Yesterday, an elder who had just finished leading in worship told me that she woke up that morning with joy in her heart! While I\u2019m not a morning person, as the weekend wound down, I realized that the whole weekend was a time of joy.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t necessarily start out that way. As we were finalizing details for Saturday, our first almost-fully in-person Presbytery meeting since January 2020, Ally texted me to let me know COVID had hit her house. We made some last-minute adjustments, but we were able to hold the meeting, which was planned to have very few viewers on Zoom, with no Zoom-based presenters, to a meeting with three presenters via Zoom, and with new and borrowed audio equipment! This was possible due especially<\/p>\n
to Ally and Amy Mendez being well-organized, a very helpful and resourceful staff, and Andrew Ritiau coming to his first in-person Presbytery meeting early enough to help us with the audio (among many skills, Andrew knows sound systems, and actually had worked on the same board at Arcadia). And thanks for everyone\u2019s patience, as we set up the system. God does provide, and this weekend I was especially appreciative of how God provides though God\u2019s people!<\/p>\n
That was the highlight of the Presbytery meeting, in my mind. We received Rev. Dr. Kate Wiebe from Santa Barbara Presbytery, and approved the ordination of Harlan Redmond. We approved two celebrations of ministry coming up soon:<\/p>\n
Bong Bringas reported on behalf of the Committee on Representation and Nominations. He pointed out that while we enjoy the diversity of our leadership, including our COM that speaks 6 languages (he corrected the report to state that COM spoke 7!), we have not done as well in receiving younger members into leadership. For myself, I\u2019ve become more aware of the limits of my perspective in seeing young people in our churches. More on that later. But he also presented an excellent slate of leaders elected for 2023, and we gave thanks to those who have completed their terms. We are blessed with almost 100 volunteers who are elected to leadership in the Presbytery.<\/p>\n
We were also blessed with the partnership of the larger church. We were greatly inspired by the sharing of Bridget Meckley, Director of Formation & Mission at Fletcher Hills Presbyterian Church in San Diego Presbytery. With great humility, she recounted their decision to convert two of their rooms to provide shelter for Haitian refugee families. This was especially helpful for us, because as we re- visioned our Immigrant Accompaniment Ministry, we have thought about focusing some of our attention to asylum seekers awaiting entry into the US in Tijuana, possibly with extra care for Haitians.<\/p>\n