanced building itself, too. Our Renovation and Construction Committee continued to work closely with our architect in refining the plans, securing resolution over property line issues with neighbors, recommending the contractor and owner’s representative for our effort, and bringing us to the place that our plans now go to the Borough Council for approval on April 19.

At the same time, our Finance Committee developed a thorough cash flow analysis to help us see how much of the plan could be accomplished now and its impact upon future operating budgets, secured proposals from three banks willing to loan DPC the necessary funds, and shepherded the process through the Presbytery of Philadelphia, gaining approval last month.

Concurrent with those efforts, other members and officers gathered last fall to hear an early proposal for Phase One of our renovation work and offer feedback while members and staff helped refine plans for a new nursery, expanded kitchen, and consolidated office spaces. In response to all of those steps and the countless hours which made them possible, two months ago the congregation voted to proceed with the Andrews Hall work and the bridge, borrowing up to $5.2 million to help make that effort possible. All of this has happened since May of 2009.

Next month, we will celebrate the one-year anniversary of Commitment Sunday and share in a ground-breaking to mark the official beginning to the renovation effort. More details about both events will be coming to you in the weeks ahead, but for now, I invite you to pause and remember all that God has done through us and our family of faith in this special time. For those blessings and more importantly, the news from that first Easter, our most natural response is praise.

This article is printed in the March Tidings.

In his book Fatherhood, Bill Cosby speaks of times when his children were young that he started to question his intelligence as a parent. “I began entertaining these doubts,” he writes, “when my first daughter was about 18 months old. Every time I went into her room, she would take some round plastic thing from her crib and throw it on the floor. Then I would pick it up, wipe it off, and hand it back to her so that she could throw it back on the floor.

“‘Don’t throw that on the floor, honey,’ I’d tell her. ‘Do you understand Daddy? Don’t throw that on the floor.’ Then I would give it back to her and she would throw it again. Picking it up once more, wiping it off, and returning it to her, I would say, ‘Look, I just told you not to throw this…’ And of course, she would listen carefully to me and then throw it again.

“This little game,” he suggests, “is a wonderful exercise for a father’s back, but it’s his mind that needs developing.  Sometimes a father needs 10-15 such droppings before he begins to understand that he should leave the thing on the floor…During this little game, the child has been thinking: ‘This person is a lot of fun. He’s not too bright, but a lot of fun.’” (Cosby, Bill. Fatherhood. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1986, p. 38-9.)

When it comes to matters of faith, it takes all of us time to learn and model the important things, too. We declare that we trust God, but personal worries can still keep us from sleeping well. We affirm the significance of forgiveness as a guiding principle, but can still be controlled by deeds of the past. We know the most critical calling of our lives is to nurture our relationship with God and others, but our best energy can be taken over by work or hobbies or television. In all kinds of ways, we can focus on the wrong things even while knowing that what we need to do is turn to God heart and soul, seeking insight or wholeness, renewal or strength.

During this season of Lent, I encourage you to find one place in your spiritual life where you want to grow and take first steps toward that goal. It might be to model patience or start a new prayer routine, to strive for greater balance in your day or offer time in the church nursery. It might be to join a Bible study or spend the first minutes after worship talking with someone you don’t know, join one of our church committees or volunteer to prepare a meal for our youth.

Whatever your plan, the key to change is choosing to begin and as you set out in that effort, don’t be discouraged if, in the language of that Philadelphia father, you endure 10-15 “droppings” or more along the way. For perhaps those times of falling short will help you discover why it was that God wanted you to take that path in the first place.

John