I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

Ephesians 1:15-16

Every morning I begin the day with a prayer of thanksgiving. I confess that sometimes I stray into prayers of concern and supplication, but somewhere along the way I read a quote about the importance of saying “Thank you. I have no complaints whatsoever.” (I just Google’d the quote to find the source—turns out it is a New Age-Buddhist story! Oh well, blame the Bay Area, where I lived for a long time.) A Christian corollary is from the mystic Meister Eckhart, “If the only prayer you said was thank you, it would be enough.” In any case, as I pray my gratitude, even when I stray into complaint territory, I am aware that I really have nothing to complain about. I find that to be the source of my sense of privilege—and my responsibility to work for others to find their privilege.

On Saturday I invited clerks of session of our churches to come and “have your books stamped.” My guess is, only clerks of session and a few pastors know what that means. Since I have never been a stated clerk for this presbytery, I had no idea how people would respond, because I don’t know what the traditions of this presbytery’s clerks have been. In the presbytery where I was stated clerk, I came to rely on several long-time clerks of session to help mentor new clerks, but when I came to San Gabriel it wasn’t clear who our veteran clerks were. I was glad when Ally started to have quarterly meetings with clerks, to develop the camaraderie that we clerk-types share.

On Saturday I was happy and grateful to welcome 17 people, representing 14 churches, to the Presbytery Center. Not all of them were clerks (that happens; often pastors step in to help with the clerk role); not all of them had their books ready (that happens too!). It was nice to see folks I know pretty well—and nice to see others whom I have never met—and just visit a little. And it was impressive to see the care that many clerks have taken to preserve the records of the congregation.

When several folks had arrived, I was moved to thank the clerks and pray for them. I have not been a clerk of session, but I know that clerks are unusually dedicated and gifted, as they take on the responsibility of maintaining records and the requirements of the PC(USA) on an ongoing basis, with no monetary compensation. I don’t know how often they are thanked for their work, which many church folk either don’t know about or don’t always appreciate. But as someone who has been in the church for a while, I am aware that clerks are a key connection to the larger church and to fellow congregations—and to the church in ages past. I am reminded of, for instance, clerk of session Dorothy Kirkland digging into the minutes of my family church, now First Presbyterian Altadena, to show me how my grandfather worked with the session to discern their response to the rising threat against Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor.

Yesterday was the first of several actions that need to be taken as we come to the close of the year and the beginning of 2024. We budget for next year, and look ahead to elected leadership. The clerks partner with each other to review the records from last year, and get ready to provide several annual reports—from minister members of the presbytery, from sessions on pastoral terms of call and contact information for church leaders, and from sessions to the national church (known as statistical reports). And, we prepare for new requirements that came out of the last General Assembly, which include:

• providing for a minimum of twelve weeks paid family medical leave for pastors
• boundary training for everyone including elders, deacons, commissioned ruling elders, anyone working with children and vulnerable adults, and people in the CPM process; and
• an anti-racism policy along with policies on sexual misconduct, harassment, and protection for children and youth.

Yikes! I have to say that I’ve been one of several voices pleading with the national church to slow down the growing list of requirements being loaded onto sessions—though the biggest issue is the General Assembly (see above!). While there is value in all of these new requirements, we also have to have patience and support as we strive to meet them.

In the midst of all of this is the clerk of session, who is the main communication link between the session and the presbytery and therefore the national church. Did you know that in the PC(USA), the only position that is required at every level of the church is the clerk? Congregations can go without a pastor, presbyteries can go without an executive presbyter, but we must have clerks of session and stated clerks! That’s how much the administration of the PC(USA) relies on clerks. So I ask that you let them know they are appreciated, and offer them some support and prayer!

I’m thinking I will try to give thanks for others in future columns, as we look forward to Thanksgiving. Other things might arise to take my attention, but there is much to be thankful for. If you want to share what you’re grateful for, please let me know!

Grateful for this Presbytery,

Wendy

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display God’s glory.

Isaiah 61:3b

Last Tuesday’s Presbytery meeting resulted in several important decisions. I was looking forward to the meeting with joyous and anxious anticipation—joyous because the meeting highlighted wonderful ministries in our Presbytery family, and anxious because we were trying to do so much, and we were testing our abilities to communicate effectively over a hybrid format. I want to thank Claremont Presbyterian Church for being hosts on short notice, and for the many hours they put into setting up the system for the hybrid meeting. The decisions were made, the ministries were supported and encouraged, but we weren’t able to run the videos that were to be offered. However, you can view the videos on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SanGabPresbytery.

This meeting was planned as an all-Zoom meeting, and we did have 57 participants through Zoom. When we heard that Milagro Mejia, International Peacemaker from El Salvador, would be in Southern California, we switched to a hybrid meeting, so we could meet Milagro in person. Thanks to a delicious dinner arranged by Puente de Esperanza Church, we were able to meet Milagro, and hear a little more about the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador (IRCES), which she helped to establish. Her translator, Joseph Russ, is the new Coordinator for Migration Issues, Advocacy, and Mission in the Northern Triangle of Central America with World Mission in the Presbyterian Mission Agency. This position was created by the General Assembly when they acted on an overture from our neighbor, the Presbytery of the Pacific. It was good to meet Milagro and Joseph, because we are planning to have a presence in the leadership group that will guide the ministry that Joseph will implement, and the IRCES is a key partner in that ministry. Some of Milagro’s pre-Presbytery talk is one of the videos on Facebook.

We are blessed to have relationships across the miles. Inquirer Kristi Van Nostran gave the opening prayer from San Diego. When Kristi was a mission co-worker in El Salvador, she attended the church where Milagro is a Deaconness and Milagro’s husband is Pastor. And Ally Lee joined us from Georgia, where she and Brian introduced us to baby Rowan Mae Lee, who was born just 6 days earlier!

We heard from Inquirer Veronica Ota (First Presbyterian Altadena), and voted to advance her to candidacy. Veronica is passionate about her calling to help the church play a more active role in creation care and community, which is being recognized as critical to the future church. She is also a gifted musician, and we were hoping to have her open the meeting by inviting the Holy Spirit to be with us—if you want to hear and see her do so, go to Facebook.

The report from Commission on Ministry was action-packed, including welcoming Rev. Beth Putney into San Gabriel Presbytery. Beth is the inaugural Pastoral Resident with San Marino Community Church, focusing on social innovation, which is another emerging movement in today’s church.

We also received the annual updates from new worshiping communities Interwoven and in Temple City, and voted to fund them in the coming year as they grow and mature. These two new communities of faith were to lead us in worship and music; they can be seen and heard on Facebook. Both groups have exciting potential. Interwoven has always had the vision of entrepreneurship in its ministry—an adjacent venture that would engage the community, provide training and employment for young people, and provide the ministry with an alternate source of income. In order to do this, they will need a home base that can support a larger venture than Sunday worship.

The New Worshipping Community in Temple City proposed a new name for their ministry, which is partnered with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Temple City. The new name, which was approved on Tuesday, is Live Oak Community Church. This name offers many connections for us, as a live oak symbolizes the perseverance of Westminster, their growth that is already evident, the strength of the combined efforts of Westminster and the Bridge service of Arcadia, the care they offer to new Christians—and oh yeah, the church is on Live Oak Avenue in Temple City!

We also gave thanks for the faithful ministry of Vikki Randall as she moves to retired status, while she continues to contribute to the Haven ministry with Claremont and as other needs arise. And the 2024 Presbytery minimums for pastors were approved. We will post them elsewhere in the Monday Morning Update. Look also for the nomination form for General Assembly positions in Salt Lake City, Utah, next year, and if you are led to nominate yourself, please do so by October 15^th.

The Justice, Peacemaking and Misson Committee shared highlights from the June survey on our churches’ relationships with homeless neighbors; the main message was that we don’t know how to interact with them and don’t know what resources that are available, so JPM will work on providing education and information. They also reminded us about the Peace and Global Witness special offering, which is traditionally offered on World Communion Sunday, which is always the first Sunday in October (that’s this coming Sunday, October 1). Individual congregations are encouraged to utilize up to 25% of this Offering to connect with the global witness of Christ’s peace. Mid councils retain an additional 25% for ministries of peace and reconciliation. And the remaining 50% is used by the Presbyterian Mission Agency to advocate for peace and justice in cultures of violence, including our own, through collaborative projects of education and Christian witness.

Speaking of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, JPM shared a brief and insightful video introducing Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, Director of the new Center for Repair of Historical Harms in the PMA. You can hear from him on Facebook as well.

Additional key points from the Presbytery meeting included the approval of the sale of the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church property; the announcement of WinterFest, to be held on Zoom January 31-February 2 and in person on February 3; new task forces created for the 2024 budget and to look again at the Presbytery’s strategy on property development, and a new survey, to hear from you on interests for new learning and relationship-building. You can complete the survey online by September 30 at https://forms.gle/AjWcYVa4SNQzzWV98.

One thing that we did not mention is the fall equinox, when the PC(USA) has traditionally observed Native American Day. We provide some focus on our Indigenous hosts and neighbors in our November Presbytery meeting, but as it happens, I just received good news from Mona Morales Recalde, elder from La Verne Heights Presbyterian and also Community Outreach Coordinator and enrolled member of the Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. Because she gave such an excellent presentation at our WinterFest this last February, her co-presenter, Elaine Enns, referred NPR to interview Mona! We’ll announce when the interview is broadcast. Mona also shared that AB (Assembly Bill) 776 was passed in a strong bipartisan show of support and was just sent to Governor Newsom for signing. This bill, for which the Presbytery wrote a letter of support, will direct the Department of Transportation to install highway signs along the 210 freeway that recognizes tribal lands in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, and renames the freeway to the Southern California Native American Freeway.

As I mentioned, there was much to celebrate this last week. As a family of established and emerging ministries, we are like that live oak, able to lend protection to new ministries as we continue to endure from our strong roots in the gospel. Let us give thanks for new and continuing life in our Lord!

Peace,

Wendy

Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19a

I realize that the last several weeks I have been reflecting on paradoxes, as I have seen how God’s world seems to be our world, inside out. Even the way I describe this paradox shows the bias of my perspective—I am tempted to say that God’s world is an inversion of our world. But, if we are to reflect our Reformed viewpoint of God’s sovereignty, God’s world is not the inversion; God’s world is good, and eternal. Our world is the inversion, or the distortion, of God’s world. But since I was born to this world, it seems to me that God’s world is the strange place I must attempt to accept.

 I’m sure you have seen different optical illusions that show how we can see things differently. One of the most famous ones I just learned is usually titled “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law”—I don’t like the implications of that title, so I won’t show it, though
my guess is you know the image I mean. I’m showing instead another image that is also very popular, especially in church circles. Let me know if you don’t see what (or who) is “hidden” in this image.

One of the great blessings of my job is getting to meet amazing people. As we prepared for tomorrow’s meeting, I touched base with Veronica Ota, whom CPM is recommending be examined for candidacy, and Beth Putney, who just started at San Marino Community Church as the very first Pastoral Resident, focusing on culture and pastoral entrepreneurship. Both are Princeton types—Beth just graduated this year, and Veronica is still there. And from what I can tell, this focus on social enterprise/entrepreneurial ministry/ministry innovation (they haven’t landed on an easy handle yet) is all the rage at Princeton, and other seminaries as well. Harlan Redmond, a recent Princeton grad, envisions this for the future of Interwoven.

In conversations with these bright lights in the future of our church, it has become clear to me how much things have changed since I was in seminary! But it also reminds me of my early years in ministry, when church transformation consultants kept talking about “adaptive change”—so much that some of us joked we can all sing a song about it together. We more recent seminary grads realized that what we had been taught was new and foreign for the prior generations of pastors, who could see the church as a stable, prominent, unchanging institution. Now, I am the one in that prior generation, and now I’m stumbling to figure out what the next generation is talking about!

In fact, the first time I met Veronica, I attempted to correct her on her initial theological statement. Turns out she was just a few steps ahead of me—! Isn’t it great how we old-timers think we’re in the position of guiding and teaching the next generation, when they have so much to teach us. We are blessed to have these leaders of the next generation in our midst, as they have the grace and wisdom to be bridge people for us as we move into the future church. We will continue to be blessed as San Marino’s Pastoral Residency Program continues in full swing, because they expect to have two residents for two years each, starting in alternating years, so we will get to receive a gifted new pastor every year through their program! Beth is a most excellent pioneer in this effort.

By the way, one of those amazing people I met fairly recently is Kevin Haah, who joined our presbytery in April. Kevin is a member of our JPM Committee, and he emailed us right before their meeting last Wednesday to tell us that he would have to miss the meeting because he had just been in a motorcycle accident and was at the emergency room. He has ended up in the hospital for the days since, though most people know that his injuries could have been much worse.

Another amazing person is Ally Lee, who recently left us to move back to Georgia. Wednesday was a big day for her as well, as she gave birth to Rowan Mae Lee. Ally, as an only child, texted that “seeing the sisters together has been by far the most joyful part.” I cannot quantify the impact of having my three older sisters has been on my life! Blessings to Ally, Brian, Johanna, and Rowan.

Let us pray—for these new pastors and ministries in our midst, for healing for Kevin and all who need the power of the Holy Spirit (that’s all of us), for new life and growing families in our Presbytery family, and for all that God has entrusted to us, as we consider together the will of God in our Presbytery meeting tomorrow evening. See you then!

Peace, 

Wendy

“After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;
from its ruins I will rebuild it,
and I will set it up,
so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—
even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called.” Acts 15:16-17a

There’s no way of forgetting what happened on this day, 22 years ago. I remember I was living on Kaua‘i then, and I had the television on that morning. When I saw an airplane crashing into the side of the World Trade Center, I just kept looking at the TV, thinking it was a movie. But they didn’t show movies in the morning. And then they played that horrible film, and the others, over and over, and finally I had to accept that this was really happening.

I also remember September 11, 2002, the one-year anniversary of that great tragedy. Much of the media attention was put to remembering the attacks, but on Kaua‘i, that day marked something more relevant to them—it was the 10th anniversary of the day when Hurricane ‘Iniki hit Kaua‘i. ‘Iniki destroyed 1,400 homes and severely damaged over 5,000 homes on Kaua‘i, hitting the small island with winds of 145 mph and wind gusts of 225 mph. It caused $3.1 billion in damages, making it the most costly natural disaster in the history of Hawai‘i (though it’s likely that the recent fires on Maui will surpass that). Ten years later, the island was still only mostly recovered.

There were some stories shared of the pain suffered after ‘Iniki, mostly how institutions (including the regional ministers at the time) failed to support the rebuilding efforts. In fact, the little church I served — a native Hawaiian church in Hanapēpē, Kaua‘i—worshiped for 9 years under a used tent they were given by the US Army (Eric Shinseki’s wife was from Hanapēpē), because that’s how long it took for them to secure the funding to rebuild.

But what was most remarkable were their remembrances of community coming together. In fact, the people seemed almost wistful about those days; when I would ask how things had changed over the ten years since the hurricane, the most common response was “We aren’t community like that anymore.” This is why I was so sure that the people of Maui would care for each other after the fires. I also remember one woman who said, “We were just grateful that the hurricane hit us and not O‘ahu.” She was grateful because the population of O‘ahu is over 13 times larger than Kaua‘i, but also because all the communication and government centers for all of Hawai‘i are on O‘ahu.

What do we make of these tragedies? Almost 2,500 people die in an earthquake in Morocco. Hurricanes and wildfires occur on a more frequent basis, and in areas that had not known such disasters. And in the United States alone, 1,127,152 people died from COVID so far. And I have not even touched on deaths caused by human rage, hatred, bias, and fear.

We cannot explain why these things happen, nor can we know how an all-powerful God would allow these things to happen. But sometimes we can see shifts in the history of the world as people respond to adversity. Communities come together to recover from disaster. Former enemies reach out with compassion. Necessity, the mother of invention, causes people to try new things. We still don’t know how much church life has been changed permanently because of COVID, and some of the changes have been positive.

And sometimes people try new things because God asks them to. Today’s scripture verse comes from the Council at Jerusalem, when the Jewish leaders of Christ’s church discerned the call to allow Gentiles to come into the church without going through the Jewish tradition of circumcision. Remembering the promises of restoration that God gave to the Israelites over the centuries, the Jerusalem Council saw the new church as the restoration of Jesus’s people, a restoration that would extend even to the Gentiles—and in Romans 8, Paul suggested that even Creation would be restored as the children of God live into their calling as agents of God’s grace. And the Council came to understand that fulfilling their call would require them to do things they never could have imagined they would do—like receiving as siblings the very people they abhorred for many generations.

It is now 2023, and God is still calling us to do things we never imagined we would do. In response to inescapable signs of the danger of the climate crisis, a young seminarian works to organize the community to work in concert with, rather than against, God’s Creation. In anticipation of the post- Christendom church needing to take different approaches to connecting with the world and, frankly, creating new income streams to keep the church running, a newly-ordained pastor seeks an opportunity to practice entrepreneurship in ministry. Out of the closure of one church, another church is rising up, a church that is attracting people who had given up on church, attracting them with their radical hour of love that crosses boundaries of race, generation, and background. After years of attempts to stay alive by being their old selves, a church welcomes in a recent seminary graduate and a group of strangers larger than they are—and the groups have come together in ways that truly reflect the glory of God. And an attorney uses her training and gifts to fulfill her calling to help negotiate peace in her strife-torn home country, and helps to organize a new denomination to work towards justice and peace in El Salvador.

These are the stories that will be reflected at our Presbytery meeting on September 19th. I invite you to register today for the meeting, and the dinner before the meeting. You can register as a minister member, as a ruling elder commissioner, but also as a church member, a friend, an interested observer —and you can participate in the meeting in person at Claremont Presbyterian Church, or on Zoom. Join us, as we consider what God is calling us to do and be for this troubled world.

My favorite Hawaiian word is kuleana, which is often translated as “responsibility” but also means “right” or “privilege.” That is what we have been given as followers of Christ, the kuleana to be Christ’s good news for our world. May we encourage each other as we do so.

Relying on God’s grace,

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

So the good news is that I tested negative for COVID, last Wednesday and Saturday. Even better, it sounds like I didn’t infect anyone at Filipino Community United in Azusa, which is where I preached the Sunday before I tested positive. However, it sounds like much of their youth group is down with COVID, so I’m guessing it’s moving fast through the schools. It does seem like lots of folks are contracting it, so please be careful.

It’s a funny thing about being a pastor, that these negative reminders of our human condition actually help our ministry, because we are able to experience some of the challenges others are facing.
Sometimes we like to say that God came down to be human in Jesus Christ in order to feel what it’s like to be one of us. I’m Reformed enough to believe God doesn’t need to learn anything; I might contend that it’s comforting to us to know that Jesus walked among us and in our flesh and bones.

For us ordinary people, we need these setbacks to remind us that we are not God, and also to remind us that there are downturns, but with God’s grace, there is nothing we cannot overcome.

I thought about this when Bill Richardson died. I never followed his career very closely; in fact I thought he was Native American (his family had roots in Mexico, but one of his descendants was on the Mayflower). He did work with Native Americans, initially as a congressman and chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Native American Affairs. He advocated for Indigenous rights for years.

Most of all, Bill Richardson is known for his work negotiating for the release of Americans held hostage or illegally detained in other countries. When he died, I looked into his life, and was surprised to learn that he faced several scandals and controversies in his life. None of the cases ended his career, but it reminded me how close colleagues have told me that no one is perfect. My first associate pastor said that she learned from me that she had to accept the whole package, and put up with the bad in me in order to allow the good to go forth. And back when I was a reluctant seminary intern, I made a bad mistake and left an elder stranded, and she didn’t let me off the hook for it! My internal message to God was “See? I told you I can’t do this!” And the message that came back was “Making a mistake is no excuse for refusing your ministry.”

I often wonder how much we could do for God’s kin-dom if we allowed ourselves to make mistakes as we take risks—and even stumble—in faith. And what a witness we offer to the world, when we forgive as we have been forgiven. Saints are not perfect beings—saints are faithful humans who seek to do God’s will, just like you, just like me.

This, of course, is not a call for carelessness or indifference. Rather, may we strive to do right by God, and help others on their journey as well, and may we keep striving, even if we mess up sometimes. “Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” (2 Corinthians 4:1) Let us continue to pray for each other, and encourage each other, that Christ’s light may continue to shine through us.

Relying on God’s grace,

Wendy