I am part of the Camino de San Diego Virtual Border Trip, which is being offered in conjunction with Via International and the Southern California Presbyterian Immigrant Accompaniment Ministry. Our first stop was Chicano Park in San Diego. I didn’t even know about this wonderful place, a true model of community claiming, defending, and building on their rights!

Two of the artists who work on the amazing murals at Chicano Park spoke with us.  As they live close to the border between Mexico and the United States, they regularly cross back and forth between the nations; about 100,000 people commute regularly between Tijuana and San Ysidro. They are called “fronteriz@s” or borderlanders. They are connected to both nations.

Among many things, I was struck by the discussion of identity. At one level, the artists shared the challenge of their dual identity, not being fully accepted as Mexican in Mexico, or as American in the United States. But they also gain strength from asserting and expressing and celebrating their identity: through their artwork, through revived traditions such as Aztec dances and healing practices, and through storytelling within the community.

I was intrigued by this as an Asian-American. When asked, Asian-Americans speak most passionately about identity. I believe that a key benefit that Asian-Americans have is our ability, for the most part, to trace our ancestry back several generations to our ancestral homeland. Our ancestral identity is relatively intact, which gives us a sense of security from knowledge of our roots. This just happens to be my belief; I am aware that there are Asians who have either lost or rejected their family and cultural heritage. But when I consider the way Africans were ripped away from their roots during the days of the slave trade, or the number of White Americans who do not have a sense of identity, I think of the stories of my ancestors to be a blessing.

Because of this, I had to ponder the words of our guides, who also gained strength from their identity—but their identity was much more complicated than mine. How could people look back on generations of struggle and persecution, and gain strength?

As much as I lean on my sense of identity as a Japanese-American, I also look to the Bible to understand my identity, my spiritual ancestral roots among the people of Israel and followers of Jesus Christ. What is my identity as a Christian?

In our Presbytery meeting this Saturday (have you registered yet?!), we will discuss the results of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which measures our intercultural competence as the Presbytery. One thing that the developers of the IDI recommend to most of us is to learn more about our own culture. Because “culture” is not limited to ethnicity, perhaps it would be helpful for us to explore our cultural identity as Christians—or even as Presbyterians. In a recent conversation after one of our “Reforming Presbytery Practices” group meetings, some young teaching elders shared how they do not feel included in the Presbyterian in-circle, because they did not grow up in Presbyterian families. There are assumptions and values that are shared almost subconsciously among cradle Presbyterians—sometimes people refer to this as “Presbyterian DNA.”

In some ways, our Presbyterian identity is a guide and even a source of pride for many of us. But it is quite possible that elements of that identity can constrain us as a church, especially when we fail to recognize that some of those elements keep us from welcoming and flexing with people from different backgrounds. For instance, our appreciation of traditional Western education and the related attachment to the written word in English can make us develop very rationalistic, word-heavy and complicated approaches to worship and church governance. This has resulted in expectations of church sessions that are daunting to people of nearly every background.

Perhaps it would be helpful for us to consider who we are—as individuals, as Presbyterians, as Christians. And the Bible does give us great insight into our identity, and it’s almost as complicated as our friends at the border. We can look back and remember that Jesus told his followers that they will have the power of the Holy Spirit—but also that the world will reject them, as Jesus was rejected. We are a people who are strengthened by knowledge that we connect with an authority far beyond earthly powers, and that even when we are persecuted, God will protect us and even work through our faithful witness. Like the Fronteriz@s, we can be bold to challenge oppression, because we know what God would want for us and for all marginalized peoples. All we need to do is trust in God, and follow the teachings that Jesus offers for God’s children, teachings that surround the bold statement “you will be children of the Most High”— teachings like humility, love for one’s enemies, and radical forgiveness.

As we consider ways we must change in order to welcome more of God’s children into our shared ministry, it might be compelling to consider what it means to be Presbyterian in a very changed context. And as we consider who we are and whose we are, may we be grateful for and recognize the gifts of our spiritual roots. And may we also be emboldened to do the will of the God who made us and saved us, and got us to this point. May we bearers of the grace that God has offered to us.

See you on Saturday, on Zoom or at San Marino!

Together with you in Christ,

The last days of August are upon us. Schools have begun. We are watching the shifts in weather nervous about local fires and praying for our neighbors affected by ongoing fire and smoke. Hurricane season is in full force on the eastern coast of the Americas. All of these serve as markers of fall. A time for new church programs, education classes, maybe even a beloved yearly gathering. And yet, we are still engaged in this COVID dance. Some regular programs will have to wait another year. Some gatherings will go forward but might look different.

I think we are all tired, and perhaps if you are like me there are moments of excitement. Learnings that come as surprises and change our minds about a long-held belief. Or a shift comes that changes the conversation creating room for dialogue, openness, and forgiveness. These moments fuel creativity and hope. I find that I am more aware of these moments because I need a little extra fuel to keep up with the COVID dance.

This week, I have been grateful for the collection of these moments that have enabled me to get to know the Presbytery more deeply in my first year and a half than I believe I would have under other circumstances. After two months on the job, I was thrown into mid-council work in a pandemic. I found that many of you were willing to offer help and support, and even more of you reached out for encouragement as well. The gifts of encouragement, experience, and wisdom from all corners of our Presbytery have inspired me. I do not know if I would have had so many opportunities to build these relationships across the Presbytery if it wasn’t for Zoom. I am inspired to be on the look out for more unexpected gifts as our COVID dance changes.

And one of the changes that is coming up is our first hybrid Presbytery meeting. It will take place at 9:00 am on Saturday, September 18. You can join the meeting in-person at San Marino Community Church (1750 Virginia Road, San Marino) or on Zoom.

For those joining on Zoom, find a comfortable place to sit in your home or office (wherever your internet is strongest), and sign in by 8:40 am. We will go through the details of how the Zoom meeting will work in hybrid form at 8:50 am. These details will also be sent out in the Presbytery packet on September 10.

For those joining in-person, we will meet in the Fellowship Hall of San Marino Community Church where their contemporary service takes place. A registration table will be set-up in the courtyard. Doors will open at 8:30 am for registration. Please wear a mask and do not attend the in- person gathering if you have been exposed to COVID-19 or have any symptoms.

We will not be serving food or drinks at this meeting. We ask that you enjoy your morning coffee or tea in the courtyard before coming inside for the meeting.

We will have seats set-up in small groups for our breakout times. You will not have to move around to be in a group. The online meeting participants will be shown on screens up front along with the meeting PowerPoint. Please bring a copy of the packet on your device to reference during the meeting if you would like the additional detail that will not be on the PowerPoint. We will go over the details of how we will hear from both groups before the meeting begins.

I am so grateful for the support of SMCC and several in our Presbytery commissions and committees who are helping to sort out the technology and logistics. And I can guarantee there will be hiccups and failures and new learnings. What a gift to share this experience with all of you. We are learning and growing together. May the Spirit more to inspire and shape us in the face of challenge and discomfort. I hope that you will join us for this opportunity.

One way that you can contribute to the work of the meeting is to register for the meeting as soon as possible. In fact why not click this link today and take care of it. The registration form asks if you will attend in-person or on Zoom. As you can imagine, it matters for the design on the meeting if more folks will be in-person or online. If something changes and you need to change your registration, contact me at ally@sangabpres.org before September 16, so I can adjust. In the MMU the week before the meeting, I will post a contact number for the day of the Presbytery meeting.

I am excited for the Sept. 18th meeting and hope to see you there.

Grace and peace,

Ally

As we enter the fall season many of the preliminary events that precede next summer’s 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be happening. These include the introduction of overtures, hearing about individuals and teams declaring to stand for the office of (co-)moderator/s, and election of the presbytery’s commissioners and young adult advisory delegate.

As many of you are aware the 224th General Assembly was a GA like no other being held completely online with no traditional commissioner committees and a greatly reduced agenda of business that focused on the urgent and the essential.

As we look forward to the next Assembly the plan is to take what was learned from the last assembly and do the work in a middle-ground with committees meeting in-person and plenary sessions being mostly online.

Following the 2020 General Assembly, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly took a hard look at how the meetings are organized and came up with a new form that is intended to provide efficiency and cost-savings. The first move was the decision to hold the next GA in Louisville in the PC(USA) Presbyterian Center. To facilitate the meetings the Center is undergoing a $2.4 million upgrade that includes the creation of a conference center in the building as well as a production facility and other needed improvements to the building not directly related to the Assembly.

In this new meeting space, there will be four three-day sets of meetings with four committees meeting in each block. This will facilitate each of the 16 committees meeting in person to do their business. These meetings will happen between June 20 and July 2 and commissioners and advisory delegates will travel to Louisville to participate. Overture Advocates and speakers at the open hearings will still be part of the process but they will address the committees remotely.

The opening plenary session will be held on June 18 with the members of the first four committees present in Louisville and all other commissioners and advisory delegates joining virtually. One of the first items of business will be the on-site participants – enough to constitute a quorum – approving Standing Rules that include the possibility of an electronic meeting. Once that is approved all the remote commissioners and delegates would become full participants in the meeting.

After all the committees have met plenary sessions will be held July 5-9. For these, all the commissioners and advisory delegates will participate remotely with only the (co-moderator/s, clerk and support staff on-site in Louisville.

A celebration of Juneteenth is planned for Sunday, June 19. And COGA is working on methods for the GA participants to have opportunities for community building and networking.

And as with the last GA, all of us at home will be able to follow along with live streaming of the meetings during the Assembly.

I hope this gives you a flavor for the organization of the next GA. There is a GA website with more information and it is the place to find new information as it becomes available. In particular, there is a good FAQ that helps explain the aspects of this GA. If you are considering being nominated to be a commissioner or advisory delegate to this GA you might want to check out the information to better understand what the expected commitment is for this GA.

So I’m still on my Summer Olympics diet—Olympics all the time! (As I write this, they’re covering men’s trampoline, following freestyle BMX, which one can call “weird dangerous things you can do with a bike.”) Certainly it’s taken my attention away from news of the world—or at least news of COVID.

I did listen to yet another telebriefing from the LA County Department of Public Health on Friday afternoon. I don’t know what I was expecting—maybe just a plea to churches that everyone mask up again. That was said, and there is yet another revised Health Order, which was effective as of yesterday, August 1.

But I was surprised to hear the presenter rather casually stating that when they tested vaccinated people who had “breakthrough” cases of COVID, they found that the viral load of vaccinated people with COVID was the same as those who were unvaccinated. I was startled enough by this that I asked them to confirm what I thought they said, because I must have heard him wrong. If this is true, it would indicate that if you are fully vaccinated, but still get COVID (which is happening more frequently with the Delta variant), you can spread the virus to others as much as someone who is not vaccinated.

I used to think “vaccination” meant that you don’t get the virus. But the COVID vaccines seem to be most effective in minimizing the symptoms that one has if they contract the virus. I believe that vaccinated people do not contract the disease as much as unvaccinated, but a recent study has challenged many prior understandings. This week, the CDC referenced an article that described a recent outbreak as the basis for their renewed recommendation for fully vaccinated people to wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.

In July, in the state of Massachusetts—a state where 69% of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated— there was an outbreak in Barnstable, stemming from multiple summer events that attracted primarily men, about half from the area and half from other states. These events led to 469 cases of COVID-19, and consistent with the attendees of the events, 85% were men, with median age of 40. Approximately three quarters (346; 74%) of cases occurred in fully vaccinated persons, and all three vaccines were utilized by them. Data collected from these cases show that the Ct values (roughly, the level of virus measured in a COVID test) were similar regardless of vaccination status. As of the article’s publication, there were 5 people hospitalized and no deaths.

It’s hard to understand all of the data that seem to change. Clearly the Delta variant has raised concerns, because it is so much easier to spread, and the impact on unvaccinated people is worse. So haven’t we been here before?  Why get vaccinated if you can still get COVID?

Vaccination is still extremely important, and everyone eligible for the vaccine should get it. According to the American Cancer Society, that includes people with cancer. This also includes people with underlying conditions, such as heart conditions. If anyone has concerns, they should consult their doctor. I point this out because I have heard a number of people who are not taking the vaccine because they have underlying medical conditions—but they are the people who most need the vaccine, since they would suffer more if they contract the virus.

So what does this all mean? I hesitate trying to interpret scientific data, but if the vaccine is a shield that cannot keep every arrow from hitting you, it will stop the arrow from hurting you seriously. Conversely, those who might be most hurt by getting hit with an arrow should do everything they can to protect themselves. And if we can avoid shooting arrows at others (ie, spreading the virus) by wearing masks, all the better. This is even more important since many people can carry the virus without having any symptoms, so they are likely not to know they are helping to spread the virus. And we still cannot give our young children their own shields, so they are at risk of whatever we allow to spread.

I asked the County officials if the old-style cloth masks are sufficient now. They suggested people could increase protection (or prevent more arrows from being shot) by double-masking, or wearing KN95 or N95 masks. One doctor said that if you have a spray bottle and spray water through your mask, you should wear the mask that does not allow much of the spray to go through. He personally would recommend surgical masks (the common disposable masks), but whatever protection one wears is better than none.

Bottom line:

1. The Delta variant greatly increases the likelihood of COVID spreading, and even some people who are vaccinated may contract it. The spread of the Delta variant can happen if a person contracts it, even if they were vaccinated, even if they don’t have
2. LA County is again mandating that all people wear masks in public indoor Though they cannot restrict church behavior, we can still act responsibly and act safely and consistently by requiring that all people coming into our church buildings wear masks. The County still thinks (hopes) that singing is allowed if masked. If a worship leader does not wear a mask, they need to be at least 12 feet from others when singing.
3. Those who are not vaccinated should be even more careful not to get exposed, by wearing double masks, KN95 or N95 masks, and/or keeping
4. While we are experiencing the difficulties in offering hybrid worship, please consider doing so, so that no one feels pressure to come into church buildings in order to worship or connect with their church
5. Finally, get vaccinated if you have not It may not be perfect, but it’s the best defense we have. One of our own minister members who had a breakthrough case but was out for just a short time said that they are sure that if they had not been vaccinated, they would be in the hospital.

I know it’s tiring and frustrating to be ever-vigilant, again. Maybe we don’t need to forgive Coronavirus 77 times, but we do need to persevere in dealing with it. The last time a pandemic like this occurred a century ago, the danger lasted for two years, and the virus came back several times. It would have been great if we could have stopped the virus permanently after just one wave, but we have to continue to find ways to protect ourselves, but moreso those who are most vulnerable. Getting the vaccination and wearing a mask isn’t the worst price we can pay to do so.

May blessings, and health, and patience be with all of us as we continue to seek ways to be faithful in these troubling times.

And may we be filled with the peace of Christ.