Being Part of a Church

I have been the pastor of a church since late June of 1989. I have been with my current congregation since the first Sunday of September, 1995.

A lot of weeks have come and gone, with Sunday acting as a center of gravity for so many weeks over the past 22 years.

For better or worse, I have been shaped into who I am by being part of a church, especially this church I have been with for almost 16 years. I have been preaching sermons for many of these people for all these years, and leading Bible studies, and talking with people about their sicknesses and their children and legal issues. I have been in hospitals, and funeral homes and at grave sides. We have worked on stopping leaks through sanctuary ceilings, assuring people in sorrow and trouble that we cared for them and still valued them. We have discussed our children and parents. This group of people walked with me and held me close when my father was very sick and when he died.

I have made it through the changes of life over the past couple of decades much better than I would have without my church: First United Presbyterian Church and now Fourth United Presbyterian Church.

It can really mean something to be a part of a group of people that gathers together to read the Bible, try to make sense of it, and comes together to worship God in the best way they know how. And, a group of people that has an unspoken but deep determination to never give up on each other.

As we have turned to God over the years together the best we have known how, I have come to the conclusion that this determination that manifests itself in small acts of kindness and understanding and trust is really an experience of the grace of God.