It’s a Small World by Rev. Don Steele

            “It’s a small world after all!” I remember visiting Disney World, years ago with friends, and getting stuck in the Small World amusement ride there, in the final room, where all the little animated dolls are dressed in white and singing that song in various languages. After a few minutes stuck there, my friend, who was sitting in the seat in front of us, half turned to me, visibly annoyed, and said, “If they don’t get this thing moving soon, I’m going to walk out, because I can’t take this anymore!”

            “There is just one moon and one golden sun. And a smile means friendship to everyone. Though the mountains divide, and the oceans are wide, it’s a small world after all.” And there’s no denying the truth that it seems that we live closer to each other than ever. The carbon that I discharge into the environment here has a global impact everywhere. The boundaries that used to keep us safe no longer isolate us. Social media brings anxiety anywhere in the world to the cell phone in my pocket. This is the world in which we are stuck, in some ways, and while we might be tempted to try to escape, the truth is that we cannot go anywhere. 

            And instead of getting annoyed and angry, a far better choice is to celebrate our interconnectedness as one human family called to care for each other and for this wonderful world. That’s why World Communion Sunday is such a meaningful way to start the fall. It was created in 1933 at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. It was the darkest year of the Great Depression. The Nazis were on the rise in Germany. In response, church leaders there decided to try to pull churches together to reaffirm unity in Christ around the Table. It wasn’t until the start of the Second World War and in its immediate aftermath that World Communion Sunday really became widely popular, spreading beyond Pittsburgh, beyond Presbyterians, beyond the United States to become an ecumenical, worldwide celebration of our diversity.

            “It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears. It’s world of hope and a world of fears. There’s so much that we share, that it’s time we’re aware, it’s a small world after all.” And, indeed, it is time we’re aware that, no matter where we live, we are all in this together.

Pastor Don Steele

Blowin' in the Wind

One of my all-time favorite youtube clips is from the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, aired on Feb 19th, 1969. It's of Glen and Stevie Wonder sitting down together at a white grand piano, Glen with his guitar, and pure magic happens. The song is "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan, and the soul that they both put into those five minutes is incredible. I have watched this clip hundreds of times, and every single time I weep. 

Part of it is that these are two supremely talented musicians, both with voices of gold, and the two of them together is pure bliss. Part of it is the amazing lyrics of the song by Bob Dylan. And part of it is that Glen and Stevie, in that moment, are living the message of the song they are singing. A white man and a black man sitting together to make music aired on national television in 1969, asking the question "How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn't see?".

Sometimes I weep because it seems that nothing has changed in the world since when that song was written and since that great moment in television history. Sometimes I weep because I don't have words to express my sadness with the world. And sometimes I weep because I'm inspired; inspired to work hard to be the change I want to see in the world. There is always work to be done.

All of this brings me back to this video time and time again. It reminds me that music can do amazing things: break down barriers of color, age, class, religion...you name it. And it helps to keep me inspired to do my part in breaking those barriers down.

Want some inspiration: check out the link below for the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSQn20V0m0

Back-to-School Blues

Welcome to the new year! If you have kids- I bet you are feeling... a little overwhelmed. I don’t know about your house, but in ours it’s not only the start of school and homework and new routines with a new grade, it’s also about activities and playdates and back to school night, committees and PTO and events to plan- not to mention demands at work for yourself and your spouse.

As moms, we are pretty good at helping everyone start strong- we work our mom magic- to help everyone ease back into the routine. We cook favorite dinners and turn the lights down a half an hour before bed. We open up the blinds to help the kids wake up on time, we read favorite stories and buy bath salts, we send care packages to college and we seem to know how to send a text at just the right moment that helps with roommates and classes, and we do everything that we can think of to help our families relax and settle in.

On Monday evening, I was enjoying being back at session and getting back into the swing of things at the church, but also keeping an eye on my watch and hoping that the kids were getting to bed on time- when Shelley Sherman, our elder for Christian Education shared that she was feeling the same way. I don’t know exactly why- but it felt so nice to know that I am not alone.

Shelley brought up a great quote from C.S. Lewis- that helped me remember that not only do other moms feel the same way that I do- but that God is always there for me- even helping me and my family ease into the routines of a new year.

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become- because He made us. He intended us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be... It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”

–      C.S. Lewis

My prayer for myself, and for all of us moms: 

Loving God, please help our kids transition into this new year- please give them a great year of growth and development- becoming the young men and women that God intended them to be. That, we can remember that in all the work that we do to love and support our families, that we are never alone- not only do we have a community that loves and supports us, we especially have you, our loving God- who is with us every step of the way. Amen. 

--

Rev. Deborah W. Huggins

DISRUPTION

On Sunday, September 11, we are disrupting our regular schedule in order to gather with our community to reflect on what has happened over the course of these past 15 years since the terrorists attacked our country. The community gathering will be on the Green, weather permitting, in our Sanctuary, in case of rain, at 9 am, followed by a community service project in our Auditorium at 10 am. Central will hold one worship service at 11 am in our Sanctuary. We know that this is a disruption to our normal schedule.

And that seems to me to be right. Fifteen years ago, on September 11, 2001, life was severely disrupted. That beautiful Tuesday morning, I had on my schedule a meeting with a Buddhist monk visiting from Japan and an installation service for the officers of the Presbyterian Women in the church that I was serving in Scarsdale, New York. There was a late afternoon meeting about the budget for 2002 on my calendar that day, ending the day with an evening meeting of the Mission Committee. None of those things happened. Instead, we spent the day in that church on the phones, frantically trying to find members and neighbors who worked in Manhattan. We held a prayer service that evening and opened our large gathering room just a few hundred feet from the train station for folks to gather and ran to the platform every time we heard a train coming to experience joyful reunion, deepening anxiety. That entire day was disrupted by the terrorist attacks, as was the entire week that followed, as life has been ever since then in some ways, for some more severely than for others.

And so, we are disrupting our normal schedule this Sunday, September 11 so that we can gather with our community to reflect on what has happened over the course of these past 15 years, because in the disruption, there’s been a powerful lesson. As I see it, that lesson is that we need to put each other first, ahead of our schedules, ahead of our comfortable routines, ahead of our religious traditions, even. Which I think, actually, is what Jesus taught, when he confronted those who tried to use God to make people seem to be less important. “The sabbath”—that central religious celebration in Jesus’ religious tradition—“The sabbath was made for humankind,” Jesus told them, “not humankind for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). This Sunday, I hope you join us as we honor the disrupter we profess to follow, and change what we do, and put our neighbors—all of them, no matter who—first.

Pastor Don Steele