Mid-Week Meet-Up: New Members Class

Hi First Presbyterian,

Some of my favorite things to celebrate in the church are baptisms and welcoming new members. Both are evidence and reminders that the Holy Spirit is at work. To some extent, the pandemic has interrupted our celebration of these ceremonies. Recently, however, we’ve celebrated some baptisms, and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be leading a new members class this Fall. This three-session class is required for anyone who wants to become a member of the congregation; however, anyone who wants to learn more about the current vision of the church is welcome to attend the class, too. The class will be offered at 11:30 am following the worship services on September 19, 26, and October 3. The class on September 19 will answer the question: “What does it mean to be a Presbyterian?” The classes on September 26 and October 3 will cover topics related to what our church is up to right now. In these final two classes, we’ll discuss the vision for ministry of our church leadership, the ways our various groups and programs help to live out that vision, and the opportunities for each us to get more involved. If you want to become a member or if you are interested in attending the classes, please let me know!

Whether we are welcoming people into our membership through publicly professing their faith for the first time or through reaffirming the faith they have already publicly professed, membership in the congregation is all about faith in Christ. To be a member of the church, a person professes to trust in God’s mercy, to turn from sin and renounce evil, to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to commit to live in obedience to Jesus, and to devote themselves to the life of the church. That is a reason to celebrate!

Friends, Jesus is worth loving and obeying. I pray you know that to be true today and every day.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: August Outdoor Worship

Hi First Presbyterian,

This Sunday, after our regular indoor service, we will have an outdoor worship service at 11:00 am on our church lawn. This will be our last outdoor worship service of the summer! The theme of the service will be: “being Christ’s hands and feet in Pittsford.”

In my sermon last Sunday, while referencing a passage from the book of James, I said that when we look into the mirror, it is the image of Jesus reflecting back to us. When I said that on Sunday, what I meant was that we should think of ourselves that way. I think it is equally true that others will think of us that way, too. As followers of Christ, we are Christ’s representatives in the world. The apostle Paul repeated used the metaphor of “the body of Christ” to refer to the Church.

Teresa of Ávila once said: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

When people outside the Church look at us and see Jesus, what does Jesus seem like to them? Is he humble, selfless, compassionate, and loving like when he was physically on the earth over 2,000 years ago? Or is he arrogant, self-serving, and indifferent to the needs of the world? Is he even visible enough that people know he’s here? These are important questions to ponder as we think about what it means to be the Church, and we’ll answer some of these questions at the outdoor service on Sunday.

I hope to see you at 11:00 on the church lawn (or at 9:30 inside or over livestream). Bring a blanket or chair. You might want to bring some comfortable shoes, too – but that’s a surprise I’m waiting to reveal at 11:00. I hope I’ve piqued your interest!

Peace,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: The Meaning of August

Hi First Presbyterian,

Last week I wrote about how quickly it feels that time is passing as we get older. Can you believe it’s already August?! Did you know that August used to be called “Sextillia” because it was the sixth month in the original Roman calendar? Its name was changed during the first century BC by the Roman Emperor Augustus, naming it after himself. Why did he name the month after himself? Consider the meaning behind some of the other names of the months. Many of them are named after Roman gods and goddesses: January (Janus), March (Mars), May (Maia), and June (Juno). Augustus (like his adoptive father Julius Caesar, who renamed the month of July after himself) wanted to put his name among the gods. Augustus, like his father, believed he was divine.

On the Roman tribute pennies during the time of Jesus, there was an image of the Emperor Tiberius (the adopted son of Augustus) along with the inscription: “Emperor Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus.” (By the way, this is the “denarius” Jesus told the Pharisees to get when they asked him whether or not Jews should pay taxes to Rome, cf. Mark 12:13-17.) During the time of Jesus, the phrase “Son of God” was highly politicized. Specifically, it was understood as a reference to the Roman Emperor. It is not an accident that the Gospel of Mark begins: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Not only is Mark using this highly politicized phrase “Son of God,” he’s also calling the news about Jesus the “gospel.” Did you know the Greek word for “gospel” (euaggelion) was a widely known word long before Christians used it to describe the story of Jesus. Originally, the word “gospel” was highly politicized and was used to describe the Roman Emperor in propaganda aimed at convincing people that having an Emperor was good for them. Combine this with the fact that people were told to believe that the Emperor was a son of the gods, and the message coming out of Rome was clear: "Be grateful that Caesar is your king! You can trust him. He is the son of the gods after all!"

From the perspective of first-century Judaism, the Roman Empire stood for lots of things: pursuit of power, violence, greed, and more. Jesus came to the earth in order to show us that God is diametrically opposed to all of that! Mark begins his Gospel the way he does in order to make a very clear point: “There is a new sheriff in town… and it isn’t Caesar!” Wow!

Here's a principle that is generally true: God's ways are not the ways of the world. Here's what I mean by that. The way that Jesus showed us how to live is often radically different to the way that comes naturally to us. Jesus teaches us to be generous in giving what we have to others; we naturally want to keep what we have for ourselves. Jesus teaches us to forgive our enemies and pray for our persecutors; we naturally want to react, retaliate, and protect our egos. Jesus teaches us to welcome and include the outsider; we naturally are afraid and suspicious of people who are different than us. Jesus teaches us to be last; we naturally want to be first. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we live in the radically selfless ways that Jesus taught us, we find peace, the kind of peace that only Jesus can give us (John 14:27). The kind of peace that we find when we realize that we only truly find our lives when we give them away (Mark 8:34-35). 

Friends, I pray you enjoy the month of August. More importantly, I pray you discover the peace that comes through following Jesus.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: TIme

Hi First Presbyterian,

I’ve never really resonated with the phrase “over the hill.” When people use that phrase, they mean that a person is “past their prime” or “not as young as they once were.” Maybe my opinion will change as I get older, but the passage of time doesn’t feel like a hill that we surmount at a certain point in life. To me, the passage of time feels like a hill we’ve been descending all along! From the time of our births, it’s as if our life is a ball that was nudged downhill and only picks up momentum the more it progresses. What I mean is: the older I get, the more quickly time seems to move. This is why we have idioms to describe the passage of time like “the sands of time” and “time flies.” Of course, this is all an illusion, but, if you think about it, it does makes some sense. One (24-hour) day is the same amount of time for a 2-year-old as it is for a 60-year-old. However, that same day makes up 0.04% of the total life of the 2-year-old but only 0.00005% of the total life of the 60-year-old. A single day is like nothing to a 60-year-old when compared to a 2-year-old, who has only lived about 730 days! The older we get, the faster time seems to go.

Allow me to encourage you. In Psalm 90:4, the psalmist describes God’s relationship to time like this: “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past.” God has existed long before we ever did, long before any humans, long before any universe. We describe God as “eternal” to try to talk about what God is like in relation to time, but the reality is, God is outside of time altogether. In my most self-aware moments when I contemplate the eternality and timelessness of God, it changes my experience of the passage of time. As the “ball” of my life is rolling down the hill, God isn’t chasing after me, trying to catch up. God isn’t ahead of me, waiting for me. God is right with me, wherever I am, always. When I am able to go there in my mind, the “ball” of my life seems to stop rolling and I feel grateful. I feel grateful, because I know that God is totally aware of everything in my life. I feel grateful because I know that God, who is timeless, is also unconditionally loving.

Friends, God is always with you. God will always be with you. Time may feel like it is flying by quickly, but take a moment today to try to become aware of God’s presence with you. “The world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 John 2:17). Let us learn to live in this present moment where we are known by a loving and eternal God.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Evangelism

Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! This Sunday will be our second outdoor worship service of the summer and will be at 11:00 am, following our regular worship service. I’ve been working with our Vital Congregations Initiative (VCI) team to put together a service centered on the theme of “telling our faith story.” Please come for coffee hour at 10:30 and bring your lawn chair or blanket for the service at 11:00.

What does it mean to “tell our faith story”? What do you think of when you hear the word “evangelism?” For a lot of people, they think of a person knocking on their front door or being approached by a stranger out in public who is trying to convert them into accepting a new religious worldview. If you’re like me, imagining yourself doing that kind of evangelism makes you incredibly uncomfortable. In 2019, when asked how many times they shared their faith in the past six months, 55% of Protestant churchgoers said they shared their faith 0 times. If our concept of evangelism involves approaching strangers and asking them invasive questions about religion, it’s no wonder over half of Protestants aren’t evangelizing!

On the other hand, Jesus commissioned his disciples at the end of his earthly ministry to make disciples of all nations, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Additionally, 1 Peter 3:15 tells us: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” We are expected to “always be ready” to tell others about our faith. VCI believes that “Intentional, Authentic Evangelism” is one of the marks of a healthy congregation. So, how do we reconcile the importance of evangelizing with our aversion to doing it?

What if evangelism didn’t have to involve accosting strangers but could involve having meaningful conversations with our neighbors - people we already know? What if evangelism didn’t have to involve a forced topic of conversation but was something that naturally came up as we talked about things that matter deeply to us? What if a starting point for evangelism was simply inviting people to worship with us at church?

In the book The Unchurched Next Door, author and researcher Thom Rainer explains the results of a study on evangelism that he and his team conducted. The study sought to understand the receptiveness of “unchurched” people (i.e., people who don’t attend any church and don’t identify as Christian) to the church and to Christian beliefs. The research identified five groups of unchurched people. Group 1 made up 11% of the unchurched and was highly receptive to being invited to church and hearing about its beliefs. Group 2 made up 27% of the unchurched and was receptive to being invited to church and hearing about its beliefs. Group 3 made up 36% of the unchurched and was neutral to the topic, with no clear signs of being interested yet perhaps open to discussion. Group 4 made up 21% of the unchurched and was resistant but not antagonistic to the topic. Group 5 made up 5% of the unchurched and was highly antagonistic and even hostile to the topic.

Would you have assumed that 36% of our unchurched neighbors were open to discussing being invited to church and that 38% of them were receptive or highly receptive to being invited to church? That seems amazing to me! Some of those people may be our own neighbors.

I hope you will come to our outdoor worship service this Sunday to worship God, to celebrate God’s love, and (importantly) to contemplate how to invite others in to experience that same love.

Peace to you,
Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Book of James (from June 30)

Hi First Presbyterian Church,

I want to remind you that this Sunday we will be going down to one worship service at 9:30 am. Whether you will worship with us in-person or online, please plan to adjust to the new start time. This Sunday we will also be observing Communion. At the in-person service, Communion will revert back to our pre-COVID practice, which means we will be passing the Communion elements on plates. Those of you worshiping from home should prepare to take the Sacrament as you have been doing.

My Wednesday Night Bible Study is beginning a study of the Book of James tonight. (All are welcome to attend!) The Book of James represents an interesting example of the struggle to find unity between the early Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The book also helps us to answer the question: what does it mean to be Christian? A hallmark of Christian theology, especially Reformed Presbyterian theology, is the doctrine of grace. The doctrine of grace says that God gives us salvation as a free gift, because God is loving, not because we earned salvation. We encounter the doctrine of grace in the New Testament primarily through the writings of Paul. He says in Galatians 2:16-17, “A person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… because no one will be justified by the works of the law.” In other words, we don’t earn salvation; we receive it (through faith) as a gift of God’s grace. We encounter a different idea in the Book of James. In James 2:17, it says, “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” You can see that both Paul and James are talking about “faith” and “works,” but they each talk about them differently. So… which is it? Is our faith in God’s grace enough? Or do our works also matter? I like to think of the interaction of faith and works kind of like my relationship to my kids. I can say I love my kids, but if I never do anything that demonstrates my love for them, I think it’s safe to call my “love” into question. That’s essentially what James is saying about the relationship between faith and works. But it’s also more nuanced than that, too. If you want to find out more, I encourage you to join us tonight for Bible Study online or in-person at the church!

Walk the walk today, my friends, and show the authenticity of your faith to the world.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Worship Update (from June 24)

Hi First Presbyterian,

This has been a busy week of deliberation and decision-making for the leadership of the church. Many of you have undoubtedly been wondering about our plans for the summer as it relates to the worship services: will we have one or two worship services? There have been many changing factors that delayed the decision-making process, including the recent changes from NY State lifting its mandatory COVID-19 safety guidelines. Yesterday, the Session approved the following recommendation from the Worship and Music Committee:

• There will be one summer service at 9:30 am starting July 4 through September 5.

This means worship will occur this Sunday at 8:30 am and 10:00 am, but the following Sunday (July 4) will only have one worship service at 9:30 am. Importantly, the 9:30 am service will be livestreamed, so please take note of the earlier start time and adjust accordingly. Sunday School will continue to be offered during the 9:30 am worship service throughout the summer.

I look forward to worshiping (in-person and online) with you this weekend and over the summer!

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: COVID Update (from June 23)

Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up, and today I’d like to share an update from the Session about re-opening. Following the state’s action lifting its mandatory COVID-19 safety guidelines last week, the Session approved the following recommendations from the Re-opening Task Force.

As it relates to worship:

We will be returning to normal worship practices, subject to the following:

• Unvaccinated congregants are encouraged to maintain social distance and sit socially distanced from others, allowing six feet of space between themselves and others if they wish to remove their mask. If they do not maintain that distance, they must wear masks until and unless this requirement is removed by applicable governmental agencies.

• Celebrating Communion and taking the offering will return to our normal practice.

As it relates to church groups and outside groups:

Groups gathering in the church building are no longer limited in number, subject to the following requirements:

• Unvaccinated people are encouraged to maintain social distance and sit socially distanced from others, allowing six feet of space between themselves and others if they wish to remove their mask. If they do not maintain that distance, they must wear masks until and unless this requirement is removed by applicable governmental agencies.

Of course, we should all continue being respectful and welcoming to everyone who wears a mask, either by choice or in compliance with the state. May we all follow Christ’s example of self-sacrificial love for one another.

I know that this news will come as a great relief and with great joy for many of you. I also know that many of you will be disappointed about the lifting of these safety guidelines, because you are immunocompromised or unable to receive the vaccine. The church remains committed to a hybrid approach to gatherings. Worship will continue to be livestreamed, and church meetings will have a videoconferencing option for people who are not present in-person. Speaking personally, my Wednesday night Bible study has been meeting for the past few weeks with half of the participants in-person and the other half on Zoom. It’s been really fun and seems to be working well. Let’s continue to move forward as one church, with one purpose, and with one Lord and Savior!

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Outdoor Worship

Hi First Presbyterian,

This Sunday will be our first outdoor worship service of the summer. There will be no 8:30 am service. The 10:00 am service will occur as usual, followed by the outdoor strawberry social at 11:00 am and the outdoor service at 11:30 am. I will be delivering the same sermon at both services, but they will be structured very differently. The outdoor service will be led in the spirit of American folk worship services, with special instrumentalists and American folk hymns. The service has been inspired by Charles Finney and the Second Great Awakening. Throughout the service, “prayer stations” will be utilized. Each of these prayer stations will have a different activity to help you pray. I will be located at one station for you to ask me for prayer and/or anointing oil. There will be a station to help you remember your baptism. There will be another station to have you write down a prayer request to be shared with another church member. One station will have meditative coloring pages with scripture passages on them for you to color during a time of prayer. You will also be able to use a prayer journal throughout the service. I am truly hopeful that this will be a meaningful time of worship.

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It occurs to me that you might not know about Rev. Charles Finney and the Second Great Awakening. Here is a little bit of context. Finney was a Presbyterian minister in the 19th century during a time of fierce disagreement between what were known as “Old School Presbyterians” and “New School Presbyterians.” The disagreement between the two groups was centered on a few issues, including church polity, theology, and slavery. Old School Presbyterians firmly rejected welcoming New England Congregationalists into the Presbyterian Church (as they believed it was compromising a strict adherence to the Westminster Confession of Faith) and felt that the issue of slavery was “too political” and fell outside the scope of the Church’s spiritually-focused mission. New School Presbyterians welcomed the union with New England Congregationalists into the Presbyterian Church, felt that scripture could be interpreted faithfully without strict adherence to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and saw advocating for abolition as falling within the scope of the Church’s spiritual mission, regardless of its political nature.

Charles Finney was a New School Presbyterian active in Upstate New York, and his ministry represented one additional point of disagreement between the Schools: revivalism. Finney is known as the “Father of Modern Revivalism.” He led revival services to inspire people to a commitment to faith in Jesus Christ. At the time, Finney’s revivals were popular and effective and also very controversial. He often had women lead public prayers, frequently denounced slavery (calling it a “great national sin” and “a sin of the church”), and denied Communion to slaveowners. His preaching emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit of empowering believers to overcome sinfulness and live like Jesus. He invented a preaching tool called the “anxious bench,” a place in the sanctuary reserved for those who wished to receive prayer because they had been so affected by the preaching. This “anxious bench” was the beginning of the modern-day “altar call.”

Finney led a revival at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester from September 1830 to March 1831. As a result of the Rochester Revival, people in the city and surrounding areas were deeply affected. People attended church services more regularly, and there was an almost instant social reform.

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This period of Presbyterian history is important and inspiring. While I won’t be offering any altar calls (or utilizing an “anxious bench”) on Sunday at the outdoor service, there will be multiple opportunities for us to engage in personal prayer. If you are comfortable attending the outdoor service, I sincerely hope to see you there.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: COVID Update (from June 9)

Hi First Presbyterian,

Our re-opening is rapidly progressing, so I have another update for you about that in today’s Mid-Week Meet-Up. Last night the Session met and approved the following motions:

• Fellowship Hour will be re-introduced outdoors, with food and drink, beginning on June 20 with a strawberry social for Dads & Grads and thereafter as the Deacons find feasible.

• Registering in advance of coming to worship will no longer be required, effective immediately.

All other protocols, including social distancing during worship (via the designated sitting areas) and required mask-wearing for those who are unvaccinated, are still in effect. There is lots of space available at both services, and I hope to see more of you who are comfortable coming to in-person worship. I also look forward to worshiping with those of you participating online from home.

Because of the 11:30 am outdoor service on June 20, there will be no 8:30 am service that day. Whether you are participating in the 10:00 am service or the 11:30 am service (or both!) that day, I hope you will come for the strawberry social between the two services.  It will be a safe environment outdoors to see some of your friends you might not have seen in a long time and to celebrate our graduates and our fathers.

Let’s give thanks to God for the unfailing and unconditional grace we are shown through Jesus Christ and for the hope we have for the future!

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: COVID Update (from June 2)

Hi First Presbyterian,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! The weather is warm and the rain has become less frequent, which means we have some great opportunities to have outdoor worship! The Worship and Music Committee and the staff have been planning outdoor services that will be special and different from our normal worship services. These outdoor services are intended to supplement our regular worship, not necessarily replace it. We hope that many of you who have not felt comfortable coming to an indoor worship service will feel comfortable coming to a worship service outside. We want this experience to be one that most of you will find meaningful and refreshing.

In addition to our regular worship, on June 20, July 18, and August 15 we will be having outdoor worship services at 11:30 am on our church lawn. Each of these services will have a thematic focus. On June 20, the outdoor service will be led in the spirit of American folk worship services, with special instrumentalists and American folk hymns. Instead of the “altar calls” that Charles Finney was known for during the Second Great Awakening in Upstate New York, there will be “prayer stations” for people to utilize throughout the service. The thematic focus for July 18 and for August 15 will be different.

The outdoors are God’s original sanctuary! I am looking forward to worshiping with you this summer, and I hope to see you outside on June 20!

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: COVID Update (from May 26)

Hi First Presbyterian,

For our Mid-Week Meet-Up today, I want to remind you that memorial services in the sanctuary are available to schedule. This has been a difficult year to lose a loved one. Many of you have been waiting until a better time to memorialize your dearly departed. As the restrictions for worship in our sanctuary have loosened, now might be the right time for you to consider scheduling a service. The same limited restrictions that apply for our Sunday worship also apply to memorial services. That means: 26 spots are available for seating with up to 5 adults in each spot; vaccinated people may remove their masks once seated in the sanctuary; and singing is permitted. While receptions are not permitted at this time, these other recent changes may meet your hopes for planning a memorial service. If you have been waiting for the right time to schedule a service and would like to do that now, please reach out to the church office at (585) 586-5688 or connect@pittsfordpres.org.

After worshiping with many of you in-person this past Sunday, I must say that I feel very safe with our new protocols. I trust the guidance on COVID from our health and government officials and the decisions of our Session. I am also very encouraged by everyone’s compliance with our protocols. As a result, people looking to memorialize loved ones may now feel able or comfortable to do so.

If you’re comfortable but on the fence about attending in-person Sunday worship, I encourage you to come some Sunday soon. I look forward to worshiping with you in-person or online.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Ascension of the Lord (from May 12)

Hi First Presbyterian,

I wrote our Mid-Week Meet-Up before I left for study leave and scheduled it to be sent to you while I am away. I hope it finds you in peace.

One of my favorite New Testament theologians is University of St. Andrews professor N. T. Wright. I once heard him give a lecture at Princeton University after which someone in the audience asked him a question along the lines of: “In addition to studying Jesus of Nazareth from an academic perspective, you obviously believe in him personally. What would it take for you to recant your belief in him?” N. T. Wright thought for about 3 seconds before responding: “The bones of Jesus.” In other words, N. T. Wright’s faith in Jesus is founded in the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. As long as there is reason to believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead, then having faith in him is reliable and life-changing. If you heard my Easter sermon, you know I couldn’t agree with N. T. Wright more.

If I were to rank Christian beliefs by order of theological importance, I would put the resurrection of Jesus at number one. In my opinion, the ascension of Jesus must be number two. Think about it. If Jesus actually did rise from the dead, then where is he now? As far as I can see, there are only three options for answering that question. 1) After his resurrection, Jesus lived a while longer and then died again, let’s say, of natural causes. In that case, Jesus was not actually “resurrected” but was “resuscitated,” because resurrection means being raised to life without end. If Jesus was merely resuscitated, then he is not who Christians profess him to be. 2) Jesus continued to remain on the earth after his resurrection and is still alive somewhere on the earth right now. Maybe he’s on the same island where some people believe Elvis is hiding out! 3) Jesus actually physically rose from the dead, and then, as the book of Acts tells us, “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 2:9).

Christians obviously choose option #3.

I’m not sure what happened to Jesus once he was out of the sight of the disciples. The book of Acts tells us he was taken “into heaven.” Where exactly is heaven? I’m not sure how to locate it physically. Up above the clouds is more of the Earth’s atmosphere, and continuing to follow in that direction will take you farther into an ever-expanding and seemingly endless universe. Is heaven outside the universe? Maybe. Heaven is wherever God is, and, since God is everywhere, I prefer to think of heaven as an unseen world all around us. When you think of heaven that way, the ascension of Jesus takes on a slightly different meaning, at least it does for me. What if the resurrected Jesus didn’t go away to some far away location but, instead, simply slipped out of sight to the unseen realm where God is? If that’s true then the physically embodied, yet unseen, Jesus of Nazareth is as close to you as anyone.

Tomorrow is Ascension Day. I encourage you to spend some time tomorrow reflecting on the resurrected and ascended Jesus. Maybe you can talk with a friend about it, and reflect on the fact that Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). Do you feel his presence nearby? I assure you he is there.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Not Safe, but Good

Hi First Presbyterian Church,

Last week during my study leave at Skaneateles Lake, I had the opportunity to retreat, pray, and read. I enjoyed watching the sunsets over the lake, kayaking, and hiking upstream to a 50-foot waterfall. I did a lot of reading and writing, mostly about the Psalms. I was surrounded by water and couldn’t help but think of some of the language used in the Psalms about water. Psalm 65:9 describes God: “You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it.” Water is a source of nourishment and life. God gives us water as a way to care for and nurture us and the earth. It’s no wonder, then, that the psalmist imagines God as one who “leads me beside still waters” (Psalm 23:2). Water is a helpful image for contemplating the peace and tranquility that comes from knowing God. Yet, at the same time, the Psalms also describe God in relation to the immense power and strength of water. Psalm 89:9 describes God: “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” Water is also a helpful image for contemplating the might and power of God.

While at Skaneateles Lake, I felt as though I had encounters with both of these aspects of water. Watching the sun set over the stillness of the lake made me feel at peace. Hiking up through the waters of the stream to find a hard-to-reach waterfall made me feel nervous and uneasy at times, since the cascading waters made the steep and slippery terrain difficult to traverse. These two aspects of water, these two aspects of God, reminded me of a moment from C.S. Lewis’ children’s story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In the story, some children find themselves in a world of fantasy called Narnia. In Narnia, the Christ-figure is a lion named Aslan. As a talking beaver is leading the children to meet Aslan, they discover that Aslan is a lion. One the children responds to this news: "Ooh… I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” The beaver responded to her: “Safe?... Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.”

That description of Aslan has always stuck with me: not safe, but good. Of course, C.S. Lewis always wants us to understand Jesus in that same way: not safe, but good. What does that mean? God is big and powerful enough to be quite dangerous. That’s the result of being omnipotent. To be all-powerful is to be capable of being very unsafe, especially to someone who is less powerful. Yet, because God is also perfectly good, God would never use power to harm us. God uses the immense power God possesses to help, benefit, and love us. I often contemplate these aspects of God together, and I find great comfort in it. I found great comfort in it as I contemplated it last week beside the calm and raging waters. I hope you find great comfort it in today. May you discover God’s great power… to love.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Prayer

Hi First Presbyterian,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! In the Wednesday night Bible study, we’ve been reading and talking about the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. I wanted to share some thoughts with you that we’ve discussed in Bible study. In the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, one of the questions that the Pew Research Center asked respondents was: Outside of attending religious services, do you pray several times a day, once a day, a few times a week, once a week, a few times a month, seldom, or never? Of the respondents who identified as Protestant, 54% said they prayed at least daily, 23% said they prayed weekly, 7% said they prayed monthly, and 15% said they seldom or never prayed. (You can see those results here.) I have often sat with this data and pondered how to interpret it. However, I cannot help feeling a little discouraged that only 54% of Protestants say they pray daily and 15% say they seldom or never pray.

Think about someone in your life that you love dearly. It could be anyone – a spouse or significant other, another relative, or a friend. I assume you talk to that person every day, or, if you don’t talk to them on a certain day, you are aware of that fact and you miss talking to them. If this dearly loved one I’m asking you to think about is no longer living, I’m sure there isn’t a day that goes by that you wish you could talk with them. We long to be with the people with whom we have our most important relationships. It should be no different in our relationship to God.

The point of our salvation is to be reconciled to one another and to God. Being reconciled to God means we are able to have a relationship with God. You can be with God, talk to God, and listen for God. Prayer is the lifeblood of our relationship to God. When Jesus is approached by his disciples with the request: “Teach us to pray,” his response begins with, “When you pray…” (Luke 11:1-2). He didn’t say, “If you pray….” He said “when,” because he assumed that prayer would be a regular rhythm of our faith practice.

If we claim to love someone, yet rarely spend any time with them, rarely talk to them, and rarely listen to them, I think onlookers would be scratching their heads, wondering if our love is true or not. It is through prayer that we learn what God’s voice sounds like. It is through prayer that we are able to share our joy and grief with God. It is through prayer that we receive comfort and strength from the Holy Spirit. It is through prayer that our status as God’s beloved children is confirmed to us. It is through prayer that we discern God’s calling to send us out into the world.

I wish 100% of Protestants said they prayed at least daily. But here’s some good news: increasing the frequency and faithfulness of our communication with God can happen at any moment. As far as I can see, now is as good a time as any. Do you have 5 minutes to tell God what’s in your heart or to stop and listen for that still, small voice? I promise the Lord will be waiting to greet you with love.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Snow in April

Hi First Presbyterian,

I’m staring out my window as the snow is falling today. I’m sure many of you are shrugging your shoulders and saying to yourselves, “This is what springtime in Rochester is like.” For me, I can’t help but recall a line I read as a child from C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where one of the characters describes an evil spell placed on the land of Narnia that makes it “always winter but never Christmas.”

Here we are in the middle of Spring, and it’s snowing. The scene outside my window looks a lot like when it was Winter. The image of the snow falling is trying to trick my brain into thinking it’s actually Winter, instead of Spring. The rational part of my brain knows that it’s April 21 and that it’ll feel like Spring again in just a few days. But another part of my brain is thinking it’s Winter, which is probably why I’m craving a cup of hot chocolate right now!

Stress in life can feel like that sometimes. We could be in a very good season in life, in good health, in good relationships with those we love, and finding fulfillment in our work or hobbies. Then along comes some external stress or other disruption and our brain immediately forgets about all of the good things happening and amplifies the bad thing. Even if it’s not true, all we can hear inside our heads is the voice shouting, “Everything is falling apart!”

In my own life, I’m trying to learn this lesson, and one thing I find helpful is gratitude. If I consciously bring to mind all the good things happening to me, then it starts to put the stress of life into perspective until it doesn’t seem so big. Sometimes I even write down on a piece of paper all the things happening, whether good or bad, so that I can see a total picture of my life. Then I give thanks to God for all that is good in my life.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Whether you’re experiencing stress or anxiety in your life today or just noticing the snow falling outside, take a deep breath and remember: it is still Spring, and soon you’ll know that that’s true. Until then, remind yourself that those beautiful daffodils are still blossoming under all that snow. The same is true of life.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: COVID Update

Hi First Presbyterian,

If you remember my Mid-Week Meet-Up from last week, you know that the Session met last night and, among their other business, discussed re-opening our sanctuary for worship. I’m sure many of you are anxiously waiting to hear an update of what they decided.

Based on a recommendation from the Re-opening Task Force, the Session approved returning to indoor, in-person worship services at 8:30 am and 10:00 am, beginning this Sunday, April 18. Each in-person service will observe social distancing, will require mask-wearing, and will not include gathering indoors before or after the service. There are some differences between the services, so please take careful note of the following details:

• The 8:30 am service will be without singing

• The 10:00 am service will include some masked singing

• The 10:00 am service will also be live-streamed for people to participate from home

Each in-person service will allow for there to be up to 20 spots in attendance. A “spot” may be an individual, or a household or group of friends who are comfortable sitting together. A “spot” may have up to five adults. If you are comfortable attending an in-person service, please feel welcome to attend even if your “spot” has only one person in it. In order to ensure that we don’t overfill the sanctuary, registering in advance to attend in-person services will be necessary. A link to sign up will follow in a separate email tomorrow. As the weather continues to improve, there will also be occasional outdoor worship services.

The design of these services allows for everyone’s risk tolerance. The 8:30 am service is available for those who want to worship in-person but are not comfortable with singing. The 10:00 am in-person service is available for those who want to worship in-person and are comfortable with masked singing. The 10:00 am live-streamed service is available for those who are not comfortable worshiping in-person at all. In order for these services to continue happening, it is vital for everyone to comply with the health and safety guidelines.

As we begin to emerge from the past year of COVID, I encourage you to be thinking about the theme of my sermons during Eastertide. I said in a sermon recently that I believe if our desire is to become the same church as we were before the pandemic, then we will have failed to take advantage of the pandemic’s opportunity to reevaluate our priorities and goals as a community of faith. We are a people of the Resurrection! Let’s imagine together what new life God is calling out of us over the next weeks and months.

Whether you will be continuing to view our services online or attending an in-person service, I look forward to worshiping together with you!

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Re-opening Update

Hi First Presbyterian,

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! After a week of rapidly changing plans, I was delighted by the quick turn-around that resulted in three lovely services on Easter morning that went off without a hitch (with the exception of some glitches on the live-stream that the Livestream Task Force is aware of and working on). I hope you were filled with hope and joy because Jesus is alive!

I’m sure, after celebrating Easter in-person, many of you are wondering: what’s next? I wanted to take the opportunity in this week’s Mid-Week Meet-Up to let you know. The Session’s decision to have Easter services outside came as the result of an urgent motion from the Re-opening Task Force. Having an outdoor service fell within the guidelines that the Session had previously set. The Re-opening Task Force will be presenting a motion to the Session at their regular meeting next week to adopt a new set of guidelines for in-person worship. If adopted, these new guidelines would lead to more in-person services with some loosened restrictions, in addition to our continued live-streamed service. This Sunday (which has rain in the forecast) will involve only a live-streamed service at 10:00 am. You can expect an update next week after the Session meeting about the status of re-opening our sanctuary for worship.

This morning I read Song of Songs 6:10: “Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?” This book of the Bible has long been interpreted by Christians as a metaphor for Christ and his beloved church. May you feel the warmth of the sun shining on you today. May you also feel yourself transformed, alive, and radiant, because of the glory that Christ’s resurrection shines on you.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Holy Wednesday

Hi First Presbyterian Church,

For this Mid-Week Meet-Up, when many of you are feeling disappointment, I’d like to offer you some encouragement for your spiritual journey.

Today is Holy Wednesday, which is sometimes called Good Wednesday or Spy Wednesday. The name “Spy” is given to it, because, on this day of Holy Week, Christians remember that it was also the day of the week on which Judas betrayed Jesus, agreeing to be a spy for the chief priests in exchange for money (cf. Mark 14:10-11).

On this day of that first Holy Week, Jesus also ate with a group of people at the home of someone called “Simon the Leper.” During their meal, a wealthy woman came uninvited and anointed Jesus’ head with expensive perfumed oil. Some people at the dinner were angry with her and accused her of wasting the oil, when it could have been sold and its proceeds given to the poor. Jesus rebuked them and, then, responded with something that has always confused me. He said: “You always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me” (Mark 14:7). For a long time, it seemed to me that Jesus was advocating for not helping the poor. However, that is NOT what he was doing.

In fact, he seems to be alluding to another passage of scripture from Deuteronomy 15:11, which says, “There will never cease to be some in need on the earth.” If Jesus indeed is alluding to this verse, then he almost certainly has its context in mind, too. The surrounding verses clearly indicate a proactive and generous attitude to helping the poor: “Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land’” (Deut. 15:10-11). So, if Jesus is not advocating to refrain from helping the poor, what is he saying?

I think to understand the answer to that question, we must understand that the ethics of Jesus are based on two principles: love of God and love of neighbor. We cannot and should not have one without the other. If we only love God, but neglect our neighbors (especially those in need), then our love for God is in question (cf. 1 John 4:20-21). More to the point Jesus is making here: if we only love our neighbors but neglect to love God, our love for our neighbors is bound to veer off course. We can only love our neighbors the we ought to love them, when our love for and commitment to God is in order. Our love for God puts out neighbor into proper perspective. Our love for God puts everything into perspective.

On this Holy Wednesday, I encourage you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, the same God who was betrayed by his close friend for you, who was arrested, tried, and punished for you, who was crucified for you, and who has risen from the grave for you. Thanks be to God.

Peace to you,

Pastor Neff

Mid-Week Meet-Up: Approaching Palm Sunday

Hi First Presbyterian,

Palm Sunday is this weekend, the day in the liturgical calendar when we remember Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. Transport yourself back over 2,000 years ago and to ancient Judea. Today, Wednesday, Jesus would be continuing his journey from Galilee to the big city. In fact, about this time of the week, he may have been on the Jericho Road, one of the main routes into Jerusalem named as such because it connected Jerusalem to the city of Jericho. The Gospels tell us about an interaction Jesus had in the city of Jericho on his way to Jerusalem: he healed someone who was sitting by the road begging. In Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, the person is simply called “a blind man.” However, in Mark’s Gospel, he is given a name. He is called “Bartimaeus.” This is peculiar for a couple reasons. First, it is very rare that we are ever told anyone’s name in the Bible who is not a main character. The fact that this person is given a name should catch our attention. Second, look at how Mark tells us his name in 10:46: “Bartimaeus son of Timaeus.” In Aramaic (the language that most Jews spoke in the first century), the prefix “bar-“ means “son of.” In other words, Mark is introducing this person by calling him, “Son of Timaeus, son of Timaeus.” This is not an accident. Mark is not being redundant here. In fact, I think he’s trying to tell us something significant.

Without getting too much into the weeds with my explanation of what’s happening, Mark seems to be using a wordplay. He’s combining Aramaic and Greek to tell us something about what’s happening with this man in Jericho. “Bartimaeus” (in Aramaic) means something like “son of the unclean.” “Son of Timaeus” (in Greek) means something like “son of the highly prized.” I think what Mark is trying to show us is that this person who was considered “unclean” by his society, has instead become “highly prized” because of his encounter with Jesus. This is the heart of the Gospel!

Blindness was wrongfully considered punishment for sin and, out of fear, societies ostracized people with blindness and kept them at a distance. This person, who spent his days begging at the roadside, had been pushed to the edges of society because of a condition he had no control over. In the eyes of people, he was “unclean.” In the eyes of Jesus, however, he was “highly prized.” As he called out to Jesus to have mercy on him, people were actively trying to silence him. Jesus pushed past their condescension, their pride, and their fear and sought to meet Bartimaeus, whom he considered to be a beloved child of God. Jesus healed him, and the man followed him the rest of the way to Jerusalem.

Thank God that Jesus looks past what others think and say about us and sees us for who we truly are: beloved children of God. You are highly prized and valued by God. You are not what people think or say about you. You are not even necessarily what you think and say about yourself. You are a beloved child of God. Those who are forgiven much, ought to love much (cf. Luke 7:47). Since we have been forgiven by God and loved so greatly, let us go out and be generous with our love to others, especially those like Bartimaeus, who are pushed to the margins and thought of as unclean.

As we prepare to welcome Jesus triumphantly this Sunday, let us do so with joy and humility, knowing how greatly God loves us all.

Peace to you,
Pastor Neff