Rev. Valerie's Reveille

I will confess that I have a certain amount of anxiety and fear before we start our Vacation Bible School program each year.   Will the kids show up?  Will the music be well received?  Will the Bible stories make sense to young children?  Will we be able to pull it off again this year?  Well, miracles have been happening this week!  We are half way through and so far God has been praised and everyone is still smiling.  Actually it has been a delight to see faces return for the 3 rd or 4 th year since I arrived at St. Barnabas.  Kids that may only see each other during this week remember each other and old friendships are rekindled and strengthened.  And, as always, the kids impress me with their knowledge and love of God.  We get the usual questions: “What does God look like? (I suggested looking in a mirror.) “Where does God live?” (In our hearts.) “Why can’t we see God?” (Because we need to look with the eyes of our hearts, a...

B e careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15 A State of Emergency was declared again this week in Ferguson, Missouri, following demonstrations marking the first anniversary of the death of Michael Brown.  My heart breaks at this news because it shows that racial tensions are still high and everybody seems to be waiting for a reason to react violently.  I freely admit that I do not know what has happened in Missouri over the last year in order to address this tenuous situation, but it doesn’t seem to be enough if this amount of rage is still present.  A black colleague of mine is currently in Ferguson as a pastoral presence.  She and other clergy members from many denominations gathered to bear witness in this broken community.  She posted a picture on Facebook of a white police officer with his hand on his gun during this gathering, asking why this had to be....

If you are like me, you had no idea there was a Universal Peace Day or that it is on August 5 th .  And much to my high school US History teacher’s chagrin, I did not remember that the significance of 8/5 is that this day, 70 years ago, the United States dropped atom bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Yes, this action helped end a terrible war, but it was at the cost of much innocence, not only lives but also the knowledge of destruction. It is fitting that a redemptive day of peace is invoked on such an occasion, drawing us back into a place of brotherly love. In the Japanese culture, the crane is a sign of peace, and at the suggestion of the resource “Taking Faith Home,” we decided to make origami cranes at the National Night Out hosted by South Brunswick Township at Rowland Park last night.  It was a great activity to draw kids and families over to our table – a non-threatening way to invite people to be at peace. One man came to the table, v...