Pastor's Note for April 2026

Greetings to the members and friends of DPC!

As a person of faith, this past month has been difficult and has raised so many questions for me about what it means to even be a person of faith in the modern world. With the outbreak of war—ostensibly a war to “create peace.” First, I have to reflect on what it means to be a peacemaker living in a nation at war, a nation I love, but one that at times vexes me with its policies and ways of being in the world. I also wrestle with what it means to speak prophetically, as I am called to do as a minister of the Word and Sacrament, but at the same time what it means to speak pastorally, as I am also called to do. How do I balance both sides of my call and still remain faithful to the gospel? How do I speak responsibly, not out of a cynical or angry place, but one of Christian love and responsibility. And the list goes on.

In conversations around the church, I have heard many express the same thoughts. Some are angry, some sad, some concerned about mixing politics and religion (as if they have ever been separate), some giving up being involved at all, some who don’t want to talk about it, and everything in between. What are we to do? What are we to say? How do we act?

As I reflect, I come back to a bedrock belief of mine about the church. That belief, put simply, is about community, specifically a community of care. At its best,  church is where we are home—welcomed, loved and accepted for who we are, warts and all. That is true community, where we share who we are and what we have with  one another in mutual support and love. It does not mean we always agree. It does not mean we are all the same. But it does mean we value relationships within the body  over anything else. When those relationships are strong, we can disagree and still love each other. When they are strong, we can debate openly and honestly and still worship together. When they are strong, we help one another find our way in the world as people of faithfulness. 

I have experienced Delmar Presbyterian as such a community. Over the past two years (yes, it’s been that long!), we have argued at times, laughed many more, cried together, searched for wisdom together and wrestled with what it means for us to be faithful. It is a community—maybe not perfect, but a community that wants to be. In Lent, we talked about “walking our faith.” Embedded in it was the idea we aren’t perfect, but we are on a journey towards it as best we can, one step at a time. 

That thought sustains me in such a time as this. I am uplifted to know I am not walking alone, but in community with others on the same search for faithfulness and hope. After the first Easter, that is precisely how the disciples began, one step at a time, together as a community, walking into a new future of life and light. Today, we continue that trek, and I rejoice that I do so with each of you.

Peace, Ken