Off to Honduras!

On July 5th youth from Glen Cove, Sweet Hollow, Garden City and Baldwin, along with their pastors are headed to Honduras on a mission trip. About 20 folk in all are going. From Baldwin, along with myself, we have Hannah Batsford and Lauren Tessitore.

We leave very early Sunday morning July 5th (after sleeping over at Garden City) and return July 14th (at an equally early time in the morning). We'll by flying into Tecugicalpa, Honduras, then have a 6 hour bus trip to La Cumbre, where we'll be staying in a home-like hostel, enjoying locally made meals.

Our mission will be building homes out of cinderblock in the rural community of La Cumbre, near to the town of Tirinidad-de-Copan in rural Honduras, (like the folks in the picture). Our hosts will be Tim and Gloria Wheeler, PC(USA) missionaries. http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/wheeler-tim-and-gloria/

The trip has been arranged through the 'West End Presbyterian Coalition' (formerly 'Nassau Joint Minstries') a group of Presbyterian Churches in the West End of Long Island seeking to work together in mission and service. Being in rural Honduras means having no internet/cell phone etc. There will be no blog!  But I'm sure we'll have much to share on our return.


Meanwhile at Baldwin Presbyterian, life will continue to flow. On Sunday July 6th, Rev Robert Glaser will be leading a communion service. Then on Sunday 13th July our own Elder Margret Cook will be leading worship. Please remember our summer services begin at 9:30 a.m.

Pictured below are Hannah and Lauren demonstrating how excellent they have been at Fund Raising for the Honduras trip. We are very grateful to the congregations we are part of for their support and enthusiasm. All we need now are their continued prayers to carry us through :-) It promises to be a wonderful experience for leaders and youth alike.

Lots of stuff Sunday.

All sorts of things happening this coming Sunday. It's Trinity Sunday. It's Father's Day. It's the day we honor our graduates. It's the day we honor our Sunday School teachers. And we are going to be doing a little promotional moment for an upcoming youth mission trip to Honduras.

The blogging possibilities are endless! However I'm sticking with the first of those themes, as it's probably the one that will become buried under all the other stuff. The theme of 'The Trinity'.  To some it's an incomprehensible mystery. To some of other faiths it comes across as heretical as they feel Christians believe in three gods, not One. To the ancient Celts it seemed to have made perfect sense and was a cornerstone of their theology.

Consider St Patrick's famous prayer...

'I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of Creation. '

Personally I like the idea of God as a community of oneness. It ties together all those monotheist and polytheist ideas with a unique synchronicity. I like the idea of interaction and activity that 'threeness' evokes. It appeals to me that God is neither one thing or the other, but seeking to know us in a myriad of different ways... through the earthly reality of flesh and blood, through unseen, un-tameable, unpredictable Spirit, through being both source and destination, Alpha and Omega.

It almost seems appropriate that on Trinity Sunday we will be doing a number of things that reflect aspects of the Trinity. When we pray the Lord's prayer we say 'Our Father'. The Holy Spirit is pictured as our ultimate teacher and guide. Through mission trips we put flesh and blood on our confession of faith and try and do the things we feel Jesus would do... helping others in practical ways. And life is certainly full of milestones... like graduations... that we need to celebrate!

Wherever this coming Sunday may find you, may you be surrounded by the activity of the threeness and oneness! And for a musical interlude... one of the great Trinity hymns .. 'Holy, Holy, Holy'

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

A Hymn and a 'Confession of Faith' for Music Sunday

Each year in Baldwin we hold a Music Sunday to celebrate the musical gifts of our congregation. Worship and music go together - and it promises to be an inspiring occasion. 

As one who came to the USA from Wales I am well aware of the role music has played in the history of the church. In the Welsh revival of 1904 an inspirational  hymn was 'Here is love, vast as the ocean'. It does not appear in the PC(USA) hymnal and I've not often heard it since being over this side of the pond, but it remains a personal favorite. So I share it here, in all it's glory.

One of the 'none-musical' items in the service is our confession of faith. It speaks of how music is a part of God's creative process and how God's Spirit continues to inspire our creativity today. Music weaves in and out of the biblical narrative. Truly a gift to be received and welcomed.

Hope wherever you are this coming Sunday music gets to be a part of your day!

I believe in God , Maker of heaven and earth, whose Word sang creation into being. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and welcomed by angels songs. Jesus was opposed and betrayed by discordant voices and prejudices of people not so different from ourselves. He was crucified, dead and buried. The third day He rose again from the dead; turning songs of lament into songs of joy. He ascended into heaven, where He is worshiped by angels singing 'Hosanna, to the Lamb who was slain'. I believe in the Holy Ghost, who inspires our psalms, hymns and spiritual songs and empowers us to perform loving actions that bring harmony to God's creation. I believe in the one universal church, birthed in song and destined to sing songs of praise before the throne of God. Amen.