Preaching in January 2011

In January I will have a full month of guest preaching, with commitments made for each of the five Sundays.

January 2, 2011, 11 AM at the Presbyterian Church of Goheenville, Templeton, PA.

January 9, 2011, 9:30 AM at the NuValley Presbyterian Church, Rural Valley, PA.

January 16, 2011, 8:15 and 10:45 AM at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Greensburg, PA.

January 23. 2011, 10:45 AM at the Worthington Presbyterian Church, Worthington, PA.

January 30, 2011, 10:45 at the Apollo United Presbyterian Church, Apollo, PA.

Some of these are churches where I have preached before, but there is always something new. This will be my first time at the Presbyterian Church of Goheenville, but I have been past it a number of times. This church is along the route I normally follow when I make the long drive from Lower Burrell to visit my parents and siblings in Cooperstown, New York. I pass it during the first hour of my journey up, and it is one of the landmarks that tells me I am getting close to home on the return trip. I am probably not the only preacher whose attention is drawn to houses of worship when on long trips. I usually find myself wondering about how the congregations that use those buildings reach out to their communities. I am looking forward to the first time that I actually will stop in Goheenville.

When I saw that I was going to preach at NuValley Presbyterian Church, I did a double-take. My printed 2009 directory for Kiskiminetas Presbytery does not list that church. Then I learned that this is a new congregation formed from the merger of two congregations that had done many things together over the years. In fact, just last January I preached for both of the congregations that went into the merger. At each church I had conversations with leaders of the two congregations in which they told me about their upcoming decision on merger. They felt trepidation about whether they could get the merger to happen, but it was clear to the leaders on both sides that the merger was something that had arisen out of the shared lives and ministries of the two congregations. I am looking forward to January 9 when I will guest preach for the first time at the NuValley Church, barely five months into its existence and service as one congregation.

I have not preached at the Westminster Presbyterian Church before, but that was where I met with a team from the Committee on Ministry of Redstone Presbytery about being put on their pulpit supply list. This will be an interesting and full morning of two services, with an informal service with Communion early, and then a traditional service later.

I believe this will be my second time at the Worthington Presbyterian Church. I preached there at the beginning of this month for a service of Communion. They have many friendly people and a lovely, intimate worship space with the Table in the center.

I have preached a few times at the Apollo church, and look forward to being back with their friendly people and fascinating architecture.

File under : Apollo, Greensburg, PCUSA, Presbyterian Church, worship

Sights, sounds, tastes, feelings at the end of November

This is just a description of random observations from yesterday.

When I woke in the morning I was hearing gunshots in the distance from various directions. It was the first day of rifle season for hunting deer and my apartment was on the top of a hill overlooking the Allegheny valley, so I often hear sounds that come from a distance. I remembered that the previous day in worship at Puckety Presbyterian Church one of the prayer requests was for the hunters. Ever since I moved to Western Pennsylvania, it has been my consistent experience that someone makes this prayer request in church on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. So the day started with sounds that reminded me to pray.

Part of my day involved making a hospital visit at the Alle-Kiski Medical Center. Before I made it in the door I was amazed at the beautiful clouds in the sky. Truly the heavens declare God's handiwork!





When I stopped for lunch in the hospital cafeteria, I was surprised to hear the sounds of accordion playing in the dining room. A musician was there playing for the entertainment of the volunteers, staff, and visitors. He only played a few polkas, but people sitting at the table closest to him were making requests, and he clearly knew a lot of music. The cafeteria was offering kielbasa, pierogies, potato pancakes, and halushki. It must have been in honor of some Polish holiday. I found on the internet that November 29 is a celebration called Andrzejki (St. Andrew's Eve); I was not sure if the day was special for that or if it was a remembrance of the November uprising in 1830. Whatever was the occasion for this Polish theme, it made for a memorable and tasty lunch.

I went back to Puckety Church in the afternoon to do some cleaning out of my office. On Sunday I had not noticed the creche set out in front of the church.



I took home from the office the few items I had brought at the start of the month: my preaching robe and the selection of stoles I had planned to use for the month. As I folded them up I recognized that I was going through another transition in my life. Even though I was only going to be at Puckety for a short time, it had been significant to me to have a place to hang my robe, where it would be ready for me on Sunday morning. Of course, I still have a place to hang my robe in my closet at home, but there is a different feeling when one has a regular workplace where a few personal tools and items can remain for when they are needed. I was reminded of how many offices, cubicles, or lockers have been vacated by so many people affected by the downturn in the economy. So many people have been going through these transitions. God is leading us somewhere.

Sunday was the last of the series of four Sundays where I had preached at Puckety, and a number of people had kind words to say about how I had been helpful during the month. The congregation is definitely is looking forward to the arrival of Rev. Kirk Orr this week. This will be a good Advent season for them, and I am glad if I was able to do anything to help them prepare for it.

For those who are interested in where they will be able to hear me preach in December, I have been booked for two Sundays next month. This Sunday, December 5, I will be at the Worthington Presbyterian Church. And then Christmas Eve, I will lead the service at the Calvin United Presbyterian Church in Scottdale.

File under : AKMC, Advent, PCUSA, Puckety Presbyterian Church, food, music, pictures, prayer

An Anti-Bullying Message From the NOH8 Campaign

My work in November

During the month of November I am working at the Puckety Presbyterian Church here in Lower Burrell. The congregation recently elected the Rev. Kirk Orr as pastor, and I will be providing pastoral care services before he moves up here and starts.

In addition to preaching every Sunday in November and doing some pastoral visitation, I will moderate one meeting of the church's session.

From the pastor's study I look across the church parking lot to the Burrell High School.



It feels good to be back into a weekly work schedule connected to a congregation. In supply preaching my responsibilities have been limited to preparing a sermon and leading worship.

File under : Lower Burrell, Presbyterian Church, worship

Storm approaching

This picture was taken minutes before heavy rains and winds arrived.

File under : Lower Burrell, picture

Adult Sunday School class - developments in the PCUSA

A gap developed in my supply preaching schedule, so the United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington (the congregation where I worship when not out preaching somewhere) invited me to do a two-session adult class on polity changes in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The class will be held in fellowship hall at 9:30 AM on Sunday September 19 and 26.

There are so many things that came out of the 219th General Assembly, including seventeen different proposed amendments to the church constitution. The congregation has done some creative things with the arts in worship, so I will probably want to speak at least briefly about the opening worship service at the Assembly. The congregation has an active youth program, so I probably will also want to say something about the contributions of the Young Adult Advisory Delegates to the Assembly.

Each of the seventeen proposed amendments is about something important to the life of the church. Three of the proposed amendments are going to be getting a lot of attention, so I will probably use my limited class time to open conversations about them in the class. (Of course, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't believe that at least one of the apparently innocuous proposals was a bad idea. I may have to sit on those thoughts and save them for a rainy day - or for debate in presbytery.)

On September 19 we'll discuss the implications of adding the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions, and then turn to a discussion of amendment 10-A (the one about ordination standards).

On September 26 we'll look at the Revised Form of Government, and discuss the implications of the paradigm shift envisioned in this major amendment to our Form of Government. If there is time, we may be able to have a discussion of some of the other proposed amendments.

If you'll be in the area on either of those Sundays, please join us.

File under : GA219, New Kensington, PCUSA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), nFOG, polity, rFOG

A day in the life of a Self-Sufficiency Services Coordinator

Yesterday was a good day, so I thought I would use it to give some examples of the kinds of things I've been doing since February in my job at the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches as a Self-Sufficiency Services Coordinator. My job is one of those rather directly created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and its goal has been to help people affected by the downturn in the economy get back to self-sufficiency.

The first half of the day revolved around the audit of my program's files by the monitor from Allegheny County. This was the third of the quarterly reviews in which I have participated, having come into this position four months into its program year. These audits are an important part of being accountable for the services we provided. I was pleased that this review went well.

In the remainder of the day, I saw two clients when they came in for the food bank, I played phone tag with two other clients and succeeded in connecting with one of them, and met another client off-site.

The off-site meeting was with an unemployed man who I transported to the Alle-Kiski Career Link in New Kensington for help with his resume and to refer him to the Pennsylvania Way to Work Program.

One of the clients I met at my office is starting classes at a local university next week, after having taken some required classes through the summer at the New Kensington campus of Westmoreland County Community College. Two of my clients are finishing a course at the University of Pittsburgh Manufacturing Assistance Center this week; they each just received certifications in machining that should make them more employable. I am really happy for them about their accomplishments.

One of the clients I saw talked with me about getting some help for a family member, and we identified some steps that can be taken now.

This was a good day. I did not have quite as many frustrations with tracking people down as I do sometimes, and I was able to celebrate some significant steps forward.

File under : ARRA, AVAC