Best's Blog

A Shared Center

2012-01-15T15:08:00.001-05:00

I heard a great sermon this morning on Philippians 1:1-11. Paul’s salutation to the saints in Philippi, express my sentiments toward the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Lake Michigan Presbytery.

“Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel” (Philippians 1:2-3).

Gil Rendle, in his book Journey in the Wilderness, identifies four paths of learning for mainline churches these past years. We’ve focused on church growth, church transformation, clergy development, and learned some things, but the fourth path, on which we now need focus is our identity and purpose. It is no surprise that one of the major changes in our Book of Order this past year, is the opening Foundations section. George Hunsberger will be helping us explore the Foundations at our February 11^th presbytery meeting at the First Presbyterian Church in Holt. I encourage you to read the Foundations in preparation for small group discussion.

Rendle writes, “Differences and diversity that now live embedded in both mainline congregations and denominations make full agreement on identity and purpose impossible….A major learning of the wilderness, however, is that the opposite of multiple, and often competing, differences that have now divided us in our denominations is not a singular identity but a shared center….In many ways, large congregations are microcosms of a denomination. They are large systems with central leadership and structure but with multiple expressions of ministry held by widely diverse constituencies…Yet in the most vibrant of these large congregations, these differences live side by side with one another but are united in ministry…“The point is that everyone in the congregation does not need to live at the center, but the story of the congregation that does live at its center is known, and people, from whatever their particular perspective or interests, can see themselves in the story and stay in connection and in balance around the story. Multiple and different relationships are managed by allowing individuals their differences but inviting them to connect to the same core identity and purpose (p. 43-44).

How do the Foundations provide us a shared center? For your sharing in the gospel, I give thanks to God.

Grace and peace to you.

John

New Year Reflections

2011-12-28T15:05:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

As I visit with my extended family in Pennsylvania, I am mindful of the blessings that come from family and long standing traditions. As I have followed God's call to ministry in Brazil, congregations in Pennsylvania, New York, and now in Lake Michigan Presbytery, these regular visits have provided a grounded center for me and my family. No matter where we may be living at the time, our home base in Paradise, Pennsylvania has been the one constant in our lives. Whether we agree on the issues of the day or not, and in spite of the hair style of the year, here we are taken in, gifts, cookies and laughs are shared.

As I reflect on the past and coming year, I am mindful of the sea of change we are navigating in Lake Michigan Presbytery. New Leadership: Several leaders, who have served Lake Michigan well, are concluding their service as moderators/chairperson/conveners: Linda Knieriemen and Seth Weeldreyer (past moderators), Rick Raum (COM), Jeff Carlson and Genie Cooper (COM Vice Moderators), Doug Nettleton (COM Pastoral Care Sub Com. and Board of Pension Liaison), Nancy Toth (COM Credentials Sub Com.), Mark Jennings (CPM), Tedd Oyler (Budget & Finance/Trustees, Ron Waybrant (Greenwood Agency), Christine Barnes (Higher Education Agency), Janet Van Lear (Administration Ministry Team), Fred Graham (Nominating Committee), Karen Haak (Shepherding Ministry Team). I am so grateful for their leadership these past years, and pray God's blessing on the new leaders who will fill their roles: John Cox (moderator), Jeff O'Neill (vice moderator), Margie Osborne (COM), Helen Collins (CPM), Helen Havlik (Trustees), Bill Sorensen (Administration MT), Andy Thorburn (Nominating), and Steve Magennis (Greenwood Agency). Presbytery Staff: I thank God for the stability of our Presbytery staff as we support these new leaders this year. Here too, we open the to door for change. The staff is upgrading computer operating systems, and to a new copier. A staff design task force is looking at how best to support the ministry and mission of the presbytery with staff as we look to the future. This task force will report to the Leadership Team in April in preparation for budgeting for 2013. Congregations: North and Westminster congregations in Lansing plan for merger in 2012, and the congregation in McBain moves toward closing in July. Congregational Leaders: Our congregations in Stockbridge, Dimondale, Marshall, West Lake in Battle Creek, Coldwater, Schoolcraft, and Decatur are between pastors. Westminster in Grand Rapids and Holland, First have just said good bye to associate pastors and are discerning their staffing patterns. The Albion and Pine Island congregations will say good-bye to their pastors in March and June. Denominational Studies: the 219th General Assembly called us to a study of marriage, and appointed a Commission on Middle Councils, which will report to the 220th General Assembly in July in Pittsburgh. Some conservative oriented Presbyterians will gather in January to organize a new Reformed body. Some progressive Presbyterians will likewise be meeting in February to explore the shape of the "Next Church."

Like it or not, change is in the wind for 2012! So, if like me, you are feeling more than a little bit disoriented and lost by this sea of change, I recommend regular visits home to Scripture, to the Foundation section of our Book of Order, to the Book of Confessions, and to Presbytery meeting/gatherings. May your visits there provide you identity and purpose orientation, a grounded center, and a grace filled, undeserved welcome home, where they have to take you in, and love you no matter what life has thrown at you, or the status of your hair.

The Light of the World

2011-12-13T16:27:00.001-05:00

I love the lights that brighten our homes and communities this time of year. It's so dark this time of year. In spite of the few homeowners who go a little over board for my taste, the lights brighten my spirit! Years ago, as a seminary student, I served a church nearby Colonial Williamsburg. Eileen and I attended the Great Illumination there that December. It is the rare event that attracts the locals. People go and walk the streets. Church choirs sing carols at street corners. However, to our surprise, the only lights were single candles lit in each window. It was so dark you couldn't see the face of the person next to you, yet the lights in the windows oriented us to the direction of the street.

This advent season we await and at Christmas celebrate God's coming to us in Jesus, the light of the world! He brightens our lives, and guides our way. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus invites us to join him saying, "You are the light of the world....let your light shine for others, so that they many see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14,16).

I give thanks to God for each one of you, for your love of God, for your witness to God's love and light that we know in Jesus, which shines brightest in the darkness, and which over comes evil and despair. I praise God for your love of the Church, for your struggle to understand brothers and sisters different from yourself. Praise God that "the Church's life" does not center around us, but that the Church's "life and mission are a joyful participation in Christ's ongoing life and work" (Book of Order F-1.0202). "Christ gives to the Church its faith and life, its unity and mission, its order and discipline" (F-1.0204). "He is its hope, and...the Church as Christ's body, is bound to his authority and thus free to live in the lively, joyous reality of the grace of God....In Christ the Church receives its truth and appeal, its holiness, and its unity" (F-1.0205). Praise God for the collective impact we have on the communities where our light shines to God be the glory.

Your presbytery staff, which you support so graciously all year long, wish you a merry Christmas and happy New Year!

John

Book Review for Discussion: "Journey in the Wilderness" by Gil Rendle

2011-11-30T16:20:00.005-05:00

The Leadership Team of Lake Michigan Presbytery and I are reading Gil Rendle’s book, “Journey in the Wilderness, New Life for Mainline Churches,” Abingdon Press, 2010. I invite you to join us. My blogs this winter will center on Rendle’s insights and questions, with the hope that they generate a conversation of learning together. Feel free to share your comments to these and future blogs.

In this book, Rendle joins Jill Hudson, Phyllis Tickle, and many others, who have written to describe the sea of cultural change we’ve been navigating these past 40 years. He identifies the Biblical narrative of Moses leading freed slaves in the wilderness as a story which resonates with our experience. He points out that we are not alone in our disorientation and bewilderment as we navigate our way through a shifting cultural landscape which is global. As Garrison Keillor often comments in his monologues on Prairie Home Companion, the experience of winter is not a private experience. We are not alone in it. Everyone is experiencing these things. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness a couple of generations before entering the promised land as an organized people and nation. In the introduction, Rendle invites us to the wilderness.

Since the 1960s when mainline protestant churches began to struggle, we have navigated the life of faith in what seems a strange and bewildering place and time. We’ve learned a lot, which the book chronicles, and still we wander seeking the promise land. Rendle suggests, “that in our dominate North American bias toward orderliness, we perhaps expect too much from an exodus. We expect that the trip can be scheduled on a clear time line, that leaders will know the right direction to walk every day, that faithfulness will not be challenged, and that everyone will willingly take the trip together without argument. Were such an orderly trip even possible, the fact remains that neat, tidy trips produce little learning and perhaps, in the end, no change.” (p.3)

A major question of this book is, what have we learned so far? In Chapter Two, Rendle draws a map of the multiple directions we have tried in search of the promised land. The first path was learning all we could about church growth: from learning about passive barriers and counting sanctuary capacity and parking spaces, providing adequate signage and accessibility, to considering theological correctness and congregational expectations (a low or high threshold for membership); abandoning denominational identity labeling; marketing and generational niche ministries, to learning from large and mega churches, which seem to be most comfortable in this new cultural landscape. North Americans seem to like our organizations either very large or very small.

A second path has been Church Transformation. The question facing many congregations was not just one of growth but of change. “A basic principle in systems theory is that vital, vibrant organisms must learn how to be study in purpose but flexible in strategy.” (p. 23). Instead of just doing what we always have done, session worked on mission statements to describe who we are and what we do, and vision statements describing what it will look like when we fulfill our goals. A new endeavor by the Alban Institute and seminaries was launched to study congregations. Jack Stewart, a member of Lake Michigan Presbytery went to Princeton Theological Seminary as a Professor of Congregational Studies, a new discipline to understand what makes vital congregations healthy. We tried to describe and measure vital congregations which led to two insights, first, that there was no consensus on the variables of vitality, and secondly, “when seeking growth and vitality, ‘solutions are found within individual, motivated congregations taken one at a time.’ In other words, there was no single answer and no single group of actions or programs that, if adopted would make all, or even many, congregations vital.” (p.26) This led to denominational staff shifting from producing one size fits all programs, to a focus on congregational strategic planning and providing processes for discernment for individual congregations to identify what God is calling them to do in their particular context. We also started looking beyond our church walls to identify our neighbors, to understand them, and connect to our communities. Data based information like Percept and Mission Insight were developed to help us do this. Some congregations joined interfaith community organizing networks to make a difference in their communities.

A third path has been Clergy Development: “It became clearer that the leadership of congregations-especially clergy leadership—was of critical importance.” Continuing education was identified and required in terms of call. “But again it was only a partial advance and could not fully address the perceived problem of being lost in the wilderness. There were systemic and motivational limitations to what could be accomplished through continued education. The systemic issue centers on the reality that it does not help to change the leader if the system in which the leader operates does not also change. Focusing only on educating the leader amounts to a strategy of ‘fixing’ the person when actually both the person and the system need to learn and change so that different outcomes may be achieved.” (p.30) Awareness of personal and spiritual renewal for clergy was also identified. Spiritual Direction was discovered, and the practice of Sabbath keeping. In 2000, the Lilly Foundation began financially supporting Sabbaticals for renewal of clergy and congregations.

Rendle concludes chapter two with hope. “These decades in our particular wilderness have not been a time of desolation and lost. Instead our story suggests that our time of pursuing multiple directions on our wilderness map has been marked by exploration, hard work, new learning, multiple mistakes, and worry mixed with hope. It has been a time rich in discovery…. The way has not been sure, but I have always been reassured and encouraged by what was once shared with me as a Native American saying: ‘Stumbling is moving ahead faster!’ Being surefooted and correct in the wilderness is not the issue, but being in motion is a critical issue. A consultant friend of mine often pointed out that you can’t steer a parked car. There has to be some motion, some direction, even if wrong or inadequate. For when we stumble on the path currently being followed, it is not hard to catch ourselves and redirect our searching in more promising ways. I suggest that this searching and stumbling, along with its rich discoveries and learnings, is much more descriptive of the past decades than any hand wringing description of despair over what has happened to the church.” (p.32)

Reflective Questions:

What have you learned on your journey of leading congregations?

Have you had experiences in stumbling? Has that moved you forward?

Communications Survey Feedback

2011-11-14T11:56:00.008-05:00

One of the goals in Lake Michigan Presbytery’s Ministry Plan is “Enhanced two-way processes between the Presbytery, its churches, and other denominations.” That means better communication! The Leadership Team formed a Communications Task Force, which conducted a communications survey earlier this year. 243 persons completed the online survey. Here's the link to the online survey results - https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxhT4291Fvc3ODRjOWM4ZDItM2U4NC00ZDJmLWI0NzItOGE2NzZkOWVmN2U2

The survey confirms a couple of things. We are doing a lot better at communicating. A few years ago our main contact was with pastors and clerks of session and a quarterly bulletin insert. Today we have 766 subscribers receiving a bi-weekly e-bulletin, which goes directly to subscriber’s email address. 41% of our last issue was opened. The good news is this direct communication with so many church members and elders. Wouldn’t it be great if every elder was subscribed to our e-bulletin to support their responsibility in G-3.0202 of paying attention to larger church? The e-bulletin is a cost effective way of supporting elders in this. To sign up for the e-bulletin, visit the website (see below) and click on Subscribe on the main menu.

Another lesson confirms our demographic, 85.6% of responders were over 51. The good news is that we had 35 responders under the age of 50 and one under 22! We Presbyterians, given our age demographic are not on the cutting edge of technology use. Yet we do adapt, even many of our most senior members. While our e-bulletin is the most used form of communications sent to people, 56.2% had received a bi-weekly issue, our presbytery website http://www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org/ has become the hub for our presbytery life. This is where one may register for presbytery sponsored events, apply for scholarships and grants, and access forms and processes of many kinds. 77.7% of responders had visited our web site.

For some years, we have been producing Congregational Connections, a quarterly bulletin insert. 45.1% of responders never paid attention to them. 55% do at least sometimes. This is now sent electronically to church offices quarterly. How are they distributed in your congregation? In the bulletin, placed in a kiosk, shared in the newsletter? Last year we enhanced the Congregational Connection by publishing a poster to accompany the bulletin insert. We provide two for each congregation. They are distributed at Presbytery meetings. 40% of responders report noticing them. Where are these posters being displayed at your congregation? For more, you are able to download the poster from the website at http://www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org/index.php/cbmembers/filing-cabinet/cat_view/45-archives/31-congreational-connection/66-shepherding . It can be printed at Staples for less than $3 per poster.

The least used form of communication available to us, are online discussions. This is a new opportunity, which only a few of us have tried. Our communications consultant, Jane McCookey set up an infrastructure at our website for us to use. She lead a book discussion on it. But it was confusing to use. Few availed themselves of it, and it exposed us to others beyond the community. So we abandoned that approach. Future online discussions will be done via responses to my blogs or the moderator's blogs, and facebook discussions. This is a cost effective way of connecting with others in the Presbytery around common interests: a book study, a common interest such as health ministries, or concern such as a theological discussion on a topic. You may respond to this report by commenting below on this blog.

Some individual comments included:

“How depressing to find I am now in the ‘next to oldest’ category. Thanks, Survey Monkey!”

“Excellent job and dramatic improvement...keep up the good work.”

“I guess I was not aware that it was meant for me, a lowly church member.”

“I would like to have an easier way to simply ‘ask a question’ and know where to direct this question.”

“The information most valuable is that which connects me to other ministers and service opportunities in the church.”

“Visuals need to be livelier (photos, improved graphics).”

“I didn’t know the Presbytery was on Facebook! I shall check it out. The more that can be done through integrated electronic communications, the better my connection and my Church’s connection will be.”

We are always looking for ways to improve our communications. Please share comments on this blog to give further feed back. Thank you!

Yours in Christ,

John

Fear's Remedy

2011-09-29T15:57:00.004-04:00

Several of our new pastors and I just spent some time recently with Graham Standish, the author of “Becoming a Blessed Congregation” and “Humble Leadership.” He is a gifted pastor, author and teacher. Our Mediation Team is contracting to bring Graham to Lake Michigan Presbytery in November of 2012 (that’s next year, NOT next month)! He has much to offer us, and I recommend his books to you in the meantime.

In one of his seminars, Standish used the following quotation of David Steindl-Rast, from “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer,” about faith, which resonated with me. Perhaps it will with you as well.

“To have faith does not primarily mean believing something, but rather believing in someone. Faith is trust. It takes courage to trust. The opposite of faith is not disbelief, but distrust, fear. Fear makes us cling to anything within reach. Fear clings even to beliefs. Thus, beliefs can even get in the way of faith. In genuine faith we hold our beliefs firmly, but lightly. We trust in God, not in our particular understanding of God. That is why people of deep faith are one at heart, even though their beliefs may differ widely. When beliefs become more important than faith, even small differences create insurmountable barriers.”

Fear and distrust abound these days in the culture AND in the church! Faith is the remedy, and the Someone who we trust, who is our solid rock, our true north, and in whom we are united in baptism and given our core identity is the holy Trinity!

Worship at the Big Tent Conference

2011-07-14T15:56:00.006-04:00

On June 30-July 2 in Indianapolis 1700 Presbyterians attending 10 different conferences enjoyed three joint worship services and plenary together. These times together gave us a sense of our numbers, diversity, and unity. The worship services were planned by the Racial Ethnic and Immigration Group. One of the innovative techniques used to demonstrate and celebrate the richness of our diversity was to incorporate a small group of six racial/ethnic worship leaders gathered around one microphone. During the reading of liturgy they repeated a selected phrase of a statement everyone had just read in English, each in their own language one after another. The effect was powerful. The technique caused us to pause and pay attention to something important just professed, giving time for it to linger in our hearts and mind. It demonstrated the richness of our diversity as the different languages swept over us, but also our unity in professing it together.

Another worship technique used, which I also found very powerful, was the use of brief excerpts from the Social Creed for the 21^st Century. The 218^th GA in 2008 approved this creed for worship and study. In each service we read an excerpt, then saw a brief video with visual images and music relating to what we professed, followed by a unison commitment statement. This connected what we profess, the challenges in society, and our commitment to action. It connected worship with the life in the world and discipleship.

I was also impressed with the diversity and power of the preachers: Mark Labberton, Assoc. Professor of Preaching at Fuller Seminary, a non-Presbyterian seminary on the west coast with an evangelical focus, opened the conference with a wonderful sermon on Matthew 28:16-20 drawing fresh and unexpected insights out of that foundational text know as the great commission. Labberton lifted up much ignored verse, “When they (the eleven disciples) saw him (Jesus), they worshiped him; but some doubted.” He reminded us that God calls and empowers and commission us like them, worshiping and doubting disciples, to go make disciples of Jesus who do what Jesus did and observe his commandments, his way with God's help. What did he do and command? To not judge, but love your enemy, forgive those who have hurt you, serve the needy, recognize the overlooked, welcome the stranger. This is radical trans formative behavior that changes lives, families, communities, the world! We do so not alone but empowered by God. And yes, God begins and continues to do so with doubting disciples like us.

Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, known as a liberal bastion of the east coast, followed the next day after morning prayers with a keynote address based on the life and experience of John Calvin. Drawing the parallels between the chaos and confusion of the Renaissance and Reformation and our experience today, she examined Calvin’s witness and theological astuteness in that challenging time as support for the challenges we face. Fifty years after Calvin, the church and human aspirations had expanded such that no one could have conjured up beforehand. Through that time Calvin stayed awake and stood with his feet planted and refused to close his eyes to the chaos. Based on Calvin, Jones’ social theory, strategy and recommendation to us, who live in similar times, “Just breathe! Stay awake! Take in the moment! Cast off from your shoulders the idea that it is up to you to change history. It is happening anyway with us or without us.” Our task, she suggested, is not to force history, but to stay awake and in the saddle holding on to the reins of that horse, trusting God.

J. Herbert Nelson II, Director of Public Witness, at the PCUSA Washington Office, a third generation African American Presbyterian minister, brought the conference to a rousing conclusion with his sermon "Moving from Success to Significance." He addressed directly the angst of the denomination over our lost mainline prominence in society, and anxiety over our recent ratification of Amendment 10-A. He challenged us to stop worrying about the church, our image and success, and be the church and make a difference in the name of Christ. Then he told the story of discussing the state of the church at a family meal with his mother and 102 year old grandmother, both Presbyterian pastor's spouses. Asked what they thought, his grandmother, assured him the church has lived through so much before, it will do so again. Then he stirred us, as so many African American preachers can, with a rousing call to make a difference.

Thanks be to God for all these voices in the church. It's a Big Tent. My apologies if I have misrepresented any of these worship leaders.

Post Presbytery Meeting Reflections

2011-06-15T12:20:00.012-04:00

I returned from our June 14th Presbytery meeting with a light heart and lifted spirit! These are dynamic times for the church. News of the ratification of new ordination standards and a new form of government was a lot for us to digest. In that context we were blessed by the gifted hospitality of the First Presbyterian Church in Spring Lake. The worship liturgy and music resonated and ministered to us, and I trust was also pleasing to God. The strong singing was wonderful! Our moderator, Rev. Linda Knieriemen’s message grounded us in the word (John 10:1-18) and the Word, Christ Jesus, the door/gate. The presence and wisdom of six honorably retired honorees, Rev. Donald Gordon, Rev. Richard Johnson, Rev. Richard (Dick) Jackson, Rev. James Rea, Rev. Buteyn, Rev. Willard Curtis, representing 320 years of ordained ministry, gave witness to the healthy DNA, which is rooted deeply in this presbytery, and blessed us with perspective. We heard the witness of Elder Judy Burnside in her “This I Believe” statement, and James Lunde, II in his statement of faith and in his responses as we examined him for ordination. We also met two new colleagues, Rev. Jennifer Rund-Scott, a new chaplain at Spectrum Health Systems, Grand Rapids, and Rev. LaVerne Davenport, the new pastor at Fairplain Presbyterian Church in Benton Harbor, who is also a son of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lansing. We learned from Jane McGookey about some communications tools for our ministry, learned also about PALMS, a support group for church secretaries (Presbytery Association of Lake Michigan Secretaries), met some Education Resource persons, called POINT Educators, who are available to assist congregations in planning education ministries, and we learned about Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage who sponsor a spring and fall weekend of Spiritual Nurture. We commissioned a delegation of five to visit our Ghanian Partners. I felt the gentle breeze of the Spirit bless us. I hope you did as well.

“I thank God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel…I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:3-6)

God Bless!

John

Middle High Youth Mix

2011-02-27T15:12:00.026-05:00

This past weekend 80 middle high youth and 20 adults from a number of congregations in Lake Michigan Presbytery gathered at the First Presbyterian Church, in Holt for a special gathering. The planners of the event called it a "youth mix." Participants spent the weekend together enjoying fun activities, and growing as young Christians. The Holt congregation and I showed up for worship on Sunday morning. The youth led us in music and with liturgy they had prepared. The theme of the youth mix and worship was "That's Racin', based on Hebrews 12:1 "Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us."

After worship, Rev. Miller, visibly exhausted, moved on to what was next, leading a new members' class. Making most of the opportunity, he introduced me as a "polity lesson," and as one who gives a face to the Presbytery. In my role, I get to explain who it is that we are as a Presbytery and what it is that we do together. That day, at First Presbyterian Church in Holt, the Middle High Youth Mix was the face of the Presbytery, the perfect example of our living out the Presbytery's mission statement, which states that we are "sessions and congregations together seeking God's leading, sharing God's love, and spreading God's light."

For a weekend, a 100 disciples of Christ came together from our various congregations and did what they could not do on their own with the same results. They had a large group experience in the church with their peers and had their faith stretched for having come together. They talked about spiritual things exploring the love of God. They learned that they were not alone in their seeking after God, nor were they the only ones needing the love of God, or wanting to serve God. Along with "a cloud of witness" of those who have gone before us, we are in this "race" together. It isn't always easy. There will always be obstacles and we must persevere through them AND it is easier to do when you know you are not alone! As Rev. Miller, the preacher for the day said, "That's racin'."

Youth have a way of draining energy from adult bodies, as Rev. Kirk Miller, the host pastor, eluded when recognizing the adults who helped make this possible. "They are the ones with the tooth picks in their eyes." Yet, youth ministry also has a magical way of re-energizing adult's spirits, that keeps veterans like the honorably retired Rev. Wayne Conners, keep coming, even after a career of youth ministry. There is something exhaustively delicious about the energy and the hope children and youth give us.

Thanks to all who made this event possible!

Grace and Peace,

John

Faithful Disagreement

2011-01-15T15:21:00.006-05:00

As a nation, we grieve the violence of last Saturday, January 8th, in Tuscan, Arizona. By now you know the names and the story lines. We pray for comfort for the loved ones who grieve deeper than we grieve, and for healing for the survivors! We also pray for justice and God’s mercy on the soul of the gunman. Prayers of confession and repentance also seem appropriate! We have heard and read commentary viewpoints ad nausea on the cause. Why did this happen? Who is responsible? A lone, deranged gunman is suspected to have pulled the trigger. But anyone who was paying attention thought immediately of all the violently charged rhetoric of the past election. It was not the media who first made the connection, but tens of thousands of Americans who sent tweets and text messages. It has opened a national conversation again about gun control, civility in our public discourse, and hopefully will open a discourse of public policy on treatment for mental illness. Words do matter! It seems to me, gun ownership aside, guns and politics don’t mix in America. We work out our differences through engagement in discourse, not shows of force. It is the American way. It’s who we are.

I also ponder the role of religion and religious passion in our public discourse. Many are turned away from religion because of religiously motivated differences and violence. In this context, I think we Presbyterians have a lot to offer the nation and world. We are a passionate people, who do not agree on all matters. This is part of our heritage and witness. We were split twice in the 1700’s and out of that struggle was forged an historic principle, the acceptance that “God alone is Lord of the conscience,” that the church cannot bind the conscience of an individual in matters of salvation. We debate matters on which we disagree, but we are governed by the majority and protect the rights of the minority. Living faithfully and peacefully in disagreement is our Presbyterian way. This is our story as well.

My beginning sense of call to serving at the presbytery level was first awakened in 2006 when the Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force reported at the 217th GA in Birmingham. The P.U.P. task force, made up of members representing the theological breadth of our diverse church, surprisingly produced a unanimous report. They did not change each others’ positions, but they did change their stance toward each other from disdain to respect, and from anger to love. By engaging each other in Bible Study, getting to know each others' personal stories and motivations, they came to respect each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. They modeled for the rest of us how to disagree faithfully and called upon us to engage each other in similar ways. They gave witness that love and unity are not the same things as agreement and unanimity. Their report and witness changed my life. I believe the P.U.P Task Force will be remembered in church history as a major witness of this time. In this era of incivility, we Presbyterians have a witness to give.

As a resource, I commend to you Frances Taylor Gench’s book “Faithful Disagreement: Wrestling with Scripture in the Midst of Church Conflict,” published by Westminster/John Knox Press, ©2009. Frances is a New Testament Professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary and friend of mine, who served on the P.U.P. Task Force and was a major contributor and resource person in leading their Bible Study together. Frances also was the Bible Study leader for the Association of Executive Presbyters conference in in 2008 and 2009. Not surprising, the struggle to disagree faithfully is nothing new under the sun, but part of our human and sacred story in Scripture.

Many wonder these days what it means to be Presbyterian. I suggest that we claim the story of our heritage and give witness to faithful disagreement.

As one who once served the church in Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and on this NFL playoff weekend, I conclude with the wisdom of the late George Carlin on the difference between football and baseball. In football, a battle is fought in the trenches, a smash mouth brawl, while quarterbacks fire missiles to receivers penetrating enemy lines, and where winning requires infiltrating the enemy’s home goal which they defend at all cost. Whereas in baseball, which is just as competitive, and which was once called our national past time, the only goal is to go home. Spring training is just around the corner!

Advent Blessings

2010-12-15T17:00:00.002-05:00

Many of you know that music is a gift I’ve incorporated into my ministry. I’ve sung in many good choirs in some wonderful settings. I’ve missed that since coming to Michigan. However, this Advent that love has been reawakened in me! The First Sunday of Advent I participated in a Messiah Sing Along, the Second weekend of Advent I attended the Western Michigan University School of Music Christmas concert at First Presbyterian Church, Kalamazoo. The choirs were awe inspiring, filling the sanctuary with glorious music that filled my soul with joy and wonder! Sacred music serves me as a “thin place,” as my Celtic colleagues describe, “where the distance between heaven and earth is tissue thin.” So on the Third Sunday of Advent, I changed my plans and joined in singing a Christmas Cantata with the Westminster Presbyterian Church Choir at Portage. Here are a few reflections on surprises from those three experiences:

First, of the many times that I have sung the Messiah, I don’t ever remember singing Chorus #45 from Part Three “But Thanks, Be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” No doubt the director included it because it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I wasn’t the only one who stumbled through the unfamiliar chorus. It made me pause to think, we really aren’t very attentive to giving thanks…too busy slaving away trying to get things right ourselves…we miss this song!

Second, the WMU University Choir moved me to tears singing “O Magnum Mysterium” by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) in Latin. It’s one of my favorites. “O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in their manger! Blessed is the virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!” I knew it by heart from singing it with my college choir which toured Europe. I mouthed the words with this new generation of singers. Tears fell! I wonder if and when they will be moved by the glory of Christmas’ great mystery?

Third: the final song at worship with Westminster on Sunday was “Star Child,” a new carol by Shirley Erena Murray based on Matthew 2:1-12, and printed in the 2003 Presbyterian Hymnal Supplement “Sing the Faith”. A phrase in the first verse jumped off the page to me, poetically describing the Christ child, “heaven’s lightning rod.” Wow! I know about being a lightning rod. Most all ministers of the gospel know what it’s like to become a lightning rod, recipient of someone’s misplaced grief and wrath! What a tragedy if we are not grounded, not connected to Jesus, heaven’s lightning rod to channel that thunderous power right along to where it belongs… to the ground. No burnt offerings for us! In Christ, we have heaven’s lightning rod. Check it out, #2095.

These are some Advent blessings I’ve noted this year. May God bless you and those you serve and love this Advent/Christmas season!

Just Say Yes

2010-11-30T09:56:00.004-05:00

I was moved by Margaret Haney's sermon at the Synod Assembly of the Synod of the Covenant, November 6, 2010. Margaret has served as the interim Synod Executive. Through this sermon Margaret shares a vision for the Synod and the church today struggling with its barrenness, its fidelity to its Traditions, and struggle with change, transitioning with openness to the new thing that God is doing. Margaret finds in the characters and themes of the Advent story a rich vision for the church today. Margaret has given me permission to share her sermon, "Just Say Yes" here. As you read it, ponder these questions:

Like Zechariah, performing our religious duties in the church, what shocks us about what God is doing today? How might we be struck dumb, silenced in our unbelief.
Like Elizabeth, barren of offspring in the faith, and seemingly too old to give birth, how might we be pregnant with new life? What joy might that bring?
Like Mary, dare we say yes to the risk of participating in what God is doing...has already done? May your Advent be blessed as you live and ponder these question!

“Just say ‘Yes!’”
Luke 1:26-56
Sermon by Margaret Haney, Interim Synod Executive
to the Synod of the Covenant Assembly, November 6, 2010

Today--we are celebrating many things in our life together--it is a great privilege for me to report to you this morning since I can feel us on the verge of something new--and as I pondered the message, the notion of Advent entered my mind and would not go away. Certainly, the season of Advent is only a couple of weeks away--a time when we wait upon the Lord to give us the greatest gift of the entire cosmos--the birth of the Savior of the world. I am also aware that in the next two months, I will be stepping away from this synod and all the wonderful opportunities you have given me to see some part of the vision that God gives the church in all our flaws and our beauty. This is truly an Advent time for me personally for I know that a new life is on the horizon for me and for the synod--as each of our lives enters into a time of waiting upon the Lord to give us again, the Good News. Jesus Christ is born to set us free.
My great love is story telling and so I wanted to share this story as a mark of our transition. We read today from Luke the phenomenal announcement of the birth of Jesus--to a young woman in some little out of the way place called Nazareth--that nobody ever heard of much until all this happened.

But before we get too far into that part of the story--let's rewind the tape to a spot just earlier in the first chapter of Luke--for the text we have just heard is best understood in the context of the whole story.

Picture in your mind--two people: an old couple of considerable status in their community, Zechariah, who is a priest in the temple--a man of some power and importance--and his wife Elizabeth. The Scriptures say they are both from Aaron's line and both are pious and as good as anybody you'll ever see--"they follow all the regulations of the Lord", Luke says--I guess we could probably add in our context the Book of Order. But they have no children--Elizabeth is barren (a condition considered in their time to be a reproach from God) and they aren't getting any younger.

Zoom the camera in on Zechariah--who is performing his priestly duties around the temple one day--when lo and behold--an angel drops in. Well--as would be true of any of us, I'm sure--Zechariah is scared out of his mind. But the angel says, "Don't be afraid" and then adds something that would also scare the bejeebers out of most of us--"your prayers have been answered." And with words of considerable eloquence, the angel announces that Zechariah and Elizabeth will be the proud parents of John the Baptist--who will be the one to cry in the wilderness—“prepare the way for Christ!”

So--Zechariah does the only sensible thing--he tries to explain the facts of life to the angel--"Get real!" he says. “I’m old”--and ever the diplomat--he is, after all, a priest--and "my wife is getting on in years! (Just read it, that's what it says!) We prayed that back in 1957--but we didn't mean now!”

So--the angel says, "Listen, bucko! because you hold the position you do and you don't even believe that God can do what God can do--you are now effectively silenced until all this happens!” The angel exits stage left--and Zechariah is standing there clearing his throat, trying to make a sound! And when he goes out to the people to bless their prayers--all he can do is motion to them--and they know something has happened--they guess he has seen a vision or something which has stunned him into silence!

Next scene—Elizabeth! She is jumping for joy! She has conceived a child and the disgrace of her barrenness is removed. And--as is the custom, she goes into seclusion--or maybe she didn't think anyone would believe her if she told them. At any rate, as the scene fades--Zechariah is silent--Elizabeth is in seclusion--and we are left in a mood of expectancy.

Now before we move on--I ask you to note two things: 1) I suggest to you that Zechariah and Elizabeth symbolize for us something of ourselves and the traditions in which our own understandings are anchored--they try to be good, to follow all the rules, and God knows they are powerful and significant people in their church and community; and 2) you notice that God does not do away with those old traditions--No! God takes the old ways and makes them pregnant in order to usher in the new! That sounds like a strategic plan to me!
As with us--God takes us where we are--stays with us within our present understandings so we're not completely blown out of the water--and plants new life even in the most barren of situations. How we do fight it, sometimes! We wring our hands, we argue with each other, we bring Power Point presentations about how serious things are, we hold five more meetings to study it and try to think of all the reasons why it can't be done. Just remember--be careful what you pray for--like Zechariah and Elizabeth, you just might get it! As this story tells us --the old may be silenced but it will usher in the new! Prepare to rejoice!

So--now we fade out on that part of the story--and shift the camera to Mary--a young woman in Nazareth which is, as I said earlier, not any place anybody ever heard of much. Now you see the words on the screen--SIX MONTHS LATER--. The story is different now from the one we just saw--look at it! A young unmarried woman in an out-of-the-way place--and an old couple, who live within the power of the Temple.
But there are such striking similarities that--unless we are asleep at the remote, we can see that it is exactly the same story--an angel appears, followed by fear, followed by good news, followed by doubt, a response, and the departure of the angel! But--in this case, the announcement comes not to a man but to a woman--and equally striking, a woman, young, not married (although Luke says she is engaged, an arrangement made by families often when a girl was quite young). And even though we often think of Mary as very obedient, worshipful, thoughtful, believing--still we must be careful to notice that none of these qualities are mentioned as the reason God chose her. In fact, we don't really know why God chose her--but she clearly is the one!

Picture it--here's Mary--very young--in our time, she could likely have just texted her friends to go to the mall--when that angel drops in. "Greetings!" he says. "Have I got a deal for you!" And Luke says—“Mary was perplexed”-- which as to be an understatement. If you can remember the last time an angel dropped in on you while you were going about your everyday life--then you can understand how Mary must have been taken aback. Luke says, "She couldn't figure out what kind of greeting this was." (At least Zechariah was in the temple, where God's messengers sometimes appeared.) "Don't be afraid" the angel said (sound familiar?) and then he drops the news--she will become pregnant, will carry a child in her body “who will sit on the throne of David and will be called the Son of God." And then just to make it seem even plausible, he mentions that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, will also give birth to a child. And then--just to cement the whole thing, he quotes right out of the Genesis story of Abraham and Sarah (who by the way had been in a similar situation as Zechariah and Elizabeth.) “With God”, he says, “nothing is impossible.”

And Mary--she does what Zechariah did--she tries a little lecture on the facts of life--"You've got to be kidding! To put it nicely, I'm a virgin, if you get my meaning!" But I suspect that, even if she didn't say it, she was thinking about the considerable cost to her personally, if what this messenger says is true. Pregnancy out of wedlock, in her culture, is a capital crime--Joseph could have her put to death--so you see, as happy as we may be about this in our traditional telling of the story--we are not on a Sunday School picnic here! Being God's chosen comes with some considerable risk in carrying something new. And don’t you forget it!

So--the angel tries to sell her on the idea by telling her how important it will be--your child will be no ordinary child--Prepare to rejoice! God is bringing in a new time and is inviting you to be a significant part of it! And here--Mary differs from Zechariah--she gets it! And she does three things! Listen carefully--this is important for us as a synod and as individual persons--on any day of the year but especially in this time of Advent--transition and change.

First, she says "yes". “Here I am. Let it be as you say." I've always wondered, haven't you, whether Mary had a choice. And I believe, because God is a God of choices--that she did. She could have said "No". It is possible, don't you think, that Mary could have been the 37th person that God asked--but Mary was the first one to say "yes." And because she was willing to take the risk, considerable as it was, she got to participate in the most wondrous part of God's plan for the Universe--to give birth to the Savior of the world. She said "YES".

Second, Mary took a journey to visit Elizabeth--up in the hill country of Judea. If you look at a map of the region, you can see that Nazareth was not exactly in the neighborhood--so we can assume that Mary made this trip with considerable determination--maybe to find someone to talk it over with--a support group, in our jargon; or maybe she knew that her elderly cousin would need help in her own time of pregnancy; or maybe she knew the wisdom of being a little less visible given the jeopardy that she is in.

But wonder of wonders! When she arrives--when Elizabeth heard her voice--the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy at the sound! “And Elizabeth cries out,” Luke says. (If you have ever been six months pregnant and felt the child within leap for joy, you know why Elizabeth cried out. I still remember that foot that caught me in the rib cage when I was carrying those babies of mine. But what joy you feel because you know that there is not only life here--but it is vibrant and energetic--full of health and rambunctiousness. That is enough to rejoice over!) But there is a deeper message in this passage for all of us--and Elizabeth knows it--Even new life placed within the old traditions witnesses to the great and wonderful news that God is abundant beyond our wildest imaginations--even that new life within us says “yes!"

And third, Mary sings the Magnificat--a song of great rejoicing--"My soul magnifies the Lord,” she sings, "for God has done great things for me." Notice, she doesn't say "will do great things"--she says "has done." And then just to show us what she means--she continues to sing of God's inverted order of things—“God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly." “God has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty." This goes far beyond Mary in its newness--this is cosmic in its proportions. And then she reminds us that it is also part of the old--she reminds us of the promise that God made to our ancestors, to the whole nation, and to the very universe. Mary sings "Yes."

So what about us! Here in the Synod of the Covenant--in this time of transitions for all of us. We are gathered here to make promises about our work together and to celebrate the great joy of the coming of Emmanuel, God with us! We can rejoice in God's abundance in our personal lives and in the life of the synod and all the presbyteries--rejoicing that God has invited the likes of us to participate in his plan to redeem the world. The wonder of these accounts from the Scriptures is that they are about us. We, like Zechariah, have some difficulty believing that we might actually be part of the cosmic plan--that it is possible for us to be pregnant with God's possibilities, given the length of time that we have been barren.

But I tell you friends, on such a day as this, we can quit trying to explain why it isn't possible. All the scientific, financial, bureaucratic arguments we use to show God and ourselves why this can't be done--they need not apply. We must remember--today and all days--with God, nothing is impossible! We can say yes. We can rejoice. Like Elizabeth, God will take away the barrenness in our ways of doing things--We can feel the leap of new life in our very being--we can feel the vigorous kick in the rib cage--when we hear the sound of the voice that speaks--not only for us--but to the whole world; the whole Universe! As Jesus said—“even the very stones will cry out!” With God, nothing is impossible--in ourselves, in this synod, in all our presbyteries, in the universal church, in the whole world.

Rather than being anxious because we do not have enough to keep all the things we are accustomed to--we can rejoice with Mary at what God has already done to redeem the world! And on days like this, we can sing for joy that God invites us to be a part of it.

A word of caution, however--this is not about selfishness and winning; it is not about keeping everything the way it is now. In all the decisions we make, we had better be sure that we are with the poor and the lowly--for that, says Mary, is where God's promise is playing itself out. The mighty will be toppled from their seats in high places--and the rich will be sent away empty. We know, that when in our own land of plenty--one in four children live in poverty (that's double the rate of any other developed country in this world); that there are approximately 50 million poor people in this country alone--many of them right here in the boundaries of our synod; and we know that for want of clean water, thousands of children around the world die every day. We know that poverty and war are destroying people all around this world--along with those who suffer as victims of hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and volcanoes and greed and indifference.

I pray that we can find the faithfulness to accept God's invitation to live into the promise as servants of the Lord. That is what Advent is all about--Believe it--God has come to dwell among us--God has said to us--Hey, I'm doing a new thing here! Can't you see it? The desert will bloom and the dry land will sing for joy!

Like Mary, we can say Yes! “Here we are--let it be as you have said." We know that God calls us to show that we believe in the abundant love and grace that we are offered for the taking--that Christ is here in our midst gathering us up into the presence of God. We know that God calls us by name--that God searches us with loving eyes--and asks us, the humble and the powerful, to make the leap of faith, trusting that God has already set it in motion--and because God loves us and desires our companionship--we are invited--think of it--to come along! To share the abundance that God has placed in our lives so that we can be a part of the mission of Christ's church--serving not ourselves but those whom God loves.

Can't you feel the pregnancy in this room--the new life that God has placed within each of us--and within this synod--as this season of Advent approaches--can't you feel the new life that we celebrate? It may seem that it is more than we can do—But we know that with God--nothing is impossible! Do we want to be a part of it? Prepare to rejoice! Just say "Yes."

Prayer:
Let us pray: God of small heartbeats and cosmic truths--who are we that you should invite us to be a part of your gift to the world--who are we that you should place new life within us! Sometimes we have all the power of the tradition with us, like Zechariah-and still we don't get it! And sometimes like Elizabeth, we dance with joy because we know that you have taken away our barrenness--we hear the voice of newness call us and we feel the joy of new life leap within us. Sometimes, like Mary, we get a glimpse of the cosmic nature of what you have promised--to us and all people in the world. We ask your blessing on us--we bow before you in praise and thanksgiving for your promise of new life. Please, we ask, for each person here in the issues of their own lives; and for this synod as we begin a process of seeking the new--give us the courage to not be afraid, but to say "yes"! To be your faithful people in knowing that with you, nothing is impossible! Give us hope! Help us to believe. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Report to Presbytery - November 2010

2010-11-15T13:34:00.010-05:00

Ron Ferguson, of the Iona Community once wrote: “Geese in a flock have seventy per cent greater range than a single goose on its own; Geese in formation fly seventy-five per cent faster than a single goose.”(from "This is the Day: Readings and meditations from the Iona Community,(c)2002 Neil Paynter)

It is my joy to serve as a leader of this flock, the Presbytery of Lake Michigan. I serve not alone but with the Leadership Team members, trustees, staff, many committee and ministry teams, all of whom could have panicked during an historic economic crisis, but have not. By the end of the year, we will have traveled this journey together for three years. So I want to provide a reality check perspective and highlight some accomplishments.

The proposed 2011 budget to be considered at the end of this meeting is based on 34% less shared mission support than in 2007 when you called me. That's an average decrease of $64,000 per year.

How have we positioned ourselves to absorb this? In 2008, we moved from two part time program associates to one. In 2009 we withdrew support from the Cherry Valley new church development project, when designated funds were exhausted. In 2010 we challenged the Greenwood Agency to run its ministry on its revenue and support, with modest program support. For 2011 and 2012, Higher Education ministries will be reduced. And we managed with a lot of belt tightening, using more technology, less postage and paper, and by refocusing our expenditures on a new ministry plan based on conversations with you at our June & September meetings last year. The Ministry Teams have been working this year on strategies toward meeting 4 goals. The 2011 proposed budget year was prepared with these goals in mind.

Another Reality Check for perspective: In 2009, in the teeth of the worst economic crises since the depression, you collectively reported contributions of nearly $16 million, up 1.7% from 2008, the second highest in the Synod per member giving. Collectively our membership change in 2009 was a net loss of 227 members, down -1.4%. Comparatively, again the second best in the Synod. Seven Presbyteries reported actual net gains in membership, with the highest gains by far in three non-geographic Korean Presbyteries, which is why the General Assembly is encouraging us to grow this church deep & wide.

In 2009, PCUSA congregations reporting contributions of $2.1 billion, and with capital and building Funds,investments, bequests, other income just under $3 Billion. Together we still have means to do great things. Congregations reported expending these funds this way:
71% Local Congregational Programs
14.3% Capital Expenditures
5% Local Mission
3.2% Validated PCUSA Mission
3% Other NonPCUSA Mission
2% Investments
1.5% Per Capita Apportionment.

A couple of comments on three of those numbers:
First, PCUSA Congregations spent 1.5% in 2009 for Per Capita: we run this church on 1.5% of the expenses. That's pretty incredible!

Second, Congregations spent 14.3% Capital Expenditures: We also have invested heavily in capital improvements! Many of our congregations have done major renovations to position yourselves for ministry in this 21st Century. Kalamzoo First and Grand Haven First just before I came, Westminster Grand Rapids, Fairplain, and Okemas before them, and since, Brooklyn, Eastminster in ELansing, Hastings, First, North Westminster in Lansing is undergoing a capital campaign now. Collectively this amounts to a multimillion dollar investment in our future. With that investment we are carrying significant debt service, and for which the Presbytery is ultimately responsible. All this impacts why 5 or 6 churches alone are giving $200,000 less in mission support in the past 4 years.

Third, Congregations allocated 3% or $86 million to Other Mission groups: Do you remember the $50 million campaign? If we redirected half of what we are now giving to other institutions to support our mission we would nearly match that huge campaign with one strategic decision
to shift 1.5% to PCUSA Validated Mission. Presbyterians are still generous people with power to effect much good. It’s a matter choice. As you make your mission budget choices I challenge you to shift one half of what you are giving other mission entities to your flock’s mission. Focus your support on your local mission and PCUSA validated mission. We are stronger, faster and more effective when we fly in formation.

I have worked hard and covered a lot of miles to engage you all. I am proud to report that on December 14th I will complete my goal of worshiping with every congregation in the presbytery. What out come do I hope for, from all this effort? In every encounter, whether at worship, at a Session consultation, or pastoral visit my goals have been to built relationships and establish trust, to nurture a culture of respect for our diversity, to inspire a faithful response in this time and place to the amazing grace we've received in the Lord, and to instill a sense of urgency in our response. I've tried to do this by providing transparency, speaking the truth in love, giving encouragement pointing to hope. Praise God if I’ve managed a fraction of that.

Finally, I want to recognize a few people. Many of you know that Rev. Christine Barnes, associate pastor at Brooklyn, has served this year as Moderator of Synod of the Covenant. You may not know that elder Bill Sorensen, of Kalamazoo, First, was elected the new Vice Moderator of the Synod. I served on the Synod Executive Search Committee this year representing the EP/GPs and our presbytery. The Synod is recognizing Lake Michigan Presbytery’s assets! The Synod elected the Rev. Dr. Raafit Saaki, an Egyptian born Arab by birth, a grandson of missionaries raised in the Sudan, he married a Korean woman. He has a passionate vision for compelling hospitality, and in his person represents the future. I hope we will invite him soon to preach for us.

I also want to recognize some leaders who has served this Presbytery extraordinarily well, and who are concluding their particular service and will ask to stand if present: Dave Milbourne, end his service on the Leadership Team last year, and the Budget and Finance Committee this year and was on the task force which guided us in the development of our ministry plan;
Andy Thorburn, has served on the Leadership Team, the Action Planning Team and liaison to the Greenwood Agency, and was our interpreter of the Ministry.
Nelson Lumm, served long on the Staff Services Committee, on the General Presbyter Search Committee that called me, and this year leaves the Administration Ministry Team.
These three have been stalwart pillars of the Presbytery for many years. Thank you! Those of you who are new to the presbytery, get to know these leaders. They will give you insight into the ethos that makes this Presbytery what it is.

And finally I want to recognize someone who is newer to us, who I will ask to come forward, who has lit up the Administration Ministry Team with incredible energy, intelligence, imagination & love, Pat Ramsden, would you come forward? Pat came onto the AMT my first year & took this team’s ministry to a very high level, with workshops for stewardship leaders and then personnel committees, preparing manuals for personnel committees, Clerks of Session, and an upcoming one for treasurers publishing the Stewardship Program “Building Hope”. How many of you are using it? We want to hear from you. And recently held a gathering for Elders and Deacons with Joan Gray, here at Westminster. Pat I have nothing to give you today be the esteem of your colleagues.

It is a great joy for me to fly with this flock we call Lake Michigan Presbytery,
on this incredible journey we call ministry. “Geese in a flock have 70% greater range than a single goose on its own; Geese in formation fly 75% faster than a single goose.” Thank you for your trust and respect, for the gifts of your time, your energy and your treasure.

Ascension Day Reflections

2010-05-14T15:05:00.003-04:00

I am writing this on the Day of Our Lord’s Ascension. It is not easy to say good-bye. This year the ten days between Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday will have a lot more power for me and some of our congregations in transition. I just recently had to say good-bye to my mother. Several of our congregations have said good-bye to their pastors. Can you imagine saying good-bye to the Lord like the first disciples had to do? Wow! Our mission remains the same, but to fulfill it alone without that pillar of strength by our side? How does one do that? The first believers, who had to say good-bye to the shepherd of shepherds against their wishes, responded by gathering together in one place as companions, worshiped and waited. Then the Holy Spirit came and empowered them to move forward in their mission. Such is the beginning of the book, the Acts of the Apostles. In my mind, the Book of Acts never really ends but continues to this day, as God calls and sends and empowers believers for that same mission.

Based on the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures, this was not the first coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was always present, and always will be. But in the Pentecost story told in Acts 2, the Spirit came in a convincing way. What convinced the first disciples of the Spirit’s presence was their surprising and miraculous understanding of those different from themselves. The Holy Spirit united what was divided. I believe the Spirit continues to do so.

Every deacon, elder and minister of the word and sacrament is asked the constitutional question at ordination. “Will you be a friend among your colleagues in ministry...?” (Book of Order W-4.4003e). Every person with a voice and vote at a Session or Presbytery meeting, and Synod or General Assembly has answered, “I will.” Yet, we don’t all see eye to eye on every matter. Evidently the first apostles didn’t either. A little further into the story in Acts, there was a big to do when Peter came back from baptizing Cornelius and his family, who were gentiles (Acts 10-11). “Why did you go the the uncircumcised and eat with them?” Peter was asked (Acts 11:3). He explained how the Holy Spirit had led him not only to eat with them but to baptize this family. In Chapter 15, Paul and Barnabas argue over whether or not to take John, called Mark on their second missionary journey. Knowing the sacred story, should we panic when mentors are not around when needed we need them, and we must act ourselves relying on God’s help? Or should we be surprised when colleagues disagree and argue an issue.

Our convictions sometimes do tug to divide us and they probably always will, as people of faith care deeply about their convictions. In our polity, we govern ourselves by vote and majority rules, knowing full well that councils sometimes err. It is always a bitter pill for those in the minority to swallow. We are especially mindful of our differences of opinion leading up to and after General Assemblies. The 219th General Assembly is coming up on July 3-10. Yet, surprisingly commissioners often return from such assemblies looking like Moses, who came down from the mountain with his face shining. They are moved by the unexpected unity they experience there amidst the diversity of a larger group, the Pentecostal evidence of the Spirit’s presence. It is evidence because it is so surprising and unexpected.

This June 18-28, Reformed Christians from around the world will gather in Grand Rapids for the World Communion of Reformed Churches Uniting Council. THIS IS A BIG DEAL! Don’t miss this opportunity to visit, volunteer, welcome an international delegate to worship at your congregation, AND to be surprised and convinced of the Holy Spirit’s presence uniting us in Christ across so many cultural barriers.

Holy Week 2010 Reflections

2010-03-29T13:47:00.009-04:00

As I watched the historic Health Care legislation unfold last week, my heart ached watching congressmen and women walk the gauntlet of hecklers as they entered the capital building to vote. The crowd shouted racial and homophobic slurs, and spat on elected officials of our government, who support the Health Reform bill.

Now in Holy week, I am reminded of the sacred story we rehearse every year. How the fickle crowd, who sang Hosanna to Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem on Sunday, turned into an angry mob shouting, "Crucify him!" on Friday. One can imagine the taunting and spitting he underwent as he carried the cross through Jerusalem's streets on the way to Calvary. Pilgrims today visit that route called the Via Dela Rosa.

Last week in our capital, encouraged by the heated rhetoric of some elected officials and media pundits, the anger of the crowd once again spilled over into acts of violence. A gas main was cut at the home of one legislator's family home, and stones were thrown through legislator's office windows around the country. Protesters are being called to rally with a show of guns on April 18th, the anniversary of the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma, and the raid by Federal agents of the Branch Davidian Compound in Texas.

This Holy Week is the most dangerous I’ve known. We, who call ourselves Protestants, and have a history of protest and reform need a word of caution. Granted the American public, including we Presbyterians, are divided on issues. We likely always will be. Yet I remind us of our civil covenant. I call upon my Presbyterian colleagues and friends, especially those who happen to be Republican, to step up as leaders in your community to tone down the rhetoric. Violence is not the answer. Democracy functions only with civility. Our social compact is that the majority rules and that the rights of the minority are protected.

This is just as true in church disagreements as in public matters. Commissioners are now preparing for the 219th General Assembly this July. They will be party to some hotly debated issues. It is healthy to have a good hard debate on the issues. Yet, we must do so respecting the bond we have in Christ. Debate rightly highlights differences, but becomes unhelpful when it degenerates into personal attacks, and tragically forgets the shared common ground. When a decision is made, we then have the obligation to move forward together as a people. Councils sometimes do err. We must then work to correct or improve decisions. This is the American way. It is the Presbyterian way. Our Book of Order concerning our principles in Presbyterian governance states, “Presbyters are not simply to reflect the will of the people, but rather to seek together to find and represent the will of Christ. Decisions shall be reached in governing bodies by vote, following opportunity for discussion, and a majority shall govern” (G-4.0301 d, e). Dissent may be declared expressing disagreement with an action or decision. The names of those dissenting are recorded for history and the sake of integrity. There may be protest of an irregularity or delinquency(G-9.0303 and 4). But then we move forward or withdraw peaceable for sake of the unity of the church.

Secondly,I watched the first episode of the new TV series, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. We frown on reality TV shows, but I commend this one to you. Oliver is an English chef, who challenges the food culture of a West Virginia town, which is reported to have the worst health statistics in the country. A local pastor noted the crisis, and welcomes Oliver’s intervention and is confronting the food culture of his congregation. These are real people and real issues. Health Care should be more than doctors treating symptoms. Our prayer concerns should be more than lifting our loved ones illness to God in prayer. We should be addressing the causes of our poor health. Our society's unhealthy diet and eating habits need confronting, particularly in our public policy for our schools and church gatherings. As with any change, we tend to want to hang onto old patterns, even if they are making us ill. Deny their effects, ridicule and challenge those who want to offer a healthier, more life giving way. Oliver's Food Revolution airs on Friday nights. Record it and watch it when you return home from your Good Friday service.

Thirdly, the good news is that the sacred story of Holy Week, which is our story, ends with Resurrection. The bad news is that according to a recent survey reported in the Kalamazoo Gazette, less that half of Americans link Easter to the Resurrection of Jesus. “Just 42 percent over all and 37 percent of young adults ages 18 to 25, tie Easter to the Resurrection… Only one out of every 50 adults, or 2 percent, said they would describe Easter "as the most important holiday of their faith.” How sad! The Resurrection of Jesus is a cornerstone of my faith and of the church, the reason for hope.

Some wise person wrote and I have preached, that Easter is about more than a supernatural intervention of God to resuscitate the corpse of Jesus. The meaning of Easter is that Jesus continued to be experienced after his death, after confronting the powers and principalities, but in a radically new way: as a spiritual and divine reality. The church is built on the foundation of those witnesses, who experienced the risen Christ as a living presence. For Brazilian theologian, Ivone Gebara, the empty tomb is itself the key to our understanding the Resurrection and to our living the Resurrection in our own lives. She writes, “The empty tomb returns us to the manger, the place of the child, the place of rebirth of hope. The empty tomb returns us to ourselves, women and men capable of giving birth and rebirth to the divine, the essence of our own flesh.” So like his birth, Jesus’ resurrection is an event that is ultimately beyond our ability to understand or reason. As mystery, the only way we can hope to “get” the Resurrection is to live it. The empty tomb is thus not an ending, but a beginning, an invitation to each of us to birth and rebirth the divine in the confines of our own lives.

The Living Risen Christ gave the saints before us and now gives you and me the back bone to stand against the crowd and do what is right. Resurrection is our foundation for hope for the life abundant of which Jesus spoke (John 10:10). Not just for ourselves, but for our families, our communities, our nation and the very creation which is crying out for it.

I’ll close with a story of when I was a missionary in Brazil. It was our first Easter in our new church building of a new congregation just being organized. I was directing the passion pageant with the youth. Following scripture as our narrative, I was choreographing the story with them when I discovered a problem. The story jumps from Friday night burial to Easter morning empty tomb with the stone already rolled away. We had no stage curtain, no special lighting. We had constructed a stone out of palm branches and paper and placed it in front of the door to the Sunday school room, which we made the tomb. “How do we get the stone rolled away?” I asked myself and the kids. I looked at a little girl sitting on a church pew patiently waiting, and asked her, “Do you have a part?” “No.” “Do you want a part?” “Yes.” “Come here, I need you to play the part of God. Hide here behind this stone and roll it to the side at the right time.” And she did!

When new life comes, God enlists us to give a hand, to join in the interventions that transform old dead patterns that imprison into new abundant life. However, I've learned, that moving the tomb stones is a God thing. We can’t do it ourselves. Resurrection is God's doing!

Report to Lake Michigan Presbytery--Februay 9, 2010

2010-02-14T16:40:00.002-05:00

Two years ago at our January meeting in Okemas, you installed me as your general presbyter. Neither you nor I knew how this was going to work out. I am grateful for the confidence and support you have extended to me. You projected a lot of trust and hope on to me. After six years of two years and good bye to my predecessors, I think you needed and wanted our relationship to work. So I want to begin by acknowledging our milestone, and say, I’m not going anywhere. I love this ministry, this presbytery, and this place we call SW Michigan. I also can say this is hard work! There have been some tough moments. I am no longer the green rookie I was. By the grace of God, we navigated our way through two of the toughest economic years of our lifetime. We did not panic. Not knowing the outcome, we stepped forward in faith. I am proud of our treasurer’s report of a $51,000 operating surplus last year!

Psalm 119:105 has become a meaningful verse to me in this position of leadership. “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” APCE (the Association of Church Educators) has in its seal a lamp. A lamp was given to my wife Eileen in her installation as the APCE president a few days ago. Notice how this model of an ancient lamp is no high powered car head light that shines done the road, but rather as Ellen Marquardt, a mentor of mine often said, “shines enough for us to take one next step in faith.” In this dynamic time, when old patterns don’t produce the same results, we are called to open our hearts and minds to the new thing God is doing in our midst, step out in faith where we do not see, take a risk and trust.

In my training and reading on leadership, I’ve learned that leadership is more about speaking the truth with integrity and love, than casting a vision. We minister in a time when no one as a clear vision of the future. Beware of these too sure about themselves. Rather, God is calling us to be a community of learning, in which we covenant to journey together, inquire, explore, and discern what God is doing in our particular time and place. We must be bold to experiment, test the spirit, by trial and error. The answers lie within each person, each congregation, and each community. There are no cookie cutter patterns for us to follow, except for Jesus himself, the Word made flesh.

We are kind of like Al Pacino’s character in the movie “Scent of a Woman,” a retired army colonel now blind and depressed, angry and belligerent. He exploded to a hired prep school student in a powerful scene, “I’m work’in in the dark here!” But the student challenges him in fear and love, and accompanies him back to life. So we must venture into the dark following Christ, accompanying one another, loving each other back to life, one step at a time.

Having ventured out in faith together and having come down the road together a ways, we can look back and see a few things.

1. We have transitioned our presbytery staff from a talented, loyal and dedicated staff, to a new talented, loyal and dedicated staff. There have been some twists and turns, but praise God, I am so proud of them. I thank God every day for the team we are becoming. We are equipped to communicate with each other and you with Skype, a computer assisted communication. We have a bi-weekly e-bulletin which reaches 600 people. How about we grow that to be 6000 people, or a third of our members? We have a new interactive web site, which has just about everything you can get from our office. But you have to register and log in to access some information. Jane McCookey, our communications coordinator, is leading the way and is offering regular workshops to learn how the these new technologies.

2. The Leadership Team is living into its role as leader of this learning community as they move from a council decision maker to coordinator and leader of our conversations and study. They are doing this by taking responsibility for worship at Presbytery, setting themes and shaping meetings for engaging each other and learning together.

3. Presbytery meetings are becoming more worshipful, educational and inspirational, with focused the business. We were led by church growth consultants Allen Latta and Charles Arn at the Delta Church. We had three regional gatherings last winter with no business but to learn and discuss a matter that divides our denomination. We worked together at our June and September meetings on a ministry plan. Ministry Teams are now building strategies for the identified goals that emerged.

4. Camp Greenwood has moved from the identified patient list and ground zero for our grumpiness to a platform for new and exciting ministry. They had a phenomenal year last year on many fronts with a successful consultation with a PCCCA consultant. The culture of the agency was challenged to shift from micromanaging the camp to policy formation, strategy and funds development. They are taking a bold step this year toward a self sustaining financial plan. They are pursuing alternative funding sources, and have received a $5,000 grant for this year. A new strategic partner has been identified in Alma College with an internship program. They are seeking new ways to support presbytery in our focus of growing our congregations.

5. North and Westminster Presbyterian Churches in Lansing are forging a new ministry together as a larger cooperative parish under Timothy Chon’s leadership, their new designated pastor. A presbytery advisory team made up of representatives from New Communities of Faith, Transformation/Redevelopment ministry teams and COM is in place to support this initiative. They are learning as they go, and taking one step at a time.

6. A new clergy group in Lansing, facilitated by associative presbyter Rich Lichti, has formed to be a learning community together. They are looking at their context and the dynamics of ministry there, seeking news ways of partnering together in ministry, and no longer working as lone rangers.

7. Eastminster in East Lansing, and Brooklyn Presbyterian Churches are in the midst of major capital improvements to there facilities. Hastings Presbyterian Church is in the middle of a $7.5 million construction project on property outside of Hastings with most of the money needed is in the bank. Praise the Lord!

8. We commissioned two CLPs (Commissioned Lay Pastors) last year, not to small struggling congregations, but to serve on staff in two of our growing congregations: Hastings and Spring Lake.

Not everything came up roses.
1. Presbytery stepped out boldly several years ago to establish Cherry Valley Community of Faith, a congregation in Caledonia. Last year we did a most difficult thing bringing that venture to closure. All involved are grieving! We took a risk. Clint and his family took a risk in coming here for this ministry. Not every venture succeeds. Who is to say but God what is a success and what is not. We need to keep our heads up as we pause to learn from the venture. Zoe Wilcox, our past moderator will be leading a group to listen and learn and report back to us in June. Now we need to pray for Clint and his family as they seek God’s calling in what is next for them.

2. We also grieve the death of two pastors: Judy Shaver and Oyo Nsefik, who died before we were ready, God rest their souls. We are never ready for death when it visits us. Death is never convenient. Yet we are a resurrection people. God works in a mysterious way, new life is given, eternal life is promised. Thank you for supporting the Good Sameritan Fund. Over $7,000 was given for Oyo’s funeral expenses and bring Oyo’s family to help them with closure.

3. During these past two years six of our congregations have moved from full time pastoral ministry to part-time, to join the ranks of many others who preceded them. North-Lansing, Concord, Ionia, Stockbridge, Allegan, Mt. Hope. This is not an easy transition. We need to pray for them.

Are we where we want to be? No. Do we have a lot to learn? Yes. Yet God’s call remains and our vision challenges us to grow by faith deep and wide. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in the epistle lesson last Sunday, “By the grace of God, I am what I am (or we are what we are), and his grace toward me/us has not been in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:10)

Finally, because of my cancer diagnosis and treatment, I am ever more aware that God calls us to ministry with gifts that are contained in the clay jars, treasure in the fragile earthen vessels of our lives. Our very lives are the tools, the means, the stuff we have to use in partnership with God. May we go forth to do so with courage and faith to give our witness and to show forth God’s glory. Today is my turn to give God the glory for the effectiveness of my treatment last fall. And I thank you for accompanying me with your encouragement, making tangible and real the loving and abiding presence of God on that journey. Thank you.

New Years Reflections

2010-01-15T10:32:00.004-05:00

Many of you know that I like to sing John Bell's song, “Glory and Gratitude and Praise.” These are what we have to offer God. Similarly, I begin this new year and new decade with three sentiments: gratitude, joy and challenge!

I am grateful for my recent respite after eight weeks of daily radiation treatments. I was reminded again and again of God’s love through many expressions of support and prayers. Support came sometimes in the form of rebuke such as an email that said, “If you are reading this, you are working. Stop it!” I made sure to not hit the reply button on that one. Such permission giving helped me to let go of the guilt of not doing. In a performance based culture and profession, clergy often struggle with “inactivity.” What a gift we have in Christ and in Christ’s body, the church, to be valued and loved not for what we do, but for just being—claimed, redeemed, loved by God. Gratitude is the right place to begin a day, a week, a year, a decade.

I am joyful for a couple of reasons. In both cases, joy is the sister of relief, and the brother of trust. Specifically, my oncologist told me on Friday that my post treatment blood test numbers were really, really good! Better than expected! See you in three months! Yes joyful relief and trust affirmed. Praise God! I also have been watching our Presbytery treasurer, Larry Nelson’s face as he works to close Presbytery’s financial books for 2009. I observe a smile of his face. He’s given me no number yet, but assures me it will be a healthy position number! Praise God! Again joyful relief after two brutal years and trust affirmed. We could not sustain the financial deficit we experienced in 2008. Instead it looks like we will recoup much of that lose! I am proud of our Presbytery leaders who did not panic, kept their cool, managed what was in our control, and trusted God and each other. I am grateful for the dedication and sacrificial giving of many members and Sessions!

I am also feeling pretty challenged. I bet you are, too! Our Presbytery foci are to grow our congregations and to support our church staffs to do so. After years of declining membership and aging demographics, growth is an unfamiliar synapse. The last growth year was 1966, the year I was confirmed! Growth is a tough measure for success, but an important measurable outcome to which we must aspire. Today’s leadership requires an ability to focus on matters over which we have control and dismiss those which we don’t. And it requires us to learn things we don’t know and which our experience will not provide us. Albert Einstein once described insanity as doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. We are not called to do things better and harder these days. Rather God is calling us to be adaptive communities of learning, including the leaders, who must lead without having all the answers.

Yet, we have God's promise still as we enter the second decade of this wild, young, scary, exciting century. And if some of us are feeling our age to be part of what God is doing, remember Abram and Sarai. Yes, God’s people have been there and done this before. Like them, may we also be transformed as we live the promise. May the decade before us be equally adventurous, filled with trustful risk taking and new mind bending learning about our mysteriously awesome God. May it be a time of learning who our neighbors are, what their needs are, their language and how they communicate. May we recognize Jesus in “the others” we meet, and understand what God is doing and passionately join God in it. If we do, our foci will shift from self and church to God and community, the sacred story, our holy identity, and the precious gift we are commissioned to share with those in our neighborhood. It really is about “glory, gratitude and praise.” Happy new year!

Calvin's 500th Birthday

2009-04-14T16:37:00.001-04:00

One of the key questions I have been asked in my visits throughout Lake Michigan Presbytery is that of identity. Who are we Presbyterians? A beginning answer to that is that our spiritual lineage is Protestant and Reformed. Christians in the Reformed Tradition are celebrating John Calvin’s 500^th birthday this year. John Calvin, who articulated a Reformed Theology in the 16^th century in Geneva, was born on July 10, 1509. There are celebrations and events world wide. The March 23^rd issue of Presbyterian Outlook lists a comprehensive list of these events including celebrations in Geneva May 24-June 3. I will be attending the Calvin in Retrospect at my almamater Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, May 6-8, in conjunction with my class 25^th anniversary gathering. Other opportunities include: Calvin Jubilee at Montreat July 8-10 sponsored by the PCUSA office of theology and worship and Austin Seminary, www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship, After 500 Years: John Calvin for the Reformed Churches Today, September 3-5 in Grand Rapids at the Protestant Reformed Seminary (www.prca.org/Seminary/seminary.html), a lecture series on John Calvin, September 24-25 at Journey, a center for the church’s learning at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, among the lecturers is Dr. Ellen Babinsky, Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs and Professor of Church History, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary; and Ravished with Wonder: John Calvin and the God Who is Love, October 19-22, the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. I commend any of these lecture series as a way of helping us ground our identity in the historic and theological roots that formed and shaped us Presbyterians.

I took a course a few years ago with Dr. Ellen Babinsky, who is coming to Western in September, on the Medieval Roots of Protestant Spirituality. We studied four mystic Christian leaders who lived in the period prior to the Protestant Reformation. Then we considered Calvin’s writings and heard their voices and spiritual hunger and longing for mystical communion and union with God come through his words. The Scholastic/Reformed theologians who followed Calvin and my seminary professors missed this passionate spiritual side of Calvin. In addition to the intellectual “head” side of Calvin, which has marked us Presbyterians, is the passionate “heart” side which I believe we Presbyterians need to reclaim today. This other side of Calvin mostly ignored over the years by the church, originally gave the church its symbol for Calvin: the burning heart in the hand. Let us explore these roots of our identity. As we consider who we are, what God is calling us to be and do, there is at the core of our historic and theological roots a spiritual heart filled passion ready to be recovered, reclaimed, and restored. As you know we are reformed, and always reforming.

Report to Presbytery March 10, 2009

2009-03-17T09:59:00.001-04:00

My name is John Best and it is my privilege to serve you as general presbyter. I say that because I was inspired by Pat Ramsden, who shared at a recent retreat how she begins every worship service she leads at the Buchanan Church with the statement: “I’m Pat Ramsden and it is my privilege to serve as pastor of this congregation.” Pat inspired me, and I hope that wherever you serve, you celebrate your calling, and with the Apostle Paul, boast not in yourself, but in the good news we share in Jesus Christ. We Presbyterians are an introverted, bashful people when it comes to sharing our faith, and act ashamed of our denomination. Deliberations on controversial issues embarrass and anger us. Yet our diversity just may be our greatest strength, when we disagree faithfully, by staying in relationship, drawn together by Christ.

This is a difficult time in which to minister, and to discuss issues which divide us. If feels like a perfect storm. Why have these difficult conversations now during an historic economic downturn? Why me? Why now? Why all this under my watch? Well, guess what? The next five years are already a whole new ballgame. It will probably take that long after the economy recovers for the church’s financial picture to catch up with were we were a couple of months ago.

This year I am anchoring my ministry in the Book of Joel. It is a story of lament over the total devastation left by a plague of locust. It's message invites us to lament what we have lost. God did not leave Joel/Israel in grief, but gave them a new metaphor and new identity for Israel. In chapter 3:18 we read,“A flowing stream comes forth from the house of Judah and waters the valley of acacias.” There is a stream that flows from the throne of God. We know where that well of living water is. We’ve found the source of living water in Jesus Christ.

We know the normal stages of grief are shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. We must not allow ourselves to get stuck in any one of them, but move through it to acceptance, and to the new life, and the new identity that emerges from it. We are a resurrection people celebrating God’s victory in Christ over death, and much suffering. We are a people of hope living through the cross bearing of Lent, knowing and believing in Christ, who gives witness to God's resurrection power and outcome . God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We are stewards of hope as we navigate the journey before us.

The reality of that journey is the smaller church just got a lot bigger. Some congregations no longer have the luxury of a 5 to 10 year transformation process. Your learning curve is more like six months to a year, until something has to change. We need a Presbytery strategy for handling financially struggling congregations. Pastor’s need full employment, but that call may take new shapes. We must look for what God is doing in this new time, and get with the program. Learn, risk, and be faithful, and refuse to measure ourselves by the past. God is doing a new thing. The reality is many of our larger stronger churches have invested in capital improvements building for the future and carry a heavy debt. There is a direct correlation between this investment and the decline in mission support. We must trust God to tide us over this rough stretch ahead. Stewardship is a spiritual discipline in which we must depend on God. We must learn also how to do mission without just giving money. Discipleship is about ministry, doing ministry. What does a ministry look like where there is little or no money? Immigrant refugees,our global partners in Ghana and Nicaragua have much to teach us about God, faith, and trust relying totally on God. We must learn from our from your indebtedness.

So what are we doing to respond?

1. On March 24^th leaders of the Committee on Ministry, New Communities of Faith, Transformation and Redevelopment Ministry Teams will consult on a presbytery strategy for financially struggling churches.

2. Our Administration Team has launched a presbytery wide project to create a new stewardship curriculum of hope, which will involve our seminary faculty members, educators, Outreach Mission Team, to tell our mission story of hope in a barren time and place.

3. The Lansing Area Clergy will gather in April to study regional dynamics and congregational systems that have led to decline.

4. We will also hold a Presbytery wide minute for mission campaign in May. Lay leaders and honorably retired ministers serving on our Presbytery committees and teams will be asked to visit a neighboring congregation and tell our story through their eyes. I hope you will receive them and learn how the Presbytery’s ministry is relevant to your congregation.

5. I expect that the Presbytery’s 2009 operating budget will be revisited this June for mid course adjustments.

6. At our September 15-16 retreat, Jill Hudson, the General Assembly staff person who relates to middle governing bodies will lead us in thinking about being a presbytery in the 21^st Century.

7. The Transformation and Redevelopment Team will be coordinating at every presbytery meeting some witness to good news, some faith sharing. Let us be bold not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ.

The faithful conclusion of every loss is acceptance, and a new identity. I commend to you the new identity of the Flowing Stream of vitality that flows from our relationship with God in Jesus Christ. May that stream be unblocked and allowed to flow to the barren, desert places around us as that vitality of God’s Spirit brings dead things to life.

I am John Best, a child of God, who knows the source of that flowing sream. It is my privilege to serve Christ in the world through Lake Michigan Presbytery. I trust it is for you as well.

Laughter is good medicine and theology

2008-07-31T13:55:00.003-04:00

I admit it, I am an easy mark and often the butt of jokes. Those of you who know me well already know that. For the rest of you, I'll not elaborate. You'll figure it out soon enough.

I seems to me, ministers fall into one of two categories when it comes to humor and laughter. Some of us are joke tellers, laugh often, and most often at ourselves. Others of us are serious minded souls intent on our call to ministry and living good, holy and righteous lives. The former bring joy, laughter and celebration to worship. Congregations love this and are often starved for it in worship. While the later, whether conservative focusing of personal morally, or liberal pursuing social justice, can be tediously heavy. Serious minded Presbyterians have often been considered rather dour.

The late Rev. John S. Hutchison, under whom I once served as young associate pastor, straddled the line between laughter and seriousness, joy and concern. We served a congregation following an ugly and painful dissolution of the pastoral relationship with the former head of staff. John's humor brought a breath of fresh air to that congregation, a lightness to their heaviness. In the office, when the secretary was asked to blow up a document, referring to the new zoom feature on the copier for enlarging the size of a document, John would say, "No, no, no! We're not blowing anything up here." We would laugh, even as we could sense his pastoral alertness to the next emotional episode of some emotional outburst. On the wall outside his office door, John placed a poster for all who entered to see. It was a picture of an eagle staring directly at you with steely eyes, with the caption, "I am laughing." It's dead seriousness, lightened your heart when you entered through that door.

So it is with the door which is Christ. There is so much pain in the world, in our lives, AND in the church. The Church of Jesus Christ takes that seriously. And when we get a glimpse of eternity, love and grace of God, we smile, lift up our heads, and sometimes laugh. And laughter heals us. H. A. Williams, in this book Tensions, writes,

"God, we believe, accepts us, accepts all persons, unconditionally, warts and all. Laughter is the purest form of our response to God's acceptance of us. For when I laugh at myself I accept myself and when I laugh at other people in genuine mirth I accept them. Self-acceptance in laughter is the very opposite of self-satisfaction or pride. For in laughter I accept myself not because I'm some sort of super-person, but precisely because I'm not. There is nothing funny about a super-person. There is everything funny about a person who thinks s/he is. In laughing at my own claims to importance or regard I receive myself in a sort of loving forgiveness which is an echo of God's forgiveness of me. In much conventional contrition there is a selfishness and pride which are scarcely hidden. In our desperate self-concern we blame ourselves for not being the super-persons we think we really are. But in laughter we sit light to ourselves. That is why laughter is the purest form of our response to God."

Yes, our calling takes us to some grim places. The pain is sometimes more than we can bear. Yet, there is One who lightens our burden by carrying it for us. In Christ, we pass through a door in which we face the realities with the steely look of an eagle and break into a smile. Because of Christ, we can lighten up and be healed through grace.

As I visit among the churches, a consistent theme of concern is our struggle to pass our faith along to the next generation. In such moments, I am mindful of Sarah snickering/laughing in the tent as she over hears the absurdity of God's messenger visitors telling her husband Abraham, that his wife will bear a child. May we with barren senior citizen, Sarah, not only laugh at the absurdity of God's ways of making us pregnant with new emerging life, but live to sing God's praises, come to laugh at ourselves, and with Sarah and Abraham, name our children Isaac, a name which means laughter.

Yes, laughter is not only good medicine, which brings healing, it's good theology!

The Conversations Go to the Presbyteries

2008-06-28T02:47:00.002-04:00

To the saints in Lake Michigan Presbytery, grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! The 218th General Assembly has made some hard decisions today. We will all need to take a deep breathe of those gifts of God, grace and peace. Indeed, these are God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ to be claimed with gratitude. After a long day many of us Executives and General Presbyters met for prayer before the evening meeting.

In an attempt to bring our spiritual selves and faith to the Assembly's decisions, when voting, the moderator was instructed to call for every vote with the invitation, “Sisters and Brothers in Christ sharing our common faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, walking humbly with God, commissioners vote now.”

You may have already heard the headlines news. The Assembly struck (G-6.0106b) “fidelity and chastity” clause from the Book of Order and inserted the text: “Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003.), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instructions of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.” This is now in the presbyteries hands to concur and ratify this change to the constitution or not to concur. The sense of the Assembly is to lead the presbyteries into a time of engagement and discernment, encouraging us to use a discernment process practiced by the PUP Task Force and by the committees of this Assembly. This action will go into effect only if and when two thirds of the presbyteries concur.

In the same overture and vote, the Assembly also set aside the authoritative interpretations concerning ordained service of homosexual church members by the 190^th General Assembly (1978) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and the 119^th General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and all subsequent affirmations otherof. This stands effective as of this Assembly. The vote was 54% to 46%.

Some persons will rejoice at these actions, others will loathe them bitterly. It will be up to all of us to sit with one another in love and respect and discern God’s will together for the Church. I have my opinions on these matters, but I committed to Jesus Christ in loving one another and bringing every voice to the table with the respect, decorum and zeal to understand one another, in that love. If I didn't get it before, I do know, Jesus certainly didn't mean agreeing with one anther to love each other and living in covenant together. Nor did he say that would be easy, yet the church calls us to that faithful dialog.

The Assembly disapproved an overture to redefine marriage as a covenant between two people by a 77% to 23% vote. However, it approved another overture to renew and strengthen the PC(USA)’s longstanding commitment to equal protection under the law for lesbian and gay persons and the 216^th GA’s affirmation of the right of same-gender persons to civil union, and to appoint a special committee to study the history of the marriage, laws concerning it, how the theology and practice of marriage have developed in the Reformed and broader Christian traditions, the relationship between civil union and Christian marriage, the effects of current laws on same-gender partners and their children, and the place of covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community. This study will be forthcoming at the 219th General Assembly in Minneopolis in 2010. No doubt it will seem superfluous to even study the matter. But we Presbyterians like to study and think on important matters.

The Assembly did a lot of other work today that may not make the headline news, but are of great concern to the church:

Gradye Parsons, the deputy Stated Clark, was elected the new Stated Clerk on the first vote.
Passed Overture concerning Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel: Affirming the obligation of the church to speak to the governments, ours and others where it sees those governments violating the commandments of God. Endorses the “Amman Call” regarding Arab-Israeli peace, issued by the World Council of Churches conference, in June 18-20, 2007, including its affirmation of the UN resolutions that are the basis of a projected “two-state” solution, a shared Jerusalem, and the human rights of refuges and occupied peoples, its call to resist extremism and push for reconciliation. Directed the General Assembly Council to provide resources to interpret the church’s historic concern for justice and peace in Israel and Palestine. Commends the nonviolent witness of the Christians in Palestine and Israel with whom we share membership in the one Body of Christ, joining them in prayer and mutual remembrance, advocating for fair treatment for them and their neighbors. Encourage Presbyterian individuals, congregations, and councils to take pilgrimages and trips to Israel and Palestine. Continue the process of corporate engagement with companies supporting or profiting from the occupation of Palestine and/or other violence in the regions.
Called for Emergency Food Aid to North Korea in the face of mass starvation. A DVD segment on this call was shown and made available to us to take home.
Directed the General Assembly Council, in consultation with the Office of the General Assembly, to continue to monitor and address human rights violations in the Unite States, and in other nations brought to their attention by the members of this denomination and/or the partner churches. Secondly, the Assembly directed the Stated Clerk to write the members of the Congress of the U.S.A. urging them not to ratify the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, which would have grave consequences for works, indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations, and the environment.” 77/21
Concerning Building Peace in Iraq, among other things, the assembly hammered out a compromise statement, “Call upon the US government to develop and implement a lasting peaceful solution, responsibly bring the troops home, and reaffirm the call of the 216^th General Assembly for the US government to engage with the international community through the United Nations and other international agencies to cooperate with the government of Iraq in providing security, peacekeeping forces, and funding the rebuilding of the country.
Other Social Justice issues addressed involve:

· Public Education for the 21^st Century

· Homelessness to Hope

· Economic justice for women

· Social Creed for the 21^st Century

· U.S. energy policy

· Prepare and provide church balanced materials on abortion

Please over look the typos and grammar. We are all going on fumes here. I travel home Saturday. I thank you for your prayers. May we all return home safely, and may the presbyteries enter into the work of engaging one another determined to recognize the face of Christ in one another.

God has our back for God is behind us,
God is in front of us, above us and beneath us.
We are encircled in the love of God.
Thanks be to God.

John

Thursday, June 26th

2008-06-27T02:32:00.002-04:00

To all the Saints in Lake Michigan Presbytery,

Your commissioners are working hard here in San Jose. They are clamoring for more snacks to get them through the long business meetings. I returned to my hotel room at 10:45 p.m. and they worked on tackling one more committee report.

The GA News service reports are being posted at our presbytery web site. Please check them. Know that I am not attempting to report all the GA actions: However some highlights of GA actions are:

· The Rev. Byron Wade was elected Vice Moderator. As a result, the moderator and vice moderator are both members of racial-ethnic groups. Both are young pastors, 39 and 45. Both were born and reared on the West Coast, though Wade now lives and works in North Carolina. Both are married fathers of young children. Their election speaks of the yearning of the denomination to connect with our younger generations.

· Item 13-06. Approved to correct translation problems of the Heidelberg Catechism. A translation in the 1960’s added homosexual acts to a list of sins. This as was vigorously debated, and had the same attempt had been defeated at several previous Assemblies. It was a 33/26/2 recommendation from the committee, and the Assembly vote as similar.

· Item 13-07. Set in motion the process of the path of inclusion of the Belhar Confession into the Book of Confessions.

Item 06-01. After several defeated amendments, sent, by a very strong vote, the revised Form of Government to the Presbyteries for study and recommendations, to appoint a new Revised Form of Government Task Force to include some from the present one, some members of the 218^th GA FOG Committee. The Assembly sent 11 pages of comments to this Task Force. The sense is that this is our constitution, it is very important, but we need to move slow on this and considerate it well.
Item 08.21 The committee helped the Presbyterian Foundation and the GAC come to a compromise solution for a means of resolving incidences when these two groups are in disagreement on the allocation of restricted funds.
Item 03-20 The overture calling for creating a Presbyterian Office for the Prevention and Healing of Minister of Word and Sacrament Misconduct and Abuse was reworked by the committee and supported by the Assembly. To address this great concern, the OGA and GAC were given several mandates to address the concern through existing offices. The Assembly stood in silent prayer in solidarity with sexual misconduct victims.

Reflection: Again and again debate goes on with amendments after amendments made, debated, and voted on and defeated. Then the main motion recommended by a committee is passed by a very large majority. Meaning, 8 and 10% of the body causes the body to work long and hard to hear them out. Speeches to and against motions has now been limited to 1 minute by an act of the assembly. They are running about one business meeting behind schedule. Commissioners will have to learn to move along the debate, move the question...

Worship has focused on Micah 6:8 and in particular what it means “To walk humbly with God.” Today we heard the third sermon on this theme.

The Exhibit Hall has closed. Many of the crowds have dispersed as the Assembly has gone to its plenary work.

Looking Ahead. The energy level is running low. Several contended overtures are still ahead on the docket: an overture to redefine marriage, and another to strike G.6.0104b. Stay tuned. Keep praying.

Grace and Peace,

John

GA Plenery Business Begins

2008-06-26T12:19:00.002-04:00

My day began attending the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Breakfast followed by the Ecumenical Worship. The speaker and preacher were both Palestinian Arab Christians. Both spoke eloquently and powerfully of the power to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a nonviolent witness in the homeland of our faith. Mubarak Awad, Director of Nonviolent International and co-founder, of Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence spoke eloquently of the power of nonviolent resolutions. His center is busy translating teaching materials on nonviolence for the Arab communities. Father Elias Chacour, the archbishop of the Melkite Catholic Church, and author of the book, "Blood Brothers," challenged us not to take sides in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict but to get our hands dirty in helping them move the peace process forward. Later in the day we heard from a leader in the church in Iraq. The war and the strife has cause the church to loose many of his members as they migrate to neighboring countries. They all need our prayers.

As many clergy present, I attended a luncheon with my seminary. Seth Weeldryer and Timothy Chon, Eileen and I joined our fellow alumni from Union Theological Seminary/PSCE. We heard our newly installed seminary president Brian Blunt, the first African American president of a non Black Presbyterian Seminary, speak of the visioning being done at the seminary. We have to prepare, envision and walk through doors that don't yet exist. As we think about the present and future, he reminded us of our understanding of the reign of God Jesus ushered into the world. "Jesus bent back the God's future into the present in powerful ways." So we must not think of the church as a refuge or safe place or harbor to call, as I am fond of doing. Rather the church is less as a space and more like a force breaking into the present, like an electrical cord, power of the future into the present. The church is to testify to God's future work among us and to conduct the power of God into the world today. He said, the door to God's future is through other's pain and difficulties.

Then the Assembly began its plenary business in the afternoon and continued in the evening. Under Church Growth and Christian Education

adopted a strategy for church growth for African American congregation
approved an evangelism initiative that Linda Knieremann worked on in the GAC, to Grow God’s Church—Deep and Wide in 2009 and 2010 an Initiative to Grow in Evangelism, in Discipleship, in Servanthood, and in Diversity.
Called for the development and publication of Adolescent Human Development Resources, after a lengthy and tedious debate. The debate demonstrated the struggle we Presbyterians have in agreeing on sexual morality, as to what to include in such a curriculum. The direction given was to provide a wide balance of materials to resource the breadth of the church. In the committee’s words, “We choose to plant a seed of peace. We set aside our individual desires to “win” and to further our own agendas and put our faith in God, and send this overture on without trying to advocate one position or another, trusting not only God, but our fellow Presbyterians to do what is right not only for our children but for our denominations. We send this overture on in the hope that the next step of the process will cultivate the seed we have planted, faithfully stepping out in mutual trust.”

Under Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations:

07-05 An Ecumenical Policy Statement was recommended unanimous and passed unanimously.
07-01 An overture on Calling for Tolerance and Peaceful Relations Between the Christian and Muslim Communities grew out of the shared experience of 9/11 in NYC metropolitan area, and the dialogue with Muslim neighbors that grew out of it.

A Special "Generative" Youth Committee had no study papers, no overtures to consider but was an opportunity to talk about youth and young adult concerns. A video and study paper were presented on how to listen and engage today's youth culture was I think approved for production and making available to the church. Every decision like this has a financial ramification. They are good at monitoring the financial implications with every decision.

I left the plenary with Janet Magennis then to attend a reception for the leaders of Top Ten Giving presbyteries. Lake Michigan has been in this group for some years. At the reception Janet and I were able to meet and have conversation with Linda Valentine, the executive director of the General Assembly Council, Tom Taylor, the deputy executive, and Hunter Farrell, the director of World Mission.

Pray for the commissioners. This process can be tedious as some items are considered. I had dinner with our commissioners yesterday. They are fine.

Grace and Peace,

John

Committee Recommendations

2008-06-25T01:31:00.002-04:00

The committees have worked hard for two solid days, listening and questioning overture advocates, discerning God's voice. I monitored the following and can report:

The New Form of Government Committee will recommend to the plenary to send the new Form of Government to the church for study, and to form a new task force to receive advise and recommendations from the church to report at the next GA.
The Church Orders Committee will recommend by a vote of 44 to 11 to strike G.6.0106b from the Book of Order and replace it with the following. "Those who are called to ordained service in the church by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination, pledge themselves to their lives of obedience to Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the scriptures, and to understand the scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and or installation establishes the candidates sincere efforts to adhere to these standards."
The Peacemaking and International Issues Committee dealt with many overtures concerning Israel/Palestinian Relations. Most of the overtures which called for a balanced non-partisan approach to peacemaking.

Both of these recommendations will both draw considerable attention in the plenary business, and in the media coverage of the Assembly. It's important to know that any changes to the Book of Order do not go into affect until ratified by a majority of presbyteries.

Other items I will be watching closely are:

several overtures dealing with ecumenical and interfaith relations;

to study relationship with and promote human rights for Muslims,
to receive ecumenical agreements with Episcopal Church and Moravian Church to be ratified by presbyteries,
to affirm dialogue and/or common convictions between monotheistic religions.

Evangelism Initiative: "Growing the Church Deep and Wide,"
a new updated Social Creed for 21st Century following a former one adopted 100 years ago.
Proposal to study the Belhar Confession for possible inclusion in Book of Confessions.
And the Open Discussion on youth ministry.
Proposals to strengthen commitment to equal legal protections for lesbians and gays, and to redefine marriage as "between two people."
Calls to balance advocacy and resources for and against abortion.
to reinstate the Environmental Justice office.
resolution to conflict over allocation of designated funds,
the election of a new Stated Clerk (Friday night).

Sleep will be short tonight for those preparing minorities reports. There is no business scheduled for Wednesday morning. We will be led in worship by the larger church community at an ecumenical worship service. The preacher will be Elias Chacour, the Archbishop of Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a Palestinian leader for peace and reconciliation.

The preacher at today's worship was a second generation Korean pastor of a New Church Development in Minneapolis. He gave testimony to his congregation's experience of building an intentional multicultural congregation that is post...everything, a congregation which has no majority race, and builds bridges across the gaps that divide most of us. He then went on to give a blistering look at racism in America and how deeply it is embedded in our history and culture, and then finally issued a call to repentance and healing. Whatever comes of the business of this Assembly, this prophetic message cut true to the bone for me. This and the Anti-Racism training prior to the Assembly changed me. This walk up slap in the face for justice has me feeling the need for

Grace and Peace,

John

PS. If the posting time seems a bit early in the morning, know that I am posting this in Pacific time.

Committee Work

2008-06-24T10:42:00.002-04:00

Having watched the General Assembly from a distance for most of my years in the church, one can get the idea that GA committees simply approve what they are given. Not! They are working here, pouring over overtures sent by presbyteries, considering study papers and reports written by task forces mandated by earlier assemblies, some of which have been working for four years. Yesterday the committees heard from overture advocates from the sending presbyteries and task forces who represent the diversity of the church. The committee engaged them with questions. Others can sign up to speak to the committees. Some committees have a lot of overtures to deal with. Some committees, like the New Form of Government Committee, have just that to deal with. Know that they are working here, fine tuning, editing, removing lines, rephrasing a line. Know that what is sent here is not just approved or disapproved, but molded and shaped by the process, with the belief that the Holy Spirit is working through the process of engagement with the subject at hand and discerning God's will. Watching can be exciting or boring depending on one's interest in the matter at hand. There is a lot of minutia, at least on Monday. Today, committees will have much more pressure as their time together is compressed.

Yesterday, I primarily visited ministers who are looking for new calls and representing the needs of the presbytery. Sharing faith and call stories, hearing the passions of clergy persons is always an energizing experience. It was a good day.

Grace and Peace

John

A New Spirit

2008-06-23T11:14:00.003-04:00

I sense a new hopeful spirit at this Assembly. Not a different Holy Spirit, who is eternal, but a new hopefulness among us mortals. Although advocates and others will raise to speak for and against overtures being considered from the presbyteries, task forces, and commissioners, I sense a growing consensus emerging that our attempt to legislate and regulate the areas of deep division is a misplaced energy. I hear a lot more emphasis identifying and celebrating what we hold in common, which is the apostolic mandate to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world.

At worship on Sunday, six retiring missionaries representing 158 years of mission service, were recognized and honored. New appointments since the last Assembly in 2006 were recognized and commissioned: 18 new mission co-workers, 7 long term international mission volunteers, 48 national young adult volunteers, 48 international young adult volunteers, 12 young adult mission volunteer interns. In the commissioning liturgy we were encouraged not to say the words unless we mean them.

"As God's people, we commit oursleves to support our companions in mission with prayer, encouragement and resources, so that Christ's reign of peace, justice and love will be known in San Jose this week, in our all our communities, and through out the world until Christ comes."

Also recognized were 17 Presbyterian (USA) ministers who became active duty military and Veterans Administration chaplains since the last assembly.

I joined a gathering of Executives/General Presbyters last evening. I expected a tired spirit of cynicism, but was greeted with a zealous prayer by a colleague casting a new vision and hope for turning around our denominational numerical decline.

I sense a changing wind and new spirit at this assembly. Pray that it is so.

Grace and Peace,

John

Fellowship, Prayers, Teaching and the Breaking of Bread

2008-06-23T01:10:00.004-04:00

Sheldon Sorge, in a Pre-Assembly article writes, "Acts 2:42 sets the core paradigm for the gathering of Jesus Christ's mission team: 'They devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.' To the extent that this apostolic pattern shapes our assemblies, an apostolic identity is more like to emerge among us."

Before any real business of the Assembly is done, other than electing a moderator, the assembly gets started with Prayer, Fellowship, Teaching, and the Breaking of Bread. There has been a lot of these elements so far.

Fellowship: the assembly is a reunion for many. Stand in one place here long enough and people from all parts of my life walk by. I've reconnected with family (four cousins are here as observers), peers from college, mission training, seminary, former presbyteries. It is a homecoming reunion, a gathering of the church family. I've made new acquaintances as well. I had dinner with the Association of Executive Presbyters tonight. There is a special bond among those who lead presbyteries.

Prayer: The prayers at worship this morning were rich and meaningful. But the prayer at the end of the Executive's dinner this evening was full of passion, hope, and longing for our beloved church, and for a colleague who has been battling pancreatic cancer for a year and a half, while continuing to lead the rather complex Presbytery of New York City. The room was filled with love for this colleague who gave her witness. A prayer tent has been set up for the assembly.

Teaching: Friday was a day for learning. I attended a pre-assembly anti-racism training. Before the assembly even convened for business, we learned the stories of a Native American lay commissioned pastor, a black Puerto Rican Seminary student, a second generation Korean/American minister. Out going moderator, Joan Gray gave her witness of confronting her subconscious racist ingrained in life in Atlanta.

Worship and the Breaking of Bread: The music at worship this morning was expectedly wonderful, accompanied by organ, brass and tympani, and a large choir. The preaching was pointed and powerful. Joan Gray lifted up to us the impossible commandment Jesus gave his disciples. "Love one another as I have loved you." Not just to love those persons who are easy to love, but the difficult persons in our lives, in the church and the world with whom we contend. It is an impossible commandment made possible only by God. This commandment goes against our human nature. Only by relying on the divine love of God can we fulfill it. I was unexpectedly moved by the necrology role which included a neighboring pastor of my youth, my supervising pastor as a seminary intern, an uncle, 2 seminary professors, and Al Weenink, who I never met, but have heard so much about. There were 610 of them who joined the church triumphant since the last assembly. Multiply the years of ministry among them and the thought of the multitude of lives their collective ministries touched gave me pause for awe and thanksgiving. We broke bread together sustaining and connecting with realities beyond our strength and knowing.

Tonight the committees met for orientation and took up the business before them. Sorge reminds us, "Items of business are like the poor--we have them with us always, and in abundance. Attention to time is not optional. There is a time and place for diaconal service and prophetic declaration, and all the management, regulation, and advocacy they require. But they need to be set in the larger context of building up the Body of Christ to the glory of God for the sake of the world, rather than becoming the core and substance of our gatherings....What we do when we gather shapes and reflects who we are as a body...Acts 2:42 sets the core paradigm...'They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.'" And so did we! The rest is gravy.

Grace and Peace,

John

Church Councils

2008-06-22T10:09:00.002-04:00

You can read the GA news at Lake Michigan Presbytery's web page at www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org/. You can also follow the business via the internet web site set up for the 218th GA. You can register for this by going the GA's web site www.pcusa.org/ and look for the link to pcbiz. You can see all the business before this assembly, access all the overtures, study papers, pick the business you are interested in and follow it.

What I will try to do in this daily blog is give you some of my reflections.

Bruce Reyes-Chow is a young, smart, articulate, energetic, technologically savvy, and successful new church development pastor. He is boldly progressive in his stand, yet "excruciatingly fair" in moderating and engaging others in discussions. Two years ago Joan Gray won the election because she hedged on the big question of ordaining gays and lesbians, saying she did not know and had not come to a determination, because the church had not. It the time I thought that was disingenuous. She made a wonderful moderator and was just what the church needed. Yesterday the assembly elected Bruce who I believe reflects the church, one who has made up its mind and is excruciatingly fair to those who disagree, and who is called to build bridges and love others who disagree in spite of the differences. Bruce came within 2 1/2% from winning on the first round, with the YADs and Theological Students voting overwhelmingly for him. He easily won on the second round of voting. What moved me the most was his installation prayer given by his mother and 11 year old daughter. That was special. Bruce is God's gift to the church.

We worship today, then committees will begin meeting with orientation and team building. Many committees will be using a discernment process. PCBIZ has a resource paper on discernment offers new ways for coming to decisions than many of us are accustom. I expect that this will be part of the orientation.

Finally some closing comments on why do we do all of this. Most church members in the pews that I know dislike the political nature of the church and try to avoid controversial issues at all costs. Many in our culture claim to be spiritual but not religious for this very reason. They feel close to God but not to the church or others who challenge their set beliefs. I believe that undercuts the very nature of the meaning of spirituality, which I understand to have the base meaning of being in relationship with another. The Bible teaches us to love God and neighbor. Jesus pressed it to love our enemies. The practice of coming together, assembling, congregating, is the root meaning of the Greek word for church, ecclesia. Many congregations are pretty homogeneous. People tend to seek out like minded persons with whom to worship and serve. Elders who serve on Sessions and are commissioners to the larger church assemblies are exposed to the lives and hearts and passions of people from a broader world. I believe that this engagement with one another is a laboratory for living in covenant with one another. Encountering others who are different, and who bring a different life perspective to the table is never easy, but when it is done with mutual openness, respect, and love, even when we do not agree, and yet are still bound together in God's covenant and beloved community, is a spiritual experience. That is special. It is a spiritual discipline, a spiritual encounter of meeting Jesus in the other.

Grace and Peace

John Best