Maybe I have gone off the deep-end for a Friday email in what follows! Either too much time in the sun or alternatively, too much time spent in the church basement… I don’t know which…

If you just want to get some IMPORTANT information about our church life, please skip a few paragraphs. I won’t quiz you.

Do you believe in God? Or do you ACT as if you believe in God? I was reading an interesting article in the New York Times that suggested that perhaps many of us fall into the later camp (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/opinion/luhrmann-belief-is-the-least-part-of-faith.html?_r=0) and perhaps many evangelicals do too! ‘One devout woman said in a prayer group one evening: “I don’t believe it, but I’m sticking to it. That’s my definition of faith.”’ Perhaps it is more important to ACT AS IF we believe in God, to really live our lives as if we believe in God, than actually believing it. Intriguing stuff. The article points to a proposal by mathematician Blaise Pascal in the 17th Century that wonders if one had the choice to not believe in God or to act as if you did then it is much better to act as if you did – just in case God did exist –because of the infinite rewards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal’s_Wager). Given my very nerdy educational background in logic, computer science and mathematics, I find this stuff fascinating… So! Welcome to my headJ. Should we believe in Jesus or should we live our lives as if we did? Would our family, our friends and our neighbors be able to notice?

Coincidentally, I also saw an interview with author Steven King who said “What I’m saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts. …. I choose to believe it, yeah. I think that – I think that that’s – I mean there’s no downside to that, and the downside – if you say, well, OK, I don’t believe in God, there’s no evidence of God, then you’re missing the stars in the sky, and you’re missing the sunrises and sunsets, and you’re missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together at the same time.” http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=184827647

If we are to orient our lives around an ethic, a system of right and wrong, of good choices and bad choices, then we can choose an ethic centered on Jesus and God and then just live it. We can choose to be part of a church community for support – moral support – because it is impossible to do it by ourselves. Perhaps this is too spiritually bare … too lacking in mystery and the possibility of the Spirit… too lacking in the promise of salvation. But perhaps it is just right for many; a few weeks ago I pointed to an online article quoting physicist Paul Davies who said he was a ‘practicing, but not believing, Christian.’ hmmm!

… END of the deep end… coming up for air ….

THIS WEEK at First Church, we will celebrate communion with our whole church family. Please come and join us. Please come and break bread together. It is the most important thing we do as a church. A simple act of bread and juice shared with all, shared with God. They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – well communion is the most important meal of the month! Grace will be served. Grace will be received.

Next week, our service will be followed by the church annual meeting. Please plan to participate in this important event in the institutional life of our church. The formal invitation can be found here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50585387/Annual%20Meeting%20invitation.pdf. We will be voting on a number of things, but one important aspect will be bylaw changes involving our nursery school. The important details can be found at the following links: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50585387/nursery%20school%20policy%20-%20annual%20report%202013.pdf and https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50585387/Nursery%20School%20Bylaw%20changes%20markup.pdf and https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50585387/Nursery%20School%20Bylaw%20changes%20Final.pdf .

On the 16th of June, we will have a festive celebration of our children and Sunday school. Families, please put this date on your calendars as a must-be-in-church day. We will give bibles to our 3rd graders, celebrate our teachers, bless our children, thank Kathryn Titus, sing and sing and sing .. and have cake afterwards. This will be holy fun.

God help us all!!!!

Your Pastor —- Ian

We had an interesting week weather-wise… bright sun followed by today’s gloomy and grey outlook. Today is just like a July day in Ireland where ‘summer’ only visits briefly on Tuesdays, and the rain always comes on the weekend. I know I am not a very good spokesperson for the Irish Tourism Board but I cannot tell a lie given my current profession. Of course our recent hailstorm and thunder cannot compare with what just happened in Moore Oklahoma. We pray for the people there whose lives have been upended and destroyed. Hurricane season is just around the corner too – Oh Boy! God help those in need. May God help us serve them. May God help us when we face trials of nature, illness, or economic hardship.

Once again various teams within the UCC are doing their part to help those harmed by the tornado. Revs. Don Remick and Jim Tilbe are the Disaster Resource Team coordinators for the Massachusetts UCC churches. You can read what Don has to say about responding in support of the people in Moore here: http://macucc.org/blogs/detail/279. One of the most important reasons for our church to be a member of a denomination is that we can join with other like churches to pool our resources to help those in need. The money that we send every year to the Massachusetts Conference and the National Setting of the UCC allows these two groups to be ready to respond immediately in times such as this. Would you like to know how to prepare for and engage in the planning for our response to future traumatic events? There is a gathering for those interested in helping with disasters on June 5th (details here: http://macucc.org/events/detail/1243).

Is it just me? or do you feel like we are lurching from one terrible situation to the next! Sandy, Newtown, Boston, Texas, Moore… gosh… it can be very discouraging. It can be numbing.

BUT THEN we have a miracle of 6 fantastic young people being confirmed in the church last week. Wonderful. And THEN This Sunday we have the miracle and blessing of baptizing the three Reames children – Spencer, Alexandra, and Eve. We will share in a beautiful moment together. Beauty, love, blessing, and fellowship reveal all we need to deal with storms and violence. So – come to church on Sunday to receive a full inoculation dose of goodness to take you through the next week and then some. No insurance is needed and the co-pay is purely voluntary (but much appreciated).

Our annual meeting is coming up on June 9th after the Sunday service. Please plan to stay for a while to hear news of the church life and budgets and ministries. On June 16th we are planning a festival of appreciation for our children and teachers in our Sunday School program. We will also share our tender goodbyes with our CE Director Kathryn Titus. There will be cake!

Lastly, I want to celebrate and lift up all the work that is ongoing in Clarke Hall by our building use team. They are making sure and steady progress towards its redecoration. Already, the new lighting there is a great improvement. Lots done, lots more to do! If you would like to help out – please contact Bruce Whear.

Don’t forget your umbrella. Keep your mind and heart on God and each other.
May God Help Us All!

What a day today! What a beautiful day… with sunshine and warm (but not too hot) temperatures, good sleeping weather too, with windows open and cool breezes. Just perfect! It is a fresh feeling – with everything that had been a getting a bit dusty and musty giving way to spring time moments, sights and sounds. Of course, it brings tree pollen too – excuse me as I reach for a Kleenex – as allergy sufferers sneeze their first springtime sneeze and others drag the lawn mower out of the shed for the first time … ACHOO.

These are times of transition, not only in nature, but also for many young people graduating college, or high school, as they prepare for prom or other special events. God help them. God help us!

These are the days of Pentecost and the birthday of the Christian Church. Happy Birthday Church!

This Sunday will also be confirmation Sunday for 6 wonderful young people of our community. Confirmation is a time of reaffirmation of faith. It is a time of connection-making and relationship-building. It has been a special honor for me to be with them for the past year, joined by Janet Fisher, as we met monthly with the confirmands to talk about faith, God, Jesus and church. Janet and I learned from them and they learned from us. Please come and be a part of our blessing of them, and to receive their blessing upon us. Please come and wear something RED for Pentecost too J

Last week I participated in the confirmation of my own daughter and it was definitely a ‘proud papa’ moment for me (now … where is that Kleenex?). I am very grateful for Nanette Pitt who served very ably and graciously as your preacher that day.

Tomorrow (Sat) we will be holding a very special memorial service in the church at 10am. Bob Foucht was a much beloved music teacher and leader of the band at Swampscott High and participated in many musical groups in and around the North Shore. We will have some very special musicians participating in the service and reception afterwards. Please let me know if you are willing to serve as an usher for the service? You can read about Bob in the Swampscott patch (http://swampscott.patch.com/articles/six-students-to-memorialize-beloved-music-man-bob-foucht, and http://swampscott.patch.com/articles/music-man-memories-students-remember-bob-foucht)

By the way – if you have been missing the Stewardship program this year – everyone’s favorite church season – don’t worry, we are simply moving it to the Fall. There are a number of considerations behind this decision, and your Stewardship team will detail the reasons and hopes in a forthcoming letter to the church. In the meantime, please continue or increase your generous and faithful financial support of the church through the summer. As you will hear from the financial report at the church annual meeting on June 9th we have been blessed this year through your support, as well as from special gifts and other actions, but we also have deep hopes and dreams for the Spirit’s work with us and through us for the years ahead.

Oh! I also have a little extra bounce in my step these days because my favorite TV show has returned – “So You Think You Can Dance” has returned to Channel 25 – hurray!

Lastly, I have been re-listening to a fascinating radio program about God, Einstein, and Physics called “Einstein’s God.” I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about Einstein, God or the really odd universe we live in. It can be found at http://www.onbeing.org/program/einsteins-god/90.

God help us all…

— Ian

p.s. If you would like to unsubscribe from these emails – just reply with “unsubscribe” at no risk to your eternal salvation.

Please read to the end of this note to learn about one possible response to the bombing last week that impacts First Church directly; and about events happening in the church this Sunday 28th; and an important letter from Rev. Kathryn Titus.

But first, I am a little red-faced today. No! not because I have done something silly that I am embarrassed about – though I am sure my children could point out a few things along those lines. And no! not because I have just returned from a strenuous workout (fat chance) – though in my ideal future image of myself I have a wonderfully healthy balance of work, exercise and diet in my life. No, I am red-faced because I sat out on a bench by Fisherman’s beach on Thursday afternoon for a bit, having a wonderful conversation with a member of the church. The wind was refreshingly cool – but the sun was bright. Irish skin is a bit fragile I suppose. So, if you see me on Sunday and I seem just a bit flushed to you, don’t worry. My heart is fine, my stress levels are normal, and my spirit is strong. I am now equipped with sunscreen too.

As we squint towards the beginning of summer, and peer even into the fall of next year, the council is beginning to wonder about budgets and staffing. Important news on this front is that Rev. Kathryn Titus, our CE Director, shared with the council a few weeks back her plans to resign at the conclusion of her contract in mid-June. I have added a tender letter to you from her, at the end of this email. We did not know it at the beginning of her time with us in Oct., but God had sent her to serve us as an interim minister – with the deep skills, experiences, and insights of this role that she has honed over many years with many congregations – more than solely as the traditional CE Director role we had envisioned. She is leaving us with a rich new vision for how we should staff, organize, furnish and resource our children’s Christian education program for the years ahead. So I say THANK YOU dear Kathryn.

It is the fate of one called to interim ministry to journey with congregations but for a short time, to enter into the community, to serve fully and to love deeply, and then to leave again wondering what path God will reveal next. God’s blessings upon you Kathryn, good and faithful servant.

There is much to do in the weeks ahead before June 16, and then we will celebrate Kathyrn’s ministry with us, and celebrate our children and all our teachers. Please put June 16th on your calendars as a ‘must be in church that day’ date.

Next fall, we will have the joy and responsibility of being a teaching parish. A Masters of Divinity student from Harvard Divinity School will serve as a seminarian-in-training at First Church. Her precise portfolio of responsibilities will be determined as part of ‘Learning Agreement’ we will develop in September, but Kathryn’s insights have opened up a few possibilities that we will explore.

I am still a bit foggy from the violence and shock of last week’s terror attack in Boston. But I am grateful for the work of prayer and healing that has continued in many places of worship and on the streets over the past few days. There was a short TV story about my former church, Old South Church, that was encouraging: http://www.necn.com/04/25/13/Healing-process-begins-at-Old-South-Chur/landing.html?blockID=839109&feedID=11106 .

Next Wednesday, from 2pm to 7pm, we are hosting a Red Cross blood drive. This is a very tangible and valuable act of mercy and solidarity that we can take on, in response to acts of pain and evil. We can shed some of our blood for the good of brothers and sisters who need it. Can you help be a hospitality host that day? Will you come to donate blood? Will you encourage your family and coworkers to do so?

We are hosting the voting for the state wide and town elections on Tuesday.

The Mission 4/2 Earth team, is hosting a Perennial and Garden Supply Swap/Book and CD Swap at coffee hour this Sunday. Bring your stuff and give it to someone else. Recycle, reuse, re-purpose, reduce!

I listened to an interesting sermon driving in to work this week – here is a link to the video and audio: http://www.cor.org/worship/sermon-archives/show/sermons/Fishing-for-People-1/. It made me think about what it means to invite people to church. I encourage you to listen or watch it. It’s fun too.

The following devotional is a poignant story of a person who told a stranger at a grocery store that they would pray for them: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/13e4aa37ed2d468d.

May God Help Us All.

Peace Peace Peace
— Ian
===================================================================

Dear Friends in Faith:

As your CE Director it’s been my ministry these past few months to care for the children of First Church, and I’ve loved being here with all of you. Some of you know I’ve been an interim minister for nearly 30 years, noting patterns, sharing observations, and helping churches make plans for a new future and new leadership.

It turns out that’s also what I’ve been doing here. That is: I’ve been working myself out of a job (again) so that First Church’s practical needs for more part-time and occasional staffing can be met, and so that the CE budget can be wisely used where it’s most needed ~ for example, for more helpers, better teaching materials, and to renovate and refurbish the rooms to accommodate more children (and make their environment more hypoallergenic, as well).

It’s not a decision I’ve made lightly. It’s taken thought, prayer, and meetings with Ian and the staff, finally concluding that to meet your emerging needs, and for all of us to be good stewards, and to give time for Ian and your Council to set things in place for next year, I’ll resign as CE Director at the end of my contract mid-June.

You’ll have a detailed report about CE in your Annual Meeting materials. Meanwhile, there’s lots of work to do between now and June 16 before I leave (carefully and gracefully, she said with a smile).

While I may be returning to “intentional” interim ministries as a pastor (a calling of deep joy, for me), what’s foremost in my mind just now is this: “God works for good in all things with those who love God.”

With blessings, with thanksgiving for the growing numbers of children in the church, with love in my heart for you all ~ and with smiles, of course ~ Rev. Kathryn

Today is the 43rd anniversary of

Earth Day!

Since 1970, this day has brought environmental concerns to the forefront.
Earth Day led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts. In 1990, it went from a national campaign to a global one. It boosted recycling efforts.

While environmental concerns have shifted since that first Earth Day — from oil spills and pollution to global warming and carbon footprints — the goal has remained the same: To strive for a healthy, sustainable environment.

What a week … what a night last night … what a day! I feel myself being sucked into a drama – a traumatic drama – of which I want no part. And yet, here we are. I have turned off the TV. Turned off the radio, and placed limits on my internet news reading. There is nothing but darkness there. The wall-to-wall news coverage, with endless (mindless) repeating of facts, conjectures, suppositions, falsehoods and fear do not serve us well. Our story together, our faith, our life together, our lives with our families are so much bigger than these events. For most of us – there is good news to be seen, heard, and (more importantly) lived, all around us (except on TV).

We will be reading from the Book of Revelation this Sunday – somehow, today, this very strange book of our bible seems less crazy than what I see and hear on channel 5 or CNN.

But as we experience the blessings in our own lives, and we reject fear and anxiety, our compassion grows for the people whose lives have been shattered this past Monday and last night. We can pray – and then pray some more – for healing, for peace, for comfort – for all who suffer today in mind, body and/or spirit. We prayed in our Sanctuary on Tuesday night with many brothers and sisters from different faith communities. There was a small write-up on the Patch about our service that night: http://swampscott.patch.com/articles/interfaith-service-brings-light-to-dark-time.

We can do more. Our church will be hosting the Red Cross for a blood drive on May 1st. We need some help in being welcoming hosts for all those who might enter and participate. Can you volunteer some time to help Jack and Ellie Castell that day?

We can do more. We can donate to the One Fund http://onefundboston.org/.

We can do more. We can redouble our works of mission and ministry that support our neighbors.

I watched and prayed with thousands of others, the interfaith service held on Thursday morning. The President and many others spoke passionately and faithfully. I watched my own dear friend and mentor, Rev. Nancy Taylor from Old South speak at this service. I was proud. But also my heart ached – for members of Old South Church were injured and traumatized by the bombing. I was ordained at Old South Church one year ago (April 22). Many of you were there. The church has been closed all this week as it is part of the crime scene! I went down to Boston last night to be with some of the Old South community for their Thursday night “Jazz Worship Service.” The service was relocated to the Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street. It was a tender, beautiful service – with grace, hope, and love shared over the communion table. Our story, our Gospel, our lives are so much bigger, so much more hopeful, and blessed than the events of this past week.

Rev. Jim Antal of the UCC shared his thoughts and prayers a few minutes ago: http://www.macucc.org/blogs/detail/267 and he reminds us of the words hear so often in scripture: “fear not.”

Our life together is blessed with the bounty and beauty of our Earth, our planet, our water and our air. The Mission 4/1 Earth project continues this coming week with a number of events – including a picnic on our front lawn on Monday 5 to 7:30 PM to celebrate Earth Day. On Sunday during coffee hour, we have a special guest, Board of Health Chairperson Martha Dansdill, who will share her expertise and advice. And, if you have stuff, junk (treasures), or collectables that would be perfect to relocate into somebody else’s home – you are invited to participate in zero-waste day this Saturday. See the following story in the Reporter:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/swampscott/news/x848271556/Zero-Waste-Day-in-Swampscott-April-20#ixzz2QpGhHTj0

Every week, I end my emails with the prayer blessing “May God help us all”…. Today, it seems especially poignant …

May God help us all

— Ian

Dear Church,

We will host an interfaith prayer service for the Swampscott community at First Church Swampscott at 7pm Tuesday night.

please spread the word  …
God help us all….

—- Ian

What an amazing Holy Week we shared this year! The Maundy Thursday musical drama was amazing; the Good Friday service was prayerful; the Easter Sunrise service was chilly and blessed; our main service was packed with people and many special moments. I want to thank all of you that made it happen, but especially Patty Clark and the choir who worked so hard these past weeks on the musical and the music for our services. They were joined by many other actors and participants, young and old, who committed to the musical, and especially the director of the drama, Victoria Townsend. Lorraine Follis fed the choir, actors, and many others who came to the drama rehearsals. Heidi Whear did rich generous work in support of our Thursday night Lenten suppers, and again provided us with rich gifts of encouragement, spirit and food for our sunrise service. Barbara Gherzi worked tirelessly to prepare the tables (and more) for breakfast and our Easter collation. She performs many small acts of picking up, folding up, setting up, and decorating all our rooms so that our church is looking its best for all who come through our doors.

About 115 people were in the sanctuary on Maundy Thursday, approx 240 for Easter Sunday worship; many tables were set and filled by more than 100 people who came to the lunch collation; 22 children (ages 3-6) went downstairs to Sunday school; there were many babies in worship, and one trumpeter! (You can find videos of the Thursday drama “Called to be Friends”, and our Sunday service here: https://vimeo.com/user14757811/videos).

But more important than the counts of people is the spirit of joy, faith and commitment to First Church that you all share in and support. God is good! God help us!

In the spirit of looking for help from God and from you, we need a volunteer who would experience joy and Spirit in editing our monthly newsletter called “Chime Notes.” Dear saint Lorraine Follis has been doing this work for more than 10 years and is looking to pass this work onto a new person as she takes on other ministries. Are you the person we seek?

I am also still looking for some more willing souls to provide oversight and leadership for our children’s ministry. Some of you have already responded to my call – bless you – are there others?

Lastly – our environmental ministry team is gearing up for our work on “Mission 4/1 Earth” (mission for one Earth). You are invited to a movie and a chat tonight here in the church at 7:30pm in the Library. Bring your dinner, or a pizza, at 7pm if you want to start the evening with a social, loving meal, with friends. There may be a lobster roll with your name on it, if you get there early enough!

Traditionally, the Sunday after Easter Sunday is a ‘substitute preacher day’.. but not this year at first church. Dear church, you are stuck with me for this Sunday as well! Not enough planning on my part – but we will share some interesting moments, no doubt, as talk about ‘doubting Thomas’.

Bring a friend to church. Bring your children to share in communion with us all. There is room for all in our church, and at our communion table. (We will have nursery care (ages 0-2) available, but there is no Sunday school).

God bless us and help us and guide us …

— Ian

But before we get to the good food (chocolate!) and the party of Easter Sunday we experience the darkness of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (the crucifixion). This week some families have experienced darkness already; we laid to rest Graham MacKenzie on Monday afternoon. And later that day, our sister Deborah Martin died. We have only just met Deborah. She started coming to church just a short few weeks ago with her friend Jim. She had already received the terminal prognosis of her illness before we met – so we knew our time with her was short. Her obituary and details of her service can be found on the Cuffe-McGinn website (http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Deborah-Martin&lc=7209&pid=163870801&mid=5473223). A service for Deborah will take place at 10am tomorrow (Thursday) at St. Pius church on Maple Street. Please pray for all those in our church family who grieve.

I am excited by the promise of the musical drama “Called to be Friends” that so many of you have worked hard to prepare and to present for the community on this Thursday night. The commitment and talent and joy and mistakes and chaos and beauty of the team working on this are AWESOME. Please come for dinner at 6pm and stay for the show on Thursday at 7pm. This drama will help us experience our faith in a new way. Then come to recover from the event and settle into a deep time of reflection and prayer at 2:45pm on Friday.

Some of us are getting up to meet at 6:15am at Red Rock Park to welcome the day – to sing and to pray in Easter Sunday. It will be an interesting experience as we join two other groups that have organized to meet at the same place for the same purpose. So we will have an ecumenical traffic jam of an Easter sunrise. It will be fun! And of course – we will eat breakfast at the church later – yum – yum.

At 10am we will experience the full volume – all stops out – trumpet sounding – choir resounding – preacher preaching – the good news of Easter. God help us all… AND THEN we will EAT some more! After our Easter service – we will share our community Easter collation – a luncheon extravaganza – bring your favorite dish and then eat your neighbor’s favorite dish. Then … and only then … when all has been completed … nap time, big time!

I want to alert you to work on the environment that we as a church are going to participate in as part of the “Mission 4/1 Earth” (http://www.ucc.org/earth/) campaign in April. I want to celebrate with you the success of the forum on homelessness held in Clarke Hall last Sunday. About 130 people from all around the North Shire came and participated in discussing this important issue. Our thanks to Ellie+Jack Casteel and Holly Brauner who were part of the leadership team that made this event happen.

May God Help us All!

— Ian