Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2023 Blog #39

October 2, 2023

Dr. Pam on The Pulse

Each month, Dr. Pam and the Hudson River Counseling Center is featured on “The Pulse” with Peter B. The Pulse is a cable TV show that is shown in Hudson County. Among other things, Dr. Pam uses this platform to advertise her program, “My Sanctuary Healing” which is a support group for those who have been the victims of religious abuse. Peter B. told Dr. Pam that each month when she and “My Sanctuary Healing” is featured, there is good viewership and many positive emails because of these segments. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I’m not being sarcastic. I’m happy that people are seeing these episodes and are responding but I am sad that so many people can resonate with abuse whether this abuse takes place domestically or in religious settings. I know what Jesus is thinking about abuse done in his name. What is the matter with Jesus’ disciples who are perpetrating these crimes or allowing others to perpetrate these crimes on church property or in Jesus’ name.

Dr. Pam filmed a new type of segment recently which will air in October. In this type of segment, she answers questions that viewers email in. Sadly, many of the emails that were mailed in had abuse as the subject and some of those involved church abuse. Clearly, this is a greater problem than most of us wish to acknowledge.

Many times, we in the church, tolerate abuse in various forms for a variety of reasons. Many of us are conflict avoidant. Many times, we excuse bad behavior because the perpetrators are volunteers, and we don’t wish to offend people who do volunteer work for us. In some instances, we excuse bad behavior because the offenders are “old, long-term members” and we give them too much leeway in behavior.

Yet, we complain that our congregations are shrinking as we meet more abuse victims who are leaving churches. Can we not make the connections between people being mis-treated and treated rudely and our shrinking congregations? It seems to me that we can make a connection between how congregations act and how many people are leaving.

It is up to us, who are part of the church, to discipline one another. When people are treated dis-respectively how can we expect them to want to worship with us. In many cases, such people have not lost their faith in Jesus, but have lost faith in the church. I hope that this blog is a wake-up call to everyone of us who profess to be disciples of Christ. Whenever we gossip, whenever we are rude, whenever loose our temper with others, we are hurting others, the church, and Jesus himself. It is time that we reclaim a pillar of Christ’s church, discipline. We need to police ourselves as well as one another. Each time we treat others in ways that we would not wish to be treated, we weaken the church that we have pledged ourselves to support.

#ReformedChurchInAmerica                                 #PastorMarkAuthor.com                

#BergenCounty                                                        #BergenfieldNJ

#ThePulse                                                                 #Abuse

#BadBehavior                                                           #ChurchDiscipline

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:

www.pastormarkauthor.com

Our daily devotional is a re-post with permission from Words Of Hope. Come view our website at www.clintonave.org.

Good Grief

By Ben Van Arragon on September 26, 2023

Read: 2 Corinthians 7:2-13

Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation. (v. 10)

In recent years, protests have erupted across America. Depending on which side of an issue you identify with, you’ll consider a given protest needlessly destructive or justifiably disruptive. But at its best, protest takes on the shape of lament: honest assessment of, and grief over, what is wrong with the world.

As believers in Jesus, we know our world isn’t as it should be. In Romans 8, Paul argues that every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that we “who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for [our] . . . redemption” (v. 23). The Spirit’s restlessness for the restoration of creation provokes self-reflection in us and, according to Paul, produces sorrow. And this sorrow leads to repentance: a change of mind and a change of direction.

God’s gift is that Spirit-inspired grief always comes with grace. Thanks to Christ’s death on the cross, the Spirit’s confrontation brings no condemnation, only conviction. The change God’s Spirit demands is change he enables. The Spirit makes us restless for change, and then moves us toward his vision of new creation.

If you’re restless with the state of your world, take heart. The Spirit of the living God is restless, and he shares his restless heart with all who believe. At the same time, allow his irresistible redemptive impulse to work from the inside out—conforming you first to Christ’s righteousness, then calling you as an agent of restoration in creation.

As you pray, ask the Spirit to make you restless and give you rest.

In this episode, Pastor Mark celebrates the cultural diversity of the congregational “Welcome Home” party.

Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/1140298/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2023 Blog #38

September 25, 2023

A Multi-Cultural Party/Fiesta

Yesterday our congregation celebrated our “Welcome Home Party.” Our congregation goes virtual in August through Labor Day, and we give people a few weeks after Labor Day to get back from vacations and settle back into our routines. Therefore, we celebrate our “Welcome Home” a few weeks after Labor Day.

It is a rather festive celebration with a DJ, grills, and a potluck sharing of dishes to pass. Anyone who has grown up in church knows how wonderful potluck meals are. We taste flavors that we usually don’t experience and learn recipes that most of us never would have thought of. There is always an abundance of food, and we eat to excess. After a few years we tend to know which people are bringing which dish. We are, after all, creatures of habit.

This year, our Welcome Home party was different. It included new recipes from our newest worship participants, immigrants from Latin America. Nine months ago, we hired a Seminary student who immigrated from Columbia to begin a Spanish Language worship service that is nested within our congregation. Now we have between 7 and 14 Latin American immigrants who are part of our Church fellowship. They, of course, joined in our party and brought food from their native countries. Our potluck has expanded to include Latin food.  At our party I could hear many people speaking in English but also a number speaking Spanish.     

This party reminded me of my first parish in Hoboken. The membership of this congregation was recent immigrants from India as well as older Germans who had immigrated from Germany as children or who were born here but had parents who had immigrated from Germany. The potluck dinners there were an interesting mixture of German and Indian cuisine. At fellowship time we heard a mixture of Hudson County, German, and Indian accents. Communication was interesting at times, but we worked through it. The Holy Spirit was there.

I am reminded of the Biblical account of Pentecost. People from many nations were gathered but spoke many languages. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the gathering, they were able to communicate and understand one another despite their language and cultural differences.  

I can’t help but wonder if the Holy Spirit is coming upon us, although less dramatically than at Pentecost, as we gather from different cultures have different languages and foods, but we share Christ. Those filled with the Holy Spirit celebrate this. I pray for those who don’t embrace it, that they will receive the Holy Spirit, and join in this celebration of diversity.                                                                   

#ReformedChurchInAmerica                                 #PastorMarkAuthor.com                

#BergenCounty                                                        #BergenfieldNJ

#Latinos                                                                     #SpanishWorship

#WelcomeHome                                                      #Fiesta

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:

www.pastormarkauthor.com

In this episode, Pastor Mark praises God for a new, young leader who is emerging in our Spanish worship service, Nueva Vida en Cristo.

Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/1126689/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2023 Blog #37

September 18, 2023

Latin Leadership

As I have described in other blogs and podcasts, our congregation has participated in a lunch program for day labors. We have done this for several years. Since the beginning of this year, our Spanish New Church Planter, Ivan, has accompanied me. On one such trip, two other young Latin men joined us. This past Thursday Ivan and I were joined by a college student who has become part of the Spanish-speaking worship group. He had several questions for me and so Ivan, Johan, and myself met for breakfast.

His questions amazed me. He knew a lot about the European Reformation and specifically John Calvin, who is my theological hero. He also had questions about the differences in polity and organization between the Baptist tradition that he grew up in and that of the Reformed Church in America. I had not spent this much time discussing Calvin and Polity since the last seminar that I attended at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Johan and his mother had recently begun worshipping with the Spanish-speaking church. Indeed, he and his mother provided music for the worship with him playing the guitar and his mother singing vocals. I posted a clip of their music on Facebook a week ago.

I was impressed by their musical abilities as well as this young man’s dedication to participate in our mission to the day laborers in addition to the well thought out questions that he had for me. I couldn’t help but glorify God that he had sent this future Latin leader to the Spanish worship, our newest outreach effort. It is good that our consistory, who is mostly older than I am, and Ivan who is a bit older than me and myself are organizing this new ministry. Now we have a leader from a new generation who is decades younger than we are. He is an answer to our prayers.

I feel that this is another large step in developing this new ministry and indeed, the future of our congregation. Our town is largely young and mostly Hispanic. Our current congregation is white and older. Now our new worship service has begun to attract new and young leaders. Praise God for this!

Now, I have been given a new job. I must, in tandem with Ivan, nurture and develop this young leader and other leaders who I trust will come in the future. Eight years ago, this congregation made the decision to begin a new outreach to Hispanics. We made our mistakes and had several false starts. Now, in God’s time, things are coming together in wonderful ways. I am excited to see what God has in store for us tomorrow, next week, and the years to come.

#ReformedChurchInAmerica                                 #PastorMarkAuthor.com                

#BergenCounty                                                        #BergenfieldNJ

#Latinos                                                                     #ChristianLeaders

#NextGeneration                                                      #SpanishWorship

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:

www.pastormarkauthor.com

In this episode, Pastor Mark remembers those effected by the attacks on September 11 as well as gives a shout out to first responders who recently were working in his town.

Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/1111646/

Pastor Mark is a Christian Pastor, author, blogger, and sometimes background actor. He brings all of his years of life experience to ask spiritual questions about the ordinary events of life.

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2023 Blog #36

September 11, 2023

They don’t know enough to come out of the rain

Usually on this somber day of September 11 I pay tribute in my blog to the victims, mourners, and first responders who endured that horrible attack. This year I am deviating from that and am talking about a more current emergency situation that I witnessed just a few days ago.

On Friday my life experienced a minor annoyance. I had a medical appointment a few towns north of my town and walked into the doctor’s office in beautiful sunshine. Less than an hour later, I left the office to torrents of rain along with thunder and lightning. I knew that my trip back home would take longer than usual. I didn’t realize that I would be even more delayed.

As I entered back into town, the traffic worsened and became even thicker than could be explained by the weather. As I sat in traffic I began to hear the sirens of emergency vehicles. As I inched forward I realized that the main road in town was closed and the traffic was getting detoured. In the distance I saw sparks shooting from an electric power pole. Clearly we had a real emergency with police and fire officials standing out in the rain, the thunder, and the lightning.

I remembered lightning storms when I was a child. My mother was deathly afraid of electrical storms. Whenever we had such a storm she unplugged the TV, would not allow us to touch any of the sink faucets and she forced us to keep away from the windows.

Now, sitting in traffic, I was watching first responders who were willingly standing out in the rain during a storm that would have caused my mother to fear. I knew that soon workers from Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) would be working on those wires. Rather than knowing to come in out of the rain, these men and women went out in the rain to keep the town safe from harm and to keep services running. These people are true heroes. They go to places we would never go to and take risks that most of us avoid.                                                                                                                                  

Yes, after a short time of inconvenience I got through the detour and was soon back in the safety of the parsonage. I heard the thunder and watched the lightning in comfort. Facebook featured a notice from our police department that warned of the road closure because of a “utility emergency.” As I sat, my thoughts went out to those who were outside serving those of us who were inside. I said a prayer for their safety and admired their courage and heroism. These are people, who when summoned, don’t get to come in out of the rain.

Let us not forget those who served us on September 11, but may we never forget to show gratitude to those who still serve us as well.

#ReformedChurchInAmerica                                 #PastorMarkAuthor.com                

#BergenCounty                                                        #BergenfieldNJ

#Thunder&Lightning                                                #FirstResponders

#BergenfieldPolice                                                   #BergenfieldFire

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:

www.pastormarkauthor.com

In this episode, Pastor Mark talks vacation, keeping the Sabbath and the spiritual boost that he receives from communing with God’s creation.

Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/1100736/

Pastor Mark is a Christian Pastor, author, blogger, and sometimes background actor. He brings all of his years of life experience to ask spiritual questions about the ordinary events of life.

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2023 Blog #35

September 4, 2023

Vacation Blogs 5 of 5

Sabbath Is For God’s Creation

This is my final vacation blog for this year. As you read this I will either be packing and closing my cabin down for the winter or will already be driving on my way back home. My Sabbath is ending and I will be returning to my duties serving the congregation that God has given me to pastor. One of the things that I will be missing upon my return is my communing with nature.

I certainly love the setting of the parsonage that the congregation supplies me to live in. It is a treasure. It sits on one of the largest plots of land in our town and has a wonderful tree line in back of the property. Beyond the tree line is an embankment with a brook at the bottom. Occasionally there are ducks swimming there and once I even saw a snapping turtle swimming upstream. I can’t complain a bit about the parsonage or the property and I certainly enjoy the natural setting of it. Yet, it isn’t the same as communing with nature at my cabin.

Every morning at the cabin I wake up to the sound of woodpeckers. Whenever I walk down to the lake I can see bass jumping. Every walk I take along the quiet roads I hear more birds than cars. Canoe rides are especially enjoyable. I like to paddle to a quiet end of the lake where there are few motorboats. There I sit and listen to the sound of the lake water hitting the rocks along the shore.

The sights are even better than the sounds. In the shallow water I can see the fish and turtles as well as the occasional frog. My canoe passes through lily pads and at one point I need to lower my head to avoid hitting it on a tree branch. The particular inlet beyond that branch is exceptionally quiet with few houses there and one can hear the lack of human noise and simply hear the serenity of God’s creation. Such quiet serenity in God’s created world is perhaps the greatest Sabbath blessing that I receive each year.

Most of us who live in populated areas are inundated with the sights of human construction and human noise. Once a year I am able to hear and see only God’s nature without the clutter and noise that we humans create. Such a place is the best location I know to simply be still and know that God is God and humans are not. It revives my soul to sit in the midst of God’s creation without human distractions.

Yes, I get a bit of this in the parsonage backyard but I get so much more of this in the middle of a lake with no human noises. Being still and feeling God restores my soul. I wish that this soul-revival could last forever. God, however, has other work for me to do and this work is far away from the lake and my canoe. Perhaps this is why God paved the way for me to buy this cabin. God knew that I needed a spiritual recharge every year so that I am able to do the ministry that I am called to do.

My Sabbath is over but the spiritual recharge that it has given me will endure during this coming year.

#ReformedChurchInAmerica                                 #PastorMarkAuthor            

#BergenCounty                                                        #BergenfieldNJ

#Vacation                                                                  #Sabbath

#Leisure                                                                     #SpiritualRefreshment

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:

www.pastormarkauthor.com