Month: August 2025

Thank you, Kirby

Over two years ago, when the church was looking for an Interim Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care and Senior Adults, several colleagues in Philadelphia Presbytery recommended the Reverend Dr. Kirby Lawrence Hill. These were people well acquainted with the size and complexity of BMPC, and with Kirby’s gifts and experience in ministry.

When a team representing our church’s Personnel Committee, Deacons, and Senior Adult Council began to consider candidates, we were quickly drawn to Kirby. Not only did he bring nearly 40 years of pastoral experience, but he also impressed us with his confident demeanor, his compassion and empathy, his creative spirit, his love of God and of Christ’s church, and our mission in the world. Kirby clearly understood the calling of this transitional ministry to help lead congregational care and senior adult ministry, and also to prepare the church for a new Associate Pastor. In addition, he was graciously open to serving BMPC as long as we needed him, which afforded the Personnel Committee time to realign the roles and responsibilities of the pastoral staff with our vision for ministry, as well as to undergo a national search to find a new Associate Pastor.

We have been blessed by Kirby’s presence on the pastoral staff. The Deacons and Senior Adult Council have benefited from his creative leadership; classes and groups from his teaching; the Care Team has been nurtured by his pastoral sensitivity; and the whole congregation by his preaching, worship leadership, and eloquent, heartfelt pastoral prayers.

This coming Sunday is Kirby’s last as a member of the pastoral staff. He will preach at both services, and there will be a special reception in the Atrium after the 10 a.m. worship service so that you can thank him for sharing his gifts with us. While we bid Kirby farewell from the church staff, we are delighted that Nancy Lawrence Hill plans to continue as a member of the Sanctuary Choir and play the Carillon, so they will continue to be a part of our church family in worship. Join us for worship and the special reception on Sunday as we express our gratitude!

The Year Ahead

You may have heard it called a “reverse coloring” or “blob art.” The premise is simple—first someone (or you) make blobs of color. The shape doesn’t matter, the colors don’t matter, just blobs of paint, random brush strokes, even the ring of a coffee cup left behind on a piece of paper can work. From there, you are challenged to transform it into something. A fantastical beast? A comfy chair?  A complex flower? As one art teacher explained to me, “It is an exercise in seeing and imagining rather than the mechanics of drawing.”

I often think of my ministry in similar ways. As we imagine a year ahead, we know some of what we will be facing, but most of it is a mystery. Blobs are beginning to form, but there’s so much we don’t yet know. Is that the right classroom for a child? Is that friendship going to flourish or fail? Will they love or hate being in a play? Will they ever remember their lunch on a busy morning? Some blobs look ominous and others have such incredible potential.

This Sunday after church, we will pause for a moment of prayer before the start of the school year. Anyone with a backpack, school bag, or just a desire to take a deep breath is invited to attend. It will be an exercise in seeing, rather than in the mechanics of being a good student. We’re going to speak our hopes for the year ahead. We’re going to ask God to help hold some of our worries. We’re going to encourage one another. We are going to pause and remember that while we’re still seeing blobs, God is already at work and invite us to create something beautiful alongside the creator.

As you think about the children, teachers, school administrators, coaches, parents, guardians and grandparents around you, here is a prayer to start the year:

Bless your child for the year ahead.
Bless these eyes that they will look with kindness
and with awe on the world you created.
Bless these ears that they will hear words that help her grow.
Bless this voice as it speaks so that her words build up others.
Bless this mind with curiosity and wisdom.
Bless these shoulders that no burden is too heavy.
Bless these hands to do your work.
Bless these feet to walk in your way.
Bless this heart to grow and grow filled with your love.
Bless each breath and each step as you bless your child today and always. 

Amen.

 

 

A Toast to Rich

My friend Rich died on Tuesday, and I’d like to tell you about him. 

Rich was big and boisterous. He was a virtuoso cook, builder of worlds, and, like so many proud Irishmen, a masterful storyteller. He convened all the guys on our block in Pittsburgh to butcher a whole hog, he pit–roasted a whole lamb at Easter, and the shelves of his kitchen and living room were filled floor to ceiling with spices, exotic elixirs, elaborate tools, and cookbooks. He served as Dungeon Master for the neighborhood kids’ weekly Dungeons & Dragons games in settings of his own dreaming and established house rules that prohibited characters with Evil alignments. “They shouldn’t have to play in a world with evil in it.” He loved history and had hilarious anecdotes and overlooked figures from the past – especially medieval Europe – at his fingertips for any occasion. Rich is irreplaceable. 

Rich loved teaching history in public schools, and when I asked him why he stopped, he told me plainly: “I had a major depressive episode and was unable to continue.” Thankfully, depression and suicidality were not the end of Rich’s story, but they were a considerable part of it. He told the story of his own life, including those dark chapters, openly and generously; his storytelling was an invitation to engage. He gave people the gift of his life, passions, and challenges. Likewise, his life and story were gifts to his wife, his friends, his neighborhood, his students, and beyond. 

Rich’s death was sudden, tragic, and untimely, but his plentiful health challenges meant he had faced down death before. As a result, his funeral plans were well attested: a brass band playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” and Irish whiskey for any who wishes to partake. Like I said, Rich is irreplaceable. 

Pastor’s Columns should have a call to action. This one has many. Invite other people into the story of your life and let them celebrate or mourn alongside you. When a person in your community invites you in, say yes. Cook an outrageously complicated meal with some loved ones. Take on a monumental task that can only be done with the help of the entire neighborhood. If you or a loved one is thinking about suicide, don’t go it alone. Call 988 and reach out to others, including pastors or counselors at the Middleton Center. If you’re struggling with physical or mobility challenges, reach out for help, including to BMPC’s caring ministries. Give yourself as a gift to your community. 

Rich is irreplaceable, and so are you. 

The Chorister’s Prayer

Bless, O Lord, us thy servants, who minister in thy temple.
Grant that what we sing with our lips, we may believe in our hearts,
and what we believe in our hearts, we may show forth in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 ~ (The Chorister’s Prayer) 

The Chorister’s Prayer has existed since the thirteenth or fourteenth century, first appearing (in English) in ‘The Choirboy’s Pocket Book’ in the 1930s. There is something incredibly special about words that have been said, sung, and a part of prayer for over eight centuries. They, like the detailed and intricate High Gothic architecture of the same era, have seen the world transformed beyond belief. How is it that words written and translated 800 years ago can be so relevant today? How do we understand them in 2025? What has changed? More importantly, what has not? 

Though this is not a biblical text, it is inherently sacred, and all these years later, has deep meaning for each of us. Next month, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church will launch a new music program for children from PreK-12th grade. These young musicians will be known as ‘Choristers’. Simply put, a Chorister is a singer in a church setting. Before each rehearsal, the Choristers will read and say this prayer. They will join those who have said these words countless times before them, those who happen to be saying it at the same time, and those who will say it in the future.  

We become a community that goes beyond the confines of our building, of our city, of our denomination. May we read these words with a renewed sense of hope, as we lean on the past, to look forward to the future.