Month: September 2026

Be a Chorister for a Morning

For the Music and Fine Arts department, the program year kicked off last weekend with the return of the Sanctuary Choir. Right on the heels of that is the start of the Chorister Program, which will begin rehearsing on Wednesday, September 30. Before then, however, we have our Be a Chorister for a Morning program, which will follow the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, September 27.

Music can play an inestimable role in children’s lives and development. Of course, in a concrete sense, there are myriad studies showing the advantage kids have in school and on standardized tests if they’ve been involved in music during their developmental years, but there are also many more intangible benefits to music. Through music, kids learn the courage to perform in front of (and with) their peers, learning not only how to collaborate but also how to stand in front of a crowd with confidence. They learn the discipline to practice their musical lines until they’re perfect, while also giving themselves the grace to know that performances don’t always go as planned. Finally, music is intrinsically linked to community, providing an outlet for us to come together and express emotion, whether joy, sadness, pride, or vulnerability.

Here at Bryn Mawr, we are incredibly blessed with a thriving music program. We are immensely excited that, across the three levels of our Chorister Program, we already have over 40 young people signed up to learn to sing, praise God through song, and become even more involved in this wonderful faith community. If you are interested in having your child join the Chorister Program and would like to experience what it’s like before committing, everyone from PreK to 12th grade is welcome to come to Be a Chorister for a Morning, where we will have sample rehearsals, piano classes, liturgical education, all ending with a pizza lunch! To sign up, or if you have any questions, please contact me at MitchellMiller@bmpc.org.

The Next Step

Last week, the Session approved the Mission Study developed by a faithful team of your fellow members. At the same meeting, we learned the Commission on Ministry of the Presbytery of Philadelphia approved that document contingent on Session endorsement, which means the first phase of our transitional process has ended! You can find the Mission Study on the website and in printed form around the campus. On October 4, the Mission Study Task Force will speak about their findings as part of an after-worship gathering.  

Today, I want to name the most significant result of the Mission Study’s approval: namely, we can now start to form the Pastor Nominating Committee. The PNC will consist of 9 or 11 active members of BMPC who, guided by prayer and insights from the Mission Study, will begin the process of searching for, identifying, and then recommending to you BMPC’s next installed Senior Pastor. The PNC will be elected by the congregation, and thus, for three weeks starting September 27, you can pass along recommendations of members for that team.   

To help you understand more fully what it’s like to serve on a PNC, our Nominating Committee is hosting an event on Monday, September 28. At that gathering, individuals who were part of a previous PNC at BMPC will comprise a panel offering a behind-the-scenes look at their time of service. What were the blessings and challenges of that experience? What surprised them about the work? What impact did that time of service have on their faith and tie to BMPC? What kind of time commitment should members of the next PNC expect? 

The answers to those questions and others posed on the 28th are intended to enlighten all who gather that evening and help you make more informed suggestions to the Nominating Committee. It all begins at 7:00 p.m. in Fullerton. I hope you can join us!        

Rally Day

Our son Owen started his senior year of college just a few weeks ago. When he first left for school four years ago, I was a little worried, as all parents are, that it might take a while for him to find his “people.” So, we gave him the advice that most parents give, encouraging him to go to everything he could during those first few weeks. Accept every invitation to try something out. If they teased a free T-shirt, be there to get one. And for sure, BE at the activity fair in those early days of the fall semester so you can wander among the clubs and groups and see where you might fit.

That first semester, Owen went to the Wooster activity fair and left signed up with an audition to join the college’s tenor/bass a cappella group – Merry Kuween of Skots. Wooster is the “Fighting Scots,” which the name is a play on, and with six different creatively named a cappella groups on campus, I don’t ask questions.

This Sunday at BMPC, we will be hosting our own annual version of a campus activity fair – our Rally Day Ministry Fair in the gym following our 10 a.m. worship service. Every year you hear me encourage you to stop by the tables staffed by volunteers from all of our different and thriving ministry areas to find a new place of connection. And this year is no exception. Just like I have told Owen to be there to find his people, that is my advice for you all as well.

Here are just a few things that you might connect to this Sunday –

Stop by the Music and Fine Arts table and offer yourself as an usher for one of the wonderful concerts scheduled for this next year.

Visit the Children and Family Ministries table to learn more about what it means that members of the church will pray for over 500 children in our congregation this year.

Swing by the Youth Ministry Table to sign up to referee Minute to Win It activities at this December’s Rainbow Reindeer Games.

Pop over to the Caring Ministries Table to get information about making soup that can be taken by staff and Deacons to members during illness or recovery.

Say hello at the Adult Education table and sign up as a volunteer in Converse Library helping with reshelving books in our adult collection.

Spend some time at the Mission table assembling a personal care kit for this winter’s code blue shelter while you hear about our eight different mission committees.

Drop in at the Senior Adult table to learn more about the trips, programs and fellowship opportunities on the calendar for this next program year.

Make you way over to the Congregational Life table to learn more about being in a Connection Group.

This is just a snapshot of the ways that you can find to connect to the mission and ministry of our church in this next year, and by no means exhaustive.

Four years ago, we told Owen to show up, try something new, and trust that somewhere along the way he might find his people. I believe the church works much the same way. God often meets us through one another, in unexpected places and ordinary invitations. So come wander, wonder, and see where God might be calling you to belong.

My Shoes Are Lost

“Help me, God. I cannot find my shoes, and I’m worried I might be lost, too. But you know where I am. Help me. Amen”

It is a sweet prayer shared with me years and years ago, with a handwritten note that added something like, “If you can find your shoes, feel free to include something else that seems to have gone missing.” Over the years, I have come back to this prayer at different moments, offering it to different people with different kinds of worries. I have smiled when a parent reported a child saying it in relation to a “pet” worm they had left outside the day before. My heart has broken when someone asked if they could substitute “joy” for shoes. The answer, of course, was, “yes.”

Shoes, keys, homework, a water bottle, patience, peace, hope, time…. We all have moments when something seems to have gone missing. Sometimes when those things are missing, our world suddenly feels out of order. When a young child is separated from their parents, I’ll be asked if I know where their parents are, worried that somehow they have been lost. Despite our best attempts to explain where the sanctuary is or to show on a clock when a meeting will be over, they are looking and waiting, still a little worried that either they or their parents have gone missing.

I appreciate the acknowledgment in the prayer that when things feel overwhelming or out of order, it’s easy to feel lost ourselves. There are days when I read through the news and find myself returning to this prayer, worried that the things I hold most dear seem to have evaporated. I sometimes have to say, “I cannot see your justice, I do not see any mercy, I worry that kindness has been lost.” I offer that prayer and have to acknowledge that I also feel adrift when the world seems devoid of those same things.

But repeating the promise “you know where I am” doesn’t try to soothe away the discomfort or the anger or the fear or the hurt; it reminds me that even in a place where I feel lost, God is indeed present, because nothing is lost to God.

So as a new school year begins and keys, lunches, patience, rest, confidence, and a few pairs of shoes seem to go missing, may you be reminded that God is with you, and those missing things can indeed be found again.