The winter months retreat from us, the frosty grip of cold weather relents. We flirted with spring in May as our brothers and sisters farther south did in April, the flowering trees, shrubs & plants bursting forth. The world has come awake around us and the weather has rolled around once again to the caresses of balmy summer days lingering on into…
A community church in North Andover, Massachusetts
From the Pastor
We all feel overwhelmed. I’m shocked how often during my favorite seasons of the year (Christmas and Easter), between my responsibilities and expectations as both a pastor and a husband/father/grandfather, I sigh and just wish that event was “over and done with!” Then I step back and give myself a reality check. I remind myself I love this season, I love being involved, and I need to take a breath. I need to take a moment to pray, and I probably need to enlist some help to make that overwhelmed feeling go away. Reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed also allows us to approach new ideas without immediately wanting to push them away as just one more thing we can’t handle.
I’m writing to you on March 14, during the nor’easter. It is good to remember as the snow flies that nature is God’s artwork. Today God paints with frozen water, covering our part of the world with a blanket of white. In bleaker moments, our hearts may quail and tell us this storm will never end, the world will remain dark and gray, nature will continue her slumber forever. Thanks be to God for resurrection morning, which assures our fearful selves that life will come again, even when direct evidence seems to the contrary.
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.Charles Dickens
Every cold and dark phase ends and hence begins a beautiful phase of warmth and vibrance. Don’t believe? Just notice March.Anamika Mishra
Welcome to March and to the season of Lent, that period of waiting that began on February 22 with Ash Wednesday and continues for forty days until Palm Sunday, on April 2.
Gertrude Jekyll, the gardener quoted in February’s Open Door, was right. We did have at least a few days in February that hinted at the coming of spring to give us hope. That came on the heels of extremely cold weather on February 4th, cold enough to drop the temperature into negative numbers at night. It was cold fierce enough I had to check the forecast on top of Mt. Washington just to make myself feel better about how cold the night was here. Up there on the mountain top on February 4, 2023, they hit a record wind chill that night of -108 degrees. During that frigid night, pipes froze in our church and burst. When that was discovered, it set a whole chain of events in motion that took days to maneuver through. It was quite the laundry list, beginning with shutting off the church’s water supply and canceling the Sunday service. I want to thank everyone who played an integral role in straightening out that situation over the ensuing days. We were not alone. Churches, hospitals, businesses, and homes had to deal with similar situations across the region.
I’ve been thinking a lot about faith lately, especially as we head toward February, that shortest of months, the month where the glamor of winter’s twinkling, sun-dazzled snow fades and our thoughts turn toward spring.
From the prophet Isaiah we are told, “Thus says our God: ‘I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’.” While we already celebrated the arrive of God’s Messiah, Jesus, as foretold by Isaiah, let us now be on the lookout for whatever is new this year, showing us the activity of God in our time.
Dear Friends, Merry Christmas to you all. May God’s blessings be upon us all this Christmas and throughout the upcoming year. Here we are at the very start of the Christmas season, the first Sunday of Advent behind us with the candle of hope on the Advent wreath lit. Now we move into the season in earnest, planning and delivering special services,…
Humbly Keeping Up with God’s Call to Disciples
Meeting New Peoples and Opening to New Ideas
Part II: Walking Side-by-Side
Once we have broadened our understanding of belonging enough to comfortably include newcomers different from ourselves in many ways, we can be far more welcoming of them and the differences they bring from God to us.
The earth is completing its stately stroll around our sun once again. The days grow short, the nights long, and the weather … in even more leisurely fashion … turns crisp, then cold. Together we welcome in a new Advent season. We are reminded again this year of how much God loves humanity, so much so that he sent Jesus to tell us so, and to show us how to best love each other.
Throughout our faith journey, we are extended many invitations. From the invitation to make our confession of faith and be baptized, to the invitation to care for a sick neighbor, to the invitation to bring food to the next church event, to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, our life in a community of faith is full of invitations.
If you found my remarks in “Joy in Evangelism” interesting and want to learn more about evangelizing (sharing the Gospel’s good news for all peoples with everyone needing it), this article is for you. It’s a little longer but bear with me. I think you’ll find it worthwhile … at least I hope so!
Here we are heading quickly toward Thanksgiving and Advent. What better time to explore sharing our gratitude and joy in Jesus with others in our communities. As the story of Jesus is declared in Luke 2:10-11 to be “good news of great joy for all people,” when we Christians evangelize (sharing the Gospel’s good news for all peoples with everyone needing it), we really should provide a joyful witness.
Welcome to the fall season and all the events that come with it. We have holidays headed our way, both secular and religious, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have the advent season coming our way as well, special services, and family coming in or us traveling to family. Then there’s a midterm election approaching. We have decisions to make on so many fronts. Are we pumpkin spice people or not? Will we be full candy bar people at Halloween or are we mini treats folk or those who turn out the lights for the evening? So many choices, so little time. Which is why stress has been on my mind lately.
My friends, it is hard to believe it has been a year since I began my ministry here with you at First-Calvary Baptist Church. I guess it is true that time flies when you’re having fun. I look back over all that has happened and shake my head in wonder sometimes. After the vote to hire me, the clock was ticking. Sherry…
Loneliness is like lightning. It can strike in any place, at any time. Loneliness can impact all of us, not just some unlucky few. Loneliness played a major role in our period of isolation during the pandemic crisis. So, here in June … and July and August … and all the warm months for that matter … it is time to strike back. It’s time to counter loneliness with positive action of our own.
We have celebrated Jesus’ resurrection and the new life that comes through Jesus and all he accomplished on the cross and through the tomb. We celebrated with flowers, sure signs of Spring, and Easter eggs, reminders of new life. Now we really get to enjoy the new life that comes with warmer weather.
I am the resurrection and the lifeJohn 11:25
Dear Friends,
This is our first Easter together. How exciting that is! Looking back at John 20: 1 – 29, we have the wonderful story of Jesus appearing first to Mary and then to the disciples. Over the past two years with a raging pandemic, I think we can all appreciate Mary’s feeling of being utterly alone. We can also well understand the disciples locked in a room together for fear of what might come at them from the outside. We have felt locked away and isolated too.
The Lenten Season Continues and We Journey with Jesus
Here we are, well into the season of Lent, journeying with Jesus toward Jerusalem. His forty days in the wilderness before beginning his ministry, tempted by the Devil, victorious over three classic temptations, gives us the number of days for Lent (not counting Sundays). During Lent, we do things we normally don’t. We pause in our busy lives and look back on who we have been since the last time we took this journey. We reflect on our spiritual lives and practices. We come to understand what we must change, where we need to repent (turning our lives around and changing them to better follow Jesus’ example). We spend more time in prayer and we look toward sacrifices we can make. Lent is also a time to look for the ways we are not choosing the gospel or welcoming those whom Jesus calls us to embrace.
The ability to communicate, to share the very meaning of life with each other, is the supreme expression of God’s image reflected in us. This is a beautiful observation from religious scholars. Communication, as observed in Genesis 11:1-9, the Tower of Babel story, has also been a challenge for us from almost the very beginning. In Chapter 9, God had told Noah and Noah’s sons — twice — that they were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God says this in verse 1 and repeats it in verse 7. Two chapters later, humanity decides to ignore this communication from God, to ignore the one job God gave them, and instead settle everyone in Shinar, build an impressive city, and create a tower to heaven to not only ignore God’s clear communication, but to violate God’s boundaries as well. Seeing nothing but trouble coming, God scatters humanity across the globe and creates many languages among us so we could not repeat this feat of human cooperation set to entirely human goals. And so, communication has been a challenge for us ever since.
From December on, I tend to think of the winter months as dark months. The December solstice marks the shortest day of the year. I often find myself grateful for many lights in the dark, cold nights, whether it’s from Christmas lights, streetlights, or the gentle glow from windows of family homes. Reflecting on this a bit, I was reminded of Jesus call in Matthew 5:13-20 that we Christ followers, disciples of Jesus, should be lights to the world. We should not worship in private and hide our faith away. Rather, in what we say and do, we should be lights in an often dark and frightening world, providing gentle direction to the source of all light and love found in Jesus.
Sherry and I are gobsmacked when we look back on what 2021 held for us, thanks to God continuing to do new things in our lives. In January 2021 we could not have predicted how different life would be in January 2022. We could not be happier and hope you all feel the same way. Our experiences in moving north without all the details firmly in place reminded me of the psalmist declaration in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God lights the way and we follow; Jesus blazes the path and we go; the Holy Spirit gives us a nudge and we move. It is a sound approach for individuals and for whole church communities. The way is never easy, but it’s never dull either.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people …”Luke 2: 8-10
Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas to all. First times give us pause and make us think … like, writing this letter for the first time. More importantly, the above scripture from Luke lets us witness a really big first thing, the long awaited arrival of humanity’s savior, the Messiah, and the first announcement of Jesus’ arrival as a baby by God’s messengers to a very surprising … and surprised … group of people.
It has been an eventful time since Sherry and I arrived in North Andover in early September. We have celebrated and mourned together, shared our joys and concerns, prepared for both a pastor’s installation service and five baptisms on the first Sunday of Advent to ring out the month of November. Now the Advent season is upon us once again and well underway. Soon we will be focusing on preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth, and driving ourselves to distraction with every other thing we do during the Christmas season, both religious and secular. Before we get there, let’s pause and take a moment to really consider what happened that night so long ago in Bethlehem.
Thine is the glory,
Risen conquering Son!
Endless is thy victory
Thou o’er death has won!
In the spring we see plants coming back to life with new green growth, and flowers, and the sweet scents of warmer air and sun. We see the birds and woodland critters becoming more active, some even after an entire winter’s sleep.