Pine Island Pastor Musings

Senator Debbie Stabenow 731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC  20510-2204 Dear Senator Stabenow, I serve the Pine Island Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  We are a small multi-cultural congregation with five immigrant families from the English speaking region of Cameroon.  They are legally documented and well established in our community.  I am writing to bring the violence in Anglophone Region of Cameroon to your attention.  One of their family members was recently abducted, tortured and murdered. The homes and schools of their extended family have been destroyed forcing them to flee into the bush.  It appears that the earlier genocide in Rwanda is repeating itself now in Cameroon.    Washington Post Article    Please bring these atrocities to the attention of our State Department and the Ambassador to the United Nations.  A United Nations peacekeeping force appears to be warranted with U.S. backing....

“My Helper and Upholder of My Life” Message by Rev. Dr. John M. Best at Funeral of Florence “Flossie” White Psalm 54 March 11, 2019 I have never read Psalm 54 at a funeral.  It isn’t listed in the Book of Common Worship as a suggested text.  But it meant a lot to Flossie, a charter member of Pine Island Church,  and she selected it.    In her own words,  “I feel like David.  He got through with the Lord’s help.  To me, this scripture means hope.  It reminds me that God is here.  No matter where I am, I have God. So, I don’t mind being here as long as he needs me to be.” Although these last few months, she was more than ready to move on to what’s to come.  When I asked what she would like me to pray for, she said,   “I’m ready to go.  I want to be with Jim, be with the Lord.”  She was ready to go to what's next.             ...

We enter today the season of Lent, forty days (not counting Sundays) of deep reflection, repentance and transformation led by the Spirit.  Typically, we tend to focus on our individual personal sins and shortcomings, but in scripture the prophets of Israel called on Israel as a society, a people and nation to repent and change their ways.  Read through any of the following books of the Bible:  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah.  You hear them addressing the community, not individuals.  Societal ills are harder to get one's arms around, none-the-less, addressing them is part of our collective spiritual calling, responsibility and journey together.  However, how one begins to change society, is by beginning with oneself.  Family system's theory suggests that if one member of a system changes its behavior, the whole system changes. There are many sins and shortcomings one can confess and address, but the need for racial healing seems paramount!...