Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Ambler

CD graduates are reminded to live greatness

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CD grad 2013
Christopher Dock Mennonite High School Class of 2013 members share a laugh together during the school’s 58th Annual Commencement on Saturday June 8,2013. Photo by Mark C Psoras\The Reporter

by Jennifer Connor, jconnor@thereporteronline.com
Reposted by permission from The Reporter

In a commencement ceremony that emphasized the three main pillars of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School’s mission, the school graduated 84 students in the Class of 2013 Saturday night. Christopher Dock “seeks to ignite passion for learning, faith and life,” according to its website and demonstrated so in this year’s ceremony.

Senior Class President Tyler Denlinger launched the ceremony by delivering the welcome address, thanking those who have walked alongside the graduates throughout their schooling journey. Later in the ceremony, Denlinger, who also graduated summa cum laude and received the Paul R. Clemens Bible Award, received the Christopher Dock Award as the male student who demonstrates all-around campus citizenship, leadership and scholarship during high school. Marissa Joy Souder was the female recipient.

Among the 84 graduates were exchange students. Prior to the ceremony, Bogusia Stone who has hosted Dohee Kim, a student from South Korea, for the past three years excitedly anticipated the ceremony, proudly waving her “parent ticket.”

“I even have a mom ticket!” Stone said. Dohee, who received the Charles Clemmer Art award for excellence in the subject of art, will attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall.

Hometown principal of graduating seniors and exchange students Camilo Hurtado and Daniel David Ramirez Zea was even in attendance, visiting all the way from the students’ home country of Columbia.

Midway through the ceremony, engaged students watched an energetic and passionate speech delivered by Andrew Huth, a documentary photographer and youth pastor at Ambler Mennonite Church. Huth was adopted at the age of nine from South Korea and emphasized how the change from having nothing to having everything influenced his life path.

Huth began his speech by turning the podium away from the audience of parents, teachers, family and friends — and instead faced it towards the students on stage.

Andrew Huth at CD grad 2013
Andrew Huth challenged students to live greatness. Photo by Lauren Pupillo

The students gave Huth their full attention as he described the development of his career, focusing on the two biggest criticisms he ever received and how they influenced him to change his focus.

The first criticism came from a local newspaper photography editor shortly after Huth decided he wanted to be a newspaper photographer. When Huth asked the editor to share his biggest critique the editor said the photography showed that Huth was afraid to engage people since many of his photos were taken from a distance or behind.

“I then began to approach my assignments by not taking any photographs until I was sitting, eating and talking with my subjects,” Huth said. “If you want the good stuff, you can’t get that at a distance.”

His second biggest criticism came from the vice president of the Associated Press and Director of Photography in an interview in Manhattan. Huth sat nervously as the vice president viewed his portfolio silently and then prompted him to give his biggest critique.

The vice president said he had many great single images but he wanted to see more and be told a story with the pictures. In that moment, Huth decided he wanted to become a documentary photographer.

His speech, entitled, “Don’t Dream of Greatness,” emphasized that one must live and breathe the greatness they aspire to possess. He encouraged students to look at their causes and those they want to help not as projects but rather as partners.

“Dreaming is such a dangerous thing – you’re so close to the real thing but it’s not quite there,” Huth said. “Everyone thinks of changing the world but never themselves. Don’t dream of greatness but do and become greatness.”

Huth’s message seemed to fit in well with the Class of 2013’s Bible verse that class vice president Elizabeth Curis shared. From Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord your God is with thee.”

Delivering Christ to a waiting world

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by Donna Merow, Ambler

live nativity at Towamencin
The live nativity at Towamencin congregation. Photo by Casie L. Allebach.

Christmas. I have long been ambivalent about this holy season.  Don’t get me wrong.  I LOVE Christmas—the anticipation of Advent, the children’s pageant, singing “Silent Night” by candlelight with guitar accompaniment, the live nativity, the retelling of the familiar story, the making and wrapping of gifts.

But I also dread its coming—the gaudy lawn decorations, inane songs like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” blaring from the radio, the excesses of the celebration.  I lament with Linus its commercialization and long to discover if the Grinch’s Whoville observation is farther reaching and that it can, indeed, come “without packages, boxes, or bags.”

I trace my ambivalence to singing “Will Santy Came to Shanty Town?” for a school program when I was about nine.  The song is a child’s first person wondering if Santa will visit his side of the tracks this time around or if his mother will have to repaint his toys the way she did the year before.  At the time I needed to believe in the magic of Christmas more than anything.  My parents had recently divorced, which necessitated a move, and my world was turned upside down by the addition of a stepfather who drank too much.  But Eddy Arnold’s musical autobiography captured my youthful imagination.  The revelation that Santa apparently didn’t come to all deserving children was an epiphany for me and one that has shaped my Christmas-keeping in the decades since.

The Irish have a beautiful custom of having the youngest child light a candle in the window on Christmas Eve, lest Christ should come in the guise of a stranger.  I count the strangers I have met during this time of year to be among my most treasured gifts.

One year we were able to connect with a woman we read about in The Inquirer.  She lead a group of fearless females who stood on the corner in their neighborhood with their mops and brooms to reclaim it from the drug dealers, and she often provided sanctuary to a dozen or more children in her home.

Then there was the mother of the family we had adopted through the Visiting Nurses Association who selflessly offered a sleeping bag that she had requested to another mother who showed up at the center because she had nothing to give to her little ones.

I generally avoid the mall as much as possible, but one year I was approached there by a stranger as I was enjoying a snack after a fruitful search for flannel sheets for my newly-separated father.  Within a half hour I had learned about her painful spiritual journey through divorce and the sexual abuse of her children.

Liberty Ministries Christmas
Volunteers with Liberty Ministries pack Christmas gifts for inmates.

That same year, my family traveled into Philadelphia for a performance of The Nutcracker.  A young woman struck up a conversation with me (I am an avowed introvert and rarely initiate such encounters) as we waited on the platform at Market East for the R5 to take us home.  Our conversation continued until she got off at the stop before us.  She was a recovering drug addict trying to put her life back together.  Her grandfather was dying in a nursing home in the area, and friends were taking her to visit him.  He had believed in her even when she didn’t believe in herself, she explained.

This year the world was too much with me, and I feared that Christmas might not come, “but it came just the same.”  It came through offering a ride to an elderly woman in front of me in the check-out line at the Dollar Tree store who would surely have struggled walking home with her cane and packages.  It came in attending a nursing home concert in which several members of my congregation performed.  It came shopping with a neighbor for an immigrant family facing its first Christmas without a mother/wife/daughter/sister.  It came helping to prepare nearly 2,000 brown paper packages for the inmates at Montgomery County Correctional Facility and having the privilege of joining others from Liberty Ministries in their distribution to the women who eagerly awaited them and gratefully received them.  It came with a real “baby Jesus” in the pageant this Sunday and our own costumed angels poignantly drawing us in as we mourned the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in a sleepy New England town.

Christmas.  The celebration of God with us invites us all to be open to possibility and opportunities—to “deliver” Christ to a waiting world, to serve Christ among the least of these, and to be surprised anew by the ways Christ comes to us in the midst of our isolation and loneliness, our longing for things to be different, our busyness and self-absorption, and our grief and pain, our hopes and fears.

Introducing Ambler Mennonite Church

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Ambler’s Kids Art Club paints a 44-foot mural.

Ambler began in a garage in 1952 as an outreach of Franconia Conference. This mission was nearly abandoned when those who came to serve the children of the area found them too unruly. A decade later, a meetinghouse was built on donated land at the corner of Spring Garden and Mount Pleasant Avenues, within walking distance of the train to Philadelphia. In the last century Ambler grew as a company town for Keasbey and Mattison, an asbestos manufacturer. Despite this environmental legacy, Ambler is in the midst of revitalization with numerous restaurants, theaters, and shops opening on its main street. It’s first female mayor, a member of our congregation, was elected last fall.

Ours is an average-sized congregation with leadership provided by a full-time pastor, a pair of elders, and a ministry team composed of a chair, five commission chairs, our Conference delegate, and the pastor that meets monthly. Our current pastor is the second woman in that position and was called from within.

Ambler is a diverse congregation—racially, ethnically, generationally, geographically, theologically, and otherwise. Our worship style is eclectic, informal, and participatory. We are a people who enjoy each other’s company and look for opportunities to connect outside the walls. Who we are is reflected in our mission statement —”a diverse community of believers following Jesus in building relationships by serving those among and around us with love and offering the good news of peace, hope, and healing.”

We continue to be a congregation with a focus on young people. This has included Vacation Bible School and a Kids Can Club, an art club that ran for several summers, hosting rock concerts featuring local high school bands, and sharing our space with the Ambler area Boys and Girls Club. Some of us regularly participate in prison ministry, gun shop and drone protests, and MDS work; others keep the situation in the Holy Land before us. We support the local food cupboard and Interfaith Housing and join with another congregation in May to shelter homeless families. We provide meeting space for a group trying to bring a food co-op to town. In recent years, we have become well known for our Pennsylvania Dutch dinners in the spring and a community flea market in the fall. Shoo-fly pies figure prominently in both.

 

Quiet rebellion against the status quo

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Donna Merow

(To Mennonite Blog #3)

by Donna Merow, Ambler

In a sermon titled Transformed Nonconformist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority” (Strength to Love, 27).

To “Mennonite” is to be creatively maladjusted to a society that promotes materialism, nationalism, militarism, and violence.

I was introduced to the Mennonite/Anabaptist perspective at Providence and Methacton more than thirty years ago.  This was the era of Ron Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and Doris Jantzen Longacre’s Living More with Less.   The lifestyle of simplicity and service such books advocated captured my imagination in a big way.  My sister describes me to her friends as “almost Amish,” and, in some ways, I suppose I am.  We decided to raise our children without Santa Claus or television.  A clothesline replaced the dryer and kept us connected in some small way with the rhythms of the natural world.  We built a little house in the woods and lived on one income so I could be a full-time stay-at-home mom until my daughters were in high school.

Such non-conformity to the standards of culture is only possible if one takes Jesus seriously, not only on Sunday morning but in every encounter and experience throughout the week.  This was something I saw modeled in the first “salt of the earth” Mennonites I met.  Doing so means thoughtfully considering what following Jesus looks like in decisions big and small—the purchases one makes, the words one  speaks, the actions one  takes, how one spends his/her time.  Should I spend a little more for organic produce?  Do I really need that new dress?  Can I skip that trip and take a walk instead?  How do I speak the truth in love in this delicate situation?  Will doing this honor/model Christ?

To “Mennonite” also means taking community seriously.  I was rebaptized and became a member of the Mennonite Church on my first wedding anniversary.  One of the most memorable questions posed to me as part of this public confession was, “Are you willing to give and receive counsel in the congregation?”  The mutual accountability and responsibility inherent in the question continues to remind me that we are in this relationship together.  Everyone, I think, needs to have someone in his/her life who loves him/her enough to risk speaking the truth, however painful it may be.  The vulnerability this demands of both giver and receiver is powerfully present each Holy Week in the simple act of kneeling before each other to wash feet.  But the love symbolized in this annual ritual is evident throughout the year as we celebrate life’s milestones, care for children, prepare meals, clean houses, move possessions, offer advice, or listen with a sympathetic ear.

This spring I did a six-week class on memoir writing at the Mennonite Heritage Center.  Our last assignment included considering a possible title for our would-be memoir based on the writing we had done during the class.  I called mine “Closet Rebel,” and the Mennonites are largely to blame.  I am grateful to those who “Mennonite” at Ambler and Methacton for giving me the space and encouragement I needed for my quiet rebellion against the status quo.  They have accepted me wholeheartedly, creatively maladjusted as I am.

Next week, Noah Kolb, a forty-year minister in Mennonite congregations, will wrestle with his splintered heritage of faith and practice.  How do you “Mennonite”?  Join the conversation by email.

Who am I?  (To Mennonite Blog #1)
Serving Christ with our heads and hands (To Mennonite Blog #2)
Quiet rebellion against the status quo (To Mennonite Blog #3)
Mennoniting my way (To Mennonite Blog #4)
Generations Mennoniting together (To Mennonite Blog #5)
Body, mind, heart … and feet (To Mennonite Blog #6)
We have much more to offer (To Mennonite Blog #7)
Mennonite community … and community that Mennonites (To Mennonite Blog #8)

Communing with each other and the world

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by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Every year, followers of Jesus around the world join together in remembering his death and resurrection through the act of communion. World Communion Sunday is a celebration marking that through his death, Jesus broke down the wall of hostility between people groups and that through his resurrection, Christ formed a new family of disciples world-wide.

Swamp’s children walk around the globe
Swamp’s children encircle and walk around the globe singing “I am the Church” on World Communion Sunday. Photo by Abby Mason.

Whether wearing clothes from countries around the world, as they did at Plains in Hatfield, Pa., or sharing a spaghetti dinner with the church down the street, as they did at Ripple in Allentown, Pa., Franconia Conference congregations spent October 2nd remembering this holy communion with the world-wide church.

“This remains one of my favorite services of the year,” said Sharon Ambrose, a member of Swamp (Quakertown, Pa.). “I find it so meaningful to celebrate with Christians around the world.” In addition to sharing communion bread from other countries and reading Scripture in multiple languages, Swamp’s service focused on expanding circles of concern from the congregation to the world, both locally and globally.

Church elders pray behind the communion table
Church elders pray behind the communion table at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life. Photo by Emily Ralph.

At Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, Pastor Marta Castillo also encouraged her congregation to evaluate how their actions affected believers around the world. “On World Communion Sunday,” she said, “we need to think about how we commune with the Body of Christ that is hungry . . . with the Body of Christ that is persecuted. . . with the Body of Christ that are immigrants.”

Souderton (Pa.) Mennonite Church celebrated with the theme of hospitality from Acts 2, which describes how the early church worshiped and ate together, sharing their possessions. The congregation used a braided bread of different colors to remind them that people from many nations were celebrating the Lord’s Supper with them. As members of the congregation approached the communion tables, they were joined on the big screen by photos of people celebrating communion around the world.

Souderton--world communion bread
Souderton used a braided bread to remind them that people from many nations were celebrating the Lord’s Supper with them. Photo by Alyssa Kerns.

Ambler celebrated more than World Communion Sunday—the congregation also hosted a regional CROP walk to end hunger that afternoon. Ambler’s preschoolers mixed and bagged trail mix for those who would be “praying on their feet” and, with issues of global hunger on their minds, the congregation worshiped around tables. On each table was a cut-out of the earth with facts and quotes about the condition of the world printed on it, said Pastor Donna Merow. “These became part of our silent confession as we prepared for Communion,” she reflected. “We served one another [around the tables] and then enjoyed an international meal together before heading out to walk to raise funds for global relief efforts.”

On World Communion Sunday and throughout the rest of the year, we are being formed as Jesus-followers, joining God’s world-wide mission to invite all people to participate in God’s kingdom. “Marking this day gives us an invitation to remember our sisters and brothers in places far from us,” said Samantha Lioi, associate pastor at Whitehall Mennonite. “Hearing scripture in three languages and being asked to choose from a variety of breads reminds us we are sojourners as Jesus was, not quite at home but creating welcome places wherever we pitch our tents.”

Conference pastors focus on intergenerational leadership

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By Benjamin Sutter, benjamins5@goshen.edu

Harleysville, PA—Sheldon Good and Steve Kriss know what it means to work as an intergenerational leadership team—Good worked as an intern with Franconia Conference for four years under Kriss, director of communication and leadership cultivation. The two men brought their own story of leading from separate generations to this month’s pastors’ breakfast.

More than forty conference pastors and church leaders gathered Thursday morning at the Mennonite Conference Center to discuss intergenerational leadership. Kriss and Good, now assistant editor of the Mennonite Weekly Review, outlined some differences between the leadership styles of Generation X (age 30-45) and Millennial (age 18-29) leaders.

“[Millennials] don’t just use gadgets and Google, we fuse our lives into them,” said Good. He described Millennials as a generation marked by Google, while Kriss reflected on how the PBS show Sesame Street encouraged Generation Xers to embrace diversity.

Kriss remarked at the increasing demographic diversity of leaders in the conference. He noted the presence of women, Asians, and those in their 30s, commenting that it was not difficult to find a panel of congregational leaders who already work with intergenerational leadership teams.

Good and Kriss praised the diversity, but hope that shared intergenerational leadership will continue to develop in more churches. Kriss noted that the conference is credentialing Gen X leaders much later in life than previous generations; both men cautioned that this sets up potential for leadership clash between generations.

“Millennials want to lead now,” said Good. “If they’re told they’re going to lead next, they’ll go somewhere else where they can lead now.”

During the second half of the breakfast, a panel of intergenerational leaders from the conference shared challenges and hopes. This panel included pastors from Philadelphia Praise Center, Ambler Mennonite, and Nueva Vida Norristown New Life.

“We tend to congregate around people who mimic us and seem like us,” shared Andrew Huth, outreach pastor for Ambler. Intergenerational leadership can help bring new and different people into churches, he said.

“Church is a place where we come to discuss and wrestle [with life],” Huth said. “[Intergenerational church] allows for a broader range of people to participate … When we expand a discussion in the church, that can only be a good thing.”

[podcast]http://mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Intergenerational%20Leadership.mp3[/podcast]

Intergenerational Questions and Trends

Youth in the city: Rooted in the future

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Young leaders retreat into Philadelphia for a new kind of leadership formation

–Kayla Benner, Ambler Mennonite Church

“I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:5-7)On November 20, 2010, I attended the Youth Leadership Retreat along with youth from churches and ministries across Eastern District and Franconia Mennonite Conference. We were all chosen to attend this “retreat” because of leadership qualities that adults have already seen within us. As this busy and spiritually charged day went by I learned many things about my peers, myself, and most importantly the power of Christ and his people.

As the opening worship session began I was struck by the incredible amount of passion and joy that the people leading possessed. Their passion and excitement helped to wake me up and to get me ready to learn and grow throughout the rest of the day. After we were welcomed to Philadelphia Mennonite High School we were instructed to participate in the often awkward, and always dreaded “ice breaker.” This activity confirmed my worst fears that I had pushed myself too far past the boundaries of my comfort zone. After having short, one minute conversations with about five people the activity was over and I retreated back to the my familiar comfort zone. I was not able to remain there for long because we were then dismissed to our workshops which brought on even more chances to push myself.Out of the two short morning sessions the one that impacted me the most was the one titled, “Rooted in Diversity.” This workshop was entirely about the life and ministry of Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC). PPC is a new congregation that worships in a somewhat unorthodox way that requires intense perseverance and faith in the Lord. PPC is a congregation that serves to provide the needs of its surrounding community, primarily by providing worship services in three different languages: Indonesian, Spanish, and English. Many of the members of the church are undocumented immigrants who live in constant fear of being uprooted and deported from the United States. After the workshop I heard an incredible story from a girl how has had to live through things I couldn’t even imaging having to deal with and she’s exactly the same age as I am. As I was listening to her heartbreaking story I was struck by the incredible strength and faith she has. Though she has every right to give up she continues to have hope and faith in her Creator. As I became more familiar with her story I realized that not only her, but many other members of the congregation have to deal with the same problems.

Philadelphia Praise Center is a family to its members and they seem to have a bond that not many other Mennonite churches have. I think what draws people to church, especially a Mennonite church, is the sense of stability, which is something the members of PPC do not have. At any moment a family or a member of a family may be deported and the church must gather together and deal with that. I think in knowing that at any moment a church member may have to leave gives the congregation the ability to outwardly show their love more easily. They must give everything today because it could all be gone tomorrow. This is a valuable lesson we could all learn from the congregation of Philadelphia Praise Center.I spent a good part of my afternoon participating in a workshop called, “Rooted in Service”. I chose to participate in this particular workshop because I believe service is a fantastic way to spread the love of Christ. You can tell people about Christ and his teachings all you want, but they won’t believe you until you actually show them through your actions and the way you live your life. I was given the unique opportunity to spend this afternoon workshop talking with Dan Umstead. Dan uses his gifts to spread his ministry through Kingdom Builders Construction. As he was telling me a little about his ministry I was struck by the sacrifices he has made in order to live his faith outwardly. Through my afternoon of service I learned two major things. First I saw how little things can make a big difference and it is important that we do them. By taking the time to rake leaves in a few people’s yards our service group was able to make a handful of people happy. We provided them with the ability to have their yard clean again and hopefully they were able to see the light of Christ through our actions. The second thing I learned was through a conversation with Dan. He explained to me that giving and receiving requires a two-way relationship. If just one person is giving but not receiving, or vice versa, that relationship will not last. Only through the balance of give and take will a relationship be lasting.Before I knew it the day was being wrapped up in a closing worship service. We were all gathered together again to listen, sing, and praise God one last time that day. During the service I found myself reflecting on the impactful events of the day, the lessons I learned, and most of all the people I met.

I learned that leadership qualities can be found in anyone, It doesn’t take a specific type of person to emerge as a leader. I believe that introverts possess one of the most important qualities of a leader: the ability to lead by example. It is important to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others, to give and receive so that our relationships with others may stay alive. God may also throw things at us that we struggle with, but through the love and care of our brothers and sisters we can continue to have hope and faith.Together, as leaders, we crossed borders, we pushed ourselves, we inspired others, we grew, and we “fanned into flame the spiritual gifts God gave us. At the end of our event there was a table with many lit candles on it and one larger candle in the center. Marlene Frankenfield closed our event with the following words and as she spoke these words she raised up the largest candle into the air and blew it out. This was used as a symbol of our faith and how we should be as a flame by spreading our faith. May Marlene’s words be a challenge for all of us–“The light of God is not extinguished for it is in you.”Kayla Benner was part of the planning team for the special one-day youth retreat in Philadelphia, planned collaboratively by members a team of Philadelphia Anabaptist leaders along with Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference including Barbara Moses (Philadelphia Mennonite High School), Dan Umstead (Kingdom Builders Construction), Joe Hackman (Salford Mennonite Church), Scott Benner (Eastern District Conference), Marlene Frankenfield (Franconia Conference), Andrew Huth (Ambler Mennonite Church), Maria Byler and Adrian Suryajaya (Philadelphia Praise Center). In the city, the youth worked with various churches and partnerships including Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, Philadelphia Mennonite High School, Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust.

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A long distance out of the way: Decades of living life lead to a call to pastor

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Donna Merow, Ambler

Edward Albee wrote, “Sometimes it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” This describes my journey to pastoral ministry.

In the seventh grade an aptitude test indicated “nun” as a suitable career choice. This is not what most adolescent girls dream of becoming, especially if they are Protestant. It took me decades to realize that there were few other options available in 1970 to young women with a decidedly religious bent and even longer to answer the call to pastor. I went to college, dropped out, got married, raised two daughters, finished my bachelor’s degree, was diagnosed with early stage cancer, began a teaching career, earned a graduate degree in education and became a grandmother.

All the while I was actively involved in churches—Methodist, Baptist, Mennonite (where I was rebaptized thirty years ago), Episcopalian, Presbyterian—and the communities they served. Many people along the way encouraged me to consider seminary (none more persistently than former Ambler pastor Mel Thomas), but I always had a ready excuse.

For twenty years I was a stay-at-home mom with an incomplete degree and lots of time to invest in the lives of young people through the scouting and Odyssey of the Mind programs. By the time I finished my undergraduate work, my firstborn was beginning her’s; her sister was four years behind. As a first generation college graduate, I wanted this to be the best possible experience for my girls.

Although I had been collecting catalogues from area seminaries, the timing did not seem right. After our youngest graduated, I was able to spend several months trying on a pastoral role when Sharon Wyse Miller was granted a sabbatical. I wanted to see what it was like to prepare and deliver a message each week before I could seriously entertain the idea of attending seminary full-time. It was a wonderfully rich summer for me as I applied many of the pedagogical techniques I had practiced in the classroom to Jesus’ teaching through parables. At its conclusion, I wrestled with God about seminary.

I learned two important lessons from my undergraduate experience that informed my decision. The first was that I could not study in isolation; I needed to have one foot in the “real” world. The other was my desire for face-to-face interaction. I am an introvert by nature, so while distance education was comfortable and rewarding, it did not afford the opportunities for growth that I needed.

I found a good fit with Biblical’s LEAD MDiv degree. An alternative program designed for working adults, this allowed me to continue teaching and to build relationships with the members of cohort 12 with whom I have all of my courses.

I am old enough to be my classmates’ parent, but we enjoy a symbiotic relationship. I have the life experience and they have the tech savvy. It has proved to be a winning combination. With only a year of seminary completed, I did not expect to be looking for a position in a church for several years, but God had other plans. Sharon announced her planned retirement at the end of August at our January congregational meeting. Her announcement prompted me to complete the necessary paperwork to be considered as a candidate.

A month later, I learned that I would not have a job come September. The economic downturn made it necessary to cut my position at school. Unemployment made it necessary for me to trust God’s providence and possible to see the search process through to completion. It also freed me to do many things grading papers never allowed time for—a week at camp with special needs adults, putting siding on a Habitat house, helping to build a playground.

On October 4, the congregation that I have called “home” for a decade called me as its next pastor. It has been a long and convoluted path to pastoral ministry, but my installation service on November 8 confirmed that this is where I belong. I am excited by the possibilities before us as we live out the Gospel and respond to Christ’s missional call here in Ambler and beyond. Thanks be to God!