rA MESSAGE FROM THE REV. J.C. AUSTIN: TREASURED MEMORIES
I have always struggled to answer any question about my favorite “something:” food, movies, books, musicians, Bible verses, travel destinations… you name it. I find it almost impossible to identify a favorite anything, because so much depends on mood, context, season, etc. On an icy Saturday in January, I might want to spend an afternoon simmering a batch of French onion soup, filling up the house with the delectable aroma for hours before finally getting to taste it.
But that’s one of the last things I want if I’m eating 
on my deck in the depths of summer, when the humidity is thick enough to cut with a knife even after the sun has gone down. A nicely grilled piece of chicken with a watermelon salad sounds perfect then: quick, easy, delicious, and hydrating.
And so it goes for almost anything when I’m asked about my favorite. So I’ve learned not to overthink the question and simply offer several different representative answers: multiple favorites that I tend to come back to over and over again. That seems like the right definition of a favorite to me: not necessarily the ONE thing you prize above all others, but something you never get tired of, and want to return to on a regular basis to enjoy and experience again.
As my time here at First Pres begins to draw to a close, I find myself drawn to reflect on favorite moments or seasons in our life and ministry together these past 6+ years, times that seem particularly significant either for their own sake or because of what they represented in our journey as a congregation during that time.
For example, one of the moments I will always treasure was the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in January 2018. It was purely coincidental that it was the holiday; what was significant about the memory was that it was the first day that the church facilities had been fully restored to us after the schism.
A few of us walked into the building that day to get the lay of the land, even though it was officially closed for the holiday, and we were surprised to discover that the building had been left in a sorry state: most notably, dirt and debris had been scattered throughout the building, especially in the hallways and in the kitchen and Fellowship Hall, to the point that those of us who found it felt that it would be embarrassing to open the next day and have someone come in and find it so unkempt.
At that point, though, we didn’t even have any facilities staff hired yet, and even if we had, it would have been an overwhelming task for them to set things right in just one day. Instead, a call went out to the First Pres email list, asking for anybody who had some time that day to come help clean things up, bringing whatever supplies or implements they had.
And within an hour, over 80 people showed up, bearing mops and buckets and vacuums and dusters and pretty much anything else you could think of. Before the sun set, the building was gleaming again, and when we officially opened the doors the next day, we were ready to move forward rather than struggling to clean up the mess. In many ways, it was a perfect microcosm for that moment in our church life, and it remains one of my favorite memories of my time here.
So as I have been reflecting, it occurred to me it would be wonderful to know how YOU might answer that question. What are some of your favorite memories of the last 6+ years of this congregation’s life and ministry (or since you joined, if it was more recent than that!)? It doesn’t have to be THE favorite, just something that comes to mind that you particularly enjoyed or cherished during these extraordinary years we have shared together.
I would love to hear them! If you are willing, you can email me at Jaustin@FPC-Bethlehem.org or simply pull me aside at Lemonade on the Lawn or wherever we are together and tell me the story that comes to your heart, so we can celebrate them together and be on the lookout for those next moments as they are happening.
Grace and Peace,
J.C.