DUNELLEN -- AND THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

The church is a complex of buildings attached to the sanctuary--which seemed as I was being escorted through it all to be a veritable labyrinth of rooms.  The sanctuary is painted white and is light and airy with warm hues from the stained glass windows.  It is a nice-sized church with officially 577 members.  When I arrived they were debating about going to one worship service--for their membership had dropped from a high in the late 1960s of almost 2000 members down to the present size.  But for me, at over 500 members it was still a very big church.

Up until I arrived they had had two pastors leading the congregation.  That was another decision they had made:  not to hire an associate pastor, but to hire on a number of half-time parish workers instead.  I had various reasons explained to me as the reason for this decision.  Whatever.  That nonetheless left the solo pastor with a lot of responsibilities that parish workers could not pick up on, such as weddings, funerals, a multitude of worship services, meetings, etc.  But anyway, I was glad to be busy again--even if the pace at times seemed totally hectic.

And there was plenty of politics waiting for me.  There had been some tension gathering within the staff just before my arrival because of differing work philosophies--that had degenerated to the point that one of the staff members had run to Presbytery with the problem and was already talking to a lawyer about the matter.  Thus the issue was there just waiting for me to get settled in a bit.  At the meeting of Session in early February the issue was finally brought forward.  Session was understandably agitated over the whole matter--and directed me to try to get the thing straightened out before a major blow-up occurred.

Thankfully, the Lord has given me plenty of insight into human nature and I quickly realized that what was needed was simply some talk-through with these two individuals about their differing work philosophies--and getting them each to agree to give things another try.  They did--and things worked out amazingly well.

When I was presented to the new Presbytery (Elizabeth Presbytery) to transfer my pastoral credentials there, among those at the presbytery meeting was an acquaintance from my days in seminary.  I know he was trying to "promote" me a bit before the others--but what he had to say on my behalf seemed a bit odd or ironic as he spoke up.  His comments went something like this:  "Miles, we're very pleased to have you join us as an interim minister.  Your talents are quite extensive and we're fortunate have you as a part of our presbytery.  But really, Miles, you ought really to be coming among us on a more permanent basis--with a regular call to a church, one where your talents can really take hold.  Do you have plans along those lines?  Indeed, Miles, what are your plans?"

Of course I was so glad to be moving on from Garfield that I wasn't thinking much beyond the opportunity that Dunellen offered me--even if it was only as an interim minister.  But more than that--I remember thinking:  plans?

With a sort of grin taking over my countenance, I spoke up exactly in that manner:

"Plans?  When was the last time I had 'plans'?  I used to be a person of great plans.  As a Yuppie, I had great five-year plans and ten-year plans for life.  But since I gave my life in service to the Lord, plans are one of the many things I have had to give up.  In working for the Lord I have found that my plans are pointless--as I end up doing pretty much what God wants me doing, when he wants me doing it, anyway.  I have learned more recently simply to look to the day--and let the Lord worry about tomorrow."

What surprised me the most was that the divisions that I was told to expect between the factions that had lined themselves up behind the previous contending pastors just never really surfaced--not on Session, and not even within the congregation.  I'm not sure why.  These loyalties had been quite strong.  But maybe everyone knew that it was simply time to move on.

In short, I just sort of fell easily into the role of pastor--and the church seemed quite welcoming of me in that role.  For me, having spent 7 years doing battle with contending power groups in the Garfield church, this was itself very healing.  It's as if God knew what the Dunellen church and I both needed.  Well, of course!

The sermon tapes I had submitted to the committee that called me to Dunellen were of typical teaching sermons (I don't have "favorite" sermons, but usually just send on the tapes of the most recent sermons I have preached) which probably ran 30-40 minutes or so in length--though I'm not sure since I ceased timing my sermons long ago.  But the issue was passed over quickly in the original interview.  They had liked the sermons very much and hadn't given any thought to their length.

In part the inevitable length-of-sermon issue was eased at Dunellen by the fact that the well beloved "emeritus" pastor of 30 years at the church (who had retired eight years earlier) preached sermons that had to fill a half-hour radio time slot--so his sermons obviously ran certainly longer than the normal Presbyterian 18-20 minute limitation.  Also, the immediately previous pastor tended to preach for about 25 minutes--but managed to keep the overall dimensions of worship "in bounds" by cutting verses from hymns and eliminating such things as children's sermons when baptisms or communions were also to take place (with the two sacraments presumably never taking place on the same Sunday).  So services previously had run maybe an hour and ten minutes at the most.

Upon my arrival in Dunellen worship immediately went extensively past that time frame.

But the issue was not just a matter of the sermon length.  I always invite Elders to participate in worship in various capacities--and most notably in the harvesting of the joys and concerns of the congregation in preparation for Sunday morning prayers (which they then led).  Without the pastor running a tight reign on congregational participation, these joys and concerns can get to be numerous, especially as the congregation comes to understand that it is okay to speak up during worship about something on their hearts.  Not surprisingly joys, concerns and prayers of the people often run to over ten minutes--instead of just the 3 or 4 minutes of typical Presbyterian prayer time.

Also, I encouraged the choir to contribute their own music more than once in the service.  Besides, we alternated each week between standard Presbyterian hymnody (three hymns) and the newer praise medley by which we called the congregation to worship with a number (at least 5) of praise songs--plus two hymns elsewhere in the service.

Also, I take the children's sermon very seriously.  I introduce the major points of the regular sermon to the children in the children's sermon so that they can also be a part of the message that I feel God is bringing the church that particular Sunday.  It also helps introduce the regular sermon.  Thus I do not eliminate the children's sermon because it conflicts with communion or baptism.

Furthermore--I am of the opinion that baptisms should be celebrated in conjunction with the Lord's Supper.  And I love to take my time introducing infants to the congregation at baptism and I take the time to explain the meaning of both baptism and communion (classic covenant theology!) when we find ourselves celebrating these sacraments.

And finally--I love to pray.  I have reserved the leading of the opening prayer of adoration and confession for myself as part of my contribution to worship (the other parts being the sermon and the sacraments).  And these prayers are moved by a keen desire to bring the people to a sense of standing before Almighty God--placing mortal flesh before Pure Holiness--and moving the worshippers to a spirit of both profound repentance and equally profound forgiveness.  Anyway, the opening prayers and assurance of pardon might last as long as 5,6,7 minutes--which to a worshipper used to that ritual lasting no more than a couple of minutes, such 5-7 minutes might seem like an eternity.

The reaction was not all negative.  In fact quite the contrary.  On the part of many, the response was highly enthusiastic.  And on the part of the large majority at least, the reaction was "give it a try."  Mostly everyone enjoyed worship--except those who opposed the change as a matter of principle.

Palm Sunday.  The service went nearly two hours.  It was the first Sunday of the month so it was a communion Sunday.  But moreover, the children's choir had a large number of pieces to sing--which they did beautifully.  And I had a children's sermon that actually upstaged the regular sermon--as we talked about how Jesus was greeted wildly on Sunday and rejected equally wildly on Friday.  Indeed, the regular sermon was one of my shorter ones.  The joys, concerns, and prayers of the people went long--almost 20 minutes--as a large number of people spoke up, mostly in some expression or other of joy to the Lord for being so privileged to worship him--so adequately, so fully.

The following Sunday was of course, Easter Sunday.  We had communion again and also a number of baptisms.  Also the two senior choirs had several selections.  The service went an hour and 45 minutes.

By the month of May it was clear to most people that this longer worship program was settling in--to the great joy of some and the great distress of others.  Comments were made about my shortening up my sermons--though in fact everyone knew that everything about the worship service was longer.

Session knew that this was not going to please some members of the congregation--and much pastoral care was going to have to be given to those particular members.  But overall we knew that it was important to let the time factor for worship be shaped by the logic of the particular doings--and also the mood of the congregation (and the Spirit).

And so it was that Session took a stand on the matter.  That didn't cause the issue to just suddenly go away.  Certainly the phones were kept busy for a while by the objectors.  And though the Session vote had been unanimous, some of the Session members felt very vulnerable to criticisms by some of their long-standing friends who did not agree with this stand.  But the decision held.  A few people moved their worship up the street to other churches.  But mostly everyone decided to stick things out:  I was after all just an interim and things could go back to normal after I left!  (It really did not occur to many of those strongly opposed to the decision that Session really wanted the service to take this shape.)

The Sunday before Thanksgiving.  The children's sermon was longer than usual--for I told them the full story of the first English Pilgrims to America, the disasters that greeted them, and yet their spirit of thanksgiving to God alike.  But I preached a very short regular sermon (much to the shock of a vacationing fellow pastor who had come that Sunday expecting to hear one of my 30-35 minute specials!).  The regular sermon was really a lead-in to an opening up of worship to the congregation as an opportunity for them to give tangible testimony before God of all the things that they truly were thankful for.  I had no idea how well the challenge and invitation would go over.  If no one responded, it would have been a record short service for us!  But first one, then another, then another, then another, and another, etc. got up and spoke quietly, or boldly, or joyously, or tearfully, about how God had been with them in this or that matter and how thankful they were to have had his assurance during those times.  Fifteen minutes went by, then twenty, then thirty and I was amazed--and deeply moved as one after another rose to the occasion.  As they spoke I realized that this congregation clearly understood what it meant to offer worship to God.  I was truly moved to tears--and not just by some of the powerful testimonies, but by the whole spectacle.  The testimonies went on for a full 45 minutes--with the entire service lasting almost two hours.  It was a powerful two hours.  If there was anyone who did not agree on that point, I never heard about it.

God is so good.

We got permission to use the park on Saturday, September 5th.  We hired a professional sound crew, contracted the services of a Christian recording artist to put on the main musical event, had a huge banner made up and placed across Washington Avenue at the park, lined up radio and newspaper announcements and even had me interviewed on a Christian radio talk-show (about 20 minutes) concerning the event--and other unanticipated matters!  The church itself swung behind the event by putting together display tables for the multitude of programs the church operates or supports.  We had Christian clowns, arts and crafts tables, and skits for the kids.  And we lined up some of our own musical talent so that we would run live music end on end through the whole event.  We bought tons of hot dogs, hamburgers, soda, ice cream--even a cotton candy machine--all offered free to those who came to the event (our Boy Scout troop volunteered to serve the food).

The day arrived--and the weather was an absolutely perfect early Fall day--mild and dazzlingly clear.  Noon rolled around and we were ready.  And the church was a perfect host--to the thousand or so who came out to see what this "Praise in the Park" put on by the First Presbyterian Church was all about.  The music, played from the huge gazebo at the center of the park, was outstanding--not only by the recording artist--but by our own local soloists and choirs.  In fact our Spanish-English and youth-adult mix was perfect.

Then at 4:00 we went into the worship portion.  A lot of people left as we moved into this phase--but a lot of people stayed.  From the gazebo we went into a worship of praise music.  Then Silvio Del Campo (our Hispanic minister) and I presented an Hispanic-English message. And we concluded our worship with prayer--and with an invitation for people who wanted personal prayer to join our prayer teams where we would be glad to pray with them for whatever moved their hearts.  Wonderfully, five or six long prayer lines formed to received prayers with the oil of anointing.  And thus we completed the day's activities with a powerful prayer ministry.

Assessing the Event.  All in all, it was a great success--though we knew beforehand that it was going to be a perfect success, just because of the privilege of putting the event on at all.  We had made up our minds leading into the event that if only 5 guests came out that would be just fine--because the church itself had rallied to the call and that alone was cause enough for rejoicing.

Nonetheless--we had wonderful feedback from the locals about the event--and the continual question:  "Will you do this again next year; I want to bring some friends."  The answer was a big: "Yes, God willing."

But overall--the best part of the event was what it did for our congregation.  We knew we were evangelical.  But now the town knew that as well--and that's how we wanted to be known.  We wanted to be known as a people on fire for our Lord Jesus Christ--ready to greet the immediate world around us in his name.  We were not a closed circle of pious Christians--we were ambassadors of Jesus Christ to the world around us.

Coming to the pulpit had not been something I had done for years when I came to Dunellen--for I had taken up the practice in Garfield of preaching from the center aisle.  But I was asked to preach from the pulpit, as the previous pastor had also preached from the center aisle, which some of the members complained about.  I agreed to do so--even though the pulpit was backed up almost to the chancel wall--so that you had to preach even past the choir to the congregation.  It felt very remote from there.  But since there were bigger issues ranged around my preaching I figured that this was something that we didn't need to add to the list of issues.

At first my preaching was topical--as I laid out during the first few months the basics of the gospel:  God's perfect creation, human sin and the fall, God's loving efforts to heal the breach with the Law, the Prophets and finally his own Son.  I preached a Jesus fully human and put under the same temptations and struggles as the rest of us humans--yet fully divine, without sin, and the embodiment of the Way, Truth and Life which is the only Way to restored unity with the Father.

Eventually I took up the lectio continua, or preaching through of a book of the bible, passage by passage, book by book.  I started with Paul's letter to the Ephesians--which took us from the late Spring to the mid Fall.  Then I took up the Gospel of John--with an Advent/Christmas break preaching from the Advent and Christmas passages of the Gospel of Luke. This continued on through May of the next year, when I returned to more topical preaching around the subject of  the meaning and content of "faith."

By the summer I was also ready to introduce the material I had been developing in Garfield--and which appears in various stages of completion here on my homepage:  the survey of the historical development of the great thought process of our Western culture.  The primary focus was on our Western "cosmology"--our view of the universe and our understanding of our place within it.

We started up with a lengthy study of the ancient Greeks, especially Plato and Aristotle who are in many ways basic models for much of subsequent Western intellectual theory.  We discussed the Roman and Jewish contributions--and then focused on Christ and the early Church as the culminating amalgam for Western thought.  We discussed the impact on Christianity of its "establishment" as the official Roman religion, the material decline of Rome, the onslaught of the Germans and Arabs, and the "Dark Ages."  We discussed the at length emergence of the High Middle Ages, the Italian and Northern European Renaissance, and the weakening of "Medieval Christendom."

By the fall we were studying closely the rise of the new scientific cosmology under Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, the challenge of the established church during the Reformation, and the new intellectual individualism which began to emerge within Western culture during this time.  Then we looked at the early "Enlightenment"--such revolutionary thinkers as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hobbes--but especially Newton and Locke.  By the Christmas season we were studying the later Enlightenment and Christian thinkers:  Berkeley, Rousseau, Hume, Kant.  We also studied the Christian "Great Awakening" in the mid 1700s of Whitfield, Wesley, Edwards and others.  Things slowed up a bit after the new year with a number of special activities coming on.  But we did manage to look at the American and French Revolutions, Napoleon, and the philosopher Hegel--before we shut down for Lent.  Following Lent we discussed the 19th century extension of the materialist vision of life (Darwin and Marx) and then turned to the discoveries in physics in the 19th and early 20th century (relativity and quantum theory) that began to call this vision into question.  As of this writing we are now exploring the emergence of a "new science"--with the possibilities it holds out for a truce in the battle between science and religion!

Through my own personal catastrophes and through my years of working with people in a state of catastrophe, God has given me empathetic insight into a whole range of human problems.  My counseling is not of the long-drawn out variety--but really involves crisis management and helping a person/persons make the right decisions during a crisis--decisions which are always ascertained and undergirded by serious prayer.  Where longer-term work with people seems advisable, I prefer to turn them over to a particular share group where their problems are well understood.  Occasionally I advise them to seek out the assistance of a professional Christian counselor.

In Garfield I was kept busy with such counseling--for the social environment was such that the atmosphere was heavy with personal crisis.  But even in comfortable Dunellen there are, of course, families struggling with divorce or alcoholism/drugs, or the social side effects of these problems.  So I was called upon to help out, and was glad to discover that I really could be of help--big help for some.

I personally believe that we gather of a Sunday morning not just to hear a good lifting sermon--one designed to make us "feel good" about this or that.  Instead I believe that we gather to hear a sermon designed to challenge us to look deeper into our thoughts, words and deeds so that the Spirit might find new room within us to move us further along in the process of our becoming conformed to Jesus Christ.  I see myself as working with the Holy Spirit in making Saints--Saints of the variety that will please our Lord.  I of course put myself right in there with the rest--for I am on that same journey myself.  But in any case, I am there with others also as an encourager--calling on all of us not to give up just because the road seems hard and long--but to stay reminded of the fact and truly believe that our Lord will not let us fail if we keep our sights and hopes set on him.

My favorite people to challenge are the elders of the church.  I press them to learn to lead others in prayer, to help lead in Sunday worship, and when they think they are almost ready (!!) to get out there and teach and preach the Word of God.  I love to see timid elders come alive once they have faced their first effort to stand up in worship and lead the congregation in on-the-spot prayers.  But I especially love to see the glow that comes to them when they have finally submitted themselves to the Word of God--when they have agreed to be a transmitter of that Word to the whole congregation on a Sunday morning, as they get up to preach.  To be sure the latter, preaching, is a very special calling--and maybe not a calling for all Christians, not even all elders.  But prayer is a gift given to all mature Christians--and I encourage all elders to develop at least an active prayer ministry of their own.

The same goes for deacons and teachers--mature Christians who have been called to special service within the congregation.  Theirs is not just a duty but a privilege of service granted by God, one that always increases his servants when they answer his call.

One idea that came to bear fruit during the first year in Dunellen was that of an informal fellowship for the "20-something" group that had not yet married and joined the "young couples" category.  This all came about as a wearied youth leader confessed a sense of tiredness in her work with teens--but admitted to an on-going curiosity about those who had "graduated" from our youth program over the past ten or fifteen years.  That touched off in me memories of a young-singles program back in Mobile that I had been slightly involved with, the "under-the-hill" gang.  I described the program to her--and she came alive with the thought of the possibilities of such a group in Dunellen.  For the next few weeks we contnued to explore and give shape to the idea, while she found herself strangely crossing paths with a number of former "graduates"--who thought the idea was a good one.  We at first proposed a grand reunion--and the formation of a steering committee of some of the still involved 20-somethings in our church to plan the reunion.  Unfortunately, the reunion never panned out (or not yet anyway)--but the steering committee itself grew into an ongoing fellowship called the "under-the-hill" group!  It progressed into regular bible study and occasional outings--and, though still small (about a dozen regulars) now seems well established in the life of the church.

Another area that I put some weight behind was the Men's Fellowship.  When I arrived in Dunellen it had about expired--being on the books in name only.  Sometime during the fall I charged one of the men of the church with the task of looking into the revival of the Men's Fellowship.  I had some video tapes, "Men of Integrity" that might form a focus for such a group--and some ideas of how we might get the men out.  So, following the Garfield model, we set up every other Friday night in one of the men's homes as the appointed time for our get-togethers.  That worked more or less--because a lot of the men were professionals and still out of town on some Friday evenings.  Thus there was a fluxuating involvement.  Recently we tried another Garfield formula--Saturday early morning breakfasts.  That brought out about 15 men--which was more than we got on Friday evenings. So we are at the moment considering moving to the Saturday morning slot on a regular basis.

We don't give up on ideas when they run into trouble--we just shift them around a bit, "tweak" them as concepts, and pray that the Lord will lets us know if the change is more to his liking!

DUNELLEN AND THE FAMILY

It was not really until the summer when our children got involved in outside activities.  Rachel, Paul and Elizabeth took swimming lessons at the municipal pool in next-door Middlesex, and Rachel and Elizabeth took a dance course at the church during the summer.  In the fall Paul joined the Dunellen recreation department's soccer program and Rachel and Elizabeth continued their dance classes.   Also Paul and Rachel resumed piano lessons in earnest in the fall--and so finally we felt that we had returned them to the level of involvement that they had left behind in Garfield.

They of course had friends at the church--though seeing them only on Sundays they did not form up such deep relationships with them.

By the late last fall we simply began to cut back where we could to protect family time.  I tried to keep evening classes limited to an hour so that I could get back to do some bed-time reading with my children--though I was not always successful in the effort to break away.  Rachel also decided to give up evening dance classes--and we just let children's choir slide.  I know that this was a disappointment to some in the church.  But family was too important to be assigned only "left-over" time.

Thus, several years ago we bought a vacation time-share in Williamsburg, Virginia.  But even after 5 visits, Williamsburg still rates high with us as an exciting place to spend a week:  after all, Jamestown and Yorktown are nearby and there's plenty to see there as well.  Likewise we have a favorite, inexpensive place to visit in Hyannis on Cape Cod and make visits from there to Plymouth and Boston during our week on the Cape.  Needless to say, our children have truly hands-on knowledge of the formative years of America, and are well versed in a lot of American history.  This includes also the Civil War (on our way to Williamsburg we have stopped at the many battlefields in northern Virginia; we have also visited Gettysburg and Antietam).  And we know Washington DC and nearby Annapolis quite well.

Quebec is another favorite place of ours to visit--exciting because it gives us a chance to live in a culture that is not our own, and because it motivates Rachel in her own study of (basic) French.

Rachel is the member of the literati in our family.  She loves to write poetry and short stories--and is wonderfully expressive with the English language.  She is readying herself in French--perhaps to study French literature some day at the Sorbonne in Paris! (well, why not?!)

Paul is definitely a technical type interested in building and drawing--demonstrating an early capacity to build Lego toys from diagrams by himself, and now at 7 able to assemble and glue Revell model airplanes, etc. on his own.  We figure he will end up being some kind of engineer--destined to learn German and study engineering for a spell in a German university!

Elizabeth is definitely the artist in the family.  She has loved drawing, painting, cutting since she was a wee one and is very imaginative and expressive in graphics (Paul is more technical in his artwork).  We have her slated for study in Florence, Italy some day (well, maybe!).

And John is definitely the musician.  When he was a little baby he was babbling on in the company of a pediatrician, when the pediatrician spoke up:  "goodness, I think he's singing" (he definitely was!).  Music gets his attention quicker than anything else.  And he loves to dance to all kinds of music--demonstrating amazingly good rhythm.  So, where?  Vienna?

Of course God can change any of this at any time--and call them to any other field.  But it is our prayer that whatever they become, they will do so because that is truly who they are and not just because it's more prestigious to go into a particular field.

Also in this era of the self-promoting career mindset, Kathleen and I hope that whatever line they follow will be done in service to others--in particular to God, to family and to community.  We hope to leave them a legacy that appreciates keenly that who they are is strongly defined in terms of the service they are able to render to others with their individual talents--as parents, as co-workers, as children of God.

THE NEW GENEVA VISION IS BIRTHED

THE CALL TO POTTSVILLE