A Special Invitation from Rev. Matt Pooley

Are you hurting and weary from things going on in your life, in the lives of loved ones, and in the world in general? On September 10th, at 6:30 p.m., come to a special worship service at Patuxent Presbyterian Church to sing, reflect, and pray together for healing, wholeness, and endurance in the midst of pain and weariness. Bring a friend. Following the service, we invite you to stay for dessert and coffee in the Narthex.

Midyear Report 2022

Greetings Pax Pres! I want to share a few ways God has been at work so far in 2022 to encourage you about the remainder of the year and beyond. God was definitely at work in our recent Vacation Bible School, with 85 children participating and 58 volunteers, 27 of those been teenagers. 16 high schoolers and 9 middle schoolers recently returned from their retreats where God was at work. God has brought 12 new members into our fellowship, not including other numerous new visitors every single Sunday. We’ve celebrated 6 baptisms this year. Total worship attendance is harder to gauge now with livestream, but we’ve seen an average of 152 people in person for worship with a recent peak of 185, while also maintaining a steady ministry to people worshipping via livestream both near and far. We continue to disburse our monthly support to devoted missionaries locally and abroad. And among many other outreach efforts, we’ve already prepared 350 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child to bless that same number of children overseas this coming winter!

All these numbers are of value to our Lord. But every number is a person that God longs to reach with the call of Jesus. For example, two of those 85 VBS children are part of a family who are brand-new to our church because of a decade-long friendship with a fellow Pax member named Steve. Every one of those numbers is an individual who other individuals are ministering to in some meaningful way like Steve. That’s a ton of bridges built for the Gospel!

If I told you the unique way only God could have orchestrated that VBS family’s friendship with Steve, you would see that, no exaggeration, all of the ministries of our church each played a part in building that bridge for the Gospel.

This summer, our Session launched a Stewardship Committee. This committee’s purpose is “develop a creative, consistent strategy to make church members aware of the many gifts God has given us, and how we can commit those gifts in service to God’s mission for Pax Pres.” One way the Stewardship Committee will do that is by sharing stories throughout the year, like Steve’s, to encourage all of us to grow as disciples in however we can contribute to build bridges for the Gospel too. That includes our time and skills – this brand-new worship banner right here beside me is a visible reminder of time and skills that build bridges: it was lovingly quilted just in recent months by one of our members to keep our eyes centered on Christ every Sunday. Building bridges for the Gospel includes our time and skills, and it includes our finances. 

Speaking of finances, here’s a midyear snapshot of where we stand at Pax. The Pax Pres annual operating budgeted income for 2022 is $687,200. As of June 30, our actual income stands at right around $350,000. In that sense, we’re on schedule for making our budgeted income, thanks to your generosity by God’s grace. Our annual budgeted expenses for 2022 are just over $808,000. Year-to-date actual expenses as of June 30 are also just over $350,000. However, we did approve an annual budget that planned for use of roughly $121,000 of reserves, which are there for extraordinary times like our current world!

In order to finish our originally budgeted year strong and in the black would require prayerful generosity on all of our parts. Our Session has led by faith by launching the search for an Associate Pastor of Families, Children, and Youth. In fact, if you hear the echo of my voice in this recording like I’m coming from any empty room, I’m filming this in our vacant associate pastor’s office. Can you partner with me in following God’s lead to fill this chair for the sake of families and students who need the Gospel in our community?

Apart from any other new expense needs in 2023, if you combine projected salary with required benefits percentages in our denomination, that associate position will add roughly another $100,000 to budgeted 2023 expenses. In order to fill that staffing addition in 2023 without depending on reserves will require a stretch in faith from each of us personally. I know God can empower us to reach this goal, because I know you share God’s heart to reach more people of all ages with the Gospel, like that one story about Steve and a VBS family. This stained glass behind me in our sanctuary is a reminder of the names in memory of the glass who are the saints upon whose legacy of faithfulness our current worship and mission are built – how can we do any less than follow in their footsteps of giving generously for the sake of future generations long after us?

With my own household to manage, I know this time of inflation and many other world concerns is an anxious time to draw attention to the time and finances needed to fulfill God’s mission at Pax Pres. But if we entrust to God his first fruits to us, God can make and grow disciples of Jesus through us by building bridges for His Gospel. Our neighbors in Southern Maryland and our global neighbors need the rescue of a Savior in the midst of all the despair and hopelessness around us. God is not just at work in the positive and encouraging numbers and stories – many siblings in Christ in our church and our wider community are being struck by illness, loneliness, financial insecurity, anxiety, and more. So I encourage, even urge you, to join me in asking God how he is calling you to grow as a selfless, generous disciple to serve others with the hope of Christ. As Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

"Glorious Suffering" - A Poem by Katie Mead

Glorious Suffering

Son of Man, Lamb of God,

did you despise that Thursday night?

Did the cup’s bitter taste

tell the secrets You wished weren’t true?

Did it whisper of all things to come undone,

unraveled within

Your earthly eternity?

For not Your will but His was done.

You told of Your soulful sorrow

that begged of the cup to pass,

but You received a scarlet robe,

a crown of thorns,

as the power of darkness mocked and beat.

You walked into the hands of those

who accused such perfect innocence

to release the guilty man

whose heart and soul

and bloody hands

resemble so closely what used to be mine.

Mysteriously, Your work

of the life I refused to live

receives the payment in full

of what I chose instead;

for You loved me in mercy first

so that in justice I trust your death

to be gifted with such eternal life

and imparted with true righteousness

from Your meritorious splendor.

You did not save Yourself,

instead yielding up Your spirit

for the earth to quake and the rocks to split

as such evil believed its victory.

The voices that shouted to crucify,

some familiar when they shouted “Messiah,”

so insistent now upon Your death,

demanding the defeat of the Savior.

Dedications for Easter Flowers

The Easter Azaleas and Lilies 

are given to the Glory of Almighty God by:

Donald and Deborah Patterson                      

In memory of Donald and Barbara Lanning, and Merle and Elsie Patterson

 

Rita Reeves                                                    

To the glory of God

 

Kathryn Rivers                                              

In memory of Jay Rivers, Michael Laiche and grandparents

 

Cindy Romano                                               

In honor of my parents, Robert and Emma Ross

 

Les and Shirley Schnake                               

In honor Diane, Liam and Caden Byers and Dan, Derek and Brandon Schnake

In memory of David Schnake and Robby Byers

 

Patsy and Tom Schumacher                          

In memory of Paul J. and Peter S. Van Bloem

In honor of Debbie Boyd and her work around the church.

In honor of the Garden Club and all their hard work.

 

Stephanie Thomson                                       

In memory of my mother, Diana Back          

                                                                       

The Unangst Family                                      

To celebrate the glory of God

 

Mac and Tina Watts                                      

In memory of our sister in Christ, Joan Hand

 

Don and Beth Wright                                    

In honor of our long time member Nancy Royalty, greeter and member of the original First

Presbyterian Church of St. Mary’s County.

In memory of Don parents, Helen and Don Wright Jr. and Beth’s parents, Dorothy and Walter

Frazier.

 

Anonymous                                                    

In honor of Janice Dixon, my secret sister

 

Anonymous                                                    

In honor of Patsy Schumacher, my secret sister

 

Adams/Van Meter Family                             

In memory of John Adams

 

Leon and Mary Anderson                              

To the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ

 

Gloria Brady                                                  

To celebrate our risen Christ

 

Danielson Family                                          

In memory of Jeff’s mom, Marlene

 

Patsy Davidson                                              

In loving memory of my husband, Bruce Davidson.

In thanksgiving for my family and the birth of McKenna Shay Hart.

In honor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

 

Carolyn Graessle                                           

In memory of Molly Martin

                                                                       

Carolyn and Dick Huff                                  

In loving memory of our loved ones who have gone before.

 

Agatha Lakin                                                 

In memory of Leonard and Bonnie Cochran and Toby and Pansy Lakin

 

Lawrence Family                                           

In memory of our loved ones

 

Karla and Jim Light                                       

In honor of our families

 

Glenda Lytle                                                  

In loving memory of my husband, Allen Lytle, our son-in-law Ian Seely, and my parents

 

Frank and Kathy Mazur                                 

To celebrate our risen Lord!

Two-Year Anniversary of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Message of Encouragement

Rev. Matt Pooley

March 10, 2022

Greetings Pax Pres! If you’re encouraged by this message, please share it with others.

I composed this message and filmed a video of me sharing the following thoughts on Thursday, March 10, 2022. It was on March 13, 2020 that President Trump officially declared a national emergency related to the spread of the novel coronavirus that we all now know as Covid-19. Not to mention its endless variant names - have you enjoyed learning the Greek alphabet the last two years?

A lot of other milestones unfolded day by day in early 2020 - school shutdowns, travel bans, and so forth. But as we approach what would roughly be the two-year anniversary of the explosion of Covid-19 in our country, I want to offer some reflections and encouragement from God’s Word to you on such a sobering occasion.

Psalm 40 says:

“I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

    out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

    and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

    a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

    and put their trust in him.

Blessed is the one

    who trusts in the Lord,

who does not look to the proud,

    to those who turn aside to false gods.”

“I waited patiently for the Lord.”  Two years of a global pandemic will test anyone’s patience. And for some of us, even after two years, the waiting continues - maybe on something related to the pandemic or something else in your life circumstances like a broken relationship, a loved one dying, job uncertainty, or more.  Jesus Christ came offering “life to the full” (John 10:10) to those who look to Him for rescue and not, as Psalm 40 says, “to the proud or to false gods.”

That doesn’t mean all our suffering will go away tomorrow. But it does mean that in the two years of a pandemic or the years still ahead of you, submitting to trust and obey Him offers us qualities from the Holy Spirit to get us through each day no matter how muddy, slimy and dark the days are – as the psalmist says. Qualities like the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth; the perseverance described in Romans 5, and more.

Jesus offers life to the full in the present-day sense. He also offers life to the full in the sense that there’s a long-term promise: one day, He will come again. Even if the struggles - pandemic or otherwise - don’t end anytime soon. Even if, as the psalmist says, he doesn’t lift you out of your slimy pits and mud and mire this year or next. One day he will wipe away all tears, reveal a new heaven and earth, and offer eternal joy and rest in His presence to those who confess Jesus as Savior and Lord.

I need these encouragements too. So join me in holding onto the hope of God’s daily provision to shape our character to persevere beyond the first two years of a global pandemic. Join me in holding onto the hope that, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Paul says “our light and momentary troubles.” He is not at all downplaying the severity of life’s suffering: six million deaths to Covid-19 worldwide. Employees of so many industries burned out: hospital staff and medical professionals; business workers; teachers; housekeepers in hotels; and more.  Constant questions of “How long, O Lord?” “What will the new normal be?” Beyond the pandemic itself, we’ve had tension around race relations and systemic injustice, ever-increasing anxiety about our global climate, a divisive presidential election season, and now a new war incited by Russia. Or just on the ordinary, daily scale, I read an article a couple months ago about “decision fatigue. We’re all tired of the constant pivoting, calling audibles, and rethinking one decision after another because of Covid-19.

Paul’s point is not necessarily that, in themselves, these are light and momentary troubles. His point is a comparison and contrast — if you could add up the physical weight of all these sources of pain, and then imagine a source of glory, goodness, and joy that far outweighs them all, I can’t even wrap my head around how much goodness and joy that is. Yet Paul says it is coming. It is coming for those who hang onto Christ, and when we can’t muster up the strength to hold onto Christ, that HE will hold onto us. 

I realize that even in two years of a pandemic, we’ve seen ordinary moments of unsung grace and resilience too, and we can give thanks to God for the way we see that in each other. But even then, God is preparing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all. If we wait patiently for the Lord, He will once, finally, and for all pull us out of the slimy pit of sin and suffering and set our feet in the presence of the rock, the glorious, loving, powerful, holy, compassionate King Jesus. Let’s cling to that hope together no matter what the rest of this pandemic or anything else in this world continues to bring. God bless you. 

Global Affairs in the Ukraine: Scripture & Music

Greetings Pax Pres! As the news regarding Russia and the Ukraine continue to unfold in significant ways this week, I honestly do not feel that more words from someone like me are needed in this age of every pundit under the sun offering their analysis of the global matters at hand. 

 

Instead, it is a time such as this when the timelessness of God‘s Word is what is needed.

 

Acts 17:26-27 says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

 

Psalm 46 says:

 "God is our refuge and strength,

    an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

    and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

    God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,

    the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease

    to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

    he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 

Romans 8 declares: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. …In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

 

Whether you are looking for hope in your own personal anxieties and uncertainties, or hope regarding the affairs in the Ukraine and its impact on civilians, military, missionaries for the Gospel, and the least of these - if that is the hope you are seeking in these tenuous days, then I point you back to Scriptures such as those above to guide your prayer and to fill you with God’s strength and hope. Not to remove us from caring about the affairs of the nations, but rather to deepen our perspective and the way we pray.

 

I also point you to a song that has meant a lot to me in various seasons of uncertainty in the last few years: “Ancient of Days” by Shane & Shane.

I admit I have shared this song in a previous church blog post, so if it’s already familiar to you, then listen again and be encouraged. The opening lyrics say:

“Though the nations rage

Kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King

Reigning over all…”

 

May the word of Christ and the peace of Christ dwell richly in you as you look for ways to pray for global affairs and all those in need, and to do your part in showing the love of Christ to our neighbors.

Stillness in Motion (God is) by Kathleen Mead

 

Stillness in Motion (God is) by Kathleen Mead

 

Prologue:

 

Stillness in motion,

    both coming & going—

    a patient urgency

    of simultaneous division & peace,

    humbly exalted

    from death to life (no longer under wrath);

    He does, but most importantly,

    He is;

 

…

 

God is the God of stillness

    in how His seventh broke

    the rhythms of His creation

    while He rested to observe quiet beauty.

 

Stillness in the mountains,

    their glory found in stability;

    the silence of the evening

    that awaits the morning light & song.

 

God is the God of motion

    in the parting of the waters,

    the enemy’s plans frustrated

    since He’s already declared His victory.

 

Motion in the earth

    following gravity’s beaten path;

    wind’s power felt and yet unseen,

    rustling what was frozen.

 

God is the God of leaving

    behind the ninety-nine

    because He cares for the one,

    the lost, and the least of these.

 

Leaving behind the worries of tomorrow

    and the burdened weight of past mistakes;

    abandon the self of old

    to put on the one who gives before he takes.

 

God is the God of coming

    closer to His most precious love,

    the pursuit of His prodigal son,

    chasing whom He’s redeemed.

 

Coming toward the goodness

    which is lavished so greatly on us;

    the undeserved grace-filled breath

    which now fills our lungs to overflow.

 

God is the God of patience

    so that we may be led in the direction

    of having a repentant heart

    clinging to only Him.

 

Patience held when He died

    in the knowledge of our destiny;

    He saw us before our formation,

    never slow to fulfill His promises.

 

God is the God of urgency

    with His call to a holy rebirth

    for the sake of a clear sight

    of nothing less than His heavenly kingdom.

 

Urgency to be awakened

    to the truth of the light;

    it is coming soon

    so run away from fear to greet His safe radiance.

 

God is the God of division

    between righteousness and injustice,

    exposing darkness that hides in shadows

    to be replaced one day by fire.

 

Division that shows His holiness,

    our dissonance

    to be torn at His command

    since His presence is too bright to be friends with

    corruption.

 

God is the God of peace—

    demonstrated in who became flesh—

    through being fully reconciled,

    the earth to our creator, God.

 

Peace accessed though faith

    merely by floating upon the sea

    because no gift from Him is earned,

    rather, it can all be ours for free.

 

God is the God of exaltation

    on wings that charged the land with wondrous glory,

    awestruck at the mighty hand

    that holds eternal, sovereign power.

 

Exaltation of a king

    who reigns still to conquer sin;

    strength under perfect control

    as to rest once again on His throne.

 

God is the God of humility

    coming to bring salvation,

    the hope defeating any worldly despair

    delivered through virgin birth.

 

Humility that led to sacrifice

    of the meek coming not be served

    but to serve,

    revealing His humble heart divine.

 

God is the God of death

    to crucify Himself

    and the evil rebellion of us

    right alongside Him.

 

Death of our life before Him

    to abide in His resurrection;

    to take up the cross while the earth still turns

    is to be under obedience of His love.

 

God is the God of life

    to be made alive, restored, reborn—

    freedom in broken chains

    that teach me to be transformed.

 

Life that’s now worth living

    because I’m given a purpose amidst each problem;

    glorify Him in every thing—

    every increase giv’n to a planted seed.

 

God is the God of doing

    as we know His miracles so well,

    and He doesn’t leave it a mystery

    when He answers each whispered prayer escaping

    our lips.

 

Doing what only He can:

    opening our eyes to see He’ll be our help

    and offering wisdom with sacred comfort

    to sustain us with His Spirit .

 

But God is the God of being

    eternal, compassionate, true;

    why shall we turn away or insist our will

    when what is good is what He’ll do?

 

Being the only worthy of praise,

    He is our Passover’s spotless lamb;

    yet nothing tells us more of Him

    than how He’s the great I AM.

 

Praise be to God.