Sharing Our Faith: Gary Pelton

I remember three things vividly about my spiritual growth as a boy…

First, I remember the magic of sitting in the front of the church as an acolyte.  It was the best seat in the house, a part of the action but unnoticed by all, and alone with my thoughts.

Second, the incredible importance of service to others:   John Wesley said

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can.

In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can.

As long as ever you can.” 

 

It was a Methodist thing (but not really).  The best adventures of this kind were the trips to an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma and Redbird Mission in the Eastern Mountains of Kentucky with my youth group.

Finally, there was the music…ah, the music. Singing the classic hymns, enthralled by our Chancel Choir, playing my horn with my Dad and brother, and listening to my mother fill the huge sanctuary with her flute. How the language of music speaks to us all, transcending words and our thinking minds and passing right to our souls.

Then I left home and as I did, I left my church home. 

In later years I remember my Mom asking about my Sunday morning habits or more broadly my spiritual habits.  And I remember telling her about my long walks in the woods and how such experiences were more valuable to me than attending a church.  I pressed the idea that churches are only one way to experience and worship god.  I was aware, if only vaguely, that the power of my spiritual upbringing had been things that were not exclusive to churches: Music, of course…it is everywhere; Service to others has in many ways been my life’s work, and lastly Meditation.

My mom listened quietly to my long, often quite philosophic explanations, and ultimately just asked: Yes Gary…but do you do take those “walks” every week? 

The answer was, of course, No…

I have long since come back to church.  And having visited many churches, I can frankly say I have always felt at home in a place of worship.  (I suppose that is something else I gathered when I was young), but I am not sure I can say I have had another church home since leaving my boyhood home, even though I have been an active member of several churches.

Then Rebecca and I came to Cove………and it is becoming home.

Here…I get the wonder of the things I got as a boy in church, but I have also come to a new appreciation of the power of a congregation of believers. Meditation and prayer feels different when I join with others. Whereas I once appreciated the aloneness and even anonymity of worship, I now find our fellowship special. Some of that is the openness and seeking I bring to this church, but it also this place and all of you, the way it works in symmetry with my soul.  I have not questioned it… or tried to analyze it; I have just accepted it as right and true, and tried to follow where it leads. 

I am grateful for our new home here at Cove and thankful to each of you for being a part our spiritual journey. 

Sharing Our Faith: Kristin Dinwiddie

Why do I come to Cove? 

When Josh asked me to answer this question, the first thing that popped into my mind was Dr. Huber’s onion sets! And as funny as that sounds, that truly is one of the very first things that hooked me on Cove. Not because I was in desperate need for free onions, but because the giving and receiving of them seems to embody the spirit of Cove. Let me go back a couple of years to that day when we first visited Cove.

Will and I had become distanced from our prior church and many months had passed since we had attended anywhere. We both started yearning for fellowship and to again belong to something greater than just us. Will knew Greg from past mission trips, so I let him drag me to Covesville, to this tiny little brick church on a hill. We were immediately welcomed with hugs and greetings from Jane and Greg and smiles, handshakes and welcomes from all of you. And then it happened, the call for announcements, and Dr. Huber got up and said it was onion set time! I was tickled. I literally giggled. And I thought, wow, this is a church that can make me giggle. Pretty cool.

I talked to Dr. Huber after the service and told him how fabulous I thought his onion set program was and how I hoped to be a part of it the following year. And without missing a beat, he immediately grabbed a set and placed them in my hands, with the assurance that he had more at home to give to the member whose onions he had just bestowed upon me. So to whomever those onions originally belonged, I guess I owe you an apology for absconding with your rightful bounty!

But for me, those little tiny baby onions are so much more than just sustenance, they truly do represent the culture of Cove in so many ways. Just like the tiny onions, we are physically a tiny church but we are made up of a great many layers. Cove’s layers are composed of varying mission opportunities, women’s group, fellowship meals, community church services, and an amazing choir and music program! And if you keep peeling through all of those layers, you get to the core or the base of the Cove culture, which I believe is a community of faith, tolerance, and acceptance.

It is a loving, supportive environment for those baby onions to worship and grow within the grace of God. Cove is a very generous congregation, generous of spirit, of love, and of self. I have never left the grounds of Cove feeling alone. You all are with me during the week and it is a comfort knowing you are there.

I come to Cove because it makes me feel like I am a part of something much bigger than my day to day existence, to worship freely and unconditionally with all of the other onions who are seated in the pews in front of me and to feel at peace, even if only for one hour each week.

So, I guess my short answer to the question, Why do I come to Cove? Is: FOR THE ONIONS, of course! 

Sharing Our Faith: Fran Hooper

Today, I want to talk about why I come to Cove.

Community – that’s why I started coming to Cove.

When I left home in Ann Arbor, heading east to my first job in Fairfax County in June 1972, my Mother’s last words to me were “now remember, you can always meet people in church.” While I suspect that she was really trying to say I might look for a good husband in church, I managed to avoid that message for thirty years.

But when Dennis and I bought our land on Fan Mountain 11 years ago, I remembered Mom’s words. My childhood friend, Susan Hitchcock, was a member of Cove and, while I had been raised as a Methodist, she had some nice friends so I figured I going to a Presbyterian church wouldn’t be too bad a thing, as long as I could remember to say debtors instead of trespassers.

I found that the Cove family was wonderfully eclectic with a wide range of opinions and points of view on social and theological issues. It was very comfortable not having to fit into a rigid "Presbyterian" or "Cove Church" mold. It permitted me to shape my own sense of Christianity and spirituality.

And the church dinners sealed the deal! The wonderful food and the community fellowship convinced me that I wanted to keep coming back.

Music is the second reason I come to Cove – the wonderful sounds provided by the choir and Linda have kept me coming to Cove on mornings when I really wanted to stay at home.

There are many Sunday mornings when I shut my eyes and become enveloped by the music. Sometimes there are tears under my eyelids as I listen. I love the fact that music plays a central role in our church and that it’s not uncommon for the choir to be half or a third of the congregation. After the service I love to listen to Linda’s music, closing my eyes again and just letting it roll over me.

And I also love the fact that Cove shares its wonderful music with others – the summer concert series, Heather’s impromptu concert, the Christmas Eve lessons and carols service.

Somehow growing spiritually myself slipped into the reasons I come to Cove. It probably started when I thought how much my Mom would enjoy the music and the peace that I found at Cove on Sunday mornings. I’d sit in the pew and have a silent conversation with her about it and then I started having conversations with myself about the sermon – what did it really mean to me in my life?

Jane’s wonderful sermons made me want to listen and learn and Josh’s sermons challenge me to understand the message of Thomas or the others that speak through his voice on Sunday mornings.

And finally I come to Cove to be of service.  I’m not someone who is inclined to sit back and watch what’s going on – I’ve worked in the public sector too long; and my basic instinct is to get involved and see how I can help. Fortunately I’ve stopped working in Washington and I have more time to be involved at Cove and I appreciate having the opportunity to be of service at Cove and to be able to support the community that welcomed me when I walked through the door 11 years ago.

Sharing Our Faith: Chris Hill

It seems to me, that Jesus tried, in very, practical ways, during his life, to explain to us, the concept, that there is a God, our creator, the creator of the multiverse, the creator of all matter and energy, in all of their forms. And that I, as a human being, have been given the ability to recognize the most important aspect of this creation. And, for me, that aspect is the knowledge and awareness of God’s love. I feel that we humans have evolved, through our mammalian ancestry, the ability to recognize the power and usefulness of this emotion we call love and that God has tried, through time, to communicate with us through this emotion.

In short, Jesus tried to explain to us that God communes and connects with us through love and that when we commune and connect with each other, using the emotion of love, God is directly involved in the communication. 

It's kind of like a conference call. 

So, there is always the question, how often do I want God involved in my life each day? The spectrum could be from not at all, to continuously. If my answer is not at all, then love is not for me and God is not in my life. If  my answer is continuously, then I know the mental state in which I need to reside all the time. And I need help. Jesus is my guide to communing with God continuously and he offers me a very, practical, fast track solution. Since I am, by  nature, a social creature, I commune with my fellow humans fairly continuously, all of my waking hours each day(just ask Kathy). If I interact in a spirit of love toward every person with whom I have contact everyday, then I am including God in my life at that time. I am including him in the discussion. 

Of course, God is always present, but I think God wants me to say hello, and to understand that his or her presence is greatly for my benefit. Jesus shows me how to do this. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, forgiving those who I feel have transgressed against me, and taking every opportunity to help others. In other words, loving God with all my heart, soul, and might and loving my neighbor as myself. In the end there can be constant communication, if I so choose. Jesus helps to keep me focused. When I stray off the path, which is a regular activity, he is there to nudge or sometimes push me back on the path, if I am listening.

And golly, just suppose that my consciousness exists after this life is over, and that it only exists within an eternal milieu{framework} of love and that this framework is the only thing that exists eternally. Wouldn’t it be hellish if I didn’t want to be there, within that creation, God’s creation.

For me, Jesus is someone who understands all of creation and who loves me. And he wants me to understand the power of this love and the reason for this love. He is someone that I can walk with, and talk with, about all of my concerns, anytime. He is a blessing to me and to everyone in this world. What a friend we have in Jesus. Amen.