Pastors’ Ponderings

We are people of prayer,
people of courage and people who dare;
we are people united to serve, because we’re people who care,
and we’re alive and rising, stirring and stirred by the life-breathing Word:
This is who we are — this is who we are!

I think it speaks to heart of who we are as the people of God at Binghamton United Presbyterian Church. 

It took courage to begin the journey that has led us to this point, growing and changing and leaving behind what is familiar as we strive to be faithful to what is eternal. It has taken courage to step into the maelstrom of rapid change that came in 2020 with a global emergency, and to move forward without clarity when there were no roadmaps for how to proceed. It takes courage to grieve and keep going in times of uncertainty, when what is most obvious is that the old has passed away and the new has not yet come. 

And we continue to come together for study and prayer, for music and service, and we keep finding new ways to be faithful and to be alive in Christ as we serve God’s call in this time and place. We don’t always get it right, and we sometimes need to redirect our thoughts and our efforts. It is altogether too easy to get distracted and to lose touch with ourselves and each other — and yet we dare to keep going, to be people who care enough to keep going. With new options for staying in touch and for reaching beyond ourselves, with new challenges that arise every day, we still understand ourselves to be united by the Spirit, loved by God so that we can better understand how to love each other.  

You can find a recording of this song by following this link: https://www.aijcast.com/episodes/2020/1/10/s11e06-this-is-who-we-are

We will certainly be listening to it and singing it during the coming months as we continue the work of discernment we began in November.  

May God bless our hearing with understanding.

Amen!

Tell Me the Old, Old Story

One of the themes we will be exploring in the season of Epiphany this year is the theme of story — our story and God’s story. As followers of Jesus, we believe that story can be found in the Bible, and our life together is shaped by the story we find there. The Bible tells the story of a God who acts, who transforms, who brings new possibilities to relationships and communities. For many generations, Christians have found identity, meaning and purpose in the words of scripture.

My parents were believers in Vacation Bible School, and many of the stories that are most familiar to me are the ones I heard each summer (sometimes more than once, if there were several churches nearby that offered VBS). There are less familiar stories that have startled and challenged me, and so have become companions on my journey. And there are specific texts that I have heard so many times through the years that they are available to me when I have a particular need for prayer or insight.

When you think about the Bible, what are the passages that come to your mind? What are the words or stories that have accompanied you on your life’s journey, that you claim as a resource for your own faith and you think should be in the spiritual repertoire of every believer? 

I’m going to ask this question several times and in many different conversations this season, because I am hoping to use the season of Ordinary Time (after Pentecost) to look at the words that have shaped us as individuals so that we can share them in our life together. I’m not planning to look at the influence of the Bible on Western literature, although I think that would be a great course of study — I’m looking for the words that bring us life, and provide light when the way is dark. 

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Kimberly