First Churches Ucc & ABC

Information may not be reliable

Rev. Mark Seifried at First Churches UCC and ABC in Northampton
I went on a road trip earlier last week with a 75-year-young widow to bless and scatter the ashes of her deceased husband into Narragansett Sound. I love this woman and was looking forward to spending a few quality hours with her. I also grew close to her husband and was looking forward to helping the family find closure after long struggles with his health prior to his death.
So, knowing my friend Sherry gets anxious about being on time, I showed up to her house 10 minutes before the prescribed time of 8:00 AM. Being a motherly type, she made sure that I used the bathroom, but asked me not to dilly dally. I didnt so we got on the road before 8:00 – 15 minutes ahead of her documented and detailed schedule. Yes, she has the whole day planned to the minute, so that I could get back to Worcester and take a nap before heading out here for a pastoral visit and committee meeting. Did I tell you that Sherry was driving? She decided that I drove enough now that Im commuting 8 to 10 hours a week. Besides, for more than 10 years, she hasnt let anyone else chauffer her it makes her nervous.
So, Sherry pulls away from her house like you would expect a sweet 75-year-old widow to drive: cautiously and almost a bit pokey. Well, that didnt last long. Within 5 minutes she had me riding the phantom brake on the passenger side. She was driving like a 16-year old boy who cant control himself because of raging hormones, and Im thinking, Lord, this is going to be a long day. Well, 2 minutes later, its as if she transformed back to the cautious sweet woman I know and love. She goes through this routine a few times of driving slowly and then gunning it and is scaring the bJesus out of me. I ask her why she seems to be driving like Dr. Jeckyl and Mrs. Hyde. While going 55 in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, Sherry takes her eyes off the road to look at me and says, I know where the cops sit all the time. I slow down when Im close to the spots where Ive been pulled over before. I wish Id have brought the fuzz buster.
And then we get on the interstate. Within a minute of her accelerating up to 85 miles an hour, Im white knuckling the door handle, every muscle in my body is locked in place for impact. She says, Reverend! Say a prayer that I dont get a speeding ticket. By this point, I am losing all semblance of peace, so I say, Sherry, I dont think God cares if you get a speeding ticket. In fact, it would be divine intervention if you did get one.
She inquires, Dont you think God cares if we get you back in one piece. To which I reply, Yes Mam. I do think God cares. You, however, can afford a speeding ticket if you can charter a boat to scatter Joes ashes. Beside, were plenty early. We could spend a half hour on the side of the road, and still get there on time. I think you should pray that we get to Narragansett Sound and back home safely.
After a minute of silence between us, Sherry is maintaining the 65 MPH speed limit and tells me that I should alert her if I see the speedometer going above 70 miles an hour. I dont think it was my comments that made her more cautious. I think she may have discovered what Sren Kierkegaard meant when he said, Prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who prays. Sherry prayed we would arrive home safely and she cooperated with God to make that so.
Heres the thing God knows what we need before we ever pray. In the case of our road trip, God knew that, for our safety, Sherry needed to slow down, but like all of us, she is given free will to do whatever she well pleases, including drive like a maniac. Enough about Sherry. I want to talk about prayer which may not be everyones cup of tea, but bear with me. This is good stuff.
If you think about it, prayer is pretty simple. When we pray, all we are doing is letting God into our lives. Effective prayer is more about listening for God than our telling God what we need or what we expect in terms of divine favor. Or as Joan Chittister said, Prayer is an attitude toward life that sees everything as ultimately sacred, everything as potentially life-changing, everything as revelatory of lifes meaning. It is our link between dailiness and eternity. I would add to that: Prayer helps us understand Gods purpose, presence and power. Prayer humbles us and opens our will to be more aligned with Gods will.
Thats why the disciples in our lesson for today wanted Jesus to teach them how to pray more like he prayed. They saw what prayer did for Jesus. It transformed him from an ordinary man to someone with extraordinary power and a magnetic mystical presence. When he prayed chaotic situations morphed into miracles. The disciples wanted to emulate the way he prayed because it blurred the distinction between heaven and earth. Jesus could take someone who was out of their mind and imagine them as rational. And so he laid hands on them and prayed over them until they felt Gods blessing and received healing. He could imagine fishermen as the founders of a religious movement that would last for millennia. He could imagine death as just a port of call before the next great adventure in the spirit world. He could imagine all the evil in the world being swallowed up by love and grace as the order of human nature. All this came to him as a result of his connection to God in prayer.
So thats the context of our gospel lesson for today. The disciples were used to saying rote prayer and following age-old tradition so that their obligation to God was complete. Juxtapose this with what they saw and heard in Jesus prayers. It was novel. They heard intimacy they had never heard before. Jesus called God Papa! He seemed to be filled with holiness and so reflected the essence of God back in prayer; the essence of God being love and grace. The disciples did what many of us do. They prayed the prayers they learned at home and in school. As one commentary on this lesson said, The disciples problem was not their prayer technique it was faith.[1] They didnt need new prayers. They needed to be connected to their God.
A 10th century Benedictine monk, Peter de la Celle,[2] seemed to sum up our lesson for today. He said, When grace comes first and touches the mind, prayer is enjoyable and devout. It is like a morning rain shower. [However] Prayer is laborious when your heart is far away from your prayer, and God is far away from your heart. Your heart is far away from you if it is preoccupied with unimportant concerns, lukewarm in religious fervor, or immersed in carnal desires. Prayer is a matter of faith, a matter of the heart, a matter of relationship between the one praying and God.
In other words, as we pray, if we think of God as anything other than love if we think of God as wanting anything other than what is best for us if we think of Gods presence as anything more remote than the tenderness and care we have experienced in our most intimate lover were going to struggle with prayer were going to have a hard time realizing God is even on the scene were going to see the shadow side of life rather than light and love. Jesus said that prayer was a matter of faith. If you think God will pummel you with problems, then all youll associate with God is problems. Well, scripture says, If a little girl is expecting an egg and you give her a spider, thats the same as praying without faith. God gives us what we need when we need it, and if we dont see it, thats our problem in that were not seeing things right or were praying for the wrong things.
Let me give you a case in point that is near and dear to my heart. When my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, she was told she might have six months to live. The oncologist said that she could prolong her life another 4 months or so with chemotherapy and keep the tumors from growing so big that they became painful. Mom accepted the diagnosis and treatment plan but she said that God was in charge of the prognosis, so she prayed for a miracle.
She called me the day of that doctors visit. She was matter of factly, saying, You know I told you about the lump in my abdomen. Ive got cervical cancer and the doctor said its spreading rapidly to other parts of my body. He told me to put my affairs in order because he thinks Ive got less than a year to live, and thats if I start chemotherapy next month. If I dont go through chemo, I may have six more months.
After more questions, choking on my tears and asking what she was going to do, Mom said, Im not sure what Im going to do, but Ive already asked God for a miracle, and I got this feeling of peace, so Im turning this over to God. I dont want to make my mom out to be a saint. She was an ordinary woman who struggled with big issues for many years, but through her cancer journey, beginning with the diagnosis – she grew to be a woman of faith.
For example, she was determined that chemotherapy was not going to be a bad thing, so when she was able, she made picnic lunches for her and anyone else who was going to be in the chemo room (as she called it). She made broth for some who couldnt hold down solid foods. She brought peppermint candy for others who couldnt eat anything at all. She brought homemade fried chicken, potato salad, fruit cocktail, and angel food cake for anyone else who had an appetite and wanted a real lunch.
She took her treatments with joy and prayed with faith and her faith became contagious. She told everyone God was going to give her a miracle, and you know what? Mom never was really sick. She felt weak sometimes, so laid low more than usual, but she thought it was a miracle that she could enjoy resting so much. She lost her appetite from time to time, but to her it was a miracle that she dropped the 35 pounds that she had been hoping to shed. It was a miracle that she had gone from being a compulsive over-eater to someone who could moderate their food intake. Theres more. One member of my family who had chronic problems with money stopped going to Mom for so-called loans. He was praying for miracles for Mom, too.
Oh, did I say that Mom lived another 4 years? During that time, she took 2 cruises and went on seven other trips. She had the strength to baby sit five grand kids on a regular basis and shop for their birthday and Christmas gifts which she loved more than anything. She spoke at 9 more conventions to inspire thousands of more people to call on their higher power to heal them of their addictions. Miracles. Until two days before her death, Mom never experienced any pain and the medicine we had on hand took care of that quickly. The day before she died, she told me that she had no regrets, no grudges, and no enemies. She was able to name more than thirty miracles that she had received since her diagnosis when she first started praying for a miracle.
Mom learned to be grateful for every day she was given and for every relationship she had. Despite being quite a talker, she learned to be quiet so that she could notice all the miracles with which God was showering her. She learned the wisdom that Jesus taught his disciples. Mom learned to pray with faith because she had an intimate relationship with her Lord who she believed would do anything for those who love Him even suffer death so that we might live abundantly. This is a God to worship. This is a God to go to in prayer.
Jesus tells us that if we pray with faith, if we believe, God will be faithful to us in return. I pray that you will take this lesson to heart so it can transform your life. If youre struggling with an issue right now, be it your health or the well being of a loved one; if you are struggling with an addiction; if you are at wits end because of a strained relationship, rather than asking God to fix it, scripture says to pray and to be specific. Tell God what you need. If you need strength to see it through, pray for strength, not an easy fix. Or maybe you need faith to trust that God will provide, so pray for your faith. Maybe you dont know what you need, as was the case with my Mom, so pray for a miracle, knowing that sometimes a miracle is a swift death and sometimes it means more time and struggle.
Let me say one more thing about prayer. When we are in the midst of struggle, ask God what the struggle is supposed to mean to you and what God wants you to learn from it. I also think its fair to get angry and let God have a piece of your mind just like you do with your most intimate friends and family members. But tell God specifically what youre angry about: being alone perhaps, not being able to handle the pain, being fearful of whats next, feeling betrayed. Tell others, tell me, what youre praying about and ask us to pray with you and for you.
My deceased friend who I was referring to earlier had his last big stroke. It debilitated 80 percent of his brain. His wife, Sherry, said she was afraid of doing the wrong thing because she didnt know how to proceed as his healthcare proxy, whether to put in a feeding tube or to let him die, so we prayed for wisdom. After the prayer and a time for reflection, Sherry was able to recognize that there was little hope he would ever be able to enjoy life again. He wouldnt walk or speak or sail, which was his deepest passion. He wouldnt be able to process words others were saying. Sherry decided that God was calling her husband home and that medical intervention would be wrong. So we prayed again this time with thanksgiving for wisdom given and received. We gave thanks for her husbands wonderful life, all the adventures he was able to have, and love shared. We even prayed in faith for Sherrys peace as she watched her husband die. And thats what she received. Even the death of her husband became answered prayer, Gods amazing grace!
Jesus asks us to be specific in what we pray for. Dont bargain with God, and pray in faith.
I would like to apply this lesson to our corporate life as a church. I want to ask those of you who are willing to begin praying everyday at noon with me for a miracle for this church. I dont know what God wants of us except to be faithful, so lets just pray for a miracle and see what happens. From this moment on, lets be faithful both in praying and in giving testimony when we see miracles taking place here. Ive witnessed several miracles this week. I hope some of you can give testimony to them in a moment when we share what we are praying for. For now, just let me say I give thanks for you because each of you is a miracle and through your faith God will do more than we can even imagine.
And so I pray, Come, Holy Spirit, through our faith in Jesus, make for us a miracle. Amen.

Based upon Amos 8:1-2 and LUKE 10:38-42,
For many years, a business man bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. One day he arrived to find the peddler closing his stand at noon. Is something wrong? he asked.
A smile wrinkled the popcorn mans leathery face. By no means. All is well.

And why sell more popcorn?
Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea.
The popcorn man said, I can do that today. I guess I have enough.
Perhaps we can hear Jesus words to Martha that the man chose the better option, which will not be taken away from him. Well delve deeper in a moment. For now, please pray with me
In the story of Martha and Mary, we find that they seem to be just like us. Their friend Jesus, the itinerant rabbi was coming to dinner. They made preparations like you and I would. They cleaned the house, polished the furniture, began preparing dinner and made things just right. Finally, Jesus arrives at the house. Mary sits down, asks Jesus how he is doing and what is going on in his world. All the while, Martha is running around like a fool. The table is set, but Martha goes back and lines up all the silverware and shines the plates. The lettuce for the salad has been picked, but she has to wash it again. The roast is in the oven, but she keeps opening and closing the door to make sure its still cooking. Martha is so distracted with her many tasks that she forgets she invited Jesus for his companionship and wisdom. Shes upset that Mary isnt fussing with her.
I can see her darting in and out of the room, trying to get Marys attention. Martha clears her throat so Mary will look at her, but gets no response. Mary is listening to Jesus. Martha clangs the cups in the next room, but her noise goes unheard. She goes to the kitchen and bangs pots, but Mary is sitting at Jesus feet and gives him all her attention. Finally, Martha gets so upset that she yells at Jesus, and says, tell my sister to get off her back side and help me. Cant you see Im working my fingers to the bone to make this a nice evening? Neither of you seem to care! Jesus pretty much says, Dinner smells great, but youre making a fuss over nothing. I came all this way to spend time with you and dont care if we get take out and eat off paper plates. Sit down and relax. Your sister has the right idea. Youve gone from being a hospitable hostess to a nag. Now youre trying to manipulate me and your sister.
So who do you identify with? Martha or Mary? Here, deep into the dog days of summer, many people in the congregation are taking vacations. From what Ive observed, there are Mary Vacations and there are Martha Vacations. Some people love to take a vacation in which they try to see six European countries in six days. Or they have only two weeks to engage in every single outdoor sport at least once during their vacation and they make the best of it: snorkeling, sky diving, mountain climbing, spelunking, parasailing, tennis, golf, etc.
Some may wonder when theyre going to rest and they say, Rest? We can rest at home when we get back from my vacation.
Other people are of the Mary Vacation type. They want to get away from it all. For them, a great vacation is lying upon a beach or sequestered in a woodland cabin somewhere and doing absolutely nothing. They are into serenity, contemplation, and quiet relaxation. Thats their idea of a vacation.
One type of vacation is no better than another. They are just very different. One vacation puts a premium upon rest and rejuvenation; the other upon adventure and surprise. Either can be a great way to renewal.
This, I think is similar to the tension we get in our gospel lesson for today. It illustrates for us that there is a time to go and do and be like Martha. And there is a time to sit and reflect like Mary.
Since we talked last week about the meticulous ministrations of the Good Samaritan and all that he did for his neighbor in need, this morning, I want to focus a little more on what the blessings of being like Mary would be for some of us. First, let me acknowledge that relating to Mary is hard for me and for many of us. We are used to doing. We do lots for our family. We may do lots for our neighbors and church. Some of us are very effective as community leaders. Many of us do great work with other organizations that make the world better and more just for others. Jesus says, thats wonderful, but its not full discipleship. To be my disciples you must sit down, be quiet for a while, learn to relax, and listen to me. And yet, we protest. We dont have time to be still.
The sad thing about this is that many Christians dont know Jesus very well or we have forgotten him. Most dont take the time except for an hour on Sunday morning to get to know him. I guarantee that if those of us who are married skip an entire week without spending time with our spouses, our relationship would not be of much worth if it could exist at all. To have a connection with Jesus, we must take the time to cultivate the relationship. This lack of time is a cultural thing. We see lots of accomplished, busy people who we think are successful and we want to emulate them. We see other more common people and we say, Oh, the poor man. Hes so devoted to his family, to his career, to his church, and to his community. He sacrifices himself so diligently.
This is not so much an appraisal of any of you who are busy, but rather an indictment of our culture. According to Presbyterian writer and pastor Eugene Peterson, the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal.[1] In a book for pastors and church leaders who are some of the busiest people in the word, Peterson is tough on us when he says, Being busy is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to Christian should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. I, along with a few of you and others we know, are busy for two reasons.
We are busy because we are vain. We want to appear to be important and significant. So, what better way than to be busy? The long hours, the crowded schedule, the heavy demands on our time are proof to ourselves and all who notice that we are important.
Peterson doesnt stop there. He throws a one-two jab to knock us off our feet when he says, We are also busy because we are lazy. We let others decide for us what we will do instead of resolutely deciding for ourselves. People ask us, Can you do such and such? and without thinking we say, Yes. This happens at work, at home, at church, and other places and we dont even think about it. We mark it on our calendars or record it in our Blackberry even if we have no interest in the undertaking. It would take effort to refuse, and besides, the refusal might be interpreted as a betrayal or a calloused disregard for people in need.
So, busy people, how can we, who espouse to love ourselves and our God, crowd our week with so much activity and still hope to have any semblance of order, of self-worth, or of holiness. How can we expect to know ourselves, much less Jesus when we are imprisoned by our schedules?
When do we get to be Christian? When do we get still enough to hear the still small voice of God? I have a suggestion and it comes from the Ten Commandments. And it has to do with keeping the Sabbath. Rabbi Abraham Heschel reminds us that the first biblical use of the word holy was in the story of Creation when God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Holy is a word meaning set apart or designed for a special purpose and represents the mystery and majesty of God. No other object than Sabbath time in the Bibles Creation story is endowed with the quality of holiness. Keeping Sabbath time is keeping touch with the holy in us, around and between us.
Keeping Sabbath means that we take time each week to do nothing, to let God be God and run the affairs of the world, to just be to be with ourselves, to be with family and friends, to be in prayer, to be with God in church, in nature, in poetry, prose, music and silence. Keeping Sabbath and being faithful to Jesus means that we take time to weigh the blessings and the trials of life and we bring them to God for blessing. Our problems on Friday are tempered by Sabbath-keeping on Sunday and by Monday theyre not even problems. After a day of quiet and prayer and play and maybe even a nap, we discover that some of our problems may be blessings in disguise. I intend to preach another time on Sabbath keeping and share with you my belief that if all Christians practiced keeping holy the Sabbath, we could save the planet which is in peril due to our addiction to fossil fuels and the busyness associated with their consumption.
Keeping Sabbath and spending time with God is nothing new. Just 50 years ago it was the norm, even for poor people who you would think would want to work to try to get ahead in life. Take for example a figure from history. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, was born in Texas during 1890. He was brought up in Abilene, Kansas. He was the third of seven sons. His family was extremely poor and they lost their family farm in Kansas before Dwight was a teenager.
Later in life, Eisenhower fondly remembered those early days and the life lessons learned. He specifically recalled a family night, an evening of Sabbath-keeping, where they were playing cards. The former president, told about a time when he was a boy and the family was playing a game called Flinch. He said, “Mother was the dealer, and she dealt me a very bad hand and I began to complain. Mother said, ‘Boys, put down your cards. I want to say something, particularly to Dwight. You are in a game, in your home with your mother and brothers who love you. But out in the world you will be dealt bad hands without love. Here is some advice for you boys. Take those bad hands without complaining and play them out. Ask God to help you, and you will win the important game called life.”
The president added, “I’ve tried to follow that wise advice always.” He took time to ask God for help with the big questions he faced as a general and as the president of our country. He took time and asked God for help with personal issues and family life, too. By most accounts, he had a pretty blessed life and was accomplished in most endeavors. We, who live so frenetically, would do well to slow down, and to regularly go to God for help like Ike did throughout his life. We would do well to choose to spend time with Jesus like Mary did in our lesson for today. Busyness is a habit that takes time to break, so we need to start by praying about it.
And so, I pray for each of you, that you may find meaning in the fullness of your life, but that you dont pack it so full that it becomes so busy that you squeeze God out. I pray that we all grow to know the countless blessings that come from Sabbath, from spending quiet time, play time, and prayer time with family, knowing that Jesus our brother is hoping to have some time with you, too. If and when you take that time, I guarantee that you will find grace upon grace in the day and in your life. You will find perspective. You will find peace. You will find love. You may even find yourself who youve been running from so hard. Amen.

The Council of First Churches unanimously approved the appointment of Reverend Mark Seifried (pronounced “sigh”-”freed,”) to serve as Interim Minister of First Churches of Northampton following the retirement of Reverend Peter Ives on June 30, 2010. Reverend Seifried, who is known as Pastor Mark, will begin his duties on June 23 and will join Reverend Ives in the pulpit for Reverend Ives’s final worship service at First Churches on June 27, 2010.
“Pastor Mark brings an enormous amount of experience, sensitivity, skill, and spiritual leadership to the position of Interim Minister, said Jon Western, who chaired the search committee that selected Reverend Seifried from a pool of qualified applicants. “He has been very successful in leading other churches through the difficult period of adjustment following the retirement of a beloved, long-term minister while at the same time encouraging congregations to embrace the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. We all believed he is the right person to help lead our congregation through the coming transition.”
Pastor Mark is concluding a 2-year term as the Interim Minister of the First Congregational Church UCC in Auburn, MA. He has served in diverse settings for ministry – as pastor for urban, rural, and suburban congregations. He is an active member of the Massachusetts UCC Association and has held Conference, and national positions; and is active in several ecumenical and interfaith organizations. He currently serves as Moderator of the Central Association (Mass. Conference UCC). In addition to these duties, Pastor Mark serves on the task force to establish an Innocence Commission in MA and is liaison for the UCC to the MA Council of Churches working to defeat expanded gambling in MA. He is a member of a synergy group to reintegrate former prisoners into the fabric of community in Worcester.
Pastor Mark was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. He went to college at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. He attended Andover Newton Theological School where he was a member of the Jonathan Edwards Society for students with notable academic achievement, theological depth, and socially transformative ethical commitments.
Pastor Mark lives with his partner Dave and their two occasional-visiting adult sons in Worcester, where he is active in his neighborhood and city. He will be commuting to First Churches in his 2001, well-used Prius Hybrid that takes 3 gallons of gas for a round trip. In his time away from church he is an avid organic gardener and cook (formerly a certified chef). He hikes and exercises regularly, and he loves politics and music.

Becky Lockwood, associate director of the Everywoman’s Center at the University of Massachusetts and member of First Churches was featured in a Daily Hampshire Gazette Story. On Thursday, April 29, 2010, the Gazette followed with this editorial:

A recent Gazette story noted that the Everywoman’s Center at the University of Massachusetts operates “under a cloud of instability.” That has been the case for years – and shouldn’t be so.
Over its nearly four decades, the center – a place that advocates for gender equality and is Hampshire County’s only public rape crisis center – has weathered funding and program cuts.
It is the program of first resort, it appears, when the budget scissors come out. In 1991, the center’s rape crisis hotline was suspended for five months due to a lack of funding. In 2003, the hotline was again threatened due to budget cuts – this time a 50-percent, or $90,000, drop in state funding. It was saved by a fund drive the center led.
Does anyone think its mission has been accomplished?
We still live in a time when one out of six women experiences sexual violence in her lifetime, when the national median salary for women is 80 percent of what a man brings home and women make up 17 percent of members of Congress.
The center’s quest to create equality for women and to stop violence against women remains vital.
The Everywoman’s Center was one of the first women’s centers in the nation when it opened in 1972. In its heyday, the center had staff that included a director, office managers and professional staff supervising many different programs. In 1992, 20 years after its inception, the center employed 12 staff who oversaw 100 volunteers.
The center now has a staff of five that works with a crew of about 85 interns, volunteers and work study students.
Since 2001, the largest annual operating budget the center has had was about $1 million. This year it is running on $600,000. It has shed many programs that pushed for political change.
One of its most important functions is to help women who have been raped. The center’s hotline connects sexual-assault victims with volunteer advocates who drop what they are doing to be by a caller’s side, day or night, or talk with a victim and accompany her to a police department or to the hospital.
Today, in addition to the hotline and sexual assault crisis counseling, the center at UMass runs programs dedicated to women’s studies, the promotion of women, and overcoming sexual violence. Services are offered to students and the Hampshire County community.
The center relies on financial support from UMass and a patchwork of grants. Special events, the center’s Women of Color Network, counseling services and the referral and information resources center are funded by UMass and grants from the Five Colleges and the Graduate Student Senate. The rape crisis hotline and services are backed by the Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Office of Victims Assistance Fund. The town of Amherst also provides support.
At times, the area’s four private colleges – Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith – have given to maintain programming.
In a recession, tough decisions get made about spending. But the center’s funding slide through this decade can’t be blamed on the recession.
The public should be grateful to the funders that have stayed with this important work. They understand that the playing field for men and women is hardly level. And they see that the Everywoman’s Center is determined to address that.

Members and friends of First Churches will be meeting this Saturday May 1 at 11:40 A.M. at Bridge Street School to take their place, as usual, to join in the annual Northampton Pride Parade. We’d love for everyone to their show solidarity and participate. And don’t forget to visit the table that we are sharing with Edwards Church after the parade in Lampron Park.
See you there!

Rabbi Justin David, of Congregation B’nai Israel, lives in Northampton.
NORTHAMPTON – We shouldn’t even try to sum up the work of someone like the Rev. Peter B. Ives, who leaves his 21-year ministry at the First Churches this June.
But if we were to make the attempt, we would do well to invoke the Israelite Prophet Micah, who instructed, “do justice, love kindness,and walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8).”
Peter’s reputation as a principled advocate for social justice, as a man dedicated to his community and as a mensch (a thoughtful, kind, whole person) is universal. It is a significant measure of Peter’s stature that even those who claim no religious affiliation respond with warmth and admiration upon hearing his name.
His work in our community reminds us of the importance of a rare form of contemplative leadership. All too often, we expect leaders to be blustery, pushy individuals who take no prisoners. Peter is the antithesis of such a notion, and all the more effective as a result. His bearing is one of quiet and gentle self-assurance, his confidence flowing from a commitment to principle. To know Peter and to see him in action is to behold a true pastor, someone who relates to all people with abiding kindness, consideration and professionalism.
Such a person fosters trust, which makes so many things possible. Demonstrating such quiet strength over the course of a career is not easy in the rough and tumble world of community leadership. To live with such equanimity requires being attuned to the workings of the mind and heart. In this way, Peter serves as a model for a demanding spiritual practice.
For Peter, the work of social justice and the work of the spiritual life are one and the same. One can imagine how such a seamless fusion was facilitated by the times in which Peter came of age as a person and a minister. Peter has written and spoken movingly of watching Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” on television and sobbing uncontrollably.
When Peter began his training at the Union Theological Seminary, his world bore the imprints of Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr, titans of 20th century theology whose writings combined social activism and philosophical rigor.
He was inspired by figures who circulated through the seminary at the time, such as the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, and from across the street at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Their stances against racism, war, poverty and spiritual complacency continue to reverberate.
Peter assimilated these examples, fostering inclusive Christian communities in decades that saw the rise of second wave feminism, the maturation of the gay rights movement and the emergence of America as a multicultural tableau.
Peter’s ability to keep the First Churches a vital institution in Northampton is a special accomplishment. These past two decades have not been hospitable to American religion in general, and to liberal Protestant denominations, in particular.
Most liberal Christian movements and churches have experienced declining numbers. Add to these global factors the particular environment of Northampton, in which “religion” tends to be regarded with extreme skepticism, if not antipathy.
But Peter has been able to guide First Churches toward occupying a place of esteem in our community. He has done so by pursuing two tracks simultaneously. To be sure, he has engaged the First Churches in the public square by making it a refuge for the homeless and a forum to explore the social and ethical problems of the day.
Peter has been a friend to me personally, but more importantly, he has been a steadfast friend to the Jewish community, as he has to every community of faith. It’s hard to envision what retirement will mean for someone like Peter Ives, whose vocation and avocation go hand in hand.

While he will no longer have to return phone calls, go to meetings and attend to dramas great and small that are part of life in community, I don’t believe he will stop living the life of a pastor.
I imagine Peter taking quiet moments (hopefully many) to read his favorite books, pursue his intellectual and spiritual passions and work on projects to help those in need.
But I also trust he will have more time to take runs along the Mill River, spend more time with his wife Jenny and precious time with his children and grandchildren. At last, they will have the great blessing of his undivided ministry. It is our task to take up his unfinished work.

NORTHAMPTON – Elisabeth “Betty” Jane (Reeves) Rice, 88, of Northampton, died on March 20, 2010.
Born in 1921 in Waverly, Iowa, Betty grew up a farm girl living with her parents and her younger brother on several different farms in Iowa. She was active in 4-H programs. At college (now Iowa State University) at Ames, Iowa, she earned her B.S. degree in home economics. While there she attended the Baptist Student organization, where she met her future husband, William “Bill” N. Rice.
They married after graduation and were appointed as missionaries to Burma under the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Betty took further training in the Merrill Palmer School in Detroit, in the field of nutrition. She and her husband were then sent overseas, first to India and then to Burma. Betty served in Burma as home economics demonstrator, editor of the Burma News Letter and on various mission projects. Later the Rices served in the Pyinmana Agricultural School under the Ford Foundation. After retiring from overseas service in 1959 she and the family settled in Amherst.
Betty became active in the Amherst Women’s Club, served as secretary to the pastor of the First Baptist Church and involved herself in school and community affairs. She also served on the board of directors of the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. In addition she raised five children with her husband. In 1982 she accompanied and assisted him on a 14-month assignment in Zimbabwe.
Betty was involved with both the Lathrop Home and the Lathrop Retirement Community and served in various capacities. She served as chairperson of the board of directors of the Lathrop Community and was instrumental in the development of the Lathrop Community in Easthampton.
Betty and Bill have raised five children. Their only daughter, Margaret, predeceased her. In addition to her husband, she leaves her sons, Thomas of Springfield, Norman of Andover, Richard of New Market, N.H., and Bruce of Pittsford, N.Y.; as well as seven grandchildren, Adam, Emily, Cordelia, Lydia, Sarah, Rebecca and Timothy.
A memorial service will be held at First Churches, Northampton on April 17 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Churches, 30 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060, or Lathrop Communities, 100 Bassett Brook Drive, Easthampton, MA 01027.

Pauline Bassett, chair of the Board of Deacons and David Entin, chair of the Peace and Justice Committee visited Haiti for a week in November, 2009 — six weeks before the devastating earthquake struck — with a church group providing educational and health care assistance to CONASPEH, an alliance of six thousand Protestant ministers. Here is an open letter to the congregation from Pauline and Dave to support their effort to help a friend they met while in Haiti.

We spent a week in Haiti in n November with a church group providing educational and health care assistance to CONASPEH, an alliance of six thousand Protestant ministers. While we were there we met a very impressive young man, Miguelson Charles, a recent high school graduate who served as our interpreter when we taught several classes. We found him to be a very attractive, talented and religious young man with a promising future. He was to start his college career in January at a university in Port au Prince with the financial aid of a church in Kansas City. However, the January earthquake devastated his city and family and totally destroyed his university only a few days after he had begun his studies there.
We want to bring him here to begin his college career at Holyoke Community College, which can accept him as an international student. However, he does not have money for the international student tuition or for room and board. The purpose of this communication is to seek your support for this worthwhile effort. We need both funds for his college education and to help support him while he is here on a student visa. In addition, we are seeking free or reduced price housing (a quiet room) where he may stay. It would be great if a family could adopt him for a year or two. You would find him very congenial and helpful. If you know of a possible housing situation for him or would like to contribute to his educational and support costs, please contact either:
Pauline Bassett, 413-586-4232, pnbassett@gmail.com or

Checks can be made out to: Miguelson Charles College Fund (Florence Savings Bank).
The quotations below are from emails to Pauline and David and help shed some light on this man, what he has been through, and his aspirations. We hope you can help!

Hello, David; it’s Miguelson. I’m still alive after the earthquake. Thanks to God I am alive although everything has been destroyed: CONASPEH [high school], the UNIVERSITY where I have started to go has been destroyed, a part of my house has been destroyed. Me and my family we are now sleeping in the streets. We can’t find food and water. The situation is very hard in my area, although we have a small organization it’s hard to find help. I hope you heard about every thing in Haiti these days.

At first I am to thank you for your great help, which has caused me to be a blessing to my family and to the congregation as well. The situation is so tragic here. As I told you, I met with some very needy people in the congregation, which have no tents, and got their kids and other members badly damaged. These people are in very difficult situation. I had to buy some food for my own (my family), and had to take care of those I could. I had to move around trying to find some tents, but no result. So I bought few rugs [tarpaulins], including food and water (just what I could) in order to help.
It is true that some international organizations have been helping, but they only go to few places in the capital. Every day and night, Kids and Others die of starvation: that used to be happening; now it is more than ever.
Right after the event [earthquake], some people went to their hometown, [but] they all have come back since nothing has been brought from the City to them, neither from them to the City. No rain, water is a little rare in some rural areas, no river, no sea nearby. So though the situation is getting harder and harder, Port au Prince is just the place to be.
My father has been with us because he has found no water, neither to drink nor for the crops in his farm. Water is just life. Right now, we are all trying to live hand to mouth and pray to see when God will draw us to a better place. Almost no hope here.
Some people are looking forward to their death, that is so weird, so sad, so…
all I can do now is to talk to them; some have their feet cut off, hands cut off… can’t tell!!!!!!!! Wish you could be here with me and help in person! Continue to pray for me and for all the people in Haiti. I have asked the people in the congregation to pray for you so that God may provide to you and to them.

I am always thrilled to be able to communicate with you and know about the news from you and from your family as well. The situation is getting a little improved but the rainfall season that seems to be started is getting it more complicated since most people do not have a shelter to get out of the rain. And those whose houses have not collapsed are still very afraid to enter their homes. Yes, most the NGO’S got their supports stuck somewhere here or in the D.R [Dominican Republic] so the help that they could have provided has been very slow. Last night was a very terrible time for most of us, since the rain fell all night, and the way the weather looks, it may be heavier tonight. And different kinds of diseases are in the air so the situation is really awkward due to the rainy time.

I’m writing to you today with all joys I have collected from my family and the congregation as well. I have talked to the pastor of [our] congregation to see in what way we can spend it [monetary contribution] well because you know we are all in need. We will be buying tarps, food, water and medications. We haven’t been receiving anything from the NGOS. I’m very sorry to know that it’s snowing there. We will keep on praying for you. How are you doing? is everybody okay?

I’m always thrilled to communicate with you. To tell the truth, I have been thinking about things more seriously since that unexpected event has striken Haiti, especially Port-au-Prince. My family has eight persons: my Mother, my Dad, my three sisters, my two brothers and me. I’m the second [oldest child] person of my family. I was attending QUISQUEYA UNIVERSITY; for the time being no schools are now open, all of them are collapsed. The test that I had to take to get admitted to the university is the entrance test. It’s a very easy test. I have already taken it; in fact I haven’t got the result yet, but I had started to go to school. Those papers might be lost by now. As you would really love to help me with my studies, I realize that it’s a blessing from God. What I would like you to share with your congregation about me is what you and David have already planned to do for me and for the Haitian people. If you could find some other persons to contribute with you, it would be very nice.
Dear, I don’t really know when school is going to restart. By the way, I talked to one of the [persons] responsible for the university. I have been told that the university might be starting in October, or later, or in February because they do not start to clear the rubble from their collapsed building yet. What you have heard about the re-opening of the state schools is not true; they do not even start to clear the rubble from the broken schools in Port-au Prince yet.
CONASPEH is clearing the rubble from their collapsed building to set tents.
In my congregation we have just got almost everything that we were in need of. Once again we put our voices together to say thank you to you because the money that you sent was extremely important to us. I really appreciate the way you are thinking about me. Please keep on praying for me; I believe that God will continue to open doors and roll rocks.

Dear, I have been eyewitness [to] a lot of crime in Haiti for my age. The other day I saw two men that got beheaded because of food distribution. Yesterday a car ran over a man because of food again. When I see all those things in Haiti right after the unexpected event [earthquake], I’m wondering whether I’m living in a country or not. Can you imagine how am I living in a such country where a lot of people are starving and
do not know when the situation is going to get improved.
The only thing I do is taking my Bible and read the good news, for the time being. This is my favorite verse.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet water, He restores my soul
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
I believe that God will provide to you in order to help me to be in the US to continue with my studies because the Bible says do not let my hope be dashed; uphold me and I will be delivered.
When I share the idea with my family, my Dad, my mother they were overjoyed to hear that you might be able to get me in the US to continue with my studies, my sisters and brothers as well, they say what a blessing for you Miguelson to find a such opportunity to leave Haiti where life has been becoming more and more complicated.

I’m tremendously happy to receive your message and it sounds promising that you will be able to help me with my collegiate studies in the US. My understanding inspires me to reply: praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me; I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand.
Well, in fact I will be away from my family and may not see them for several months or even longer. To tell the truth, when I share this with my family, they were happy as the day is long to say “what a blessing for you Miguelson to find a such opportunity to go to the US to continue with your studies; we can’t wait to see that happen.” I love school and I have the will to study; being away for ages from my family can’t prevent me from my studying. I like my friends, I like my home environment and my home church as well. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is the courage and the wisdom though I am away from all these things to grant me a good state of mind, good skills in order to study well. I am still confident of this I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Surely I will be in a strange country, with every one speaking
only English, and a very different environment including a much colder climate but we wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. With His help I will get used to the climate in a short time, get used to the strange country in a very short time, get used to every one speaking only English in a very very short time and I will be speaking only English as well. Observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace. Truthfully I am very laborious, I am ready to work hard academically and in a part time job
as well to support my education and living in the United States.
The mighty one God the Lord will provide for you and others to find a way to get me in the US to continue with my collegiate studies. Be safe.

We are [still] afraid of the after shocks. There was a big one last night. My neighbors talked to me the other day to see if I can find some help for them but I can’t.
I had to stop going to school after I started to go because my father couldn’t pay. I spent two years without going to school.