So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.          Isaiah 55:11

Last week was WinterFest, and the first Presbytery meeting of the year. As the week went on, more and more of us started to express what we were feeling. We were feeling great hope for the future of San Gabriel Presbytery, and even the whole PC(USA).

Though the Presbytery meeting was short, we honored and celebrated several members of our community. We named the loved ones who have gone home to the Lord since November, including pastors Andy Jarvis, Foster Shannon, and Louis Simmen; pastor spouses Stan Moore and Phyllis Little, and church members like Gerry Marks who, at 106, was the oldest member of South Hills; Bob Pitzer, long-time leader of Westminster Temple City; Benny Valle of Iglesia de la Comunidad; and Barbara McKenzie’s mother Lois.

But we weren’t limited to good-byes. We enthusiastically advanced Harlan Redmond to candidacy in the CPM process, welcomed Tom Eggebeen and Amy Mendez, and then elected Amy to COM and Karen Sapio to CPM. Because West Covina site pastor Bruce Myers is looking to retire in Colorado, the West Covina AC invited Amy to be the new site pastor, starting this month. And Presbytery leadership transitioned to Dave Tomlinson, new Presbytery Moderator, and Pat Martinez-Miller, Presbytery Vice-Moderator. Outgoing Moderator (and now Executive Commission Moderator) Deborah Owens gave a strong message about the work of the Presbytery as a part of the Matthew 25 movement, especially confronting and eradicating the systemic racism that has plagued this nation and our denomination. We made good progress last year, but there is still work that needs to be done.

So a big part of the hope comes from new friends coming into our community, and folks stepping forward as leaders. But I was most impressed with the WinterFest sessions, where I learned several new things. It felt to me almost revolutionary, as we spent the week talking about mental health—for longer and in newer ways than I have heard any presbytery do. I want to share a few highlights, with the caveat that what follows are the notes and reflections are my own understanding of what was shared, through my own lay person’s filters, so I apologize if I misquote folks. We are hoping to put together resources that will be better vetted by people qualified to do so, but here are a few thoughts to consider for now.

The term “neurodiversity” was mentioned by different speakers every night. Wikipedia describes it as “a challenge to prevailing views that certain things currently classified as neurodevelopmental disorders are inherently pathological” and that this approach “is especially popular within the autism rights movement.” It offers the church a new way to be inclusive, as the church can be a place where differing ways of perceiving and expressing our human experience can be a reflection of God’s creativity and the range of human giftedness. Much of the various discussions was in support of appreciating the infinite ways our brains work; I think Dr. Ryan Thomas of Greenhouse Therapy Center said there are as many brain states as there are stars in the universe. That means each of us is somewhere in the larger neurodiversity spectrum, but with our own unique combination of gifts and challenges. As Rev. Dr. Bethany McKinney Fox quoted, “If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person.

So then how do we assess mental health—or more specifically, mental unhealth? Rev. Dr. Sophia Eurich-Rascoe suggested that mental health is when one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions get one’s needs met. When one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions fall outside the customary range of experience AND cause disruption in inner and outer environments, that becomes unhealthy. Church leaders were encouraged to understand that this may have physiological or non-physiological aspects, and while we need to challenge the tendency to set narrow and rigid definitions of “customary” or “appropriate” behavior, it is acceptable to set boundaries. The question for us in the church is how to set the boundaries that Jesus would set, which may be more inclusive of diverse benign behavior, and more strict against behaviors that exclude or condemn people who embody the Christian life in new ways.

Another recurrent theme throughout the week was grief. This was expected, of course, as we have all been grieving many people, and many aspects of our lives this last two years. We even grieve the ways we haven’t been able to grieve in ways we’re used to. Dr. Janet Anderson Yang of the Heritage Clinic discussed the impact of the pandemic on older adults, including the loss of community, stimulation, and structure and routine. I was reminded how in-person Sunday worship provides things like structure for the week, purpose, and personal interaction in addition to spiritual inspiration and education.

We all need to be sensitive to grief, and find ways to process it, but Ryan Thomas suggested a new way of looking at grief is that it doesn’t go away, but it finds a place.

Conversely, young people are experiencing crises of hope, meaning, and connection, and it’s not clear how far-reaching this will be. One thing that was raised multiple times is the need for people of all ages to limit and curate, or be intentional and selective about, the social media and news we take in on a regular basis. Two positive alternates are upworthy.com and Daily Dose of Internet.

Dr. Thomas approaches mental health within the context of relationships. If we humans are designed to be in community, then how do our thoughts, feelings and actions impact the relationships that are important to us?  Personally I had not heard this approach, but I found it very refreshing.

It also led Rev. Charlie Campbell, who is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist as well as pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church, to suggest that suicide is the ultimate cutting off of relationships. To me, this is the biggest impact of suicide, on those who are left behind. And speaking of suicide, we were told not to be afraid of asking about suicidal thoughts. Checking in with people, asking questions, and listening well to the answers can help folks know they aren’t as disconnected as they feel.

Finally, the question of what do you do when seeing someone needing intervention was not answered with simple formulas.  We need to discern the best response given many factors, so we need to be aware of our own limits, the needs of the community, and the reasons individuals might be behaving in ways that disrupt the community, etc. And we need to be sensitive to disruption that enables us to witness to God in new and creative ways, vs. disruption that holds us back from following God’s calling.

I hope you agree that there is much we can learn to be more informed, sensitive, and compassionate partners in ministry, especially with our siblings who may be struggling with depression, grief, unresolved rage, or other behaviors and internal processes that impact their happiness or the health of the congregation. I am very grateful to our many colleagues for the opportunity to learn about this. The quote about God’s word not returning empty came to mind throughout the week. May we use all that we learn and be even more faithful and effective partners in Christ’s ministry.

Wendy

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.                                                                     Romans 14:8

As we are moving into the new year, I am painfully aware of the losses our presbytery family is facing: losses from deaths, pastoral transitions, and the constantly changing requirements of COVD. Thank God we have the assurance of eternal life, and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, and we are welcoming new members into the presbytery, but the losses are grievous.

In the past month, we have heard that death has come too close to several members of the San Gabriel Presbytery family. After a few short months in Pennsylvania near her inlaws, Becca Bateman lost her mother-in-law, who died suddenly at the age of 58. Incoming Presbytery member Amy Mendez moved here to be near family, including her sister who had been battling cancer; her sister died right before Christmas. David Pak’s sister also died from cancer on Christmas Day. Nancy Moore’s husband Stan died right after New Year’s. And this weekend we just learned that Bryce Little’s wife Phyllis and San Gabriel minister member Andy Jarvis passed away. As far as I know, none of these deaths were caused by COVID, though it makes things more complicated and it restricted the time that some people could spend with their loved ones in their last days.

We also have a number of churches saying good-bye to their pastors. In the last several months, several pastors have retired or announced plans to retire: Sam Kim (Divine Light), Martha and Twining Campbell (Westminster Pasadena), Mariko Yanagihara (New Hope) and Bruce Myers (West Covina). Erik Dailey (Eagle Rock and Occidental) took another call in San Fernando Presbytery. Several associate pastors have left their churches for new chapters in ministry: Becca Bateman (San Marino), Ally Lee (Knox), and Steve Wiebe and Hyosub Lee (Pasadena).

And COVID rages on. According to the LA Times data tracker, cases in LA County are 32.7% higher than two weeks ago, and deaths are almost triple the rate two weeks ago. So we are not yet on the other side of the Omicron surge. There is a new order requiring all employers to have free respirators (N95, KN95, KF94) available for employees. Omicron spreads so quickly, several of our churches have already moved back to online worship. Thank God we are able to be agile, but the changes are dizzying.

The County is constantly updating information and infographics, such as a list of Best Practices for Communities of Faith and a handout on upgraded mask options. In the Best Practices document, there’s a list of guidelines for performers or presenters—in other words, worship leaders, choirs, and preachers:

• The presenter/performer should be fully vaccinated and boosted, if
• The presenter/performer should have a negative COVID-19 test result within 2 days prior to the service (if PCR) or within 1 day (if antigen). [free antigen tests: https://www.covidtests.gov/]
• The presenter/performer should be physically distanced at least 12 feet from all others while
• The presenter/performer must wear a mask when not actively presenting/performing.
• Only one presenter/performer may be unmasked at any given
• The presenter/performer should use a microphone to amplify their voice during the service, if possible, and should be aware that the louder they project their voice, the greater the risk of producing respiratory aerosols.
• Choirs and singers must be masked and physically distanced from each other and the audience as much as possible.

With all the stressors on us, the reasonable thing to do is to watch out for our spiritual, emotional, and mental health as well as our physical health, and to offer resources to our congregations and neighbors.

I am thankful that we will be able to offer some important information—and some practice—to help us get through this difficult time. I still believe that in 2022 we will see some relief from the pandemic, and good things are happening, but it is my hope we will be healthy enough to recognize God’s blessings as they come our way.

Like with our physical health, we can pray, and give thanks, and care for ourselves and each other—and we can also give thanks for mental health resources and expertise that God provides through therapists, academics, and mental health professionals. In our upcoming WinterFest, we will be able to learn about ways to be resilient and compassionate, for our sake and the sake of our churches. As we gain more understanding of our human vulnerabilities, we become even more able to live into the gospel, and offer Christ’s healing spirit to a hurting world.

I invite you to register for Winterfest, and block off the first week of February. WinterFest is a great way for us to connect as a Presbytery learning and caring community, and I look forward to seeing you on Zoom.

You can get more information and register through our website, or go to https://sangabpres.org/wf/ or the link in the Monday Update.

Blessings, and may you feel the peace and persistent mercy of Jesus Christ,

Wendy

I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Revelation 3:15, 17

Today we remember and honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you have the opportunity to read any of Dr. King’s speeches or books, I think you will agree with me that the breadth and prescience of his thought is amazing. Many of his works speak to today’s world as much as it did in the 1960s.

One short piece, Letter from Birmingham Jail, was suggested as a potential addition to our Book of Confessions, but apparently the effort was shelved because of copyright concerns. This is ironic, since one can find the text of the letter in multiple places on the internet. But, with respect to the copyright holder, The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., I would like to share some excerpts which seem especially relevant to our situation, as a church that has tried for decades to become more racially diverse, yet even now is still 90% white.  Consider what the Holy Spirit may be saying to us in 2022.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

. . . We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

. . . I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership…….. [S]ome

have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

. . . There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society……. Christians pressed on, in the conviction

that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. . . .

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent—and often even vocal—sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.¹

As disappointed as Dr. King was in 1963, it seems that we are much more captive to fear, or self-interest, or apathy which keeps us silent or unwilling to be bold and even sacrificial in our obedience to God’s will. My hope is that all of us—myself included—find ways to discern, and live out, what God wants for us, and how God wants to work through us, for the sake of God’s justice and peace.

May we be willing and trusting co-workers with God. And then, as Dr. King would describe that time of restoration in a paraphrase of Job 38:7, “the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy.”

In Christ’s hope,

Wendy

During the holiday season, it seems that the cycle of life in God’s household has been laid bare.

Several members of our presbytery family lost loved ones to eternal life. The week before Christmas, Becca Bateman’s 58-year-old mother-in-law died suddenly, Amy Mendez’s sister died from the cancer she had been battling, as did David Pak’s sister, who died on Christmas Day. Last week, Nancy Moore’s husband Stan and Bong Bringas’ father-in-law passed away.

We are also seeing life and ministry transitions, including one pastor who just found out that two children will be expecting their first children this year. Yesterday, Westminster Presbyterian in Pasadena said farewell to Martha and Twining Campbell, who are retiring after 22 years as co- pastors; Mariko Yanagihara’s last Sunday at New Hope was December 26. At the beginning of ministry, Harlan Redmond was interviewed by CPM and will be recommended for candidacy at our February 5^th Presbytery meeting.

Overarching all of this is Casper Glenn, who celebrated his 100^th birthday yesterday. (On Saturday, he celebrated the 75^th anniversary of his ordination!) He was set to have a celebration in his hometown in South Carolina, but due to COVID, the plans were changed to Southern California—and even then, many people joined via Zoom out of caution for Casper and the attendees. Casper’s doctor son tried to shield Casper by requesting that everyone get a negative PCR test before attending, and enforcing strict distancing guidelines. But Casper, who is still in top form mentally, emotionally, and physically, loved seeing his friends and family, and even joined in the Electric Slide dance break.

One personal surprise for me was seeing Rev. Allison Harrington, the current pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church, a church with a rich history in Tucson, Arizona. Allison is the daughter of Nancy and Steve Harrington; Steve was my main mentor as I was going through seminary and the CPM process. Many of the bones of my ministry were formed with Steve’s guidance. I’ve known Allison since she was a rebellious teenager, but now she is an exceptionally strong leader in the church and nation, especially in the area of social justice. She has in past years worked with Kristi Van Nostran in advocacy for immigrants.

Over the course of the evening, several phases of Casper’s ministry were highlighted. I think just about everything Casper did, he was the first. I now realize that in some cases, he wasn’t just the first, he actually founded it, including his first ministry, founding Cherry Hill Community Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. He said it was part of the Presbyterian Church’s “Colored Ministry in the North” evangelism effort, and that he “saved souls by wearing out soles” as he went door to door to meet his new neighbors.

Among other things, Casper was the first African-American pastor of Southside Presbyterian, which itself was so unique as a multiracial church that Martin Luther King, Jr., heard about them and went to visit. He was the first executive presbyter for San Diego Presbytery, and the first African-American synod executive, for Alaska-Northwest. I remember him telling me how his beloved wife Vernilla did not like being left in Seattle while he was flying bush planes to visit native churches in Alaska, so they picked up and went to Kenya, being the first African- American Presbyterian missionary to serve in Africa. As a member of our presbytery and living at Westminster Gardens, Casper and Vernilla were closely connected with South Hills, Baldwin Park, and Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and friends representing these churches spoke.

In celebration of his 100^th birthday, the Presbyterian Historical Society wrote an article on him.

After so much was said about Casper, he ended the evening by talking about the Presbyterian Church. Born on a farm in South Carolina, his family had to patch together an education for him, including sending him to one of four high schools that the women of the Presbyterian Church founded for black children in South Carolina. As he put it, “the Presbyterian Church provided what the state did not.” He then attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Lincoln was founded by a Presbyterian pastor and was the first degree-granting HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the United States and the alma mater of Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, the first president of Nigeria, the first president of Ghana, and so many other leaders in all fields.

This Presbyterian Church, for all our worries and faults, can look back and give thanks for the ways God worked through generations of leaders, we can look forward to the ministries to come from some amazing young pastors, and we can look around and see greatness in our midst now, in churches small and large. With all the struggle in our world, may we remember the ancestors, the role models, and the future leaders in our San Gabriel Presbytery family, and show our appreciation by being bold bearers of the light of Christ in this world. Let us be people of hope, and bringers of hope, to neighbors and friends old and new. Thanks be to God!

Peace,