It’s Monday, January 25th…..

      and for me it’s time to go to school to have lunch with a little girl in our church – Peyton Disser. Peyton attends Bethel Elementary School which is a good ten to fifteen miles from the church. All of our children go to schools that are quite often in other counties. I enjoy getting to do this as it reminds me that our children are beneficiaries of some great schools and teachers. Most of all, it gives me the opportunity to sit for a while and listen to these little ones. They want us big folk to take note they are here and to listen. It is really a joy….

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

Happy Winter!

It certainly has been cold, hasn’t it? But it has not affected attendance at Sunday Morning Live! A number of folks 80(+) years-old have braved the cold and made it to worship. They truly set an example for us.

This week I received my newsletter from the Presbyterian Cancer Center announcing a new 5K Run/Walk for colorectal cancer. The name of the event is great ……          

GET YOUR REAR IN GEAR!

 Needless to say, I will be there ‘with bells on’ to do what I can to battle this enemy called cancer. Our Saints Alive group met the day I wrote this, and they all agreed that we need to continually pray for the absolute defeat of this disease. Until that day we will pray for researchers, physicians, nurses and especially those battling cancer.

 And let us never forget there is a “C”  Christ – far greater than “c”  cancer.

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

December 22…..

Two Days before Christmas Eve 2009 –

 And I find myself sitting in my office…..

 –         looking out the window at a beautiful wintry day

–         listening to classical Christmas music from WDAV – Davidson

–         contemplating the two Christmas Eve Services I will help lead.

 Thank You, Lord, for such a privilege! As always, I approach worship with a keen sense that the best I can offer is but a feeble effort. Even with this in mind, I feel deeply that these services must be approached and led with the greatest care and the best I can offer…

 –         Our first service will be noisy and joyful as children create a live nativity.

–         our second service will appropriately with dignity and reverence celebrate this sacred night.

 My prayer for us all…. “Lord send Your Holy Spirit to enable us to worship You in Spirit and Truth.”

 I look forward to seeing you in worship on Christmas Eve when, in the words of G. K. Chesterton, we remember that this is the time “when the things that cannot be are!”

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

Advent Greetings!

We have begun our Advent journey at ARPC as we “hung’ the greens on the first Sunday of Advent. One of the most moving parts of this service is the hymn by Charles Wesley that we traditionally close this service with. The hymn is “Jesus Comes with Clouds Descending.” It is a powerful reminder that we are living between two Advents and that our Creator God is not finished with this world. A great completion is to come! Until that second great Advent we are to watch, pray and do what Jesus Christ did when He walked the dusty roads of Palestine some 2,000 years ago. That is we are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, minister to the sick….

Sisters and brothers in Christ there is a future that God has awaiting us. It is a future that nothing can take from us – not even death! Therefore let us live according to the admonition of our Lord:                   “DO NOT BE AFRAID!”

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

I recently celebrated the wedding of Marc Lynn and Brandy Smith – at the Aquarium(!) in Charleston, SC.

 It was my first wedding at an aquarium and it was quite beautiful. The backdrop for the bride/groom/myself was a huge floor-to-ceiling fish tank with all kinds of sea creatures swimming about. When little (tiny) flower girl, Addison Lynn, walked down the aisle and looked up at all the fish, etc., she stopped and said “Oooohhh…..!” My sentiments exactly! God has created a fascinating world full of creatures only God could have thought up.

 All creatures have one essential task – to praise the Creator. The fish swim and so praise the Creator; the whale swims and sings and does so – Let us praise God as we love God and each other.

 Soli  Deo Gloria!

 To God Alone Be All Glory!

 Pastor Ron

To all surrounded by the splendor of fall…

God speaks through fall’s colors and embraces us with beauty as God speaks through sisters and brothers in Christ who write books. Such a brother is Stephen Plunkett and his book Eight Truths Presbyterians Affirm. Dr. Plunkett reminded me of a truth I need to keep clearly in focus…..

“The church is God’s community, not ours. Sometimes, amid the squabbles of church life, we begin to think the church belongs to us – don’t we? – and that it is ours to manage as we choose. The Church of Jesus Christ belongs to no governing body, no pastor, no committee, and no ‘right’ way of thinking. The church was not crafted by a task force or by a General Assembly action. It is not the property of any denomination or the possession of any movement, whether it be tagged liberal or conservative, moderate or centrist, left-wing or right-wing. The church, wonder of wonders, is God’s possession, despite every wart and blemish that we humans bring to it. IT IS NOTHING LESS THAN THE REDEMPTIVE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST POURED OUT IN DIVINE LOVE FOR ALL CREATION.”

 These profound words remind me to celebrate the incomparable joy I have in Jesus Christ and in His Church. I encourage you (and myself) to let no one’s critique of the church diminish that joy.

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

Did You Know……..

DID YOU KNOW that ARPC supports a ministry known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that offers English as a Second Language courses on the ARPC campus? Walking into the church office one afternoon I met a family headed for that course. There was a young father, mother, two beautiful children, and a young! grandmother. They had been in the United States for only two weeks – from Burma. Talking with them I was pleasantly startled that they were Christians. The young mother, a Presbyterian Christian! She shared that she became a Christian through the ministry of a Presbyterian Missionary from Wales to Burma. A week or so later some of the folks from Saints Alive and I took them to lunch. We discovered them to be devout Christians who will join our fellowship!

 Dear Folk, the entire world it seems is right at ARPC’s back door. This is undoubtedly a part (a big part) of our calling as a church as we move into the future.

 By the way: I’ll soon begin my lunch visits to the schools of ARPC’s elementary-age children. Eating lunch with these little folk is a lot of fun for me and it enables me to see a number of public schools up close. I’m not sure what the little folk think of me!

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron

BACK IN THE SADDLE….again

Speaking of “back in the saddle….” School for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system begins the day I find myself writing this. This past Sunday during worship (as we always do the Sunday before school begins) we had a prayer of blessing for students and teachers. School (the training and development of the intellect) has always been a core value of the Presbyterian tradition. I celebrate wholly this core value. Let us all keep our teachers, students, administrators in our prayers – all year long.

 Christabelle – one of my great nieces and great joys of my life – begins her senior year at Owen High School in Black Mountain. I’m hoping that the following fall she will find herself at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.

 Shifting gears a bit, I would like to share with you from the lesson our Sunday School Class enjoyed this past Lord’s Day. Presbyterian pastor, Dr. John Ortberg (author of the book we are studying) quoted one of the desert fathers named Anthony….

             What must we do to please God?

1.   Always be aware of God’s presence.

2.  Always obey God’s Word.

 But the third was surprising…….

 3.  Wherever you find yourself, do not leave easily.

 For me, this third piece of advice is a good reminder that God would have us never to easily give up, whether it be…

 –      school

–      family

–      the church

–      our ministry

–      our nation – especially our efforts now to provide universal health coverage for all of America’s citizens.

 DO NOT EASILY LEAVE……..

             the place where you are –

            the struggle you are in….

 A fellow struggler,

Pastor Ron

This Week I Celebrate….

….the officers (elders and deacons) of ARPC. We gathered on Tuesday evening, July 28, for fellowship and discussion about some important issues. It is when I am with the folk of ARPC in such settings that I remember so clearly why I love this congregation…

• These folk love each other,
• These folk want to reach out to love our community,
• These folk truly love the Lord and His Church and seek God’s Will for this church,
• And….many of these folk are great cooks!

 Also, I am celebrating the rain! You should see my bed of Zinnias and my three Sunflowers.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Ron

P.S. Don’t forget the Ice Cream Social in the ARPC Family Life Center this Sunday, August 2, 5:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Did You Know?

This year the Presbyterian Church celebrates the 500^th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Born in 1509, John Calvin is not only a great Reformer of the past, but one whose influence continues through the centuries. Simple truth is there would not be an Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church if God had not gifted the world with John Calvin.

 Calvin’s precise, intense and thoroughly biblical voice is one that we need to listen carefully to in this time of theological confusion.

 ARPC will be celebrating Calvin’s birth in various ways. I hope to offer a class on Calvin’s theology during the fall months.

 Grace and Peace,

 Pastor Ron