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With Gladness and Sorrow

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As I begin writing this e-News article, it is with a heavy heart. I suppose, with the dawning of a new year, I should be more optimistic and full of vigor in light of the challenges of 2017.  But yesterday, after getting word that Peter Ham had passed away, I felt like a balloon rapidly deflating, losing its air, the hiss of escaping breath.  So, as I enter into 2017, my feelings are a mixture of gladness and sorrow.  After all, in my two pastoral visits to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to visit with Peter and Karen, I discovered a kindred spirit. Peter and I talked about the places we both visited in Alaska, the movies we loved, and music we listened to in our growing up years.  On my second visit, I brought my guitar and sang a few songs. Peter told me the music helped him forget where he was. I sang some Kenny Loggins tune while doctors, nurses, family, and technicians filled the small room.  We said a prayer together and I left hoping to see Peter again . . .  and some day, I will. As I reflect on my all too brief relationship with Peter Ham, the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 come to mind:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

As we embark on this new year, crafting our resolutions and plans, let’s not overlook or forget the contributions of people who have touched our lives.  Remember, we are who we are because someone listened, nurtured, and encouraged us to follow our dreams.  We can never underestimate how another person’s actions and words shaped and molded us.  Peter Ham was one of those guiding lights.  But there are others who have also “fought the good fight and finished their race” (see 2 Tim. 4:7).  Certainly, Martin Luther King Jr. left a legacy for us to follow.  Who gave you the strength to carry on?  Who inspired you to love and care for those around you?  Who helped you find God?  As we enter into this new year, give thanks to God for that special person and be glad.  For like the wise words of Ecc. 3 ff. state clearly:  “there is a time to weep and time to laugh; a time to mourn and time to dance.”      Thank you, Peter. Thank you for giving us your time.            Ken

Student Graffiti in a UVA Study Carrel

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Last week, as I was tapping out my sermon, I lifted my head and noticed where I was.  I was in a student study carrel over in Alderman Library.  But when I took note of my environment more carefully, I began reading all the student graffiti scrawled around me.  Several anxiety-ridden UVA students had sat where I now sat.  Writing papers and studying for exams, he or she had written (in pen and pencil and carved into wood and cinder block) existential musings.  So, I composed this student psalm using their words:

Student Graffiti in a UVA Study Carrel

I need drugs.
I want nachos.
Why hast thou forsaken me?
Get busy living or get busy dying that why I’m busy studying.
I’m tired.
God, I love physics.
I just want to graduate.
I’m here more than any other place.
Next year will be better, I hope.
Dear future UVA students who seek hope
Within the premise of this seat-
Good luck.  You are going to need it.

Don’t forget to pray for our college students as they take exams and prepare for life.

Rev. Ken

Changing Light

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golden-lightHave you noticed that the light is changing? That its creamy gold covers the trees and roadways like warm caramel? As I travel both to and from work, winding alongside the mountains, I see how the brightness of summer’s sun has mellowed and has become deeper and richer.

How I love this light!
I chase it when I run and love it even when it blocks my forward vision.
I marvel how it dapples the ground beneath the trees and plays tag with the shadows.

I bask in it, closing my eyes and stretching toward it, my own version of a sun-salutation.

But it doesn’t last long, this golden hour. Before I can drink my fill, it seems to sink out of sight – leaving me a little chilly and standing in the shadows. All too quickly, I forget that the sun was just shining upon me and that it will return again tomorrow. All too quickly, I turn to the darkness and let it settle upon me.

Friends, our lives cannot always be lived in the golden hour.  Difficult and dark times assail us. Even so we must hold the light in our hearts all the while the darkness deepens, remembering that the sun will rise again.

So to our faith cannot only be vibrant when the light is shining. Evil and the powers of darkness will sometimes appear to be strong, even invincible. Even so,we must hold the Light for ourselves and for others, proclaiming for ourselves and others that the Son will rise again.

I know that today this might be hard to believe, so I share this, a lovely and moving portion of “The Servant Song” – to you, my beloved friend, “I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear/ I will hold my hand out to you/say the words you long to hear.”

How about we promise to hold the light for each other? Together we won’t be afraid.

The small and patient work of tending the flame

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kindlingI told this story on Sunday, October 23rd as the Children’s Sermon. I thought that like all good stories, it bore re-telling.

When my mom was a little girl, her house didn’t have electricity. They had to light a fire to stay warm, cook their food and heat their water for bathing. Because my mom was the oldest of eight, she had the important chore of checking the fire. It was an important job. One morning, she opened the door of the wood stove and saw the fire had gone out! She quickly went out the back door and called her dad in from the tobacco field where he had been working since before the sun was up.

“Daddy, the fire is out!!”

While she waited  for her father, she went over to the woodpile and picked up as big a stick as she could lift, so when her dad came in the door, there she stood fixin’ to throw that log into the wood stove.

“Whoa, there!” my papa said.

“But the fire is out, Daddy! Mama and the babies are gonna freeze!” (My mom is rather dramatic.)

“Elizabeth,” he said, “the fire’s not out. I banked the ashes to keep the coals from going out. The fire is there, we just need to tend it.”

She again hoisted that big stick up and again her father said,”That big a stick will put the fire out. What we need is kindling – we will use those small sticks – the ones you and your brothers pick up in the yard-  to slowly catch the fire. And then, after awhile, that fire will be a-blaze.”

You see, my mom thought that when she couldn’t see the fire, it must have gone out. But really it needed re-kindling – that careful work of putting small sticks in to the coals, that quiet work of sitting and waiting for each stick to catch hold of the spark, that slow work of not rushing to put the large pieces on too soon.

Our faith in God is like that hidden fire. Sometimes it looks and maybe even feels like its gone out, when really it needs some tending with small and patient attention. I wonder where you are in this story. Does your fire need rekindling? Do you need patience for the work of rekindling? Do you need reminding to put down the big stick and look for the small sticks along the way? Whatever the case, I invite you to spend some time this week, tending to your fire. I intend to do the same. Blessings – Lynne

“So faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”
−1 Corinthians 13:13

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Sustained by grace, we are called to serve Christ, share God’s love, and work for justice in a complex world.

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With faith, hope, and love as bedrock Christian values, we also cherish the following:
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Westminster follows the Presbyterian Book of Confession and is a confessional church. You can view/read the Book of Confession at the PC(USA) website by clicking on the following link: https://www.pcusa.org/resource/book-confessions/.

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