Dear Friends, When I took the job of being your pastor some friends of mine, Gerry and Jeanne Foisy, gave me a beautiful set of communion chalices, which I keep on a shelf in my office.  Jerry and Jeanne are people I see a few times a year, usually at parties thrown by mutual friends, and while we don’t spend a lot…

Friends, This year’s General Assembly in Portland covered a lot of controversial issues, most of which addressed issues of urgent contemporary importance. Presbyterians at General Assembly talked about and took actions around such matters as justice in the Holy Land, climate change, and racial inequality. We also elected a set of top denominational officials that, for the first time in our history,…

Friends, Greetings from the Presbyterian conference center at Zephyr Point on Lake Tahoe. I’m here for the week, teaching a class on Islam. There is a good group gathered for something called “The Zephyr Experience,” which is kind of like a mini seminary for lay-people. There are six teachers up here, at least half of whom have a relationship with MPC (the…

Friends, On Sunday afternoon I drove to Mendocino. Ordinarily, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we have a big family gathering that involves lots of food, usually cooked over an open fire. This year was a bit different: my eldest brother and my youngest sister had a gig that night, singing duets down at the Mendocino Odd Fellows Hall. My siblings…

Dear Friends, On Tuesday afternoon, just before I sat down to write my weekly column for Contact a group of MPC folks got together to look at the church calendar for the next year, and I have come away from that meeting with some good news and some bad news for the Montclair Presbyterian Church family. I’ll start with the bad news:…

Friends, According to the traditions of the Church calendar, this coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday, a day I love because I love the Trinity. Not only is the Trinity comprised of “The Three Men I Admire Most” (to quote a song), but the doctrine of the Trinity is a belief that connects Christians to the divine mystery of God. Or at least…

Friends, Back in March, my friend Geoff Browning paid a visit to MPC to preach and to talk to us about what it might look like for our congregation to consider self-identifying as a “Peace Church”, a designation that would recognize our congregation’s historic commitment to peacemaking, and opposition to America’s various and ongoing wars. A peace church designation might also allow…

Friends, As a rule I don’t do much to promote the celebration of Mothers’ Day in the Church, because I am mindful of the loneliness and sadness such celebrations cause those who do not have children, or who have difficult and dysfunctional relationships with their mothers. I am aware, however, that Mother’s Day began not as a way to sell greeting cards…

Friends, Here’s a confession. It’s not always easy to think of something pithy and spiritually moving and—well—pastoral in my “Pastor’s Pen” spot. Sometimes my mind goes blank, and sometimes it’s too full of different ideas competing for space on the page. The latter issue seems to have been the problem for me this week, and every time I thought maybe I was…