Beauty of Holy Spaces

I am smitten by the beauty of First Presby. Church's sanctuary during both Advent and Christmas. The large Christmas tree, the simple wreath for Advent, the Christmas wreaths and garlands, poinsettias, the fantastic banners by Karen Hanny and Peggy Stocks, along with Christmas greens throughout the rest of the sanctuary, all "worked" in our sanctuary of worship. Thank you to ALL who participated in planning and putting up this marvelous display of craftspersonship, and for ALL those who are taking it down as I write this.

There are many in this world who do not have a place for holy worship like we do. There are Christians who meet under trees for worship in Africa and South America, others who gather in school buildings, prison cafeterias, and others who meet in store front churches. What make all of these places holy sanctuaries are the people who gather in God's name. It all goes back to the words of Jesus, "Wherever two or three gather in my name, Lo, I am there."

Come let us adore him in sanctuaries of rare beauty like ours, under trees, under tin roofs, and in the wide open spaces of Godly splendor!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

St. Stephen Day, King Wenceslas, and Boxing Days: Church Holy Days

As many of the members of First Presbyterian Church-Henderson (FPC-H) are now realizing, I am in awe of the holy days in the life of the Church universal: whether Catholic, Protestant, Greek or Russian Orthodox (Western and Eastern Orthodox Churches). We've celebrated All Saints' Day, Christ the King Sunday, all four Sundays of Advent, and are now in the 12 days of Christmastide, followed by Epiphany and the Sunday of Jesus' baptism.

What's is the importance of these days? They are reminders/markers/sign posts of telling us which way we are headed, and which way we are going: toward God's realm of love, which is also inbreaking.

Today is Boxing Day in England, otherwise known as St. Stephen's Feast Day. This is a day of remembering to be charitable. Employers would give the "help" a gift in boxes that people used on Christmas day, or a parent would give a gift to a child. St. Stephen is remembered as the first Christian martyr, who was stoned by a crowd who were roused by Saul of Tarsus, a.k.a., St. Paul.

Judith Flanders wrote a fascinating column/op-ed in the New York Times today, focusing on Boxing Day and arguing for us to try it in the States:

Instead Boxing Day could return as a day of giving. Not necessarily cash — and not material to make uniforms — but rather one day a year to donate skills or effort, a day for sharing something of value in the larger community. Help someone whose first language isn’t English fill out driver’s license forms. Load an old lady’s iPod with Rogers and Hammerstein. Teach the boy next door to throw overhand, so the other kids stop teasing him.

What we really need to do is put down the punch bowl and pick up on what Punch magazine wrote more than 150 years ago: Don’t just keep “the Christmas of the belly: keep you the Christmas of the heart. Give — give.”

Click here for more.

Peace,

Pastor Brett

Christmastide! Finally! Phew!

Reports from my family in Oregon is that it is down-right cold and chilly. Reports from friends in New Zealand: cooler than usual! Reports from friends in Bethlehem: wet!

Reports from church last night for a series of "Lessons and Carols": beautiful! Following in the tradition of this church, we worshiped last night following a series of lessons, of Scripture verses, that remind us of the downs and ups of the human story: from Genesis and the dislocation of the couple of newbies, Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Sarah being told of the greatness of God's people, born from a once-barren womb, to Micah's and Isaiah's words reminding us of who was born in one of Israel's darkest periods of life: namely, the Christ child. We read stories of Christ's birth, from Luke and Matthew, with shepherds and wise men. I'm always struck by the passage in John 1, in which the entire Gospel is summed up in the first 14 verses.

The church was 3/4th full, which was wonderful. Candles were lit and held high as we sang "Silent Night, Holy Night!" The night was warm. Mist enveloped the ground. The church sanctuary was bedecked in red and green. A new banner hung in the sanctuary designed and constructed by Peggy Stock, and the choir sang beautifully.

For the last four weeks, we were building up to Christmastide. While the world around us understands Christmas as one day, we Christians know better: it is a season of 12 days, ending with Epiphany, or in the South, "Old Christmas."

I look forward to celebrating all days of Christmas with you, dear members of FPC-H!

Merry Christmastide!

Pastor Brett

Beethoven's Birthday!

Urgh!

Yesterday was an important birthday for us to remember: Beethoven's birthday! We all seem to enjoy singing that wonderful hymn "Joyful, joyful we adore thee God of glory, Lord of love..." This hymn, that comes from the choral refrain from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, is a grand hymn to open worship with.

Here's to you, Ludwig!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

Doing Things Decently and in Order...and in the Book of Order

One of the fun parts--and yes, I mean fun--of going through Elder training is re-reading parts of the Book of Confession (Part I) and Book of Order (Part II), which comprises our Constitution as a denomination. These are rather lengthy documents, and I giggle when realizing that the United Kingdom has no Constitution while we Presbyterians keep adding and subtracting and refining our Constitution.

What is key for us as a church is the part of the Director of Worship. There has been much discussion in the church over the changes in the Order of Worship, which Session changed some months ago. We looked at the PCUSA's BOOK OF COMMON WORSHIP, as well as followed the "Service of the Lord's Day" under "Appropriate Actions in our Book of Order, W-3.3000 and W-3.3200. The order of actions, of worship is as follows:
1. Gathering around the Word: call, confession, and assurance;
2. Proclaiming the Word: the reading of Scripture and preaching;
3. Responding to the Word: the offertory, prayers of the people, and Lord's prayer;
4. The Sealing of the Word: the sacraments;
5. Bearing and following the Word into the world: charge and benediction.

When I came to First Presby. Church, we were not following this very traditional Presbyterian way of worship, but were following some other order of worship that was not rooted in the Presbyterian tradition. With some simple shuffling around, we kept all the elements of worship we had before, and added some new ones in the way of responsive readings so that the congregation is more active in worship. Thus worship is less the choir and preacher/pastor performing, but more of the people of God engaged in worship.

Thanks for the opportunity to teach Elders, and re-learn why we do what we do!

Peace,

Pastor Brett

2nd Sunday of Advent: Peace...with John the Baptizer as Guide

Today's worship was memorable in many ways: the "children's sermon" became a family sermon, with two families playing tug of war vs. tug of peace. It is always interesting to see who competitive we can be, and how odd, how strange, how weird building consensus can be, whether in a church, a family, or a neighborhood.

John the Baptizer was the focus of today' sermon. He heralds well the coming of the Christ!

I particularly enjoyed singing a song that "John the Baptizer" would heartily approve: "Go Tell it On the Mountain," with the congregation singing along and clapping to this wondrous African American spiritual!

With two Sundays of Advent "down," our Season of waiting continues. There is a challenge before us to focus on Advent as Christians while so many of groups in the rest of the world around us has already jumped ahead to the Season of Christmas. But the four weeks of waiting
is well worth it when we enter the season of Christmas.

Peace!

Brett

First Sunday of Advent

This was my first Advent celebration at First Presbyterian Church-Henderson, and I must say that it was powerful, even for the pastor. The sanctuary itself is beautiful beyond words: the wreaths, the garlands, the mixture or red and green, purple and white, were eye catching. The music by the choir was beautiful. And the readings by young and old families and couples, explaining the meaningfulness of the season seemed to set the right tone for the Advent season.

Hope that others will be able to join us in the great waiting for the coming of the Christ child.

Peace,

Brett