From the Pastor’s Desk
Dear Friends,
For a week in July I had the privilege of chaperoning 16 Senior Highs from Providence Presbytery to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium (PYT).
Triennium brings together about 5000 Presbyterian youth from all over the nation every 3 years. Each event is held at Purdue University in Indiana. The event is supported financially through our contributions to the General Assembly of our denomination (PCUSA), individual contributions, and registration fees.
The youth were assigned to small groups where we reflected on the biblical theme of the day. We reflected on the Good Samaritan, Moses and the Burning Bush, and other stories. It was enlightening to be with youth from across the country, rural and urban, mainland and Alaska and Puerto Rico, and various ethnicities. Each youth brought a unique perspective.
We gathered each afternoon in worship. Worship included energizers, very loud and uplifting music (the bass still reverberates on my skin), and engaging preachers from across the denomination. We gathered 5,000 strong in the auditorium and finished in the outdoor amphitheater with communion and glow sticks. A former Allison Creek member led part of worship one night.
The youth were challenged to “Go” and make disciples. The youth were encouraged to become advocates and make their voices heard.
I thank you for supporting me as I engage in ministry in the wider church. Our calling as Christians extends beyond the local church.
Peace, Sam
Devotional:
The following devotional was written by Rev. Barbara Hedin of Vass, NC. My McGregor ancestors, in the 18th Century, helped to begin the church near Pinehurst where she is pastor.
“Moral Imagination”
While we as Christians have our spiritual standards in Jesus’ words and actions that we aim for in all areas of our lives: “So in everything do to others what you would have them to do to you” [Matthew 7:12, NIV]; and “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” [Luke 10:27 NIV], I was impressed with an Op-Ed piece in Saturday’s New York Times titled “Bring Moral Imagination Back in Style” by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
She starts out by reflecting on a time when she walked into her grandmother’s house who was playing cards with a nearly deaf neighbor. The radio was playing “She’s Not Here” by the Zombies and Boylan thought this very strange and asked why they would be listening to that. Her grandmother responded, “Shhh. She thinks it’s classical.”
Boylan goes on to say, “It wasn’t that I didn’t understand that she suffered, back when she was old and deaf, and I was young and not. It’s that whatever she suffered from was something I didn’t need to be concerned with. It didn’t occur to me that imagining the humanity of people other than myself was my responsibility. And yet the root cause of so much grief [in our world] is our failure to do just that.” She goes on to say, “Edward Burke called this the ‘moral imagination,’ the idea that our ethics should transcend our own personal experience and embrace the dignity of the human race.” Boylan wrote this at a time when she herself needed hearing aids after a precipitous loss of hearing.
It struck me that whatever one’s background, religious preference (or none), or cultural context, that there is indeed a great need for this in the world today, that is: “that imagining the humanity of people other than myself is my responsibility.”
Dear Lord, there are many ways to express Your desire for the way You want us to live together on Your good earth. Continue to lead and empower us to live in ways pleasing to You and uplifting to our neighbors so that we may indeed be seen to be Jesus’ disciples. In Christ, Amen.