Month: October 2023

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. David and Ruth Watermulder Theologian-in-Residence lecture series. The goal at the time was simple. As Dr. Eugene Bay described it in a letter to the Watermulders, the plan was to bring to BMPC on an annual basis, some prominent churchman or churchwoman, who would be in residence for up to a week’s time, teaching, lecturing, and preaching.

Named in honor of the Watermulders and in celebration of their leadership to this congregation and community, the list of those prominent churchmen and churchwomen reads like a retrospective of the most creative and thoughtful biblical and theological minds of the past and current generation. In this anniversary year, we are so grateful to welcome the Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnston as our Theologian in Residence, adding to the illustrious list of those who have come before.

In his most recent book, Elusive Grace, Dr. Black Johnston begins with the story of a visit that he and fellow Presbyterian pastor Patrick O’Connor made to pray with then President-elect Donald Trump. Both Scott, as the pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church across the street from Trump Tower, and Patrick, as pastor of the Trump family congregation in Queens, felt a calling to reach out in that moment in prayer for our nation moving forward.

To say that the reaction to this act of prayer was “mixed” is an understatement.

Seven years later this is still a moment of high anxiety and conflict in our nation, in our communities and even within some of our own families. That makes the topics of this weekend’s presentations incredibly apt, Fight Like Jesus: How Faith Can Inform Conflict. In his two lectures and Sunday worship, Scott will help us reflect on the wisdom offered to us in scripture for how we experience healthy conflict and how we seek reconciliation.

In Elusive Grace, he writes this on the topic of loving your enemies:

“Sometimes all it takes to lose an enemy is to see a rival as a human, to see them as worth regarding, to see them as bigger than the caricatures our minds have drawn, to see their challenges, to appreciate where they have come from, to listen to their story, all while enjoying a piece of pie together, a delicious slice of grace.

Grace is a game changer. It upends the rules of engagement. It changes us. It changes others. It frees us from everlasting spirals of anger and revenge and opens us to an elusive possibility: peace. Peace with our enemies, and peace within our broken hearts.”

In these days we all are in desperate need of a measure of grace with one another and with ourselves. Come and reflect with us on what that kind of grace looks like for us as a community of believers committed to being engaged in the world around us.

Join us this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in Congregational Hall, as well as on Sunday in the Sanctuary worship service, and finally again in Congregational Hall at 11:15 a.m. for all our Theologian-In-Residence activities.

The text dates to the seventh century, written originally in Latin, the lingua franca of the western Christianity for centuries. But I stumbled across it recently in our archives, a place in which I have spent an inordinate and unnatural amount of time over this last year in preparation for our 150th anniversary celebrations. You can see it in the photo here. It’s a copy of the worship bulletin from January 7, 1923.

BMPC was commemorating its 50th anniversary as a congregation that year, and a who’s who of the wider church had come to be a part, including the Rev. Dr. Lewis Mudge, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly; the Rev. Dr. John B. Rendall, President of Lincoln University; and the Rev. Dr. Henry B. Master, Secretary of the Board of Ministerial Relief.

But what is striking is not the guest list, impressive as it is. It is the opening hymn the congregation sang, “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation.” We will sing that hymn this Sunday as well, as we continue in our season of anniversary celebration and dedicate our stewardship pledges for 2024.

It seems we have been singing that hymn for quite some time. It leads one to wonder why. What is it about declaring “To this temple, where we call you, come, O Lord of hosts, and stay” that makes us want to sing it in seasons of celebration and reflection? Even as other hymns wax and wane in popularity, some having staying power. The power to cause us to reflect, remember, and rejoice. The power to bless us for future endeavors. The power to pray with boldness, “Hear your people as we pray, and your fullest benediction shed within these walls today.”

The big 150th Anniversary Celebration weekend is now just hours away! We are excited that so many church friends have indicated plans to be here from among our active congregation as well as from afar. Many months ago, out-of-town members received a Save the Date mailing, and former pastors, Lilly residents and staff received a special letter of invitation.

Because I issued the invitation on behalf of the church, I have been privileged to receive notes from those unable to attend but who are cheering us on from a distance. Pastors Kellen Smith, Charles Grant, George Wirth, Sherri Hauser and Rob McClellen, for example, have corresponded with regret that they are unable to be here and with expressions of gratitude for their time serving Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church as treasured years in their ministry.

My immediate predecessor as Pastor and Head of Staff, Wes Avram, sent a lovely note to share with you, which reads in part:

Lynne and I were touched to receive an invitation to join you for this grand celebration of BMPC’s 150th anniversary year. God’s faithfulness to this congregation is long and deep, as is God’s faithfulness to the world through you. We were honored to share a small slice of that long faithfulness with you and continue to hold you and your good ministry in prayer.

Your inspiring commitment to worship and arts, love for education, deep and thoughtful support for global ministry, and sense of responsibility to Reformed and Liberal faith will surely shape your life for generations to come. You have a role. You have a voice. You have a mission. And you have faith in a God who has chosen you for ministry. Please know that Lynne and I are part of a chorus of support for you, your mission, and your leadership.

I’m entering my fifteenth year at Pinnacle Presbyterian in Scottsdale and will be retiring when I turn 65 this coming spring. Lynne has found a strong vocation in high school nursing here in the Valley of the Sun. After graduating from Luther College, our oldest son Andrew took an assignment in Peru with the Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer program and has followed a number of interests since. He is now embracing life, coaching soccer and pursuing other goals while living on St. Simons Island. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music, our younger son Paul is living and working as a musician in Nashville. You loved and prayed for Andrew and Paul when they were children, and we’re grateful.

Thank God for you, and may God bless the work of this congregation for generations to come,

– Wes Avram

At Saturday’s events and during Sunday worship, we will enjoy the sense of reunion with many special guests and church friends. We also will be mindful of partners in ministry, unable to be with us, who have sojourned through the life of this historic congregation, gifted its ministry with their commitments, and have moved on strengthened by their time among us to serve the larger church in many and various ways. Thank God for the breadth and depth of this congregation’s 150 years reaching into the community, the city and the world in Christian service!