Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

We don’t hear much about it anymore but there was a time, not that long ago, when polio was the most feared disease in the world.  It struck without warning, required long periods of quarantine, and often left those who did survive with deformed limbs or forced to use wheelchairs, crutches, leg braces or breathing devices like the iron lung.  Franklin Roosevelt was among its victims.  He was struck in 1921, and it left him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.

    While polio has been around for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that it began to reach epidemic proportions.  By 1910, polio epidemics were regular events throughout the developed world.  Here in the US, from 1916 onward we would suffer an epidemic in at least one part of the nation every summer.  At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year.

     Polio was a plague not unlike what we are experiencing with the Coronavirus today.  As Richard Rhodes described it in his work, A Hole in the World, “One day you had a headache and an hour later you were paralyzed. How far the virus crept up your spine determined whether you could walk afterward or even breathe. Parents waited fearfully every summer to see if it would strike. One case turned up and then another. The count began to climb. The city closed the swimming pools and we all stayed home, cooped indoors, shunning other children. Summer seemed like winter then.”

     Recently, my friend Jeff Winter shared the story of Eleanor Abbott.  She was a retired school-teacher who contracted polio in 1948.  During her convalescence, she found herself surrounded by children suffering from the same horrible disease.  The disease itself was terrible.  On top of it, the children couldn’t see their parents.  No visitors were allowed while they were in quarantine.  Abbott wondered what she could do that might help those children through the long, painful, lonely days.  She came up with a game.  It required no reading or writing.  All it took was an ability to identify different colors.

     Abbott called her game “Candy Land,” and it proved so popular among the young patients that she took it to a leading toy company, Milton Bradley.  It quickly became their best-selling game.  And what did she do with all the money from her royalties?  She donated it all to charities dedicated to children in need.

     As you probably know, two vaccines were ultimately developed for polio: the first in the mid-fifties by Jonas Salk, and then another in the early sixties by Albert Sabin.  I can still remember standing in line and receiving my dose which was mixed with a sugar cube in a little paper cup.  Because of those vaccines, today the disease has been all but eliminated throughout the world except in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

     We are going to get through this Coronavirus.  The quarantine has been difficult.  Thirty million people have lost their jobs.  But it wasn’t that long ago that this country endured a similar struggle with polio.  That one lasted fifty years.  God willing, this one is going to be far shorter.  God hasn't abandoned us, but God does have a part for us to play.  May He grant us the grace to persevere, and the heart to bring a little bit of light into the lives of those in need – just like Eleanor Abbott so long ago.

“Let your light so shine before others that they might see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

The other day, my brother Brewster tested positive for Covid 19.  He is still at home, and his symptoms haven’t been too bad so far.  But we are all aware of how quickly that can change.  My brother is one of those who is especially vulnerable: he turns seventy later this month; his immune system is suppressed as a result of a twenty year battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; and he suffered two bouts of pneumonia just this last year.

     Brewster’s family realized early on that he was very much at risk and took steps to protect him.  His wife is a nurse (no longer practicing) and imposed a strict quarantine.  Over the last two months he has had contact with only five other people: his wife; and then very minimally with his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.  That’s it.  He hasn’t been out at all.  So with all the precautions they’ve taken, they can’t figure out how he came down with the virus.

*******

     It probably won’t surprise you that we’ve gotten some flak for keeping the church closed during this time.  Most of our members have been supportive and understanding, but there are some who think that we should be open now, or that we should open very soon.

     One of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness was to leap from the pinnacle of the Temple, and claim the promise of Psalm 91 that the angels would bear him up.  Jesus’ response, “Don’t put the Lord your God to the test” (Mt. 4:7).   A number of years ago we woke up to black ice one Sunday morning.  This was an incredibly dangerous situation, so we split up the directory among our elders, and proceeded to contact every member letting them know that church was cancelled.

     We didn’t put the Lord to the test then.  We don’t put him to the test now by stepping in front of a moving vehicle, and we aren’t going to put him to the test by opening the church in the midst of a terrible pandemic.

     Our members have a right to expect that if the church is open then we believe it is safe.  Right now we can’t offer that assurance.  We can’t promise that everyone would wear their mask.  We can’t promise that everyone would maintain their social distance.  We can’t promise that children running around wouldn’t touch a shared surface.  Even with everyone taking every possible precaution (like my brother), opening the church to a large group right now is simply too risky – there are too many ways in which the virus could still spread.  

     Just consider how incredibly contagious this virus is: from January 21 through February 23, there were only 14 cases of Corona-virus in six states here.  That was just ten weeks ago!  Today, there are 1.19 million cases and over 68,500 have died.

     Even if you disagree, I hope you can at least understand our thinking.  Please be safe, and please keep my brother and his wife (also a cancer survivor) in your thoughts and prayers.

“Now as an elder myself and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among to tend the flock of God that is in your charge…” (1 Peter 5:1-2)

A Letter From FCPC Leadership

May 5, 2020

Dear Friends,

At our meeting on April 27, Session agreed that we are not going to open the church again until safe conditions are met.  What does that mean?  One thing is pretty clear: even if our region is moved from red to yellow in the Governor’s plan on May 8, we would still be prohibited from gatherings of more than 25 people.  We expect, as a result, that the church will remain closed at least through the rest of May.

It is hard to imagine going back to “church as usual” anytime soon.  We are going to think this through and plan very carefully as we look towards that day when the church will begin to reopen.  To help us in the process of determining the right time and the right plan, we have created a Task Force that will include representatives from Session along with medical professionals and key leaders from the congregation.  In addition to timing, just a few of the questions the Task Force will need to consider are:

• What adjustments will we need to make in the celebration of the Sacraments
• What should our choir ministry look like if we are to preserve safe distances
• How will we receive the offering when passing the plate is clearly not a good idea
• What new processes should we institute to keep the building clean and disinfected
• What changes will we need to make in our children’s ministry
• Will we continue to offer virtual worship online
• Should we discontinue ushers and greeters
• Should we require people to wear masks, and if so, should we provide them
• At what point do we allow committees, boards and other groups to begin meeting in the church again

This list is hardly comprehensive.  It is intended, rather, to give you a feel for just how complex the decision to re-open is going to be.  Please keep the Task Force in your thoughts and prayers as they move forward in the coming weeks – may God grant them great wisdom and insight.

Like all of you, we are very eager to see the church reopen.  Our highest priority, however, is the safety and health of our church family.  We will keep you informed as our plans evolve.

​

Sincerely,

Gail Harger                                          Chris Taylor

Clerk of Session                                   Senior Pastor

Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

It is a sunny day here.  Really, they do happen even in Pittsburgh which runs just behind Buffalo and Seattle for one of the most overcast cities in the nation.  From my perspective there are two clear benefits from that singular status: 1) having moved here from a state that had just been through seven years of drought, I love the lush vegetation and the sight of all that water in the Allegheny River; and 2) when we do get a sunny day, I’m much more likely to take note and give thanks rather than just take it for granted.
 
     On this particular day, my eyes are drawn to the windows and the beauty of what lies just beyond.  We are well into spring.  There is a definite tint of green on the trees now.  In fact, the dogwoods have been in full bloom for a week or two, and I can see the first hints of color on our azalea bushes.  I’m seeing people I’ve never seen before out for a walk to enjoy it all, and to get some fresh air in the midst of the quarantine.  Nature in every season is rather spectacular, but when it comes to this particular season it is almost like she is showing off.  Author Parker Palmer once wrote:

Spring in its fullness is not easy to write about.  Late spring is so flamboyant that it caricatures itself, which is why it has long been the province of poets with more passion than skill.  But perhaps those poets have a point.  Perhaps we are meant to yield to this flamboyance, to understand that life is not always to be measured and meted as winter compels us to do but to be spent from time to time in a riot of color and growth.

Late spring is a potlatch time in the natural world, a great giveaway of blooming beyond all necessity and reason – done, it would appear, for no reason other than the sheer joy of it.  The gift of life, which seemed to be withdrawn in winter, has been given once again, and nature, rather than hoarding it, gives it all away.  There is another paradox here, known in all the wisdom traditions: if you receive a gift, you keep it alive not by clinging to it but by passing it along.

     That, I think is what the best of us figure out along the way: that generosity holds the key to one of life's great joys.  Some people never get it.  They are still focused on building their towers.  But others, the lucky ones, discover what nature has known all along: the life-giving power of passing the gifts on.  Maybe they first found it as a child when they handed their mother a bouquet of carefully picked dandelions and saw the joy it brought to her face.  Or maybe it came later, as a teenager or as an adult, when they volunteered some time and energy for the sake of others in need.  Whenever it came, and whatever the form, what they discovered is one of life’s great secrets: in generosity we open our lives to a joy and meaning so deep and so pervasive, it almost feels selfish.

What gifts have you been given?  What do you have that you, too, might pass along?

“For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

 In the late afternoon of April 29, 1992, a man named Reginald Denny finished loading his red International dump truck with sand, and headed for a plant in a nearby community.  As he was heading down the Freeway he decided to take a familiar shortcut and took an exit.  Minutes later he came to an intersection where people began throwing rocks at his windows and yelling at him.  He was forced to stop in the middle of the street.  Reginald Denny had driven right into the middle of the ’92 L.A. riots.

     A young man stepped onto the truck and threw Denny's door open.  Another man dragged him out and threw him to the ground.  While one man stood on Denny’s neck, a group surrounded him and someone kicked him in the abdomen.  Another man threw a five pound oxygen tank at Denny’s head, and still another began to kick him and hit him with a claw hammer.  As Denny tried to stand up, a former semi-pro football player threw a brick at the side of his head, and Denny was knocked unconscious.  Moments later, as he started to come out of it and began crawling towards his truck, a man came up and kicked him in the face.  Overhead, a news helicopter circled, live-streaming what was happening to a national audience.
 
     At this point, four strangers ran into the center of that violence to help a man they had never met.  Unlike Denny, all of them were African American.  The first was Lei Yuille. She had been watching the mauling on television when her brother turned to her and said, “We are Christians.  We need to go help.”  They jumped in their car and took off.  When they got as close as they could, Yuille leaped out and ran over to the truck.  Denny had somehow managed to climb back up into the cab.

 

     The second to arrive were Titus Murphy and his girl-friend, Terri Barnett.  They, too, had been watching the television and decided they had to do something.  Murphy joined Yuille in the cab, and together they tried to protect Denny and care for him as best they could.  Moments later, part-time trucker Bobby Green arrived and after helping move Denny from the driver’s seat, took over.  Later, he said that when he saw what was happening on the television, it felt like he was the one being beaten.  Together, the four were able to get Denny to a nearby hospital.

     Reginald Denny almost died that day.  The only reason he didn’t was because four people decided they couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.  They risked everything to save him.  They risked all, even though he was a stranger and even though he was white, on a day when four white police officers were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King just one year before.

“But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them.  Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him… Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? [The lawyer] said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:33-37)