The 2012 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be held this July, not too east of here in Pittsburgh. Our own Dick Glass will be there in an official capacity as commissioner. He will be joined in that capacity by several others including our former interim pastor, Rev. Charlotte O’Neill. Since Pittsburgh is fairly close I will be driving over July 3-4 to peruse the exhibit halls for new curriculums and ministry ideas, to network, and to catch up with colleagues from Indian Nations and Cimarron Presbyteries and classmates from Austin Seminary. I will have no official responsibilities whatsoever, and I, for one, am okay with that. Over the next month or so I will write some blog posts about General Assembly and about some of the issues that are on the docket for this meeting. I may even try to get some point/counterpoint guest bloggers to help us understand both sides of a few of the issues. Before I get there, though, I want to just say a little bit about the Presbyterian Church (USA), the denomination of which our congregation is a member, and to say a few things about presbyteries in general and our presbytery, Scioto Valley Presbytery. When I was eight-years-old my dad married my stepmother. When my parents had been married, my dad, mom, my two older sisters and I were involved in a United Methodist Church. As is often the case when there is a divorce and subsequent remarriage it was difficult for my dad and stepmom to feel comfortable in the church family that my dad and mom had been a part of. That is unfortunate but it is completely understandable. My stepmom, along with my older stepbrother and stepsister, were involved in a church in a different town called Yeamans Park Presbyterian Church. Since my stepmom’s ex-husband had never been a part of that church there wasn’t the awkwardness there so we all started going to the Presbyterian Church. I was there pretty much every Sunday from the age of eight to thirteen, when I moved away to live with relatives. I don’t remember all that much about those years except gathering in a circle outside on the church lawn with our lit candles on Christmas Eve (you can do that in coastal South Carolina), a lesson about Moses in Sunday school, a week at Bethelwoods Presbyterian Camp, and the pastor during all those years, Rev. Bill Neely. He told good jokes and he tried to help my family in the midst of some real difficulties.
About nine years later, in my early twenties, after a stop in a Southern Baptist church and several years of inactivity, my new bride and I decided to find a church home. I decided to visit the Presbyterian church in the town we were living in because of those four memories from my childhood in a PC(USA) church, especially because of how Rev. Neely had treated our family with grace, mercy, and understanding. We found a home in that church, The First United Presbyterian Church of Guthrie, Oklahoma, and it was through that church that I received my call to the professional ministry. Cimarron Presbytery supported me in that call and I attended a PC(USA) seminary in Austin, Texas. God used Yeamans Park Presbyterian Church and Rev. Neely to plant seeds of faith in me, First United Presbyterian Church in Guthrie, Oklahoma and Cimarron Presbytery to call me into my life’s purpose, Austin Seminary to prepare me for that purpose, and FPC Newkirk, FPC Norman, and FPC WCH as families of faith whom I can serve and love, as well as being served and loved by them. I love the Presbyterian Church (USA); it is a part of who I am and God’s plan for my life. I do not always agree with some of the stances taken by the PC(USA), but that doesn’t change the fact that I love this branch of Christ’s Church.
The first presbytery I was a part of is called Cimarron Presbytery, encompassing the northwestern corner of Oklahoma. It is, I believe, the smallest presbytery in the number of churches. Cimarron has only thirteen churches, albeit some of them as many as six hours apart. For a frame of reference, our presbytery, Scioto Valley, has 108 churches. Everybody knew everybody in Cimarron, which was one of the advantages. We didn’t really have enough people or resources to do much, however. I remember fondly my days in Cimarron. The people there are like family to me in a lot of ways. The second presbytery I served in is called Indian Nations, which encompasses about fifty churches in the Oklahoma City metro area (similar size to Columbus) as well as in southwestern and south central Oklahoma.
Unfortunately Indian Nations has been dysfunctional for decades and remains highly divided into certain camps that war it out at just about every presbytery meeting. I really liked a lot of the people there but I absolutely hated going to presbytery meetings there because it was like going to a Hatfield and McCoy joint family reunion. While in Indian Nations I tried to be a part of the solution by serving on the Presbytery Council and attempting to serve as a bridge builder between “camps” but sometimes even when you build a bridge it just sits there unused while the people on both sides move a little further downstream so they’ll have an excuse to keep throwing stuff over the river at each other instead of meeting in the middle of the bridge.When I came to the Presbytery of Scioto Valley I expected it to be like Indian Nations. But when I got here I met Rev. Jim Browne of the Hilliard Church and Jeanne Harsh, the acting executive presbyter. I met Rev. Stephen Moulton at Parkview PC, where I preached for our pastor nominating committee during the interview process. I even found out that one of my favorite colleagues of all time, Rev. Charlie Smith, with whom I had worked in Cimarron Presbytery is the pastor of 2nd Presbyterian in Newark. At the first presbytery meeting I attended, there was some heated discussion but it was much more civil than Indian Nations. This past Tuesday, I attended my second presbytery meeting, and it wasn’t just civil, it was—dare I say it?—loving and grace-filled. The church in South Salem had asked to be dismissed from the PCUSA to become an independent community church and after hard work from a presbytery administrative commission, which included our own Jennifer Pieratt, the presbytery voted unanimously to allow that to happen graciously, with minimal payout to the presbytery, and even with our blessing on these brothers and sisters in Christ and their newfound direction in ministry. One candidate for ministry was confirmed in her call and moved on to the next stage in the process, while another was approved as ready for ordination. In addition to all that, the presbytery council, which includes our own Dick Glass (who also preached in the presbytery’s worship service), made suggestions on how to streamline the organization structure of our presbytery (music to my ears!).
I know that many in this congregation do not have the fuzziest feelings for our presbytery because of the way many feel this congregation was treated in regard to a severance payout to a former pastor and because of the alleged embezzling of funds by the former executive presbyter, who had also been a part of that severance negotiation. It is completely understandable for folks in our church to have been upset with our presbytery, or more accurately one or two individuals in leadership roles in our presbytery, because of how things went down over the last several years. It does not make sense, however, for our congregation to continue in any sort of adversarial or dismissive stance toward our presbytery, which I always remind people is not "they" but "we."
This Sunday I will be preaching at the First Presbyterian Church in Norman, Oklahoma for their Senior Recognition Sunday. I was honored to have been asked back by that congregation to participate in that service with twelve graduating seniors who I love like my own family members. Just the fact that they asked me back and that this congregation not only allowed me to go but blessed and encouraged me to go, shows the connection between two PC(USA) churches that are two very different congregations but that share a bond as sister churches. Please don’t take this Sunday as your Sunday off since the pastor won’t be here to notice you’re gone. I know people do that because I have done it once or twice in my life. We have great momentum going in this church and I don’t want that to slow down every time I go out of town, which will make me more and more hesitant to take very important vacation and study leave time. Come be a part of the service led by my new friend Jeanne Harsh, the acting executive presbyter who is one of the kindest, most caring, and funniest people I’ve come across in a long time. She is doing a great job and graciously agreed to preach God’s Word to this church while I’m out of town preaching God’s Word in Norman. She is excited to worship with you all.
I love the Presbyterian Church (USA), both as it exists as First Presbyterian Church in Washington Court House and as the larger denomination, and I hope you do too. As I mentioned earlier, God raised me up, called me to my life’s purpose, and has given me a loving family of God’s people all through the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Blessings on all of you and I’ll see you when we get back!
