In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Luke 2:1

Sometimes I am struck with the matter-of-fact elements in the Bible. Some of the most important moments in God’s story with us happen when the humans involved are off doing other things. Take Christmas, for example. Yes, there’s a celestial body lining up to point foreign astrologers to the Christ child, and heavenly messengers trying to prepare folks for the big event. But for the most part, the world is going about doing its business as usual—shepherds are going out with their flocks, the priest Zechariah took his turn to tend to the temple and offer incense, and the government was issuing decrees and looking out to cut down political rivals.

By mentioning Caesar Augustus’s census, Luke tells us when in human history God broke in and became one of us, and explains why Jesus was born into a temporarily displaced family, who spent his first night on earth in an animal food trough, because there was no guest room available. For all but a handful of folk, this greatest moment in human history went totally unnoticed.

It got me wondering. Our current president has a penchant for issuing executive orders—he has signed 225 between January 20^th and December 20^th. So what momentous thing might have happened in the world, while the president is signing off on yet another executive order?

While it’s nice to have special days like holidays or birthdays to remind us to reflect on history as we know it, the fact is that God’s timing is not our own, and is not bound to take action when we are looking. Conversely, we may be doing just what God needs not in the big steps we take, but the small, faithful ones that no one notices. God might even like acting in ways we do not expect—like the King of Kings being born in a cow’s stall. As one Advent song goes,

Come, wander where lion and lamb gently play,
where evil is banished and faith takes the day,
a babe in a manger to fool the world’s eyes.
One candle is lit for God’s loving surprise.

This is my last column as Executive Presbyter (yes, finally!), and I have thought about my legacy, or what did I do that made a difference. But who knows what God uses to strengthen a church, or heal a wounded heart, or expand God’s kin-dom? God has worked through a young shepherd boy with a small harp, a poor young girl cocky enough to say “Yes” when told she will bear the Son of God, multiple women giving birth way beyond their years, even murderous men and angry prophets.

So while I have been greatly blessed to serve San Gabriel Presbytery, and to receive such support in our work together, let us continue to strive to be faithful, obeying God’s will whether we are called to do something newsworthy or something even we don’t think makes any sense. Because we all have a piece of the puzzle, and it doesn’t matter how big or pretty the piece is—the full picture will not be complete without what you bring.

Thank God for each of you, for the ways you seek to do God’s will, for your loyalty to your church and your call, for the countless years given to serving in your current and other churches: singing in the choir, counting the offering, sitting with a first-time visitor, scrubbing the toilet, giving someone a ride, working in the food pantry, standing up to a bully, forgiving someone who hurt you, preaching that sermon, serving on session, praying for lands you will never visit . . . in this and other acts of faithfulness and kindness, even the little favors you do that no one notices, you are participating in God’s plan of salvation.

May you have eyes to appreciate God’s handiwork in your life. May you have the patience to wait on the Lord, and the courage to move even if you’re not ready when God is. And may you feel the love and healing power of the Spirit when you act as a channel of God’s grace for this hurting world.

God bless you, this Christmas, throughout 2026, and beyond. May you take a moment once in a while, and feel a little of the overwhelming love Christ has for you.

Merry Christmas!

Wendy

Mary said,

“My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,
     and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.

For you have looked with favor upon your lowly servant.
     Surely from now on, all generations will call me blessed.”

Luke 1:46-48

 I’ve been overwhelmed with the generosity that has been shown to me as I near retirement. (Yes it is coming; next week will be my last column.) There have been gifts to help me travel in the freedom of retirement which humble me. But there have been other kinds of gifts that have touched me as well, such as notes from people giving specific examples of how I impacted their ministry—and I’m doubly thankful that they have chosen to focus on the positive impacts.

There have even been unexpected gifts related to my post-fire life. My beloved staff colleagues surprised me with Christmas ornaments, since of course I’m starting from scratch on Christmas décor. And I find sweet gifts from the Eagle Rock neighborhood where I am now living. For instance, nearly everyone has a dog or two, so we’re always seeing each other as we walk the dogs (yes, I take two walks a day, which is new for me). I appreciate the friendliness and consideration of my neighbors, especially when my dogs act out a little. And on one of the routes I take, there is a budding ceramicist, and like all folks working with clay, they have “seconds” that this artist decides isn’t quite perfect.
So they put the pieces out on the driveway with a sign inviting folks to take what they want for free. This has happened a couple times so far, that I go out walking with my dogs, and come back with lovely hand-made, beautifully glazed ceramics pieces!
Another unexpected gift has been Lisa Hansen beginning to attend meetings related to the Presbytery, and she and I have had meetings to discuss my perspective on the life of San Gabriel Presbytery, and some of the active projects and priorities that I will need to hand off to her. I’ve always been amazed at Lisa’s ability to handle multiple responsibilities at once, and she has shown great ability to grasp the complexities of this ministry, so while there needs to be room for her to make the changes she discerns, the transition will be as smooth as can be hoped for.

While we are all too familiar with the Christmas story, we have to remind ourselves that this greatest gift of all came through multiple unexpected gifts, from a baby coming to the aging couple Zechariah and Elizabeth, another baby coming to the unwed teenaged virgin Mary, and angels singing to the glory of God to shepherds tending their flocks at night. Every time, the recipients of the gifts first
responded with fear (which is why I don’t feel bad that when I discern God’s will, I often feel fear). But I love Mary’s song in response to the news given to her by the angel Gabriel, because she’s pretty confident in what she’s about to do. I often think that her confidence about this awesome new call comes with her youth. But young as she is, she is aware of the historic legacy that she has been given, a blessing that will be honored for generations.

This last week I saw some unexpected gifts that I hope will come in 2026, gifts that will celebrate God’s goodness for generations. First, you may have noticed a flyer in today’s MMU that came out of a collaboration of Veronica Ota and Katherine Lee Baker, as they highlight some opportunities for young adults from across our presbytery to come together and get to know each other and learn about opportunities to make a difference in our world. Please forward the flyer to anyone you think might be interested.

Then I heard from Harlan Redmond that Dick Young, the director of Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center at Lake Tahoe, came to Interwoven last Sunday, on the recommendation of Zephyr Point board member N’Yisrela Watts-Afriyie. N’Yisrela has been trying for years to make Zephyr Point more accessible to diverse members of the PC(USA), especially for young people. Dick’s
presentation showed the incredible beauty of Zephyr Point, which led Interwoven’s worship leader to suggest a church retreat in 2026! When I heard about it, my brain exploded, in a good way, like it did when Mona Morales Recalde asked if La Casa could be a landback. I asked Harlan if they might be open to include others for a retreat, and he said yes. I told Harlan about the road trip we took to Zephyr a few years ago, and we had a blast. And the leaders of Love Community Church in Azusa (aka Filipino Community United Presbyterian Church) have fond memories of growing up at youth camps at Zephyr Point—that’s how they know Bruce Reyes-Chow, who continues to have a close relationship with them, and with Zephyr Point.

I can’t make this happen, but I was so happy to hear about the possibilities that some of our younger leaders like Katherine and Veronica and Harlan and others can offer, with help from leaders who have been around for a while like N’Yisrela. I have worried that we have been losing ground connecting with the younger generations (though we do have some churches like Interwoven and Live Oak and Good Shepherd Taiwanese and Knox and Love and Mideast Evangelical and New Hope, among others, who have strong intergenerational memberships), and I know that Deborah Owens, chair of our Education Equipping and Empowerment Committee, has prioritized events with the younger generations in their efforts next year. So it feels like a God moment, and I pray that the Spirit continues to move through these leaders and more to break open a new dawn of intergenerational ministry in San Gabriel Presbytery. That would be a wonderful unexpected gift for all of us!

As we continue on our Advent journey, may we have eyes to see the new life that God is bringing into our world. Our world needs it as much now as ever, and we as people of faith can be bearers of good news as much as poor shepherds, young and old parents of infants, and foreign wise men. Thanks be to God! May we enjoy all the gifts God offers us, whether we have been praying for them for years, or they come totally unexpected.

Praising Immanuel, God with us, for all generations,

Wendy

The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

Yesterday I worshipped with a church I rarely visit, Good Shepherd Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. I know that most of the congregation understands English, because I told them that I often see churches when they are experiencing problems, so the fact that they never see me is good news for them—and they all laughed before the Elder Henry Liao could translate for me!

But this was a celebration, their 45^th anniversary. And from the looks of it, the church is vibrant, and well-positioned to continue serving and celebrating as they transition to the next generation. In fact, this has always been the great gift of this church: their commitment, from the beginning of the church, to include the younger generations. They don’t just take care of them, but proactively think about them, listen to them, bring them into leadership, and invest in their ministry. All generations are present in worship, and the energy of the younger generations is evident everywhere on the church campus. One thing I noticed this weekend is that the worship is much more bilingual (Taiwanese and English) than before. I always wondered about the young people in worship when everything was in Taiwanese, because immigrants’ children who are born in the United States almost always prefer to worship in English. In the past, this church held to Taiwanese in worship, and the younger folk loved the church so much they strained to follow the gist of the worship service. But now, nearly everything was presented in both languages, which I expect is appreciated—at least by me!

My sermon, focused partly on Isaiah 11:1-10, touched on the radical change that had to happen if Isaiah’s prophecy is to take place, and that John the Baptist’s condemnation of the Pharisees and Sadducees seemed to be against their complacency, assuming their salvation was based on their status, rather than active faith. But the call to bear fruit was proclaimed, with force and not a little threat.

It occurred to me that John’s call for repentance exposed a mistake that we all make—that we want the good news to come, but without having to face the disruption of change. One night when I was reading through the Isaiah passage, a pack of coyotes went on the attack outside my house. It sounded awful as they screamed and howled, but of course I wasn’t going to open my door for fear of my little dogs getting out. And it occurred to me—how would the lamb feel when the wolf came to live with her, or the baby goat when the leopard lay down next to him? And what mother would risk having her baby play near the pit of a cobra? And what father would let his child put their hand into the nest of a poisonous snake? In order to live into God’s new world, we have to go beyond our fears, and trust God’s wild, Holy Spirit.

Immediately after my sermon, the children were to present a couple of songs. There was a delay before the doors opened and they came down the aisle, and I was reminded how children’s sermons can be the times in worship when anything can happen. The children did enter eventually, and came up to the chancel. It was a pleasant problem that the children had a hard time fitting in the chancel, especially because they had some hand flags they would use in the second song. So they came up, knocking the pulpit with the flags, and as the teachers were trying to position them to lessen the chance of them knocking each other, I could see one boy in the back who couldn’t help but dance!

And he was pretty good, too!

In that moment, I was struck with the power of this teachable moment, when the kids were leading in worship and teaching us all what the wild, Holy Spirit looks like!

On this 45^th anniversary, there were many very precious moments for me, like when one of the founders of the very first Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Los Angeles, Formosan on Olympic Boulevard, came up to me to tell me how he sees the name “Tajima” in his hallway every day (his son was awarded a college scholarship as the editor of the Moor, the weekly school newspaper of Alhambra High School, where my father taught journalism for 35 years). And David Huang, the organizing pastor of Good Shepherd Taiwanese, is still full of vigor at 89 as we talked about the church’s commitment from the start to focus on raising up each new generation. And Ming Hsu, the current pastor, and lead elder Henry Liao told me about their new plan to create an outdoor space for the young people at the church, including a meeting area and a basketball court.

As we continue in Advent, we continue to recall the legacies of the past, such as the faithful prophets who shared God’s promises of a restored future, and we recognize the power of a legacy that includes welcoming the holy unknown, such as the Christ child and also the leadership of future generations in our own churches. Thank God for prophets who dared to empower the next generation to do what their parents never imagined! May we be open to wonder and joy and new life—and all the changes new life brings—as we live into the kin-dom of heaven that came with Jesus’ birth.

With Advent hope,

Wendy

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen this glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From this fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John 1:14, 16

As I mentioned last week, every time I go into one of our churches, I am struck with varied memories of working with them and witnessing their faithfulness. Yesterday I preached at Community Presbyterian Fellowship in West Covina, because their pastor Amy Mendez went back to Guatemala for a family wedding. In the service, we remembered the bold decision the session made to become a fellowship of the Presbytery, which resulted in them continuing to worship on their campus, while also welcoming International Theological Seminary and now three other churches with whom they share ministry. I saw some of the leaders who have been there for decades, the elder who spoke eloquently about the opportunity God had given them to make a significant contribution to the global church by partnering with ITS, and several people who have become dedicated members after their church in Baldwin Park church was closed (and is now becoming the place where 15 families will be able to own property in Southern California for the first time), but also the family of an African ITS student who is now interning there, and the gifted Indonesian musician who is now on staff of the church, as organist and church administrator.

I then went to have lunch at Filipino Community United Presbyterian Church in Azusa, now called Love Community Church SGV, who really live into their new name as a vibrant, fun-loving, committed, intergenerational family of Christ. They enjoy doing mission work in the Philippines but also with Habitat for Humanity locally, and are in the process of opening their ministry to people of multiple cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations and gender identities, with the very able leadership of Pastor Dr. Tracey Shenell. One of their leaders once raised the question of how to be a multicultural church without losing the identity and values and traditions of their Filipino heritage.

This is a very insightful question, especially for an Asian church, because in my experience, when Asian churches receive an influx of non-Asian (especially Western) members, the new members are comfortable critiquing the Asian church, questioning if they are Christian enough because of the ways their church life differs from a typical dominant culture church. It seems to be the religious corollary to the stubborn assumption that Asian-Americans are perpetual foreigners—those of European heritage subconsciously assume that all Asians are new Christians, and too many Asians buy into the expectation that they will never “get” Christianity as well as the people who have claimed the Christian faith for centuries.

I ended the day with Capstone Presbyterian Church, whose ministry really does focus primarily on people new to the Christian faith. Nearly all their members come from mainland China, a nation that was never predominantly Christian, and even with longtime government restrictions easing in recent years, multiple surveys set the percentage of Christians in China at 2-4%. (For a nation as large as China, that is impressive, when one considers that Japan is still less than 1% Christian.) Capstone continues to work to help people with no cultural context for religion of any kind to not only live into the Christian faith, but in a foreign land.

On Thanksgiving, I went to Praise Community Church to preach at their annual Thanksgiving Day worship service, followed by a Thanksgiving lunch. I believe this tradition is one more example of Praise’s strong cultural consciousness, as their rule that the Thanksgiving meal can only have American food (not even rice!) helped teach the church about a decidedly American holiday. This intentional respect for culture has always made Praise a model of intercultural Christianity for me. I remember going to Praise (then known as First Thai Presbyterian Church in the USA, a reflection of their standing as the first Thai Christian church in the United States) as far back as 2008, or six years before I came onto San Gabriel Presbytery’s staff. They were my first and best model for a seamless bilingual worship service. Now, Praise has several mainland Chinese members, a White praise band, a Latina choir director, and they welcome all of them with that wonderful grace that is such a gift of the Thai culture. They still do simultaneous translation (though now it’s almost all going from English to Thai), but they now translate the sermon and print it for Chinese speakers. And on their

screens in worship, the Scripture was shown in four languages—Thai, Chinese, English, and Spanish! What continues to impress me, though, is the way that Thai culture is still honored and used in ministry, and in their generosity they now share that cultural respect with the cultures of other members. People from all backgrounds are welcomed, and those who choose to can learn some lovely Thai traditions. I mentioned this to Love’s pastor, Tracey Shenell, as an example of an Asian church that has opened their church to others, but has not lost their cultural roots. Grace upon grace.

Speaking of grace, this transition from First Thai to Praise came with the pastoral leadership of Peter Tan-Gatue, who is Filipino (and who knows Love, back when they were Filipino Community United). Peter has shown grace in so many situations in this year that he has been Associate Executive Presbyter; we are most thankful for his work and expertise and pastoral presence.

As I hope you can see, the Word does indeed live among us. I have always been amazed at the unique history and giftedness of every congregation, not only in San Gabriel Presbytery but all around the world. But in our little corner of Christ’s church, we have some wonderful stories to tell. I pray that you find a way to share your stories, and to connect with other churches, that you may learn of their experiences as well. We are indeed blessed, that we may be a blessing to the nations.

May we continue to learn from each other, support each other’s ministries, and love each other, that together we may continue to be a channel of Christian love to our varied communities, in all their rich diversity.

Grace upon grace indeed! With Advent hope,

Wendy

I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers . . .

Ephesians 1:16

For a long time, I’ve thought about a Thanksgiving column, and how would I be able to share the gratitude I have for the blessings of the Presbytery of San Gabriel?

Should I have a “Top 10” list of favorite memories, or accomplishments of the Presbytery? Should I thank the people whom I have always relied on, for advice or support? Should I mention the many and varied ways churches showed their gifts—gifts like faithfulness, perseverance, generosity, creativity, or something else? Should I list the people and circumstances that give me hope for the future of the Presbytery?

Any of these approaches are problematic. Some are too specific and subjective—and might even be embarrassing for someone (not only me!). And others would be way too long for any one or a hundred columns. Actually, many of my past columns (and I haven’t figured out how many I’ve written, but I’m guessing about, what, 550?) pointed to events, churches, or individuals who have given me a glimpse of God’s realm brought to earth.

In fact, for just about every church in the Presbytery, several totally random memories come up in my head and in my heart. This occurred to me this last Saturday, because I went to a concert that happened to be at Knox Presbyterian in Pasadena. It wasn’t a Knox concert; it featured the son of a friend of mine—but it held some wonderful surprises, in the form of the musical group Mostly Kosher, a fabulously hip Klezmer band, and their related Urban Voices Project, that brings together professional musicians and folks from Skid Row and other disadvantaged communities.

As I walked into Knox’s sanctuary, I thought about some key leaders at the church, including a dear friend with whom I was a seminary intern 28 years ago and her wise and peacemaking husband; then I remembered one of those “only in church” moments involving the organ and a strange swishing noise; and how Knox is the first of several miracle stories I heard or witnessed in San Gabriel Presbytery; and some of the experiences I’ve had at Knox.

While Knox is a wonderful church, what hit me was the thought that whenever visiting any church in the Presbytery, I can think of several memories I will take with me as I go into retirement. Some happened before I started, but I was told about. Some I witnessed myself. Some will be impressive and inspiring. Some will be important lessons I learned. Some will make me smile. Some will make me shake my head. But the fact I can do this reflects the rich history of each of our churches, most recently when we worked together in pretty profound ways—not always happily or easily, and we did not always end up with a clear resolution, but I trust we were always faithful. And that is a privilege and a responsibility that I never took lightly.

Yesterday I enjoyed many things in the life of God’s people, beginning with an exercise that helped us realize that while we perceive things differently, we are all in the same ark together—and it ended with an interfaith Thanksgiving service in Altadena that reflected the strength of the community that has been revealed in the challenges of 2025. In that service, Mona Morales Recalde shared that there is no word for “thank you” in the Tongva language; the closest corollary is translated as “my heart is full.” I cannot count the days when I felt that my heart was not only full, but overflowing—with joy, with awareness of God’s love, with awe, and yes, with gratitude. It has been a supreme blessing to walk this leg of your journey with you.

I pray that you have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving. And I pray that you may also remember some of the many ways God has blessed you, even in this unusually complicated year. Thanks be to God, for blessings known and unknown.

With thanks, to you and to God,

Wendy