"There remains
for us
only
the very narrow way,
often extremely difficult to find,
of living every day
as though it were our last,
and yet living in faith and responsibility
as though there were to be
a great future."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
http://j.mp/k6SEj0
The Resurrection of Jesus the Christ from the dead
was, is, and continues to be of significant impact
upon and beyond the realm of our understandings....
It's staggering to even try to begin and attempt
to comprehend the full depth, breadth, and gravity of it all.
Earth shaking, ground breaking, universe transforming,
landmark event of Biblical proportions to the utmost in the world
that humanity, all creation, history itself has experienced... ever!
...an extraordinary paradigm shift for the entire cosmos!
....as though the total created order of the space-time continuum
throughout the known and unknown universe
was and is continuously, infinitely, eternally folding unto itself
at the singularity of the Christ event.
As I have found myself repeating upon reflection through this Holy Week, the saying continually comes to mind that "you can't have Easter without Good Friday." In his piece for Reformed Worship "On Good Friday", Dr. John D. Witvliet writes of our liturgical need for lament in the spiritual life of those seeking to live out their faith in Christ.
Professor Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, states that, ideally, worship on Good Friday ought to "include [a number of] elements. We should narrate Jesus' death. We should sense the profundity of his passion. We should acknowledge the world-changing ramifications of the cross for the salvation of the world." He goes on to say that "lament is a key ingredient in worship that arises from honest, soul-searching faith." <http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=620>
As some may imagine, I myself have recently experienced blessed occasions for receiving comfort and peace over the last year as the Lord has led me to find solace in the psalms of lament throughout the scriptures. There is a sense in my own journey of faith, especially of late, and indeed, a deepening experiential knowledge, of that which makes for a more holistic encounter of the holy.
Among all the reasons we might have for coming to worship, we come, I believe, in order to meet with God. I certainly do not come to be entertained, wined or dined. Nor do I attend or intend to be amused. When I come to church, I come with a sense of adventure, awe and expectation that the Awesome Lord God Almighty is coming, too, waiting to welcome and warmly embrace every one of us with such love, mercy, grace and generosity.
Our experience of the divine, while we attempt to live the Christian life as Jesus' disciples, is meant to encompass the whole of what it all means for us to follow the Holy One Who was and is both fully human and fully divine. Can you try along with me to grasp and get this in any way at all, beloved? It seems way too big, writ large, overwhelmingly huge for us in our humanity to wholly comprehend. It's a mystery. It is the mystery of life in faith. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. The sinless, holy God in Jesus Christ went through it all in order to identify with you and me. Huh?!? What was that? Come again? You're telling me… (as the Word tells us) that He Who was and is without sin, suffered, died and became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God! Woe, hold on there, wait a second…. How much love can there be? So much for the whole world to see…
John Witvliet continues to write…
Fairly early in the medieval period, the Roman church was in a process of paring down the typical Sunday service. One of the places for trimming was the lengthy intercessory prayer (even then, the "long prayer" was perhaps too much for people's short attention spans). Yet several liturgists, probably quite conservative ones, stepped in to preserve that lengthy prayer for use on one day of the year—Good Friday. For centuries thereafter, Good Friday was the occasion for the longest and most intense prayer of the entire year.
The instincts of these liturgists have much to teach us. For part of what we celebrate on Good Friday (and the word "celebrate" is crucial) is that Christ has completely identified with us in suffering, even to death (Isa. 53:12; Heb. 4:14-16). On Good Friday we hear again Christ pray the lament of Psalm 22:1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me"? On Good Friday, we remember how wondrous it is to have a savior-intercessor who is able to sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:14-16; 5:7-9).
What better time than this to practice a spiritual discipline of lament? What better time than this to express solidarity with those who suffer, including Jesus himself? On Good Friday, we lament not to Jesus, but with Jesus.
Dearly beloved ones in the Lord, if Jesus did all this so that He could be identified to be with us, shouldn't we in return take Him up on His invitation and come join with Jesus in solemn intercessions before the throne of grace?
Lord, though we may like the disciples before us fall asleep in the garden of yours and our prayers, may you find us faithful in, to and for the end of your glory in praying for us all.
In solidarity with you, together in Christ, we pray
Amen.
Pastor Rex
"Giving up for Lent."
I sometimes wonder at meanings we may give to words and phrases arranged and/or uttered in a particular way.
Take the sentence fragment quoted from the title above. Is it referring to what one may be giving up during the Lenten season? (I read a Facebook status recently that stated something like, "It seemed to work well for me last year, so this year I am again giving up fasting for Lent." :) Which leads me to wonder what anyone might indeed be "giving up for Lent." And not just giving up, but doing in place of. That is, instead of just refraining or abstaining from a particular item and/or activity, the person "giving up" something substitutes another thing or action in its place. For example, when fasting, the time one would have spent eating may instead be devoted to praying.
Another way one might interpret "Giving up for Lent" is to take it as a report of how contributions are currently coming in so far this spring. (In other words, one could understand it to mean that the giving of tithes and offerings is up higher for the forty days in the months of March and into April.) In this case, I would imagine that these words could be found especially encouraging as among some favorable signs of health and recovery for the leaders of a church congregation to consider with recent challenges in the world's economy.
In these lengthening days of Daylight Savings Time throughout the season of Lent, how will you be spending your time? What are you "giving up for Lent"?
During this season from Ash Wednesday leading up to Holy Week and Easter, I am "giving up for Lent." I am giving up to God the events of the last year or two in the life of my family and household of faith. I am increasingly continuing on in giving up any semblance of any effort on my part to try to make it through the rest of my life by myself on my own apart from dear friends and family in the Lord in our community. I, literally, give up! I am giving up, so that, to paraphrase the lyrics of a song by The Beatles, I may more than just "get by with a little help from my friends."
Friends, what is more, I am giving up everything I have experienced and may continue experiencing for, as the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians (3:8), "the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." As James (1:2) tells us, "Consider it all pure joy!" Give it up! Give it all up. Give it all over to Jesus. He can take it. He'll take what ever we may have to offer our Lord. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) He'll carry us on through toward greater grace and heights for God's glory and our good. This Lent, let one and all giving up for Jesus be ever so
in His Peace,
Pastor Rex
According to Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, written by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Office of Theology and Worship, "No one is saved apart from God's redemption in Jesus Christ. Yet we do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of God . . . Thus, we can neither restrict the grace of Jesus Christ to those who profess explicit faith in Christ nor assume that all people are saved regardless of faith.
Grace, love and communion belong to God, and are not ours to determine." W. A. Visser't Hooft wrote, "I don't know whether a Hindu is saved: I only know that salvation comes in Jesus Christ."
This may be unsatisfying for those who wish to leave no question unanswered. Hans Küng and other Catholic theologians have criticized it as being irresponsibly neutral. It is, however, in harmony with the attitude of humility that Jesus commanded in discussions about the reach of salvation. Repeatedly, he cautioned against judging, that is, thinking that we know God's judgments. Jesus' parables and other statements about the last day are full of surprises and reversals. "Reformed theology has always taught that salvation is ultimately in God's hands, beyond the pale of human understanding." According to John Calvin, "We must leave to God alone the knowledge of his church, whose foundation is his secret election."
The admission that we do not know the limits to God's wondrous grace does not lessen the joyous responsibility of Christians to share the good news of Christ with others. To be a Christian is to be claimed by Christ, to know that we are loved by God, and to be called by God to a life of purposeful service. To withhold this knowledge is to be indifferent to the needs of others. As Christians we are entrusted with the biblical story of God's way in the world, and especially with the good news of Jesus. We must tell that good news to others — not because we do not respect them, but because we love them. Many non-Christians may be better, godlier persons than we are; but we are the ones who have been called to share the story. We are to share it humbly, without coercion, trusting the Holy Spirit to use it to touch the hearts of those [with] whom we speak.
Pasted from <http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/theologyandworship/issues-grace/>
...can perhaps be caught and held in a picture....
like a photograph of a bird in flight... Such is the solitary vocation. For, of all.... the solitary knows least where they are going, and yet more sure, for there is one thing they cannot doubt: they travel where God is leading them. That is precisely why the solitary doesn't know the way. And that too is why, to most others, the way is something of a scandal. (Thomas Merton)
As we have traversed through wintry snows and icy storms, the intensely frigid cold of this winter's weather appears to have taken its toll upon our region. Even today it took some doing to drive over some still frozen patches of recently iced country roads and driveways in our area. By the time you read this, some warmer temperatures may very well have melted the ice on our streets, signaling the seasons' incipient passing from winter into spring. In the wake of Epiphany, the order of the day through ordinary time with the days' continued lengthening is for us to approach the Lenten season in faith.
What's next up for each of us in our journey together? As a people of faith in the One Who continues leading us onward and upward in Christ, what does the next season of mission and ministry hold for this gathering of believers in Jesus? To what and where might we find ourselves following our Lord anew for God's glory?
One exciting answer could be that God is yearning to expand our horizons and stretch our fellowship to welcome in more meaningful ways and with deepening relationships some among us who have been worshipping with us for some time now. It has been awhile since I/we have had the blessing, honor, pleasure and privilege to receive and recognize folks expressing interest as inquirers to explore joining with us in the ministry and mission we are called to undertake together in community.
As we find the early disciples in Scripture when first following Jesus, they took care to invite and come alongside others who would also then follow their Lord together with them. In the gospel of John (1:41-42), we see afterward that the first thing Andrew did was to tell Simon of the Messiah and then bring him to Jesus. Might our Lord be calling us to re-up with renewed intentionality our forth-telling and bringing of one another to Jesus Christ? What equipping and action will we experience and take toward the evangelization of each other in this fellowship?
I am sensing in these days a warming up to God's embrace of us as we face the future with hope and faith, love and joy in the Lord. The thawing out of the very sinews of our faith is taking place in order for us to exercise our religious muscles once again for the sake of God's kingdom. Something else needs to be put aside so that we may make room for the new thing our Lord is doing in our midst. As the saying goes during this time of year, "What will we give up for Lent?" What would Jesus have us do anew?
The blessing of renewing one's spiritual disciplines in preparation for the greater works God has prepared in advance for us to walk in is waiting for us to discover just around the corner. As a conference seminar and intensive workshops in emotional intelligence have emphasized for me recently, a growing and deepening self-awareness of where one is in the journey and in conversation with others can be key to discerning well with effective wisdom and insight to bear upon our success in navigating through life's challenges.
From a personal as well as corporate wilderness experience of exile, through times of unease and distress as individuals and a community of faith, into exuberant life as God's vibrant people, we are called anew to be the Lord's witnesses of God's grace in this place. And as is stated elsewhere by some leaders in a letter to Presbyterians:
"…it is in our places of brokenness that the work of Jesus Christ has always been most miraculous. …in the certain faith that this is Christ's Church, …we engage in the re-formation of this church into the church we are being called to be."
To God be the glory!
Pastor Rex
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32)
These are words that ring true. They are Jesus' words. True words. Freeing words. Words of truth. Truth that sets you free. Free to live the truth.
In an address given at the 2010 conference of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, Joseph D. Small, Director for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Office of Theology and Worship, shares from a piece entitled "Internal Injuries: Moral Division within the Churches". In the course of his discussion, he asks the following question.
"What would it mean, within our churches, to serve truth consistently, purposefully and articulately, and equally important, to organize this service?"
In answering the question, he posits that living the truth "requires more than the effort of individual pastors and congregations; it requires organizing this service." The question then begs the query of: How might this service become effectively organized? Here, Joe Small refers to the work of Václav Havel whom he describes as "playwright, essayist, dissident, resister, prisoner, and then, improbably, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic." Drawing from Havel's "The Power of the Powerless," in Václav Havel: Living in Truth, he suggests that:
Organizing this service entails the creation of a different culture within the church. "When those who have decided to live within the truth," says Havel, "begin to create what I have called the independent life of society, this independent life begins, of itself, to become structured in a certain way." What is this structuring like? Havel begins with a term borrowed from nonconformist music and art – "second culture." For him, second culture refers to a broad ranging expression of independent and suppressed culture in the humanities, social sciences, and philosophical thought, as well as the arts. The second culture is a way of being that does not accede to "the way things are." It resists prevailing patterns and expressions by creating new arrangements and articulations. A second culture resists the predominant culture by way of innovation rather than negation.
Two things resonate with my own thinking upon pondering this further in my own recent reflection.
One refers to the parables of Jesus from Scripture about the kingdom of God, particularly that of the leaven. In the gospel of Luke (13:20-21), the Word tells us:
He also asked, "What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough."
To borrow from Havel's usage, the very "second" culture introduced however tiny or slightly into the batch would eventually transform the entirety of the culture in which it resides, rising to newness of life unlike its previously known existence. I believe this is what we as the church in this community is and are called to do and be—living witnesses of the truth that would set us and the world around us free.
The second resonance of thought through personal currency of lamentation emerges as increasing understanding of a growing emphasis on fostering creativity and encouraging generativity. I have observed increasingly a growing sense of call among our leadership to expect great things of God and, in cooperative partnership with one another in the Lord, attempt great things for God. As we may appropriate from the psychology of Erik Erikson, there has been an expressed need to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation.
One of the things impressed upon me through my own theological experience of seminary education at Princeton is an audacious boldness in taking on the challenges of learning to live the truth in the context of varied ambiguity. That even and especially in the midst of uncertainty and doubt, we are called in leadership to forge ahead into uncharted waters. Despite any naysayers, expressed pessimism, rampant criticism, and no matter come what may, whatever the circumstances, regardless of any situation encountered, leaders are tasked to move forward together in faith, placing their trust in a Sovereign Lord Who engenders hope for the better future yet to be more fully realized and revealed by God. God Who is with us and is for us. And if God is for us, the apostle proclaims, who can be against us!
Next month, your leaders, officers of the church have set a date to meet in a kind of leadership forum by which we might begin to discern together the leading of our Lord for the next season of mission and ministry at First Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Indiana. I exhort all in the gathered community of faith with us to entreat the Lord in prayers for wisdom and insight to bear upon our proceedings that God's kingdom might be advanced further to the glory of God. Pray without ceasing as the apostle Paul says. Keep P.U.S.H.ing up to the heavenly realms in the Spirit! Pray Until Something Happens.
The Faith & Politics Institute's Weekly Reflection For the week of January 10th, 2011 |
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Towards a theology of hospitality... |
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"In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are and what direction we want to move in... My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote, 'Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.'" - Robert F. Kennedy, bearing news of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 Holding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, her family, and her staff members especially close to our hearts in prayer, we pray also for everyone else wounded or worse in Saturday's shootings in Tucson. May our nation gain wisdom through the awful grace of God. | The Faith & Politics Institute 110 Maryland Ave, NE Suite 504 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 546-1299 Office (202) 546-4025
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Our Vision Leadership that brings people together Our Mission The Faith & Politics Institute advances reflective leadership among members of Congress and congressional staff to bridge the divides that arise in a thriving democracy. |
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Oh, happiest of days
This is not
Joyous, yes
Happy of happenstance, no
For one whose birth
this day holds
Half day across
inter-national dateline
World still
turning round and round
Nearly half century
of beloved, now gone
Joyful gratefulness presses on
Fleeting happiness ever eludes
Oh, but what flowers could so bloom
For now in the winter of such a one's discontent
To behold the fruit bearing forth of union's progeny
To gaze upon blazing, beauteous glory
Of being blessed with raising blessings
To be held, captivated by such beautiful ones nesting
Abounding with grace amidst wounded emptiness, vacancy
Still may content with hope to be
In plenty and in want, in any and every situation
Yet may persevere in faith to move forward
No matter come what may, whatever circumstance befallen
Out of such ashes, beauty arises
So happiest of days
Though this may not be
Always and forever precious moments
In time will they be
"What's new?" "Anything new with you?" "What new thing is going on in your life these days?" These are among the greetings I sometimes hear people say upon seeing someone they know that they might not have seen in awhile. Shopping around Christmastime, browsing at post-holiday bargains, going to the theater, visiting a museum, or maybe stopping by the gas station and/or convenience store, we may inevitably encounter friendly acquaintances with whom we've not caught up recently and utter a query along these lines.
Indeed, what is new with you? I'm interested to know. But why? I wonder... Is it natural curiosity? Am I being nosy for some reason? Is it interrogatory hubris, hidden arrogance under a façade of compassion on my part? Do I really care? I suppose some, if one were to probe inwardly, honestly, may not, really. It's just something to say for the moment in order to eventually pass the time on to the next thing that you're actually on the way to do. Each wants to only briefly acknowledge the momentary interruption, yielding instead, to the presiding purpose of our predetermined progression for the time at hand. And so we might humor one another with surface conversations for the sake of exchanging niceties and exercising customary manners.
Then again, what if there truly is something in us yearning to discover something fresh and new that would enliven things a bit? What if there was even a remote possibility that something radical, however small it may seem at first, was happening in another person's life that could come to mean the world to us? Could it be that some of us, if not all of us, deep down inside are looking to find a new event—a new experience—that brings fresh joy and fills our hearts anew to overflowing? Not merely a distraction, but a welcome intrusion is instead wanting, waiting to be embraced by us in our very presence. Is it just coincidence, or might there be an underlying theme—an ongoing current throughout humanity's existence which resonates with a deeper truth about who we are and who we are becoming along life's journey? Perhaps in the process, we are being given the opportunity to receive the very precious gift of having a companion along the way to share, if but for a moment, that we are not alone on the road of life and that we are blessed to be able to experience mutual encouragement on the way.
As we enter into and embark upon a new year of proclaiming hope, peace, joy, love and life in the light of Advent shining through the ages, our sensibilities and notions of living out our lives in faith are challenged once again to break forth from the drudgingly dreary doldrums, yet also beautifully cheery snows of winter, toward the ensuing, burgeoning brightness of spring. The experience of Revelation as relayed by John through his writing down of the last book in the Bible has one verse that echoes, in my mind, throughout time and space: "Behold, I AM making everything, all things new!" (Revelation 21:5)
Upon all of creation's history, these words from The Word reverberate with resounding resonance through the millennia, impacting our continuance and condition in the here and now of the new millennium. Our state of being, whether we are aware of it or not, is greatly affected by the truth of this continually occurring event in the perpetual providence of divinity. The apostle alludes to this in somewhat similar vein when the Pauline writer addresses the saints in Colossae regarding Christ's supremacy that in Him all things are being held together up to this very moment and beyond. (Colossians 1:17) Nothing happens apart from the goodness and steadfast faithfulness of the One Who is holding all of this and every one of us together. As Paul also wrote to the saints in Rome, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Likewise, the prophet in Isaiah (43:19a) tells us, "See, I AM doing a new thing! Now it springs up! Do you not perceive it?" Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is!
Ancient words, eternal words from the everlasting Word give us glimpse of eternity. Whether we are reading the daily news or encountering neighborly conversation, the normal, regular routines of our lives can afford us the opportunity to gaze upon the glory of God in Christ through our current circumstance or present situation. Cultivating an awareness of the very holy presence of God, even and maybe especially in seemingly ordinary, mundane activities can help us, like a little child, enter into the wonder of the heavenly realms. Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come, here on earth, as it is, in heaven.
The next time you come upon a friendly encounter in which you find yourself saying, "What's new?" you might consider, as you may be prompted in spirit, that you are in the midst of a holy occurrence—a precious moment in sacred space as you willingly engage in the gift of conversation with mutual encouragement for the journey ahead. Indeed, beloved ones, may you and yours experience such blessings upon Christmastide through Epiphany and beyond for the New Year at hand.
With the Wind of the Spirit,
Pastor Rex Espiritu
P.S. And, oh, say, by the way, what's new with you? :)
The Rev. Rex Espiritu serves as senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Indiana
Dear friends, it was wonderful to be part of celebrating a Thanksgiving meal in our family of faith as many in our congregation sat at tables together this past Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Indiana. We have such beloved folks with big hearts for serving one another in the Lord that I have to say, I am filled to overflowing…. My tendered heart is full from such magnanimous generosity poured out among and upon us that I feel remiss in not having more said about it.
Some may be familiar with The 5 Love Languages from the New York Times bestselling book by Dr. Gary Chapman that speaks to how we may have love shown, one to another. Among five key categories found from his research, Dr. Chapman espouses the following to be universal and comprehensive. We all may primarily identify with one of these: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.
I have found that for me personally, at times, I seem to have differing love languages for showing as compared to receiving love. For example, I may tend to give gifts as a way of showing love to a loved one, but not necessarily experience it as much in receiving gifts for myself. What speaks love to one, may not be primarily taken as love by another. My late beloved wife, Melissa's primary love language was, without a doubt, Acts of Service. And if I didn't know any better, I would suggest another sub-category for our congregation to have as a primary love language to be that of Serving Meals.
Our recent efforts over the past year of providing meals as gifts to serve and enjoy being together with people in our larger community is telling and worth sharing. While ministers may converse regarding what they sometimes refer to as the discerning and development of one's pastoral identity, I might identify and relate this conversation piece as speaking to a particular church group's congregational identity. In this vein, I would name Serving Meals as evidenced fruit borne of an apparent, distinctive attribute of our identity in the body of Christ in Henry County. This, I believe, is part of our love language with, in, to, for and through community. It is certainly worthy of further exploration and possibly increased validation with words of affirmation as well as in quality time spent together in dialogue and conversation over meals served unto one another in love.
In such settings over meals together at table with others, with respect to and of one another's stories… There is power in the telling. There is comfort in the sharing. There is relief in the giving. There is healing in the receiving. These are among what I consider to be fundamental outflows of God's love made manifest in, through and among us in this fellowship of faith. Even as it's said that the family that prays together stays together, we could say the same of the church that serves and fellowships over meals together staying together.
Here I am reminded of a verse from the Psalms (68:6a) in which the Psalmist proclaims, "God sets the lonely in families..."
One tradition that Melissa encouraged us to adopt early on in our family life, which I must confess has not been observed as much in some recent times, was to seek intentionally to invite someone outside of our family into our home for a holiday meal. As I recall, we started this practice some time prior to one New Year's Eve early on in our marriage. We would pray to God for the Holy Spirit to lay upon our heart and place in our mind a person or persons whom the Lord would be pleased to have us celebrate and share a meal together with that might not necessarily, ordinarily have other plans at the time. We would always find our Lord faithful to answer that prayer with such affirmation and confirmation in the process that it became a hope-filled, mutually fulfilling endeavor for all present in the set apart occasion.
As we reflected upon the ministry, proclamation and celebration of Word and Sacrament with Holy Communion on Sunday prior, I am encouraged to exhort us, beloved, to renew our devotion in the Lord together concerning these things as we contemplate further the Lord's leading into the near and better future God has in mind for us. Might the Lord our God have you and me, our families in this season together celebrate along with others over a shared meal in our homes sometime during the holidays? Someone, or some ones, possibly outside our conventional circle of friends, whom the Lord may be pleased for us to share in the blessing of God's grace….
May the Lord add to our number those who are being drawn by His Spirit to fellowship with us and help us rediscover and grow in the knowledge of who we are and Whose we are, becoming ever more so
In Christ,
Pastor Rex
"When I thought of an art gallery…" he said, "…I imagined a world where life and death existed together. My hope is that the world might look a little different after entering and re-emerging from this space." --Lee Ufan, a Korean-born, Japan student, Europe worker, world artist whose museum in Naoshima opened this year and whose works can be seen in harmony with architecture and nature
Upon re-reading these words above quoted in an article I read from an inflight magazine en route to Seoul this summer, it occurs to me that I myself have been in a sense through a gallery of sorts in which life and death exist together and by which we are re-emerging in time and space with re-formed perspectives. My view of the world is looking different now than it ever has before. Words appropriated from Scripture come to mind: "Love is stronger than death!" and echoing from the first question and answer in the Heidelberg Catechism found in our Book of Confessions: "Our sole comfort in life and in death is that we belong wholly to the Lord our God." With Word and Spirit in, through and upon us, we persevere in prayer to the glory of God.
A number of folks in our congregation have endearingly asked, not just how I am doing these days following my father's and my wife's passing over the past year, but how my family's faring, and specifically, how are the children. For the most part, considering how much we've endured, my children are doing remarkably well, academically and otherwise. Each has moments when waves of emotion may come and go, though overall, we continue to feel and know God's grace carrying us through. We are thankful to have my mom (their "Lola") with us in the aftermath of our loss. The love and care we have experienced together as a family of faith in compassionate community has been very heartening for us, even especially now in hindsight of the last several months. It is with a deeply grateful heart that I write to you in these weeks leading up to the end of the church's liturgical year.
As I type, we approach the end of a fourteen hour flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi en route to points of interest in India where I and eighteen other fellow pastors in the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program are embarking on the culminating study tour of our inaugural fellowship sponsored by the Lilly Endowment. These are among the same ministers who have sojourned with us in the midst of a very challenging ordeal, providing gratis pulpit supply, prayers and much support during such trying times. Along with other clergy spouses during our voyage to Mexico a year ago, Melissa and I bonded with these treasured colleagues in ministry. While I was not entirely sure just a few months prior whether the Lord would have me go on this trip that had been planned over two years ago (given what my family has been going through in the nine months leading up to it), I believe that in honoring the covenant we made with one another in our fellowship, this will be yet another transformative experience for us, much like my family's pilgrimage to the Philippines this summer was spiritually. As such, in my absence, I am pleased to once again welcome to preach for our Sunday worship services at the end of this month the Rev. Dr. Bob Hunter and the Rev. Dr. Rose Niles through the generosity of Lilly Endowment, Inc.
The fact that I am led of the Lord to travel apart from my family at this time serves as indication concerning where we are in the journey of God's healing grace through the ongoing process of grief. Though we may have come far to this point, we have yet a ways to go. I have informed church leadership in recent months of a number of counseling opportunities afforded to me and my family in this season of ministry. We are currently on a waiting list with Brooke's Place in Indianapolis. This is an organization that provides grief support groups for families with children, free of charge. There is much high regard and good reports about the work of this organization. Their philosophy of care resonates with respect to carefully directed attention tailored especially for children. In addition, I have begun the first of six free sessions over the next six months with a licensed counselor as part of the benefits for ministers of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). While this benefit is also available to my college-aged dependents, they also have counseling available to them on campus.
It is remarkable for me to try to comprehend what the Lord has done in our ministry together at First Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Indiana. I am experiencing now a greater freedom in the Lord to venture anew in fresh, renewing ways for the mission and ministry we have been called to accomplish together here. Please keep on keeping on praying more and more increasingly so for God's revelation and for the Lord's revival among us yet to be and already being manifested in our midst. I know this is not me, but the Holy Spirit working all things for good. May we all be lifted up in the Lord's presence to greater heights for God's glory.
In Christ,
Pastor Rex
When something or someone dear and precious is taken from us, especially with regard to a significant and abiding relationship, a deep and profound sense of loss can be experienced that influences and affects the lens through which we see, perceive or comprehend our current circumstances. We cannot help but to not have any situation we might encounter from that point on become somehow understood in the wake of such an event as seminal as that in our life's journey.
Even, and maybe especially, events leading up to and prior to our experience of loss can be seen in a new light. It is as if blinders that we had not been aware of previously had been suddenly removed and the scales from one's eyes taken away. Not unlike Saul's experience on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, a "Come to Jesus" moment ensues upon us and we hear the Lord speaking to our heart and soul with renewed clarity and strength of conviction.
An opportunity for reflection and introspection occurs to us and, if welcomingly received, submitted and surrendered to, and taken advantage of by being given ample time to process through, can allow us to listen well to the voice of the spirit within us. Our interactions, focus and perspectives are then exposed to new light shed upon us in the Lord under the severe mercy and greater grace of a sovereign God.
Such has been my own experience over the past year. There has been at once a deeply profound remorse and regret at my own failings before the Lord and others such that at times in the recent past, I could not bear the weight of guilt, grief, shame, brokenness and sadness apart from sensing, knowing and experiencing the love, prayers, encouragement and support of many upholding us in the Spirit.
It is a terrible thing to face the Lord Who truly sees us and meets us in the presence of one another, speaking the truth in love, presenting an opportunity to fess up, be real, and come clean over and over again, and as the apostle Paul reminds us, to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." It can be, as one of my late, well-loved and much appreciated seminary professors might say, "a deeply humbling, transforming moment."
All this is to share a perspective with you that from this moment on, I am pursuing the Lord and seeking to serve God's people in this time and place with a passion and purpose that I am not sure I have ever experienced before. If the enemy of our souls had thought that by taking away my most precious beloved we would be deterred from rising above our situation and beholding the Lord sustaining and lifting us up further for God's glory, he's got another thing coming. Out of these ashes, beauty will indeed most assuredly arise! Watch out as the Lion of Judah moves us with a fresh fire in the fervor of the Spirit of the Lord. As it says in the Scriptures, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall accomplish this!
Thank you to all of you who are embarking on the journey together with one another anew as evidenced by many who attended this past Rally Day Sunday's activities. It is with a deep sense of gratitude and awe that I pledge to serve alongside with you as the Lord equips us to serve one another in love. May the joy of the Lord be our strength as we seek in partnership to rebuild our community through Christ, renew our fellowship in the Spirit, and transform people by God's grace. To this end, I remain and continue
Prayerfully yours, and His
Pastor Rex
It has been a record year in the life of the Espiritu household at New Castle, Indiana. Much has gone on in our lives together as a family that is worthy of time spent for shared reflection in retrospect toward preparing and propelling us forward in faith with renewed zeal, fervor and vision for the glory of the Lord our God in Christ.
On 9/11, 2010 marked the passing of my father Mariano G. Espiritu. Six months later on March 13, following an intense bout with cancer, my wife Melissa would go on to be at home in eternity with the Lord. On what would have been Melissa's 50th birthday weekend in July our family celebrated our youngest child Sara Joy's 7th birthday near the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay area where Melissa and I had spent some wonderful times together early on in our marriage. And on the 23rd anniversary of our wedding in August afterward, our six daughters and I remembered their mother upon our arrival in the capital of the Philippines where I was born. These are among the milestones and memory markers we have been enduring through our shared journeys of faith over the past year.
During our time this month in the land of my birth, we visited a museum honoring some recent martyrs for the cause of liberty and justice through peaceful democratic reforms opposing a previous dictatorial regime's human rights abuses. One of the names listed on the memorial stone wall there was that of my mother's older brother. My uncle Francisco, an outspoken leader for freedom in his township, had been tortured and killed when abducted by some henchmen of one of the Marcos regime's political cronies on the eve of the snap election(s) that had been apparently rigged in favor of the incumbent dictatorship a few decades ago. It was at this place of honored remembrance that we found another, for us, notable name recorded among the earlier vocal leaders speaking out against the then emerging dictator's crimes against humanity. At a time when other ecclesiastical leaders among the clergy in the Philippines were silent, the Rev. Cirilo A. Rigos voiced opposition against the oppression of what would later manifest as martial law.
Before Melissa and I ever met, this Presbyterian pastor who ministered to my sister and me and our parents during my early childhood in Manila had also ministered with Melissa, her parents and sisters while having had his training in ministry at their childhood church in Rochester, New York. Upon reading of his justice work in the plight of the Filipino people, we so very much sensed the Lord's Providence in our lives together through the generations as God's will continues to be worked out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Not unlike I would imagine the greatest generation's remembrances of seminal events in the North Atlantic theater of World War II might be along the beaches of Normandy and elsewhere in Europe, our family spent significant times toward the end of our last week along the shores of Subic Bay and the island of Corregidor remembering the remarkable events of WWII in the theater of the South Pacific among the waters between Asia and Australia. After touring an old lighthouse and presiding over a brief memorial service at an old Spanish mission's island chapel, it was there by the dock at the end of the pier on the south side beach of Corregidor that we were blessed to share in solemn solitude the spreading of my father's ashes upon the wind over the waters at the mouth of Manila Bay near the South China Sea. It was more heartening for me than I had expected or could ever dream for us to experience honoring the memory of my father and his service during WWII in this way at this time and place. We were blessed with such good weather and people with us on that special day among all the days of our travels.
Thank you, Beloved, for your prayers and support of our family in the work of grief and faith this year. In the words of General Douglas MacArthur, not only "I shall return," but we are glad to have returned home. In God's Grace and Peace, with you and yours, together we continue
Pastor Rex
There
is
a deep dull ache
as far down
as the ocean's depth
the towering tip
of a tremendous iceberg
submerged
in immensely vast seas
of utter grief
No place else to be
will not ever be forgotten
not to be lost for ever more
a colossal displacement
a huge void
an infinite, unfulfilled emptiness
a large, inestimable volume of silence
an unspeakable expanse
the extent of which is unfathomable, unknown
Yet
there
is
One Who is, was, and is to come
able
Immeasurably more
Exceedingly, abundantly
Far above, all
any could
ask, think, even imagine
glorious, holy, anointed, mighty
to save, heal, fill, restore
blessing, power, glory and honor forever and ever
Now and not yet
A Service of Witness to
Celebrate the Resurrection and the Life in memory of
Melissa Q. Espiritu
July 10, 1960 - March 13, 2010
Organ Prelude Trumpet Voluntary Jeremiah Clark
Andrea Hughes
Musical Offering My Tribute/God is So Good
Ed Dimangondayao
His Eye is on the Sparrow
Sophie and Daniel Buchanon
Opening Words Pastor Bob Maravalli
Prayer of Invocation
*Songs of Praise Awesome God
Blessed Be Your Name
Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone
Old Testament Lesson Psalm 118 Pastor Rose Niles
Personal Reflections Carmen Cash
*Song of Thanksgiving Great Is Thy Faithfulness
New Testament Lessons
John 14:1-6 Pastor Clark Hobbey
2 Corinthians 4:15-5:7 Pastor Jeff Gramza
*Hymn It Is Well With My Soul
Romans 8:18-39
Musical Offering With Hope Steven Curtis Chapman
Levi Velasco
Levi and Diane Velasco
Ed Dimangondayao
Andrea and Bryan Hughes
Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend
