Melissa will be posting further reflections on the week's sermons. If you would like to comment on one of the postings listed below, please email Melissa.

Scripture for July 20, 2008: Genesis 11:1-9

June 30, 2008 

          Hello from San Jose!  It’s lovely here:  sunny, highs in the 70s and 80s (although the first couple of days it was over 100).  The General Assembly is over, and so much has happened I hardly know where to begin. 

          752 elected commissioners and many more observers, staff, and advisory delegates came from all over the U.S. and beyond to serve on your behalf and do the work of the church.  This happens every two years, and the GA sets the agenda for what will be accomplished until the next time it meets.  Each presbytery elects commissioners (the number each presbytery sends depends on the membership of the presbytery).  I often attend GA as an observer, but this time I was one of four commissioners from Transylvania Presbytery.

          The first thing that happens at each GA is the election of the new moderator.  This is the person who will serve, unpaid, as the church’s leader and representative until the next GA in 2010.  We elected Bruce Reyes Chow, a 39-year-old pastor from California, who has a winning personality and casual style.  He did a great job moderating the rest of the week’s plenary meetings and I think he’ll be a positive voice for the church over the next two years.

          My favorite part of General Assembly is always the big Sunday worship service.  In addition to commissioners and observers, churches from all over the general area cancelled their regular services and joined in for worship.  This year, 8,000 of us gathered in two sites, and some of the service was sent over live satellite feed to a big screen in the other venue.  For example, the sermon was preached in one place by the outgoing moderator and was viewed in the other location.  Then she traveled during the music and officiated at communion in the second place and was seen on screen at the first!  It actually went very smoothly.  Each site had an orchestra, organ, and a choir of about 100 voices from 41 California churches.  The music was amazing and the service inspiring.  We honored the retirement of six missionaries with a combined 139 years of service in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  We sent out 18 new full time mission co-workers who will be in partnership with churches in countries all over the world.  We commissioned seven long term mission volunteers and 96 young adult volunteers to work both in this country and abroad.  We honored both continuing (16) and retiring (22) military chaplains.  It was quite an experience!

          On Sunday night through Tuesday night, committees met and discussed business.  All the business that is referred to GA (through agencies, presbyteries, synods, or other entities) is distributed to committees, each composed of 60+ commissioners and advisory delegates.  The committees and business are arranged by topics, so that each committee receives related items.  The committee on which I served was Mission Coordination and Budgets.  We received items of business relating to the General Assembly Council, the mission arm of the church, including helping to develop a process to resolve issues between that Council and the Presbyterian Foundation when questions arise about how to use designated funds.  We had a great committee, and a lot of business!

          Wednesday through Saturday, the assembly reconvened in plenary session, and heard reports from the various committees on how to handle all the various items of business.  The assembly can accept, reject, or adapt any committee’s report.  Some items generate a lot of discussion from the floor; some generate none.  Sometimes there are amendments, substitute motions, minority reports, amendments to amendments…  You get the picture!

          There was much to celebrate at this assembly.  More than ever, I sensed a strong feeling that mission is at the core of our church, and nearly everyone is behind the mission work of who we are.  (The entire assembly viewed a video about Living Waters for the World!)  Another strong emphasis was on youth and young adults.  There is a sense of energy around involving young people in the life of the church, and our election of a 39-year-old pastor emphasized this.  The entire assembly seemed to be infused with a positive sense of where we are headed, through the help of the Spirit.

          But that’s, sadly, not what the secular media finds interesting.  We also had some disagreements which were widely reported.  If you read the article in Saturday’s Herald Leader, I found it to be pretty accurate.  The assembly is sending out to presbyteries a proposed change in the Book of Order to an addition that was made in 1996.  It’s a bit complicated, but you can read the church news article here:  www.pcusa.org/ga218/news/ga08131.htm

          The interesting and hopeful news to me this year was that, even when we were fighting over sexuality, our assembly discussions seemed less rancorous than in years past.   Of course, some people (on both sides) were quite angry, but there seemed to be fewer of them.  Most people seem more interested in looking at the mission of the church and doing God’s work in the world than they are in arguing.  This seemed a very positive sign to me.

          So, all in all, it was a busy but wonderful week.  There is so much positive news in the church that never gets reported.  To read about it, visit www.pcusa.org.  

          I am grateful for this time you have given me to participate in the church’s highest governing body.  Thank you, always, for your support.

          If you’re interested in hearing more about GA, come to the large conference room at 9:45 this Sunday, July 6.  I’ll tell you all about it and answer whatever questions you may have.  See you then!

Scripture for June 15, 2008: Genesis 3

June 9, 2008 

Cicadas.

            They are taking over.  In the last couple of weeks, we have gone from seeing the first arrivals to the nearly constant hum of their increasing presence.  Shells cling to trees and walls and expired insects litter the sidewalks.  Once I saw a man late at night collecting them from his lawn using a lantern and a glass jar.  I cannot imagine what he planned to do with them, and I’m not sure I really want to know.

            So far, I haven’t found the cicadas annoying, just entertaining, and an unexpected occasion for reminiscing.  I remember the last two occurrences of the 17-year cycle.  Seventeen years ago we were living in Louisville as Jerry took a promotion with his company and we were starting a new life in a new place.  The time before that I was a child spending a good part of the summer at my family’s cabin in the mountains, surrounded by old-growth forest and the sound of cicadas that was nearly deafening.  Even though my parents sold that cabin a few years ago, in my memory I can still smell the warm dampness of the forest floor and the honeysuckle that grew at its edges.

            Strange, isn’t it, how our memories are so keyed to the senses?  A sound or sight or smell can suddenly take us back to another time and place.  Many find worship to provide that kind of connection to the past.  The texture of a small piece of bread and the taste of juice may call to mind times when you ate grapes right off the vine or bread right out of the oven.  The smell of flowers in a vase may remind you of strolling in a garden the day before.  The sound of great organ music or a choral anthem may draw you back to another time in this or some other church when God’s presence was nearly tangible and you knew you were loved.  A baptism recalls the time of our own baptism, or that of a child or special person in our lives.

            Worship moves us back and forth, connecting us with generations past, our own past, the current moment, and the future.  This church building has now seen nine cycles of cicadas!  To think of all that has gone on here in that time is mind boggling. 

Even as we love reminiscing, we don’t stay in the past.  Who could have imagined all the technological changes we’ve seen since the last cicada arrival seventeen years ago?  No one can foresee what the world or our individual lives  will be like seventeen years from now.  Children we know will be grown; there will be new additions to our families; life-changing events will have occurred. 

God’s world keeps turning around us.  The seasons come and go; nature breathes new life each spring and goes to sleep in the fall; year follows year.  Over all the decades of a human life, amid all the changes, God’s presence remains constant.  It is the one thing on which we can rely in an ever-changing world.  God calls us to remember the past; God moves us to be alive to the present; God points us to a future full of hope.  May the call of the cicada remind us of the quieter call of God which carries us throughout our lives.

June 2, 2008

            On Monday of this week, I returned from a thrilling trip to Mexico.  Michele Pinkston, our Living Waters for the World Coordinator, Tom Pierson, All-Around Tech Guru, and I made a brief trip to check on VPC’s two previous water purification system installations and to scout out a third.

            After a loooooong day of travel, we arrived in Mérida safely and with all our luggage early on Thursday, May 29 (we were supposed to have arrived the evening before).   We drove about 2 ½ hours to Lerma to pick up Pastor Carlos Arias, our contact person for all our Living Waters churches.  The first thing he told us was that he’d just learned about a problem in the system we installed last year in Oxcabal.  Apparently the brine tank had developed a significant crack.  We made the quick decision to backtrack ½ hour to Campeche to the store of our supplier where we purchased another tank.  With this six-foot long, 10-inch diameter tank down the middle of our minivan, we got started late but prepared (we hoped) for our visits.

            Our first stop was a couple of hours later at Revolución, a small pueblo we had passed many times on our way to other places.  We found the people there to be very interested and able to partner with us in building a water purification system for their community.  The municipal water system does not produce clean water.  There is quite a bit of sickness in their community and the people cannot always afford to buy the five-gallon containers of water from the local tienda (store), especially since the rising price of corn, their staple food, is taking up more and more of their meager income.  A system in Revolución would improve the health of the community, we believe, just as similar systems have in our previous two sites.  This town looks like a promising site for our next installation.

            After leaving Revolución, we traveled just a few more minutes to our first installation site (2006) of Miguel Colorado.  The original operator, Javier, has been elected as comisario of the town (we think that is sort of like our office of mayor).  Because of his new responsibilities he is no longer able to devote the necessary time to running the system every day.  I’ll let Michele tell you more of this story in her mission report on June 15, but suffice it to say that now several women of the church have become the operators.  Their record keeping is impeccable and the system is continuing to provide clean water for nearly the entire town.  One of the telling stories they told us is that when they had a mechanical problem a few months ago and the system was down for eight days, all the children once again got sick.  This story illustrates the difference that the little church in that town (and your generous gifts) are making in the everyday lives of their community.  Because of their ministry, that tiny church will be baptizing and receiving eight new members in July. 

            We left Miguel Colorado on an emotional high after seeing how well things were going there, but the rest of the trip would be just as good.

            The next morning we visited another possible site in Escárcega, a larger city.  Again, the members of the little Presbyterian church were extremely gracious and very interested in having a water purification system.  This one will definitely go on our list of potential sites.  After a trip to the hardware store for some things Tom thought we might need for the Oxcabal repair, we hit the road.  On the way we visited two sites we’d seen last year:  Las Cristalinas and Nicolas Bravo.  These are tiny communities with very small Presbyterian churches.  We’re unsure if they have the number of people and the ability at this time to maintain and operate a water system.  Perhaps at a future time.

            Finally we came to Oxcabal to get a look at the failed tank.  Even though they’d been able to keep operating, Tom and Carlos and the operators decided that the tank should definitely be replaced.  This was an involved process of emptying the brine out of the tank, separating it from the gravel, and then putting the brine solution back into the new tank before setting it in place.  All went extremely well, and more quickly than we’d expected.  Soon the system was back up and running with the new tank.

            The most exciting part of this stop in Oxcabal, though, was how well things were running.  The church members had tiled the floor of the building that houses the system and had installed lovely hand-made cabinets to store materials.  They’d put in sliding glass windows where they sell the bottled water, and had purchased a tricicleta, a three-wheeled bike with a large carrying compartment that they use to deliver the water to the elderly.  They were supplying water to nearly the whole town and reported a sharp decrease in disease, especially among children.  Word had spread to a neighboring town, where some people from the little church there sometimes come with a pickup truck to buy 50 five gallon bottles at a time for their own village.  Results of the health education from our team members could be seen everywhere, in signs reminding people to wash their hands, in the boxes of school supplies the Oxcabal church is still using with the children, and in the sight of healthy children running down the streets after school.  We dropped off Pastor Carlos at his home in Lerma and went on to Campeche to spend the night.

            On Saturday we went to a supply house to purchase new plastic water bottles, caps and seals for each system, and on the drive back to Mérida we talked almost constantly about how well everything was going.  We felt the trip was hugely successful in that the people who were operating the systems and the entire churches had taken true ownership and pride in improving the health of their communities.

            Sunday morning Tom and Michele left for home, but I stayed one more day to make a final visit.  I went to worship at the Paz de Dios church in Mérida where our youth had worked last summer to help lay the foundation for a new sanctuary.  I was thrilled to see that the walls have now been completed, thanks to your generous gifts, and the church members are patiently raising money for the next phase, the roof.  What a joy to be greeted in yet one more place as your representative, and to see friends we’d worked with last summer.

            In this entire trip, Michele, Tom and I were constantly reminded of the partnerships that have developed between VPC and a few churches in Mexico. What a blessing it is to receive thanks in all these places for your generous gifts which have made an unimaginable difference in the lives of people.  Because of you, children are growing up healthy and strong, women and men have learned new skills and have earned new respect as community leaders, systems are running well because the local people have taken full ownership of them, the elderly of communities are cared for, and a growing church is building a new sanctuary.

            The phrase that keeps coming to my mind as I continue to reflect on this trip is one that all our Mexican friends used with huge smiles as they spoke of the good things they are accomplishing, “Gracias a Dios!”—“Thanks be to God!”  And thanks to all of you who make this mission work possible.

Scripture for June 8, 2008: Genesis 1:26-31

May 19, 2008

           Today I begin a new experiment in blogging!  I’m interested to see how it goes.  “Blog” is short for “web log” and is just that:  a place to post a log online.  I plan to use this space, for the most part, to offer some further reflections on the most recent sermon.  Normally, it will be posted on Mondays. 

            The biblical book of Genesis is the topic for the sermon series I began yesterday.  I expect this series to last through most of the summer and fall, with breaks when I’m out of town or when we have Youth Sunday, for example. 

Genesis can be a pretty hot topic these days.  Just walk into a room full of people, ask what they think about evolution, and stand back!  Everyone has an opinion.  More about that next week, when Genesis 1 is our topic.

            This week, I’m more interested in the beginnings of the book of Genesis itself.  Its very title means “beginning,” and comes from the first verse:  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis is a book that stirs the imagination of the believer.  If we don’t get stuck in the creation story, we find the entire book is full of stories of the faithful and the not so faithful.  It’s a book of stories of families, enemies, treachery, murder, redemption, grace, sin, danger, fidelity, infidelity—things that make us human.  One can never accurately say that the Bible sugar-coats what people are like, especially after reading this book!

            So, if you’ve never read past the creation story, now is a good time to pick up the book of Genesis and see what it has to say.  Do you find its stories interesting, compelling, scary, curious, all of the above?  How does your own faith story connect (or not) with the stories of the Bible?  Which stories are your favorites?  I’d love to hear from you.

Scripture for May 25, 2008: Genesis 1:1—2:4