One Potato, Two Potato

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." 

Matthew 9:37-38



Every September, I remember potato harvest in Aroostook County. When I was pastor of Wallagrass, Soldier Pond, Daigle, and Guerette, many of my parishioners were potato farmers, and many more were dependent upon the potato industry. To ensure that enough workers are available for harvest, school starts in August, so that the high school kids can get out for the month of September for “harvest recess

For three or four weeks each fall, I would trade my collar for farm gear to help with harvest. It is backbreaking work! It starts before daylight and goes until dusk. The only break is for Sunday morning Mass.  For a city kid like me, it was a real education. I now know more about potatoes than I ever thought possible.

·         Before walking into and out of a field, and when mounting and exiting the harvest equipment, boots are sanitized in a special solution to prevent potato diseases.

·         A new pair of kid gloves lasts about one day during harvest

·         Dust and dirt can collect in the tiny folds of your eyelids and between your lashes.

·         After 12 hours on a moving harvester, your body will still feel like it is moving for about 8 hours.

·         Harvesters will not work in the rain.

·         There are a gajillion varieties of potato. Some are harvested and sold for seeding the next crop.

·         If the potatoes are not harvested when ripe, they quickly rot, and the crop is lost.

Of all of the above factoids, I believe the last one is most critical. You simply need enough harvesters for a timely harvest, or all is lost. No workers=no harvest=rotten potatoes=no potatoes.

When Jesus talks about harvesting, he is not describing potatoes. He is describing people.  In a world of confusion, noise, greed, and hate, harvesters are needed more than ever. As workers in the field, we have the privilege of bringing a message of love, grace, and hope to everyone. Can any of us do this alone, or does it take a whole church, working together, to make this happen?

As our congregation continues to grow, let us be renewed. All of us need to listen carefully to the words of Jesus.  Are you ready to work the harvest? What gifts and talents can you bring to the field? Can you encourage others to join us in the important work of harvesting?

Pr. Bill Barter

Maine Voices: Legislation singles out transgender community for discrimination | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Maine Voices: Legislation singles out transgender community for discrimination | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Lent is an opportunity for renewal as a congregation and as individuals.

We are in cycle “A” of the lectionary this year. The Lenten readings for cycle “A” were chosen as a series of texts for people preparing for baptism at Easter. We generally baptize infants, but in churches with a significant number of adults preparing for baptism, it is recommended that the cycle “A” readings be used regardless of the actual cycle we are in, so powerful are the images of these readings.

On the five Sundays of Lent we meet: Jesus, hungry and tempted in the desert; Nicodemus with his questions about rebirth; a thirsty Samaritan woman at the well; a man born blind who can now see; and Lazarus, a dead man unbound and raised from the dead. These are among the richest images in the Gospels. During our weekly Wednesday Lenten prayers, we will focus more deeply on these passages and what they signify for the Christian who is hungry for knowledge and truth.

When I was in seminary in the 1970s, I got to know Sr. Mary Aidan Curran, a Sister of Divine Providence and a retired school principal. Sr. Mary Aidan worked the switchboard at the seminary. She was a character! Born in Ireland, she came to America in the early 1920s to teach in the Catholic schools in Kentucky, because the Congregation of Divine Providence, based in Alsace-Lorraine, did not have enough English-speaking nuns in the U.S. after many of them emigrated here to flee World War I.

In her eighties, Sr. Mary Aidan was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, a disease of the eye that often leads to total blindness over time. She was told that, given her age and the limited treatments available (this was 30 years ago), she would likely lose her sight in five years. When many people would have despaired, Sr. Mary Aidan made a life-changing decision. She decided that she would use her remaining years of eyesight to teach reading to adults in Appalachia. She came OUT of retirement at 82 and taught reading until her death at age 90! This has always stood out in my experience as an example of rebirth, of finding something extraordinary despite the frailty of our mortality.

What will our Lenten discipline yield? Despite our human frailty and sinfulness, where do we find meaning? How can we use Lent as a time to see how we are raised up and reborn in Christ? It all starts with acknowledging our hunger, our brokenness. Then we attend to the Word of God and we apply it to our lives. Repentant sinners, we are reborn as children of God in Christ. This is an amazing gift. Why not share it?

Join me and the Christian Church as together we use this Lenten time to reflect, to be hungry for truth, and to celebrate and proclaim the unbounded grace that lives in God’s love.



Pr. William Barter

Follow the Light!

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

I live with my aunt in a big house. It is a VERY big house! Aunt Katherine lives in an “in-law” apartment in the back while I occupy the front of the house and the second floor with my living quarters and home office. The living arrangement works very well with one exception: When I am away, the house seems very dark and a bit scary for Aunt Katherine. It does not help that I have had to re-move old “knob and tube” electrical wiring, leaving some portions of the house without electric power.

As the electricians restore power to more and more of the house, it is not quite so dark. For example, we now have a front porch light for the first time in two years. Now, when someone rings the bell at night, we can at least see their face and other identifiable features. New automated lights in the yard are switched on by motion, so that when Aunt Katherine walks her dog, her path is well lighted. There is fear in darkness and security in light.

During the cold, snowy months of January and February,we move into the Epiphany season. It can be rather dark. But as the days now get longer and lighter once again, we are reassured. In celebrating the vision of a star guiding the Magi to the baby Jesus, we see in the coming of Christ a light in the darkness.

Are we still fearful in the corners of darkness? Do sin and the gloom-and-doom messages of today’s world seem too frightening? If so, we need only look to the star that glows above the stable. As the wise men found their way to Jesus, the Word made flesh, so too we
follow the light of Christ as people of hope and vision. Once you see the light, don’t hide it! The star burns brightly in you as you point others to Jesus!

Happy season of Epiphany!
Pastor Bill Barter

A Message for Advent

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: "The LORD our justice." Jeremiah 33:14

This may be hard for some of you to believe, but as a child I was quite talkative. And I was really, really bad at keeping secrets. I remember one Christmas in particular when my impulse to blurt out what was in my head caused my parents to . . . well, sigh in disbelief. My maternal grandmother had an old toaster. Some of you remember the type, with doors that opened on both sides where you set the bread. You then plugged it in, and when one side was toasted (and you had to be careful not to burn it), you turned the bread around to toast the other side. It was time for Grammy to have a pop-up toaster, still a pretty cool invention when I was a little kid. My parents saved up their green stamps, and went to the green stamp store on lower Congress Street. They redeemed their stamps for a gleaming, state-of-the-art pop-up toaster. They wrapped it carefully. They were delighted with the choice of gift, and in their enthusiasm they thought it would be OK to share the secret with me. On Christmas Eve, we arrived at my grandmother’s house, and as my parents placed the wrapped gift under the tree, I blurted out, “Grammy! It’s a new toaster! A pop-up toaster!” I could not contain my joy any longer. A gleaming new toaster for Grammy could not be kept secret. I became the herald of good news!

Jesus is not a toaster. Jesus is not a secret. The manger is not Christmas wrapping paper. But I long for the childlike enthusiasm that enabled me to blurt out good news so spontaneously. As Advent approaches, it is really OK for us to tell people what they are getting for Christmas. In fact, keeping Christmas joy a secret is probably not a good thing to do at all. And how could we possibly contain such good news? Jeremiah tells us that God will do what is right and just, and in the coming of the Messiah, we will find peace and security. This is a message our frightened and confused world needs to hear over and over.

As we celebrate Advent and anticipate Christmas, we live in a noisy world that tells us that the season is about money and gifts and more money. We hear many messages of despair and injustice. The world is not at peace. And we have Jesus, fulfillment of a promise, wrapped in poverty and human frailty, beautiful in his simplicity. God’s power in the world made flesh so simply yet miraculously. Jesus is a gift that we cannot keep secret!

Pastor Bill Barter

It Gets Better

Follow this link to my Youtube posting for the "It Gets Better" project. The project was begun as a response to the recent awareness of gay suicide.

On Thanks and Giving

Jesus said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Matthew 19:21

My aunt recently asked me the question, “So what do you want for Christmas?” The question, along with the gift giving, is an annual tradition in our house. I struggled. What do I want for Christmas? What do I really want? I couldn’t answer her. I told her I would get back to her. Then I got a brainstorm. Maybe I could not answer her because I really couldn’t think of anything. Maybe the question should be, “What do you need for Christmas?” Now I had some clarity.

While there are some things I might want for Christmas, there is really nothing I need. I have people who love me (including the wonderful aunt who asked the above question). I have a house that is warm, and I eat three meals every day. I am able to run on the treadmill and lift weights. I have too many clothes. I have a job (make that two or three jobs). I have a car that is paid for. I even have a summer cottage, thanks to grandparents who were good planners. So I don’t need anything.

I don’t want or need anything for Christmas. But I know people who need lots of things that I have and take for granted. So this year, when someone asks me what I want for Christmas, I am going to ask them to make a donation to Project Feed in my name. In fact, I am going to make some special Christmas cards that they can send to Project Feed with their donation. Recently, Project Feed lost 1/3 of its funding when Shaw’s Supermarkets, Bush Beans (who now own B&M), and Maine’s Credit Unions pulled their funding and donations. This happened at a time when demand for food is at an all-time high. Food insecurity is huge in Maine, and lots of kids go to bed hungry at night.

As we approach this season of thanks and giving, what do you want? What do you need? As a disciple of Christ, what are you going to do about it?

Sincerely Yours in Christ,






Pastor Bill Barter