This is a time of seasonal change.  The winter of rest is yielding to a spring of vigorous rebirth.  The reflection and self-examination of Lent will soon yield to the exuberant good news of Easter.  In last month’s Mountain Meditation I wrote about one more emerging season in the ... Continue

Beside my work desk at home sits an old suitcase.  On either side of the leather handle, brass latches snap back when the small knobs are pushed out.  I bought the suitcase at an antique store as a gift for Amy seventeen years ago. The suitcase itself wasn’t the gift.  I ... Continue

I grew up with words such as “research, instigate, study, and examine.”  I sought out imposing printed books with exotic names such as “encyclopedia, dictionary, and thesaurus” for the facts and nothing but the facts.  With the dawn of the digital age, many of us have been learning a whole ... Continue

Mountain Meditations      by Rev. Lawrence Bartel                                                     For 119 years, the Mission Yearbook of Prayer and Study has raised a daily voice for mission in the PC (USA).  Last year Niccolls Church was given the honor of representing the Presbytery of Utica by sharing the story of the Loaves and ... Continue

I woke with a very specific plan on October 27th.  Take Jens to school.  Wish Amy and Lydia, good-day and good-bye.  Get to the office early to catch up on work long overdue and prepare for an important meeting early in the afternoon.  By eight o’clock in the morning I ... Continue

It was trash.  Now it is an object of beauty.  It was flat and rusted.  Now it is sculpted and shiny.  The Tree of Life I’m holding in my hand tells a story of redemption and hope. The story begins over 2180 miles from the Adirondacks as rubbish thrown over the side of ... Continue

For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.  (1 Corinthians 3:9) The apostle Paul had vision!  It was late in the fall of 53 or early in the winter of 54.  Paul had known the fellowship of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth for about ... Continue

I just stepped inside from a walk on this beautiful August afternoon.  Unfortunately, time did not permit a long walk, just long enough to saunter over this land.  The walk offered just enough time to soak up the warmth of the sun and feel the lazy breeze.  At the beginning of ... Continue