Excitement and delight fill me as I reflect on all who attended our VBS building and crafting events this past week. I was honored and thrilled that the right people for the job showed up every single time! Not only did they show up, but God used each person’s unique gifts to contribute something special. The funny thing about it was that people often took me aside to tell me that they didn’t have much experience and may not be much help. God has a sense of humor that way! 

It’s not so much that we accomplished great things, as we crafted underwater-themed creatures, built a giant arched box tower, and fashioned it into a creative coral reef. Those things were incredible to witness. However, I am more amazed at how God brought everyone together right when they were needed most. God built a community of volunteers from not only church members, but also those who attend the SAGE group, the women’s Bible studies, the MOPS moms, Pinnacle Teens, and Kids too! So many different seasons and walks of life came together for a single purpose and in that added richness and depth to our Pinnacle community. 

Working with the groups brought camaraderie and a sense of togetherness. Laughter and conversation swirled around us as we worked to tame supplies into spectacular creations. Seeds of friendship were planted and invitations were extended for continuing the togetherness that people experienced. It was heartwarming. To quote one of our VBS volunteers who experienced the joy of working together in a vibrant meaningful way, Susan Matura said, “It {VBS} was an amazing experience where I got to meet new (to me) members of our church community, and I felt like I made a difference just by being there and being me. It’s fun to see so many people come together to make a unique program by sharing their talents.”

As I take a step back and reflect on all the wonderfulness of the past week, I feel confident that this is the body of Christ in our community coming together for the children. Because of this, I can’t wait to see our community in action for Vacation Bible School this summer!

“There are different gifts. But it is the same Spirit who gives them. There are different ways of serving God. But it is the same Lord who is served. God works through different persons in different ways.

But it is the same God who achieves the divine purpose through them all. Each one is given a gift by the Spirit to use it for the common good. Together we are the body of Christ and individually members of him. We are called by God to be the Church of Jesus Christ, a sign in the world today of the new life that God intends for all.  In our life together, we are to display the new reality that sin is forgiven, reconciliation accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility torn down.

The ministry of the church is shared by pastor and people, so that all together may fulfill the mission to which we are called by Jesus Christ.  The particular responsibility of the Teaching Elder as Minister of Word and Sacrament is to build up the church and serve the people of God, so that the Word may be rightly proclaimed, and the sacraments rightly celebrated.”

These words were spoken immediately prior to a lot of promises back and forth between me and the church at my installation service. I’ve been reflecting on them a lot, and on the promises, and I’ve found some remarkable beauty in them for a few reasons.

As we formally mark the beginning of my new role, we do so with the acknowledgment that my primary job is to build up the church and serve the people of God. And why? So that we might proclaim the Word and celebrate the sacraments. As we all bring our various gifts (they come with us … we don’t have to earn them or find them, as they are part of who we are), my job, and the job of each of your pastors, is to help you use your gifts to celebrate God’s forgiving love and live into our calling of a shared ministry in Jesus. I hope you noticed what I said there about your gifts … each of us have gifts that our Creator has given us to enable us to be a part of God’s mission. What a joy it is for us to help you find your gifts so that you, the church, can live out those gifts in our ministry.

Of all of the promises I made to the church in my installation service, the one that always stays with me (and is also shared by all ruling elders, teaching elders, and deacons) is the commitment to serve with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love. I love this promise because it reminds me where my energy should be going. I’ve committed myself to serving the church and God in ways that will utilize my mind, my heart, and my soul. I hope I’ve been doing that, but answering the questions again has reminded me of the importance of this and all of the promises!

One final thought as I reflect on the installation service and on my perspective on ministry at Pinnacle. I often return to the Pinnacle Mission Statement when I consider where my time and energy goes. My goal is to tie everything I do, in some way, back to the mission of our church:

In the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Pinnacle Presbyterian Church invites all people to hear God’s story and experience God’s love expressed in the life of Jesus Christ; and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we strive to equip the generations with the practices of our faith.

At the foot of the mountain we created a sanctuary.  We come together as God’s people, reaching out to make a difference in one another's lives, in our community, and around the world.  We express our faithfulness through excellence in worship, the arts, serving meals, building homes, crossing borders, and nurturing children and youth.

We are people who know the power of forgiveness, joy and love.

The Mission Statement, adopted in 2008, is our shared ministry put into writing. This is who we’ve chosen to be, in answering God’s call on our lives. My hope in the coming months and beyond is that we can look to this beautiful statement and see it as our guide as we bring our gifts together and use them to bring Glory to God.

Friends, the journey both begins and continues, and I couldn’t be more honored to be a part of it alongside you, in shared ministry.

"Actually, there was nothing feminine about Miss Bacewicz's piece. It was vigorous, even virile, with (…) a pulsing, throbbing rhythm and bold thematic material…" an American critic, Milton Berliner, wrote in 1952 in the Washington Daily News review of a Concerto for String Orchestra (1948) performance by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C.

In a book published in 1965 by her long-life friend, an influential Polish journalist and a fellow composer, Stefan Kisielewski wrote: “I couldn’t become convinced of the authenticity of Grażyna’s creative output. I couldn’t believe, and I was not the only one, that a woman can be a real composer.”

These gendered reviews are not outside of the norm for the times they were written in. They are also the perfect examples of the many reasons why it is important we celebrate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was a Polish composer, violinist, pianist, and a professor at my alma mater in Łódź, Poland. Life was not easy for Bacewicz. She survived two world wars, separation of her family, hunger, fatal living conditions, persecution, a prison camp, and a serious car accident. And then also an environment in which composers who happened to be female and mothers were not treated the same way as their male counterparts. Despite the world she was born into, she did her best to achieve her life and career goals. She composed over 200 works throughout her life. How did this happen? 

If we sum up her career and life (which you can read more about here or here) and try to figure out why she became one of the most accomplished and recognizable Polish female composers of her time, a few distinct features come to the surface:

• deep commitment to her art

• mental and physical capability to overcome obstacles; integrity and perseverance

• ever-lasting internal drive (in her own book she joked that she can do in ten minutes what others do in an hour)

She also made well-informed and thought-through career choices like: 

• studying locally and internationally with respected musicians (like Nadia Boulanger in Paris) 

• performing locally and internationally

• making professional connections and networking

• performing her own works and striving to have her works performed

• continuous work on improving her skills as a performer and composer (life-long learner)

• working as an educator and art and music administrator

These are clearly qualities of highly successful people, and Grażyna Bacewicz was one of them. Her perseverance and skill in navigating the complex world she lived in are impressive and worthy of our admiration. It is important to note that, while successfully navigating many life and career adversities, she was in a better position socially and legally as a woman in the mid 20th century than if she was born even just half a century earlier. 

I personally find a huge inspiration in learning about the lives of successful professional female musicians of the past. I never take for granted what I am able to accomplish as a female in the 21st century thanks to many women who paved the road before me. I also see a need for more cultural and legal changes for women in order to have their voices heard, and in order to be respected in their professions without implicit biases which are still prevalent and palpable. 

It is my hope that the story of Bacewicz’s life can allow all of us to take a moment and reflect on our lives, careers, where women were and are now, and the state of the world around us.

CNN, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times have all covered this significant topic in their reporting - the fast food restaurant Subway is making changes. You may remember last year Subway initiated a competition where if folks changed their name to “Subway” they would get free sandwiches “for life”. Nearly 10,000 people entered this competition. And if you have been in a Subway lately you've probably noticed some big menu changes. 

Ok…where is this going…

High school students were a big deal to a young middle school Brandon. They seemed so much older than me. They had their driver's licenses and some even had jobs (dang!). In youth group, our middle and high school students would sometimes join together for a special activity or lesson. One of the high school students, Patrick, worked at Subway. Patrick shared something about his job that I have not forgotten. He said he would get to the restaurant a couple of hours before it opened to prep the line with all the meats and toppings for the day. He spent much time in the back of the restaurant chopping vegetables. Patrick used that time in the back of the restaurant to talk to God. He would bring up random topics but always trusted that God was listening. Like most high schoolers, Patrick was a busy guy. Chopping vegetables and talking with God was a Sabbath moment for him. 

In the midst of busy schedules, what does the Sabbath look like in your life today? A Sabbath can happen at any time in big ways and small. My Sabbath at this moment may look like going to Subway and ordering an Italian BMT, toasted of course. 

This past weekend, a great group of women gathered at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, the oldest and largest botanical garden in Arizona. The theme of our day was Created in the Image of The Creator. Together, we agreed to put on a child-like mindset and to release ourselves from the expectations of perfection in order to have fun with our creative side. Why? Because, we all have a creative bone whether or not we are aware of it. 

In Genesis 1, we read about God creating the world. Chaos from disorder. Light and darkness. Water above and water below. Sea creatures and land creatures. Seed and fruit bearing plants. And God calls it all good. Then we read God creates humankind (and calls it very good). And here is where we hone in on an important verse: “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). 

Follow along...If we are created by God and in God’s image. And God is a Creator. Then we too are creators. When we begin life we know this inherently! We take blocks and create buildings. We use refrigerator boxes to build rockets. Wagons become airplanes and a tree is our castle. We experiment with playdough and sand, paint and crayons. As we grow older, the mediums change but something else does too. For many of us, somewhere along the line, we adopt a mentality that unless we are fine artists, master lyricists, or talented musicians, we don’t have a ‘creative bone in our bodies.’ Maybe it’s because eventually our art begins to get graded by whether or not we can color in the lines or make a painting look realistic. So we just stop exploring that creative side. When we give up creating, a part of our spirit that’s connected to our Creator God, becomes a bit malnourished. 

Whether it be in the kitchen or on canvas. Recycling resources or recording records. Journaling your devotional time, turning Scripture into poetry or allowing God’s creation to inspire you in the garden. There are a multitude of ways we can be creative. I encourage you to explore where your spirit is fed through creativity. Have fun. Experiment. Lose the expectation for perfection. You might discover a new hobby and something more about who God created you to be!