{"id":250,"date":"2019-08-11T10:20:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T17:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/?p=250"},"modified":"2019-08-11T10:20:15","modified_gmt":"2019-08-11T17:20:15","slug":"reflections-on-50-years-of-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/reflections-on-50-years-of-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on 50 Years of Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 11, 2019 I Timothy 1:12-16 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When I realized that the church was going to recognize  my 50 years of ministry I thought: You now, Terry you ought to write a sermon for this occasion.  But the second thought was this: How do you compress 50 years into a 50 minute sermon?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I was ordained at the Presbyterian Church of Old Greenwich CT on June 15, 1969.  The preacher at my Ordination Service was Dr. James Ault, the Dean of my  Theological School at Drew University.  The ordination service took place during a violent thunderstorm, a portent of what ministry is sometimes like.  Dr. Jim Ault went on from Drew to become a Bishop at the United Methodist Church.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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From my first call in Old Greenwich I went on to serve in Philadelphia, Portland, Lake Forest, Charlotte, Jackson MS.,  Litchfield Park AZ, Mequon WI.,  Northbrook IL, Tucson, Scottsdale, and Peoria.  That\u2019s us.  .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My ministry has spanned the years of the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 9-ll, and  presidents Johnson, Nixon,  Ford, Carter Regan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and Trump.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Over the years my conviction has grown that if the Christian faith doesn\u2019t have anything to say about the great and compelling social issues of our day, it doesn\u2019t have anything to say at all.  After all, Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, but He is also  Savior of the world.  He is our personal Lord but also Lord of history.  Faith is both private and public.    <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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My ministry has spanned the years when the Presbyterian Church declined from 2.6 in 1969 to 1.4million members last year.   This figure was made more stark when a fellow Presbyterian minister said to me in 1992, when we were both serving in Chicago.  Do you know there are more Muslims in Chicago than Presbyterians?  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I have grieved at watching this wonderful and beloved church spiral downward in members.  Not because bigger is better, but because we have a heritage which is vital and important for our nation.  After all, the constitution of the USA was borne of Presbyterian ideas, that there should be checks and balances in the local church and in the government<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The reason for Presbyterians decline is complex and we don\u2019t  have time to explore it this morning.  If you want to know more email me and I will send you the information.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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And as a postscript we here in our little church have experienced that decline.  In 2000 this church had over 200 members with a thriving SS and youth program.  Today we are about 130 members, but we do have a thriving SS thanks to Shannon, and Sheila, and Linda, and Barbara, and Mickey, and Keith.  Whom did I miss?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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My ministry, has for the most part, been very fulfilling.  <\/span><\/span>For the most part<\/strong><\/span><\/span>.  But there have been some exceptions.  My churches have never had enough money and the stress of  of that always fell on my shoulders as the pastor and designated fund  raiser.  There have been a whole host of difficult people,  whom I have lost sleep over.  People  like the church member about whom it was said, She never swore but made everyone else want to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m in a Facebook page with fellow Presbyterian ministers called \u201cHappy to  be Presbyterian\u201d   One pastor said in a posting, \u201cUnless you are called into the ministry you won\u2019t  survive.  So true.  One in five United Methodist ministers do not make it after the fifth year in ministry.  I don\u2019t know what the percentage is in the Presbyterian  church, but I suspect it\u2019s close.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I did feel called.  At a Youth for Christ rally in 1961 I gave my life to Christ and felt an almost instantaneous call to ministry.  As first this call seemed to be a call to the mission field.  After all, if  you<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>really<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>want to serve Christ you go off to Africa somewhere and preach the gospel.  But later, as I went to college and seminary the call was refined to a call to serve the local church–preaching, teaching, pastoring.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I am forever indebted to the members of the PC in Old Greenwich, who when I was a summer pastoral intern in 1968,  affirmed my ministry and told me, \u201cTerry this is where you belong.\u201d  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I have  preached about 1500 sermons, some of which were repeats,  so for the record let\u2019s  say 1000.  I have all my sermons since 1986 on my hard drive and I go back every now and then and look at some of them, and say, \u201cWOW, that\u2019s good,\u201d or \u201cOh, WOW could I ever inflict such  drivel  on my parishioners.\u201d  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

My wife, my dear encouraging wife tells me, \u201cYour worst is better than a lot of preacher\u2019s  best.   I don\u2019t know if she meant it or was just sayin\u2019 to help me feel better about the dogs I\u2019ve  preached.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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And to my wife, and my Dutch family here today what I am most thankful for in my  is not my ministry, although I am unspeakably thankful for that, but my family, my beautiful daughter and my son in law, whom I love despite although he did steal my daughter from me and plant her in Holland; and my two grandchildren Liam and Jayden, and Jeremy and Dory and Fia and Kady in CLT.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How could you be so lucky as to have kids like that?  Especially when they are all self supporting and don\u2019t need your money and are not living at home?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When I retired in 2010 I said to myself, Every sermon I preach from now on will have an element of hope in it, for life is hard and discouragement lands easily.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the finest compliments I\u2019ve  ever had is from a family in Portland who had two boys aged 7 and 9.  \u201cWe go home every Sunday and at Sunday lunch all four of us discuss your sermon over the meal.\u201d  <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When a child or an old person likes your sermons, that\u2019s as good as it gets.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What do I remember, looking back?  All the people I\u2019ve known, so many wonderful and inspirational church members whose lives would even cause preacher to believe.  I don\u2019t remember the stewardship campaigns, God save us all.  Or the meetings.  If the kingdom of God could be brought in by meetings, the Presbyterian Church would have already achieved that.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A final story which to me sums up all the other experiences of my ministry.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Several years ago, I received a phone call from a man I did  not know.  He said, “You don’t know me, but I know you.  I’m in a lot of trouble.  I’m now in a psychiatric hospital.  I ran away from my family, my job, I got on a plane in Portland and flew to Nevada.  I was going to commit suicide there.  But once I landed, I kept thinking, for some strange reason, of you.  My mother, a member of your church, had told me so much about you, about Westminster Presbyterian Church.  Somehow it came to me that I needed to get back to Portland and talk to you.  Somehow I sensed that you would accept me for what I am, that you wouldn’t judge me, that you would understand all the pressure I’ve been under.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And so I did meet with this man in the hospital, and we talked and had prayer together.  Now this story is a great mystery to me, how this man who had never seen me, who had only heard about me, could make a decision not to kill himself and go on living because he believed I could help.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But I understand this story in the context of giving my life to Christ in April, 1961.  I understand this service in the context of our scripture today from : \u201cI thank Jesus Christ our Lord that has appointed me and given me the strength to do his work.\u201d  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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