MESSAGE FOR SEPTEMBER - Rev. Greg
Greetings in Christ
to all members of the BPC family! I hope
that your summer months have been filled with fun and relaxation, even though
it’s been uncommonly hot around here. Hard to believe that it’s already September, the kids are going back to
school, and our thoughts are beginning to turn to football games, fall color
tours, Halloween and (yikes!!) planning for Christmas.
By the time you read
this, we’ll have had our planning & visioning event. The Session and I will be working with the
hopes and dreams you shared with us to set plans in place for the bright future
here at BPC. And we’ll also work to
address some of the concerns you expressed to us so that we can move forward as
a united community of faith. I’ll keep
you updated on our progress, and my sincere thanks to all who were able to
attend or sent in their comments.
This past month was
a busy one around here. We added several
new members to our family, and the youth led worship (and did a great job, by
the way). Our basement problems seem to
be solved in the short term, and we have a civil engineer’s proposal for a
permanent fix that is being reviewed by the Session. I’d like to publicly thank Paula Allstetter
for doing a super job filling in for me while I was on vacation. The various Session committees are gearing up
for the fall season, and the deacons are doing their usual first-rate job in
providing care and outreach to our family. Sadly, it was also a busy month for hospital visits, with several of our
members experiencing surgeries and ongoing problems but it things took a
significant turn for the better around the middle of the month and hopefully
come September everybody will be back on top of their games.
One of the things
that continue to amaze me about our church family is how very generous you
are. Whether it’s helping cover the
costs of our basement problems, supporting members of our congregation with
prayer and home visits, or keeping the
Methodist Pantry stocked with paper products, you always come through to meet
whatever need may arise. I can’t thank
you enough for the outstanding way in which you represent BPC and more
importantly, the witness to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that your
actions embody.
And as a closing
thought, the sermon on Youth Sunday was entitled “Sabbath.” I’ve been fascinated by that word and by the
concept of Sabbath for a long time, even though I do an absolutely horrible job
of observing a personal Sabbath. Each of
us needs some down time, to rest our bodies, reconnect with our loved ones, and
perhaps most importantly to reconnect with God. As we come into the busy fall season, I urge you to do your very best to
set aside time to be still and allow yourself to be refreshed. The idea of the Sabbath is to stop doing for
a day so that you can hear the still, small voice of God. Over the years, we’ve turned Sunday (our
Sabbath day) into another day for work, or for running the kids to soccer
games, or for catching up on the yard work. That completely misses the point, and I’m as guilty as the next guy when
it comes to using Sunday afternoon to “take care of a few things.” Please, make a point at least once a week to
truly shut down. Turn off the TV, don’t
worry about how dirty the car is, and forget about your golf game and
STOP!! Give yourself an hour when you
don’t do anything but listen. You’ll be
surprised at how much you hear in the silence.
See you in church!
Blessings,
Rev. Greg
