Can We Still Doubt in the Face of The Great Commission?

 To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

 This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, and our passage is Matthew 28: 16-20, the Great Commission.  It is here where the language of the Trinity is drawn together most clearly:

 ¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

             For all the depth of purpose included in the Great Commission, three little words always pop at me, from verse 17, “but some doubted”.  The simplest explanation (to me) is that this is a nod to the Gospel of John, where the story of the Doubter, Thomas, is related. 

So why insert this little hiccup in the grand finale of the Gospel of Matthew?  Is it simply a nod, an homage, or is it something else?

Is it a reminder?  Is it a reminder that, as the grand sweeping vision is laid out by Jesus in these few verses, that we are still human?  And it is a grand, sweeping vision. 

 Go and make disciples of ALL nations.

Baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!!

          Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you!!

And, you are not alone, for I am with you always, to the end…

          But, what if it gets hard?  What if I don’t know what I am doing?  I got love and I got faithfulness but…  What if the going gets tough?  Because it does.  Here’s an excerpt from Paul’s Resume of Suffering from 2 Corinthians 11:24-25: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned...”  (I have never heard this called a Resume of Suffering but it powerfully fits).

          So, maybe these three little words are included as more than a nod or an homage.  Maybe they are included as an “Easter egg”, like in the movies.  In the movies, an ‘Easter egg’ is a reference to another movie or scene or something that the director is honoring.  One of my favorites is in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars are hieroglyphics in the underground temple in Egypt.

          So, maybe, when someone is living into the Great Commission and things have gotten tough, when there are serious bumps in the road, nothing seems to be going right, disappointment and doubt have settled in…  Remember this Easter egg.  It takes us to the Supreme Doubter.  And it walks us through how Jesus worked with him.

          It is a visual of Easter.  Jesus’ resurrection body, wounds healed BUT present.  Jesus present and transformed.  Jesus up from the grave, in fulfillment of all the promises made about grace and salvation and forgiveness and eternity.  But, more profoundly, THE reminder that even death was overcome by our Lord.  All to remind poor Thomas to believe. 

          The work is getting hard?  The Great Commission feels more like a Great Weight around the neck?  Go back to the Doubter, who had to see and touch to confess, “My Lord and My God!”

          Read again what Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen Me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

          That’s us.  Reminded of where the blessings truly come from.  Where the strength truly comes from.  Where the renewal truly comes from.  In the Triune God.

          God the Father and Creator, who is not just THE power in the Universe, but THE Maker of the Universe.  In Jesus Christ who did the work we are not able to, in perfect obedience, dying and rising again to fulfill the promise of a gift given to us all.  In the Holy Spirit, who is Jesus in our hearts.  As Jesus says to conclude the Commission, “and I am with you, till the end of the age.”

 

Pastor Pete

May 31, 2026 Scripture Lesson: Matthew 28: 16-20

https://youtu.be/IHcYC2VMdqA 

May 31, 2026 is Trinity Sunday on the Church Calendar and is our monthly Healing Service at First Presbyterian Church of Merchantville.  Our Scripture Lesson is the Great Commission from the very end of Matthew.  It is the command of Jesus to go out into the world and, by making disciples of all peoples, they bring God's healing to all peoples.

Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/IHcYC2VMdqA

A Parable of Change Via Fusion Cuisine (and Pizza)

             I am not opposed to Fusion Cuisine (the bringing together of flavors of different cooking traditions or styles) but neither am I what one might call a “devotee”.  At the risk of appearing a snob, Fusion that is especially underwhelming brings with it the appearance of Confusion Cuisine (I suppose, re-reading that, there is no risk of appearing like a snob; I have fully embraced the Snob). 

I do not entirely reject Fusion Cuisine.  At the risk of losing my readers (who is the snob now?), I confess that I actually like pineapple and ham on a pizza.  It has a summer vibe.

            And, having moved to South Jersey, in the local environs of Philadelphia, I have begun to penetrate the fog of Confusion that is…Cheesesteak Pizza.  Still not in the Kitchen of my flavor preferences, but I am moving from the Confusion to the Fusion.  Sorry, cannot promise more at this point.

So, Fusion Cuisine and Confusion Cuisine, but also there is something further out in the fog of foodie-ism, the Thoroughly Confusing Cuisine.  In this instance, it is the “fusing”, no, the mash-up of Pizza and General Tso’s Chicken.  Let me be clear, Pizza is a primary go-to for my family when it comes to Italian takeout.  General Tso’s Chicken is my personal Chinese takeout preference-especially with the spiced broccoli, but…General Tso’s Chicken Pizza.  No.  Well…No.  I do not even know how one actually cooks the component elements in the same kitchen. 

Don’t get it, I just don’t.  Not even going to give it a chance.  No, nope, nuh uh.  This mashup is not Confusion Cuisine but a clear example of Thoroughly Confusing Cuisine.  It is a shock to my culinary sensibilities.  There are culinary traditions that are sacrosanct and to be preserved of both the Chinese Restaurant and the Italian Restaurant.

I was in the midst of adding this being “an affront” as well as a shock to my culinary sensibilities when a little voice went off in my head, replaying a moment when I confessed appreciation of ham and pineapple pizza.  It goes something like, “just because you don’t like it…”  Which triggered another internal reaction, continuing morality work on my part to identify when I don’t like something and when that is confused with when I won’t like something. 

While I might never be accused of being a sensitive, New Age guy, I certainly DO NOT want to be a knuckle-walking socio-Cro-Magnon throwback, grunting “me no like” as though I were pronouncing eternal damnation on General Tso’s Chicken Pizza.  Rule of life and love, it is okay not to like things, it is unloving to demand others not like them too. 

For example, Poutine, the sub-national Provincial artery hardening, heart clogging, deliciously joyful Dish, a combination of French fries (Quebec, thus French…ish?  But NOT Freedom fries) and gravy and cheese curds.  YES, curds of cheese!!  Sacrosanct…well, till one sins.

And if one is going to sin, one ought to sin boldly.  So, brisket in the poutine…  Wow…  Now, its not a mashup like that other one mentioned above  (it is emotionally painful to type).  There is Canadian commonality.  Poutine from Quebec, beef from the Prairies…Canadian, divided by language, but there is hope…  And its more of an add-on than a mashup.  There is the additional commonality of gravy… (To be completely honest, this is a very clear example of the process called ‘rationalization’, coming up with reasons why something is right).

And Canada, like our United States, has fusion built into the very melting pot of multiculturalism that makes us great.

So…add-ons work.  A swap can work as well.  Because of an extended period of my life with a diet that involved too much poutine and poutine adjacent choices and too much brisket and red meat in general, I now cook in the realm of the Mediterranean diet to counteract those other life and culinary choices.  Doing so now means I can still enjoy the Poutine lifestyle, selectively and in moderation.

Back to add-ons…  I was working up a recipe of a Mediterranean inspired bean salad, one that calls for balsamic vinegar to provide a sweet tang to the process.  It was in this process that I came upon two levels of self-awareness that I was not previously conscious of.  The first is that I have flavor preferences in regards to vinegar (Yes, I am as surprised as you are!).  The second is that I have enough taste-knowledge to successfully introduce rice vinegar as a swap in the recipe that made it so much better.  It tasted better, and I am not sure I have ever described it this way, it was a refreshing bean salad.

You may have noticed that this began as a rant, maybe even a ‘tear’ (as in tearing paper in half, not a crying jag; oh I love English).  I have many of those, amusing in my own mind.  They usually run their course and I move on.  But notice that this is in the Church blog of a pastor.  Somewhere along the way, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, whose coming we celebrated this past Pentecost Sunday, God be praised for the gift of the Holy Spirit, this still, small voice whispered at me.

With a very, very daring offer.  "Pastor", said the still, small voice, "Maybe this is not a rant about food so much as a (…and I have never thought of my writing in this way…) a parable in the “Jesus-style”."

A parable in the Jesus-style is one that takes common themes of the popular and generally understood culture to make a greater point of faith and love. It DOES NOT presume some particular insight into the wisdom and love of Jesus Christ beyond that of a faithful human.

For this ‘parable’, use what I know and love, what our culture knows, food choices and takeout options, consider these in the life of where the church is.  Because we know our church has to change.  Not Jesus, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but the ways we’ve shared His message, those ways are always open to new possibilities.  So…mash things up?  

The Industry exists.  Its called the Church Growth Industry, a whole economic culture of books and programs and mentors and consultants and ‘proven ways’ and ‘guaranteed results’ that are advertised in ways that are practically indistinguishable from how the rest of the capitalist economy advertises things to sell, improve, change, and perfect us.  These will outline ingredients and recipes and formulas and what to do and what not to do.  There is a near infinite diversity in infinite combination of ‘what works’ today to make the church grow.

 It feels like the soft drink industry.  Gotta have the right recipe (Coke learned that the hard way) to sell that sugary, caffeinated tooth-rotting stuff.  Get the right formula, and you too can have a tasty church…

And these Church Growth strategies are so often mash-ups of what has come before.  Fusion Theology, well, more Confusion Theology, even Thoroughly Confused Theology, like jamming together General Tso’s Chicken and Pizza.  Trash tradition and start again…

Then there is our beloved First Presbyterian Church of Merchantville.  We have not adopted a ‘proven Church Growth’ strategy.  We have not mashed up that which we do into something else.  Here is a specific example.  We’ve done one very deliberate add-on, that of our Family Service on Third Sundays.  We’ve swapped some ingredients, changing the sermon style and presentation for a younger audience.  But it is still recognizable as worship, a tastier worship in my opinion. 

We did not just take a couple of completely distinct traditions and jam them together and call it pizza…er…worship. 

And who knows, maybe along the way we will make choices that will trigger a response of “I don’t get it.”  One of the great blessings of this congregation is your openness to things of the faith.  I see such a reaction as “I don’t get it, but I will seek to understand what went into the decision, what makes it work, potentially.”  There is the risk of love in that reaction.  And it is not “I won’t get it, because I ‘know’ this is how it ought (or ought not) to be done”.

This is the Pentecost thing again.  God indwells us as the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit does not simply speak ‘authoritatively’ through one of us (CERTAINLY not the minister), but speaks lovingly through all of us.  There’s a Pizza that God wants us to be.  There is a Church that God wants us to be.  We are in an amazing church for our congregation right now.  Imagine how God will make this an amazing church for everyone?

            Yes, this from the Pastor who owns his enjoyment of pineapple and ham on pizza.  And poutine with brisket (OMG that was so good!).  Despite that, in John 1, Philip invites Nathanael to “Come and see” Jesus.  So...Come and eat, here in this Church of Jesus.  
  
 Pastor Pete

Some Interesting Bits About Pentecost!

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                              May 19, 2026

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, and our passage is Acts 2: 1-21, that part of our Story where Jesus prays for us.

 2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹² All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵ Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
        and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will show portents in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
²⁰ The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
²¹ Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

 

‘Tis a long passage, but one of great significance.  There are a few items of interest to note here.

The first is that while the disciples all spoke different languages, it is apparent they all did so with Galilean accents-because that is how the crowd identified them.  And they were shocked Galileans could speak all their mother tongues. 

The second is the implication that the disciples were not tee-tootlers, that they might like a night over at the Blue Monkey (or whatever their local watering hole might be).  Note how they are accused by the crowd of being drunk.  The Apostle Peter does not issue a denial, but insists they are not drunk because it is only 9am, too early to get snockered.  Hmmm, should we even say ‘snockered’ in reference to the disciples of Jesus?  (yes) 

The third is the nasty end-times stuff Peter pulls out of Joel, ‘blood, fire, and smokey mist’ and the like.  The way Peter talks here in Chapter 2, you think this would come to pass by Chapter 20 at the very least.  Hasn’t shown up yet, even though it is expounded on in the Book of Revelations.  We live in ‘the between times’.  So, in between now and the End, the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, is within us to build the church, our Neighborhoods in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus will take care of the End, right now, let us take care of our neighbors.       

 

Pastor Pete

 

Scripture Lesson for Pentecost Sunday, the Day of the Lord, May 24, 2026: Acts 2: 1-21

https://youtu.be/PaOW37z4Di0 

As we do each week, we are sharing the Scripture for this coming Sunday in the KJV, the Pirate, the NRSV, and the Message versions of the Bible.  If you have watched before, you may detect a slightly different...inflection... for the King James Version, being English and Shakespearean and all.

Blessings,

Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/PaOW37z4Di0

In Preparing for Ascension Sunday

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,       May 12, 2026

 This Sunday, our passages are Luke 24: 50-53 and Acts 1: 6-11, the story of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus.  And part of Our Story, that Jesus ascended For Us. 

 Luke 24: 50-53  ⁵⁰ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Acts 1: 6-11 ⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 The only two-parter in the Bible are the Gospel of Luke (Luke) and the Book of the Acts of the Apostle (Acts).  Written by the person history remembers as Luke (he didn’t sign his work), we know they are conjoined because of their dedication.  Each is dedicated to someone named Theophilus, and each is to tell the truth of the story of Jesus, His time on earth in the Gospel, and His legacy in the establishment of the church.

In British television, I am told that instead of always having the same show that is simply renewed year to year, they can actually change the name slightly so that the ‘same’ show will be a different series each year.  I actually don’t know if that’s a real thing, but it fits what happens in Luke and Acts.  Same show, like ‘The Jesus Show’, but two different series.

 

The first is Jesus with us in person.  The second is Jesus with us in Spirit (literally).  And the crossover event is the Ascension.  So just a couple of verses to lay it down to conclude Luke, following Luke’s version of the Great Commission we know more famously from the Gospel of Matthew.  It’s like a cliffhanger.  Jesus is leaving…now what?  Is this it?  Who shot JR?  (THE greatest cliffhanger in television history so far as I am concerned…hint: “Dallas”).

 

In Acts, we get more context.  The disciples ask our Lord, is He staying among them?  He rose from the dead, been around for over a month.  Good times, but what’s next?  To paraphrase Jesus, He’s passing the torch to them.  They are going from being disciples (followers) to apostles (servants).  And Jesus is going but Jesus is not going.

 

The world will not see Jesus anymore.  The Ascension is real.  The disciples will be standing there, mouth’s open like they are catching flies or something.  The Men in White let them know that as Jesus arose, so He will return, physically.

 

But things have already been set into motion.  Jesus, God in human form will ascend and the Holy Spirit, God in Spirit form will descend.  Jesus is still with us, not a friend we have in Him, but, rather, Him in us, Jesus in our hearts.  It kind of redefines prayer.  Instead of aiming it up into the transcendent, we can speak to God inwardly, in our hearts.

 

Jesus is coming again (physically).  But in the meantime, the apostles are laying out the Neighborhoods in God’s Kingdom (like ours) that will be finished at Jesus’ physical return.  But Jesus will be here the whole time, spiritually.  Yah, I am still working at that one too…

 

Pastor Pete

Scripture Readings for Sunday, May 17, 2026: Luke 24: 50-53 & Acts 1: 6-11

 https://youtu.be/zw0vR6YYZmM

This Sunday is our Family Service and we are telling the story of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus.  It is told in brief in Luke's first book, The Gospel, and then expanded in more detail in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles.  Jesus is preparing the disciples for the work of creating Neighborhoods here on earth in the Kingdom of God in anticipation of the day when Jesus will return.

https://youtu.be/zw0vR6YYZmM

Pastor Pete

"Running Down the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" or the Exciting Title for the After-Action Report on Last Night's Session Meeting:

 Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes…anyone get that reference?

So this post is a little different.  It is on the blog for all to see.  But it is directly shared only with the Session.

Our Session Meeting last night was essentially three meetings.  Three significant points of discussion.  And they slotted well with the title of this post.

The Ugly was the Sexual Misconduct Policy.  Not the policy itself (although eleven pages…) but what it represents.  It represents what it means for a church to be serious about the safety of its church community in regards to sexual misconduct.  That in a church setting, insult and exploitation and worse must be taken seriously because even in our Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom, sin seeks to invade.

It is one piece of a set of responses to the world of sin, inclusive with our “Youth, Child, and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy”, and the Harassment and Anti-Racism policies that are yet ‘on deck’.

The Good was our discussion of “branding”.  A good discussion of a term I dislike.  Well, I dislike what it is, not what it could be.  I picture somebody who takes up 'branding' as someone who self-identifies as an ‘influencer’.  I am old fashioned enough to slot this "career choice" in the category of "Not A Real Job".  Hello, my name is Peter and I...influence?  It’s like justifying doing whatever I want to get away with.  When I grew up…in the last century…when somebody acted like a jerk; acting out or bullying or whatever, they were called out on their behavior.  People like this give 'branding' a bad name, like it is an excuse.  “I’m a jerk (polite term for what I am really thinking) but it’s my BRAND." 

But it is certainly not "new".  Any MTV fans out there know the reference of "Puck" from The Real World?

But ‘brand’ as ‘who I am’ or ‘who I want to be’, when its invested with authenticity and caring, when it can be identified as ‘love of God’ and ‘love of Neighbor’ -in a world that does both crassly at best-that is what Jesus brings.  It is what we seek to offer.  The metaphor of Neighborhood, taking off from the beautiful downtown that is Merchantville… 

It answers a challenge, “How do I describe to people what our church is like?”  It provides a basis of contrast, the blessings we have to offer against a world that feels like it is full of cursings.  It’s an organizing idea.  It draws together threads of our church life and begins to weave it into something beautiful.

Which brought in the Bad.  Maybe this is not so much a third point of discussion as a counterpoint to the Good.  So big, too big, we don’t have the people, the energy to achieve it now.  We have the ongoing work of Nominating.  We have questions of participation.  Great vision but hard reality.

Which in turn brought in the Graceful.  Not a fourth discussion point, but the Spirit at work in the hearts of a group of people at the center of the leadership and love of this congregation.  “Stewards of the Mysteries of God” we are (no pressure there, eh?).  For some reason, I think that would be a very bad opener when seeking to nominate elders to serve at this juncture.  But one mystery of God is to ask how we get from point A to point B. 

Answered with three things, three ‘do now’s’, three next steps, action items, whatever we want to call them.  But what is beautiful to me is that these are not just three more things a church ‘ought to do’ or are points in a ‘growth strategy’, but they are three things, deliberate things, that make us more intentioned to be the Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom that we seek to be.

And typically, I’ve got two of them down in my notes…on working more effectively with the new folks God sends to worship with us, on the consideration of quarterly gatherings of our Committees, and…did someone get the third?

Pastor Pete

Preparing for our Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God...Jesus Will Ascend and Give Us the Holy Spirit, and Mom...

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                       

This Sunday, our passage is John 14: 15-21, where Jesus speaks of the foundation of God that is laid down for the church:

 ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

So, let us connect a few things. 

1.    At the beginning of John 14, Jesus says (and I am translating here), “In my Father’s community there are many neighborhoods…I go to prepare a place for you…I will come back to you.”

2.    The image of this new community is described in the book of Revelations as the New Jerusalem, come down out of heaven.

3.    We are called to be imitators of God in Ephesians 5, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.

Ergo (a cooler word than ‘therefore'), a Neighborhood is prepared for us in the Kingdom of God, so we prepare that Neighborhood in the here and now. 

This Sunday is also Mother’s Day.  That suddenly caused these verses to pop in a whole new way.  Let me explain.  In my experience, mom was the manager of the household.  Dad worked and helped and did a lot, but day to day, it was mom who made the hundreds of decisions to keep the house running, the kids fed and out of trouble, the family as a unit.

Now, read these verses in the context of Jesus preparing to ascend and leaving plans in place for the founding of the church, for the creation of Neighborhoods here in God’s Kingdom.  My first reading of all this was in the context of ‘Trinity’, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are all brought together in these few verses.

But they are brought together for a purpose.  In God and as God, Jesus is laying down the foundation of how, in the divine, this new thing-this church-is going to function.  The household of faith is built on more than the promises of God, also the active participation and intervention of God.

This is especially touching where Jesus speaks of His ascension.  The world will no longer see Him, but we will.  This is the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit.  The church is not left with an attitude on the part of Jesus that goes something like, “Okay, here you go, a Spirit, go play and I’ll see you at the second coming.”

No, Jesus is here, the literal “Emmanuel”, which means “God With Us”.  Mom was always there, always managing things, always preparing, and (darn it) always right.  It's kind of a tribute to mom that it takes God in Three Persons to replace her in the household of faith…

 

And the connector through this all is love.  I didn’t always understand (or choose to understand, let me be real) what mom asked of me, but it was always from love.  For me personally, mom is not here anymore.  But, like my Lord Jesus, neither is she really gone.

 

Jesus builds our Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom on love as surely as mom build our home on love. 

 

Pastor Pete

Did You Know About the Abandoned Bridge Over 130? I Didn't...

So, I know I've talked about walking.  One of the joys of walking is discovering hidden bits.  

I walk for three main reasons. First is for my health.  It is the only sustainable exercise program I have ever managed.  It is also Outside, something we all need.

What follows is a Side Bar Rabbit Hole that took on a life of its own. Enjoy or skip along to the main point.

This may sound nuts, but I actually found something useful on Social Media about going outside.  First thing in the morning, I go outside (or stand on the porch and open the door if the weather is averse).  Now, at first glance I thought the FB post said something about cicadas being in rhythm with us when we do this, but it is, in fact circadian rhythm.  Now, I thought “Circadians” were an order of nuns in the Roman Catholic church from the Middle Ages, but apparently not. 

I ALSO learned a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious word in all this, 'suprachiasmatic nucleus'.  It's like the gears of the clock in the human brain.

It is the internal clock God created us with to govern our actions and life cycle in response to the First Day of Creation, when God said, “Let there be light.”  And then it was evening, and the first day.  We are created in alignment with all of God’s creation, which is really cool.

I know it’s too late, but in an attempt to make a long story short, a time outside first thing in the morning apparently aligns our internal clocks to the day God created.  And it actually works for me.

Thus endeth the Side Bar Rabbit Hole, back to the main point.

The second reason I walk is for the history and geography laid out in the very ground beneath my feel. 

That is where this hidden bit popped.  If you go west on Maple from the church (toward Rt. 130), and take the really tight right before going up on the Federal Street Overpass, there is a short stretch of road (N. 43^rd Street) up which you can see the terminus of a railway bridge crossing Rt. 130. 

I have seen the bridge as I’ve driven Rt. 130, and I know it is overgrown, but I did not connect it to something even bigger.  It is the extension of the west end of the Merchantville Mile.  I knew the Merchantville Mile was built on a railway line.  I love the coffee drinks at the Station (and the Arts community it helps support).  But walk to the end of the Mile westbound from Centre Street and it dead ends into some trees.  But follow West Chestnut, on the south side of the Mile, and it turns into N 43rd Street at the Merchantville/Pennsauken border, and there's the bridge!

The third reason I walk is for my faith.  It was supposed to be time to pray, but God had other plans.  

Let me back up for a moment to talk about those plans.  We have spoken in our church of Jesus’ summary of the law as our guidance for Christian living, to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our Neighbors as ourselves.  We use that as a chart of a sort.  Loving God with our soul is contemplative of God’s love and grace and creation and all that is great and wonderful.  Loving God with our mind is communicative, to pray.  Loving God with our strength is our Stewardship, what of our abilities and possessions to we offer up in love to do what God calls us to do.

To pray and to do, I know about those.  The contemplative, not so much.  The magical and mystical and simply resting in the power of God, sounds amazing, but I have never been able to sit still with any ease. 

But to walk, that's where God was leading.  Certain walks are not about the walk so much about focus on the beauty of God’s creation in the trees and flowers.  It was very powerful in the delayed spring we’ve had after our first “real” winter in how long?  It is about the insights that Lord drops while out and about.  A thought, a connection, a concern, a possibility. 

This past Sunday, firing up the reality that we are a Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God set things up for today.  We are in the heart of Merchantville, Merchantville is the heart of a ring including Pennsauken, Camden, and Cherry Hill; in turn in the heart of a ring including Palmyra, Cinnaminson, Maple Shade, Mt Laurel, more Cherry Hill (there’s a LOT of Cherry Hill), Haddonfield, Haddon, and Collingswood...and more Camden (LOTS of Camden too).

This is where the hidden bit popped.  A bridge over Rt. 130.  Merchantville comes very close to 130, but doesn’t cross.  But the Neighborhood does.  God has sent us out.  How far then shall we go?  A decommissioned railroad bridge served God’s purpose to poke me, and now us, to think on that.

Pastor Pete

Scripture Readings for May 10, 2026: John 14: 15-21

https://youtu.be/xpO4clqxUwA 

We seek to share the upcoming Scripture lesson each week to give folks an opportunity to listen to the word of God ahead, to meditate on it, and generally seek to integrate it into the activities of daily living before we come together in worship.

May God's Word bless you today.

Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/xpO4clqxUwA

By the Power of God the Father, Jesus has Never left the Faithful, by the Power of Spirit. So How Do We Kill That Beautiful Understanding?

Our passage this week is John 14: 15-21.  We continue in the time after Jesus’ Resurrection, yet before His Ascension.  The disciples will begin a new phase of their lives of Acting on their faith in the world.  It begins with them and is a faith community that continues with us.

So, the Father, who is calling the Son home-the Son who will return again, will not leave the disciples 'in the lurch'.  Another will come, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in their hearts.  This is no less that Jesus coming to reside in their hearts.  The rest of the world won’t get it, but we will understand.  It is how the love of God will continue into this new phase of God’s plan.  So, Jesus no longer in our lives, but, in our hearts, the power of God up close and personal.

This is the framework for understanding how we will act as Christians in the world:

John 14: ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

So, how then will the Devil get into the system to undermine what God does for us?  How about making it more important to believe the right thing than to do the right thing?  

According to the Google, ‘doctrine’ “is a codification of beliefs, principles, or instructions held by a group (in this case Christians) acting as a framework for understanding and acting in the world.”  As a framework for understanding and acting in the world, I hope those verses are clear.

We understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a framework of understanding how God has chosen to act in the world.  In this case, we are speaking of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

 HOWEVER-and if you are NOT a fan of rabbit hole diving, stop reading here.  HOWEVER, because this is so important, how will the Devil seek to undermine it?

It could start with a close reading of the passage that ends up with something like this:  ”So we have God who is forever and all-powerful above us and surrounding us, invisible yet all-embracing who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME a human being who came to live among us, tempted in every way and yet without sin who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME a Spirit, well, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God inhabiting our hearts.”

Some may consider that seriously cool.  Others may consider that seriously confusing. 

This was so cool and confusing that the Whole church (of the time) got together in Nicaea in 325 and in Constantinople in 381 and codified (made a Doctrine) that God is Three in One.  God is in three ‘persons’ (Divine Persons, not human persons except…Jesus…) and it has been labeled in history as the Doctrine of the Trinity. 

 Now, there’s the key word, not Trinity, but Doctrine. 

Something the church likes to do is to borrow ideas and concepts from the rest of the world to illustrate what we are trying to say.  But we often use those ideas and concepts poorly.  What I have in mind here is that we do not just have a Doctrine of the Trinity, we have a Trinitarian Formula (borrowing and messing up a basic principle of mathematics or maybe chemistry-but for Jesus).  We use this at baptism, “In the name of the…1… Father, and of the…2… Son, and of the…3… Holy Spirit”.

This is how the numbers break out for our Scripture passage for Sunday:

Jesus is speaking here: ¹⁵ “If you love Me(2), you will keep My(2) commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father(1), and He(1) will give you another Advocate(3), to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit(3) of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him(3) nor knows Him(3). You know Him(3) because He(3) abides with you, and (3)He will be in you.

¹⁸ “I(2) will not leave you orphaned; I(2) am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see Me(2), but you will see me(2); because I(2) live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I(2) am in my Father(1), and you in Me(2), and I(2) in you. ²¹ They who have My(2) commandments and keep them are those who love Me(2), and those who love Me(2) will be loved by my Father(1), and I(2) will love them and reveal Myself(2) to them.”

SO…see how easily this can draw the joy and power of these words of Christ?  Like a freshman lecturer in college starting , "Allow me to bore you as we contemplate the Godhead" (yes, Godhead is another name for the Trinity). 

If we get stuck here, the Devil wins.  We lose out on the deeper knowledge and understanding of how God acts in the world and how WE are to follow. 

But if we choose to STOP here, the Devil wins even more.  We believe that God is in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and you better get that down pat or else you aren’t doing your faith right.  Few people would say that explicitly, but it is laced implicitly across our faith.  Get this right or you don’t move on.

 This is when a Doctrine, an important piece of defining our faith, becomes an Idol, when it takes on a life of its own, when its purpose is “getting it right” and does NOT continue to its Real purpose, "doing it right", as a framework for acting in the world. 

When the Bible, or some part of it, some set of verses, some proof text, when these become how we understand Jesus' words to “keep my commandments”, when we start somewhere else than Jesus' commandments to sum up the law, to Love God and Love Neighbor, then we’ve been derailed from our faith.

Thus endeth the trip down the Rabbit Hole.

Pastor Pete