One thing I’ve always loved about the Old Testament are the passages of remembrance. These are the times when the leaders of Israel would call all the people around to remind them of what God had done in their midst. Then, they’d look to the future, issuing calls to obedience in response to God’s great faithfulness.
Every time I return to Philly, I have a time of remembrance. It’s where I grew up. It’s the home of a church that puts a smile on my face whenever I think about it. Supplee Presbyterian Church in Maple Glen, PA holds a very special place in my heart and in my life. During the summer of 1970, my family moved to Maple Glen. I was getting ready to start high school. My pastor father had been called as the pastor of this church. Little did I know how my experience in this congregation would shape my life.
From 1970 until 1974 I was nurtured by the combination of a Christian home, a wonderful church family, and an incredible youth group experience. During those four years a trio of young seminary students named Phil Douglass, Mike Barbera, and Chuck Wiggins served one after the other as our youth pastors. They taught me and my youth group peers about what it means to know, love, and serve Jesus. The made such an impression on my life that I knew upon high school graduation that I wanted to “grow up” and do something with kids. . . . just like them.
But it was much more than a trio of youth pastors and a youth group full of my peers. As I think back I realize that God had given me the gift of being surrounded and influenced by diverse members of His body.
Supplee Presbyterian Church continued to shape me long after I went off to college. What gave me the most excitment about coming home from college was a chance to be at that church and with the people in that congregation. In hindsight, it served this purpose for me because it was a place of truth, encouragement, nurture, and support.
When I graduated from college and went off to do youth ministry and then on to seminary, Supplee was right there with me, offering loads and loads of financial and prayer support. I trust that I represented them well.
A few years ago, Lisa and I attended a youth group reunion. It wasn’t a reunion of kids from my high school days. Instead, it was a gathering of kids (and now their kids!) who had been a part of the youth group when I returned to serve as Supplee’s youth pastor from 1985 to 1990. They were, by the way, the greatest group of kids a youth pastor could ever had hoped for. What a privilege it was to have those few years at the church of my childhood. I can only hope that my time there was used by God to build His Kingdom. I can certainly say that my time there with my own growing family was used by God to build His Kingdom in our lives. At that reunion it reality hit home how important the body of Christ is. I was blessed to be able to be surrounded by such a great staff, a great group of youth ministry volunteers, phenomenal parents, and some very incredible kids. My wife and kids were blessed to be able to come along for the ride.
So, now I remember. What a blessing. And, I trust that my memories of God’s great faithfulness will serve to fuel my desire and ability to trust in him more deeply now and for the rest of my life.
To those of you who are parents and youth workers. . . be sure to give your kids the same opportunities to be surrounded that I had. Too many of our churches are separating the generations from each other in worship, education, and service. When that happens, nobody wins. I was surrounded. . . and it was a great thing. I trust that living in a state of remembrance will be used by God to continue to shape me.
What a great reminder, Walt, of the impact we have on others and how we are impacted by those with whom we fellowship. As Valley Christian School in Huntingdon Valley, PA (just down the road from Supplee) draws to a close for another year, I too am reflecting on the difference we have made this year in the lives of children. It is only by God’s grace and His wisdom through His word that we can realize and remember the change.
I pass by a home each day on the way to school and the front yard has a pile of rendomly arranged large stones as part of its landscape. I know that an area pastor lives there and I always wonder what the story is with the pile of stones. I wonder if it represents stories of the family’s past journey. I don’t know, but the stones always cause me to stop and remember what God has done and is doing in the life of my own family. Sort of like the children of Israel remindng their covenant children of all that God had done for their ancestors.