First Presbyterian Church
Silver City, NM
|
Our Pastor, The Reverend Bob
Reese Welcome! And thanks for visiting our
site!
Dear Friends and Neighbors, I was recently privileged and challenged with the opportunity
to lead the Invocation and Benediction at Western New Mexico
University’s Spring Commencement. I say privileged because it
was an opportunity to lead 1,000 people in prayerful reflection on
and thanks for the recent years of their lives, culminating in this
accomplishment. I call
it a challenge because it was a call to lead 1,000 different people
with different convictions, experiences and roles in a shared
experience.
I wrestled, first, to be faithful to God and second, to be
sensitive to the presence of many who may think about God in ways
that differ from my own ways of doing so. I continue to pray that such
care may actually open the door for more and deeper conversations
between our congregation and members of the community.
I offer them here for your own reflection: May it give you an
opportunity to give thanks for those who have encouraged and
inspired you, to continue to offer to God your own accomplishments,
and to seek God’s face for how you will continue to live in God’s
strength. May you know the presence of the One whose ways are higher
than our ways, Pastor Bob INVOCATION
Maker of heaven and earth,
how majestic is your name in all the
earth. You have spangled the sky with your glory,
filled the earth with beauty, and part of the way you continue your creative work in us
... is through us, through one
another. You use family and friends, abuelas y primos, teachers and
students;
staff and administrators, the governed and those who
govern;
debate and decision, justice and by your grace;
mercy. We pause to ask you:
Add your blessing to the life-giving gifts delivered by each
of these.
Transform our halting and faulted
efforts.
Be a redemptive presence
in the sometimes grinding stones of our
differences,
Be a sustaining presence
amid the soothing rains of shared
discovery. And bless, perfect and guide this sea of
students.
Okay, nearly 300 graduates is not quite a
“sea,”
but they go from here equipped
to make a sea change of difference in this
world.
Give them some perspective
on how life changing an education can
be,
and how cherished a gift it is seen to be the world over,
especially by those who do not have
it. Good shepherd,
you who see our circumstances before we know them
ourselves,
hear our call and guide our
steps. Anchor in our minds the discoveries written in term
papers.
Do not let evaporate the facts learned for
finals. And most of all, weave the experience
of this knowledge and these years into wisdom
for living well and faithfully and for the common good.
Amen. BENEDICTION
You've worked hard
and you've made them (the faculty, staff, administrators)
work hard
and you've made them (your families) work
hard
– and they'll let you know about it later
on. But now, as you go from here,
work in the strength of the One who loves you
as if you were the only person on the face of the
earth,
and who loves all the other people on the planet
– those you'll work with and play with,
study with and live along side of
– in just the same way. Go in God's peace.
Amen. |
1915 North Swan Street
|
 |
Summer Sunday Worship Schedule
Every Sunday
10:30
a.m. Worship
Followed by
Refreshments
10:45 a.m. Conversations Class