From the Pastor
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the pages that follow, the ideas, thoughts, hopes, and actions highlighted enumerate the ways that First Presbyterian Church of Phoenix, Oregon has sought to live out our calling to live as the Body of Christ in this part of the Rogue Valley.
If I were to say that 2009 was a particularly easy year for any, whether inside or outside a particular congregation, you’d wonder where exactly I’d been for the past year. The economic issues facing our country and our region have certainly been felt within the life of this particular congregation. From the first months of 2009, the session began looking for ways that some of our budgeted expenses could be reduced or eliminated. We had some significant discussions regarding spending and came to some difficult decisions on how/where to stop spending against the budget. Areas where spending was frozen were the local mission and Community assistance line items, we found alternate ways of arranging for pulpit supply when I was not available to preach, and we started printing the bulletin in house (which greatly decreased our printing expenses.)
But with the decrease in spending seen as a necessity for the continuation of First Presbyterian Church, the necessity to continue being a tangible resource for people suffering the burdens of this economic climate. And so your session explored options on how we might continue feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing shelter for the cold, and company for the lonely. Taking the funds held for Mission reserves, we combined it with funds donated specifically for the purpose of providing assistance in ways in keeping with being the Body of Christ.
In looking at the financial information, the income and expenses, and assets that we have, it is clear that we are a congregation living in faith, that we are a congregation actively trusting that God will (and has) provided for the means for this congregation live into our calling as the Body of Christ. In this economic climate, it’s not fair or right to insist that you give more to fund the church budget; but what I will ask, is that for the ways that you do contribute (and I’m sure that everybody can find themselves within the pages to follow somewhere) for the ways that you are making contributions that you allow joy to abound and that you rejoice that God is able to make use of each of our contributions.
Joy – this one simple three-lettered word, as small as it may be, is one ideal I felt drawing FPC Phoenix through 2009 - that search for the joyous. Did you feel it?
Joy, did you feel it? Worship was a time of expressing joy this past year. In a session meeting, the question, (or statement) was raised, “Why don’t we sing more about Joy?” (or something along those lines.) And so that got me thinking about how we express (experience?) joy through our worship singing. Was it simply a matter of tempo? Of higher energy? – we brought in guitars along with the piano, introduced (again) the trumpet to accompany some hymns. We alternated the familiar in with lesser known hymns – introduced a refrain “The trees of the Field” – ‘You shall go out with joy - - -‘ as a closing benediction to our worship; did you?
As we passed the Peace of Christ to one another in our worship setting, did you see joy in one another’s eyes? If not, did you follow up with a question, a phone call, a word of encouragement? The hand extended as a symbol of your baptism, did you receive it joyously, eager to receive and embrace it? The thing about Joy, is it’s not contingent on external variables – Joy is internally driven.
Joy – did you feel it? Did you experience it as you passed the elements of communion to your brothers and sisters? As you held the plate how did your smile feel? How was that warming in your heart interpreted? As you received the cup from your neighbor, how did you acknowledge in joy, not only the gift given, but the bearer of that gift? You did, did you feel it? How did you serve the one next to you in Joy?
Joy and awe went forth from the table around which we gather to the table we extended to those unable to make it for Sunday morning Worship. The care, the love, the joy I witnessed between those being served and those serving home-communion was palpable. As great a joy as it is to serve the sacrament, the rekindling of memories I witnessed and shared, can be almost just as sacramental – that means through which God’s grace is made known and more tangible.
That same joy can be sensed through our potluck table celebrations each month, through the Thanksgiving dinner, through our observance of the Seder on Maundy Thursday, as well as our gatherings for our Tuesday evening Soup, Song and Study. These times are sacramental (just maybe not with a capital ‘S’), for whenever we gather for meal and bread is broken, we’re to receive in joy the gift of life Christ gave to us, in himself. We certainly have ample opportunities to share in this Joy; can you feel it? “I come with Joy to serve the Lord – forgiven, loved, and freed . . .” Did you? (Presbyterian Hymnal #507)
It has been my joy this past year to serve you as pastor. To sit with you and listen, to share in thoughts and feelings, to pray with and hear your hearts come through prayer. It’s been an honor to be present with you through the darkest times, as well as some of the brightest, most exciting: to watch as you take some of those uneasy, unsteady steps of faith.
It has been a joy of mine to serve you in the wider church as Vice-moderator of Cascades Presbytery; I was invited to participate in the joyous celebrations of area congregations – new pastor ordinations and installations, retirement celebrations, congregational birthdays. As a member of the presbytery’s Worship Design Team, I was able to prepare worship for the whole of the presbytery of Cascades. As a regional representative for the Seminary Support Network (Theological Education Fund Rep.), I was thrilled to step into the opportunity to invite Rose Niles to be present in worship, to lead and bring the Word of the Lord to FPC Phoenix. It’s not often that a small church has this opportunity, so I felt it one to embrace and be joyful.
I’ve been overjoyed to share you with the wider Phoenix/Talent community. In service with the Chamber of Commerce (and not simply because they gave us the award for Best Christmas Light display) with area businesses, with the City of Phoenix I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to share the generosity of the body of Christ to the people of the Rogue Valley, even in the midst of such a depressed economic climate. It does my heart good – it’s a joy to hear through the grapevine what kind of impact FPC Phoenix has made in somebody’s life.
In 2009, it would seem that Joy was an attribute that brought us along through the months. As we make our way into and through 2010, let’s be mindful of how the Spirit is drawing us. May we hold tight to the Joy that God has given us, as we experience yet anew, God’s gifts through the Holy Spirit.
