One week from today Becky and I will be on the floor of Yosemite Valley celebrating my mother’s 90th birthday. The very day, Friday the 13th. When my brothers and sisters and I began to think about how we would mark this wonderful occasion, the “where” part of the festivities came easy. Yosemite Valley.

My mother loves Yosemite. We camped there as a family when we were young and as adults we have returned to Yosemite, this great cathedral in John Muir’s Range of Light. Continue reading →

The General Assembly of our denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), meets this week in Pittsburgh. At its very best the General Assembly seeks to discern our denominational family’s faithfulness to its call to be a part of one, holy, catholic, apostolic church and to act and propose action that might enhance our witness to the Gospel.

I make no secret of my frustration with many of the outcomes of our General Assemblies. Our fidelity to our call to unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolic integrity (that is, our adherence and submission to the word and message first preached by the Apostles) seems to get lost in the clutter. And there is a lot of clutter. Some 800 items of business will come before the 21 committees of the Assembly.  Not all of them will be recommended for vote to the whole Assembly and its 688 commissioners.  And not all of them seem to have much to do with being a part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. Continue reading →

A week ago today, Anthony Fortunato, a 98-year old member of our Church died after a brief illness. His memorial service was yesterday.  “It was a wonderful life” and “He was a one of kind person” are the cliches we have used over and over in talking about Anthony, not because we can’t think of anything else to say, but because they apply so well. His obituary listed the loves of his life as God, family and sports. Edith, his wife of 74 years, offered the list and said that it was in that order. “Usually,” she added. The beloved Phillies seemed sometimes to edge their way into first place.

At the memorial service I mentioned that Tony was “just a milkman.” That he was a milkman is the fact of the matter. He had worked for Harbison and Greenwood Dairies.  Some people still remember his kindness to them as their milkman. I added “just” to acknowledge the world’s sensibility about such things. Milkmen are “just milkmen” in that they are not named to halls of fame or given accolades and honors for doing their job. They are not heroes of great battles and they do not concoct life-saving drugs or invent time-saving devices. Milkmen just do their job. In fact, milkmen just did their job. Continue reading →

They’ve been everywhere around town these past few weeks, and they are a nuisance. Those crews trimming the tree branches from around the power lines. Right in the middle of the street, the street I’d planned on taking to get to where I need to go, they park their lift trucks and chippers.  Oh, they put out a few orange cones, but the streets of the township and borough are narrow enough without this.  We’re left to our own devices and the courtesy, or lack thereof, of our fellow motorists to get by and get through. They’re a nuisance, and I need to get to where I’m going.

I need to get where I’m going. The next appointment, the quick errand I’d really like to be quick. Hey, I’m a pastor; one of my parishioners is in the hospital and I need to get to where I’m going.

Of course, we all know it: the aesthetics and artistry of their work aside, those tree trimming crews are doing good work for us. The branches that are trimmed and chipped this summer may be the branches that won’t come down on the power lines some cold night next winter. The thirty seconds I wait for the single lane to clear so I can get on my way to where I am going is a small price to pay for avoiding thirty hours of no power in January. Continue reading →

At Monday’s Mission Committee meeting we’ll be talking about a possible mission project in Brazil.

You may remember that our primary mission focus is on the work of Promised Land Ministries in Guatemala and Hunting Park Christian Academy in North Philadelphia.  But we also support some select secondary projects both locally and internationally.  Our list includes, among others, Abundant Life, a ministry at the Bucks County Jail and the Penndel Food Pantry of Bucks County Housing Group. We partner with the Coalition for Christian Outreach on local college campuses and Bethana’s work with children and families throughout the metropolitan Philadelphia area. Continue reading →