Good to be Back

Last week I was as far away from New York as one can get on the continent (except for the tip of Alaska, I suppose).  I was on beautiful Vancouver Island for a short family reunion.  We gathered at my sister's beach house on Lake Cowichan.  It reminded me of the reservoirs of Westchester as it is surrounded by hills and trees. The weather was cloudy and cool, but no matter--we had campfires on the beach and played games next to the wood stove.  I came back through Chicago where we spent time with our daughter before driving back in our old mini-van that she had been borrowing.
While it is always good to get away, it is great to come home.  And Mount Kisco is feeling more like home every day.  I am grateful to the leadership of the Rev. Charles Barton who was back from summer vacation in time to help lead worship last Sunday.  I also appreciate the excellent preaching of our own Sarah Lucas and the Rev. Tom Hughart over the last two Sundays.
Now it is back to work...big time.  Summer is over and the fall season is upon us.  I am looking forward to Christian education and music programs getting underway.  It has been a good summer, but it always feels good to get back to routines. 
The kick off event this year is going to be great.  Plan now to attend church on September 9th and enjoy food, fun and music afterwards at what we are calling our Fall Family Festival.  Pray for good weather and we'll see you in church!

Another Great Sunday

Today's worship was once again the highlight of my week.  If you were unable to be there, you really missed out.  There was glorious music from Terry Flanagan on the Water organ, a beautiful offertory with Lisa Flanagan singing, Nelva TeBrake on violin and Terry at the organ.  The postlude featured Terry's young nephew with a rousing trumpet voluntary (I recognized it as the theme from Masterpiece Theater).
The sermon was excellent, if I don't say so myself.  Our own Sarah Lucas shared a thoughtful message on the book of Ecclesiastes.  It is a challenging book to say the least, and she handled its contradictions and its wisdom with grace.  I encourage everyone to listen to it on-line from by going to our website.
I'm now in the Ottawa airport waiting for a connection to Vancouver.  I will be away this week to visit my siblings and my dad out on Vancouver Island.  It's about as far away as you can get in North America.  Elisabeth is going to visit Debbie in Chicago while I'm away.
Pray for us while we are gone, and we'll see you in church.

New Members

This Sunday was quite a celebration.  First of all, it was the last Sunday that Nick Kung was with us before heading off to college.  He played a flute duet with Elisabeth and then shared a few "words of wisdom" as part of the sermon.  He quoted the verse from the Proverbs, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  He thanked his family and church for training him for life.  Our closing hymn for the day was his favorite, "Eternal Father Strong to Save."  As the organist (guest Dorothy Beach) started to play the hymn he turned to his mom and said, "What a coincidence!"  Little did he know that she and I had plotted to include it as part of the Summer Hymn Sing.
The other big event of the day was welcoming two new families into our church after worship.  Paul and Jessie Mignone and baby Celeste have been attending our church for several months.  We look forward to another baptism soon.  Paul is an opthamologist in Southern Westchester and Jessie is a former assistant to actor Robert DeNiro! We also welcomed Dr. Raymond Mutter and his wife Mary into our church family.  Dr. Mutter retired from an internal medicine practice in the Ossining/Tarrytown area.  Mary maintains membership ties to the Episcopal Church, but will be a full participant in the life of our church.  We look forward to getting to know these interesting people and benefiting from their gifts and experience.
During the coffee mingle Lit Anderson and Dave Dobson began a great fundraiser for the up-coming Haiti trip.  Dave has made a scale model of the houses we will be building.  Lit made bricks to fill in the walls.  The bricks sell for $10 each.
Finally, I'm looking forward to sharing the pulpit over the next two Sundays as we continue our Hebrew Poetry theme in August.  Our youth director, Sarah Lucas will share on the 19th and Rev. Tom Hughart (retired) will preach on the 26th.  They will focus on the poetry of Ecclesiastes and Job respectively.
Summer is going by so quickly!  Soon it will be back to Sunday School and our Fall Family Festival on September 9th.  Watch your mailbox for more information and plan to invite a friend!

First Baptism

Sunday, July 29th, I had the privilege of performing my first baptism as pastor of PCMK.  It was a wonderful day to welcome into God's family little Mackenzie Lynn Purvis, the daughter of Nathan Purvis and Kelly Lynn Haughton, and granddaughter of PCMK members Art and Patti Jay.  The sanctuary was full (even in July) with lots of families and many children.  Elder Roe Gift assisted in the sacrament, asking the questions of the congregation. 

Once I took her in my arms and poured water on her head, she stayed perfectly calm.  I then reminded her and all of us of the significance of baptism with these words, "Mackenzie Lynn, child of the covenant.  You have been sealed in baptism by the Holy Spirit and marked as God's own child forever." 

We then sang the beautiful baptismal hymn, "Batpized in Water, Sealed by the Spirit," which is to the tune of "Morning has Broken."  The highlight of the morning was when I brought our newest member down the center aisle so everyone could meet her up close while we sang the hymn.

We then went on with the service, which was filled with great music as usual.  After my sermon on Baby Moses in the bulrushes (appropriate for baptism), grandpa Art Jay sang "Shall we Gather at the River."  We had gathered at the river of God's grace that flows through each one of us.  Like Moses, who was adopted by Pharoah's daughter, we have both privilege and responsibility.  Our baptism gives us both--privilege (adopted by God) and responsibility (to serve God's people).

It was a great day, and I look forward to many more baptisms, and weddings, and communions and, and...