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I was talking to someone this weekend who asked what I was up to this week. I responded with, “It’s Holy Week, so I am rather busy.” They responded by asking, “What exactly is Holy Week?” Generally speaking, I try not to use church jargon when I don’t know someone’s religious background. Still, there are times when I am caught off-guard when someone is unfamiliar with what I consider a commonly used term. While I was surprised, I only let my surprise last a half a step before I was able to give my four-sentence summary: “Palm Sunday (yesterday) is the day when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. He spends the week debating with the local religious authority. On Thursday, he has his last supper with his followers before he is arrested early the next morning. By Friday afternoon, he is crucified but then he rises from the dead on Sunday”
Having to explain this to someone I know reminded me that the world doesn’t stop for Holy Week anymore. While some places still close for Good Friday or Easter Sunday, many places still don’t. Let me be clear, I am not complaining about this. Our culture doesn’t stop for holy days, weeks, or months for other religions either. Our world is much more globalized and secularized than it used to be. That means we get to enjoy the richness of many cultures without leaving our neighborhoods - but it also means that the wider culture can feel indifferent to the holiest and most meaningful days in our respective religious calendars. I have memories of leaving a service that struck me to my core, and then interacting with people on the sidewalk like nothing had changed in the outside world. It was jarring to see that people didn't notice or care. But our culture's indifference means we all have to intentionally set aside time to sit with the stories of Holy Week. Culture is not going to force you to consider how power is abused and how Jesus stood up to the corrupt and powerful. No one is going to drag you to the table to hear about how Jesus recklessly loved us and all of humanity. You are not forced to sit at the foot of the cross and meditate on the human inclination towards violence and death. If you want to make your Holy Week feel truly holy, you are going to have to carve out time to sit with the story, and dwell with the struggles of the characters. If you want a place to gather where you will hear the story again, join us for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But for however dark the week feels, know that Easter will come just the same. Whether the world ignores it or eagerly waits for it, Jesus and his abundant love will always break through our world once again. Blessings, Pastor Chris The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, - Exodus 34:6 Dear *|FNAME|*,
“I feel so much anger welling up inside me…” I've heard this sentiment in various ways more than a handful of times on Sunday after worship - but it wasn’t the anger itself that struck me, it was the co-occurring sense that they felt guilty for being angry but were still unrepentant. I was never told that being angry was a bad thing, but I did grow up in the Midwestern culture that considered being angry to be rude - and being rude was socially unacceptable. Sunday school lessons taught me to be nice and courteous. To be angry was to be rude and confrontational if not outright belligerent. Angry emotions were the thing that could lead to violent actions. I was always a “good kid” who never caused problems. When things did happen, I was praised because I didn’t make a scene or cause a fuss. As I said before, I don’t remember ever being directly told that being angry was wrong. But the way that people seemed to avoid angry people and praise me for my good, quiet behavior, I slowly learned that showing my anger was bad… because it was rude. But anger is not a bad thing. Anger is not an emotion we should banish or bury. Anger is not inherently destructive. Anger is not inherently irrational. Anger has a purpose. Anger can be protective and constructive and I hope that you allow yourselves to feel angry. In the verse above, God is walking by Moses and allowing Moses to glimpse God’s form in order to encourage and inspire Moses to continue leading God’s people for the journey ahead. When Moses saw God’s backside, Moses hears a voice saying that God is, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Most comments about this description of God I have read or heard discuss it in a way that puts the mercy and steadfast love as the opposite to God’s slow anger. Described as a patient parent whose temper wears thin, God is imagined to be loving and patient until us humans push God too far and God flips the anger switch. What if instead God’s anger stemmed from God’s steadfast love and mercy? This description comes after the story of the Exodus where God’s anger is kindled against Pharaoh for the exploitation of the Hebrews. Even after ten opportunities to change his behavior, Pharaoh refuses to change and is visited by God’s wrath. In that story, God’s anger comes not from disobedient children of God but God’s steadfast and abiding love of the common people. I don’t think that anger shouldn’t be investigated as to its origins; but neither do I think it should be banished or buried just because it is not seen as socially acceptable. Anger at the exploitation of people is a good thing. Anger at systems of harm is a good thing. Anger about injustice and inequity is a good thing. Anger about the consolidation and abuse of power is a good thing; but anger that is felt must still be dealt with before it festers and mutates into something else. If you are feeling angry, you do not need to feel guilty or ashamed: I encourage you to do something constructive with that anger. Don’t let it devolve into hatred and violence. Instead, let it motivate you to lift up community, connection, and resistance. Blessings, Pastor Chris Can we all agree that the first pancake that your pour into the pan is always the worst. No matter how many times I make pancakes, there is always a split-second question of, “how fast is this batter going to pour this time?” Never mind that I use the same recipe every time, the batter always comes out a slightly different consistency. Combined with the fact that I don’t always mix it in the same bowl or use the same pan or utensils, the first pancake is always the worst one. It is a tester. It will be the first one flipped (likely too early) and the first one eaten (to make sure that I didn’t forget the salt). But the reality is that there always will be a first pancake. You can’t get to a second pancake without making the first one first.
I did not come up with the idea of the first pancake, @Tori.Phantom on YouTube did. I tried to find the video where she talks about the first pancake being a necessary step to doing something, but I couldn’t find it. At any rate, she shares that many things in life can be considered “first pancakes.” When I took up sewing again a few years back after not sewing for decades, I had more than my fair share of first-pancake projects. When we all learned how to use Zoom, we all had first-pancake video calls when things went wrong and we didn’t know why. It can feel like a first-pancake experience when you join a new organization, and you don’t know where things are or what the group norms are - but with all of these things, if we are afraid of messing up with the first pancake, it will limit our ability to do something new. Many things only become easy with a combination of practice and familiarity. This past Sunday, we had our first-pancake All-Committee Meeting. There are things that we could not have known until we poured some batter into the pan and see how things formed. We had a lot more people than I expected. A few things needed some extra clarity. Each of the committees has a few things to work out themselves and there are clear places for future collaboration. But now we know where the bumps and opportunities are. We have two more pancakes – I mean All-Committee Meetings – planned going forward:
Blessings, Pastor Chris After talking about it for months, our first All-Committee Meeting is just around the corner! Are you excited? Worried? Curious? Unconcerned? Relieved?
For me it feels like the initial ascent on a roller coaster. Not the momentum-driven cart ride of adrenaline and heart palpitations… No, I am talking about the part before that. I am talking about when you are buckled in, safety has been checked by the attendant, the ride is moving… but slowly. You can hear the clink of machinery ratcheting your cart higher and higher while the anticipation for the eventual drop continues to build. As an adult, I have come to understand that anticipation is a key part to the overall experience. If there is no wait time, no time to prepare, no time for excitement to build, the amount of fun that is experienced diminishes. While I do not expect our All Committee Meeting to be as thrilling as an amusement park ride, here is what I do expect: There will be food! Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - is invited to stay for a time of fellowship as we eat lunch together. We will begin the meeting with general updates. The joint part of the meeting will include a Session Update, Treasurer’s Update, and Pastor’s Update. Anyone curious about how the congregation’s finances are doing or wants to know what Session is working on is welcome to stay and listen. The three committees will break into their individual meetings. The three standing committees will break to different locations to conduct their individual meetings. If you are not on a committee but have something you would like to bring to a committee’s attention, you are welcome to join them in their meeting. The three committees might spend the whole first meeting simply figuring out what they are supposed to be doing. Because this is our first time in this format, it is okay if all our committees accomplish is figuring out who is doing what and making a plan for the following meeting. Things might be a bit bumpy this first time. I do not expect everything to go perfectly the first time we do them. We will expect that something is going to go wrong. We will take note and fix it for next time. Someone will still not understand how to do something. Transitions and change are difficult things to navigate. Even after we do this once, there will still be uncertainty and misunderstanding of who does what. We will take it one day at a time. I have been working with Session and Nominations for months on this transition. It will not be perfect and there will be bumps in the road. Still, I fully believe that we are ready to take the plunge. Blessings, Pastor Chris “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”
― Elie Wiesel, The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident Dear Northminster, I had a realization when I got home on Sunday after worship: I may have implied that all people’s suffering is equal in magnitude and importance. While I whole-heartedly believe that our loving God cares about all of our struggles, the pain of one person’s hurt feelings is not on the same order of magnitude as someone else’s ability to eat or have shelter from the elements. We do not need to create an official ranking system of who-has-it-the-worst to understand that some people’s pain and suffering needs to be more urgently addressed than others; and as Elie Wiesel so clearly pointed out, to whose pain we pay attention and address is not value-neutral. I hinted at this when I mentioned that the pain and struggle we would like to focus on do not necessarily map onto who in our world is experiencing the greatest pain and oppression. As various political policies increasingly target various demographic groups, who we see as our neighbors and who is deserving of our compassion, empathy, and care becomes increasingly important. We are being told that we should not have compassion for immigrants (legal or otherwise), Canadians, Mexicans, Chinese, Ukrainians, Palestinians, and LGBTQIA+ folks. In case you think I am over-reacting, two books were recently published criticizing Christian Empathy: The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits and Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion. These books depict empathy as a tool of the devil to get us to have understanding of people who disagree and have different life experiences than the writers do. In fact, empathy might just be the first foot in the door for doubt and a person to question their faith in God and the Bible. There is one more aspect to this discussion that was brought to my attention after worship. Paul Stunkel challenged my interpretation with another that said that this parable of the Good Samaritan is arranged in a way to make the listener as the person who is attacked, not the person who rendering help. We lay there on the side of the road as we watch a priest and a Levite pass by. When the Samaritan approaches, do we allow the Samaritan to be our neighbor as he tends to our wounds and cares for us? Would we allow the undocumented immigrant to drive us to the hospital? Would we allow the mom on food stamps to pay for our night in a hotel? Would we even accept a Band-Aid if a drag queen pulled it out of her purse and gave it to us? In the end, I fully believe that our scripture guides us to have compassion and empathy for all people. And anything that guides us to hate and despise people is antithetical to the gospels. Blessings, Pastor Chris Happy Pączki Day everyone!
It feels like winter has broken and the coldest days of winter are behind us. The days grow lighter and our clocks will spring forward an hour this Sunday. Yet, the grass stays a muted brown and flowers have yet to poke their heads up. Spring is not here, but we can feel it coming. This Lent, we will be discussing dichotomies and the space in between the two extremes. To do this, we will be using A Sanctified Art’s Lent 2025 curriculum Everything In Between - and the weather at the moment illustrates the core theme: there is space between the dichotomy between winter and spring. We live in a world that loves to break everything into neat and tidy categories; but this Lent, we will break apart those categories to find all of the colorful space in between. Here are a few things to pay attention to coming up: Visio Divina Lenten Bible Study Wednesdays at 10:30 in-person (lounge) and online March 5 – April 16, 2025 “Visio Divina” is a play on the term “Lecto Divina.” Lecto Divina – latin for “Divine Reading” – is a traditional monastic practice of reading scripture and meditating on it. It is often practiced by reading the same scripture multiple times aloud, pausing each time to reflect and meditate on the words. Playing on this idea, Visio Divina is the practice of reading scripture, looking at religious art, and meditating on the words and images. This Lenten season, Pastor Shane and I will be co-hosting a Visio Divina Bible study where we will discuss the scripture and art for the following Sunday. We will discuss words, language, and the history of scripture while also considering the principals of art and how artists use images and mediums to communicate a message. No prep work is required since all scripture passages will be read as a part of the study. So, join us in the lounge this Wednesday or on Zoom and enter into the world of language and art. **This Bible Study will NOT be recorded to be posted on YouTube. Ash Wednesday Service 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 5 First Presbyterian Troy will hold an Ash Wednesday soup lunch and worship, with the imposition of ashes, at noon on Wednesday, March 5, to mark the beginning of the season of Lent. All are welcome. Blessings, Pastor Chris At the beginning of Bible Study today, I was reminded that it is once again the time for the DIA’s showing of the Oscar Nominated Short Film Festival. No, I have not been to see them, but the contest brought to mind a short film from 2014 called “The Allegory of the Long Spoons.” Click the link to watch it: it is only about a minute long. What you will see is a group of people sitting around a chasm with a bowl of soup at the center. Each person has a spoon, but the spoons are too long for any person to feed themselves with it. As they grow frustrated with this, violence begins to erupt. At one point, one person’s spoon is broken in half and no longer has a hope to feed themself. At this point, one of the other people shows compassion and tries to feed him with her own spoon. It is a long reach, but the spoon can nearly reach him…except that she begins to shake as if she will drop it and fall herself into the chasm. At the last minute, she is supported by the others who prop up her spoon. The film ends with all of the people feeding each other rather than trying to feed themselves.
For the past few weeks, I have been trying to come up with an example to use to demonstrate how decentering oneself can be a way to find new life. The short film above came to mind along with the film, Pride (2014). Pride tells the real-life story of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners movement in 1984-1985. As it is told, a lesbian and gay group were seeking out a way to gain more public awareness of their group and their cause. One member, Mark Ashton, had an idea: rather than focus on their own cause of gaining more society acceptance, they would instead focus on the struggles of a group of miners that were striking. Mark Ashton, Mike Jackson, and their friends collected funds at the 1984 Lesbian and Gay Pride march in London and established Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). The money they raised, over £22,500, went straight to supporting the families of the miners on strike. The group gave the miners their unconditional support without an expectation of reciprocal support. Because of the LGSM’s support, the miners would go on to win their negotiations. Later on, the miners’ labor group began to support and attend Pride events through the UK, including leading London's Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in 1985. The miners would then use their political power to support the passage of LGBT rights in the UK. In worship on Sunday, I discussed how Northminster was not itself the Good News (i.e. the Gospel). Northminster might be a place where the Good News is found and where people might experience it, but the congregation itself is not the Good News. That also means that we should not be at the center of what we do. At our Annual Meeting, we looked at our numbers from 2024. While we are doing decently with finances, we ended the year with 56 members. It is tempting to make gaining new members the focus of what we do; but I would argue that we need to learn from the paradoxical examples above and the parable of the long spoons. As long as we are only trying to feed ourselves (i.e. only concerned with gaining new members), we will slowly starve as violence breaks out. People will have no interest in a church whose only concern is its own survival. Instead, as we begin to consider where God is leading us this coming year, I would have you all consider to whom we can extend our long spoon. Who is hurting that we can support? How do we center Good News that is truly good to hear? Blessings, Pastor Chris “We saved you a seat,” is a lovely message when it is coming from a friend when you are running late. It is a much more concerning message when you see it engraved on a bench that doubles as a tombstone. Say what you will, I find witty comments on gravestones to be disquieting rather than funny. That particular remark I remember from a cemetery in West Virginia that my friends and I were wandering around during a lunch break while we were on a summer mission trip. Another one that stands out in my mind is from a small cemetery I used to visit: “As I am now / soon you will be / So then / prepare to follow me.” It was a small cemetery called Thayer Cemetery. I was located at the very edge of Northville at 6 Mile Road and Napier. During the dog days of summer, when the freedom afforded by summer break had transitioned into days of boredom, my sister and I would walk there. When 6 Mile transitioned from asphalt to dirt and gravel, we knew we were almost there. A half mile more and the building at the center of the cemetery would appear from around the trees. At the time, the windows were boarded up and the building was covered in graffiti. Only half of the plots were filled, but this place felt forgotten by time. The writing on many of the gravestones was worn away by acid rain. Some were broken. Many were covered in moss and dirt. We would wander - reading the stones that we could - noting relationships and calculating when people passed away. Too many people were far too young. And then we found the stone with those words. I remember reading them and getting chills, even on that hot summer day.
We had first discovered Thayer Cemetery when we had moved to the area and would drive around aimlessly after school, trying to stretch the drive home from 7 minutes to 30. By this point, the endless sprawl of suburbia had tapered off and the houses grew more and more sporadic. I don’t know what drew my sister and me back to that place over and over again. Something felt special about seeing something that felt forgotten by the world. It felt timeless, even if we knew that was an illusion. The grass was always cut, and the graffiti was eventually painted over. Yet the place felt static and unchanging. The cemetery was only half full, yet no one seemed to add to it (and let’s hope that no one ever left…). It may be odd to say, but Thayer Cemetery felt dead. It didn’t feel dead because it housed the remains of people long since passed. It felt lifeless because we never saw anyone else there besides us. No one seemed to visit. No one seemed to care about the moss and graffiti. No one seemed to know stories about the people there. Many people didn’t even know that this place existed. My sister and I could visit, we could hold on to the memory, the names on the gravestones and the poems inscribed on them, but that would never be enough to make Thayer Cemetery feel like it was anything other than a forgotten burial ground. Most people today know the markers of human life: heartbeat, pulse, brain activity, etc. Knowing what signs of life there are in other things is much more difficult. What do we look for when considering if a TV show is truly alive rather than a zombie kept alive by the will of studio executives and writers willing to cannibalize the jokes of earlier seasons? When is a remake or reboot a living work of art rather than a soulless cash grab? When is an organization living out its mission and when is it on life support, kept alive because of its legacy and reputation? When are relationships life-giving and when are they a memorial for reminiscing about a shared history? When do we truly feel alive, and when does it feel like we are a monument to a life we once lived? Our Annual Meeting is not just a time to remember the year that just passed nor is it a memorial to what has been and now is no longer. The annual meeting is a check-in point where we see if our congregation still has signs of life and ministry. It asks us to reflect on whether we have responded to our calling and if we have the tools to do so next year. It is a time to celebrate what has been but also to lay plans for the road ahead. It is a time to make changes if we discover that we have become frozen in time, like a carved stone left out in the wind and the rain. There are folks in the church-world, particularly those who have been a part of church who have closed, who share the sentiment that, “As I am now / soon you will be / So then / prepare to follow me.” I am not yet ready say that this congregation is ready for the grave; but if we truly want to live, we need to be able to say why and then work for it. So, join me this Sunday after worship for our yearly physical check-up where we will be assessing where we have been and what is ahead. See you all there, Pastor Chris While things in the life of Northminster feel calm compared to Fall 2024, there has been lots of work that has continued into the new year. Just to make sure that you don’t miss the individual pieces, here is a quick snapshot of what is going on and what is coming up. Game Night: Feb 22 at 7 p.m. in the Lounge Our Outreach, Fellowship, and Education team has been in touch with folks at CCB to plan a joint game night. While we have hosted many game nights in the past, OF&E felt that a bit of levity was the perfect way to get to know members of the congregation we are sharing space with. Bring your favorite game and snacks to share! Nominations: Committee Restructuring This past Thursday, Session voted to approve our restructuring plan and set the first All-Committee Meeting to March 23rd after worship. This meeting is open to all to attend, and lunch will be provided. Nominations has been holding meetings after worship to explain this plan that you can find HERE. Now that the plan is approved, Nominations will be working to fill the 3 Committee Moderator Positions (formerly chairs) and 8 Committee Coordinator Positions. If you are interested, please contact Pastor Chris, Chris Kondak, Sue Fish, Ann Cole, Becky Pocisk, or Karen Joy. Annual Meeting of the Corporation and Congregation: February 23rd after worship, in person and online Our annual meeting will be held two Sundays from now. For those attending in person, lunch will be provided potluck style. We will hear reports about the 2024 year. At the end of the meeting, there will be time to hear feedback about the ongoing relationship with the Congregational Church of Birmingham and the Restructuring Plan. If you have not yet done so, please submit your Committee Annual Report to Suzanne by February 21. PCUSA Office of Public Witness I know that many of you are distressed about the changes going on at the national level. It can feel like we are powerless to do anything to affect real change by ourselves. That is why the PCUSA Office of Public Witness has put together a statement including ways that we can join together as people of faith and Presbyterians to make the changes that are needed in the world today. Click here to read that letter and access the resources listed therein: Blessings,
Pastor Chris If you feel overwhelmed by the news lately, you are not alone. The structures that support our society are being undermined and dismantled. Each day it seems like a new department in the government is being attacked. Tariffs and retaliatory tariffs are being threatened, imposed, and halted. Anxiety is increasing about the bird flu and plane crashes. Unelected people are accessing secure data and unqualified people are being confirmed by Congress. While some may accuse me of breaking out my tinfoil hat, I believe that this cacophony of news is meant to overwhelm and dis-empower us. If you are feeling discouraged and powerless to stop this avalanche, I believe that that is the point.
But, if that is the point, then what do we do? We do what we can and trust others to do the rest. Unlike what is shown in superhero movies, no one person can save the world by themselves. Saving the world is a group project that we work on together over years. Yes, the manager of the group project is currently undoing the work that we have carefully put together over decades. So, as we work to prevent the undoing of this great group project, you cannot hold the group together on your own. It is another misleading lie that keeps us dis-empowered: that we can do nothing if we can’t do it all. Instead of giving up hope, you must play your part and resist where you can. As the Body of Christ, we know that some people are meant to be the hands that reach out to those that are struggling. Others are meant to be the eyes and ears that witness while still others are the lips that are meant to tell the story. Some people are the feet that will walk us to new places and others are the spine to help hold us upright. We recognize that, as a church, we need everyone’s gifts and talents in order to have a vibrant ministry. In the same way, we honor the role that every person plays in society: from the humble service worker to the teachers, to the artists, to the lawyers, and the accountants. As we resist the dismantling of our society, its guardrails and safety nets, we all have a part to play. Lawyers are working on legal challenges while others are giving safe haven. Some are adding internal friction by not obeying what they are told to do, and others are organizing in their own communities. Some are speaking loudly in resistance, others are educating, and still others are comforting the distraught. Some will take on financial hardship to do what is right while others will donate to support those who are struggling. In all of this, there is a role for you to play. You do not have to do all of these things, but please consider what you can do. I know that my role is, in part, to encourage the discouraged, to empower those who feel dis-empowered, and to speak to morality and ethics. What is your role? What part are you going to play? What will you do to keep from despairing? As depressing as it may seem, I do not believe that we will be able to preserve all of the work that our society has accomplished; but I do believe that we can save some of it. Moreover, I believe that we can preserve our integrity and our resolve to create a better world for all people everywhere - but we will need everyone to play their parts to do so. Blessings, Pastor Chris There is a phrase in the Hebrew Bible that says, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev 19:34). I was at lunch with Rabbi Alicia Harris of Congregation Shir Tikvah and I asked her how many times this phrase was used in the Torah. Her answer was quick and authoritative. She knew the answer before I finished the question: 35 times.
I am reading a book by Obery M. Hendrics Jr where he explains that the Hebrew word "tzedekah", usually translated as "righteousness", does not indicate personal behavior that is pious. Rather, it is more accurately translated as “doing right by others” or “acting with justice.” He states that, “That means that the true yardstick of righteousness is the degree of one’s active dedication to the well-being of one’s neighbors and the common good,” (Source, page 38) When Jesus is asked who one’s neighbor was (because the young man wanted to know which people he should love has himself), Jesus tells the story of a Good Samaritan. In that parable, a man gets beat up and left for dead by thieves. Two upstanding citizens pass by the man but a Samaritan (the foreigner, outsider, and enemy) helps the man. Jesus then asks, who was the neighbor in that story? The young man replies, “The one who showed him mercy,” (Luke 10:25-37). On Sunday, I discussed what Salvation looks like for Jesus and Paul. For Paul, salvation was putting one’s soul in order so that a person can escape this life to the afterlife. In contrast, Jesus presents a very this-worldly idea of salvation. Salvation is being saved from poverty and exploitation. Salvation is holding people in power accountable and protecting the people who are vulnerable. Salvation is building up a society of mutual well-being and common-good. This morning, I was texting one of my dear friends. She is a social worker that helps families with children in hospice navigate the medical system and financial aid. Overnight, her job shifted. Instead of helping coordinate treatments and contacting charities to help pay for associated costs, she is now helping to navigate the legal world to prevent parents of dying children from being deported now that their visas are in jeopardy. As I scrolled the internet trying to find a prayer written by someone who has a greater clarity of what words to say, I stumbled upon a screenshot of someone warning about, “the sin of empathy” in reply to a sermon where the preacher entreated the listeners to be merciful. I am increasingly dumbfounded by those who claim to follow my God and who read my same scripture. As discouraging as it may seem, Jesus knew that even this would come to pass: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23) Friends, if you have ever doubted it, there is a need for the Good News of the Gospel to be proclaimed boldly. We are called to challenge messages of hate and discrimination with a message of love, hope and belonging. And that calling is now. Blessings, Pastor Chris I am not a big fan of self-help books. There! I said it!
I dislike the $10.5 billion dollar industry with over 18.6 million volumes (source). I am not against self-improvement or looking for advice for ways to improve your life. What I dislike is the assumption that what worked for one person will work for every person. I also dislike the attitude that many authors present that implies that they alone have all of the answers. If that were the case, then only one self-help book would have ever been needed! Instead, more are written and published every year, all claiming to have life’s secret answer. With that in mind, I won’t deny that there are useful tidbits found with some of these books. One of which is the Eisenhower Matrix. This idea began with a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. In a 1954 speech, Eisenhower references an unnamed university president: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” From this quote, Stephen Covey created the Eisenhower Matrix in his cult-favorite book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This matrix creates four categories: 1) Urgent and Important Tasks, 2) Urgent but Unimportant Tasks, 3) Non-Urgent but Important Tasks, & 4) Non-Urgent and Unimportant Tasks. When I looked at the news this morning, I was bombarded by two things. The first was commentary about things that felt urgent and screamed for my immediate outrage and action. As I slowly sorted through the many things that I felt like I was being told to be outraged by, I realized that using my energy and voice to display my outrage would not effect change on the thing that I was outraged by. In other words, it was unimportant to my tasks for the day. As I kept reading, there were also policy changes that I vehemently disagreed with that were being reported on. Those changes didn’t feel as urgent as repugnant hand gestures, but I had a sense that those policy changes were more important in the end. As I got to work, there were a series of things that fell on my plate that also felt urgent. Things had not gone perfectly to plan and well-meant help was misguided. It is easy to be pulled in by small dramas between people that always occurs when dealing with communities of complex people. But after a while, it seemed that, in light of other things, these small dramas were taking all the energy away from the things that are important by less urgent. So, I planned out my day tomorrow to work on the things that are important but less urgent. Dramatic change is currently unavoidable. We know that our nation is already experiencing dramatic changes once again. We also know that our community is experiencing change and will continue to. In the midst of these sea of changes, small dramas that feel urgent will arise. Many of them are distractions that steal our time, energy, and efforts from working on that which is more important but feels less urgent. Which means that it is more important than ever to not be distracted by that which is urgent but ultimately unimportant - because we have a calling, and the work of that calling is often slow and steady. Blessings, Pastor Chris When the year turns over, there is a ritual that I have come to appreciate: purchasing a new daily planner and putting together a general outline for what I expect for the year ahead. I break out all of my rainbow highlighters and begin to mark things out that I know happen every year. Secular Holidays are marked out and then family birthdays. Next comes the Christian calendar: I mark out Lent and Advent, Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, World Communion Sunday, and All-Saints Sunday. Where holiday weekends pop up, I mark potential joint-worship services in anticipation of these low-attendance Sundays. Next, I put together a potential schedule for Session, Deacon, and congregational meetings. Lastly, based on the ebbs and flows of the year, I outline when I might take time off so that I don’t get too bogged down in work.
At the end of this process, I am left with a skeleton for the year ahead. Even though I have plotted all of this down on my brand-new calendar, there are large swathes of white paper remaining. This is just a frame of must-do’s that the rest of the year will hand off of. In those blank space, there is opportunity and space for imagination. The gaps between highlighted days will be filled with community and solitude, of trial and error, of business and of rest. This past Thursday, I worked with the Session to do something similar to prepare for the year ahead. We approved our schedule for Session meetings, Communion Sundays, potential joint worship services, our winter Annual Meeting and fall Congregational Meeting. In case you want to put together your own calendar for the year with this information, here is what to expect: Session Members: Class of 2025: Erin DeFever and Sarah Leight Class of 2026: Chris Kondak and Joe Turner Class of 2027: Sue Fish and James Love Session Meeting Schedule: Feb 6, March 6, April 3, May 8, June 5, Aug 7 (optional), Sep 4, Oct 2, Nov 6, Dec 4, & Jan 8, 2026 (in-person at 6 pm for a holiday meal). Northminster Annual Meeting February 23, 2025 after worship including Lunch. Northminster Congregational Meeting November 23, 2025 after worship Communion Schedule Jan 12, Feb 2, March 2, April 6, April 17 (Maundy Thursday), May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug 3, Sep 7, Oct 5 (World Communion), Nov 2, Dec 7. Joint Worship Services Lenten Services – one to be hosted at Northminster Ash Wed, March 5; Maundy Thursday, April 17; & Good Friday, April 18 Holiday Weekends – one to be hosted at Northminster Memorial Weekend, May 25; Independence Weekend, July 6; & Labor Day Weekend, August 31. Additional Services Pentecost, June 8 & Christmas Hymn Sing, Dec 28 There are a few things that are still in the works. In the coming weeks will be our Ordination and Installation service for our new Elders and Deacons but we need to verify the suggested date with all who would be involved. There are also some additional events that the Session is planning that will be announced once the details have been settled; but the schedule above gives us a framework for the rest of the year - and I am sure that all of the space in between these dates will quickly be filled up with the life of our community. Blessings for the year ahead, Pastor Chris How are you all doing? Have we all emerged from our holiday-induced food comas and piles of wrapping paper? Good! Because I want to talk to you all about our next sermon series: Reclaiming the Words of Faith.
When it comes to language, there are typically two camps of people: 1) those who rely on the dictionary definitions to define words and 2) the people who rely on common usage to define words. A hilarious example of this is the word "nonplussed". The word originates some time in the 16th century and originally meant something close to "perplexed". However, it went out of usage for a while and when people picked up the word again in the early 20th century, people used it to mean unruffled or unconcerned (source). Hilariously, if a person is nonplussed today, they might either be very confused or completely unbothered because the technical and the cultural understanding of the word are opposites. While the change in the meaning of "nonplussed" was largely accidental, there are times when groups of people make a consciences effort to change the meaning of a word. This has happened many times with words that originated as slurs against a marginalized group that the marginalized group then takes and wears as a badge of pride. While there are often still cultural rules as to who can use these terms and when they are acceptable to use, it shows the power we have to name and define our world. It is in the spirit of reclaiming and redefining language that I put our next series together. In order for us - as a congregation - to continue doing the work we need to do in order to build back our strength and vitality, we need to be able to talk about certain topics that make many people squeamish and uncomfortable. We need to be able to talk about what it means to share the Gospel, evangelize, make disciples, and be a missional church. Were you uncomfortable reading that? Because I was uncomfortable writing that. Unfortunately, these words have been defined over the years by a culture that was more interested in their idea of whether or not people were going to heaven and hell than whether or not those people were already existing in a living hell. Evangelism has been shaped by people going door to door with Bibles in hand rather than building relationships that give hope. Making disciples has been more about adding members to the church rolls than about helping people handle difficult questions about life. So, we are going to take the time from now until Lent to talk about these controversial words and what more faithful interpretation of them would be; because, by removing them from our lexicon, we let other people continue to define them poorly and we ignore some key parts of our faith. So, join me as we get uncomfortable talking about words we don’t like and their importance to us today. Blessings, Pastor Chris Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! Whether you are at home, busy cooking a family dinner, traveling to see family or friends, doing some last-minute shopping and/or present wrapping, or preparing for our service tonight, I hope you all are well and find a moment of peace. However this finds you, this is my yearly reminder that, no matter what, Jesus is born to us this night. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you have wrapped all of your presents or not. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you are with your family or celebrating on your own. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you are feeling joyful or whether you need to break down and cry. Jesus comes to us tonight if our service goes without a hitch, and Jesus still comes tonight if everything breaks and we have to sing Silent Night with the power off. Jesus comes to us tonight if your dinner is beautifully laid out on the table, and he also comes if you burnt the bread and forgot to salt the potatoes. Jesus comes to us tonight even if you can’t find that one present that you expertly hid so that you could wrap it later. Jesus comes to us tonight if your guest rooms are all prepared and he still comes if your house is full without spare room on the air mattress. Jesus comes to us tonight whether we are ready or not… because his birth is not about humanity being ready but about God’s overflowing love. And God knows that we can all use more love, more grace, more peace, more joy, and most of all, hope tonight. So, don’t worry too much on the details and don’t fret if everything goes wrong. Jesus will still be born tonight, the shepherds will still come, and the choir of angels will still sing. So - make sure to rest, cut yourself some slack, and have a very merry Christmas. Pastor Chris “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Just like the ones we used to know!” At least as I am writing this (a bit ahead of schedule), snow has covered the ground, and a bitterly cold wind blows in the moment that you open a door. I know that the snow will probably melt by the time you all are reading this, but it feels just a little bit more Christmassy with a layer of white covering the ground. It is difficult to deny that Michigan winters are not what they used to be. No longer are our yards covered in snowpack that has been there for over a month. No, things have been warmer and fewer and fewer snowstorms come our way. Despite all of these changes, the songs that we sing this time of year do not seem to change. If I was to take a guess, when you read that first line, you hear the lulling voice of Bing Crosby singing those words. Okay, okay… many of you may have heard Michael Bublé’s version of that song playing in your head instead. My point still stands: we may re-record old Christmas songs and set them to slightly different backing tracks, but few new Christmas song have been written in recent years. According to this TIMES article, many of our holiday favorites were written in the 1800’s or in the 1940’s but there are exceptions. My theory? When it is cold and blustery, these songs act like warm blankets for our ears. They bring a sense of comfort that some things don’t change: you can hum the tune while you are working without thinking about it too much. The words come easily, at least for the 1st verse and the chorus. To add into the comfort, fun, and good cheer of this holiday season, we are hosting our second Caroling in the Neighborhood fellowship event on December 20th at 7 p.m. You are invited to meet other carolers at the South Entrance of the building dressed in warm clothing. Maps and song sheet will be provided. Once the group has assembled, the carolers will then begin their stroll around the neighborhood sharing their songs and Christmas Spirit. Friends and guests are welcomed! We expect to carol for about 1 hour, weather permitting. Blessings, Pastor Chris There is a particular feeling that comes from the contrast between the expected joy of the season and the looming heaviness and dread. Some of this heaviness might be because of the state of the world and our country. Other people might feel it because of things going on here in our own community or because of things happening in their own lives. I know that, for many of us, this strange feeling is become sadly familiar: I can remember a time when the holidays felt like a break from the struggles of the world; but, in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to put on holiday blinders: many of the world’s issues are simply too big and too foreboding. If you are feeling these things, no matter the reason why, know that you are not alone. And whether you use cheery holiday music to give temporary relief or if you need a break from the forced cheer of Christmas ads, know that there is not one correct way to deal with these emotions. However - there are helpful and less-helpful ways to deal with difficult emotions. One of my favorite tools to deal with big, unwieldy emotions is this: take your emotions seriously but do not trust what they say.
That idea comes from a TED Talk called The Voices in my Head by Dr Eleanor Longden who talks about what it is like to live with schizophrenia, heal from trauma, and become a psychologist. In this talk, she discusses her discovery that the voices she hears come up when her brain is trying to communicate something to her that she is not fully conscience of yet – often something urgent or anxiety producing. She has learned that the voices are normally correct in identifying situations that need her attention but incorrect in their analysis. For example, she described the overwhelming feeling that her family is in danger from an intruder and she needs to protect them and the voices telling her that if she doesn’t they will die. She goes on to explain that the voices are incorrect that there is an intruder that she needs to protect them from, the voices correctly identified that she is worried about her family members because it is a stressful week for them. While Dr. Longden has a particular neurological condition with some extreme symptoms, I believe most of us have experienced something similar, though to a lesser degree. Some folks are disappointed about the election and feel helpless to change anything, and their inner voice can tell them that society is collapsing, and the world is heading towards a man-made apocalypse. Some are anxious about our job security and our ability to pay for Christmas presents and that inner voice lashes out and lashes out by telling us to fear of immigrants and people who don’t look like us. Some are experiencing change, and that inner voice tells us that things will never be as good as they once were, so we should just give up. Some folks are experiencing setback and dreams that didn’t work out and that inner voice can be cruel telling them that they are a failure. In all of these situations, it is important to take these emotions seriously, but not to trust what that inner voice is saying. The first step is often to acknowledge the base emotion being felt: “Am I angry or sad? Disappointed or grieving? Am I scared? If so, what I am really scared of?” Only after you acknowledge at the center of the issue can you tackle what the voice is saying and analyze how reasonable that response is. So, as we continue on into Advent, if you are feeling weary and heavy laden, check in with yourself and what you are feeling. Give yourself a chance to simply feel the emotions that are bubbling up. It can be scary, but I promise that the sadness and grief will not end you: most often, it will wash over you like a wave. Give yourself permission to feel those things and then, and only then, see if that inner voice is actually being truthful or is speaking out of a place of pain. Despite what the Hallmark company would have you think, the Advent season is not about forced happiness and joy. In the "Christmas movie world", it might be a sin to be unhappy during the holidays, but there is room for sadness, grief, and longing in Advent. So let yourself feel your feelings – but don’t’ always trust that voice. Blessings, Pastor Chris Have you ever noticed that some of the most well-known Christmas scriptures are not in the Gospels? “For to us a child is born, to us a child is given.” “Look! The young woman is with child!” “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” “And you shall call him Immanuel” “And the wolf will lay down with the lamb.” If these scriptures are not from the Gospels, have you ever wondered where they did come from? What did they mean in their original context? What did the people think of when they first heard them? How do we know that they are talking about Jesus?
Here are some quick answers:
So - join me this Advent season in our worship series Look!: Isaiah’s Prophetic Words for Advent. Blessings, Pastor Chris My apologies for being a day late with the Northminster Notes. Yesterday was a busy day and every time I sat down to write you all my weekly letter, something else would pop up and I would need to attend to it.
When I get to the Northminster building in the mornings, I typically have a routine of sorts: Unlock and lock the east door, unlock my office, flip on the lights, set my bag of things down, turn on my computer, hang up my coat, make myself a cup of tea, log into the computer, check my email, and lay out in my calendar what I am to accomplish that day. I don’t always do things in exactly this order, but this is more or less how things go most morning. But this morning I took the scenic route to my morning routine. Yes, I unlocked doors, turned lights on, and set my stuff down but I left my computer off. I grabbed my holiday Christmas mugs and dropped my favorite cozy tea in it (Harney and Son’s Hot Cinnamon Spice tea for anyone who was wondering. I sound like an internet influencer right now, but seriously… if you want a cozy hug in a mug, it is amazing.) Mug and tea in hand, I strolled down to the kitchenette to brew the tea. I love the hot water tap, but this tea also needs a little extra heat to brew right. So, I popped it in the microwave for a minute. In that minute, I reflected on all the work that has been done and what is still left to do. And my thoughts came to me last night when Session met and voted to approved the lease agreement with the Congregational Church of Birmingham. While we call it a lease, it is written up as a Revocable Licensing Agreement. This is the same language we have with the Discovery Corner Academy and Troy People Concerned. A Revocable License implies shared use of the space rather that a Lease agreement that implies sole usage of the space. I know that some folks were hoping that this agreement would be a voting matter at our last congregational meeting, but I cross-checked it with the Book of Order and by G-3.0201 (c), managing the physical property of the congregation is explicitly the duty of the Session and by G-1.0504, many topics are listed as being appropriate matters for a congregational meeting, including sale or mortgaging of property or creating a “joint congregational witness,” but finalizing a lease/licensing arrangement was not included. As such, the Session acting in its designated roll and approved this arrangement. If you would like to discuss this and their rational with Session members, they will be listed below. The Hot Cinnamon Spice tea is, in my opinion, best when you completely boil the water before pouring it over the tea bag. The tea is a combination of black tea (but there is an herbal version), cinnamon, clove, and orange peel. While there is no added sugar, if you fully boil the water, the orange peel will release a small amount of sugar to the tea and add a slight sweetness that balances the spicy cinnamon. The downside to this method of brewing is that you also have to wait until it cools down to drink it. So, I began meandering around the building waiting for my tea to cool. I found myself sitting in the Sanctuary. Yesterday, the Congregational Church of Birmingham began their move, bringing their essential items to our building. As I peered around the sanctuary, I was amazed at how some of their things fit in our space. Their Baptismal Font is made from a similar wood as is the wood of our sanctuary. It is a similar mid-century design and fits perfectly on the left side of the chancel. They also brought a driftwood Jesus statue with them that fits perfectly in with the greenery in the corner opposite the choir. Yes, we had to shift a few things around and we had to find a best-of-all-options location for a few items, but I felt like there was a sense of cozy harmony in the room: the things added made sense and it still felt like Northminster’s sanctuary. I sat in the sanctuary for a good long time just looking around. As it turns out, cold rooms are great for cooling off tea and I was able to take a drink and feel the warm tea radiate through me. I spent that time talking to God, praying your you all, the community that uses this space to find community and connection with God. I prayed for our future and for the future of the church. I lifted up the struggles I know about in the community and those that I didn’t. Slowly I found stillness in that room and my eyes and heart came to rest on the woven cross tapestry that hangs in the front of the chancel. Many times, I have been told the story about that tapestry: it was made during a Presbyterian Women’s even at First Presbyterian Church of Warren. Many different types of material in many different colors were carefully woven together to make the piece. If you are up close, all you see it the checkered weaving of the cloth. But when you stand back and look from a distance, you can see the cross appear out of undulating colors and fabric. The tapestry is not ours, but it is permanently in our care. And like an answered prayer, I felt a small voice inside me say, “this is what we are doing.” I try to be very intentional with my words when I write these letters to you all and when I preach. Since we don’t speak in upper and lower case, when I talk about the local church, I try to use the word congregation to refer to the local community of people. That is because the Church (notice the upper-case C) is the Church Universal, the Church of Jesus Christ, the whole gathering of God’s people. The congregation and its mission is but a piece of the Church and Church’s mission. We are one piece of very-colorful fabric woven into the tapestry of the Church. This one stripe of fabric cannot make the image of the cross by itself, we have to be woven together with the other congregations to make the Church Universal. We are not the Church by ourselves, but tasked with caring for this segment of the Church and our mission gets woven into the wider mission of the Church. We don’t own the Church; we are stewards of this piece of the Church. As we go forward with our relationship with the Congregational Church of Birmingham, we are weaving our stories together. We are two congregations, but we are a part of one Church. Our mission and ministry have brought us together for a time, but we will have to listen and discern where God is leading us as we step out in faith. Practically, we are also weaving together our worship spaces, our offices, our calendars, and our relationships. With any luck, this weaving will make our part of the Church’s tapestry stronger. With gratitude, Pastor Chris I have an unpopular opinion: dislike open floorplans in houses and open-concept kitchens. I especially dislike open-concept kitchens in houses that were not designed with them in mind, where the owners have renovated the old floorplan to include the modern open-concept kitchen. If you love them, great! We can disagree on this. I know that I am biased on this subject. I live in a 1950’s house on a street with a dozen identical houses with identical floorplans. Or at least, a dozen houses that were originally built with identical floorplans. Over the decades, each owner has renovated these houses in unique ways. When I go for a walk down the street at night, I can occasionally see into their windows and see some of these changes. Some owners have taken out the center set of walls that divide the first story into three separate rooms in order to retrofit an open-concept kitchen into the 1950’s house. And I HATE it. The idea is to open up the space by making one giant room that is subdivided by use while allowing people in each area to still see and talk with one another. In reality, it makes the first floor feel small and there is no way to hide the mess in one area of the house from the other: i.e. a messy kitchen makes the living room feel dirty and a messy living room makes the kitchen feel cluttered. The open floor plan also gives the feeling like there is little difference between eating together at the kitchen table and each on the couch. Lines are blurred as to what room should be used for what and the original flow of the floorplan is disrupted.
In contrast, I have come to appreciate the divisions between the rooms of my house. Something happens when I cross the threshold from kitchen to the dining room: I can ignore the mess it took to make dinner and focus on spending time with the people around me. When I enter the family room, my body knows that I can relax and rest from the work I have been doing. This is the same reason why I change clothes after I come home from work: it is a signal to my brain that I no longer have to be productive. Graduations, weddings, baby showers, and funerals are all social thresholds. We hold big celebrations for these things like we are crossing from one room to the next. Some of them are arbitrary lines in the sand but we celebrate them to mark that things have changed, even if the change has been slow and gradual. Without some of these social thresholds, life just blends together like the open-concept floorplans. This Sunday we are crossing a social threshold: worshipping at 11:00 a.m. instead of 10:30 a.m. This is preparation for the Congregational Church of Birmingham to be worshiping in our building at 9:30 a.m. the following Sunday. I know there are a lot of emotions wrapped up in crossing this threshold: excitement for new opportunities, fears about our future, hope for what could be, and grief for a future we once envisioned that is now out of reach. While we are crossing this threshold in a very obvious way now, this threshold represents changes in the world and the Northminster community that have gone unacknowledged for years. It is as if the mess from one room in an open-concept floorplan has been spilling over into another area. By talking with CCB, negotiating building use, and decluttering our space, we are having to confront these changes head-on and acknowledge that we have already crossed a threshold. This Sunday’s change represents a different threshold however: transitioning from being passive in the face of change to being proactive. Many congregations in recent years have ignored the changing world and the thresholds they have passed over until they blip out of existence. By confronting things head-on, we are able to recognize what has changed and make efforts to adapt before it is too late. None of this is easy and there is still a lot of difficult work ahead of us as a community; but I fully believe that it is far less painful to do this work now than wait until the last hour to change. So, thank you all, for everyone working to make this transition a smooth one. Thank you to those who have been working on the details of our plan. Thank you to you who continue to have trust and hope for the future that encourages us all. I fully believe that this is not Northminster giving up, but Northminster defiantly stepping out in faith that God is still calling us to minister to this community here and now. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Pastor Chris |
AuthorPastor Chris Hallam earned her degree at Princeton Theological Seminary and moved to Michigan to become a pastor. Also trained as a studio artist and graphic designer, with an interest in pop culture and social science, her passion is thinking creatively about the future of the church. Archives
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