BMPC Pastor's Column

“Little Things with Great Love” is a song by Porter’s Gate—a group of musicians, pastors, and theologians who meet and write faithful, biblical, and beautiful worship music. This song is one of my favorites. I invite you to watch the video and/or read the lyrics, listening for the Spirit’s stirrings within you.

In the garden of our Savior, no flower grows unseen;

His kindness rains like water on every humble seed.

No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye —

for there is One who loves me: His hand is over mine.

In the kingdom of the heavens, no suff’ring is unknown;

each tear that falls is holy, each breaking heart a throne.

There is a song of beauty on ev’ry weeping eye —

for there is One who loves me: His heart, it breaks with mine.

Oh, the deeds forgotten; oh, the works unseen,

every drink of water flowing graciously,

every tender mercy, You’re making glorious.

This You have asked us: do little things with great love,

little things with great love.

At the table of our Savior, no mouth will go unfed;

His children in the shadows stream in and raise their heads.

Oh give us ears to hear them and give us eyes that see —

for there is One who loves them: I am His hands and feet.

I love this piece, the simplicity of guitar and vocals to begin, the slow addition of street sounds and strings, the softness at the lyric, “little things with great love,” and the final build-up in the last stanza with all the strings and guitar. The line “His heart, it breaks with mine” reminds me of the story of Jesus weeping with Mary and Martha after the death of their brother, Lazarus. I particularly love the last stanza, where we are reminded that at the Table of Jesus, all are fed, that God’s children who dwell in shadow are invited to that Table, “for there is one who loves them,” we are “his hands and feet.”

Sometimes, I think of music and art as something separate, something that doesn’t necessarily connect me to God or my faith life. But worship music like this, worship like the hymns we sing on Sundays, art like we see in the gallery, poetry that we read together and alone, recall me to the worship of our just and loving God. Art, I’ve learned, is a vehicle that brings us closer to ourselves, one another, and God.

This coming weekend, we’re taking a group of our youth to Johnsonburg Camp and Retreat Center for their annual all-youth retreat. This year, we’ll be led by Lady Z, the founder and director of Poets for Justice. When I think of poets for justice, I think of songs like “Little Things with Great Love” or the poetry of Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, and more, poetry that inspires me to participate in God’s just and loving action in the world. I can’t wait to see what our youth learn from Lady Z about responding to injustice through creativity and art.

As our youth learn this weekend what it means to seek and experience justice through poetry, I invite you to encounter God through art in some small way this week. Seek out the God who calls for “justice to roll down like rivers” (Amos 5:24), taught in stories and parables, and knew the poetry of the psalms by heart, and who daily calls us to lives of holiness, justice, and peace.

On Monday, March 4, at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary, we will host Matthew Desmond as our Community Forum Speaker.

Matthew Desmond, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, is one of the leading voices in our country on issues of poverty in America, city life, housing insecurity, public policy, and racial inequality. His range of expertise is precisely the kind of subject matter for which these forums are intended to address.

Desmond promises to be a compelling and engaging speaker. His book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, and he is the recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellowship and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.

His Monday evening lecture will be based on research and insight from his most recent book, Poverty, By America, which many of our congregation, including the Outreach Committee, have read as we seek better to understand the issues BMPC seeks to address through our witness and mission. Desmond writes that we are “the richest country on earth, with more poverty than any other advanced democracy.” His book is praised for describing the complex realities of poverty and giving practical ways that individuals and institutions can address it and alleviate it.

One of the strong convictions that emerged from our church-wide discernment process that created the 150th Vision was the call to “Partner in local mission (Lower Merion Township and Montgomery County) by enlisting volunteers to help address affordable housing and access to resources, services, and support.” Because recognizing issues of poverty and finding ways to address them as a congregation has become a priority, Desmond’s presentation is both timely and urgent. I hope many of our congregation and community will attend.

Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church is blessed to have a fund that enables us to host free public forums “to explore issues of significance for the vitality and well-being of the larger community.” The Community Forum was established by a gift from Herbert Middleton, Jr., in honor of his parents, Anna and Herbert Middleton, Sr. This living legacy is a blessing to our congregation and community. I hope you will join us on Monday night to hear Matthew Desmond, whose work and research critically informs our call to discipleship.

n anticipation of Lisa Hancock’s “Natural Mothers” photo exhibit that will be on display in BMPC’s Gallery beginning on March 3, I felt it might be nice to explain how this particular exhibit came together, as it has an incredibly personal connection to my work as a church musician and the path my husband and I took to fatherhood.

I attended the St. Thomas Choir School in New York City as a young boy. Daily rehearsals and services were a major part of my life, as well as rigorous academics, instrumental lessons, and living in one of the most wonderful cities in the world. Gerre Hancock was the Director of Music at St. Thomas Church and a household name in the world of church music and organ improvisation. His wife, Judith Hancock, was the Associate Director of Music and an equally fabulous organist and musician in her own right. These wonderful people helped me find my path and calling to become a church musician. I kept in touch with the Hancocks after my years at the Choir School. After Gerre died in 2012, I forged an even closer and special relationship with Judy as she maintained an interest in my growing repertoire, church work, and personal life.

I knew the Hancocks had two wonderful daughters, Lisa and Debbie. Still, I never connected with them until this past year when they helped arrange for me to visit their mom in a memory care facility in Connecticut, where she now resides. Seeing someone who was such a force and inspiration to me struggling with Alzheimer’s is tragic, but her bright eyes, warm smile, and memories of me as a young boy were a special part of our visit this past April. Since then, I’ve kept in touch with Lisa and feel so pleased to have found a way to support and showcase her stunning photography in BMPC’s Gallery.

“Natural Mothers” is particularly poignant in my home life as the birth mother of my adopted children recently passed away in a tragic house fire. Their mother was the one person who was not actively involved in our open adoption and blended family, but she is the person who brought the twins into this world and, therefore, someone we talk about regularly. The world of foster care is messy, and while there are situations that turn out beautifully, they are not without heartbreak for others involved (so often the birth parents). Seeing these foster care moments caught in still photography is a wonderful way to pause and think about the good things in your life you take for granted and situations you will never find yourself in.

Lisa Hancock will be in the Gallery before and after the 10 a.m. worship service on March 3 to meet anyone who passes through the exhibit.

Photo with Judy Hancock (age 88) in April of 2023. One of the many mothers in my life.

I remember the Ash Wednesday when everything went wrong. I was moving a small bowl of ash, and it tipped over. Black palm ash went everywhere! It is so fine that you can’t just sweep it up but rather need to attack with damp cloths and the knowledge that you will not leave the affair unmarked. My hands resembled those of a chimney sweep- molted with soot. My fingers were tipped with perfect half circles of pitch-black embedded under each nail.

To make matters worse, I had lost 90% of the ash we needed for the evening service and had to call my Episcopalian colleague to see if she had any extra. She was kind enough to point out the streaks of ash across my cheek and nose. It was a mess. After all, what else can be expected with a name like Ash Wednesday? But Ash Wednesday is just a messy start to a messy season.

On the one hand, Lent is an incredible invitation to refocus on God, to take a thoughtful pause from the things that distract us, and to practice the parts of our faith that are the most meaningful. On the other hand, Lent can feel like another set of rules and obligations. It can become one more thing on a long list of things “to do.” After all, the rest of the world doesn’t enter into a “holy pause” just because the pastors start wearing purple stoles on Sunday. People don’t suddenly become more reflective and thoughtful just because we stop using “hallelujahs” in our worship. Violence doesn’t stop because we promise to avoid social media for 40 days. Hunger doesn’t go away because we give up chocolate. I often think that Lent would be easier if we, like Jesus, could spend these 40 days in the wilderness. But Lent has never been an invitation to escape from the world. Rather, it is a call to make this journey through the messiness of the everyday. Perhaps the beauty of Lent is that it reminds us that faith can grow even in messy places and that we can walk with Jesus through the mess.

Now, as a seasoned pastor, I know to be exceptionally careful when dealing with ash. Today, as I clean up from Ash Wednesday, it will take a few rounds to wash away all the oil and ash and a few trips to put away candles and scrape up wax. I hope each of those steps will be a prayer. A reminder of God’s presence even in the mess our attempts to practice faith sometimes produce. I’ll be praying for each of you as your Lenten journey begins. I pray that your shoes get dirty as you explore new paths. I pray that you are distracted by the beauty of creation surrounding you. I pray that you hear God in unexpected places and find the Word of God guiding you in unforeseen directions. I pray that your heart breaks when you see the suffering of others, and I pray comfort surrounds you in the care of a friend. I pray that you hunger for justice and righteousness and I pray that you fight for peace. I pray that you feel the callouses that grow from hard work and service. I pray that within each day, you find time to rest and breathe. I pray that ash and oil stick around, marking you as Christ’s own.

If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, read from the Lenten Devotion and see how others in the church are turning back towards God. You can find copies around the church. You are also invited to join us in Children’s Ministry as we follow a calendar of daily reflections to help us reconnect to God and one another. You can follow along via Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bmpc_children/) or pick up a paper copy in the education building.

Each year, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church asks the youth to lead the church in congregational Worship on Youth Sunday. As the Associate Pastor for Youth & Their Families at BMPC, it is likely unsurprising that I believe this Sunday to be one of the holiest days in our church calendar.

We invite our teenagers to plan the worship liturgy, our youth deacons and elders to preach, and our youth ministry members to provide liturgists for the entire service. Every other Sunday, these roles are filled by pastors or elected leaders of the church. It is consequently a unique and precious moment when we recognize our teenagers’ full membership and giftedness in worship.

Wesley W. Ellis wrote in his book Youth Beyond the Developmental Lens: Being Over Becoming, in terms of ministry with children & young people, “We are watching as human beings are being encountered by God in unexpected ways, and we are waiting to discover how we might be able to join that drama by saying yes to God.” So often, when we think of ministry with young people, we focus on their development and how they might eventually grow into someone worth listening to someday. But Ellis argues that all beings, children to youth to adults to older adults, have something worthwhile to share in the Church. The Church is a place where everyone’s voice is valued.

Each Youth Sunday, we, as the congregation of BMPC, witness God’s action in our teenagers’ lives as they invite us into a deeper relationship with God through their leadership. I hope you can attend this year’s Youth Sunday on February 11, 2024!

This Sunday is also the Souper Bowl of Caring, where all are invited to bring nonperishable goods to support the various hunger ministries to which we at BMPC are connected. Remember to bring nonperishable foods to worship this coming Youth Sunday!

My first winter at BMPC was in 1983. What a winter that was. That February, Philadelphia was struck by a blizzard named “Megapolitan Blizzard” (21 inches of snow). Record cold temperatures prevailed. I still remember going to Chinatown with BMPC members for dinner and thinking, “I’ve never been this cold before!” (this is from a guy who grew up in Iowa and then went to graduate school in Rochester, NY!) That spring, the Music and Fine Arts Council decided to offer a “Midwinter Festival” the following February, on the Saturday before Lent – as a kind of “Bryn Mawr Mardi Gras.” Plenty of skeptics said, “Jeff, BMPC will never go for this.” Happily, they were wrong, and a tradition began that continued for nearly 25 years.

Last spring, our council decided to revive the Midwinter Festival, offering “100 Years of Cabaret” on Saturday, February 10. Produced and directed by Lawana Scales and starring Sherri Shields and Louisa Mygatt as your “guides,” this will be an evening to remember. What will you experience at this year’s festival? Amazing homemade desserts and a program that will walk the audience through 100 years of American history through comedy routines, music, skits, and surprises. Fats Waller, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and PDQ Bach are among the composers you will hear. You’ll hear highlights from “Les Misérables,” “Wicked,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “Miss Saigon.” How many of you know that we have a pastor who is an expert in “lip-syncing?” Did you know that at least two of our pastors are musically gifted and passionate about Carole King? Have you ever heard George Peters do a comedy routine? Did you know that one of the choir’s basses is a fan of Julia Child? Did you know that we have at least two “rappers” in the choir? And, for those of you who remember our early Midwinter Festivals, yes, there will be a “Surprise of the evening.”

Tickets are flying. You may purchase yours Sunday after the 10 a.m. service or from the Music and Fine Arts office during office hours. Chase away the winter blues at BMPC! Celebrate 100 years of Cabaret.

Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Miriam, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna – these are names of just some of the senior adults that God used in significant ways as told in scripture. Even if they had retired from work to support their livelihood, God still actively engaged them in ministry in a variety of ways. I am thankful to get to support senior adults at BMPC in ways that enrich and engage them in active ministry in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here are some upcoming initiatives having to do with senior adults (keep reading even if you are not a senior adult):

The Senior Adult Council, chaired by Pam Haynes Walsh, seeks to support, nurture, and foster spiritual enrichment and fellowship among BMPC seniors. It does so through sponsoring social and educational programs, events, and trips, as well as supporting local seniors in need, offering mission volunteer opportunities, and promoting intergenerational activities. If you are 60 or older, the council asks that you take this 5-7 minutes survey to inform our council about member interests.

BMPC is partnering with a non-profit agency, Surrey Services for Seniors, to provide senior adult enrichment and educational programming in the Foerderer House starting in mid-March. Surrey Services has similar programming in other locations already, and we look forward to this programming that will be on our campus for BMPC and members of the broader community. There will be open houses for this upcoming programming occurring in the Foerderer House (the house adjacent to the Radnor parking lot) this Sunday, January 28, from 11-1 and on Wednesday, January 31, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The programming will have on-site staff, but will need significant volunteer support. If you are interested in exploring volunteer options, here are two links with information.

pdf Volunteer Roles at Bryn Mawr ( 140 KB )

Volunteer Roles at Bryn Mawr pdf Surrey Volunteer Application ( 114 KB )

Surrey Volunteer Application This next opportunity is not limited to senior adults! The BMPC Caring Ministries team has invited back Laurie Lewis to present at a symposium entitled, “What to Say to People Who Are Hurting.” She has written a book by that title, and she was a retreat leader for our Deacons a couple of years ago as they focused on this topic. She will share lessons learned through years of experience to help us grow in our capacity to encourage, listen, and be a supportive presence in everyday encounters of life. This event will take place on Saturday, March 2 from 9 to noon. To request more information or to register contact, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

It is a joy that God is using BMPC members and facilities in so many ways! God’s care for and use of people of all ages certainly continues!

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.

The holidays are only holy if we make them so.

These words popped off the page of one of my Advent and Christmas devotionals a couple of weeks ago when I was perusing the books in my pastor’s study while crafting the Advent sermon series. They seemed to pierce through the holiday distractions, as if to ask: Is the holiness of God’s light and love, mercy and grace, finding room in the devotion and action of my days amid the hurried rush of this busy season?

The holidays are only holy if we make them so. I began thinking about those places where I experience holiness in the bustling, joyful, painful, complicated season of Advent which is about something so much deeper than all the stuff we often get caught up in.

I imagine I’m like most of you. On top of the usual daily rhythms, I’ve been buying gifts and wrapping them up, writing notes and scurrying to the Post Office, donning the dog with a Christmas collar and hosting friends for dinner, making family plans and packing a suitcase for travel. I would suggest that all of this busy-ness is a form of holiness, in that it is bound up in love and joy, but not all of it is pure devotion to God.

When our children were young and Christmas was even more chaotic, I used to wrap their presents in my church study and store them in my closet under my robes and stoles because there was no good hiding place in our house. On Christmas Eve, the four of us went to the afternoon family friendly service, then home for dinner, and I returned to lead the later one. Before preaching and presiding over communion, I’d load all the Christmas presents into my car so I was ready to head out when worship was over and the church locked up. What I remember most about that midnight drive home was its holiness. Gratitude for candlelight and Silent Night, a quiet and solitary sense of peace and joy, awareness of wonder while I gazed at the stars on my drive home. Holiness.

That’s what I hope for each of you come Sunday. In worship may you find the holy in your holiday, and may the quiet holiness of peace, joy and wonder lead you home.

The word “Advent” means “coming,” or “drawing near.” During this season, Christians throughout the world prepare for the anniversary of Christ’s first coming through reflection on our yearning for wholeness and salvation. Such reflection can serve to heighten our sense of anticipation for the Christ Child’s birth, which we will celebrate on Christmas. The Advent season also reminds us that Christ will come again at the end of time to reign over heaven and earth in majesty.

To help you “draw near”, the Sanctuary Choir, Singing for Life, Youth Chorale and Bryn Mawr Festival Brass will present an Advent Service of Lessons and Carols, this Sunday, December 10, at 4 p.m. This service originated in 1880 with E. W. Benson, Bishop of Truro Cathedral in England. His service included readings and carols for Christmas, and was offered as a prelude to the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. It was adapted in 1918 by Dean Eric Milner-White for use at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England. The BBC began broadcasting this service nationally in 1928. Today, it has been broadcast internationally for more than seventy- five years and is among the most popular and widely heard church services in the world.

In 1934, Dean Milner-White created A Procession with Carols on Advent Sunday for use at King’s, basing it on his earlier Lessons and Carols for Christmas. In his preface to this new service, Milner-White wrote: “In the old English liturgies, the Advent Offices made a preparation for the coming of our Lord to this earth far more vivid and eager than those of our present Prayer Book. The purpose of the service is “not to celebrate Christmas, but to expect it.”

Sunday’s service is filled with gorgeous choral works, readings chosen to prepare you for the coming of Christ, and many carols for you to contribute your vocal gift to the glory of God. An offering will be received to benefit Prevention Point Philadelphia, an organization committed to helping drug addicted people in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.