Pastors’ Column

Presbyterians don’t make a habit of talking about our “conversion” experiences. The idea that one’s faithfulness to the Gospel can be measured by a singular choice to follow Jesus often seems alien to our experience. When we manage to talk about conversion at all, we describe it as the beginning of a lifelong journey in which striving is more holy than achieving; asking more sacred than answering, and hearing more laudable than speaking.

The first fall my husband Josh and I were living and working as Mission Co-Workers for the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Egypt, we were contacted by a congregation in Lafayette, Ind. They asked if we would be able to create a short video they could use in their worship service on World Communion Sunday to help their congregation celebrate the day as well as feel like they were connected to our life in Egypt.

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

This week, as we welcomed our new parish nurse and social worker, these words from Howard Thurman rang in my ears. Sang in my ears. In our church and in our world, there are many needs. Sometimes, when I survey the landscape of need, I get overwhelmed or discouraged. Sometimes I feel guilt and shame, inadequate. Why? In part, because there are so many needs. But mostly because I am looking in the wrong direction. I focus on the needs rather than the one who can supply our every need. I focus on my inadequacy rather than God’s sufficiency.

This coming Sunday our church family will host significant celebrations of leadership on our church staff for very important ministry areas.

We will give thanks to God during the 10:00 a.m. worship service for Donna Barrickman’s ministry and have a more informal opportunity to send her into retirement with our love and appreciation during the reception after worship in the Ministries Center Court. In her 27 years on the church staff as Membership and Communications Manager, Donna has welcomed more than 1,200 new members and coordinated 108 New Member Orientation classes! For many of us, Donna has extended the first word of welcome as we came through the doors of BMPC.

This coming Sunday will be a day of great celebration as we kick off a new program year and enjoy our annual Rally Day picnic on the front lawn following the 10 a.m. service. After summertime comings and goings it will be a joy to be together in greater numbers again, to share a meal and fellowship, and to learn about many programmatic offerings and service opportunities planned for fall. Children and youth will have the opportunity to greet one another and meet their church school teachers, and the picnic will include all kinds of fun activities for all ages, as well as good food and fellowship. Rally Day is the celebration of being called into the community of the church together.

When I was 14 years old, I became a member of the First Baptist Church of Rhodhiss, N.C.

I was baptized by immersion into the chilly waters of the small metal pool that had welcomed thousands of people before me into Christian communion. As the pastor quoted scripture, I caught a glimpse of rust stains around the drain at the bottom of the pool. An oil painting of a river bank covered the wall behind me. It had once been the pride of the Sanctuary. Only a faint glimmer of its former exuberance remained. The artist’s work was faded and cracked. Years of dust had accumulated on the thickest brush strokes, and the canvas was peeling on all four corners. The state of the painting, and the whole baptismal array, dismayed many. For me, it revealed the tattered elegance of a space worn out by faithful service.