Hy-Lytes

DECEMBER 2008

At this time of the year you and I are besieged by every charity in existence to contribute to many worthwhile causes. It's hard for me to decide which to support, but in the last month or so I had the delightful experience of being able to donate not money but furniture to ONE HOUSE AT A TIME. I couldn't possibly fit everything from a six-room house with two porches into a one-bedroom apartment with patio. So - to the rescue - ONE HOUSE AT A TIME! Three men came one Saturday in October and took some heavy and lighter pieces. They seemed to enjoy joking with one another, and then when I forgot one item (a kitchen cabinet on the back porch), they returned to get it mid-week. Debbie Wilson, the director of the program, informed me they have 65 requests for furniture and only four can be accommodated any Saturday. They need volunteers as well as furniture. So from personal experience, I heartily recommend that you look at your apartment or home and see what maybe you aren't using or don't really need, and call 215-646-7812. Ask for Debi. You'll be glad you did, and so will the Lord Jesus, who, while he walked this earth, had no house to call his own. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)

In November I learned of another fantastic ministry carried out by HAVEN OF HOPE, which is a Christian Discipleship Ministry for Chemically Dependent Women, located at 1600 Germantown Avenue, in Philadelphia. Their mission is to encourage and lead impoverished women in their recovery from drug and alcohol abuse to become disciples of Christ and be women of character, strength, and dignity.

HAVEN OF HOPE has a residential bed capacity for 18 women. They presently have bedroom set-ups for 14 and are running at 12 to 14 residents and hope to move to 18 in the near future.

Ways to help: prayer support, teaching life skills, donations of cleaning supplies, personal care items, student furniture, mentoring students, transportation to outing events, and, finally, financial support. David Wampole, architect of our proposed columbarium, is the president of the Board of Directors!

On a personal note, my pictures are hung, I'm finally ready, willing, and able to receive visitors at my humble abode: F-9 at Fort Washington Estates. Just call 215- 643-6575 to be sure I'm there!

A truly blessed Christmas to one and all, and a New Year filled with health, happiness, and growth in grace for you and yours!

NOVEMBER 2008

“Praise God from whom ALL BLESSINGS FLOW…” My house sold on September 22, and closing is set for October 30 at 9:30 am in Newtown.

I moved into Ft. Washington Estates (Apt. F-9) on Friday, October 10. Thanks to the help of a wonderful daughter, Marty Frantz, I was all settled in within hours, with even the many emptied boxes in the dumpster. Dinner was brought to me in my apartment, a lovely touch for moving-in day.

On Saturday, October 11, my alarm, set or 5:30 am, failed to go off, hence I awoke at 6:15, but still managed to eat breakfast and get in a 40-minute swim at the Ambler YMCA before going to the hairdresser. I stopped at church, made one “Happy Birthday” call, and looked over the bulletin for the next day.

On to 310 Twining Road to take all the pictures off the walls. I barely finished that when three men arrived from ONE HOUSE AT A TIME, a program run for 10 years by Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. They took all the furniture (2 small sofas, 2 recliners, a table and lamp, a floor lamp, a desk and chair, a large chest of drawers, and several other miscellaneous pieces) I could not fit into my one-bedroom apartment. The young couple who are buying the house are glad to be getting the dining room furniture.

Practically every day I stop to pick up something I hadn't remembered to take the first day when moving: 2 plants, 2 vacuum cleaners, a bathroom scale, food in the refrigerator (umpteen bottles of salad dressing, a lemon cake in the freezer, plus other various and sundry things). Fortunately, I still have until the 30th. But the greatest of all is I just love my apartment. Everything is brand new and beautiful, and no mores steps to climb. And the food! Every dinner is a masterpiece: liver and onions, crab cakes, pot roast, and birthday night (always the 3rd Tuesday), shrimp cocktail, salmon or filet mignon, plus a delicious soup, veggies, and dessert. One night I couldn't decide between pumpkin pie or coffee ice cream, as I like both. So guess what! I had pumpkin pie WITH coffee ice cream. I'll have to cut back, exercise more, or I will soon look like a blimp!

Soon as I have all the pictures hung, I shall be glad to welcome visitors on Monday, or maybe even Sunday afternoon. Just call 215-643-6575 to be sure I'm home. I'll welcome you with a glass of wine and maybe a cracker and some cheese! (But please, no gifts!!)

OCTOBER 2008

 Time marches on, and as of September 10th, no buyer had appeared for my house. Many have come, looked, told me I have a lovely house, but no one even made an offer. So on September 21st and 28th, from 2 to 4 pm, I’m having an open house, something I had hoped to avoid.

I am trying not to get “antsy.” I know it is a bad time to sell a house, but I was hoping against hope that my house would be the exception, and sell immediately, if not sooner. Then when I speak with someone whose house sold (5 years ago, to be sure) in three days, I really get discouraged. That’s when I need to remember what I so often say and pray, publicly and privately, GOD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT. And I think back to my ministry at Bethel Church at 5th & Sedgeley in Philadelphia. I was discouraged. I couldn’t stop people form dying or moving out of the neighborhood. I preached to more empty pews than to people. I sought a call to another congregation, in any one of six synods. None was forthcoming. But God knew my dilemma and desires, and God worked a miracle far greater than my fondest dreams. He brought Bill Imhof into my life, who became my husband, and role model in stewardship and devotion to Christ and Christ’s Church. Thanks to Bill, I have a house to sell, but more important I have a loving family that now includes a beloved daughter and son-in-law, three wonderful grandchildren and their mates, and five delightful great-grandchildren, with another on the way, plus a son and two more grandchildren in New Jersey.

In September the evening Bible Study class was based on Philippians 4:4-9. One of the questions was: WHAT ANXIOUS THOUGHTS HAVE TROUBLED YOU LATELY? My answer: WILL MY HOUSE SELL? That’s when one verse spoke to me very eloquently, “DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING, BY PRAYER AND PETITION, WITH THANKSGIVING, PRESENT YOUR REQUESTS TO GOD. AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH TRANSCENDS ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS.”

SEPTEMBER 2008

The phone rang at 6:30 pm one evening in early July. I had just finished supper and supposed it was some charity wanting a donation.

“This is Carol Witt. We have a one-bedroom apartment available for you at Ft. Washington Estates.”

“I'll be right there,” I felt like saying, but restrained myself and made a date to meet with Carol and see the apartment on July 10th. Unfortunately, the current tenant was not feeling well so I saw a similar apartment two doors away. It's on the first floor, has a patio, and faces the Upper Dublin High School football field!

On July 31st, I had my ENTRANCE INTERVIEW. My house was put up for sale on August 2nd, and people started coming on August 6th. As of August 12th, two potential buyers have returned a second time, so I am hopeful that the “For Sale” sign in front of my house will soon have “Sold” on it! But all in God's time!

I like to think of the STOPS and STARTS of the Holy Spirit. I was always impressed by the fact that in the book of ACTS, at times the Holy Spirit prevented Paul and his companions from preaching the word in a particular place (see ACTS 16:6-10).

In our last Bible Study, the second week in August, based on 1 Corinthians 13, where the apostle Paul defines the qualities of what LOVE is, one of the questions was, “Which one are you most in need of cultivating?” For me, that was easy to answer: PATIENCE!

I continue to clean out drawers and closets, and pack boxes of books, music, etc., etc., etc. But I do truly look forward to moving in to my new home at Ft. Washington Estates on October 10, Apartment F9.

JULY 2008 

“Do you believe in the resurrection?” was the first question asked when I was being interviewed by the church council at Bethel Church at 5th Street and Sedgley Avenue in Philadelphia. My answer, “Absolutely!”

Second question: “Do you bowl?” My answer, “No, but I’m sure I could learn.”

Another question, asked by a teenager, “Have you ever worked with youth?” My answer, “Yes. My last five-year term as a missionary in Argentina, I had the title of Secretary for Youth for the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida (United Evangelical Lutheran Church). With two other people, a young male pastor who worked half time, and another young man who worked quarter-time, we planned programs for and with the youth of he entire synod of 24 congregations.

I honestly don’t remember any other questions! But after my trial sermon one Sunday morning, the congregation voted to issue a call to me to be assistant pastor. The vote was not unanimous. At that time, Spring 1975, female pastors were not as well known and accepted as today. There were people at Bethel who took very literally St. Paul’s advice to young Timothy: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” (1 Timothy 2:11-12)

I also remember the first council meeting I attended there. One gentleman wouldn’t come in, because the constitution called for 12 councilmen, and that meant males! The senior pastor’s reply was that the constitution did, indeed, call for 12 councilmen, and pastor or pastors, and I was there as a pastor. Fortunately, it didn’t specify that the pastor had to be male, although at that time most were.

Just as an aside, as the years passed, and as we came to love and appreciate one another, that gentleman became one of my most ardent supporters!

We’ve come a long way! But I wonder how willing Christ’s Church would be to call a female senior pastor. Only you and every other member can answer that question. It is my prayer that God may guide both Synod and our call committee as we move forward in the call process!

JUNE 2008 

June 1975 held a very important event in my life. I had just graduated from Seminary, been ordained, and was provileged to participate in a Latin American Reality Seminar along with 19 other women of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA. My way was paid for, as I was to be the “theological resource” person to help the women reflect on the experiences we had as we visited selected areas in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. My knowledge of Spanish also came in handy at times.

I recall two distinct impressions, one in Recife, Brazil, and one in Santiago, Chile.

The areas we visited were far from the cosmopolitan Buenos Aires I knew, or even the little village of Villa Ballester, where my first five years were spent teaching in a Bible Institute for women, where we didn’t have hot water by merely opening a spigot. We showered on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the hot water heater was turned on. There were no dryers and only one old-fashioned washing machine that had no rinse cycle. But I digress.

I was amazed and saddened to learn that in Recife, Brazil, women had to walk eight miles to get water and carry it home. They did their laundry by beating the clothes on a rock in the river! I remember thinking how fortunate we are in the USA to have so many modern conveniences that make life so much easier.

The other lasting impression happened in a very poor barrio (La Faena) in Chile. We met in a church and were briefed about visiting the people in their homes. We were told not to expect any refreshments, as the people were too poor to provide anything. We were sent out in groups of two. My companion and I approached the hut where a widow and her 10-year old son lived. We were very graciously received by Doña María. We had to watch where we walked as the flooring was planks placed on the ground. But she had set a table (a crate), with other crates to sit on. As we chatted, Doña María set about preparing tea. We noticed there was only one bed in the one-room hut. Widow and son slept in the same bed, but she had wonderful dreams for her only son.

When it came time to partake of the tea and galletas (crackers), I asked if she would like me to ask a blessing. Her reply is indelibly etched in my mind and heart. “Oh yes, please. We always thank God for the much, the little, or the nothing that we have.”

Dear reader, you and I have so much for which to be thankful. I am reminded of Jesus’ words in Luke 12:48:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

MAY 2008 

In the life of the church, there are two important days in May:

On this day, the earthly Christ disappears but promises the disciples that power from on high will come to them. The disciples become the evidence of the Lord's presence and they carried the Lord's spirit and blessing to the ends of the earth, and to us. In word and sacrament, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and serving people in need, we continue to live as gifted, blessed and powerful witnesses of the resurrected Christ through the Spirit. As we “go in peace to serve the Lord,” like a stone cast in the water sends out ripples that continually spread, so those rippling waves continue to be seen and felt.

Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival that marked the 50th day after Passover. Luke, the author of Acts, in Chapter 2, verses 1-21, portrays the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the disciples before the gathered and astonished people assembled in Jerusalem for the festival. Filled with the Spirit, the disciples were able to witness to the power of Christ's resurrection.

In my own personal life, there are also two important days in May:

I shall forever be grateful to God for my call, but I believe every Christian has a call by virtue of his or her baptism to love and serve God in any capacity or job that God gives the ability to do. I feel this is especially true of mothers and fathers. It is a divine calling to be a parent!

God has gifted me so far with 82 years, 12 more than the Biblical span of life, and I am grateful. I pray that however many more years God grants me, that they will be filled with loving thoughts, words, and deeds, and that I may be an instrument of peace, love, and joy, that God will use me for His glory.

A favorite hymn has always been Make Me a Blessing.

Out on the highways and byways of life,
many are weary and sad;
carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,
making the sorrowing glad.

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing,
Out of my life may Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.
Make me a blessing to someone today.

APRIL 2008 
 

When I returned from my first five-year term as an educational missionary in Argentina, I resigned from the Board of the Foreign Missions (as it was then called), and accepted a position as Parish Worker in my home congregation, St. Paul's in Port Chester, NY. My responsibilities were basically that of a Director of Christian Education. I loved the people and I loved the work. Then one day a pastor friend from Argentina visited me and asked me if I ever thought of returning to Argentina. “I would if the National Church there would issue a call for me to do something I would be qualified to do,” was my answer. The next thing I knew the Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida invited me to return as Secretary for Youth for the 24 congregations that comprised the IELU. I would have the help of a young pastor, working half time, and another young man, an expert in audio-visuals, working a quarter of the time. Together we would plan programs with and for the youth. It would mean another five-year term, from 1968 to 1973. I accepted the invitation and spent another five years very happily.

At first I lived in a very lovely little chalet near the seminary in José C. Paz. I had a car at my disposal and was able to do all the traveling the job required. There were no car washes and I wasn't too particular about keeping it spotless. One day I discovered the car exactly half washed, from front to back. So of course I had to wash the other half. Seminarians (only male then), I realized, have quite a sense of humor!

One day about six months before the end of my term, the bishop called me into his office and said I was going to be transferred to Olavarría where I would work with a young Brazilian pastor. I objected. “Wouldn't it be better to remain where I am and train someone to do my work?” His reply, “Jacinta, you can either go to Olavarría or take a one-way plane trip to New York.” “Well, since you put it that way, I'll be glad to go where you want to send me,” I replied. And it was those last six months that confirmed in me the desire to be ordained. I learned that God does indeed work in mysterious ways, and sometimes the thing we rebel against is just part of God's wonderful plan for our lives.

Enough of me. Now the question: What does a modern-day missionary do?

Today, ELCA global mission personnel walk hand-in-hand with our companion churches in a variety of ways. Serving as health care workers, English teachers and librarians, seminary professors, evangelists, communications assistants, agricultural consultants, and pastors of international congregations, all serve at the specific invitation of our 800 companion churches abroad.

Another question: How are missions supported?

Today the cost of a long-term missionary family of four, per year, is approximately $86,000. Because many costs are fixed, the cost of a long-term missionary individual is $47,000. A two-year missionary (GM2), sent under different provisions, costs between $30,000 and $40,000. It is only with generous support from congregations, individuals, and organizations that our mission personnel can continue to be sent.

Missionary support covers a modest stipend, housing, insurance, any required language training, travel to and from the country of service, children's education, visas, etc.
Do you know that our congregation's contributions to benevolence, sent regularly to Synod, help to support ELCA missionaries in all parts of the world? So even before you and I met, you helped to support me in my two five-year terms. Thank you, and may God continue to use and bless us all as we live and witness to God's mighty acts in our daily lives.

 MARCH 2008

 Exactly 50 years ago this month, March, I left the USA for my first tour of duty as a missionary teacher in the Lutheran Bible Institute in Argentina, in the small town of Villa Ballester. In those days it was mandatory to travel by boat, and it was a three-week journey. It was also a far cry from today's cruise ships!

We left New York harbor the day after we were supposed to, as I remember looking out the porthole the next morning and seeing the Statue of Liberty. Scuttlebutt had it that when we crossed the equator, our heads would be shaved. Being the gullible person I am, I believed it, and didn't budge out of the stateroom that day until I was absolutely sure that we were well past the equator.

The crew (cabin stewards and waiters) were all Spanish speaking, and my Spanish was still quite limited, although I had spent several months the previous summer (seven hours a day) studying the language. One day there was no soap in our cabin. So I summoned the cabin steward and, pointing to the soap dish, said, “necesito sopa.” (“I need soap.”) I repeated it several times, and couldn't understand why he couldn't understand me. Actually I was asking for “soup.” The word for soap is “jabón.”

Another time in the dining room, a waiter was serving me spaghetti. Thinking I was saying “enough,” (“bastante”) he kept piling more spaghetti on my plate. What I was actually saying to him was “give me enough.” the word I should have used was “basta.” Oh well. Live and learn!

On Easter Sunday we docked in Montevideo, Uruguay. Looking for a church in which to worship, I came upon a huge Roman Catholic cathedral with standing room only. After a brief time of trying to follow the mass and feeling lost, I left. It was my worst ever Easter! The next morning we docked in Buenos Aires, and I was met by the director of the Bible Institute, Myrtle Wilke, where I would spend the next five years of my life, and a seminary professor, the Rev. Joseph Deibert, whom I had met previously in the States.

Missions have changed since the first Lutheran missionary, Pastor John Hayer, arrivedin Guntur, India, in 1842. A brief summary follows:

1845-1945    Sending/receiving ERA of missions
1945-1970    Growth of indigenous churches and native leadership
1970-1992    Age of interdependence
1993-Present    Entering a new era/age

Following is a summary of what the ELCA mission personnel are doing this year, hand-in-hand with our companion churches:
276 missionaries now serve in 50 countries
70% of our mission personnel are lay & 30% of our mission personnel are clergy
40 of our mission personnel are participants in the Young Adults in Global Mission Program
41 of our mission personnel are self-funding volunteers
111 of our mission personnel are long-term personnel
34 of our mission personnel are GM2 Personnel (serving with an initial two-year term)
Mission personnel serve in a variety of ministries throughout the world:
78 personnel in Africa
79 in Asia/Pacific
In Latin America/Caribbean
78 in Europe and the Middle East

Don't miss next month's edition of The Link for follow-up material on global mission today, plus a few personal tidbits of my second tour of duty, from 1968 to 1973.

FEBRUARY 2008 

Lent has always been a very special season of the church year for me. It is a time when I sincerely desire to draw closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have never developed the habit of fasting, though I believe it is helpful. All Christian mystics have practiced it. I have, however, tried to grow in my prayer life, and for several years prayed for the entire congregation, rising at 5 am to do so, and praying for about 8 to 10 individuals or families each day during Lent. Lent is a season often imagined as a journey, echoing the 40-day journey of Noah and his family in the flood, the 40-year journey of the Israelites in the wilderness, and the 40-day journey of Jesus in the desert.

Last year, at the very end of Lent, I suddenly decided I wanted to know more about the Stations of the Cross that our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters do. So I called a friend I made when I worked at Gloria Dei Church in Huntingdon Valley, as I remembered that she once told me she did it every Friday night during Lent at a church in her area. I called after the last Friday! So this year I am determined that I shall follow  the Way of the Cross as my Lenten discipline. Let me share the 14 stations with you.

First Station    Jesus is condemned to death

Second Station    Jesus carries his cross

Third Station    Jesus falls the first time

Fourth Station    Jesus meets his afflicted mother

Fifth Station    Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

Sixth Station    Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Seventh Station    Jesus falls the second time

Eighth Station    Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

Ninth Station    Jesus falls the third time

Tenth Station    Jesus is stripped of his clothes

Eleventh Station    Jesus is nailed to the cross

Twelfth Station    Jesus dies on the cross

Thirteenth Station    The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross

Fourteenth Station    Jesus is laid in the tomb

However you plan your Lenten journey, may it be meaningful for you and lead you to a glorious Easter. I was delighted to discover that the Stations of the Cross will be the focus of our Wednesday evenings during Lent, after Soup Supper.

JANUARY 2008

In 1965 Malcolm Boyd wrote his first book of prayer, entitled Are You Running With Me Jesus? The prayer after which the book was titled follows:

It's morning, Jesus. It's morning, and here's that light and sound all over again.

I've got to move fast...get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite to eat, and run some more.

I just don't feel like it. What I really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep. All I seem to want today is the big sleep, and here I've got to run all over again.

Where am I running? You know these things I can't understand. It's not that I need to have you tell me. What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it's you. That helps a lot.

So I'll follow along. OK? But lead, please. Now I've got to run. Are you running with me, Jesus?

Since that time he has written more. I have on my bookshelf in the office Prayers for the Later Years that especially speak to me because I'm beginning to feel my 81 years. Let me share some of his writing with you.

When I was forty, fifty, even sixty, I hadn't the least idea what it meant to grow old.

Meanwhile, however, I kept on growing older. There were changes in my body, mind, and spirit. Certain limitations and boundaries made their appearance. I couldn't understand them very well at first.

But then, with an onslaught of ever new aches and pains, problems and needed subsequent decisions, I got the message. I was growing older.

I have learned, in my own life, that growing older is perhaps the greatest blessing I have experienced. It is a time to forgive, to mellow, to understand, to make peace, and to figure out what life is all about. So it is a time of reflection and wonder, humor and grace - if we let it be. This becomes the finest legacy we can pass on to others.

Where did summer go, Jesus? What happened to last year? Time is racing.

An engagement for next Tuesday sneaked up on me. I had completely forgotten it until I noticed it scrawled on my calendar. It's all something of a hodgepodge….

Can I stop the rush of events and things to do, Jesus? Apparently not. But I can try to stay calm within the storm, prioritize duties on the basis of their significance, fence off quiet times, and keep my own pace manageable.

I can't run anymore, Jesus. Thank you for understanding this. I appreciate your matching your pace to mine when we walk together.

Thanks for walking with me, Jesus. Thanks for just staying here quietly with me.

Martin Luther once said, “When I know I'm going to have a busy day, I pray three hours instead of two!”
A happy and prayer-filled year to you and yours!

DECEMBER 2007