Pastors’ Column

I have been thinking back quite a bit these days to a trip that several of us took in the fall of 2021. Women from BMPC, as well as other congregations, traveled together to St. John in the Virgin Islands to visit historic National Park sites that were originally sugar cane plantations where human beings had been enslaved. These sites were particularly historic because of their proximity to the British Virgin Islands, where slavery was outlawed almost 30 years before being banned in the US. 

For some of us, summer is a season when we do some traveling. We live in an age when the challenges of travel are quite different from those of earlier generations. I read something that described travel in the Western part of our country during the 18th century. Even when people were traveling by stagecoach, there were different classes based on how much one spent on a ticket. In contrast to airline travel today, the classes of tickets on the stagecoach did not have to do with the size of the seat or the kind of food that was served, but rather with what was expected of the ticket holder in case the stagecoach got into a difficult situation. There were occasional deep mud holes, steep inclines, or other difficulties to be negotiated at one time or another along the way.

I have a special memory of working with one of our congregation’s Associate Pastor Nominating Committees. We had met almost weekly for nearly a year soliciting input for the position description, networking, reading seemingly countless applications, holding initial phone conversations, small group Zoom interviews, and full committee interviews to discern God’s leading us to the right candidate. Toward the end of that search that was leading us to our final candidate, one member of the APNC said, “There was a moment in which it seemed like the Holy Spirit just entered the room.”

That’s what every search committee prays for, hopes for, and anticipates - a moment of palpable clarity. A moment in which it seems like the choice is a God thing and not just human intuition, the melding of the mind and heart, the discernment of a call. For this reason, I am fond of reminding committees early in the process that, by their work together, they will become greater than the sum of their parts. In community with one another we open our circle of discernment to make room for the Spirit.

The Congregational Meeting to call our new Associate Pastor for Congregational Care this coming Sunday following the 10 am worship service is the joyful celebration of the Spirit’s work on our midst. The APNC that has been meeting together this last year to find the best candidate for BMPC represented the diversity of our congregation and the constituent ministries. Sometimes we did not fully agree on some aspect of the search process or the fit of a particular candidate. However, when we began to engage our finalist in conversation there was a clear and palpable unanimity of discernment.

At the candidate’s request, we are not posting her name in this column, which appears on our website, to help prevent word getting to her current church before Sunday, when her call is confirmed by us and she can freely share the news of her departure there.

However, by now you should have received the brochure in the mail which fills out the details of her sense of call to ministry, her love for God and the church, and her excitement about joining the pastoral staff at BMPC. Not only does she bring the level of experience and gifts for which we had been looking, but she carries a winsome presence that attracts others into easy conversation about life and faith.

The candidate had planned to be here in person for worship and the Congregational meeting, but unfortunately while on vacation this week she sprained her ankle which prevents her ability to travel to Bryn Mawr. Our Presbyterian polity does not require her to be present when we vote to call her, but I encourage you to read the mailing in anticipation of the meeting so that you can join the APNC and pastoral staff in our excitement that the Spirit has indeed entered the room.

The candidate will announce her departure from her current congregation on July 14, after BMPC acts to call her, so please hold any details in confidence until then.

Early this Sunday morning, nine youth and three adults will hit the road for Charlotte, North Carolina, for this year’s youth mission trip with our partners at CROSS Missions. Throughout the week, these young people will have the opportunity to meet people completely different from themselves, serve their neighbors, grow in their own faith, and develop community with one another.

While several folks extended their stay in France, most of us who joined the BMPC Choir Tour to France returned Tuesday evening, tired perhaps from travel but also exhilarated by the experience. There are stories to tell, pictures to share, videos of the choir singing in stunningly beautiful and historic cathedrals, from Aix-en-Provence to Paris, with stops in between for sightseeing, community building, and, of course, amazing meals. Larry and I were privileged to be among the guests who got to tag along with the choir and support them with our presence during their five concerts.

The Wednesday before camp begins marks the start of a precarious countdown. It’s the moment we start moving our carefully laid out supplies and begin setting up shop in the Ministries Center.  This Wednesday, we were facing a bit of a conundrum. Looking at the radar, there was a large swath of green heading for us.  In the education building, there were boxes and baskets packed with supplies, giant tissue paper flowers, and a team of volunteers with the singular question, “Can we beat the rain?”