“I can’t believe that I was trimming a tree with a chainsaw…in the church sanctuary!!!”

So begins the Face Book entry of the Rev. Craig Alwin, Pastor at Oconto, First Church.  Indeed, the tree that legitimately needed to be moved from its former site, found a new (if only temporary) home in the sanctuary of the church.

The “Baobab Tree” was just what was needed for opening day of Vacation Bible School.  The tree actually touches the ceiling (after trimming 10 feet off the top).

Everyone enjoyed singing “Father Abraham” under the Baobab tree and couldn’t wait to see what would happen the next days of VBS!

Photos courtesy of Craig Alwin

The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Gradye Parsons,  has released his greatest hopes for the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

1. Prayerful decision-making

The spirit in which decisions are made at the assembly will be a prayerful and careful witness of decision-making for the entire church.

2. Deeper awareness of the whole PC(USA)

Commissioners and advisory delegates will gain a deeper awareness of the length and breadth of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), realizing they are part of something much larger than themselves.

3. Issues facing congregations

Commissioners and advisory delegates will discern with the whole church the issues and challenges facing congregations

4. Common calling to a changing church

A clear, common calling will emerge to actively and hopefully engage with the reality of a church in change.

5. Attention beyond ourselves

Attention will move beyond ourselves to a world in great need, committing ourselves to gospel work: making disciples, feeding the hungry, welcoming the outcast, encouraging the fainthearted, working for peace – all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Enthusiastic sharing of the faith

Those who are part of the assembly will be the first in line of Presbyterians to talk about their faith with a contagious enthusiasm.

7. Furthering the mission of Christ

At the end of the assembly, commissioners and advisory delegates will have a deep sense that what they did will further the mission of Christ in the world.

Listen to the General Assembly  Welcome Message from Gradye Parsons.

The Presbyterian Church in Cuba

A monthly column for the PC(USA) by the General Assembly stated clerk

by the Rev. Gradye Parsons
General Assembly stated clerk

LOUISVILLE — Yes, Virginia, there is a vital Presbyterian Church in Cuba.  Read more.

I was invited to travel to the island last month with the presbytery and synod staffs of the Synod of the Sun. We spent time at the Matanzas Evangelical Theological Seminary talking about the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba. We also toured churches in each of the three presbyteries.

We heard remarkable testimonies of faithfulness and hope in these Cuban congregations. Church members told us about the long time in their history immediately following the revolution when only one or two people would attend Sunday worship. Today, the sanctuaries of those same congregations are full for worship. We also met a group of young adults who were preparing for a mission trip to Canada.

Particularly striking to me was the story told by Dora Arce Valentin, a pastor in Havana. Dora is the daughter of a minister who led his church during the difficult time right after the revolution.

Dora’s grandmother lived with them, and it was her job to get Dora to Sunday school each week. Not only was Dora frequently the only child in the class, which her grandmother taught, but she was often the only young girl in the congregation. So, like preacher’s kids everywhere, Dora protested this solitary assignment.

Dora remembers what her grandmother told her every Sunday. “Dora, you have to go to Sunday school. It is important that people see you there. God will bring the other people.”

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13 that now we see in a mirror dimly. Now we wonder where the church is going and what will it look like when we get there. Now we question how our little faith and hope will keep our congregations vital and alive.

Cuba holds a lesson for us: God is ever more faithful that we can imagine. So, Presbyterians, go to church. It is important that people see you there. God will bring the other people.

Surf’s up!

BY THE REV. GRADYE PARSONS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY STATED CLERK

LOUISVILLE — Each year, the Mavericks Surf Contest attracts the top surfers in the world. The competitors watch the Mavericks’ Web site until they see the words, “It’s on.” They then have 48 hours to get to the designated beach and compete for the prize money.

This year, the beach was Half Moon Bay in northern California. The surfers had to be towed out to the starting point because the breaking waves were so monstrous in size. Lifeguards zoomed around on jet skis to watch over the competitors.

Naturally, many spectators came to watch the excitement. Some observed from the bluffs; others, from the shore. Many of those who stood and watched from the shore were injured when a couple of the giant waves made it all the way onto the beach and crashed upon them.

An insightful bishop from the American Methodist Episcopal Church observed with interest that no active surfer was hurt while in the middle of riding a board on those huge waves. It was only the passive spectators on the unmovable shore who were injured.

We are facing a wave of change in our communal life of faith. It seems logical that the safest way to weather that change would be to observe it from the unmovable shore of “We’ve always done it this way.”

But could it be that the safer, though perhaps scarier, place to thrive in this change is in the middle of the wave?

In Danielle Shroyer’s study guide for Phyllis Tickle’s book, The Great Emergence, shewrites:

“Perhaps surfing is an apt metaphor for the kind of dual action required of us. Though we may choose our surfboard, our spot in the ocean, and the wave we take, we are not, in the end, able to control the movement of the ocean. We cannot determine the tide, or the length of the wave, or its intensity. It is our duty to ride it, and ride it well, in hopes that we arrive safely (and, with a little luck, gracefully) on the shore.” — (Reader’s Guide to The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, Baker Publishing Group, 2008, p. 20)

Surf’s up. It’s on!