Ghana Calling

I just spent an amazing three hours with Rev. Victoria Affram-Boyd, our guest pastor for August 12th. If you want to believe in miracles again, if you want to be refreshed by the power of God, if you want to know without a doubt that God is still at work in our community and our world, forget about the beach, forget about sleeping in and be at church August 12.

Rev. Affram-Boyd was born and raised in the Peki Mothodist Church in Peki, Ghana. The congregation founded by her grandfather, who attended a Methodist gathering and was converted. Rev. Affram-Boyd immgrated to the United States in 1971 and worked for many years as a nurse at North Shore hospital. At age 50, God called her into ministry. She attended Drew University Seminary and was ordained, serving the Methodist Church in Amnityville until sickness forced her to step down.

In the midst of all her health problems, she heard God calling her to return to Peki. In late February, against the adivce of almost everyone concerned for her health she returned. That experience has launched a ministry of partnership between congregations on Long Island and churches in Ghana. Since her visit, most of her health problems have ceased.

Rev. Affram-Boyd will be visiting Community Presbyterian with James Winans, who accompanied her to Ghana, and a close friend from Peki who is visiting. A special discussion time will follow the worship and an offering will be taken in support of her ministry.

US State Department Ghana Site
Official Ghana tourism site
PC(USA) Partnerships in Ghana

Tuesday Thoughts

Sorry, Everyone--Monday Musings is on vacation this week. :-)

In Pastor's Coffeehouse on Sunday, we talked a little bit about the divisions in the Christian church and contrasted that to the choir John saw in his Revelation that was made up of people of every nation, tribe, and tongue. So often, the things that keep us apart are small, petty things: I don't like how you dress; you don't like the songs I sing; he's too quiet in church; she's too loud.

Sure, sometimes it's theology. We've been learning this year about communion, baptism, and scripture and all the different interpretations of these chuch essentials.

But isn't all that matters Jesus Christ, his taking on our sins, his victory over death?

Why can't we let go of all the other stuff--we'll never really know the answers anyway--and join together in Christ's salvation?

Monday Musings

What do you suppose the day after the Resurrection was like for Jesus' disciples? According to Luke, whose version of the Easter story we used this year, Jesus ended Easter this way:

"Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God."

So many of us these days suffer from post-holiday let down--we've used up all our energy getting ready for The Big Day, and the day after we crash back to earth, fall back into our normal routines with our usual concerns (laundry, getting the taxes done, arranging child-shuttling schedules).

But the disciples seem to have been buoyed up by Easter--they completely forgot about everything except worshipping God. They had seen a miracle: victory over death. (So now only one thing in life is certain: taxes.)

How has Easter buoyed you up? If we truly comprehend the miracle, can we do anything but be "continually...blessing God"?

Find ways this week to join with the disciples in their praise, whether it's a simple prayer of thanks, or a wild celebration of the life that has been given to us. Share your ideas and blessings in the comments to this post.

Easter Blessing

I know its still Thursday but the following will appear in today's Malverne-West Hempstead Herald. As most of the congregation doesn't get the Herald, I thought I'd post it here as well. My gratitude to the editors of the Herald for the invitation to write an Easter column.

Here's the column:

“It’s 6:00 and time for the news,” intones the smooth voice from the clock radio as I roll over and slap the snooze button. There was a time when I let the morning news filter through my brain as I moved from bed to shower, but now I skip the news and wait for the music. “It seems as if the whole city’s on edge,” a friend said to me the other day - no surprise when we start our days with the latest body count from Iraq, more lies from Washington, New York’s finest being shot and our pets being poisoned.

“Because Jesus lives, I can face tomorrow,” penned Bill and Gloria Gaither in 1970 as their child was born into a troubled, war torn world. “Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, life is worth the living just because Jesus lives.” The foundational belief of Christianity is that Jesus Christ, a teacher, preacher and prophet who lived in the first century AD, was unjustly executed by the Roman government and then, three days later, came back to life. In Jesus’ resurrection, celebrated by Christians on Easter, God shows that he can defeat all things, even death. He can bring all people, no matter what they hold inside, new life.

I have a friend who found the strength through Jesus Christ to defeat a drug addiction that had left him homeless on the streets of Manhattan. I have another friend who found the strength to recover from sexual abuse. Yet another friend relies on her faith in the resurrection to support her as she nurses her husband through a long illness. As for me, I get out of bed every morning because I know God – working through us – can fix the messes in my life and in my world. God brings me resurrection.

When parishioners and guests enter Community Presbyterian Church this Easter Sunday for our Celebration of the Resurrection, they will find a dead tree in the center of the sanctuary. As the service progresses the tree will “come to life” as those in attendance fill it with leaves celebrating their resurrection experiences. God’s gifts from the past remind us that there is hope for the future. Even death cannot defeat the abundance of life that flows from God.

Where ever you are journeying and whatever burdens you are carrying, may God bless you with resurrection this Easter.