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It is helpful to stop and reflect once in a while\u2014as individuals, as congregations, and as the Presbytery of San Gabriel.\u00a0 This week is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season.\u00a0 Lent is traditionally the season of preparation for people who seek to join the Christian church, with Easter as the time for receiving them.\u00a0 If nothing else, this is what I suggest for a Lenten practice:\u00a0 to be more intentional in reflecting on who we are as humans, as Christians, as individuals in need of grace.\u00a0 Sometimes people abstain from something that is appealing or regular in their lives, which might be seen as some kind of cleansing ritual, but it can also simply be a way of noticing how we fall into patterns of dependency on things that distract us from God.<\/p>\n
As a presbytery, we might reflect on who we are and what God is calling us to do.\u00a0 Five years ago, ten churches and the presbytery used the \u201cNew Beginnings\u201d process to look at who we are, who is in our community, and what God is saying to us now.\u00a0 This culminated in several serious decisions made by some of the participating churches, and a very large and active feedback session on the part of the Presbytery in January 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The feedback we received was a little different than what I expected.\u00a0 There was gratitude for Living Waters for the World as an opportunity for churches to join together in mission.\u00a0 But the priority named by the members was relationship\u2014building relationship between local church and presbytery and building relationships between churches.\u00a0 There were also comments common to just about every mainline church in America:\u00a0 a desire for revitalization and help in building youth ministries.\u00a0 Last year we surveyed the commissioners at one presbytery meeting, and the response affirmed the desire for revitalization and building relationships between churches.<\/p>\n
This feedback has guided presbytery leadership over the years, to varying degrees of success.\u00a0 But we do what we can!<\/p>\n