Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 38

November 9, 2020

Another Covid-19 Lose

During the early Corona Virus surge I learned of two Reformed Church mentors who died of Corona. This week I learned of another Reformed Church Christian gentleman who died of this virus. He was Dr. Gordon Van Wylen who was the  president of Hope College during my years there. His death was not really a shock to anyone, he was 100 years old. Yet hearing of his death stirred up many wonderful memories of him.

I was quite a troubled person when I began Hope. I was still finding my identity and hadn’t quite surrendered my life to Jesus. When I met president Van Wylen I saw a role model for what I, and all of us students could strive to imitate. He had the ability to be dignified and profession, and yet humble and engaging with students.

I recall my first winter during my freshman year of Hope College walking through the center of campus. We called it the “Pine Grove.” A group of students were having a snowball fight which was not unusual in western Michigan. Dr. Van Wylen was leaving the administration building to cross the Pine Grove to his campus home. Rather than be put off by the snowball fight, he joined in. I was impressed with his throwing accuracy! As students we loved how he related to us.

It was a yearly custom at Hope to hold “mid-night breakfasts” during finals weeks. The faculty and administration served them at mid-night each evening during the week to accommodate late night studiers. During my first experience with this I was served hash browns by Dr. Van Wylen. I thanked him and he looked me straight in the eye before telling me, “the only thanks I want is for you to do well on your exams.” I really felt that he cared for me personally.

In later years I worked banquets for our campus food service. For this job I was the organizer and waiter for a number of coffee hours, lunches and dinners at his grand home. At the end of each event when I was cleaning up and preparing to take dirty dishes to the cafeteria for washing he never failed to come in the kitchen and thank me for my work. One time, when I was apologetic for upsetting a goblet of water, he looked at me and told me, “don’t think about it. There are many more important things than a spilled beverage.”

He was a wonderful role model. I wish that I had grown to be the man that he was. Perhaps I can come closer in the decades to come. God blessed the world with the life of Dr. Van Wylen. The world is a little bit less without him. Thousands of us are better people from knowing him and now that he is gone I thank God that he was part of my life if only for four years.

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                    #BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #HopeCollege

#DrGordonVanWylen

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book:https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 37

November 2, 2020

Election Day Rant

Tomorrow is election day and this is my annual blog rant about voting and elections. It bothers me that many people do not vote. Voting is one of the greatest rights that we have. Why don’t all of us take advantage of it? It took a long time for many people to gain this right to vote.

When our nation was first founded only white men who owned land. No matter what race one was, it had been required that one own land to vote. Now that this requirement is not necessary, would it not behoove non-landowners to celebrate this by voting?

It took a major war for black men to gain the right to vote. It is estimated that 618,000 men died in the Civil War in order to gain voting rights for black men. Later, to overcome discriminatory laws, it took a major civil rights movement with many victims of violence, including murders to get this right. It is sad that more black men don’t vote.

Women’s suffrage also took the work of thousands of marchers and demonstrators. They too were often victims of violence. Finally, it happened. Women  got the right to vote. Statistically women still are the majority of voters, yet not even close to all of them vote. After the violence and imprisonments that came to make women voting possible, don’t women disrespect these pioneering women by not voting?

Every election year I think of my friend Linda, an immigrant from Haiti. She told me of voting in her home country where one voted with a soldier pointing a gun to the voters head in order to make sure that the vote is cast for the “proper” candidate. She loves secret ballots and gets angry that more people in the United States don’t vote.

For the sake of all of the people who marched, were imprisoned, and were victims of violence, please vote. That is the best way that we can thank, and show respect for those who won for us the right to vote.

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                    #BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #Voting

#Elections

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 37

October 26, 2020

In Appreciation…

Recently a church member took one of her frequent trips to the Amish country near Lancaster, PA. I asked her to bring me back a chicken pot pie. I love chicken pot pie and have a special affection for those from the Amish country. She brought me one back, but refused to allow me to reimburse her. She told me that this was “pastor appreciation month” and that this was a gift. I enjoyed the pie, and it felt good to receive a token of appreciation.

It is always nice to feel appreciated. I wonder why I don’t express appreciation more to those around me. I’m not ungrateful for the things people do for me but there are times when I get busy enough with life that I forget to show appreciation to them. It is a failing that I have at times. I get used to the good service that I receive and overlook showing true appreciation. Perhaps this is a growing spiritual edge for me; to be more appreciative of those around me and the fine services they perform for myself and others.

While we are showing appreciation. Perhaps we should show more appreciation for God. It is, after all,  God that gives us our very lives and has made us who we are with all the gifts and talents that we have. Yes, we have worked hard for what we have received and yet it is God who has set up our potential. Have we shown appreciation to God.

How does one show appreciation to God. Shall we buy God a Lancaster chicken pot pie? How about sending God a greeting card? Shall we buy God a dozen roses? What would show proper appreciation to God for all that we have received? Perhaps we should show appreciation by doing what Jesus, God on earth in human form, told us to do. He told us to obey the ten commandments and to share what we have with those who have less. Do we appreciate what God has done for us? Let us show some appreciation by doing these things.

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                    #BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #Gratitude

#Caringforothers

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 36

October 19, 2020

A Feline Grief Circle

About nine years ago we adopted two cats. They were sisters. We got them from a local group that fosters abused and neglected and it was a young woman in our congregation who initially fostered them and made them comfortable with people. They were timid when they first came to be with us. One took months to really socialize. Any loud noise would startle them. Clearly they had endured abuse as tiny kittens.

One at a time two other cats came to join us. These two were boys. They had different life experiences than the girl cats. They mixed well with people and were much more social. Eventually one of the girls, joined in the revelry but the other stayed to herself, usually under the bed. She would be friendly enough when she saw me, but never interacted in the same way as the others. Three cats interacted. One stayed to herself.

This changed just a few days ago. The non-social cat, named Calvin even though she was a girl, looked ill and had a weak meow, not that she ever meowed much. I didn’t think much of it. I’ve seen ill cats before and they always get over it in a day or two. The following day I knew that it was serious. Each day all four cats would greet me when I arrived home. On this particular evening only three greeted me and they seemed subdued. I was worried about Calvin and began to search for her. The other three followed me, keeping subdued but accompanying me. They seemed to know more than I did.

I found her under the bed, where she usually stayed, but this evening she was dead. The other three cats sat quietly as I retrieved her body and prepared for her final disposal. The cats, usually rowdy, sat in a line, somber, somehow looking like it was a sacred moment for them. Even though she never interacted much with them, her death was a moment of grief for them. I wonder if we humans need to learn something from these felines.

We live in a world where too often malnourished people die and others overeat. Many folks in our world hold other cheaply and kill for crime, or seemingly, no reason at all. “Honor killings” occur in other parts of the world which seem dishonorable to me. Wars ravage the world, sometimes for honorable reasons and sometimes not, but leaving dead humans regardless.

My cats seemed to honor life by the way they respected death. I hope that we humans learn to do so also.

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                    #BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #Death

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 35

October 12, 2020

The Lesser of Evils or Putting God To The Test

“Did you get your flu shot?” This is a question that gets asks by friends every year about this time. My answer has always been “no.” I am a bit superstitious about flu shots. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s I knew three people who developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Each of them nearly died and each of them suffered from this syndrome ten days after receiving the flu shot. When I made this connection, many people told me that this was a coincidence. I didn’t believe that about a three for three relationship. Now literature on the flu shots confirm that there is a small chance of getting Guillain-Barre from the flu shot. My observation years ago was correct.

Now we live in the age of the Corona Virus. Some folks I know say that this, coupled with the flu season will really make for a deadly combination. Other folks are saying that this year the flu season will be minimal since we are all wearing masks and that flu is transmitted through the mouth in a similar way that Corona is. Which is true? I don’t know.

I do know that the healthier we are, the better we can protect ourselves from Corona. Overall health is one of the best defenses against this illness and one of the ways that we can keep a Corona infection from becoming fatal. In this time of Corona, I wondered if it was worth the small risk of Guillain-Barre if I get a broader protection against Covid-19. This year it seems like the lesser of evils this year.

All of our lives we walk a careful balance between trusting God but not putting him to the test by doing foolish things. It is not always easy to make the proper and prudent decisions but we do things, thoughtfully, trusting God, with sober consideration.

Yes, this year I got a flu shot. It was the first of my life. Our town was giving free flu shots, funded by the state, and distributed in a local park by personnel supplied by our town health department. It was my pleasure to see Pat August, our town nurse while I was there. Will this be a guarantee against flu? No, but it is prudent. Will it guarantee that I won’t get Corona? No, but it is prudent to keep my health strong. Will it give me Guillain-Barre? I hope not but in this time of Corona it seems like it is worth taking this small chance.

We live in a fallen world. Often we are forced to choose the lesser of evils. Let us make our choices well, be prudent, and never put God to the test.

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                    #BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #Guillain-BarreSyndrome

#FluVaccine                                                              #PatriciaAugust

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 34

October 3, 2020

“Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

I grew up hearing that quote once a week when watching the show, “Perry Mason.” My mother loved this show and watching it was a religious ritual. This question coordinated with what we were taught at home, in school and in the neighborhood. We were always taught to tell the truth.

Two of the three presidential impeachments that I have heard in my life were held not just  because of wrongdoing, but for lying about the wrongdoing. Richard Nixon lied about what he knew about his henchmen’s activities and Bill Clinton lied in court about his antics with his intern. Lying is not good. There is a reason that we have people take oaths when giving court testimony. This practice is, of course also common in congressional testimony also. The truth is important and it is considered a crime to lie in court or to lie to congress.

Is it also a crime to lie to the citizens of the United States of America? I didn’t watch the presidential debates of this past week. I usually don’t watch these. Long before the debates I have usually decided for whom I will be voting. Many of my friends did watch the debate. Their comments on social media the next day were quite amusing. Donald supporters said that he had won and that Joe had lied his way through it. Supporters of Joe claimed the opposite. I don’t know if the debate changed the mind of anyone.

What I found most interesting was that the New York Times published an article outlining the lies, distortions and exaggerations of each of the presidential candidates. I wonder if lying to the American people isn’t a crime, or if it should be. The government is after all, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” If lying in court and to congress is a punishable crime, why is lying to American citizens not a crime? In my mind, it is.

There is talk of changing the format of the next debate. I have a suggestion. Let us compel the candidates to take an oath, with their hand on a Bible to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Only then will we allow the candidates to start debating. I wonder if this practice will change the nature of the debates. I think that we should try this. What do you think?

#ClintonAvenueReformedChurch                         #ReformedChurchInAmerica                    

#PastorMarkAuthordotcom                                   

#BergenfieldNJ

#BergenCountyNJ                                                   #PresidentialDebates

#Lying                                                                       

#Dishonesty

To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book:

The Circle of Seven

Our new daily devotional will be a re-post from Words Of Hope. We re-post this with permission of Words of Hope. God bless you!

God of Providence
September 29, 2020

Read: Genesis 22:1-14

So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” (v. 14)

These words translate a name of God that you may sometimes sing about: Jehovah Jireh, your Provider, whose grace is sufficient for you. What Abraham now learned about God was what Hagar had learned earlier, but here the focus is even sharper. This is a God of seeing and foreseeing, vision and provision. Hagar knew him as El (God); Abraham, drawn into the center of the covenant plan, knew him as Yahweh (the Lord). Yahweh, who sees the end from the beginning, provided the lamb as a substitute for Isaac (v. 8), just as he was going to provide “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) as our substitute.

At the crucial moment Abraham saw, caught in a bush, the creature that should die in Isaac’s place. We are told later in John’s Gospel (8:56) that he also saw “the day of Jesus,” and was glad. Was this the moment? Was it a kind of double vision, so that seeing the ram in the thicket he also saw beyond it, in some far distant future day, the Christ on the cross?

It was the all-providing God he saw at work; for if this God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). —Michael Wilcock

As you pray, thank God for that all-embracing gift.

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 33

September 28, 2020

“We live in the worst times ever.”

An individual recently told me that “we live in the worst times ever.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I certainly agree that we are in difficult times. I have never seen a disease spread so quickly in my lifetime. Certainly, forty years ago we had the AID’s epidemic. People contracted it and died quite quickly. Yet, that disease was not air-borne and remained outside the general population. We live in difficult and scary times but I don’t believe that we live in “the worst time ever.”

My grandmother was a young woman of 18 when the flu of 1918 struck the world. Our living conditions were, for most of us in that era, far different than they are today. Likewise, our medical knowledge and techniques were primitive compared to our modern medicine. As bad as Covid-19 is to us, the flu of 1918 was far worse.

In the last 100 years, the population of our nation has tripled. It was 103 million in 1918. Now it is 331 million. In 1918, our country saw 675,000 deaths from the flu. At this point, the United States has seen 200,000 deaths. All other things being equal, with a population size that tripled, I would expect our death rate to be three times that of that of 1918. Instead, it is only one third of the number. Do you still think that we live in the worst times ever?

We have been forced to self-quarantine. It is relatively easy for us to do that. Many of us live in one family houses. Even those in apartments or two-family houses can quarantine. In 1918 relatively few people could do this. Many people lived in tenements. Some were so overcrowded that dozens of people would co-habitat and sleep in shifts, sharing the same mattresses and sheets. Literally, in some tenements, hundreds of people would share lavatory. Social distancing was not something that these folks were able to do. Do you still think that we live in the worst times ever?

I am certainly not minimizing how bad Covid-19 is. Our lives have been very different during the last six months. Covid-19 has forced us be distant and alter our lifestyles. That makes us uncomfortable. I don’t like it. Also, many of us know people who have died from Covid-19. As many of you know, two of my beloved mentors died from this illness. I am still sad because of this. And yet, do I live in the worst time ever? Not even close!

Our ancestors endured worse conditions than we live in. If you are really upset by our living conditions, would you rather have lived in 1918? Probably most of us would not. Despite what is going on in our lives. Let us be grateful that we live when we do with the medicine and living conditions that we have. Compared to the centuries that before us, we live in about the best times ever. Let us all be thankful to God and live like grateful people.

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 32

September 21, 2020

A Role Model of Class, Persistence and Justice

Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this week. There are those who celebrate her decisions and those who condemn them but this is not about politics. This blog is about character.

I confess that despite her long and distinguished career I really knew little about her until I saw the movie “On The Basis of Sex” two years ago. I really was impressed by the portrait painted of this amazing woman. She is a role model for all of us.

Justice Ginsburg was born in 1933 to Jewish parents in Brooklyn. Few people prospered in that era and there was tremendous anti-Jewish sentiment in a city that was politically dominated by Christians. She was also female in a world dominated by men. Ruth, however, did not see these as obstacles. She viewed them as bumps to overcome.

After marrying and having a child, she and her husband both enrolled at Harvard Law School. He was a year ahead of her. She, and the few other women at the school were not greeted warmly by many of the other students and faculty. The women were actually told that they were “taking seats away from men.” She persisted.

Tragically, her husband became ill with cancer while still in law school. She sat in on his classes, took her own classes, taught him his classes at night and cared for her child. Can you image? I can’t. She could have played a “victim” and asserted that pursuing a law degree was too much given her circumstances but she did not. She simply worked harder.

In the years to come, Ruth became a strong advocate for women’s rights, arguing several times before the Supreme Court. She had a reputation for always keeping decorum despite instances where she was greatly provoked. As she explained it, her mother always told her to act “like a lady.”

Having class, persistence in overcoming obstacles, and fighting for justice for all are the traits that I admire in her, but often fail to live up to. I believe that these traits are worthy for us as individuals, and the church to be striving toward. Too often we give in to impediments, watch out for ourselves instead of seeking justice for others, and forgetting to act well, as we are role models for others. What a different world we would live in if our churches and all people would strive for these things.

I thank God for the role model he gave us in justice Ginsburg and pray that I, you, and our congregations will draw closer to her example.

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

Blog Number 31

September 14, 2020

R & R a.k.a. Sabbath

I am back from my vacation and now my weekly blogs have begun again. I hope that you missed reading them as much as I missed writing them.

I never had the honor of serving in our military but I have the pleasure of knowing a great number of veterans as well as a few active duty soldiers. I asked a few of them what their greatest memory of military service is often they tell me, “R&R,” that is “Rest & Relaxation.” This is the time when they are allowed to take a vacation from their duty and simply relax and have their bodies and minds reset from their daily duty and grind.

This reminds me of what God requires of his people. In his commandments he requires a sabbath day, one in seven in which we will not work. How many of us have taken such days. Often we congratulate ourselves and our co-workers for working too many days and too many hours. The results, however, wear us down and keep us from performing at our peak capacity. Rest is good for us; body, mind and spirit.

One of the positive benefits of the Corona Virus is that it is helping us to reset ourselves. Working from home has enabled many people to avoid stressful commuting, and to shorten the daily hours of their labor. In short, a slower pace has been very good for many people.

And yet, our corona-imposed sabbaths have given us a partial, but not the full blessing that God intends for us. The Sabbath that God gave to us is not just a day of rest, it is also a day dedicated to God. It is a day to be worshipful and thankful to God. Treating ourselves well, is good. We are, after all, God’s creations who deserve to be treated well. We would treat ourselves better if we would include God in our Sabbath. Do we only care for our bodies and minds during our rest or will we nurture our spirits as well?

May this time of Corona be a time to re-set from our stressful lives. Let us learn to have a slower pace, enjoy family and friends more, but let us not forget God. The more we worship him, and the closer we are to him, the deeper our spiritual reservoir will be. It is that reservoir that will help us to navigate the stressors of our lives.

R & R is good. Let us not neglect it but let us not neglect God in it either.