Last week we included a couple of small staff-related announcements, and I wanted to expand on them today. 

The first is the next step in Twila’s decision to move to part-time in 2020, and to focus on the bookkeeping function that has grown so large with the increase in property-related income for the Presbytery.  Twila had initially thought she would go part-time in June of this year, but is staying full-time through December, as she can get better benefits on an upcoming knee surgery through the Board of Pensions (another example of how our Board of Pensions provides superior care for their members, and a reward to us for keeping Twila in Board of Pensions even after their new structure made it more costly to do so).

But Twila is determined to go part-time starting January 1, 2020, and she is already getting her paperwork current in anticipation for training her successor.  The hope would be for us to find a new Administrator/Associate Stated Clerk in time for that person to go through the preparation and work for the November presbytery meeting, so we hope to review applications and interview folks soon.  If you know of someone who is interested (or if you are), please read the position description (please click HERE to download a copy of the position description) and send a resume to me at wendytajima@sangabpres.org by September 14^th, which happens to be our next Presbytery meeting.

When we developed the position description, the Personnel Committee and I discussed the critical attributes of the job.  The contribution to the work of the Presbytery that I am most grateful for is Twila’s combination of efficiency/detail orientation with her supportive attitude towards everyone she works with.  We are all aware that this person is the initial and regular contact for the Presbytery, so how they act and respond is a direct reflection on the Presbytery as a whole—so responsiveness, clear communication, grace, and knowledge are important.  I am also aware that with the staff working in multiple places, this position is the anchor that everyone can rely on, so dependability is key as well.

It sounds like an impossible job, and surely we do not expect to find someone with all of Twila’s gifts and knowledge easily.  The Personnel Committee reminds us that it is unlikely to find someone coming in with all of Twila’s knowledge coming into the job, but over time the person will learn.  So don’t be intimidated!  We will look for someone who has the inherent qualities needed, and we will commit to providing support and training for someone motivated to learn and grow.  For instance, the person does not have to even be Presbyterian—in which case we would likely drop the “Associate Stated Clerk” from the title unless the person becomes a ruling elder (though the compensation and duties would stay the same).

Last week I also briefly announced the resignation of Rev. Jake Kim from his position as quarter-time Associate for Ministry Development.  Jake has been pursuing a pastoral call since he left Northminster at the end of last year.  He has accepted a call as Senior Pastor for Church of the Valley in Apple Valley.  This is a large church that had been a member of Riverside Presbytery, but has since moved to ECO, so COM will be recommending to the September presbytery meeting that Jake be released from his ministry responsibilities with the PC(USA).  This may not be a “forever” thing; there have already been pastors who have moved back and forth between PC(USA) and ECO; in fact the interim at Church of the Valley was Jan Armstrong, the former executive presbyter for Santa Barbara Presbytery.  And Jake is not rejecting the PC(USA) on principle but because the call happens to be in ECO.  While some people may have hard feelings about ECO, this is where the call is for Jake, and I believe that God works through all people and churches in good faith.  So I pray for blessings on Jake’s work with them, and I am sure that people will be inspired by Jake’s infectious love for Jesus Christ.

Of course, given the distance to Apple Valley, he will be moving over that way, and cannot maintain this quarter-time position with the presbytery.  As it happens, the presbytery leadership has already begun to evaluate our current structure, and I am meeting with members of the two committees Jake staffed (Vision and Strategy, and Education), so this is also an opportunity to look at the most effective committee and staffing for the presbytery’s needs today.  More on that as things develop.

As for our newest staff member, Kristi Van Nostran, you have been very welcoming to her as she works to support our asylum-seeking neighbors.  She has already met with several of our churches, and one family will be hosting two people temporarily as they are released from detention and prepare to move out-of-state to await their court dates.  Just yesterday I preached at First Presbyterian Altadena, and some leaders expressed interest in helping with Kristi’s work.  They, and I, see a direct correlation between the detention of Japanese-Americans in World War II and the detention of those lawfully seeking asylum now.  Veronica Ota, a young adult leader at the church, has done ethical reflection on her family’s incarceration during World War II and has researched literature of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  You are invited to celebrate with the church’s annual Fall Festival on September 21, 3-8 pm, with a presentation at 4:30 pm that Veronica will be leading.

So there are many opportunities to consider in the coming weeks:

• September 14:  Get ready for Presbytery at Puente de Esperanza in La Puente.  And if you are interested in the Presbytery Administrator/Associate Stated Clerk position, please apply by then
• September 19:  Come to Westminster Gardens to learn about “Grateful Stewardship” as you build financial resources for your church’s ministry, 10 am—2 pm; lunch provided.  Please RSVP by September 9 to presby@sangabpres.org
• September 21:  Come to First Altadena’s Fall Festival 3-8 pm, especially the 4:30 presentation on Japanese-American incarceration during World War II and those affected by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Anytime, maybe now:  Contact Kristi Van Nostran at presbywelcome@gmail.com to invite her to meet with your church and consider ways you can care for our neighbors seeking a safe place to live for themselves and their families.

Lately I’ve shared with everyone I meet the great work of our presbytery.  As we look ahead to the fall, with a new school year and new church initiatives starting, I am so grateful to be able to work with you all, and in this time of great potential and opportunity for new ways to serve God’s realm, I am excited to see how we all can join together in God’s great harvest.  Thanks for being such faithful leaders in the ministry to your communities, and to this Presbytery.

Your fellow laborer,

Wendy

The Bible makes it clear again and again – God’s people were not made to be alone. It is full of stories of great friendships – Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy, and a number of others. We even have the consideration of Christ’s love being of the kind that means laying one’s life down for one’s friends.

Many of us found it easy to make friends in our youth. After all, we were thrust into years of doing life together with a number of other children our age in school, whether we liked it or not. Eventually, we found others who we thought were interesting enough to pass the time with, and some of us even ended up with lifelong friends as a result. But friendships seem to be a lot harder to make once we hit adulthood, as the opportunities for regular social interaction with people beyond our family and coworkers become slimmer and slimmer.

A joke that has been passed around Christian circles recently says that Jesus’s first real miracle was making 12 friends in his 30s!

But even though real friendships in adulthood might be harder to find and more precious to keep I in our adulthood, friendship may be the key to keeping us happy and healthy as we age, according to an article on the subject from Generations, a magazine published by the American Society on Aging.

If you’ve raised children (or remember being a child yourself!) you might recognize the tendency we all have to listen to our friends more than we do to members of our families. This is because we usually develop friendships with people who are most like us in age, values, interests, and attitudes, people have. For many of us who have kept up one or two life-long friendships, we often take the wisdom of their words as though they came from somewhere within ourselves. And considering how long they’ve known us, it’s easy to understand why!

Even as our lives shift and change, as they inevitably do as we age, the need for the core elements that friendship provides – “companionship, mutual support, reciprocity, affection” – remains a constant within our lives.[1]  In other words, we never outgrow the need we have for our friends. We needed them to help shape us and sustain us in our youth and we need them even more as we age. We are more inclined to lean on our friends rather than our family for words of comfort, or for much-needed direction. We are far more likely to confess our worries or weaknesses to our friends or go to them when we need help.

And the scientific research backs up the warning from Ecclesiastes! Indeed, those who do not have a companion to help them up when times get hard or to buoy their joy when things are good are in worse shape than those who do. According to a study carried out by Rosemary Blieszner, the author of the Generations article in question, older adults without meaningful friendships tend to be more withdrawn, socially isolated, fall more often, and experience higher incidents of heart disease, depression, and cognitive impairment.[2]

As we move towards Labor Day, consider using the holiday as a time to catch up with a friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile. Or have a meal with one you see regularly. It may prove to be one of the best things you can do for your health and your spirit.

Blessings,

Rev. Lauren Evans

Chaplain to Retired Church Workers

[1] Blieszner, R. “The Worth of Friendship”, Generations, Spring 2014, 26.

[2] Adams, R.G., and Blieszner, R., 1995. “Aging Well with Friends and Family.” Aging Well in Contemporary Society. American Behavioral Scientist 39(2): 209-24.

“Buenas noches,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. It took me a minute to recognize the polite and timid tone. It was Jose*, a young man whose family I have become close to at church. “Sorry to bother you this late,” he continued, “but I wanted to talk to you about something important – I’m considering going north.” My heart sank.

“You know what it’s like in my neighborhood,” he said. “Gracias a Dios I don’t have problems with anyone right now, but they know I don’t have work and it’s just a matter of time before They start asking me to “do favors”. That’s a business that I don’t want to get into.” Jose paused; “Once you’re in, there’s no way out.”

I did know what it was like in Jose’s neighborhood, a marginal community built on the side of a ravine at the San Salvador city limits, and he was right. They – the local clique or cell group of one of the major street gangs – control the area. Despite a large and well-staffed police post in the center of the neighborhood, it is known that drugs, weapons and cash move in and out of the community with relative ease. Surrounded by this pervasive culture of illicit activity, it’s nothing short of a miracle that Jose and his family have remained reasonably untouched as long as they have.

I wept silently and listened as he shared his fears and frustrations. He told me of the conversation with a coyote who could help him cross the border in a semi-truck for the fee of $6,000. Jose would have to pay half up front and the other half upon arrival, payment of which had been promised by a cousin living in Houston. I felt so helpless to respond. He had clearly given this a lot of thought; what could I possibly say that might discourage him from this decision? When your reality includes 16-year-old boys going missing, never to be seen or heard from again, and 13-year-old girls impregnated as a means to claim them as gang “property”, somehow the dangers, expense, and lack of guarantee associated with making the journey north seem like the better of bad options.

As heart-wrenching as it is, stories like Jose’s are not uncommon. And although we are becoming accustomed to a daily dose of dehumanizing rhetoric and heated political debate around policies and tactics meant to “combat the problem” of migration, the reality of the tens of thousands of children and families in desperate need of refuge is so much more than the terms “border emergency” or “humanitarian crisis” can express. These are our kin. While politicians on all sides are posturing, the ones whom Jesus calls the least of these his siblings – our siblings – continue to suffer without food and water in the desert, sick and without visitors in detention centers, and denied welcome as deportees.

Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, writes: “The measure of our compassion lies not in our service to those on the margins, but only in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them.” As people of faith, we are called to respond compassionately to our siblings forced to choose between risking it all by leaving and risking it all by staying, and who have opted for the former. Jesus charges us to see immigrants and refugees as he does, as family, and to choose welcome. May it be so.

Paz y bien,

Kristi Van Nostran

It is with heartfelt gratitude and appreciation that I acknowledge the many individuals and congregations that are opening their hearts and their doors to offer hospitality and hope asylum seekers in our communities. And, if you are interested in learning more about the ways you and your congregation can get involved with the SoCal Presbyterian Immigrant Accompaniment Ministry, please reach out to me at PresbyWelcome@gmail.com. 

It seems to me that we Americans are more frequently running into what I’d call “parallel universe” experiences.  As social and traditional media prove and amplify the impact of particular actions and statements, we are becoming more aware of experiences of different groups in our communities—experiences that in the past were largely unknown.

One early example of this came out of the O.J. Simpson trial some years back, when the question of unfair police treatment of African-Americans came up.  That may have been the first time the general press discussed the disparity between how police were seen by dominant culture communities and communities of color, especially African-Americans.  This has been expanded in recent months by the plethora of reports of people calling the police against innocent people who are “living while black.”  In December 2018, a list was compiled of times in 2018 alone when police were called on African-Americans, including:

Unlocking the door to his own business
Golfing too slowly
Waiting for a friend at Starbucks
Barbecuing at a park
Working out at a gym
Campaigning for elected office door to door (she won!)
Moving into an apartment
Shopping for clothes for the prom
Taking a nap in a university common room (as a registered student)
Asking for directions
Not waving while leaving an Airbnb
Redeeming a coupon
Driving his white grandmother home from church
Babysitting two white children
Working as a home inspector
Working as a firefighter
Delivering newspapers
Swimming in a pool
Shopping while pregnant
And many more . . .

As I was editing this list (to shorten it), I noticed that even when blacks were with whites, this added to the problem—for instance, it was assumed that the young man driving with his white grandmother was robbing her.  (A sad footnote is that the person who alerted the police in this instance was also black—studies have shown that all of us have absorbed racial stereotypes, even against ourselves.)

These situations seem so outrageous that past reports were not believed.  It’s only because people can now use their phones to record videos of the incidents (and post them on social media) that this phenomenon is being exposed.  I remember being in seminary over 20 years ago, when a black student heard a “thud” in his neighbor’s apartment in student housing—he went to her door to make sure she was okay, and she called the police on him.

Another “parallel universe” experience came with the rise of the “Me Too” movement, when reports of various kinds of sexual harassment and violence were made known.  I was surprised to hear men express their shock and surprise that these incidents occurred, because I would guess that just about every woman has experienced some form of sexual harassment—men exposing themselves, making sexually suggestive and sometimes coercive remarks, touching or kissing inappropriately and without permission, and far worse.

And now, people are reacting to the words “go back where you came from.”  As people discussed this phrase, I noticed how it touched an old and deep wound within me.  I noticed how commentators thought the phrase has been attributed only to recent immigrants, or conversely how it can be used more locally, like when New Yorkers move south, or Californians move north.  I realized that dominant culture folks didn’t know how pervasively that phrase (or its variations, such as “go back to Africa” or “where are you really from?”) has been used to tell people of color and non-Christians that we do not belong, that we will never be seen as fully American, no matter how long our people have been here.  The New York Times asked on its website to share times they were told this, and almost instantaneously, they got over 16,000 responses—from African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, Jewish Americans, and others.

In the years after Jesus came to be one of us, some of his followers lived out their faith in amazing ways.  In a highly segregated, classist society, the early Christian church received Gentiles and Jews, women and men, slaves and slave owners, poor and wealthy, illiterate and educated, and people with varied levels of citizenship status.  I think we need to emulate the apostle Paul, who by his own account was Jewish, well-educated, a Roman citizen, self-employed, and a sinful persecutor of Christians, and used his own background to reach out to those whose inclusion in the early church was resisted.  In his letter to Philemon, Paul very delicately appeals to a slave owner to receive back his escaped slave not as a slave, but as a beloved brother.  What a bold appeal!  Philemon could have affirmed that the slave Onesimus broke the law, and even if freed legally, the class difference is undeniable—yet Paul urges that the past be erased, and that Philemon now see Onesimus as a peer, a family member, forever.

Too often we Presbyterians find ourselves disrespecting fellow members as not Presbyterian enough, or as new Christians, and unconsciously we make these judgments based on race, immigrant status, or education level.  May we follow our Biblical tradition and see the new creation that Jesus brings out in each of us, and love one another as family—whether or not they look like us, agree with us, or have known us for decades.  And as we receive each other as family, may we listen to each others’ stories, and care for each others’ hurts, that together we may be the loving, vulnerable, and persevering body of Christ we are called to be.

Over the next two weeks, you will not see much of me, as I am trying to take some time off, and then will be going to the Big Tent in Baltimore.  I should be back starting August 7.  And over the next few months, I have invited our Presbytery staff to write their own reflections on their ministries among us, to give you better perspective on the work they do on our behalf.  I look forward to our growing understanding of the ways we can serve Christ and Christ’s people as individuals, churches, and the Presbytery of San Gabriel.

In Christ,

Wendy

There are many reasons that we humans fall into discord and disagreement.  Sometimes this happens simply because the same word means different things in our minds, but we assume we all think the same thing.  Personally, I believe this is a big problem with the word “church.”  When I used to do a lot of church transformation consulting, I would talk about the act of “discovering” the church’s vision.  An important part of this discovering is the realization that everyone has a vision of what church is supposed to be and do, but they often don’t articulate it and aren’t even aware that their visions differ—so people regularly run up against each other’s unspoken visions.  So an important part of the visioning process is to “un”-cover, or “dis”-cover, our particular visions of church, and come to a shared understanding so we can all move in a more coordinated direction.

Every once in a while I am reminded that we run into similar pitfalls with the word “justice.”  I believe that one way people differ theologically is based on how we understand God’s justice. 

When I think of “justice,” I think of three different forms (this is not an academic paper, so please forgive this amateur’s thoughts on the subject):

1. Retributive justice, which requires punishment and restitution to neutralize the guilt of the offender.  When Christians talk about the crucifixion of Jesus as “buying” our freedom, it means that God’s retributive justice against the sinfulness of humankind had to be satisfied with punishment that Jesus took upon himself, for our sake.
2. Distributive justice, which seeks to allocate resources more evenly across all people.  This was described multiple times in the account of the Acts church, where “they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:45)  Note that the distribution is not measured by who deserves more or less; it is just based on need.  (In fact, the judgment was directed against those who attempted to withhold personal wealth from the community.)  When you think of the early church members giving their all to a community that came to include ex-slaves and slave masters, Jews and Gentiles, women and men, the radical nature of this vision of distributive justice is pretty amazing—our efforts at multiculturalism has nothing on our early church ancestors!
3. Restorative justice, as I mentioned in my column on May 28^th, attempts to provide healing for both victim and perpetrator by bringing them together for a facilitated conversation that enables them to speak their truth and come to see each other as people who can forgive, accept forgiveness, and reconcile.  I am most inspired and challenged by this work, which is so often carried out by Christians who are seeking to forgive, as Jesus forgives us, and as Jesus commands us—and in this forgiving, other children of God are given healing mercy that is the manifestation of the grace of Jesus Christ.

This probably reflects my personal bias, but I believe that the mistake we make is our focus on retributive justice.  Worse, we may think it is our job to mete out retributive justice.  However, my reading of the Bible says that it is only God who should choose to enact retributive justice—and that sometimes God chooses NOT to, often to the dismay of God’s vengeance-seeking children.  The words in Acts 9:16 come from Jesus, who directed the believer Ananias to receive and heal the stricken Saul, whom Ananias knew to be a persecutor of Christians.  Ananias initially resisted the order to open his home to this murderer, but retribution is the sole responsibility of the Lord, not of Ananias.

Frankly, it would be easy and even satisfying (in a broken human way) for us to practice our form of retributive justice—which may be why God wants to keep that to the judgment of Jesus Christ, “who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me.”  (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 52).

Instead, we are told repeatedly that our job is to practice distributive and restorative justice, as God has shown to us.  The prophets through the millenia, Jesus in feeding the five thousand and reaching out to the outcast, the calls for mercy to the widow, the orphan, and the least of these point to our call to offer mercy and tangible help to all, especially those in need.  And perhaps the most effective witness of Jesus’ claim on our hearts is the ability to forgive, which is the foundation of restorative justice.  We know restorative justice is possible because of the world-changing willingness of Nelson Mandela to reconcile with members of the Apartheid government in South Africa that imprisoned him for 27 years, and more locally we remember the Amish families of schoolgirls killed at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and survivors of the saints killed in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.  The forgiveness offered by those who have faced evil unleashed on the innocent—but also countless other, more personal, acts of forgiveness and reconciliation—help to make visible God’s kingdom of heaven.

Even as we continue to call out injustice in our world, and seek to prevent the abuse of the most vulnerable in our midst, let us seek to practice distributive and restorative justice, as we live as bearers of Christ’s mercy for this broken world.  What an awesome responsibility, and a most amazing opportunity to reflect God’s glory.

In Christ,

Wendy