Eagle's Wings: From a John Donne sermon

This was just sent to me be a parishioner, and I love it:

Eagle's Wings. ". . . So are those words which are spoken of God himself, appliable to his Ministers, that first, The Eagle stirreth up her nest, The Preacher stirres and moves, and agitates the holy affections of the Congregation, that they slumber not in a senselesnesse of that which is said.

"The Eagle stirreth up her nest, and then as it is added there, She fluttereth over her young; The Preacher makes a holy noise in the conscience of the Congregation, and when hee hath awakened them, by stirring the nest, hee casts some claps of thunder, some intimidations, in denouncing the judgments of God, and he flings open the gates of Heaven, that they may heare, and look up, and see a man sent by God, with power to infuse his feare upon them;

"So she fluttereth over her young; but then, as it followes there, She spreadeth abroad her wings; she over shadowes them, she enwraps them, she armes them with her wings, so as that no other terror, no other fluttering but that which comes from her, can come upon them;


". . . And so the Minister hath the wings of an Eagle, that every soule in the Congregation may see as much as hee sees, that is, a particular interest in all the mercies of God, and the merits of Christ."

Thanks for the Time Off

Dear Friends:

1. My previous sermon I had posted on July 2, but I considerably revised it in the preaching, and that version is now posted in its place.

2. On Thursday, Melody and I will leave for a couple weeks' vacation at Bobs Lake, Ontario. After Melody comes back to Brooklyn to work, I will stay at Bobs Lake for a week of reading (Kiergekaard, among others) and then two weeks of writing. Thank you, Old First, for your wonderful support.

3. One of our young church members, Derek Keire, said a wonderful thing to me yesterday morning. He's only six, but this is what he said: "Pastor Meeter, I still get thrilled every time I get to go to church."

Do you see how I have the best job in the world?

Love, Daniel

Doubting God

I think it was Fred Buechner who wrote once that "Doubt is the ants-in-the-pants of faith." Well, then, let me direct you to a new blog started by one of our parishioners. It's called Doubting God, and if you want to know who it is who's writing it, you'll have to find out that for yourself.

Reformed Church Responds to Haiti Earthquake

Reformed Church World Service

has responded with an initial contribution of $10,000 to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

How You Can Help
Pray for the people of Haiti, especially for those who are injured, homeless, or have lost loved ones. Pray also for the hundreds of rescue workers and disaster recovery personnel.

Donate to provide water, blankets, temporary shelter, and food to the tens of thousands who are homeless. Send contributions, designated "Haiti Earthquake," to Reformed Church in America, P.O. Box 19381, Newark, NJ 07195-1938 or, in Canada, to Regional Synod of Canada, 201 Paradise Road N., Hamilton, ON L8S 3T3. To donate by credit card, call (800) 968-3943, ext. 247 or go to the Haiti Earthquake Donation Page.

Assemble hygiene kits and baby kits and ship them to Church World Service. Detailed information on creating and shipping of kits is available at http://www.rca.org//page.redir?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.churchworldservice.org%2f&srcid=8667&srctid=1&erid=183834.
Check for updates on the RCWS website: rcws.rca.org.

"The people of Haiti have urgent needs rights now," says David Dethmers, coordinator of Reformed Church World Service, "basic needs of water, food, and shelter. We make this contribution on behalf of the members and friends of the Reformed Church in America, confident that in the longer term we will be able to do much more."

The initial support will be directed through the RCA's partner, Church World Service (CWS), which has staff permanently placed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and therefore is able to mobilize quickly. In the early days of the response, CWS will be providing blankets, water, and hygiene and baby kits.

In a conference call with CWS communions on Wednesday afternoon, Donna Derr, director of emergency response programs for CWS, highlighted the urgency of the need for donations to address the crisis in Haiti.

"We are emptying our warehouse in Maryland," she emphasized. "We're intending to ship over 25,000 hygiene kits and several thousand baby kits. That's almost everything we've got. There's a desperate need to replenish our supplies. I urge churches and individuals who are seeking a way to help to put these kits together and ship them to us as soon as possible."

RCWS Partners with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee

On Friday, David Dethmers will travel to Haiti with a delegation from CRWRC, the relief and development arm of the Christian Reformed Church. "It's a sign of the growing relationship between our two communions," Dethmers says. "Within hours of hearing about the disaster, we were in communication with each other. Very quickly it became clear that it made sense to travel and work together."

In Haiti, Dethmers will meet with a wide variety of local partners of both Church World Service and CRWRC. He is also hoping to meet with the RCA's new partner in the Dominican Republic, the newly emerging Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic. The recovery in Haiti will be a long one. "The goal of the trip," he says, "in addition to encouraging and supporting RCA partners in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is to listen to local partners, developing a mid- and long-range strategy that will support the Haitians as they plan and implement their own recovery and plan their future."

The Annual Rick Moody Christmas Quotation

As Jessica Stockton reminds me every year:

"Why is it that the worse the Christmas service, the closer we get to the idea of Christmas?

Children's services, with children running aimlessly in the aisles in lamb costumes or dressed as wise men, neglecting or refusing to say their lines, why so much closer to the idea of Christmas?

What is this thing about Christmas, the paradoxical tendency of Christmas, that the more heartbreaking it is the closer it seems to get to the point? Why is failure and awkwardness so human and so natural at Christmas?... Why is it that desperation is closer to God?...

At the same time, what about the Mean Estate stuff, what about Mary lying in bad circumstances? Why is it that the no-room-at-the-inn part is inevitably moving, even when you are skeptical about the whole thing?... And why an ideology of the neglected and left out and miserable and disinherited and lonely and poor and ill and exiled, anyway?...

And why is it, meanwhile, that singing is the thing that enables me to understand this, why is it that singing makes the Christmas holiday what it is, what it can be, what it ought to be?"

- Rick Moody, Christmas 2006

Christmas Carols

Come Sing for Peace!

Old First Christmas Carol Sing-along

Please join us for a SING-ALONG of all your favorite classic carols.

Suggested donation
$8.00/familes $15.00

Proceeds support our mis­sion in Africa in the work of Debbie and Del Braaksma as they teach trauma-healing, reconciliation and trust building to people who have previously only known war.

December 13, 2009 5.00pm
Old First Church 7th Ave & Carroll St. Park Slope

The Kids Are Getting Ready For Dutch Day

Eric is learning Psalm 42.

You think it's easy? Here's the lyrics (it's antique Dutch of 1563):

Als een hert ghejaeght, O Heere,

Dat verssche water begheert;

Also dorst myn siel oock seere,

Nae v myn Godt hoogh ghe-eert.

End spreeckt by haer, met geklagh:

O Heer waneer komt die dag,

dat ick doch by v sal wesen,

End sien v aanschijn ghepresen.

Seeking water, seeking shelter,
gasps the thirsty, weary deer;
So my soul, in days of trouble,
longs for God’s refreshment here.
In this stressful course of life,in its loneliness and strife,When, say I, will God deliver;
is his mercy gone forever?

The Menu for Dutch Day at Old First

On Sunday, November 15, after church, is our Colonial style dinner, as our congregation might have eaten it centuries ago. We will eat it in that style—entirely with wooden spoons!

The menu is based on recipes from an authentic cookbook of the period,
De Verstandige Kok, (The Sensible Cook)

Spÿskaart (menu)

Gerecht schotel (main course) Beef with Ginger, Chicken with Orange

Groenten (vegetables): Stewed Cabbage, Belgian Endive, Leeks

Brood (bread): Pumpkin Cornmeal Cakes, Rye and Wheat Bread

Nagerecht (dessert): Almond Tart, Pear Tart, Spanish Porridge, Zoete Koek

Eet smakelÿk (bon appetite)

For information and reservations, see the webpage.

Beth Elohim our Guests for Yom Kippur

The plaster started falling from the ceiling of the synagogue of Congregation Beth Elohim, a block away from us, just in time for the High Holy Days of Yom Kippur. They had a problem, but Rabbi Bachman knew that all he had to do was ask . . . .

So Old First has been delighted, thrilled, and gratified to host this congregation in our building for their Yom Kippur services. (You can read all about it in the newspapers. Just Google "brooklyn church synagogue".) And they filled the place. Our own Old First volunteers worked like crazy on Friday and Saturday to get the sanctuary ready for 1200 people.

Rabbi Bachman said in his sermon for Yom Kippur: "God did this." We say "Amen."

Old First on Dutch Television

The Dutch television network NOS came to Brooklyn as part of the Henry Hudson 400th Anniversary festivities. They visited the New Utrecht graveyard and also Old First, where they interviewed Melody (my wife). I was in South Africa, so I missed it all.