Jesus is Still With Us

Just Because Christmas is over, doesn't mean Jesus has left.

Creating an album for Maxine

Friends,

On September 12th we are going to honor Maxine Carey at First Baptist Church. We would like to create an album for her. If you would like to send a note, a remembrance or a picture to place in the album, just forward that on to me and I will take care of it.

Thanks,
Pastor Bill

The Arctic Freeze

Truly the most difficult thing about loving people is just understanding them. I don’t know about you but it is hard sometimes to figure people out. Take for example when you just don’t get along with someone. Have you ever met a person who from the first minute you just didn’t click with him/her? My next story deals with just that problem. And as I go through life I am always working on developing a better understanding of people different from me.


I worked with a woman whom I just didn’t get along with. She was very different in personality from me and we just couldn’t seem to hit it off. She would periodically get mad at me and not speak to me for days or weeks at a time. I would walk in and say good morning and she would say good morning and that was it for the rest of the day. It was like there was a frozen wall of ice between us. My friends would ask me how were things over on my side of the building and I would say, cold, very cold. An arctic weather front had descended upon our part of the office. Then suddenly things would get better. A warm spell would hit and we would be on speaking terms again. I just couldn’t understand what in the world I did or what I didn’t do to cause these arctic freezes.

And that is just one story of the many people I have encountered whom are difficult for me to understand. If I could just understand a little bit about how or why a person is acting a certain way I could react more positively. If I could know the motivation behind the action, then maybe I could avoid getting angry or frustrated. Today we understand the actions of prehistoric peoples. We know that they were not capable of the technological thinking of our times. So therefore we do not judge them as inferior. We understand that they did not possess the morals and ethics of modern people. And so we do not condemn them for acting in ways that we would never act. We understand that they are different from us.

And so understanding helps us to become accepting of other people. If I understand a person’s actions, I will be more likely to accept their behavior. I know a person who is mentally retarded, and I accept behavior from her that would offend me if another person would act this way. To me she is ok I love her because this is the way she is. And I believe that when we understand and tolerate other people, we will eventually learn to love them. The people I am closest to, my family, I love even when they are rude and insensitive. After all, I know them well and understand their shortcomings. And I also realize that I have plenty of shortcomings as well. And I know that my family understands and tolerates me because I know that they love me.

It is very hard to love someone I don’t get along with. And believe me, I have met plenty of people in this life whom I don’t see eye to eye. But developing a greater understanding of who they are and how they think and act and feel will help me to develop into a more loving and caring person. And that is my goal, to be more loving of others.


Rev. William Whitehead

The quest for fame and how it can go too far

Pastor Bill responds to NY Times article about clergy stress

The Rev. William Whitehead responds to an article in the New York Times about clergy burnout.

Why Am I Still Alive?

By Pastor Bill Whitehead

I have heard many times that caring for people is rewarding. I know this is true because I have seen first hand the rewards that people receive when they stand by an ill loved-one and care for her. I may not be able to document those rewards, but I know they are very real.

A friend of mine was seriously ill and has been given a bad prognosis by the doctor. She was dying and she knew it. My friend has had difficulty getting out of bed for a while and when I visited with her she couldn’t get up any longer. So she asked me a question, why am I still here? She said to me, “I’m stuck in this bed and I can’t do anything.” She wanted to know why she was still alive. This is the toughest question anyone can be asked. At first I fumbled for an answer and I lamely said, “God must have a reason for you to still be here.” That answer didn’t satisfy her and it didn’t excite me either. She wanted something a little more down to earth in order to explain her suffering.

Then I thought about the struggles that my wife and I had with my mother-in-law. We helped her through some tough years. She was in and out of the hospital many times. Once we thought she was going to end up in a nursing home. But God provided and her health improved. Every day either Betsy or I went to see her in the hospital. I used to visit her after work and before class at seminary. Talk about schedule juggling. When I thought about this I realized that Betsy and I received something in return for our service to her mom. We grew as individuals and as a couple. We became more caring and giving as a result. Those were some tough times but we were rewarded for our efforts.

So it turned out that I did have an answer to my dying friend’s question. I told her about my experience with Betsy’s mom. I said that the people helping her were being blessed. She was helping them by needing their help. She seemed to be satisfied with this answer. I don’t know where that answer came from, but I was pretty satisfied too. I knew that I was being blessed just by being with her.

Why respond to need? We gain by it. We gain by doing something that goes beyond ourselves. We gain by feeling good about ourselves. The rewards are not measurable. We cannot observe them through scientific observation. But there truly are many rewards for selfless living.



The Rev. William Whitehead is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rahway, in Rahway, NJ. He is an ordained minister within American Baptist Churches and a graduate of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Pastor Bill: God our parent

The Rev. William "Bill" Whitehead is the pastor of an American Baptist Church, The First Baptist Church of Rahway, in Rahway, New Jersey. He is also a graduate of New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Pastor Bill: God is Among Us

Pastor Bill Whitehead is the spiritual leader of First Baptist Church of Rahway. He is a graduate of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and an ordained minister in American Baptist Churches.