Pastor's Letters

Eliot Church Prepares for 150th Birthdays

It can be difficult to mark the birthday of Eliot Presbyterian Church. The obvious choice might be May 1, 1955, when the First Presbyterian Church and the Eliot-Union Congregational Church merged to form Eliot Presbyterian Church. Or, you could go back another eighty years, to July 1, 1874, when the cornerstone of Eliot Congregational Church was dedicated on the hilltop where John Eliot had long ago preached and taught among the Penacook tribe. Or, you could look back even further to June 23, 1869, when the First Presbyterian Church of Lowell was established with 56 charter members.

No matter how you mark the date, Eliot Presbyterian Church has some significant milestones coming up. Next year we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian church in Lowell. Five years later, in 2024, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of our building at 273 Summer St.

The technological revolution that is shaping our world today is every bit as significant as the changes of the industrial revolution that gave birth to Lowell and Eliot Church. We cannot expect that ministry will look the same tomorrow as it did yesterday. But we can trust that God is as faithful and active now as ever. As we celebrate 150+ years of ministry, we must also seek God’s guidance for the next 150 years.

The Session has already begun thinking about the past as well as the future:

• Joyce Hughes is chairing a History Team to tell the story of Eliot’s roots, including the roots of our multi-culturalism.
• Khien Nkimbeng is chairing a Celebration Team to plan celebratory events related to these significant milestones. Get ready to party from 2019 to 2024!
• The Session has begun Visioning Work to listen and discern what God might have in store for our future.
• Lori Hoffman is leading a Prayer Team to support this work with prayer.
• As our vision becomes clear, we may also look to develop a Fundraising Team to support our future ministry.

I encourage you to get involved in any of these areas.

I do not know yet where all of this will lead, but I am hopeful that the five-year period between our 150th birthdays will be a rich season of remembrance, celebration, prayer, hope, and growth. I am confident that God who has blessed Eliot Church richly in the past will use us to be a blessing in the future.

This fall marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation — an event at the roots of the Presbyterian Church, when a group of people committed themselves to reading the Bible and found the imagination to challenge the status quo. Sometimes we think that the way things are is the way things have to be. But that’s definitely not true. Will you join me in this season to look at the status quo of our lives and imagine how we might live reformed and renewed?

This summer we looked at how our whole lives, from Sunday through Saturday, are lived through the lens of vocation. We reflected on how we use our gifts, talents, and resources to serve Christ in every aspect of life, from church to family to work. This fall, we will participate in a stewardship program rooted in the reflective, imaginative faith of the Reformation, called “Reforming Stewardship.” By seeing our lives in a new way, we hope to follow in the steps of the reformers, renewing ourselves and our community.

“Stewardship” is a word we hear a lot in the fall, and it makes us think of pledge drives and requests to give 10%. But stewardship (like vocation) is not just about what we give to church; it’s about our whole lives. As people who belong to God, how do we think about the things that belong to us — our time, our talent, and our treasures like physical resources and money?

Our fall stewardship journey will find its foundation in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:33-35:

But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’

This fall we will explore the three areas of stewardship that the Good Samaritan models for us:

• Time: The Good Samaritan had enough time to notice the man who was suffering. He went out of his way to check on the man and then took extra time to take the man to a hotel.
• Talent: The Good Samaritan bandaged the man’s wounds, doing what he knew how to do to address the man’s suffering.
• Treasure: The Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds, carried him to the inn, and left money for the innkeeper. He shared what he had — using it for the good of another.

It is my hope that this study will encourage us and bring hope and joy to the places in our life where we often find anxiety, scarcity, and worry. On November 19, we will have a chance to pledge to the church in these three areas, but I hope that you will also think creatively about how you might want to steward your lives in every area — not just church. I pray that the Spirit will bring reform and renewal both in your life and in the community of Eliot Church.