PastorMarkCast
In this week’s episode, Pastor Mark asks the people of faith to examine themselves and ask the hard question if our actions might become stumbling blocks to others who might be faithful if we led by example.
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.
Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/951338/
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #20
May 15, 2023
Blocking Others
Recently I had a craving for Won Ton soup. I get food cravings every so often and they must be satisfied. I drove down to the local strip mall where I get my Won Ton Soup but I was unable to enter. A car in front of me was trying to enter but people standing and looking at some sight were precluding the flow of the traffic. It took a few minutes for me to become aware of what was happening. An unoccupied van was parked in a no-parking spot and preventing a tractor-trailer from driving where he was going. The tractor-trailer driver could not make the turn while the no-parking spot was occupied. The truck driver was irate and was making great use of his horn. Everyone wondered where the owner of the van was.
By the time I had parked and was in the Chinese restaurant to order my soup, the driver of the van had returned. Despite the horn blowing from the driver of the large truck, the van driver went about his job of bring cartons into a nearby store. He was so busy attending to his own work that he didn’t seem to care if he was impeding other people.
I can’t help but wonder how many times we get so busy with our own work, our own issues, our own perspectives that we fail to notice those around and, possibly, not even see or care about those around us. Do we impede others physically or even on their spiritual journeys?
A life-long Reformed Church member once told me that as a boy his faith was shaken when he was taught that true Christians do not smoke or drink alcohol. Later he saw the same elder who taught him this, smoking with a few other elders in town.
Another young woman told me that she hasn’t been in church since she was in high-school. While preparing for a “Children’s Service” the pastor asked her if she was “stupid” because she stumbled over a word while reading scripture.
More than two decades ago at a church in New York State there was a child who was playing with his toys in church a bit too loudly. A long time church member screamed at the child about respecting God’s house. She made the child cry and later asked consistory to teach children proper decorum while being in church. As pastor, I asked the consistory which elder should speak to her about showing decorum by example. No one volunteered. The feeling was that we simply could not offend a long time member.
I wonder if the future faith of that child was adversely effected by the disrespect that the old time member showed by screaming at a child, not realizing that there were kinder and gentler ways of dealing with a noisy child.
Do the actions of us grownups who claim to be Christian cause a blockade to others seeking faith? We lament that our children don’t participate in houses of faith but how often do we ask ourselves why? It is easy to fall back on the excuses that “there are too many competing activities now.” Maybe it is time to look at ourselves.
When a young woman is called “stupid”, when a young man sees elders doing what they teach should not be done, when a little boy is screamed at in a place that he is told is sacred, maybe we are the problem to young people becoming faithful.
Let those of us in Faith communities be mindful of Jesus warning. He told us that if anyone caused harm to a little child it would be better for that person to have a millstone hung from his neck and cast into the sea. Have our actions hurt the faith of little children? If so, maybe we need to repent. Let us make sure that we don’t stand in the way of the faith of others, especially the faith of little children.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #PastorMarkAuthor
#BergenCounty #BergenfieldNJ
#SanctuaryDeportment #StumblingBlocks
#Leadingbyexample #ChristianBehavior
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:
PastorMarkCast
In this week’s episode, Pastor Mark compares and contrasts the coronation of Charles in England and a Regional Synod meeting of the Reformed Church in America and the allegiance that is given to King Jesus.
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.
Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/941703/
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #19
May 8, 2023
The Story of Two Kings
On Saturday two celebrations of Kings were both held. One in a small rural area in lower New York State and the other in London. One was great publicized on news media outlets and the other was unknown to anyone outside of a very small circle of participants and interested people. One proclaimed that Charles was King of England while the other affirmed that God was the King of England and the rest of all creation as well.
I can’t help but wonder why we get so excited over the monarch of one particular nation when our enthusiasm for the King and owner of everything gets such a low level of excitement. Which is more important, the king of a small nation and a commonwealth that continues to shrink, or the creator of the universe whose power over creation goes beyond life in this world.
Charles is being proclaimed king of England because his mother, Queen Elizabeth died. By all accounts she was a wonderful and devout woman who was a blessing to this earth during her lifetime. She, however, did die and did not rise from the dead three days later. Likewise, Charles will someday die and he will not rise either. Citizens of England as well as the British Commonwealth pledged allegiance to Charles as they did to Elizabeth. They pledge allegiance to mortals.
On Saturday, the Regional Synod of the Mid-Atlantic’s of the Reformed Church in America met in Warwick, NY. This gathering celebrated the sovereignty of Jesus who did die but was also raised from the dead. I can’t help but wonder why so many people are willing to pledge allegiance to a mortal who will one day die and ignore the immortal one who died and rose again.
We all grew up with the Disney movies about royalty. I have heard many women tell me that they fantasized as children about being Disney princesses. One of the books that I most enjoyed as a child was Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper.” Some of my favorite literature to this day include the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the “Chronicles of Narnia.” These all have royal earthly people as main characters. At the end of the day, all of the royal characters die and their wealth and power means nothing.
Who do we pledge allegiance to? Ourselves? Our prosperity? Capitalism? Our jobs? Our families? I hope we pledge allegiance to King Jesus and live in a way that gives Jesus great joy. Someday each of us will die. We will take nothing with us out of this world. Who and what we are aligned with will determine our futures in the next world. I hope and pray that all who are reading this will pledge allegiance to King Jesus so that your futures will be secure.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #PastorMarkAuthor #BergenCounty #BergenfieldNJ
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:
PastorMarkCast
In this week’s episode, Pastor Mark looks gives his observations of a simply lesson portraited in Beauty and the Beast at Bergenfield High School.
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.
Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/931796/
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #18
May 1, 2023
Bergenfield High School Beauty and the Beast
This past Friday evening I had the privilege of spending time at Bergenfield High School. I hadn’t been in the building for a while and it was a joy to be there once again. The occasion was the first musical production that the high school had performed in forty years. It was the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast.
I have seen the animated Disney version of this story before. No one with kid my daughter’s ages could have avoided the Disney version of this. However, this is the first time that I have seen a stage version. It was magnificent.
Bergenfield High School showed an incredible amount of talent among its students. The singing, dancing, acting, costumes and music all showed an amount of professionalism that I have rarely seen in high school performances. The audience was in awe and enjoyed the performance tremendously. The story, however, was rather simple and one that we all would benefit from remembering.
A pompous prince becomes a beast because of his scorn and lack of hospitality toward someone that he looks down upon. Another pompous man does actions of violence when he can’t get what he wants and lures simple-minded followers to join him in acts of violence. Both of these men, who are full of themselves, do destructive actions because they are self-centered.
One man, the prince, is cursed by isolation but is eventually redeemed and the life-style that he once had is restored. The other, Gaston, comes to an untimely death from activities that he himself put into motion.
What caused the different endings for these two equally self-centered men? It was redeeming love. The prince, who became a beast, ultimately learned to love someone other than himself and this love of another, transformed him away from being a beast to becoming the man he had been, and was intended to be.
Oh, how valuable this simple lesson is for us whether or not we are in the community of faith. Self-centeredness causes pain and suffering to us, as well as to those around us. How we treat those around us effects our own well-being. Jesus said it best. He told us to love God first and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. When we fail to do this we have taken the first steps toward becoming beasts ourselves.
I applaud the fine work of the students, staff and alumni of Bergenfield High School for the fine production that I saw and enjoyed. I do hope and pray that all who were in the audience learned the lesson of the performance and lives the lesson out in their daily lives. What a great community we will live in if we learn that lesson.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #PastorMarkAuthor
#BergenCounty #BergenfieldNJ
#BergenfieldHighSchool #BeautyandtheBeast
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:
PastorMarkCast
In this week’s episode, Pastor Mark looks at the Irises that he planted in the parsonage garden and reflects on the tremendous spiritual legacy of New Brunswick Theological Seminary.
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.
Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/921706/
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #17
April 24, 2023
New Brunswick Theological Seminary Legacy
The Irises in my yard are now blooming. I certainly enjoy all the spring flowers that come up in the parsonage lawn but these Irises have special meaning to me. They remind me of the rich legacy that I carry with me as a graduate of New Brunswick Theological Seminary here in New Jersey. It is quite a legacy.
It was graduates of New Brunswick Seminary who first were missionaries in Oman. Other graduates began a mission to India and supplied the first female physician there so that women, with modesty concerns, would accept medical assistance from a doctor. It was a graduate of this same seminary who founded the Korean Presbyterian Church and translated the Bible into the Korean language. There are many Korean Presbyterian Churches in our area now, all because of a New Brunswick Theological Seminary graduate.
Even more locally, our congregation in Bergenfield, NJ has been served by a number of pastors in the ninety-nine years since its founding. It was founded by a New Brunswick graduate and of the seven pastors who served here, five have been New Brunswick graduates. Our seminary alumni have a long and distinguished legacy that I was given. When I think of this legacy, I realize how much I have to live up to.
So, what do these Irises have to do with this legacy and what do they have to do with New Brunswick Theological Seminary? A number of years ago, the seminary building moved from 17 Seminary Place in New Brunswick to 35 Seminary Place in New Brunswick. The old seminary building had an entrance banked with irises. They were set to be trampled when the old building would be demolished in preparation for the new building.
It burned my heart when I thought of those beautiful irises being plowed into oblivion. I borrowed a shovel from the janitor as well as a garbage bag. Soon I had iris bulbs from the old seminary building in the garden of the Bergenfield parsonage. There they stay and remind me of the fine legacy that I am a part of and a reminder that I must do my best to pass on that fine legacy of being Christ’s missionaries.
What is your Christian legacy? What things do you have to live up to? Live into your legacy well and continue to do things as great as your forebearers in the faith.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #PastorMarkAuthor
#BergenCounty #BergenfieldNJ
#NBTS #Missionaries
#NewBrunswickTheologicalSeminary
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2023 Blog #16
April 17, 2023
Hispanic Outreach in God’s Time
Seventeen years ago I received a call to pastor Clinton Avenue Reformed Church. At that time I was told that our local high school had twenty-six different languages spoken by students. We at the church of course spoke only English. Our history has been that of a white protestant middle-class church in a white protestant, middle-class town. It seemed to work for decades until the town changed around us. Beginning in the 1980’s and continuing in decades afterward, we experienced “white-flight” from our town and watched in despair as our congregation shrank and fewer and fewer of our congregants lived in town.
We tried to do outreach to new neighbors who were largely immigrants from the Dominican Republic. We sought a Spanish-speaking student intern from our local seminary but none was to be found. Our consistory sent me to Costa Rica for a Spanish immersion class. I learned a lot of Spanish but am far from fluent. Fresh off this experience we tried to hold a bi-lingual service. No Spanish speakers ever came.
A wise Hispanic minister in our denomination gave me some advice that I needed to hear. He told me that even if I become fluent, Spanish speaking immigrants would never come if a white man was running the services. Immigrants, he told me, will only trust other immigrants. He assured me that this was nothing personal against me, it was simply the mentality of immigrants.
Our consistory had ongoing discussions and we held congregational meetings. Staff members from the Reformed Church in America shared demographic studies with us. All of the studies showed that we were correct; we needed Hispanic outreach. We began a search process to find someone who could do Spanish-language outreach.
We began our search when we were plagued by Covid-19. Our outreach efforts came to a screeching halt as we struggled to keep worshipping without being able to meet in person. We had no time for things other than survival. I was frustrated that we could not do this important work and wondered when the plague would ever end. Whenever I expressed impatience, a faithful Christian woman in our Bible study kept assuring me that in God’s time, all would be well.
Finally Covid-19 diminished and we re-started our search process. We were diligent but had few candidates. We prayed and interviewed people. Near the end of what seemed like a hopeless project, we received a new profile. He was a second career seminary student. He lived just a few towns over and was an immigrant from Columbia.
After prayerful consideration, we hired him to begin this new ministry. He has been working with us for four months now, building contacts and talking to people. He is running an ESL program as well as a Bible study. Recently we began to advertise these programs with a banner and soon a postcard mailing will follow.
We prayed hard and worked hard but ultimately God gave us the resources we needed in God’s time, not ours. And so our walk to outreach that will bring our congregation into similar demographics with our community has really begun. This has been decades in the making and led us to many dead ends and many reversals from our course. Yet, we have begun and I pray that God will bless the work that we have prayed for and worked for all these years.
It was all done in God’s time.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #PastorMarkAuthor
#BergenCounty #BergenfieldNJ
#Outreach #HispanicNeighbors
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please look at his website:
PastorMarkCast
In this week’s episode, Pastor Mark talks the quest of his congregation to begin outreach to Spanish-Speaking neighbors and the obstacles that were involved but finally it has begun in God’s time, not our time.
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.
Go to this link to hear the podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pastormarkchat/910821/
Pastor Mark Author 