This is the fourth in a series of reflections on 50 years of Ministry from Pastor Johnson. We hope you are blessed by these thoughts.
My sincere thanks to all who shared in yesterday’s celebration of thanksgiving with my wife, Chris, and my daughters, Jennifer and Joy, and our grandchildren, Ellie, Cameron, Paisley, Paige. I received many well wishes from current and past members and friends. There were many notes and cards with comments about my ministry and my service as a pastor. I cannot overstate how thankful I am for what God has done for me and through me to bring His Word, share His meal and provide care for all God has given into my responsibility.
So why was I considering driving up north this past week? I had gone back and forth with the idea of driving to the places where God had connected with me and directed me in my service. In some ways I wanted to “touch base” with the One who called me to a path of preparation and then into called and ordained service. I thought about going back up into the balcony of my home church in Albany. I can clearly remember how that very balcony was something of a “portal” for me to come into the presence of God Himself and to “talk” with Him. What He opened up to me was a vision of what He had in mind for me. Just as God had “spoken” to His prophets and to Mary and Joseph and Zecharaiah and Elizabeth and the shepherds and the wise men, Jesus had spoken to me.
So why was the issue of money brought forward by God as the first “topic” for consideration in the balcony that Sunday? You may notice I am suggesting the money issue was his topic not mine. What did He tell me in the Word that was a foundational truth I would need in my ministries (at three churches over my 50 years). It was more than a way to put the love of money in its place and the lack of money being of no powerful concern. After I had been interviewed by the call committee at Trinity in Brooklyn, the president phoned me and indicated the congregation had voted to extend to me a call. He shared more about the congregation, more than I had known. “Now, about the financial package”, began the president, “we don’t have very much but we will give you more than half our church income”. He then clarified some more. We have a budget with $11,000 a year in projected income and will give more than half of that to you (specifically, $5,600). Many churches have a church owned house that they provide to the pastor, but in our case, upon the death of our first pastor, who served us for 42 years, the congregation voted to give the parsonage to his widow (who otherwise would have had nowhere to go). So you will need to find your own lodging to come from that $5,600. I’d invite you to make a trip here and I’ll help you find a place to live.” Without a doubt, I ended the conversation with more questions than answers. Though there seemed to be some challenges coming, I had no doubt that God would provide. He would not call me to a place that wouldn’t work. It would be “interesting” to see what and how God would handle this issue of finances.
So, Chris and I made a trip from St. Louis to Brooklyn to find a place to live. Though there were about 2 ½ million people in the city, costs to live there were substantial. The president had us over to his apartment for dinner. At the end of the meal he pulled out the New York Times realty section that listed areas of the city and available apartments and costs. “I really don’t suggest you live in Flatbush,” he began. “I’d try Canarsie and other communities a little better than where most of the members live.” The advice we students received from the seminary, was that for the first year or so, you try to go along with whatever the church recommends. After a year, you might suggest some changes but it’s important to follow the lead of the church.
Chris and I took the newspaper and headed from his apartment in Brooklyn Heights down Ocean Parkway toward Canarsie. We talked on the way and the challenges were still before us. Most of the apartments listed were at a cost far beyond our means. I shared with Chris my discomfort in not living where our members lived (most being in Flatbush). And at the next intersection there was a real oddity, a realty place with a parking spot right in front. I zipped over told Chris I’d be right back. I went in, mentioned I was a pastor looking for a place to live near my church (at the corner of 18th Avenue and East 8th Street). He handed me a listing of some possibilities and, doing a U turn, we headed back to Flatbush.
The first location was an apartment above a liquor store. Some customers were enjoying some “fellowship” in the street and car horns were beeping and drivers expressing their unhappiness with the party people. I went in with Chris to see the small apartment. We didn’t stay long as it wasn’t quite going to be what we were looking for. Let’s see how long it takes to get to church from here. Don’t be too down on this place – it might be the best option.” I made small talk as we drove over to church, not all that far away, and I parked at the side door of the church. “Well, what’s the next address on the realtor’s list?” “692 E. 8th St.” she shared. It seemed to me that should be the 600 block should be about 12 blocks from our church at 18th Ave. “What’s the number on that two story brick building diagonally across from church? We both squinted and finally deciphered 692. Hmmm? That door was the closest door of any door in Brooklyn, to our church. Hmmm? I turned off the car and we crossed to the house, ringing the doorbell of the empty apartment and then ringing the doorbell to the owner’s apartment upstairs.
We met the family, a Greek family of husband, wife and teenage daughter. We sipped Ouzo and told stories and I shared our search for an apartment near our church. I asked about the 7 ½ room downstairs he had for rent and its cost. He paused and looked at his wife. They exchanged nods and he said, We’d rent it to you for $300 a month. I can’t tell you what a reasonable price would be to rent an apartment then but 7 ½ room apartments are nearly unheard of. The unfinished basement apartment next to the parsonage in Queens rented for $1,000 a month. But, with the gift of my mathematical brain, I did a quick calculation. $300 a month. $3,600 a year. Leaving $2,000 a year or $40 a week to live on. I paused and then thanked him seriously for the generous offer but I’d need to do some calculations to see if we could take it. Another nod to his wife and he said, “And we’ll pay for the utilities.” I had no idea what utility costs were but they wouldn’t lower the usable funds we would have living there. My brain and heart were on “over-load.” One last nod at his wife and Bill said, “By the way, I have a 2 car garage and only 1 car. You can park in it, if you’d like, at no charge.”
It’s what I’d call a “God thing.” If you’re responding to God’s call, He will provide what is needed. Every other calculation is beyond possibility. There is nothing beyond God’s possibilities. I’d be preaching about faith and God’s promises and it would make perfect sense since we were living in the midst of God’s love. Imagine how it felt for us to live in that setting at that cost in ½ a house, the closest house in the midst of 2/ ½ million neighbors.
The sum of it all? God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. After a half century of living in God’s grace, the prayer of our liturgy makes complete sense.
Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.
Give us faith to out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!!!
In his service,
Pastor Johnson