Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

by | Apr 2, 2018 | Monday Morning Reflections

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Happy Easter!

I pray that you had a promise-filling and inspiring Resurrection Day.

In fact, I had a full and meaningful Holy Week, and hope you did too. I witnessed churches trying new ways of experiencing Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I went to a sunrise service on Easter morning, the first one I’ve attended since coming back to California 10 years ago (they don’t seem as popular as when I was growing up, or still practiced in Hawai`i). This sunrise service was given by Pasadena Presbyterian Church, as they are experimenting with new ways of being intercultural in worship and ministry. It was very encouraging to me, partly because it was the best representation of the full PPC community gathered in one place. I mentioned that to a couple of PPC folks, and they said yes, and they experienced that same fullness at their Maundy Thursday supper.

I also attended a very productive meeting with the Vision and Strategy Team, who looked back on our presbytery’s current mission statement to gain clarity in mission that I found excitingly helpful-I’m sure this will be discussed in the future. I also have had the opportunity to speak with churches who are seeking new pastors, and possible candidates for some of our churches. This weekend, I also prayed for a new pastorate with Rev. Yanchih “Yank” Lee, who started on Easter Sunday as co-pastor of Shepherd of the Valley.

Of course, we are reminded that beginnings often require something else to end, just as Jesus’ saving death had to happen on Good Friday in order for him to be resurrected on Easter. So I also pray for churches and pastors in our presbytery who are facing transitions. On March 31, Rev. Roger Shervington retired from Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church, and Rev. James Peng retired from Shepherd of the Valley. As Shepherd of the Valley continues to seek a co-pastor for their English worship service, Rev. Nancy Moore contemplates her eventual departure. And Rev. Thomas Chen fulfilled his temporary pastor contract with Grace Taiwanese in March, and chose to return to his home in Nevada. So we now have eight churches seeking pastoral leadership.

Through these transitions, I trust that the church leaders continue and even further the ministry of the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus predicted so long ago. Even in his resurrected state, Jesus was transformed, and warned Mary not to cling to him. He would not remain in that form for long, as God’s plan is not for the church to depend on any one human leader, but for all of us to serve together, gathered as Christ’s body in the world.

I witnessed this in my own life, as the ministry of the Presbytery did not miss a beat in my absence. I have always believed that the goal of pastoral leadership is to help strengthen the body of Christ, so the ministry continues strong after a leader leaves-and that pertains to executive presbyters as well as pastors. So for those who led in my absence, thank you.

As for me, I am back from Africa, though my sleep rhythms are still off, and I don’t have any coherent reflection on the trip, only snippets of thoughts and observations and learnings, such as:

A scholar stated that of the 25 million Christians in her home country of India, 70% are Dalit (untouchables). Though many converted to Christianity because they saw our faith as one of liberation that taught all people are created and loved by God, there are still vestiges of the caste system practiced within the church, which shows the ways we all struggle with external social pressure that threaten to distort our Christian values.

One Albanian Orthodox priest shared how they have faced resistance from Muslims. When building a church, the Muslims threw stones at them-which the Christians then used as part of their building material! A lovely rendering of 1 Peter 2:4-10.

Tanzania’s official national language is Swahili, but English is also predominant, and the World Council of Churches conducts virtually all their business in English. I looked at the 1,000 attendees from all over the world, and I would guess that at least 75% of them are not native English speakers. I realized that the prevalence of English made Tanzania feel less foreign to me than countries that are more similar to the US, but where English is not dominant. I became aware of the role language plays in identity and security, and while I was straining to stay alert in the conference (the sessions went from 8:30 in the morning to 9:00 at night), I could only imagine how tiring it would be if English was not my first language. I also reflected on how spoiled we English-speakers are at this moment in history, when English is the closest thing there is to a universal language, and how difficult it may be for our immigrant church members, who must adopt a foreign language and culture.

I did have a chance to go to Ngorongoro Crater on safari (yes, they really use that word). What an incredible experience! I have never before felt as I did there, like I had been transported to the Garden of Eden, where God’s order is lived out in peace.

Perhaps I will continue to “process” my experiences and learnings, and can speak of my own transformations in future columns.

In the meantime, God’s blessings be upon you this Eastertide. May the joy and power of Christ’s resurrection continue to encourage and embolden us as we proclaim in word and deed the saving grace of our Lord.

Peace and new life to you,

Wendy

 

 

How Are You?

How Are You?

by | Mar 5, 2018 | Monday Morning Reflections

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How Are You?

I heard the story about Peter’s denial of Jesus in worship yesterday morning. I don’t know why this was covered on the third Sunday in Lent, as this reading is part of the passion narrative usually featured on Good Friday. But the pastor believes that one of the things we should reflect on during Lent is, how have we shown-or failed to show-our commitment to serve Jesus Christ?

During the reading, I heard something I hadn’t noticed before. In this account, John emphasizes relationships. Jesus had just been arrested and taken to be interrogated by the high priest. Peter and one other disciple were with Jesus, but only the other disciple was allowed to go with Jesus, because the other disciple knew the high priest. Peter was allowed to come into the courtyard because this disciple spoke up for him. So it’s not surprising that Peter was asked about his relationship with Jesus, as he was allowed in based on the word of Jesus’ companion.

Once in, Peter tried to blend in with others hanging out in the courtyard, but he was questioned again. Finally, Peter was identified a third time, now by a relative of the man whose ear was cut off by Peter when Jesus was arrested.

It’s interesting that these relationships-Jesus’ other disciple with the high priest, or the relative of the guard Peter hurt-are mentioned, because they seem pretty incidental and unimportant. But perhaps these relationships are mentioned as a contrast to the most consequential relationship of all, Peter’s relationship with Jesus, which Peter betrayed.

So as we continue our Lenten journey, let us ask ourselves: how is your relationship with Jesus? Is it incidental? Is it central in your life? Is it important as long as you get benefit from it, but easily forgotten when the authorities put the heat on you? And how well do we relate with other disciples, including those we don’t yet know?

Tomorrow I leave for the World Council of Churches Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Tanzania. As delegates, our first priority is to relate with others, and learn from their experiences. Our delegation leader mentioned that we should avoid hanging out with each other, or with other North Americans, but to make an effort to connect with members of the body of Christ who are not familiar to us.

Relating with others can have its challenges, just as Peter was challenged when his beloved teacher was arrested and treated like a criminal. As we open our hearts to others, it’s harder to turn away when they suffer pain or injustice-but we also experience so much more of God’s great kingdom. That’s the amazing thing about being claimed by Jesus-we get to see who else Jesus is claiming, and as we claim them ourselves as our sisters and brothers, we get a better understanding of God’s magnificent creativity.

I will be out for the next two weeks; though I may not be available by phone you can contact Twila, and she can either help you or find someone who can. I appreciate your prayers for all those who are traveling to Tanzania, and I give thanks to God for this wonderful opportunity. Just as I can bring with me knowledge of our little piece of God’s kingdom, may I bring back stories and lessons gained from these new relationships.

In faith,

Wendy

When We Don’t Agree

When We Don’t Agree

by | Feb 26, 2018 | Monday Morning Reflections

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When We Don’t Agree

When I was growing up, I always understood ecumenism, even interfaith cooperation and dialogue, to be an integral part of the Presbyterian tradition. I think there have been certain times and places where this was challenged, but this commitment does live on. At the very least, many of our members work with other people of faith for the sake of compassion, justice, and peace.

It’s a little more challenging to study and dialogue about each other’s beliefs. As I prepare for the World Council of Churches conference next week, I found the list of workshops fascinating, reflecting membership that includes the charismatic tradition as well as other, more staid belief systems such as ours. Interestingly, the WCC does not include the Roman Catholic Church, though they do include Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Coptic, and Mennonite among their 348 member churches. (San Gabriel Presbytery trivia: the WCC’s second General Secretary was Eugene Carson Blake, former pastor of Pasadena Presbyterian Church.)

The PC(USA) has our own formal dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church; you may not know that one outcome of this dialogue is a mutual recognition of baptism between the two churches. There has not been the same level of mutuality on communion, but the dialogue continues. Locally, a priest in La Puente is leading a Lenten series on other church traditions, and he contacted me because he wanted to speak of the Presbyterian view of communion-inspired by Buzz Aldrin’s story of the communion he had on the moon. I didn’t know and had to look it up. Elder Aldrin wrote about it in Guideposts; I had to chuckle at the mention that they got approval from the Stated Clerk to make sure it was okay.

The corollary to these efforts to unite or connect across traditions is the continuing question about whether to leave the Presbyterian Church. It is difficult for me to know when it is necessary to break a relationship that some consider to be God’s will. But, like any other covenant, attributing something to God’s will does not mean we take each other for granted. Yet, also like any other covenant, one hopes that the roots of the relationship are deeper than simple agreement on various topics. And regardless of relationship, our witness is how we treat others even in disagreement.

I was reminded of this when I happened upon the moment in the 2008 presidential election when a woman told presidential candidate John McCain that Barack Obama could not be trusted because he was “an Arab.” McCain immediately shook his head and said, “No ma’am. He’s a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

It reminds me of the former pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church. This evangelical church was known to be opposed to ordination or marriage for gays and lesbians, yet they probably had more gays and lesbians in their membership than any other church in their presbytery. The pastor, Mark Brewer, even had been asked to officiate at a gay marriage, which he declined. He said, “the gay members of the church know that I love them, but we happen to disagree about this.”

Too often, disagreements in the church are expressed as a win-lose, right vs. wrong, heaven or hell contest. What I appreciated about Rev. Brewer’s approach was that he led with love. He did not insist that the gay members needed to change in order for their relationship to continue, and he did not claim God to be on his side of the disagreement.

This does not mean that we can never change relationships. One might consider that the ability to voluntarily form new churches and denominations has contributed to the continued vitality of the Christian faith in the United States. But whether we remain in relationship and disagreement, or we end old relationships, my hope is that the dialogue be guided by mutual respect, even love, and the unshakable knowledge that all who look to Christ with faith and gratitude are united beyond our differences.

As we continue in the season of Lent, and consider our own need for God’s mercy, may we approach each other with an appreciation that we are all sinners, yet also beloved children of God.

In faith,

Wendy

No Words for This

No Words for This

by | Feb 19, 2018 | Monday Morning Reflections

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No Words for This

Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Jonah Hwang. Jonah was an 8-year-old child of First Presbyterian Church of Pomona. On February 20, 2017, Jonah and his family were at a dinner at the home of some other church leaders, the Robinson family. Jonah was playing with five other kids in the living room when a man drove by and shot at the house. A bullet went through the wall and killed Jonah.

The police arrested the man who killed Jonah, but it’s not clear why this happened. The man did not have a record of violence, yet he shot at this one house four different times (the other three times no one was at home). As a Pomona Police captain said, “We don’t have a relationship or the motive. [Jonah’s parents and their friends] are very good families. They go to the same church. Everyone involved is a teacher.”

On Sunday their church, our church, held a service of lament. It’s been a hard year, and the grief continues to weigh heavily on the families involved, their friends, and the church. For some, their faith in God has been severely strained. The church and friends are doing what they can; one person said, “The people of the church have been great. It’s God I’m having trouble with.”

For many reasons I love the story of the man whose friends carried him to Jesus. One of several unique aspects of this story is the place of faith. Unlike other healing stories when Jesus says that the faith of the person in need leads to their healing, here Jesus comments on the faith of the friends. So I have at times considered that for some of us, we may not need to be carried for physical disabilities; for some of us, we need to be carried by our community of faith when our own faith is weak.

While we all hope for the gift of faith-certainly Jonah’s friends and family continue to wait for God to offer just a glimpse of hope or understanding of how such a horrible tragedy could occur-perhaps this sharing of faith is another way that God shows grace even when we don’t ask for it. If Jesus bears our sins to the cross that we may be free, then we as the body of Christ can hold up each other before the throne of grace and pray for comfort and a renewed faith in the face of unspeakable pain.

As we go through the season of Lent, I think of this as the time when we reflect on who we are, and who God is, and the great lengths God will go to save us. John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion begins with the premise

Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

The 12-Step version of this is, “There is a God, and I’m not Him.”

When sitting with Jonah’s friends, I confess I kept hoping to come up with some words that would help, but there are no words for this pain. All I could dwell on is that God’s horizon is so much wider and farther out than we can understand, and to give thanks that our sister church is carrying these families in the meantime, holding them in their own broken hearts.

This tragedy is mirrored and magnified with the senseless killing of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida. One of the responses of some of the survivors is a rejection of offers of prayer, because they see it as a way of avoiding action. As I consider the grief of First Pomona, and the burden our brother Adam Donner is carrying as their pastor, I offer prayer because I believe in prayer, and because I can think of nothing else to offer. I am grateful that First Pomona has in fact offered prayer, in many forms, while they also act-by helping the survivors in tangible ways; through worship and Bible study and partnerships with other churches; and by continuing their ministries in the community through Pomona Hope, their partnership with Syrian refugees, a community art space and garden, and community organizing.

Lent is the season when I am most aware of how limited we are-frail, mortal, and broken by sin and fear. And yet, God sends us Jesus, who loves us even to the point of death- and who calls us to love others in like fashion. May we open up our hearts, our prayers, our resources, our lives, in order to show God’s love to all who need to know the peace of Jesus Christ-in our churches and in the world around us.

On a totally different note, I want to share that I have been given the opportunity to attend the World Council of Churches Conference on Mission and Evangelism as part of the delegation from the PC(USA). The conference is in early March in Tanzania, so I will be out of the office and possibly out of communication for the first half of March. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier but I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I am very excited about this opportunity; I have always wanted to go to Africa but this will be my first trip. Of course the continent is huge so one trip to one country will barely scratch the surface, but I am most grateful to be able to experience even this much. James Lee, member of our Presbytery and President of International Theological Seminary, visits Africa regularly, as several of our partner churches in Africa send students to ITS. He recently shared that:

According to a recent Pew Research study, by 2050, the number of Christians in North America and Europe will account for only 25 percent of the world’s Christian population. Sub-Saharan Africa will account for close to 40 percent, Latin America 23 percent, Asia-Pacific 13 percent.

Surely, as we reflect on who we are as individuals, as local churches, and as the global church, we see that while yes we are small and fallible, Christ who calls us can do amazing work through us. To God be the glory.

In faith,

Wendy

Entering Lent

Entering Lent

by | Feb 12, 2018 | Monday Morning Reflections

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Entering Lent

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

Isaiah 58:12

 

This coming week is the beginning of Lent. It’s been mildly amusing hearing pastors wonder whether they need to adjust their plans this year, since Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day and the Western Day of Resurrection falls on April Fools’ Day. (The Orthodox Church celebrates Easter on April 8th.) I know of several churches who will hold their Ash Wednesday service in the evening; I thought some might consider moving it to earlier in the day, so folks can take their ashen foreheads out to Valentine’s dinner. Millason Dailey mentioned that last year, Calvary Presbyterian in South Pasadena held their Ash Wednesday service VERY early in the morning. They had a terrific idea to hold a Mardi Gras party at a local restaurant late at night, and then at midnight they walked to the church to commemorate Ash Wednesday.

Celebrating the party nature of Mardi Gras right before the beginning of Lent reminds me of the many ways the Bible warns us about the “shiny objects” of the world distracting us from the profound connection of faith and obedience that God calls us to. For some of us, it is easy to get distracted by our culture of materialism and self-indulgence, especially in affluent societies like the United States. Because of this, many practice some form of fasting and self-denial for Lent. But we are reminded that God does not want a show of sacrifice as much as our commitment to follow God’s will for justice and care for the hungry and the oppressed:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6)

Each year, the PC(USA) produces a Lenten devotional. You can purchase the 2018 version, focusing on the prophets and Jesus as bearers and the fulfillment of God’s will for justice and restoration, at the newly-consolidated PCUSA Store here. There are certainly countless opportunities for our churches, as the body of Christ in the world, to call for and live into Jesus Christ’s ministry of justice, restoration, and reconciliation. Just as we can point to the empty nature of worldly self-indulgence, if we honestly assess our brokenness and need for grace, we can appreciate the miracle of Christ’s victory over death, knowing that God will go to any length to save us even from disasters of our own making. So as we enter into the season of Lent, as we contemplate the great gift of Jesus being willing to give his all for our sake, perhaps we can adopt Lenten practices not only of sacrifice but also identifying ways we can further Christ’s ministry of reconciliation.

As an example, the opening of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang has been emotional for some of us. There have been hopes for reunification of the Korean Peninsula, and I imagine that the idea of reconciliation in Korea is not just a geopolitical act but also a family one, including for many Korean Christians. You may know that the Presbyterian Church in Korea started over 130 years ago, mostly in the north, centered in Pyongyang. But many (or most) Korean Christians had to flee to South Korea to avoid persecution. So many of our Christian Korean brothers and sisters have family roots in North Korea. Following Isaiah’s prophecy of God’s saving will for Israel, the Presbyterian/Reformed Church in Scotland, the United States, Taiwan, Korea, and elsewhere helped to support the cause of sovereignty for people who faced oppression from outside forces. I believe that this yearning for restoration of nation, church, and family is strong in the heart of Korean Presbyterians, and I pray for the shalom that comes when God’s saving will is realized. I pray that God shows us how we all may be reunited, in spite of past hurts and threats of violence, through the peace of God which surpasses all our understanding.

So as we enter into the season of Lent, may we all see God’s light even in times of darkness, and may we also resist the shiny objects of the world, that we may hold to the eternal power of God’s grace, for ourselves, for our families, our churches, even to all the nations.

In faith,

Wendy