Doylestown Presbyterian Church

This article is printed in the July Tidings.

It was an unexpectedly grace-filled moment.

Some of you heard the news last month about the perfect game that wasn’t. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, a perfect game means the pitcher retires all 27 batters of the opposing team without one of them reaching base—no hits, no walks, no errors. It is such a rare event that in the 131-year history of Major League Baseball, there have been only twenty perfect games ever pitched and two of them occurred earlier this season.

On June 2, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from pitching a perfect game as well. The batter for the opposing team hit a ground ball which was fielded by the Tigers first baseman and then thrown to Galarraga covering the base. The ball was caught and the pitcher’s foot touched the base before the runner arrived.  It should have been an out, thus ensuring the perfect game was completed.  The pitcher, his teammates, and the fans were ready to cheer the historic moment, but for some reason the umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe.  Teammates and the manager ran over to Joyce and argued the call, but Galarraga did not.  He looked puzzled and then smiled in a way that seemed to say “Oh, well!”  Once the argument ended, he got the next batter out which meant that the game officially ended with one hit.

Part of baseball’s culture is an acceptance that mistakes are part of the game and the umpire has the final word. Other than times when a home run is questioned, Major League Baseball doesn’t allow for rulings on the field to be over-turned through the use of instant-replay technology either.  So the most remarkable part of that drama for me was what the two key participants did next.  Joyce went to look at a videotape of the play.  Upon seeing that he had made a

mistake, he immediately sought out the pitcher and apologized with tears in his eyes. Joyce told the media “I just cost the kid a perfect game.  I thought [the runner] beat the throw.  I was convinced he beat the throw until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my career.”

For his part, Galarraga told reporters that after the apology he felt worse for Joyce than himself. “You don’t see an umpire after the game come out and say, ‘Hey, let me tell you I’m sorry’” the pitcher said. “He felt really bad.  We all make mistakes.  None of us is perfect.”   (Noonan, Peggy. ”Nobody’s Perfect, But They Were Good,” The Wall Street Journal, June5-6, 2010, p. A15.)

While not all of us are baseball fans, each one of us encounters moments when we miss the call in countless other settings, reacting to something we thought we saw or heard which turned out to be untrue, hurting someone else as a result.  We all have times, too, when we are bruised by the actions of others; deeds whether intentional or not cause us to miss out on a wonderful celebration, fail to receive an honor we’ve earned, or worse. Yet whatever part we play in such occasions—the one who made the mistake or the one hurt by it—we have the opportunity to choose if we will extend grace or accept it, forgive or hold onto resentment.

I hope over the course of this summer you experience and model the kind of unexpected choice by one baseball umpire and pitcher in June.  Chances are your decision   will not cause you to be credited with a perfect game, but it can allow you to experience once more the surprising and unmerited grace that set each one of us on this playing field in the first place.

John

This article is printed in the June Tidings.

The day after our wonderful ground-breaking ceremony, your Session received the Guaranteed Maximum Price from our contractor, Caldwell, Heckles & Egan. While there are still some adjustments to be made in their number (which would not increase, but lower the price), we are now hopeful that we might add the new sanctuary elevator and possibly chancel renovation to the scope of their work.  We won’t know for sure until we get the final numbers in from our Anniversary Celebration and run one last cash flow analysis, but I am hopeful one or both of those deferred components to our project can occur as well.

As we near this time of excitement and new activity, I’m sure that you have questions.  Here are some of the ones I have been asked most frequently:

When will the work start?

We hope CH&E can move onto the site (offices in 109 Mechanics Street) around June 7.   If all permits fall into place, construction activity could begin the following week.

Where and when will the nursery be moved?

The nursery will be re-located from its current location to Room 104 in Andrews Hall (first room on the left when entering the Mechanics Street door nearest the driveway). The new location will be in place beginning Sunday, June 20.

What will be some of the first things you will see?

Shortly after construction begins, many of the trees around Andrews Hall will be removed.  The main entrance to Andrews Hall will be closed as well so that the excavation work in front of the former nursery can begin.

What will happen to summer church activities during construction?

All DPC events (worship, Adult VBS, Children’s VBS, Scottish Communion, committee meetings, and fellowship events) will occur as planned. The contractor will work around our schedule to ensure ministry is not interrupted.

We are currently devising a strategy using multiple forms of communications (website, bulletins, e-mail, and signage) to keep everyone updated on the latest word about progress. Until that time and beyond, if you have questions, please ask me or any staff member and church officer.

It all begins soon.  I look forward to sharing in the adventure with you!

John

This article is printed in the May Tidings.

Things change.

It doesn’t take long for one to realize the truth of those two words. Return to your hometown after months or years away and you’ll see things are not exactly as you remember them. Pull out a photo album and it will soon become clear there was a time when your parents did not have gray hair. Rent a favorite movie from years ago and you’ll likely discover that while the plot is vaguely familiar its impact upon you is not identical to the first time you saw it.  In every aspect of life, there are circumstances that do not remain the same. Things change.

On May 16^th, we will formally recognize that truth in our financial lives as part of the day’s worship services when our Anniversary Celebration will occur. Twelve months ago, members and friends dedicated commitments for the “Bridging the Generations” capital campaign totaling $3.6 million. Those pledges were designed to be spread out over a three-year period of time and each was offered as a faithful estimate.  Yet because things can and do change, on the third Sunday of May during our Anniversary Celebration we will ask you to dedicate your plans for the remaining two years of this campaign. We are taking that step because we know that in this part of life, too, things can change.

Some of you who were part of Celebration Sunday realize now that the economic uncertainty of last May caused you to hold back on making a pledge or to offer a commitment that was less than what you wanted to do.  Perhaps now, though, with the passage of twelve months, your financial circumstances are a bit clearer and you feel ready to make a pledge or increase your goal for the remaining twenty-four months of our effort.  If that situation is yours, our Anniversary Celebration will provide a simple way to express that intention.

Others of you stepped forward in faith last May and made a pledge that is no longer feasible. Perhaps a job has since been lost or unexpected expenses have depleted your savings.  Maybe you are now caring for aging parents or your college graduate has moved back home and neither of those circumstances was part of your thinking twelve months ago. If the goal you chose twelve months for “Bridging the Generations” is no longer realistic, our Anniversary Celebration will offer an opportunity to reduce your pledge for the final two years.

Maybe you had not joined DPC at this point last year or perhaps were a member, but still wanted to see if the renovation plans would be approved before making a financial commitment. If those circumstances describe where you were last May, our Anniversary Celebration will be your time to join fellow members in making a pledge for the final two years of this effort.

For others still, the goal you set last May is still the one God has placed on your heart and you remain comfortable that it is a realistic commitment for the next two years.  If so, our Anniversary Celebration is an opportunity for you to formally declare you are still on target toward that goal as you present a new commitment card with the same total on it.

Things do change.  Yet on May 16^th, we will gather for worship and then assemble for our ground-breaking as a clear reminder of things that have not changed; namely that we have been blessed and continue to be led by a loving God.  For that gift and the certainty it will never change, we remain a grateful family of faith ready to move ahead together.

John

This article is printed in the April Tidings.

In a few days, we will gather with family and friends to celebrate the joy of Easter. The discovery of an empty tomb and its message that Jesus has forever overcome the power of death is the central message of the Christian faith. All that we do as his followers grows out of that gift and every other occasion for praise pales in comparison to what we received on that day.

Even so, this month provides us with an occasion to celebrate what has happened in our shared life in another way. Eleven months ago, amidst a time of economic uncertainty, our members and friends made commitments totaling $3.6 million to the “Bridging the Generations” capital campaign so that we might begin our renovation effort. Not only was that response one which demonstrated great sacrifice and trust, but the giving toward those pledges since that day has been wonderful, too, as soon we will have received the first million dollars toward our goal!

While those gifts have been coming in, much has occurred in regards to the enhanced building itself, too. Our Renovation and Construction Committee continued to work closely with our architect in refining the plans, securing resolution over property line issues with neighbors, recommending the contractor and owner’s representative for our effort, and bringing us to the place that our plans now go to the Borough Council for approval on April 19.

At the same time, our Finance Committee developed a thorough cash flow analysis to help us see how much of the plan could be accomplished now and its impact upon future operating budgets, secured proposals from three banks willing to loan DPC the necessary funds, and shepherded the process through the Presbytery of Philadelphia, gaining approval last month.

Concurrent with those efforts, other members and officers gathered last fall to hear an early proposal for Phase One of our renovation work and offer feedback while members and staff helped refine plans for a new nursery, expanded kitchen, and consolidated office spaces. In response to all of those steps and the countless hours which made them possible, two months ago the congregation voted to proceed with the Andrews Hall work and the bridge, borrowing up to $5.2 million to help make that effort possible. All of this has happened since May of 2009.

Next month, we will celebrate the one-year anniversary of Commitment Sunday and share in a ground-breaking to mark the official beginning to the renovation effort. More details about both events will be coming to you in the weeks ahead, but for now, I invite you to pause and remember all that God has done through us and our family of faith in this special time. For those blessings and more importantly, the news from that first Easter, our most natural response is praise.

The following article is taken from the February Tidings.

As part of our congregational meeting on February 7th, we will experience the joy of electing a new group of talented women, men, and youth to serve as Deacons and Elders at DPC. We will see the details of a record-breaking year of giving by our members despite the greatest financial challenge in generations, the operating budget approved for 2010, and act upon a motion regarding changes in the pastors’ compensation. All of those pieces have become standard aspects to the February meeting in recent years, but there is another part to that gathering which I’d like to address which will shape the future of DPC in tangible ways.

During that same meeting, you will be asked to act upon the following two motions endorsed by our Session:

• That DPC begin Phase One of the Master Facility Plan with the renovation and addition work in Andrews Hall and bridge connecting to the Sanctuary.
• That Doylestown Presbyterian Church borrow up to $5.2 million for its construction and renovation effort included in the Master Facility Plan, using the real property of Doylestown Presbyterian Church as collateral and that the Trustees of Doylestown Presbyterian Church be authorized to sign all documents necessary for said borrowing.

To help you prepared for those votes, let me offer some additional background and reflection.

In December, the Session hired the Lancaster firm of Caldwell, Heckles and Egan to serve as our contractor. CH&E has looked through the design documents and offered a probable cost estimate of the project making clear that we do not currently have the financial resources required to do everything our congregation approved for Phase One of the renovation effort. While it would be possible for us to renovate the parking lot and chancel area and replace the sanctuary elevator without borrowing funds, it is the feeling of the Session that to focus first on the renovated and expanded portion of Andrews Hall along with the bridge which will connect to the Sanctuary will meet more of the needs identified by our members as initial priorities.

The proposal to borrow is significant and historic, too. Currently, our congregation does not have any debt. The motion in this regard will change that fact and commit us to repaying the borrowed funds after we have moved into our improved facility. The cash flow model for that effort includes all kinds of assumptions. Among them: that we will have two more capital campaigns after the “Bridging the Generations” campaign ends in 2012, that the second and third campaign will have a mission component as well, and that any debt remaining in 2018 would become part of the operating budget. All of those assumptions can change and are not part of what you are being asked to approve on the 7th, but they do stand behind the model.

At the Session meeting when we finalized those recommendations, I shared the following verse from Scripture as I believe it speaks to what is happening here and what is ahead: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Such words seem fitting for this moment as despite the countless hours given by your fellow members and officers to get us to this point, there is much that we do not yet know which can only be learned as we move ahead. Yet what we do know with certainty is that the One who has set us on this path will continue along with us in what is ahead. Such confidence allows us to act.

I look forward to sharing in the meeting with you and continuing along this special journey as we together discover that which remains unseen by us, but already known by God.

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