Author: The Rev. Rebecca Kirkpatrick

This past Tuesday, alongside BMPC members, fellow Presbyterians, interfaith leaders, community members, and folks from all around Pennsylvania, I traveled to Harrisburg to participate in a CeaseFire PA event, advocating at the state house for the passage of common-sense gun legislation.

Each met with their local representatives and senators to discuss the particular bills in the process – bills that limit access to conversion devices that turn guns into automatic weapons, bills that more broadly apply background checks, bills that attempt to limit the use of ghost guns and someone’s ability to simply “print” their own gun at home.

We spent over an hour as a part of a rally on the steps of the capital where speaker after speaker shared the pleas for a culture and a world beyond too many senseless acts of violence. We heard from elected leaders, faith leaders, doctors and nurses, young people, and local law enforcement. But, of course, the most compelling speakers were the parents who had lost children to gun violence. Their stories of grief and frustration were incredibly persuasive. It is hard to believe anyone could not be moved by their stories.

But people are not. Two of the bills voted on yesterday afternoon—one to ban conversion devices and one to prevent gun trafficking—both failed in the House of Representatives despite the voices that filled the capital all day. This is discouraging and begs the question of what our work is when it comes to advocating for change.

I will confess that I am constantly trying to figure that out.

But while we all figure that out together, I will share the things that gave me hope yesterday.

We were part of a group of clergy who visited specific lawmakers who are extreme holdouts on these issues to deliver a collection of interfaith sermons on the topic of gun violence. In one visit, we were led by a nun connected to the Sisters of Mercy who shared that she keeps the lawmaker in her prayers every day.

During the rally, we heard from the newest board member of CeaseFire PA—a high school senior who lives in West Philadelphia. She talked about what it means for her to stand up for life and speak out for the safety of her community and fellow young people.

We sat together with our neighbors from Beth David Reform Temple in Gladwyne in a meeting with Representative Tim Briggs to discuss what our specific community can do to support him as he works to enact these laws.

I watched my good colleague and vocal leader in the City of Philadelphia, the Rev. Adan Mariena, address the gathered crowds to talk about why our particular brand of Christianity believes in the preciousness of life.

I could go on.

This is hard work, and as a church, we don’t take enough time to figure out our role in it. But it is also something that can only be learned by doing, by being in conversation, by opening our hearts to the pain of others.

I hope that the next time we have the opportunity to make our voices heard together, you will be able to join us. But even more importantly, we will each find ways to use our individual voices to advocate for change as well. To learn more about the important work of CeaseFire PA, check out their website and sign up to receive regular updates.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

In just a week, five of us from BMPC will travel to Lima, Peru, to spend a week with our long-term partner, Joining Hands Peru.

We have been connected to the work of Joining Hands Peru, especially through our support of Presbyterian World Mission and our Mission Co-Workers there, Jed and Jenny Koball, for over ten years. But this year represents the start of a deepening commitment on our part to the Joining Hands global network, which describes their work as standing in solidarity, working for justice and the restoration of the Earth, and advocating for the rights of people to claim the life abundant promised by God.

A main component of this deeper partnership means intentional visits and time spent together in Peru (and eventually Bryn Mawr). This is how Joining Hands Peru describes the context in which they live and work:

Due to its vast territory and gold and silver production, Peru was historically considered one of Spain’s most important colonies. Declaring its independence from Spain in 1821, Peru continued to exploit the resources of the land for its own economic growth and development.

Today, the Andes continue to have great mining potential, and the Amazon basin has rich oil deposits. Increased exploitation of such resources, known as extractive activity, has led to major economic growth in recent decades, yet the gap between rich and poor in Peru is one of the highest in the Americas. Among the most impoverished peoples are indigenous populations whose livelihoods and way of life are gravely impacted by contamination of air, land, and water. Furthermore, Peru is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.

I have had a few people ask me what “work” we will be doing when we are in Peru. The truth is that the work we are called to do in a modern mission partnership is the work to build relationships with one another. Gone are the days of us traveling around the world to offer our manual labor to others. Instead, we are traveling there to offer them one of the most valuable resources we have as a church – our focus and attention.

Over a week, we will travel and visit five different communities surrounding Lima, where local leaders are leading the work to recover their natural resources, change the industrial and commercial practices impacting their homes, and attempt to reverse the devastating health impacts experienced by the people in their community, especially their children. We will hear their stories, encourage them in their work, and consider ways we can influence some of the international forces at play as a congregation.

But mostly, we will illustrate to them that there is a group of faithful people who live thousands of miles away, who are paying attention to their work, praying for their success and health, and personally investing in their future. That is a precious thing.

I hope that you will keep the five of us in your prayers in the days to come, but more importantly, you will keep the people of Joining Hands Peru in your prayers at this moment and beyond. If you want to learn more about their work, you can check it out here: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/compassion-peace-justice/hunger/internationaldevelopment/joininghands/joining-hands-country-profiles/peru-jh/.

Almost every night since January 2 the Atrium and Gymnasium here at BMPC have been used to shelter men sleeping outside in our community on these cold nights of the winter. For them it is a much-needed relief from the stress of sleeping in the elements, of navigating spaces where they are not welcome, and simply a respite from the dangers of being outside in the cold.

The question for us to consider is what means for us as a community to take on a new yet vital mission as a congregation.

I grew up in a church in Pittsburgh where a whole section of the gothic building, originally called the Wayfarers Chapel, was converted in the 1980s to a men’s night shelter. While my father can tell me stories of assisting the pastor in leading their early Sunday morning service in that Chapel as a young elder, I never knew the room as a space for worship – only a space of shelter. Above the doorway to the chapel was a stone relief carving of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It was somehow prescient that the 1930’s architects and artists chose that theme for the chapel not ever imagining that fifty years later the neighborhood and the focus of the church and eventually the use of that space would change so dramatically.

But for me, it was formative as a child and teenager to know that our doors were open to the unhoused in our church neighborhood. Sometimes it meant that we met and greeted them on our way into church as they hung out in the block around the building. Sometimes it meant Sunday nights at youth group cooking and serving the men dinner as a service project. Sometimes it meant attending the 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning service we hosted in the dining room next to the shelter where local pastors would rotate through as preachers. In all those moments the choices that the church made in that generation helped to teach me what it means to be a welcoming and hospitable Christian community.

Here at BMPC, a lot of different folks from the community spend time in our church gym. From yoga classes to Parkinson’s exercise, from Boy Scouts to the Baldwin basketball team. Already the community at large (or at least a portion of our community) knows that they are welcome in our space. But there is something even more significant about using our space as a shelter.

The very first Friday that we were open, the shelter set up and the Baldwin girls’ practice intersected, and instead of being a conflict of space, it became an opportunity for the girls’ team to learn about what we are doing and pitch in with set up. One of those girls is one of our own BMPC middle schoolers, who went home that afternoon to joyfully share with her parents that she learned about the shelter and even got to help set it up.

When I chatted with the student that following Sunday, it is not an exaggeration to say that she is excited to know and to understand how her church is helping the most vulnerable in the community. Her sense of pride in this and sense of commitment to pitching in where she can was a helpful reminder to me of how growing up in a church with a shelter shaped my understanding of what it means to be church as well. My hope is that embarking on a project like this is about shaping all of us as people of faith, teaching all of us what it means to welcome the neighbor and the stranger into our building.

When I was a child, my church in Pittsburgh always hosted a little “shop” on a Saturday morning in December where children of the congregation could come and buy small items for everyone on their Christmas list. Some items were donated by church members and others from a local wholesaler who traded in dollar store items. I am sure the day will come in the future when I clean out my parents’ home and I find all of the switchblade combs and costume cocktail rings that I bought for them over the years. Even though the gifts weren’t significant, there was a significance in teaching me what it means to give gifts at Christmas.

When our son Owen was little (and even when he wasn’t all that little), I would typically take him to our local Ten Thousand Villages to buy gifts for his grandparents and friends. In the same spirit, we approached our shopping as a way to talk about why we celebrate Christmas by giving gifts, what it means to pick something out that will feel meaningful to the people we love, and how we shop in responsible ways.

In recent years, even now that Owen is technically an adult, we use the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Advent Gift Market Catalogue in the same way. We make a list of the people for whom we are shopping each year and consider which of the often over 17 organizations represented in the Market would be meaningful for the people in our lives.

During 2020 in particular, the AGM catalogue was a great way to reach out to family and friends when we couldn’t be together. That year through AGM, we sent folks books donated to the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children. One of my mother’s friends, very likely someone who had walked me through that little shop at church 40 years ago, reached out to say how grateful she was for such a thoughtful gift. It was such an easy gesture on our part, but was so meaningful to her.

This year we once again have a catalogue full of the life of mission and ministry supported by this congregation. I hope that those of you who have made AGM an important part of your gift giving each year will once again support our partners locally and around the world. I hope that those of you who have never given a gift through AGM will choose this year to give a gift that will have meaning not just to your recipient, but to the organizations whose work continues year round.

You can start shopping as early as this Sunday, November 12th, when the online shopping site at www.BrynMawrAGM.com goes live. Online orders are typically ready in a few days.

But I also strongly encourage you to join us for our opening celebration on Sunday, November 19th when representatives from our committees, Boards and Councils will have more information about each of our partner organizations. In person shopping will also begin that day.

In this moment when we all are seeking ways to make an impact, the Advent Gift Market is once again the perfect way to have a meaningful giving season.

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.

An essential part of our congregation’s identity is its foundation in mission. From the beginning, members of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church were especially committed to sending and supporting mission workers around the world to teach and heal and share the Gospel. But it in the 1960s, the church significantly expanded its mission paradigm and considered what it would mean to give and work in mission in underserved areas of Philadelphia.

Session records describe an intentional effort on the part of Dr. David Watermulder to be in open and thoughtful conversations with African American clergy from Philadelphia so that the leaders of this church could better understand the ways that our culture and institutions disenfranchised people of color.

This is from the minutes of the Session on April 13, 1964:

Elder Baker recommended for the Personnel Committee that the Department of Outreach and its work be reorganized, with our Minister of Outreach designated to serve specifically as our “City Parish Minister,” whose work will be largely in the city under the supervision of the Director of Urban Work of the Presbytery and the Senior Minister of our Church, and that the total cost of this work be included in the benevolence budget of our church. On motion, the Session voted to make this change.

The Moderator presented the Rev. Bryant George, Assistant Executive Secretary in the Department of Strategy of the Board of National Missions, and Elder Hattersley introduced the Rev. Shelton Waters, Vice President of the Philadelphia Council of Churches and Minister of the First African Church at 42nd and Girard Avenue in West Philadelphia.

The Revs. George and Waters were the invited guests of the Session for a frank and thorough-going consideration of today’s racial problems. At the conclusion of an extended discussion, extreme appreciation was extended to both our guests for coming – as well as for their spirit of helpfulness.

More than 30 years later, BMPC leadership and the Session, inspired by the vision of Dr. Eugene Bay to recommit and reimagine the ways this congregation intentionally engaged in mission in West Philadelphia, launched the “Urban-Suburban Partnership.” This is from the fall of 1997:

As part of its 125th anniversary celebration, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, in all aspects of its life, undertakes a journey in faith with the peoples of West Philadelphia, expecting that our mutual ministry will lead us all to a better place.

Primary Goals:

To reaffirm and build upon BMPC’s longstanding commitment to urban ministry. To develop a fresh way of engaging in urban ministry, which is consonant with the realities of our times. To be a community of faith which grows spiritually as a result of creating authentic partnerships across geographic, racial and socio-economic boundaries.

Rational:

After studying how the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia engages in urban ministry, we see three key themes BMPC needs to accentuate:

Instead of DOING FOR others, we will do everything in partnership WITH them. As a community of faith, we minister to others in a way that enables us to absorb the spiritual lessons offered to us by those we serve. Individually and collectively, we affirm that love freely given expands and grows, but when horded and packaged in material form, it contracts and loses its potency.

In this 150th Anniversary year, we celebrate all the relationships built, lives impacted, communities shaped, and organizations created over the past 25 years because of the commitment, time and funding invested in this partnership.

Organizations birthed out of this program still thrive today. The Other Carpenter, which assisted residents with home repairs, made a significant impact on the lives of homeowners in West Philadelphia. That work continues to be done by Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia because of funding from BMPC.

West Philadelphia Alliance for Children continues to reopen school libraries in West Philadelphia, encouraging literacy and reading for young children and families. The West Philadelphia Children’s Choir, which eventually became Singing City Children’s Choir, carries on the mission to share a love and commitment to the arts for children and families in the West Philadelphia community. The Urban Suburban Book Group continues to thrive today as a living embodiment of the relationships envisioned when this initiative first began.

This Sunday we are privileged to welcome to our pulpit and to our adult education hour the Rev. Eustacia Moffett Marshall, pastor of New River Presbyterian Church in West Philadelphia. New River is a merger of three historical churches in that community: First African, Calvin and Good Shepherd.

As we celebrate not only our 150 years of mission work, but our 25-year commitment to West Philadelphia, we once again rely on our relationships and partnerships to help us understand how God is calling the church at large and our congregation to respond to the concerns as well as the hopes and visions of our fellow Presbyterians in Philadelphia.

Rev. Marshall will share with us the exciting journey that has brought New River to where it is today, as well as their vision for this next moment of ministry in West Philadelphia. As a recipient of a $50,000 150th Anniversary Grant from BMPC this summer, New River is positioned both to help us value and celebrate our past in mission, while also leading us intentionally and faithful into this next moment in urban ministry as a church.

I especially hope that all of you who have given your time and energy to working and building relationships as a part of the Urban Suburban Partnership will come celebrate with us this Sunday, and even more importantly, hear how we are being called in this next moment.