Volume 2: Issue 5 | October 2019
Explanation of the Eighth Commandment:
Don't Put Stuff Up and Your Neighbor Down
"You shall not steal."
-- Exodus 20:15
Here we have a commandment that is not only universally understood but also widely acknowledged as just. Yet it is constantly broken all the same. How shall we account for such treachery?
We can begin with the first human thief. “When Eve saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes...” We often say, 'out of sight, out of mind.' The obvious corollary is, 'in sight, in the mind.' An object comes to our eager eyes, we allow our minds to be filled with it, we delight in the thing and not in the invisible God, and like Eve we take the fruit. We believe the thing will make us happy. It is our 'bird in the hand' that we think is worth more than obeying God.
The thief's error is similar to the miser's error: both think things will make them happy. The miser owns the thing, the thief only wants to own it, but both exalt the creature and radically undervalue God. Things will not make us happy. Nor will money.
A second reason for theft is despising one's neighbor. The bully takes pleasure in his greater strength, so he takes the Twinkies. He may not even like Twinkies, but he likes bullying Billy. Billy may retaliate by stealing the bully's calculator on the sly. Whatever object is stolen or vandalized, the actual target is often the despised neighbor. The thief hurts the neighbor by taking his things.
And a third possible reason for theft is the adventure of it. Will you get away with it? Are you clever enough? If the store owner sees you, can you outrun the pursuer? Augustine recounted stealing a pear as a boy. He didn't even like pears, nor did he necessarily know the owner. It was the excitement of stealing that he wanted.
The thief thus may value a thing too highly, an experience too highly, or a neighbor too lowly. What is certain is that he despises God. He despises God's knowledge: God saw the theft. He despises God's justice: God is not mocked. And he despises God Himself: he values an object over peace with God.
We should be aware of the many dimensions of stealing. The easiest to comprehend and condemn has been alluded to above: taking what is not yours, whether by force, stealth, or deceit. But there is also stealing in contracts or deals: if you do not come through on your part of the bargain, you have stolen from the other, whether the deal was legally enforceable or not. Lying to the insurance company to get a larger check steals both from the company and from your neighbors. Their rates go up when the insurer covers fraudulent claims.
The second half of stealing is withholding what is due. The one who cheats on his taxes steals from country and fellow citizen. The one who withholds his tithe steals from God and fellow Christians. But there are subtler ways to steal. To draw up lengthy contracts in such a way that the fine print almost always prevents an expected payout is to devise legal stealing. It can be made legal before the court, but not before God. The prophet Amos condemned those who 'make the ephah small and the shekel great.' (Amos 8:5) If someone pays for a pound of flour, she should get her sixteen ounces and nothing less.
Politicians who make campaign promises, then make no good faith effort to fulfill them, are guilty of stealing. They gained votes and delivered nothing in return. Many things may prevent campaign promises from being fulfilled, but lack of effort should never be one of them.
But we should focus on two ways each of us may often steal: time and effort. The one who carelessly arrives late to a meeting, thus wasting the others' time, steals from them and perhaps their families. We should value our neighbor's time as much as our own. Someone who is paid for eight hours of work yet spends an hour on the phone or on social media, steals from his employer. We are not to withhold what is due to anyone. Students are owed a well-prepared lesson, teachers are owed honest effort, and so on.
How are you to repent of stealing? First, by restoring stolen objects. But secondly, we need to repent of the mindset in which stealing seems attractive. We must learn to delight in God, learn to find joy in our relationship with God. There is great peace in a pure conscience. (See Philippians 4.)
Having learned to delight in God, we can more easily be content with what we have. This is the actual context of the famous Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Paul was not referring to sports or school! He was referring to being content when he had much and content when he had little. Let us have this contentment, and discover why this is described as being able to do all things.
Finally, we need to fully reverse the stealing mindset. Ephesians 4:28 reads, “let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Notice the two reversals in this one verse. First, rather than taking the fruits of another's labor, let us do our own labor. Let us earn our money. Second, rather than pushing another into need, let us help the one in need. Let us work so that we can be generous.
The thief knows he is doing wrong, but tells himself it is no big deal. He is mistaken. Neither thieves nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. So if we are guilty of breaking God’s eighth commandment against stealing, let us repent before God, that he may wash us, sanctify us, and justify us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 6:10-11)
-- John Edgar
Proverbs Exposition
"A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother."
-- Proverbs 10:1
This proverb echoes the introduction to Proverbs’ first section: “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” (Proverbs 1:8). Both proverbs assume father and mother possess the wisdom of previous generations and are passing it on faithfully to their son. Wise instruction from father and mother equip a son to say no to easy money (Proverbs 1:10-19) and easy sex (Proverbs 2:16-18), prepare him to preserve the family inheritance (Proverbs 5), and get him ready to be a wise father in his turn (Proverbs 4:1-9).
Instead of the direct command to listen in Proverbs 1:8, however, this proverb beginning the second part of the Book of Proverbs (chapters 10-24) highlights the emotional reaction of father and mother to their son’s character. Does he live wisely? Then father is glad. Does he reject wisdom and become foolish? Then mother sorrows. Later proverbs ascribe grief and joy to the other parent, for example, “He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy (Proverbs 17:21),” and “Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice (Proverbs 23:25).”
Here is a story of a foolish daughter and an unhappy mother. Pennsylvania suspended Jane’s driver’s license for repeated traffic violations, but at 2:00 a.m. she sneaked out of the house anyway, took the family car, and got into an accident. She had to call her mother to rescue her. In the morning, her mother said: “Jane, when a baby is born, God puts a certain amount of love into her bank account with her parents. You are overdrawn.” There speaks a sad mother.
The Mosaic Law directs children to heed father and mother by divine commandment. This proverb appeals to a child’s desire to please father and mother, who love him before he loves them. It points to how our Father in heaven loves His adopted sons and daughters. As the Apostle writes, “We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19).” If a child loves father and mother, he will want to make them happy. He does that best, not by giving them presents or hugs, important as such expressions of affection are, but by keeping their rules and heeding their advice. As Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15.)”
Solomon repeats the thought in this proverb many times in a variety of ways, because while a son easily understands a father or mother’s effect on him, he may find it hard to believe the huge effect he has on them. A wise father and mother appear strong and independent to a child, so he needs to hear again and again how much he brings them either sorrow or joy. “Get it, this is important to understand, son,” says the Book of Proverbs. “Wise son, happy father, but foolish son, crying mother.”
-- Bill Edgar
Grandparents and Grandchildren Need Each Other
How often does God’s Word refer to grandchildren? Before you continue reading, stop and see how many biblical references to grandchildren you can think of. (Hint: there are over a dozen.) The natural family is five generations deep. A person should know both his parents and his grandparents, and in turn know his children and grandchildren. America’s truncated families are often only three generations deep: a person really knows only his parents and his children. But the Bible assumes a rich five-generation family norm. What does the Bible teach about grandparents and grandchildren?
Grandparents owe their grandchildren stories about God’s work. Hear God’s Word. “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children.” (Deuteronomy 4:9) “…that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son….” (Deuteronomy 6:2) One such grandparent who taught her grandson was Eunice, who joined her daughter Lois to teach God’s Word to her grandson Timothy. (II Timothy 1:5) Grandparents tell such stories best when their grandchildren live nearby and see them often.
Grandparents owe their grandchildren love and affection. Even tricky Laban, who deceived his son-in-law Jacob and made life unhappy for Jacob and his two daughters by marrying them both to him, wanted to kiss his grandsons good-bye. The Bible’s final gentle word on Laban is this: “Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.” (Genesis 31:55) Grandparents can cuddle and kiss their grandchildren only when they see them in the flesh. You can’t hug pixels. Living close to them allows such physical affection to be expressed often. Skype is wonderful, but it is not the flesh and blood God made.
Grandparents owe their grandchildren godly lives because God deals with people in families. The grandchildren of wicked people pay for the sins of their grandparents. “…for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me….” (Deuteronomy 5:9, Exodus 20:5) A great deal of social science research confirms that the iniquities of “dysfunctional” families affect grandchildren as well as children. God’s covenant love, however, extends to grandchildren. “A Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.” (Isaiah 59:21-22) “They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.” (Ezekiel 37:25)
Grandparents owe their grandchildren an inheritance if they can provide one. “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children….” (Proverbs 13:22) Jacob gave Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh an inheritance in the Promised Land of Israel. “And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also…The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” (Genesis 48:11, 15-16) Joseph assumed that his brothers would care about their grandchildren, so when he brought them to Egypt Joseph promised, “You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children….” (Genesis 45:10)
Grandchildren owe their grandparents joy. They are an embodied delight of God’s goodness. “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged….” (Proverbs 17: 6) While children boast about their fathers, grandparents ask, “Would you like to see pictures of my grandchildren?” Grandchildren are God’s blessing on the faithful: “May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!” (Psalm 128:6) God extends his blessings to grandchildren. “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.” (Psalm 107:17-18) The final words in the Book of Job are these: “And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.” (Job 42:16-17)
Grandchildren owe their grandparents material support and care if they need it. “Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household….” (I Timothy 5:3-4)
How many of these Bible references did you think of? Have you planned your life so that your parents can touch and teach their grandchildren? Young people in their twenties and thirties, dazzled by the god “Career” that schools and often parents teach them to worship, frequently choose to live far distant from either set of parents, giving no thought to how much they, their children, and their parents will lose by that choice – which they often falsely call necessity. American grandparents in turn may embrace a life of sun and golf a thousand miles from their grandchildren. In a society where the stresses and evils of life are fast destroying the always fragile “nuclear family,” the Church should aim at teaching a deeper and richer family life than just father, mother, and their two children, even as it gives special support to the fatherless, the widow, and the single parent.
“Will you play with me?” the lonely girl asked me at the pool. She ignored my two handsome sons who were playing with the same children I was playing with. I think she wanted a Grandpa.
-- Bill Edgar
Family Worship: But I Don't Know How
Israelite priests offered morning and evening sacrifices to God. Ancient Christian families prayed morning and evening. Reformation families brought daily Bible reading and prayer out of the churches and monasteries and into the home. The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches, “Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the Gospel either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed… but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and in truth; as in private families daily….” (WCF, 21.6) The Testimony of the RPCNA adds “Heads of families are responsible for leadership in family worship.” (21.9)
When we bring our children for baptism, we promise to raise them in the Lord, teach them about their lost condition and need of a savior, and to worship God. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven…”, not “My father, which art in heaven….” In daily family worship, we carry out these vows in a systematic way, while living the reality that our relationship with God is communal, beginning with our smallest community, the family.
How should a family head conduct daily family worship? First, he has to gather the family at a set time and place in the house, not allowing any to be often absent. Second, he – or she, as my mother did after her husband died, or my wife did when I was away – should lead the family in Bible reading, Psalm singing, and prayer. Daily Bible reading at home teaches children the Bible far more effectively than the weekly Sabbath School hour. Singing Psalms, we offer God the sacrifice of praise, the “fruit of our lips.” (Hebrews 13:15) Audible prayer demonstrates that the whole family, father and mother as well as children, are under God’s authority and depend on him as a family.
In the same way as my childhood family did, we begin family worship with a Psalm, then read a chapter of the Bible, and then kneel for prayer. As a child, I never liked the kneeling part; it was too humbling. But kneeling is the frequent bodily posture for prayer named in the Bible, and kneeling clearly involves our bodies. God claims our bodies as his, as Paul wrote. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)
Each family should choose the time, place, and details of family worship according to their needs and preferences. Some years ago, our first grandchildren stayed with us for a long weekend. After supper, we went to the living room for family worship. When we started to sing, they told me firmly I was doing it wrong. “Read first, and then sing,” they informed me! I was delighted at this evidence that our grandchildren took part in daily family worship. I said, “Okay, but in this house we sing first.”
Sometimes we have sung straight through the Psalter, and sometimes we have sung the same Psalm every day for a week to learn it by heart. When our children were very young, we used Catherine Vos’ The Child's Story Bible. Reading it to our children, I found a few factual errors in it, mistakes I had discovered when I began to read the Bible for myself, but had no idea where they had come from. For a long time we then used the New American Standard Bible translation that our church used. When our children were older, we began using the King James Bible. I explained archaic usages and corrected the occasional mistranslation, and they learned the Bible version that helped shape English literature for centuries and were prepared to read Shakespeare’s plays. We never edited the Bible to make it more suitable for children [to adult minds] the way Sabbath School curricula and nearly all Bible storybooks do.
On and off, we worked at memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism, thus teaching our children Reformed theology. Both adults and children recited individually, and we said answers from memory together as a family. As head of the family, I led in prayer as my father had done, replaced by my wife when I was away. Family worship rarely lasted more than a quarter hour, lest it become tedious and odious to the children, but when a discussion about something we had read began, I let it run for a while.
What do our four married children do? Each of our children’s families has made slight changes from what they did when young, but the basic pattern remains: sing a Psalm, read a chapter of the Bible, and pray after eating dinner together as a family. One does it around the dinner table, the other three in their living rooms.
Family worship through the generations reveals that our faith is covenantal as well as communal. It is a blessed thing to see your children’s children taught to love God and neighbor as you once taught your children in your own home. How ridiculous to hurry through family worship to catch the evening news or claim an extra ten minutes for homework. The head of every Christian family should gather the family daily to worship God.
-- Bill Edgar
Prize Fights and Family Worship
By Evangeline Metheny
Reprint from the Covenanter Witness, 2/8/1939
I understand something about the disrupting influence of modern life: how, for instance, having to stay out till the small hours makes it almost impossible to pull out of bed in the morning. I can see that as soon as the evening meal is finished the members of the family must scatter, like a clutch of little partridges, because of pressing engagements. So I cannot blame you if you feel pretty virtuous because once a day you have family worship. Even though you hustle through a few verses of Scripture and prayer as though you were speaking to China over Long-Distance and were afraid of extra tolls, you are doing better by your family than most people – even church people – do nowadays. You are making a sincere effort to do right, and I respect you for it.
But it did puzzle me to see a family that has just scrambled through one of these extra-toll, long-distance calls to Heaven, settle down together just afterwards to get the report on the prize-fight over the radio. Not that I have any quarrel with prize fights per se: it isn’t the prize-fight that bothers me. My problem is, “How could that family who could hardly spare three minutes for worship, how could they find time to listen in on that prize-fight from start to finish – and it was a long fight, too.
Sometimes I wonder if we took more calmly our time for family prayers instead of hustling so, could we not trust God to take some of the killing hustle out of our modern life. Not that I believe in long-drawn-out family prayers, especially where there are children. If they are not an abomination to the Lord, they certainly are to the children; I was once a child, and I know. But however brief the time spent in family worship, it should be treated as an occasion of importance, a moment of the Eternal Calm, or so it seems to me.
What Do Presbytery’s Pastors Do the Rest of the Week?
Noah Bailey, Pastor of Cambridge RPC: Noah, from the Hudson Valley, with his wife Lydia, from Coldenham-Newburgh, continue to get to know Cambridge and the wider Boston area. He spoke at White Lake Camp to the teenagers about relationships based on Hebrews 13.
Paul Brace, Pastor of the Hazleton RPC: Paul preaches every other week at a nearby United Church of Christ, and monthly in Harrisburg for a possible church plant. He and his children run a profitable family nursery business. He and his wife Jennifer are also rearing their eight children ages 16 to 1.
Bill Chellis: Bill works as an attorney in Jeffersonville, Sullivan County. He and his family are active in the White Lake RPC. Bill is the interim moderator of the Walton, Delaware County, NY, church, helping them to secure preaching each week. He has begun afternoon Lord’s Day services in Oneonta, a town north of Walton, where the Walton RPC has been holding occasional Psalm Sings.
David Coon, Pastor of White Lake RPC: The newspaper, River Reporter, which covers events in five counties – Orange, Sullivan, and Delaware in New York, and Wayne and Pike in Pennsylvania – named Dave as “Best Clergy” of 2018. It identified him as “Pastor, Dave Coon, Reformed Presbyterian Church.” Dave continues to do long-term substitute elementary school teacher gigs, one way he remains in touch with people in his county. Dave is also the Interim Moderator of our Coldenham-Newburgh congregation. He performs weekly in the summer with the Calicoon Center Band, either playing his French Horn or beating the bass drum. He also sings year round with the Sullivan County Community Chorus, which has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Zack Dotson, Pulpit Supply of Coldenham-Newburgh RPC: Zack and his wife Wilma became new parents of Archibald Alexander on June 29, 2019. Zack continues to work on a Seminary degree at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and on his licensure to receive a call.
Bill Edgar: Bill’s book, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 1871 – 1920 came out in July. Bob Copeland, retired Geneva College professor, commends the book: “Edgar deals clearly and evenhandedly with theological and organizational matters that seem to defy explanation. He shows a remarkable gift for untangling and explaining highly complex issues and situations clearly. He provides context and continuity for the church’s actions and attitudes. All this is done in a highly readable and even graceful style, accessible to the interested layperson as well as to the professional historian.” (Available from Crown & Covenant and Amazon.) Bill also serves as Interim Moderator of the Ridgefield Park, NJ session, and edits A Little Strength.
John Edgar, Pastor of Elkins Park RPC: John serves as the Atlantic Presbytery's representative on the Home Mission Board. If you have questions about starting a new church, or how the denomination funds them, contact him. He also writes for A Little Strength and is one of its editors. Locally, John helps to coach his daughter Abigail's travel soccer team. He also meets with a local business owners association, a continuation of his earlier work co-chairing a civic association. Finally, a good deal of his time goes towards advancing his studies in the Doctor of Ministry program at RPTS. He has two papers to complete for his course work, and then his thesis, dealing with human nature in light of some contemporary issues of justice and economics.
Daniel Howe, Pastor of Christ RP Church in Rhode Island: Daniel has served for seven years on the RPCNA Board of Education & Publication. He has been Board President for three years. Daniel is working on a book on how to keep the Lord's Day and is helping the Board start a new "imprint" (or sub-publisher) called Grassmarket Press. Together with Deacon Bob Allmond of Elkins Park, he organized a retreat for our pastors and their families at White Lake Camp, July 9-11. Afterwards, Daniel and family traveled to Washington State, where he taught a three-part series titled "The Courage to be Men and Women." His wife Esther is expecting their fifth child early next year.
Bruce Martin: Bruce with his wife JoAnne traveled to Australia in April on behalf of Synod’s Inter-Church Committee, and they will go to a NAPARC meeting in California this November. Bruce is President of the U.S. Board of the Reformation Translation Fellowship, and he is again the Clerk of our Presbytery.
Alex Tabaka, Pastor of the Broomall RPC: Alex will finish his course work for a Ph.D. degree at Westminster Seminary this coming spring. His intended dissertation topic is the influence of neo-Platonic metaphysics on the western Christian tradition, with particular attention to pseudo-Dionysius. (Editor note: the most successful and influential forgery ever written.) Westminster Seminary student Hunter Jackson worked with Alex as his summer intern. He assists Professor Gamble in his distance learning courses at RPTS, and he will be teaching assistant to Professor Todd Rester at Westminster Seminary.
Gabriel Wingfield: during the spring, Gabriel spent two weeks in West Africa reconnecting with the Eglise Presbyterienne du Senegal and forming new friendships with the nascent Reformed Presbyterian work in the Gambia (under the oversight of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland). The summer has been filled with candidating and family trips, as well as a week at White Lake Family Camp where he taught the doctrine of Creation.
-- Bill Edgar
White Lake Covenanter Camp: 2019 A Counselor's Report
At the beginning of Kids and Teen Camp this year, I was asked by Bill Edgar to write a journal from the perspective of a counselor. In theory this was a fantastic idea, writing down the personal experiences, thoughts, and perceptions of a member of the staff. However, it wasn’t until the last day of camp that I remembered I was actually supposed to do it. The reason behind this I think sheds more light on the experiences of a staff member of White Lake than a scribbled journal ever could. I was just too tired, having too much fun, and was way too busy to pause and write anything during the week. Whoops! Anyway, here is a brief summary of Prep Week and Teen Camp that I spent at White Lake Covenanter Camp as a counselor the summer of 2019.
Prep-week for the staff started on Friday the 19th of July and it lasted until Friday the 26th. It was a week of spiritual encouragement, preparation for the children, and physical labor. During this time, we were blessed to have both Lucas Hannah and Jonathan Haney on the hilltop with us for instruction and encouragement. They were responsible for the spiritual aspects of prep-week in terms of leading devotions at nearly every meal, directing times of prayer, and helping us prepare for various situations that might arrive during camp. Most, if not all of the staff, also worked on and gave their testimonies during this time under the guidance of these two pastors. It was an incredible way to grow together in unity as a team, but also as friends and peers. In terms of the physical aspect of prep week, we cleaned cabins, set up the two large teepees, fixed things where needed, set up the archery range, put together new benches, and much more. This was another great way to grow as a team – sweating together. Of course, we also had fun as a team, such as canoeing, trying out some of the new additions to camp, Psalm sings, and time around the campfire belting out songs.
Kids and Teen Camp started the 27th of June and concluded early the following Friday. I had the privilege of being the counselor to Girls 4, a group of 13 to 14-year-olds who of course participated in the Teen Camp aspect of White Lake. (Because of this I have limited knowledge of the goings on of Kids Camp during the week.) During the second week, we added a third pastor to our staff, Noah Bailey. He was responsible for the lectures given to Teen Camp every day. His lectures were on the relationships and attachments we develop in this life, Siblings, Strangers, Prisoners, Spouse, and Stuff. It was well received and many questions were asked later, as well as the lectures having a heavy influence on cabin devotions and discussions.
Duran Perkins led a more hands-on workshop after the lectures, focused on ancient technologies no longer in use today. During this time, the teens made clay lanterns that were eventually fired, ground wheat and blew chaff away, made sand molds to pour melted aluminum into, and (attempted to anyway) spin cotton with their hands.
Several things were added during the second week that were new in 2019. A large new pit to play a game called Gaga-ball was added, we got a foam machine that people of all ages enjoyed, a ropes course for kids camp (including a zip line), and a hayride wagon. Another new addition was the usage of the back field. Previous years, it sat mostly unused with the exception of archery, but this year we spruced it up for teen camp. The two massive teepees were erected on the field, and the civil war style tent was also put up and filled with the recreation equipment. [The recreation equipment is stored in the Rec Hall and Pritchard House during the off-season –ed.] Our target archery was moved further down the hill this year as well, in order for the new and improved soccer field to be usable. The teepees were used both as a place to lead Kids Camp lessons and as a night outing for Teen Camp. My girls and I spent a night out on the back field, sleeping in the teepees. A fire and tiki torches were lit for our entertainment, and we also stargazed. It was beautiful.
White Lake Kids and Teen camp also saw some new situations arise in regards to the wild life this year. During Prep Week we found that two vultures had made their home in the Pritchard House attic. It was quite the event removing them. Their two alarmingly large babies were up there as well, and a black vulture's main defense mechanism is projectile vomit. UGH! Our other exciting wildlife encounter was during the second week on the last night, when a bear decided to follow the smell of chicken up the hill and into the Rec Hall. Though it cut the last night of camp festivities short, a very wound-up and entertained group of kids went back to their cabins that night. Like every year, the last day and leaving was difficult and emotional. Watching the girls I had counseled leave the hilltop was much harder than departing as a camper ever had been. There were many tears shed, promises made, and email addresses exchanged. God has truly been using White Lake Camp over these many years and it is my prayer that he will continue to use it so powerfully in 2020.
-- Wren Jessop
White Lake Campers,
1946-1947
White Lake Conference 1946
“Beautiful for situation, glorious in its view
Stands the hill above the valley,
wet with morning dew.
When the east is flaming crimson like a fiery sea
Then we raise our morning anthem –
White Lake unto thee!
…There we meet and greet our comrades. There glad tribute bring
To the cross, the Christ, the Covenant, --
to our crowned king.”
So reads a portion of the alma mater of White Lake Camp written by Dr. J.M. Coleman over 20 years ago; yet it still expresses our feeling of love for the camp which has such a lasting place in our hearts.
The Conference this year was one of great joy to all of us who attended. There was a definitely encouraging optimistic spirit that promises even better camps in the future. The campers did a good job in living up to our Conference Theme, “A Willing People.”
Our accommodations were taxed to the limit by the more than capacity crowd that stayed at camp during the entire two weeks; the weekend of August 9-12 was truly an overflow, but everyone shared and co-operated to such an extent that all were amply provided for.
A typical day’s program was as follows:
7:20 Rising Signal
8:00 Breakfast and Family Worship
9:10 Devotional Period (Led each week by a different society on a particular phase of “A Willing People.”)
9:25 First Lecture Period
10:10 Second Lecture Period
11:00 Volleyball or other recreation
12:15 Dinner
1:00 Voluntary Prayer Group
2:00 Baseball and other sports
4:00 Swimming and boating
6:00 Supper and Family Worship
7:30 Evening Program
9:15 Campfire
11:00 In cabin and lights out
In addition to the regular Sabbath services, there was a Psalm Sing on the hill at 4:00.
We had a number of special features, some of which I shall merely name, such as a hayride, a speedboat ride, a “Kiddie Party,” Quiz Programs, and an Amateur Night.
On Saturday evening, August 10, a special service was held for the Dedication of our new Memorial Hall. Our President, Mr. Bruce C. Stewart [son of Second Philadelphia pastor Frank Stewart], led this service, and Rev. Wyley Caskey [White Lake pastor] was the main speaker. [Memorial Hall, presumably so named for those who fought and died in World War II, later called the Mess Hall, and now called the Dining Hall] was dedicated. (There was a photo of the new building accompanying the article.)
-- Covenanter Witness, November 6, 1946, p. 298.
In 1946 a 10-day Junior Camp began at White Lake, run by Frank Lathom, the pastor of the Walton RPC, and Robert Edgar, pastor of the RPC in the Bronx. There were 56 campers at the first Junior Camp. That same summer a Presbyterian group rented the camp for a week with 69 present. In 1947 their number was 89. “Thus, you see that our Camp is growing into a wider range of usefulness.”
-- Minutes of Synod, 1947, p. 124.
“The twenty-fourth encampment of the White Lake Covenanter Camp met from August 23 to September 1, 1947. Our conference theme was the same as the one followed at Grinnell [Iowa college where national conference held earlier that summer] – “Christ’s Program – My Part.” …
Our days began with family worship followed by a devotional period and two lectures. Miss Lola Weir presented a series of lectures discussing the Jewish problem. [Jewish guerilla attacks on British in Palestine; Jewish refugees thronging Cyprus; Arab hostility to Jews] These lectures were followed by the distribution of tracts and personal evangelism in the neighboring communities. [i.e., local Jewish resorts]
We were privileged this year to have Rev. J.C. Mitchel speak on his experiences in China. [He stayed through the war, helping with relief, encouraging the RP churches there, and helping the British with rescuing downed pilots.] These lectures gave us a new realization of war conditions in China.
The afternoons were spent in playing volleyball, softball, resting and swimming. Many other games were available…
The evenings were given over to a variety of special programs under the leadership of various members of the congregations. Campfire was the last event of the evening. We sat around the fire and sang camp songs, listened to the reading of the K.K.K., our camp newspaper, and closed by singing the last verse of the fourth psalm. [I have dim memories of the K.K.K. camp gossip newspaper. Does anyone remember what the K’s stood for? – Bill Edgar]
…over 100 people present for part of the encampment.
The climax of our program was the consecration service under the direction of Rev. Wylie Caskey [Pastor of White Lake Church].
-- Covenanter Witness, October 8, 1947, p. 238
"Who Is This?" Asked the Disciples
Sermon Excerpt: Hunter Jackson
Mark 4:35 – 5:20
This week you will have to do something you would rather not, love a difficult person…tell a difficult truth…bear with someone...suffer for someone. Your response to that situation will depend on you what you think about Christ’s power and authority. Jesus has all authority over creation and created things, winds, waves, men, women, and demons. In our passage this evening, we see different responses to Jesus having all authority and power.
Often what we have read in this part of Mark’s Gospel is broken into two accounts, but these two instances are connected. Both events happened on the same boat trip Jesus takes his disciples. Both events record Jesus doing something no one else can do. Only Jesus has the power and authority to calm a raging storm and only Jesus has the power and authority to calm a man with demons raging inside him.
Well before Jesus and his disciples make it across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus decides to take a nap in the boat. (Don’t let anyone ever tell you naps aren’t for godly people.) As the grand fisher of men is sleeping, his disciples are panicking because a windstorm came down upon the lake and now their boat is filling with water. They are in danger of drowning and Jesus gets one of the most sincere wake up calls you could give someone, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” [Editor's note: Though the sermon text is from Mark, Hunter also makes frequent use of the parallel passage in Luke 8:22-39.] You’ll remember that some of these men are fisherman, this isn’t their first time on water, and they aren’t overreacting. But Jesus is on the boat with them, he gets up and rebukes the winds and waves and they cease. And then Jesus turns and rebukes His disciples, “Where is your faith?” -- which is the last question that should be asked after surviving a near-death experience…unless it’s needed. Usually, we would ask, “Is everyone okay?” But here Jesus asks His disciples, “Why did you not think you’d be okay?” You’ll remember in Luke’s gospel the disciples have seen Jesus bring a widow’s son back from death and heal a centurion’s servant with just a word. And what does Jesus say about that centurion? “I haven’t seen faith like this in all of Israel.” What do you think makes great faith? The centurion’s great faith was displayed in his confidence concerning the power and authority of Christ. He says to Jesus, “I have authority, I say to a servant go and they obey…it happens. But you have all authority; say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Now, we are back in the boat, and Jesus has just asked the disciples where their faith is? Well, in a great display of wisdom, the disciples do not try and answer his question at all, but the text says something interesting. This is verse 25 from Luke 8, “And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” The waves have stopped, the disciples are not in danger of suffering a watery fate, but they are afraid. Because in their presence is One who has all authority and power: God is in the boat with them. Psalm 135 and 107 attribute this kind of command over the waves and winds to belong to God alone. Psalm 135:6, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Psalm 107:28-30, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.” The power and authority of Christ was surety for the centurion, that his servant would be healed, but for the disciples it raised a question, “Who is this?” And they get their answer on the other side of their boat trip from an unlikely source…
When Jesus and the disciples make it to the country of the Gerasenes an interesting greeting party welcomes them. A naked demon-possessed man runs to meet him. Now, because of our place in history we are almost unaffected by Mark’s description of this man. But let me perhaps try and present it to you in a different way. You go and travel somewhere, and as you are heading towards one particular region, a local is chasing you down and is yelling for your attention and says, “You don’t want to go that way. If you keep heading that way, you’re in danger. There’s a man possessed by demons, who lives in our cemetery. We tried numerous times to shackle him and chain him, but he breaks them every time. We can’t do anything to contain him. And we can’t do anything to help him or protect you!” This is what Jesus is walking into, an encounter with a man who cannot be calmed, a man who cannot be restrained. Imagine the disciples watching Jesus walk up to this demon-possessed man. Who is Jesus to do this? And we get our answer from the demon! “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” Who then is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him? He is Jesus, the Son of the Most High God.
You can hear the demons acknowledge that power and authority, “I beg you”, and later in verse 31 of Luke 8 “beg[ging] that Jesus would not command them to go into the abyss.” Well, Jesus grants their requests and sends the unclean spirits into the unclean pigs owned by the non-Jewish Gentiles who lived there. Jesus commands the demons to leave this man and calms him. The herdsmen who witnessed Jesus heal the demon-possessed man run into their city and countryside and tell everyone what has happened. Their action shows the notoriety of the demon-possessed man who lived in tombs. No one would say, “I’ve never heard of that guy before.” The new information wouldn’t be there is a crazy demon possessed guy (everybody knows that already), but the shock would be that he has been calmed and is in his right mind.
Verse 37 gives us the response of the people. “They were seized with great fear.” The disciples and these people in the region have the same response to the great power and authority of Christ: Fear! It makes us afraid to know someone can control things and we can’t, it makes us afraid to know there is a power out there that knows no limits. We fear power when we don’t know how it will be used, we wonder to ourselves will this force be used to harm me or to make life harder. Yet Jesus isn’t just power and authority. He has all power and authority with a gracious heart. He uses his power to save the lives of the disciples; he uses his authority to command the demons to leave this man’s body. God is often portrayed as some distant observer, uninvolved in our pain. But what do we have here? The One with all power and authority is IN the boat with fearful disciples and He is going INTO the graveyard to save a poor man from demons. Truly, he uses all that power and authority with mercy and grace. Nothing displays this more than the Cross, where the One with all power and authority voluntarily lays down His life as a sacrifice for sin.
And in the last portion of our passage we see Jesus’ power and authority over his followers. Here are verses 38-39, “The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”
In the introduction, I talked about having to do things you would rather not. Here at the end, we see this healed man begging to be with Jesus, to continue to be with Him. This is not a sinful or selfish desire, and none of us could fault him for making such a request. Yet Jesus wants this man do something else: “Go and tell others how much God has been done for you.” This man wanted to be with Jesus, Jesus wanted him to go and proclaim Christ. This man obeyed what Jesus commanded him to do. The winds and waves don’t resist Jesus, and demons, try as they might, cannot resist His power and authority. This man who has been delivered out of the graveyard obeys Jesus.
What about you? Why must you love someone self-sacrificially this week? Why must you treat sin as sin and not sugarcoat it? Why must you honor your mother and father? Parents, why must raise your children in a way that they won’t lose heart? Because Christians are under the authority of Christ Jesus! This means that his power and authority are not only a source of our protection and blessing like what the disciples received during the windstorm. His power and authority also directs our actions in life like the demon-possessed man who becomes a missionary to the Gentiles where he lived. Jesus can change the circumstances in your life that you can’t, but he can also change you instead. Jesus can save your life from anything, and he can also command you to use your life for what he chooses. Wherever you are this week, when you are confronted with his power and authority, that he runs the show, trust him. He is good. He uses His power and authority for the good of his church and his glory, always and forever. Amen.
Ernie Johnson, New Elder
Coldenham-Newburgh
At 3:00 p.m. on the Lord’s Day, September 15, the Session of the Coldenham-Newburgh church ordained and installed Ernie Johnson as their second resident elder. Ernie began his Christian life as a baptized member of the Bronx RP Church, now moved to Ridgefield Park, NJ. In 1968 at age eleven, Ernie believed the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ at White Lake Camp as he heard it from Mrs. Ruth Price of C-N and gave himself to Jesus.
When Ernie’s family moved to Peekskill, NY, in 1971, they continued to worship God in the Bronx Church. After college, Ernie moved to Beacon, NY to work at Four Winds Hospital as a psychiatric nurse and became part of the nearby C-N church. In 1991, he married Becky Nickerson, who grew up in our Cambridge congregation. Together they adopted three children and became legal guardians of a fourth. In 1997 C-N elected Ernie as a deacon, and in time he became its treasurer. Now the C-N congregation has elected him as a ruling elder. The session examined his fitness to be an elder and sustained the congregation’s vote.
Present for Ernie’s ordination and installation were the C-N congregation and new adherents, its pulpit supply preacher Zack Dotson and his family, the Interim Moderator of its Session, Dave Coon, who preached the ordination sermon, elder Phil Shafer of C-N, who narrated how Ernie had come to be at C-N and elected elder, the provisional elder from White Lake RPC, Mike DeSocio, who gave words of advice to the congregation, and elders with their families from elsewhere in the Presbytery, David Weir and Glen Chin from Ridgefield Park, and Bill Edgar from Broomall.
Afterwards there was food, of course, very good food. Everyone was happy at God’s blessing C-N with another elder to help lead them forward. Pray for Ernie and his congregation.
-- Bill Edgar
Speaking Mexican on a Pennsylvania Farm
I grew up in Niagara County, New York, and had early exposure to French from my mother, who showed me vocabulary flash cards when I was a preschooler, and from Sesame Street on Toronto Public Television. I went on to take three years of high school French, and two years of New Testament Greek in college. On my own, I learned a bit of Korean, Latin and Pennsylvania German. But language acquisition is a fruit of immersion, not willpower or textbooks, so none of these are my second language.
My functional second language is Spanish, specifically the dialect spoken by subsistence farmers in rural Michoacan, Mexico. I did not need to drive the thirty-nine hour trek from Gratz, Pennsylvania to Puruándiro, Mexico. The undocumented workers of rural hamlets like Las Letras and El Pilar came to work with me on a potato farm just seven miles from my house on the southwestern edge of the anthracite coal region.
Why did they come so far? Were they war-torn refugees seeking asylum, hoping for the American dream? Or were they all drug dealers and violent felons overrunning our nation like the barbarian tribes that destroyed Rome? No. There is little truth in the leftist fantasy of honest refugees fleeing persecution. There is no war or fiery persecution in Mexico. There is corruption and poverty, but by that standard most of the world would need to come here. Neither is there much desire to become American. My undocumented Hispanic friends are almost universally emphatic that they would never want to be US citizens. They brag about their native villages and criticize their temporarily adopted country. When asked, they insist that they will be buried in their natal soil. The thought of their grandchildren speaking English is odious.
The right-wing fear, that they are murderous members of the gang MS-13, is also overblown. These workers were sons of Adam: imperfect, but sometimes noble, human beings, capable of reason and doing good, and sinners, capable of bigotry, selfishness and idolatry. In short, they are neither noble primitives nor bloodthirsty savages. They do come from deep poverty by our standards, and their earnings here are primarily sent home so that their little siblings do not go hungry. They are lost people, and just like us they need the Gospel. God is bringing the world to us. Will we be prepared to love and evangelize them?
The religion of my undocumented friends is mostly nominal and cynical Romanism, although some are watery Protestants or even adherents of cults. One nice young man – from Chiapas, not Mihoacan – was a Seventh Day Adventist. I explained to him why I understand the Sabbath to be Domingo, the Lord’s Day, not Saturday. Then I challenged him as to why he worked on Saturdays for the potato packing shed. His attitude was basically lo que sucede en los Estados Unidos, se queda en los Estados Unidos. What happens in the United States stays in the United States. I warned him that the True God is everywhere and sees all. True religion must endure when we are far from our pastors and parents.
His lax sentiment is pervasive among the Roman Catholic Mexicans as well. They rarely go to mass, and joke about how los sacerdotes (the priests) in their home villages all have girlfriends in spite of their vows of celibacy. If they have any evangelicals where they grew up, they mock them as las aleluyas (sound it out!), and complain that they don’t let their children dance at village functions, nor intermarry with them. I have often wondered if the serious Bible-believers in Mexico tend to choose poverty over family separation and perhaps take our border laws more seriously.
Spiritual ignorance is the rule among these agricultural workers who pick our fruits and vegetables for us, and heathenism is mixed with Roman Catholicism. On el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), the priests hold services in the graveyard, and parishioners believe that their dead ancestors celebrate the mass with them. This practice coincides with our Celtic Halloween, and is directly descended from pre-Christian Aztec rituals. The Mexicans wear t-shirts and hoodies with depictions of a skeleton, la Santa Muerte, a holy Grim Reaper, or more literally, Saint Death. They are far from the God of life. They admit that their own priests would agree that death is a ‘saint.’
Perhaps the most ridiculous fabrication of Mexican folk religion is Saint Jesús Malverde, the Patron of drug traffickers. One of the most worldly muchachos (boys) in the potato packing shed wore this saint’s picture on a necklace as a charm against American police and la Migra, our border patrol. Malverde was a narcotraficante (drug trafficker) in Sinaloa State who was killed in 1909, if he ever existed. He is venerated as a Robin Hood figure by many Mexicans who don’t take their own Roman Church seriously. When I ask what their priests think of him, they admit that, far from being a saint, he would be denounced as a violent criminal who got what he deserved.
The most pervasive false deity of the Mexicans is a goddess, la Virgen de Guadalupe, a supposed avatar of Mary, the Queen of Heaven. Wall hangings and glass candle-holders with her picture are staples of the Mexican home decor. When I was new to the language and culture, just making friends, I mistakenly hoped that this would be a point of contact for witnessing. One of the boys was wearing a garment with a depiction of the Lady of Guadalupe. So I asked him if he ever thought about how Mary of Nazareth had a Son named Jesus - and why He is so important. His response was indignant: She’s not the mother of Jesus, she’s la Madre de México (the Mother of Mexico)! He did not want to talk about Jesus, and walked away quite disgusted by my “ignorance.” Neither Nazareth nor Gratz, Pennsylvania had anything to teach him - he was cien por ciento mexicano (one hundred percent Mexican), and proudly superior to any silly Gringo (Yankee) with a Bible.
In short, our undocumented Mexican neighbors are sinners just like us. Many of them think that they don’t need a Savior, but of course they do. Are we ready to love them, as Jesus wants us to?
I will close with a sweet anecdote that I hope my readers will find both poignant and funny. One of my industrious coworkers told me, after a winter storm, that he earned extra cash shoveling snow. When he shared this news over the phone to his toddler son in Mexico, the boy was amazed and exclaimed, “¿Padre, por qué no la comes?” - Why didn’t you just eat it, father? In rural Michoacan, both ice cream and snow are called nieve, and the boy, whose dusty village never sees a snowflake, had pictured streets full of frozen dessert for the taking. The simplicity of his young imagination made me smile, but also made me sad when I pondered the years this lad spends without the presence of his migrant father. Our churches need to offer the Gospel to these lonely sojourners among us. As Christian citizens we need to think past shallow stereotypes.
In a later report from the fields, I would like to share about Mexican family life as I saw it, quite commendable but also with sorrows that need to be redeemed and sanctified by Christ.
-- Scott Rocca
Communion Means Suffering with Christ
Churches call the sacrament of baptism either “Baptism” or “Christening.” There are three names for the other New Covenant sign, Communion, Lord’s Supper, and Eucharist. “Eucharist” is the Greek word for thanksgiving brought directly into English. “Lord’s Supper” comes from I Corinthians 11:20 (ESV): “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. “Communion” comes from I Corinthians 10:16 9 (AV). “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?.”
Modern translations replace the King James Bible translation, “communion,” with “participation (ESV),” or “sharing (NASB).” None are fully satisfactory. The Greek word “koinonia” means essentially sharing things in common. In the Sacrament of Communion we share in Christ’s bleeding wounds and participate in his broken body by breaking bread to eat its broken pieces, and pouring out wine to drink.
Christ’s death fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifices. They have ended. What is more, wherever the Gospel of Christ is preached, animal sacrifice soon loses its meaning and appeal and dies out, even among those who are not Christians. But has sacrifice itself ended? Not at all!
When we participate in Christ’s broken body and shed blood in the Sacrament of Communion, we take part in his shameful humiliation in front of everybody. It shows that the Christian life is one of sacrifice, even while it is an abundant life of joy and peace. Why still sacrifice? Because in this age God’s enemies are at war with Christ’s Church, and they sometimes exact the blood of Christ’s followers. Anticipating his coming death in Rome, Paul wrote, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad.” (Philippians 2:17) Elsewhere he writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1 ESV) What often brings on sacrifice? Refusing to conform to this world! Paul continues, “Do not be conformed to this world.” (Romans 12:2) In our day, and in all days before ours, God has called some Christians to give up their homes and lives for his sake, as the horrors of ISIS have once again shown in recent days.
There are two sacrifices God asks all Christians to make regularly. The first is the sacrifice of money. The New Testament abounds with appeals for money and stories of people sharing money with others. For example, when Paul was a prisoner in Rome, the Church in Philippi sent him money, which he called “gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:18) It was a beautiful sacrifice this spring, pleasing to God, when Atlantic Presbytery churches and some individuals answered the need of the Elkins Park RPC for help to replace their parsonage roof, just after they had had to replace their church’s heating system.
Giving a tithe hurts. It also blesses because it is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, which is why our weekly offerings are an act of worship. All of our good deeds are sacrifices. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16) The adventure and sacrifice of hospitality both to friends and strangers especially pleases God. (Hebrews 13:2)
The sacrifice of time for the weekly observance of the Lord’s Day by ceasing from work in order to worship God in the Church is the second regular sacrifice. God claims a seventh of our time just as he claims a tenth of our income. Getting up on a Lord’s Day morning, preparing the children for church, spending a good part of the day with God’s people is a blessing. It is also a sacrifice reminding us that the Son of God came to earth and took on human flesh to spend time among us. With the Church each week, as we listen to God’s Word, sing God’s Word, and pray to God in the name of Christ, we are not working on our houses, entertaining ourselves with the TV or social media, advancing our careers, or doing schoolwork. Instead, we bring “a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
When we take the Sacrament of Communion, we share in Christ’s sacrifice, by which our sins are forgiven and his righteousness is credited to us. Until Christ comes, his people by their sacrifices will continue to share in his victory over the Evil One. Sacrifice is God’s purpose for his people in this age. We are “a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 2:5) God requires every follower of his to a life of sacrifice, beginning with a tenth of our income and a seventh of our time.
Communion, therefore, is not for people who think the Lord will give them nothing but health and wealth if they only have enough faith. Such folk do not understand the meaning of Communion, in which we participate in Christ’s sufferings for our eternal salvation, and identify with him in our present lives. Here is Jesus’ invitation to communion with him: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
-- Bill Edgar
Questions: Prayers and Pools
1. What do I say to a bereaved old nominal Polish Catholic who keeps asking me, and my church, to pray for his dead wife?
Let’s give this old man a name, Stefan.
“Stefan, you want me to pray for your dear wife because you still love her and you know deep within you that that we sinners live and die only once. After death comes God’s judgment. Your wife now stands before God’s appointed judge, Jesus. He will treat her justly. It is too late for me to pray for her now, but it is not too late for me to pray for you, and I do. I ask God to give you the grace of repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ, who saves all who trust in him. Do you trust in him?”
2. “Even though I have been a Christian for many years, I sin more and more. Why is that?”
Part of the Holy Spirit’s work of remaking us in the image of Christ is revealing our sin to us. If we were to understand all at once just how bad we are, it would crush us, so God kindly sanctifies us step by step in this life. It is as though we began our Christian lives at the bottom of the ocean, ten thousand feet down, next to a ladder. With the dim light filtering down from above, we see a three-foot ladder. We start climbing until finally we have climbed a hundred feet. Then we look up and see a four-foot ladder. Our condition looks worse than it did at the start. Should we make it up to five thousand feet below the water's surface, we might see a ladder twenty feet high and be tempted to despair. Really, though, we have made great progress! So it is as we get closer to God; we see our faults more clearly and thus how far we have to go to be like Jesus. Your awareness of sin is a sign of progress, even as you continue to fail. Do not despair.
3. “Hi. Will you play with me?” she asked with appealing directness. We were at the pool with our grandchildren, and she had seen me throwing Julian and playing with Owen.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Taylor,” she said.
“Well, this is Julian. He’s six. And Owen is four. How old are you? Open your mouth wide.”
Taylor obliged, and I guessed seven. “No,” she said. “I’m eight. My birthday was in May.”
“My name is Mr. Edgar. I am 73. Do you go to Saint Dot’s?”
“Yes. How did you guess?”
I continued my questions. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I never see my stepbrothers because my parents are divorced. They live with my dad. I have a full sister over there.”
“What’s her name?”
“Aubrey. She’s five. Okay. Can we play now?”
So we played keep-away with a soft cloth ball, she, Julian, and I. Then we included Julian’s father Alex. We moved on to a cannonball contest. I was judge. To Taylor, “Good, 4.6 out of a perfect 6. Your knees weren’t together.” Then Julian. “Perfect form, but too small a splash, so 4.0.” Aubrey got a 3. Next round, Julian won, and Taylor was second. Aubrey tried crying because she had lost both times. I said, “Don’t bother. Crying high school girls never got anywhere with me, so your crying won’t either.”
I threw Julian through the air into the water, so Taylor asked, “Will you throw me too?”
“Go ask your mother,” I said. She pretended to. I said, “No, really, you have to go ask her.” She ran off quite a distance. Her mother was sitting far enough away that she was not watching at all. That is the lifeguard’s job. It was Saturday and single Mom’s day off, I guessed. Taylor ran back. “She says it’s okay.” I had my doubts about that, but I threw her once, unconvincingly.
“Watch me turn a somersault in the water.” She went frontwards, then backwards. Julian then did five in a row frontwards. That was enough of that.
Alex’s brother, Adam, arrived, with two more grandchildren, Eleanor age 4 and Luke age 1. Julian’s youngest brother Nathaniel, age 2, became his most adventurous ever in the water. Alex, Adam, and I were all busy now.
Then I had to leave for a haircut. While I dried off, I watched Taylor play for a short while with Julian, then lose interest. She never showed any interest in Alex or Adam. Poor lonely girl, left to play at the pool with whomever she could. I think she wanted a Grandpa. She’s not alone. The time before at the pool a different girl, age 11, had asked, “Will you play with me?” She too had no father. She and Julian and I played tag for quite a while.
-- Bill Edgar
Dot Org
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Authors in this Issue
Bill Edgar is a retired pastor of Broomall RPC (Philadelphia).
John Edgar is the pastor of Elkins Park RPC (Philadelphia).
Hunter Jackson is a member of Broomall RPC (Philadelphia), as are his wife and their twin girls. After spending a year at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, he is now studying at Westminster Seminary to be a pastor. He is under the care and oversight of the Atlantic Presbytery.
Wren Jessop is a member of Elkins Park RPC (Philadelphia).
Evangeline Metheny was a former member of Second Philadelphia and missionary; see her biography in the 2.1 issue of A Little Strength.
Scott Rocca is a member of Hazleton RPC.