I am an early riser by preference more than necessity.  The early morning is a good time.  The middle days of October have little light to share with their early hours, however; the sun not showing itself until past seven.  It’s just plain dark when I first go out in the early morning.  Finally this week, early risers reaped one of the precious rewards for quitting their beds when no hint morning light has begun to gild the skies.  The air was cold and clear, and there were the stars which for weeks had been hidden behind dreary gray clouds. Orion the Hunter in the southern sky, the Big Dipper, Ursa Major, in the north. Continue reading →

The first definition offered in the dictionary reads: to put something in place so that it is ready for use. We install appliances and software. In some ways I like that definition better than the second definition of install which is the pertinent, but not quite accurate, definition for Sunday’s service at LPC:  to place someone formally in an official job of high rank.

Sunday all the ordained officers (elders, ruling and teaching, and deacons) at LPC currently serving on their respective boards (the Session and the Deacon Board) will be installed as the officers of LPC in its new EPC denomination. Yes, a lot of ecclesiastical procedure, but also something important. Continue reading →

The Quaker cemetery is just on the other side of the hedge in our backyard.  Sometimes people ask about it and we say the residents have made quiet neighbors all these years.  But now some of our quiet neighbors are crying out.
 
A memorial service for interred slaves will be held tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 in the cemetery.  The story of Quaker slaves and their graves in the burying yard is worth hearing as much as it is hard to hear.  Now the cries of some of our quiet neighbors echo in our backyard and find their way inside our house whenever I look out the back window and see the silent stones of the cemetery.  Continue reading →

A couple of weeks ago Becky and I were in southern Michigan visiting our daughter, son-in-law, and their two daughters. They’ve recently moved to a new house a little way out of town, and it was our first time to see the new place. They are surrounded by fields and woods and farms. Some of Katharine and Ryan’s new neighbors are Amish and all day long you can hear the clip clop of horses’ hooves as they pull Amish buggies along the road in front the house. 
 
The last evening of our visit, after the girls had been put to bed, a knock came at the front door. A young Amish farmer and his wife, toddler in arms (and baby on the way), were standing there in the dusky light delivering a plate of really good looking chocolate chip cookies as a housewarming gift to the newcomers in the neighborhood. 
 
The farmer did all the talking. His name was Aaron and he introduced his wife and child, but I don’t remember their names.  I would guess Aaron to be around 25 years old.  He had moved from Ohio to marry his wife and become a part of her family’s community.  Ohio and Michigan; that was it, though one time he had been close to Pennsylvania.  A world so different than ours.
 
Who would not like Aaron, the Amish farmer? His is an open face and a kind manner.  He and his wife invited Katharine and Ryan and the girls to come by some time – the farm is just down the road, and I think they will.  Maybe Becky and I can drop by Aaron’s farm next time we are in Michigan.  I would love to see it and get to know Aaron and his wife just a little bit. 
 
The chocolate chip cookies tasted as good as they looked.
 
The Amish are a part of the Anabaptist branch of the Christian family, just as Presbyterians are part of the Reformed branch of the family. Our differences in tradition and doctrine are significant, but not significant enough to break our family ties. 
 
Amish folks are brothers and sisters in Christ, but are not evangelistic, that is, they don’t seek converts, and, in fact, it is exceedingly difficult for someone from the “English” world to become a member of the Amish community.  The Amish do believe in bearing witness to their faith, however. Deeds, not words are the primary means of Amish witness.
 
I don’t want to become Amish, and I believe that our Christian witness must be borne in word and in deed. One of those family differences.
 
As Aaron and his wife stood in the dusky light of Katharine and Ryan’s front porch, his open and kind way was inviting, and it invited more than the tourist’s curiosity.  I think Aaron and his family will be good neighbors, maybe even good friends, for Katharine and Ryan and their girls. 
 
The Reformed branch of the family is especially Word-centered and we believe that our witness to Christ is fully given in word and in deed.  The kind deed of a good neighbor may be the best way to open the door to a word of good news. 
 
Let’s be sure that the newcomers to our neighborhoods receive a warm welcome, and maybe a plate of really good Presbyterian chocolate chip cookies, from the members of LPC who live on the street where they’ve moved. And, who knows, in time we may have an opportunity to tell those new neighbors about the God who loves the whole world and invite them to share in the life of the branch of Christ’s family that gathers at the corner of Gillam Avenue and Bellevue Street. 
 
See you Sunday  Continue reading →

Eighteen years ago, sociologist Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone a book-length essay describing one of the most dangerous phenomena of our time. The title comes from the observation that while bowling is still a popular sport in America, fewer bowlers bowl in leagues and more bowlers bowl alone. Putnam’s point, of course, is not about trends in bowling. His point, well-illustrated, is that we spend less time with one another than ever before. Locked in our houses, glued to our screens, we are not only alone, but lonely.  We have lost “social capital,” the one-another resource that nurtures, strengthens, and encourages a healthy person, family, and culture. We weren’t meant to be alone.

Robert Putnam was examining American society. But the contagion of loneliness does not stop at the church door. The infection of loneliness in the church makes for anemic Christians and weak witness.

We weren’t meant to be alone (see Genesis 2:18). And that’s why I love Thursday evenings. Continue reading →