Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more. Jeremiah 31:15

Because today is Halloween—or, more importantly, tomorrow is All Saints Day—I was planning to write about our ancestors, and how we will be the ancestors for future generations. I am also looking ahead to our next Presbytery meeting, coming up in less than two weeks, on November 12. It is a November tradition to remember our loved ones who have gone home to the Lord in the past year, so if there is a pastor or church leader you want remembered by the Presbytery, please contact Ally Lee at ally@sangabpres.org. And as it happens, the memorial service for Rev. Doug Edwards will be held that same day, at 1:30 pm at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, followed by a reception at Westminster Gardens at 3:30. A full day of remembrances and plans for the future, as we also present a proposed budget and nominations slate for 2023.

As we give thanks for lives filled with many days of love and purpose, I am crushed by the news of the death of 154 young people at a Halloween street party in Seoul, Korea. It almost feels like the very exuberance in joining the celebration went out of control, and they were literally crushed by the crowd. So many lights of hope and promise lost, and so many families thrown into grief for something that makes no sense. I just pray that God receives every one of these young souls in mercy and eternal peace, and that somehow that peace may find its way into their families’ broken hearts. Whether on this mortal plane or in eternity, we stay connected in Spirit. But they will be missed.

Another November Presbytery tradition is to receive the representation report, gauging who is in Presbytery leadership this past year—and who is missing. As usual, we have just under 100 individuals volunteering for Presbytery office, commissions, committees, and administrative commissions. You may have heard that one of my goals for this presbytery has been to have the leadership more closely reflect the membership of our churches. The area of greatest progress has been racial; while about half of our members are people of color, our leadership is now 41% people of color—not quite equal, but pretty good. However, we are missing Native Americans in leadership.

Perhaps my biggest learning from the Ethnic Concerns Consultation a few weeks ago was hearing from former co-moderator Elona Street-Stewart that there has been great growth in community activities for Native people in our cities, including Los Angeles, but the churches know very little about them.

But the biggest gap we have in the Presbytery is younger leadership. I regularly hear that our churches are aging, so I don’t even know how many young people we have in our membership, but we definitely do not have people under 35 or 40 in our leadership. When talking about raising up Indigenous young people, Elona shared with sadness that her synod no longer has Youth/Young Adult Advisory Delegates.
I thought she meant for the GA, but her synod used to have a program for young people to come to their synod gatherings, because her synod has an extensive leadership training program. I had never even heard of this!

Perhaps because I do not have children, I confess that I have missed what we are missing, and I also lack knowledge of how to invite young people into leadership. I do believe in two initial steps: to become aware of who is missing and pray for their presence, and to show respect for who our young people are, and what they can contribute.

So I raise this concern, and ask that we collectively pray for eyes to see young people in our communities, and ears to hear their voices and the guidance of God, that we may be a church of welcome for all generations. We will continue to mourn the young people lost this last weekend—in Korea, as well as those lost to illness, violence, poverty, and displacement—but while we give thanks for the relative safety of our young ones, we ask for God’s protection on all. We know there are children in our own communities in need—of food and shelter, of good education, but also of a sense of purpose and hope for the future, and the stable presence of adults who care about them. When I was a pastor, I was very aware of the importance of the church for children from troubled families especially, and I believe the church has a sacred calling to be that safe, caring, forgiving, and empowering place for God’s children, regardless of their generation.

Let us pray for young people—with our voices, our hearts, but also with our eyes to see opportunities for us to connect, not only to teach but to learn. Let us pray and show care for our families, especially those who will be entering the holiday season with empty seats at the table. And as with all forms of diversity, may we be able to broaden our knowledge and worship of God, who is great enough to create and love and live through all of us.

With tears of grief and thanksgiving,

Wendy

You shall live in booths for seven days; all who are native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 23:42-43

I think we are all trying to figure out what church will look like as we leave the storm of confusion caused by the COVID pandemic. There is so much uncertainty about what we will be able to return to, and what is changed forever. Many naturally want to “go back to normal” and recreate the church the way we had it, and act like the storm of the pandemic never happened. Others want to continue some of the new learnings and practices we were forced to adopt, and found to be useful: Zoom meetings and streamed worship, for example. And some are going through some post-pandemic stress as they assess the state of their church, like hurricane survivors looking at the state of their homes after the storm has passed.

One thing that I remember from the years of COVID is the faithfulness of God, and the faithfulness of God’s people. Our churches survived amazingly well, through agility and resourcefulness we didn’t know we had. Our faith was tested, and as it became harder to worship and care for each other, we found ways to stay connected with God and with each other, even when exiled to our own homes. This doesn’t mean we did everything right—in fact, my hope is that we learned that God doesn’t expect perfection, but faithfulness, and staying connected imperfectly is better than staying the same, but apart.

As I thought about the possibility of returning to a post-COVID world (if, in fact, we are ready to do this), I thought about the Israelites returning to Jerusalem after the exile. They had much to do as they worked to reestablish their world, starting with the Temple. Their leaders Ezra and Nehemiah gathered them, and read them Scripture, reminding them of the covenant that God had established with them, proved by bringing them through the Exodus, and now bringing them home from the exile.

One of the ways the Jewish people commemorate God’s faithfulness through times of uncertainty is the festival of Sukkot, or Booths, which just happened to have been completed yesterday. I am no expert on this important holiday, but I’ve always been intrigued with it. Along with Passover and Pentecost, Sukkot is one of the three holidays that call Jews to gather in Jerusalem, and has its roots in the traditional harvest festival that most if not all cultures celebrate. While Leviticus mentions the festival of Booths, the holiday is reinstated in Nehemiah 8, when the exiles returned to Jerusalem and tried to rebuild their nation. The people gathered, and the leaders Nehemiah and Ezra read from the Torah to remind the people of God’s faithfulness, and their responsibilities as God’s chosen.

According to Nehemiah 8:14 and 17, “they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Israelites should live in booths. . . And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them, for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the Israelites had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.”

During this festival, the people erect temporary shelters and eat in them for a week; some sleep in them as well. I love the experiential nature of this custom, as the people are reminded of the times when they were thrown into crisis, and God brought them through. Whether they were escaping slavery during the exodus, or homeless in the exile, when the very basic elements of life such as freedom and home are taken away, God’s people were able to persevere. Life wasn’t easy, and sometimes God’s care (and our faith) seemed fragile and impermanent, but we got through. I think these booths are also a reminder of the agility we gain with impermanent structures—a skill I believe we need to keep.

As we try to figure out what the church will look like in our post-pandemic world, we are blessed to have leaders among us who have great insight in this. Two of these leaders have been recognized on a national and international scale. Rev. Dr. Terry McGonigal was dean of spiritual life and then director of church engagement at Whitworth University, and now he works with churches around the country as they consider God’s call to them in this very changed world. Rev. Dr. Dongwoo Lee wrote a book on the post-pandemic church which quickly became a bestseller in Korea.

We have the great opportunity to hear from these two leaders and discuss what God is calling us to be in our churches now. Terry can give us insights he has gleaned from the many churches he is currently advising, and since Dongwoo’s book is in Korean, this talk will enable us English speakers to hear his vision for the next-generation church. Consistent with our pandemic learnings, we are holding this mid-year conference by Zoom, on Saturday, October 29, 9 am-noon. We are asking you register by going to https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlcuChqzkrHtyTsKXYLE8huEeDOBHnmPNL.

Whether reenacting our transient existence in ceremonial booths, or gathering virtually through Zoom, it is important to remember that circumstances will change, but the love of God never changes. Even as we have to adjust our strategies and techniques, may we do so with confidence and hope, knowing that God will get us through. And as we live out our lives with this confidence and hope, may we offer this to the communities around us.

In confidence, hope, and gratitude,

Wendy

But now thus says the Lord,
   the One who created you, O Jacob,
   the One who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
   and the flame shall not consume you.                                                              

Isaiah 43:1-2

So the good news is that the Commission of Assembly of the Synod met last Saturday, and approved several grants to support the ministry of San Gabriel Presbytery:

• Interwoven New Worshiping Community was granted $25,000 for its second year of
• A New Worshiping Community in Temple City, with Andrew Ritiau as its organizing pastor, was granted $28,000. Andrew officially began his tenure with this effort on October 1.
• The Hispanic/Latina Women of the Synod received a grant for $7,500 to help with travel costs to the 10^th biannual gathering of Mujeres Hispanas/Latinas Presbiterianas, PC(USA), to be held in Orlando, Florida. This is in addition to $1,800 of scholarships provided by our own Education, Equipping and Empowerment Revs. Margarita Reyes and Amy Mendez are leaders in this effort, and Puente de Esperanza will be administering the scholarships and travel grants.

At the Commission of Assembly meeting, it was asked whether the meeting would still be held, as Florida is recovering from Hurricane Ian. Over a delicious Korean banquet following the installation of Rev. Dr. Kyungmo Koo as pastor of Divine Light Presbyterian Church yesterday, Amy Mendez confirmed that the meeting will be happening.

Dr. Koo’s installation was a beautiful and joyous occasion, with participants from our presbytery, the synod, and KPCA (Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad), where Dr. Koo had standing and with whose local seminary he has been a professor. KPCA is the closest Korean-speaking denomination to the PC(USA), and in fact many of our pastors have come from the KPCA.

One of those pastors is Rev. Mark Hong, our Synod Executive and Stated Clerk. His entry into the PC(USA) came through San Gabriel Presbytery, when he started as an associate pastor with Korean Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in 1996. Mark continues to be an incredible friend to this presbytery. Sunday afternoon he preached for Dr. Koo’s installation service, but in the morning he preached for Filipino Community United Presbyterian Church in Azusa, who now has an open pulpit since their pastor Rollie Baybay has retired and moved back to the Philippines. Thank God for Mark!

And thank God for the connectional nature of the PC(USA). Not only are we able to celebrate and support each other’s ministries, and share leadership and resources, and connect with sister denominations, our awareness of the larger world is deepened through our fellow siblings in Christ. 

So we can offer financial support to the people whose world was flooded by Hurricane Ian in Florida by going to https://pda.pcusa.org/situation/hurricane-ian/. As you may know, in times of tragedy, we look to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) for direct help, guidance, and coordination, and they ask us to Give, Act, and Pray. The https://pda.pcusa.org/ website has resources for this, including prayers and hymns, for many different crises around the world.

The PDA staff and advisory board were in Southern California two weeks ago, to learn more about the various immigrant ministries of our local presbyteries. During a break, I spoke to PDA staff member Edwin Gonzalez-Castillo about Puerto Rico, which had just been hit by Hurricane Fiona on September 18. He said that the people were terrified of the loss of power because exactly 5 years prior, Hurricane Maria struck, and some people did not get power back for 11 months. You can help Puerto Rico recover from Fiona at https://pda.pcusa.org/situation/hurricane-fiona/.

With our own troubles in North America, it is easy to miss the enormous tragedy in Pakistan. In this monsoon season alone, it has been reported that 1,678 people have died and almost 550,000 people are now living in temporary camps because of the floods that covered 10% of the land mass of the country. Pakistan is vulnerable to floods for many reasons, including poverty, poor governance, overcrowding, and its location on the Indian Ocean (which is warming at a faster pace than other oceans) that includes several of the world’s highest mountains and 7,000 glaciers (the most in the world outside of the polar regions)—and some of those glaciers are melting due to global warming. You can help Pakistan by going to https://pda.pcusa.org/situation/pakistan-flooding/.

It is difficult to imagine how to have hope in the midst of so many catastrophes. But we are a people of hope, because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promise that God will be with us, protecting us, calling us by name, claiming and redeeming us, even in the face of flood and fire. As I mentioned at the beginning of this column, we are also a people of resources, and God has entrusted much to us.

May we demonstrate our faith of God’s provision through our wise and compassionate stewardship, answering the call to be agents of God’s redeeming love for this hurting world. May we share with others, trusting that God will care for us.

In hope and action,

Wendy

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

I have been pretty negligent in connecting with the Japanese-American community, but thanks to family connections, I was invited to participate in a moving experience this last Saturday. Actually, about 200 of us were there, including clergy like Mariko Yanagihara, Steve Yamaguchi (we were the only Presbyterians), a couple Episcopalians, several Methodists, and a whole lot of Buddhist priests. The group also included a handful of internment camp survivors, many descendants of those who had been sent to the camps, and others who have been impacted by or who are helping to tell the story of the Japanese-Americans in America, including several US Park Service rangers and a few Native Americans, because some of the camps were established on US Park lands and Native American reservations.

While the “Sutra and the Bible” exhibit is still open at the Japanese American National Museum, its co-curator, USC professor Duncan Ryūken Williams, has undertaken a multi-level project to collect and raise the name of every person of Japanese descent who was incarcerated by the United States government during World War II. This effort has resulted so far in one massive book and a website, https://ireizo.com/, listing 125,284 persons by year, from Helen Yuriko Tanaka, who was sent to the camps at age 91, to a baby girl who was born at Crystal City, Texas, a Department of Justice camp that was the last to close. The “Sutra and the Bible” exhibit closes in February 2023, but the Ireichō book will be at the museum until September 2023; everyone is invited to come and make a mark in the book to acknowledge the lives of these individuals, most American citizens, as we continue to honor their memory by standing up for any other group that is being persecuted in this nation.

What struck me on Saturday is how this was a lens into a kaleidoscope of experiences, emotions, and stories that were held by the people in the group. This started in the morning, when the ireizo.com website went live, and my family and countless others started searching to find relatives and family friends in the listing. Since you have to scroll through each year starting at 1850 with Helen Tanaka, I ran across relatives I hadn’t thought about for a long time, such as my grandfather’s older brother Masumi Tajima, whom I remember seeing every year on his birthday, New Year’s Day. As I scrolled, the sheer number of names gave me a more visceral experience of what 125,000 people feels like.

The day was also a reunion of sorts. I hadn’t seen Steve Yamaguchi since he left for Japan, where he is now pastor of Tokyo Union Church. He was representing Santa Anita Assembly Center, which was at the racetrack in Arcadia. I represented the assembly center at Tulare-Kings County Fairgrounds, where most of the Pasadena Japanese were sent until the Gila River camp in Arizona was completed. (My family assumed they weren’t sent to Santa Anita because it was so close that they could escape.) Mariko Yanagihara represented The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, which is now a luxury resort. Another small detention center was at Montreat, the Presbyterian retreat center which is deeply loved by many Presbyterians and somewhat troubling to others. Click HERE for a detailed account of Montreat’s role in the war effort as a holding center for German and Japanese families being sent to Germany and Japan as part of a wartime “prisoner exchange.”

And there were so many stories. One of my fellow Tulare descendants is a very dedicated member of Lake Avenue Church, whose strong Evangelical faith was troubled by the strong Buddhist presence (most of the ceremony was accompanied by Buddhist chants). She shared how her grandfather was a World War I veteran, so when he had to report to be incarcerated, he did so in his US Army uniform. Right before us was the Topaz camp delegation, with Rev. Michael Yoshii, a Methodist pastor who once advised me back when I was in seminary. His calling was amplified through his activism in the movement for redress and reparations, as he came to see how the Methodist churches worked for justice as an integral part of living out their faith. He told me that when coming to this event, his mother told him why she had said the camps was the best thing to happen to their family: because his grandfather was an alcoholic who didn’t get sober until meeting a Christian pastor at Topaz. Not only did he stop drinking, but they found the Christian faith as a source of healing and strength.

During the ceremony, Duncan Williams, who is a professor and Zen Buddhist priest, born and raised in Japan of British and Japanese parents, talked about the healing he hoped would be offered through this project. He spoke of kintsugi, which was described by Kirsten Weir in a 2020 article on post- traumatic growth for a publication of the American Psychological Association:

In the traditional Japanese art of kintsugi, artisans fill the cracks in broken pottery with gold or silver, transforming damaged pieces into something more beautiful than they were when new. Post-traumatic growth is like kintsugi for the mind.

I have reflected before about us Presbyterians and our penchant for perfectionism. While it is good to be diligent, it is through our brokenness that we are amazed by God’s healing grace, and through our humility that we allow Christ’s light of hope to shine. And as we see others who are being demonized in society, it is crucial that we remember the stories of our own people, because all of us have been the “other” at some point, for some reason. In our recognition of our own human frailty and recovery, may we best share the healing power of God to a hurting world.

In peace and hope,

Wendy

I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?        

Isaiah 43:19a

Last Tuesday we had a very productive Presbytery meeting. There were so many new ministries celebrated that I honestly feel that years from now, we might look back on this meeting and give thanks to God for giving us the opportunity to strike out on new paths, as we seek to welcome more of our neighbors into the “big tent” of Christ’s grace.

Upon recommendation of the Commission on Ministry, we welcomed four pastors into ministry, all from different backgrounds. Rev. Dr. Erik Wiebe, the only one of the four already ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA), is the new Associate Pastor for Adult Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Care for San Marino Community Church. He comes to us from Santa Barbara Presbytery, and we hope to soon receive his wife Kate, also a minister member of Santa Barbara Presbytery.

Rev. Dr. KyungMo Koo is the new pastor of Divine Light Presbyterian Church. Most recently, Rev. Koo was a professor and an ordained minister of the Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad (KPCA), a denomination with whom the PC(USA) has a close reciprocal relationship.

A ministry plan for a new worshiping community in Temple City was approved. The plan, originally conceived by Ruling Elder Andrew Ritiau, creates a partnership between Westminster Presbyterian Church in Temple City and Arcadia Community Church, where Andrew was serving and first led a similar ministry. The Presbytery commissioned Andrew to be pastor for this new ministry.

Northminster’s pastor, Rev. Dr. Charles Campbell, has decided to go half-time, and their session created a co-pastor model so that Charlie could continue to share his outstanding gifts in worship leadership. The session requested that the Presbytery authorize the ministry of Sam Bang to serve as Co-Pastor for Congregational Life, focusing on pastoral care, administration, and connecting with the community. Sam brings over twenty years of pastoral experience in Christian Reformed and other churches, and administrative leadership at Fuller Seminary. Sam is also on Presbytery staff, and will continue serving the Presbytery part-time as he serves Northminster half-time.

The Presbytery also received a first-year report from Interwoven new worshiping community, and approved second-year funding. Another new worshiping community, Haven, was also endorsed to be enrolled with the Office of the General Assembly. Interwoven and its team, led by Harlan Redmond, continues to fine-tune their ministry as they offer a prophetic voice for justice and significant

commitment especially to those seeking spiritual, emotional, familial, and economic healing and development. Harlan carries on in spirit the legacy of community development that was at the heart of South Hills Presbyterian Church. Haven, initially led by Rev. Dr. Vikki Randall, seeks to be a welcoming family for LGBTQIA students and their families, people of faith who seek a spiritual home that offers God’s love and affirmation. Both these new worshiping communities received $10,000 seed grants from the national church.

I am so grateful that we are able to partner with and support these gifted and faithful pastors as they open our church to more of God’s children, especially those who have not been traditionally served by the PC(USA). These ministries also represent a diversity of cultural, theological, and socioeconomic backgrounds—diverse, yet committed to work together in mutual respect for the sake of the gospel. Thanks be to God!

As we look ahead to 2023, we also have begun to make plans. The Presbytery approved the following minimum compensation standards for our pastors, as follows:

NOTES:

1. Minimum BoP medical dues $11,500
2. General guidelines for reimbursable expenses: half-time solo pastor gets 100%, if not may be pro-rated
3. See revised Presbytery Minimum Policy for leave policies, including Personal Time Off (or equivalent) of 12 days per year (or 6 days at half-time; no accrual from year to year) which can be used for various personal needs such as sick leave, jury duty, personal or parental responsibilities. At any time, 3 days shall be available for sick leave.

The schedule for Presbytery meetings in 2023 was also announced:

• Saturday, February 4 at 9:00 am
• Tuesday, April 25 at 7:00 pm (Zoom meeting)
• Saturday, June 17 at 9:00 am (Day of Service)
• Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 pm (Zoom meeting)
• Saturday, November 18 at 9:00

In this Presbytery meeting, we committed Presbytery resources to new ministries with prayer and hope. These actions are not easy or guaranteed; COM is now working to provide training in Presbyterian polity and practice to help prepare pastors who are new to Presbyterian ministry, church members are adjusting to changes in their churches, and we must always remember that new worshiping communities do not automatically grow into established congregations. But I have seen God bless us when we are obedient, sometimes in ways we do not expect. Yet they are learning experiences and cause for gratitude, as God continues to give us even more than we need.

My prayer, and my belief, is that we will look back on this meeting and be glad and maybe even a little bit proud of what we started, in service to Jesus Christ.

In peace and hope,

Wendy