BPC Podcasts Now Available

Our sermons are now available as podcasts through iTunes.

You can find our podcasts by searching for Bedford Presbyterian Church in the iTunes store or you can use this link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bedford-presbyterian-church/id990016322

Blessings…

I am usually cautious when we begin talking about our blessings.
The home in which we live.
The food we have to eat.
The opportunities we have for work and travel and recreation.
The good health we enjoy.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for gratitude.
I am all for pausing long enough not to take any of these things, or a hundred other things I could list, for granted. But I think there is a shadow side to the way we think and talk aboutblessings.
If we do not have a place to live…
If we struggle to have enough food to eat…
If we are out of work…
If our health is not good…
Are we then not blessed?
Less than good?
Something wrong with us?
But yesterday, in a passing remark about blessings, I heard a turn of a phrase which caught my attention. “Do we count our blessings or count the ways we can be a blessing?”
I like that.
Count the ways we can be a blessing.
That feels a whole lot better to me.
A whole lot more human.
A whole lot more holy.

Daily Reminders

Most days are filled with the ordinary details of our lives.
Grocery shopping.
Washing clothes.
Going to work.
Helping children with homework.
Running errands.
Responding to emails.
The trick it seems to me…
And the challenge…
Is to allow the wonder hidden in the ordinary to break through the routine
And to catch our attention.
The smile of a child.
The taste of food.
The opportunity to work.
The day-in, day-out support and love of those who care about us.
Because it is the ordinary days that add up to our lifetime.

It Takes A Village

The saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
I believe that it does.
Our children need all of the strong, caring, compassionate adults we can stack around their lives, but if we stop there we have stopped well short of the mark.
Not only does it take a village to raise a child…
It takes a village to care for those who grow old in our midst.
It takes a village to welcome and to include the newcomers.
It takes a village to care for the fragile and vulnerable among us.
It takes a village to help couples find their way through the challenges of life.
It takes a village to dance in our moments of joy.
It takes a village to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in times of need holding us up when we can not stand up on our own.
By and large, I think we have forgotten this and we are paying the price.
Our sense of community…
Our sense of responsibility towards one another…
Our sense of caring for one another…
Has been pushed it aside in favor of the myth of rugged individualism.
That I can do it all on my own.
That I am responsible for myself and for no one else.
That my own strength and willpower and hard work is enough.
But none of that is true.
It just is not.

Pointing the Way

Stratton PondI came across this observation in a journal I was reading today:
“People still crave connection to the holy and always will.
The church too often simply fails to show up at the intersection of the holy and our lives.”
 (Reflections, Spring 2014, p.13)

I think the observation is true.
I also think this is true.
For too long the Church has falsely marketed itself as THE locus and keeper of the Holy.
Come to church to find God.
Attend church to be religious.
What you need is here.
We dispense God like a pharmacist dispenses a prescription.
And, people aren’t buying it any more.
I am not buying it any more.

Are their holy moments that happen in church (or synagogue or mosque)?
Absolutely.
Sometimes when the sanctuary is full.
And, sometimes when I am the only one there.
But God is not locked up in any four walls.
Holy moments can and do happen anywhere at any time.
And, the truth we experience holy moments more out there than in here.
Watching your children.
Watching the sun set.
Holding hands with one whom you love.
Dancing like there will never be another dance.
Sitting still and allowing the silence around you to fill you.
What the church can do…
What we need to do…
Rather than thinking it is our job to dispense the Holy realize our job is to point the way.
What we can do and need to do is to be that reminder that we – all of us – are to pay attention.
For when we do each moment has the potential of being holy.

Counter-Cultural Christianity

When I was growing up it was no big deal to say you were Christian.
Everyone I knew said that.
Everyone.
And, Christianity was easy.
It meant showing up for worship at 11:00 on a Sunday morning.
And, maybe showing up or helping out your church in some other way.
Everyone I knew did that.
Everyone.
It is not like that now.
Far from it.
Now there are more people not here than are here.
Maybe even more people who say they are not Christian than readily and openly admit they are.

More and more, it seems…
To show up on a Sunday morning for worship;
To be a part of an intentional community which gathers;
To invest time and energy and something of self to feed those who are hungry or to shelter those who have no place be or to speak up on behalf of those who have no little or no voice;
To make a conscience decision to set aside some portion of your income for something more than household bills or personal use;
All because of what you believe or the values that grow out of your faith tradition is an intentional decision; a counter-cultural decision in a way it has not been for a VERY long time.

In many ways this shift from then to now is hard for us for whom church has been an important part of our lives for nearly everything about who we are and how we do what we do is based on a way of being that is no longer the norm and no longer understood or valued or accepted by the larger community.
But, if we can begin to let go of what was
(which, if we are honest, was often more cultural than Christian);
If we can to begin to find a new way…
And, if we can do it well…
What emerges might be a powerful and important witness for the deepest and best values to which we, as human beings, can aspire.
Compassion.
Kindness.
Community.
Justice.
Equality.
Peace.
Values which are desperately needed if we are ever going to find a way to live together.