I proposed to Abby in September of 2002, right near the beginning of our senior year of college. This came after a long season of prayer and discernment. For her it was a surprise but for me I had been thinking about getting married for months. Fortunately she said, “Yes” and we began making plans to marry the following June.

The next nine and half months were filled with all sorts of feelings: joy, excitement, anticipation, exhaustion from planning, and even frustration. For me, some of this frustration came from the simple fact of having to wait for the life I knew I wanted. When I proposed to Abby I wasn’t saying, “I will be ready to marry you in 9 ½ months so why don’t we get engaged now.” No, I was saying, “I am ready to be married to you right now, if you will have me.” So, the life I hoped for had to wait.

This is analogous to this season of transition we have been living in since December when I first accepted the call to Bethany. I was ready to jump in with you all then but there has been both process and planning that have had to take place in order to make this hope a reality.

Thankfully we are making slow but steady progress toward our longing to be with you.  This week Abby concluded her employment at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Ella celebrated her last day at preschool with a party. We are working with Wesley’s school to figure out his transitional education. I am spending my time readying our house to become a rental and tying up the loose ends of my part-time job.

After toying with the idea of loading up the kids and Rudy to tackle the 44-hour drive from Seattle to Pittsburgh we have decided to allow saner counsel to prevail and to fly. We anticipate touching down there sometime in the first couple of weeks of March, the exact timing depending on our moving company. Then we will settle into our apartment in Coraopolis and begin life with you face to face; “Ahhhhhh,” a longing fulfilled!

Thank you for your continued prayer, support and encouragement as we endure the remaining days of this transition. We will be with you soon!

Peace in Christ,

Robbie Ytterberg

That is my paraphrase of Matthew 5:6, the fourth beatitude. I receive it as God’s assurance that when we come hungry, God will feed us. When we hunger to grasp His word for us in Scripture…when we come to God  in honest prayer…when we give God our best…when we fall before our loving Father with broken, humble hearts…when we open our hearts in faith, even anxious, doubting, heels-dragging-in-the-dirt faith…God will fill us, teach us, restore us, convict us, save us, and direct our gaze to eternity.

And here is the catch. This applies to me as well as you. I need to come in my brokenness and openness…not from on high but at the foot of the cross.

That is why you see me do some things in worship that may not seem “normal” for a Pastor. I often move to the front pew for the choir’s anthem or other special music ( though not always); I sit in the front pew for the reading of the Scripture lessons; lately I have been receiving prayer from the other Pastor (in this case, my dear wife) before I begin the sermon; and when I am not preaching, I sit in the front pew for the sermon. For me, it puts me in a position of receptivity, a place in which I am not “presiding” but receiving. It is a  way for me- physically- to come hungry. I know the choir and musicians and even my wife, our Temporary Associate Pastor (for a little while longer) stay up front, bless their hearts. It is simply a way for me to remind myself that I am in worship, that I too, need to receive what God has to give. It helps me to get a few precious glimpses of grace.

Meanwhile, please keep in prayer Robbie Ytterberg and his family in their time of transition. The logistics of moving a family with young children (and a big dog) across country, along with the goodbyes in their native Washington (Abby) and Colorado (Robbie), can feel overwhelming. I am so excited about Robbie’s future with us and what God has in store for Bethany. But do pray for the transition.

And always, keep your heart and eyes open for those glimpses of grace.

See you on Sunday,

John Hamilton

The following note is from our future Associate Pastor, Robbie Ytterberg, as he gives some glimpses of the grace you have showed to him and his family.

One of the hallmarks of our faith is a commitment to genuine, warm and loving hospitality. The early church followed Jesus’ example of this as they crossed the dividing walls of Jew and Greek. They opened their homes to each other for worship and to share meals. Patrick of Ireland established monasteries throughout Ireland where radical hospitality bore witness to the gracious acceptance of God in Christ. My family and I experienced this beautiful hospitality when we visited you a couple of weekends ago. We were greeted with smiles, words of encouragement and anticipation, and obvious love even though we just met.

Perhaps our greatest joy from the visit was how Wesley and Ella were able to be wholly themselves. They laughed, played, and ran amuck with other kids and even adults (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent or not so innocent). The freedom and welcome they experienced has added to their excitement for life “on the other side;” an eagerness which we share.

Thank you for living into the high calling of being people of grace and hospitality. Thank you for welcoming us into your family with encouragement, affirmation, and a bit of harassment. We look forward to joining with you as God leads Bethany in continuing to extend that kind of hospitality to each other, the people of the South Hills and beyond.

In the meantime, we are in the heart of logistics and planning. We are hunting for the right housing situation, schools, and process to move our nearly one hundred pound labradoodle, Rudy. As we work out these, often stressful, details we pray for God’s timing and will. By faith we know that God has been leading this process and by faith we know that He will bring us there… We value your prayers and support as we continue this adventure. Be with you soon!

Peace-

Robbie Ytterberg

I made my way to scorer’s table and found a seat beside Mike Suchoza who was manning the timer and sound system.  Mike was nervous, opening day anxiety as he put it. He kept thinking about the size of the program and the massive numbers, the flow of games, the logistics needed to make it go well. He was right. It is a big operation- 350 kids in the program and over 1200 people coming and going through the day…games starting at 9am on a Saturday and concluding with an 8pm game. Coaches, referees, concessions, and other helpers needed ( and still needed ). Mike was feeling “the intensity of the moment”, as he put it.

I had to slip out and do my other tasks; but the next morning I asked him how things went. His answer: “It was a spectacular success!” Sure it was just one day of the season, opening day; and sure helpers are still needed in concessions and referees among other places. But it was a day in which God was at work in the lives of children and their families. They have seen the love of Jesus on the faces of the helpers; they have heard the love of Jesus in their voices; they have experienced the love of Jesus in Upward Basketball and a people called Bethany.

Do you know the “secret ingredient”? That is easy. It is prayer…the volunteer prayer team that prays daily for Upward…the circles of prayer on the court before each game, led by coaches or referees…and the prayers of the church family- you! that’s right, your prayers are the power behind this life shaping ministry…or the Holy Spirit working through your prayers. Please, keep them up…or get started.

It works.

See you on Sunday,

John Hamilton

PS. I hope you were able to get the insert on the baby bottle campaign for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Check out the information and pick up a bottle at church. Also, do keep Robbie Ytterberg in prayer as he returns to Pittsburgh this week to come before Presbytery this week. Robbie will start with us on March 1. Melany will continue as interim through the end of February to help in the transition.