Category: Pastor Thoughts - Edmonds Presbyterian Church

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

7/1/2020

“I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121: 1-2

Summer greetings!
Did someone you know graduate this year? We celebrated with several graduates– including EPC’s Kate S-D. As I watched portions of their online graduations, I was impressed with the way the colleges and high schools tried to make the day special for each graduate. Even elementary and middle schools across our area held graduation parades, with teachers standing at a social distance along the side of the street and parents with the children in their cars driving past in long lines. As they passed one another they shouted words of thanks, congratulations, and encouragement. Each graduation was creative and heartwarming, but it also just wasn’t the same. And that small discomfort I felt is a reminder that we crave the in-person connections with each other that we are missing in this time.

Earlier today I watched a recorded video of the Rev. Otis Moss III preaching a sermon for an annual Festival of Homiletics. He preached standing in the aisle of his church, surrounded by empty pews. Standing in that empty sanctuary, he talked about the alone-ness of this pandemic. The pews beside him were once filled with worshipers (and he showed us photos of them), singing, rejoicing, and praying together. But now they are empty. And it is easy to be discouraged. “Don’t lose heart,” Rev. Moss proclaimed. Why? Because we are not alone. He then asked the camera operator to widen the view, and he showed us that he was not alone – his wife was there praying for him as he preached, seated just outside the frame of the original camera angle. The camera operator was also there. And then Rev. Moss wondered about each of us. We can feel alone, but God is there with us, sometimes just out of sight, just outside of the frame.

It’s in times like these, preaching to an empty room, that I appreciate the Apostle Paul’s reminder to the church in Colossae, “… since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” (Colossians 4:1). Our ministry together at Edmonds Presbyterian Church looks far different than anything we could have imagined even six months ago. While you may not see them at work, your session, your deacons, your staff, your property volunteers are all at work doing the ministry of this congregation – seen or unseen. This month’s newsletter is one place for me to offer them my thanks for not losing heart, for praying for one another as we continue to be the church in these changing times.

Friends, do not lose heart. God is at work – seen and unseen. God is at work in those near us and those just outside our frame of view. God is with us and will continue to encourage us in this walk of faith.

with thanks your prayers,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

3/4/2020

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? - Isaiah 43:19
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? -1 Cor. 3:16
See, the home of God is among mortals … See, I am making all things new. - Rev. 21:3, 5

What do you think of when you hear the word vital? For many of us, the word is most closely connected with medicine. Medical professionals take at least three vital signs to assess our health: pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. Looking at these simple signs, they are able to begin to identify if we are healthy.
What vital signs do you think someone would use to assess the health and vitality of a congregation?
The PCUSA, along with other mainline denominations, has been intentional about identifying the vital signs that indicate healthy vitality in congregations. After completing two detailed national surveys they have identified seven signs, seven “marks of vitality,” that we can use to assess how our congregation is doing. How vital are we? In what areas are we the strongest and healthiest? You may have the impression that vitality exists only in large congregations – but that’s not what the studies found. Congregations of all sizes can be vital. The session and I are delighted to be part of the two year Vital Congregations Initiative in our Presbytery as we assess our marks of vitality and prayerfully consider how we can become even more vital.
What will the Vital Congregations Initiative look like? During Lent and Easter of this year we will be taking a closer look at the seven marks of vitality through prayer, scripture, our Sunday services, our Sunday adult classes, and our personal devotions. To begin, I invite you to pick up a copy of the Lenten devotional, Vital Signs, and use it to consider what a vital life in Christ looks like for you and for our church community. Then notice as Lent and Easter unfold how the upcoming sermon themes connect to the seven marks you have studied. And join us for opportunities to dive deeper into the meaning of each of the seven marks during our Adult Education time after worship.
It is our goal that by the time Pentecost arrives we will each know the seven marks of vitality – we will speak that shared language. This shared language will lay the foundation for the remainder of the two-year Vital Congregations Initiative. Over these two years we will make an honest assessment of our vitality; take a careful look at what God is already doing in our neighborhoods, and our community; and then prayerfully design experiments that will assist us in becoming more vital as we move into the second year of the initiative.
The Seven Marks of Vitality are:
1. Lifelong Discipleship Formation: continually growing as disciples of Jesus
2. Intentional Authentic Evangelism: sharing the story of God’s love at work in our lives
3. Outward Incarnational Focus: serving beyond our church community in Jesus’ name
4. Empowering Servant Leadership: recognizing and humbly offering our gifts of leadership
5. Spirit-filled Worship: proclaiming and celebrating the good news of God’s love
6. Caring Relationships: extending God’s love and compassion to all
7. Ecclesial Health: seeking with others to build up the Body of Christ
That’s a lot of information – but the key is this: pray! May we celebrate our existing vitality, notice the work God is already doing among us, and join in the new thing God would have us explore.
— In Christ,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

2/5/2020

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
—1 Corinthians 3:16

As I wrote in my annual report to the congregation, we continue to be on the move at Edmonds Presbyterian Church! We have come to an agreement with Northwest Coast Presbytery to explore a remodel of the existing building to accommodate our church needs, the Presbytery’s office & meeting space, and at least two rooms dedicated for the use of therapists from Samaritan Counseling Service. Plans are being discussed, and this month there will be a design review with all parties to discuss and fine-tune the plans. If all goes well, we should begin remodeling the facility within the year.

A second big thing happening at the church is our participation in the PCUSA Vital Congregations Initiative (VCI) for 2020-2021. The purpose of the initiative is to
“…assess, discern and live into transformative actions that increase vitality. Through intentional spiritual practices and relational connections, this two-year process takes us deeper into following Jesus Christ, making disciples and being the vital community of Christ [in our] particular communities and the world.”1

In other words, we are looking to become a more vital congregation here in Edmonds. God’s Spirit does dwell within us. This year we will be even more intentional about listening to God’s Spirit through the practices of prayer, bible study, worship, and discernment. Throughout the process we will have the support of the Presbytery and other congregations who are undertaking this initiative.

What will it look like for us? First we will become familiar with the Seven Marks of Vitality, and begin to assess how we are doing in each area. We will do that primarily through our Lenten worship, and our Sunday adult education hour. The Seven Marks of Vitality2 are:

Lifelong Discipleship Formation : to embrace the love of God, nurture the compassion of Christ within you, and be changed by the Holy Spirit
Intentional Authentic Evangelism : to share the hope that is within you
Outward Incarnational Focus: to offer the grace of God to others
Empowering Servant Leadership: to love and serve one another
Spirit-filled Worship: to proclaim and celebrate the good news of God’s Love
Caring Relationships: to extend the love of God and the compassion of Jesus to all
Ecclesial Health: to work carefully with others to build up the Body of Christ

Then over the course of the year we will intentionally listen to our neighbors, and prayerfully enter into a season of discernment as a session and as a congregation about how we, in our community, may becomes a more vital congregation in the coming year.

I am also the Presbytery coordinator for the initiative – so please do ask me questions! I love talking about the Vital Congregations Initiative. In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “God is about to do a new thing – do you perceive it?”

In Christ’s service,
Pastor Amy Delaney

1From the Vital Congregations Initiative Pastor’s Manual, PCUSA, 2019.
2Definitions courtesy of Rob Stewart, Riverside Presbytery, PCUSA.

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

12/5/2019

Greetings,
The holiday season is rapidly approaching. As I write this, I have a Thanksgiving dinner grocery list in my pocket, the first Christmas gifts are awaiting their wrapping paper, and my church to-do list is growing daily. It sometimes feels like all the lists of Christmas can take the place of the heart of Christmas. But it doesn’t need to be that way. This Advent, I invite you to join me in four practices as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
First, practice hope. Paul closes the letter to the Romans with these words:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
During this busy season, it is an act of hope to take time for ourselves and our loved ones. When we take care of ourselves, we are saying that we are valued. And when we care for and spend time with our loved ones, we are affirming their value in our lives. Hope is an expectation that the God we love and follow values us so much that God will one day lead us into a future that is worth the wait.
Second, practice peace. In October I took part in a workshop that taught us a few principles of the dramatic art of Improv. One of its key principles is a willingness to stay engaged with your partner in the exercise. To do that, we respond to whatever our partner says with “yes, and…” Not “yes, but.” For instance, if one of my kids said to me, “Let’s go to the zoo!”, I might be tempted to say, “Yes, but it is raining and we’d need to dress for the weather.” Instead, using Improv techniques, I might say “Yes, and we’d better wear our raincoats, it looks like rain.” Responding with “yes, and” keeps the conversation going, affirms the person who started the conversation, and in general helps us to practice peace in our relationships.
Third, practice joy. The wise men who brought the first gifts to the child Jesus, followed a star to find where Jesus had been born. We read in Matthew’s gospel,
2:10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
If you are like me and the wise men, you may also find joy at Christmas in giving gifts to others – whether finding just the right present, or offering a gift of your time or service to another. Listening deeply to one another is always a gift that is received with joy.
And fourth, practice love. As 1 John 4 reminds us,
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
As we share the love we have received with others, we are sharing God’s love with them. This is the message of Christmas, that God loved us so much that he gave his only Son so that we may have eternal life (John 3:16-17).
Hope, Peace, Joy and Love are also the themes for our Advent worship this year. I hope you will join me in taking a long loving look at each practice and how it shows up in our lives.
Have a blessed Advent and Christmas season,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

10/31/2019

Happy November!
It’s the season of raking leaves, bundling up in our warmest clothes, and making preparations to celebrate a Thanksgiving feast. I always love November.
November also brings talk of stewardship – of using our resources in a responsible way that brings glory to God. That is because this is the time of year when the Session needs to build a budget for the coming year. We, like many organizations who depend on donations, are well aware of the lack of certainty when it comes to future giving. So, we do ask for a pledge, or a good-faith estimate, of how you plan on supporting the church financially for the coming year. In addition to financial giving, many of our members give generously of their time – also a benefit to us as we strive for a balanced budget. The financial pledges go directly to our administrative assistant, Kim, who gives the session the totals and a comparison with previous year’s giving for those same givers. No names are shared with the session.

This year the session has chosen the theme of “Gratitude” for our stewardship season. On the first three Sundays of November, you will hear session members share the reasons they are grateful to God for the ministry and life of this congregation, and therefore willing to support it though their gifts of time, talent, and treasure. I’m looking forward to hearing the story of how God is bringing gratitude into the lives of those around me.

But the number one reason I love November is that there is usually room to breathe in November. There is time to appreciate friends and family, or to go for a walk on a cool, crisp, sunny day. I rejoice in the colors on the trees, and the words of Psalm 96 come to mind,
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy….

When I see the maples with leaves of green, gold, and red, it feels like they are showing their praise to God – praise that this has been a good year. And though they will appear to die over the winter, the spring will find them budding with new life.
May your November be filled with joy. May you join the trees of the forest in singing praise to God. And may you always know that our God is a God of new life. Even when the branches are bare, there is a promise of spring and the new life God brings.
In Christ,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

10/2/2019

Greetings,
     As we move into the fall sermon series, I’ve been wondering what living the Christian life looks like in our individual lives. The sermon series began on September 22nd with “What Does Faithfulness Look Like?” Over the coming weeks we will wonder about Hope, Obedience, Thankfulness, Forgiveness, Humility, Compassion, Courage, Peace, and God’s Future. In these ten weeks my hope is that we consider how we live this precious life that has been given to us by God.
     Last week I attended a memorial service at another church for a woman who has lived most of her adult life in the small community where she worshiped. She was part of a weekly women’s bible study for years. She volunteered and served her church in a variety of ways. But what struck me the most, was the many lives her life touched. How comforting it was to her family to hear the stories, and to share the memories that stretched back more than 50 years. There was laughter and there were tears. It was a beautiful tribute to a life well-lived.
     It was also a reminder to me that sometimes we get glimpses of heaven here on earth. I believe that in heaven our stories, our lives, will be fully known as we are fully known by God. Here on earth, we only get a glimpse of the lives we touch, or an inkling of the ways others’ lives have formed us. It is enough to reassure us and give us hope, but it is only the beginning of the story of our lives.
In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, at the end of the section on love, we read, (13:12)
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
     When we face the reality of death, as Christians we face it with confidence.        We know that God is the one who has been with us on this life-long journey, and God will one day guide us home to that place where we will be fully known. It is a good work God does in us over the course of our lives, daily encouraging us to live our lives in ways that reflect our faith. In Paul’s letter to the church in Phillipi we read, (1:6, The Message)
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
    Whether you are blessed with living in one community for the majority of your life, or you have been blessed with a more nomadic existence, know that God has been with you. Whether you face the reality of death at an early age or after a long life, God is still with you. One day each of us will rejoice to see the Glory of our God face-to-face. And in that day we will be fully known, and our stories fully told. We will be filled with wonder at the many ways God moved, often without our noticing, in our lives and the lives of those we loved. And, on occasions such as the memorial service I attended, we get a glimpse of what that day will be like.
Blessings,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy’s Thoughts….

9/5/2019

Greetings on this lovely fall day in the beginning of September!
   Our church Session has been studying the “Seven Marks of Vital Congregations” as our meeting devotionals these past few months. Each of the seven is a trait that was discovered during two extensive national studies of vital mainline protestant churches, where the researchers wondered, “What is different about vital churches? What are the marks, the identifying characteristics, of their vitality?” [Curious? You can read more here: https://www.northwestcoast.org/vital-congregations -look for “immediate toolkit”.]
   At our August session meeting we discussed the third mark of vitality, “Outward Incarnational Focus” using a Bible study on Romans 12:1-21. We began our study by unpacking the title of this mark. Outward: beyond our church walls to our neighborhood and world. Incarnational: seeking to be with our neighbors as Christ was incarnate (in the flesh) in our world. Focus: an intentional vision. In this text from Romans we noticed that Paul teaches, “we, who are many, are one body in Christ.” Although we have different gifts, different heritages, and different ideas about almost everything – In Christ we are one family, brothers and sisters of each other. Each one of us is vital to the mission God has in mind for this community of faith. We also were encouraged by Paul’s words to “be genuine” and to live lives “acceptable to God.” And as elders in a church with many needs, we resonated with the reminder “so far as it depends on you.” God has called us to each do our part, and it is good to remember that we do not carry the load by ourselves.
   How does this passage apply to Outward Incarnational Focus? As we discussed that, we affirmed that as this congregation and its members have grown older, we no longer do as much hands-on mission in our community. But we are involved in mission through our prayers and financial support. Our ‘10% for mission’ commitment does make a difference in the lives of those we serve. In those ways we continue to embody an “outward incarnational focus.”
   Are you curious about the other six marks? If so, there are several things you can do to learn more. You are invited to attend Verge 2.0 on Saturday, October 26th at Calvin Presbyterian in Shoreline. The theme of this year is Vital Congregations. You can register for Verge here: https://www.northwestcoast.org/verge. You may also read more at our presbytery website (link is earlier in the article) or at the PCUSA website (link is on the presbytery’s website.) I left our Session meeting reflecting on what it will take to maintain an Outward Incarnational Focus. I realized that a key part of maintaining that focus is story-telling. Our Missions Elder, Ruth Roberts, is good at this. She shares what she has learned about our mission partners in our newsletter, emails, and prayer requests. And on Sunday, September 15th, former PCUSA missionary, Jonna Reeder, will share stories about her previous and current work in international missions. I invite you to join me in keeping the local, national, and international mission ministries in your prayers, as we continue to deepen our Outward Incarnational Focus as a congregation. Blessings, Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy's Thoughts...

7/10/2019

“The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1

Greetings –
Summer is a time for a shift in routine, a change of pace. It always feels to me that there is more time in the summer. Perhaps it is because of the longer daylight hours, or because so many of the routine things we do during the school year are suspended for the summer. Or maybe the summer feels spacious because we make different use of our time – choosing to relax, to vacation, or to spend time with friends and family.
Summer is always the time of year I associate with star-gazing. When I was young my dad and I would put our lawn chairs in the back yard of our home in Spokane, and wait for the sky to grow dark. Dad would point out the constellations, planets, and stars that he knew by name. Gradually more and more stars would become visible, until on dark nights, it became difficult to even find the constellations because of all the stars in the sky.
Mark and I were in the Tri-Cities a couple weeks ago, and while we were there we visited the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) visitor center. LIGO at Hanford is one of two sites in the US designed to detect gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space. These waves are 1/10,000th of the width of a proton. So small that, although Einstein predicted the waves, he assumed that they would never be measurable. But, they are. And, shortly after coming online in 2015, the two US LIGO sites detected a gravitational wave, the result of the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion miles from earth. Interestingly, the LIGO observations led to telescopes being pointed toward the source of the wave in time to observe the collision of the black holes. The gravitational wave had gotten to earth ahead of the light from that event.
Whenever I am confronted with the vastness of space, the small size of an atom, or the complexity of our universe – I discover I am also face-to-face with the beautiful complexity of the creation brought into being by our God and creator. I find myself drawn again to sitting in a lawn chair watching the stars, and imagining what wonders there still are to be found somewhere beyond our understanding.
As you move into the middle of your summer this year, I challenge you to find some quiet moments to consider our place in God’s beautiful universe. Pray, read scripture (Psalm 19 is a good starting point) or maybe just to put a lawn chair out in the back yard on a dark night and give thanks to God for the beauty of all of God’s creation.
In Christ,
Pastor Amy

Pastor Amy's thoughts...

5/14/2019

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

The month of May falls entirely within the church season of Easter, the seven Sundays that we particularly remember Jesus’ resurrection with joy and gladness. Poet and Pastor Ted Loder has written a poem about resurrection that keeps rattling around in my head, giving me more and more food for thought. I offer his poem for your reflection and prayer this month:

I Praise You for this Resurrection Madness
Lord of such amazing surprises
as put a catch in my breath
and wings on my heart,
I praise you for this joy,
too great for words,
but not for tears and songs and sharing;

for this mercy
that blots out my betrayals
and bids me begin again,
to limp on,
to hop-skip-and-jump on,
to mend what is broken in and around me,
and to forgive the breakers;

for this YES to life and laughter,
to love and lovers,
and to my unwinding self;

for this kingdom
unleashed in me and I in it forever,
and no dead ends to growing,
to choices,
to chances,
to calls to be just;
no dead ends to living,
to making peace,
to dreaming dreams,
to being glad of heart;

for this resurrection madness
which is wiser than I
and in which I see
how great you are,
how full of grace.
Alleluia!

-From Ted Loder’s book, Guerrillas of Grace

Pastor Amy's Thoughts...

4/3/2019

Greetings –
The crocuses are in bloom, the daffodils are starting to burst forth, and the trees are glorious in their blossoms. Spring has sprung!
In the calendar of the church year, we are currently preparing for Easter Sunday in the season called Lent. Lent is a time to be intentional about our prayers, how we use our resources, and how we care for one another. It is a time to take stock of who we are and how we would like to live our lives from this day forward.
I have been reading a book titled, “SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life,” about the many ways we fill our calendars too many commitments, and our homes with too much stuff. The author, Julie Morgenstern, encourages the reader to address the root causes, the reasons for why we need to be so full in our homes, and in our calendars. What does that mean to us? Why do we do it? Simply noticing what we do is sometimes enough for us to change. Or we may need to delve deeper into the ‘why’ of what we are doing, so that our efforts at cleaning out the extras from our lives will last long into the future. One helpful idea of the author’s was to identify a name, a theme, or a mission statement for the next season of life. Then, when looking at the stuff, or the calendar, it becomes a simpler question to ask if that activity or thing, will be helpful for living into the mission of the coming years.
In Lent we are also offered the opportunity to look deep into the why of what we are doing, to clear our minds, our schedules, our homes of all that does not conform to our values and our mission for the next phase of life.
Churches are a lot like humans. We have activities and things we do that may have been best suited for a previous mission statement. What is it that we truly need for our next phase of life in this place, for the “new thing” God is beginning among us? What will best serve us in the new future God is calling us into? I invite you to ponder those questions as the Session does the same.
The book, “SHED,” was recommended to me by a presenter at the “over 50” pre-retirement seminar that I attended in January. Many of you have successfully navigating the “lightening of the load” or the “down-sizing” of retirement. That will certainly be a challenge in my home when that day comes. However, the book spoke to me for another reason. It reminded me of a wise mentor who once told me “don’t neglect the margins,” which meant “don’t neglect to leave room on that schedule of yours for the unexpected, and for the time you need to simply sit and breathe.”
If we are to find that mission statement, that direction for the next phase of our lives together, we need to take the time to breathe, to pray, to sit in the glorious sunshine of springtime and let our minds wander a little. What is the ‘new thing’ that is bubbling up at Edmonds Presbyterian?
May God bless you richly as you ponder your journey this Lent, and as we ponder our congregation’s journey.

In Christ,
Pastor Amy