NCP Office Summer Hours:  Please be advised that effective May 23 - August 29 the Presbytery office will be closed on Fridays.  Messages and emails sent on Friday will be returned by Noon on the next business day.  Normal hours of operation will resume on September 5th.

Midweek Musings by Jackie Taylor, Associate Executive Presbyter

Okay, so my father and I (plus Mia) are trying to find a place to vacation together.  Rather than sitting around during the holidays thinking about loss, we decided that there is no time like the present to spend time, bond, talk and all that other kind of stuff.  And by george we are going to do something FUN!!!

First we start talking about a cruise to Hawaii, the one place my father hasn’t been.  I’m excited until I see the price!  Whoa!!!  That quickly down sizes to the Caribbean which is much cheaper, with exciting ports of call like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral, one Caribbean Island and then Miami. Woo-hoo!!! We’re having fun now!!! Next is an all-inclusive package to anywhere, all-inclusive means airfare, tips, taxes and hotel.  That might work except if you want to step outside your hotel room, that’s extra.  Are we there yet??  Round and round and round we go.  Where we’ll stop, nobody knows!

But what’s the real purpose of this adventure?  It’s not about a glamorous location, endless activities or pricey destinations.  The real purpose is about spending quality time with loved ones.  It’s about realizing that for some life can be short and relationships are really what is important in our lives. 

Consider the church.  Your congregation could have state of the art AV equipment, the latest Church School curriculum, a brand new building, or an outstanding “pulpiteer”.  But what is the state of your relationships?  Do members know one another and speak on Sunday mornings?  Is there a reasonable system of pastoral care where people feel the love of Christ through their fellow church members – and not just the pastor?  Is the communication between pastor and officers open and honest and designed to promote health in the church?  Are you out of the salt-shaker and building relationships with those outside the building?  A trip to the local retirement home to bring encouragement is just as important as a mission trip around the world?  Why?  Because the love of God is there.  And as we truly love God, then we can love one another and build on that love to share the good news of liberation and salvation with others.  That is FUN!!!

I’d love to go somewhere exotic, but deep down, I would be very happy laughing with my father and daughter sitting in beach chairs in Rehoboth or on the front porch of our family home.  So, this summer pull up a beach chair and have a vacation right in your own congregation.  Share good times, love, laugh and relate to one another and watch your congregation come to life!!!  There’s no better vacation than that!

Aloha!

- Jackie 

Please Keep in Prayer 

GA News for Thursday, June 26 – from Sara Holben …

What color is the nametag?  Walk around G.A. and look at the color of the name tags.  That’s the key to knowing who people are here at General Assembly.  Among the variety of colors, orange name tags are “local volunteers” from the San José area, red are General Assembly staff, gray are members of the General Assembly Council, blue are voting commissioners, and so on  … and then there’s my name tag.  It has a brown tag at the bottom that simply says “Observer.”  And there are a lot of us here as “observers.”

I don’t vote … I don’t have to be a “resource person” for anyone … I’m not required to attend a committee meeting, unless I really want to.  My role is just “to observe.”  It’s a great freedom – and a privilege to be here and to observe the 218^th General Assembly at work.

            So what have I observed? 

• more laptops than I ever knew existed;
• people renewing connections with one another in this Presbyterian “family reunion”;
• 3 presbytery executives who have been seen wearing crab claws on their heads;
• dozens of people lining up to testify in committees with passionate convictions on all sides of different issues;
• tote bags bulging with the information and resources and free pens available in the exhibit hall; and
• bleary-eyed commissioners, drained by the hours spent listening, debating, amending, sorting out who is who and what is what and trying to discern how God is speaking to the church in these days.

It’s easy to look at all of this commotion and wonder how it will all make sense in the end of the day.  But in the midst of it all, it seems to me that what I have observed the most is the grace of God and the work of the Spirit that in spite of ourselves it keeps drawing and nudging us into a future that God intends for us.  Keep lifting in prayer our own commissioners:  Randy Clayton, Tom Mathew, Carl Mazza and Sharon Wert.

From “Observer” Sara Holben, Pastor, Chestertown PC, Pastor-Chestertown

Photo Above (from L to R):  Jim Moseley, Exec, NCP, Wilson, Gunn, Exec, Nat'l Capital, Peter Nord, Exec, Baltimore

 Church Orders votes 41-11 to recommend deletion of G-6.0106b

By a vote of 41-11 Tuesday evening, the Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry recommended to the 218th General Assembly that it send an amendment to the presbyteries to delete G-6.0106b — which requires “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” for church officers — from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Book of Order.

A number of committee members, knowing the inevitable vote was coming, didn’t return to the committee’s meeting room after the dinner break. The Rev. Emily McColl, who was on the losing side of the vote, asked committee members to call those who didn’t return for the evening, saying she was “so saddened by their absence that my heart can hardly stand it.” [Read more] 

Post-Assembly publication may be ordered now

 

Available the week of July 7, Assembly in Brief provides easy-to-read summaries plus photos of the 218th General Assembly's important news and events. The 16-page, bulletin-sized insert is designed for use by congregations in Sunday worship or in church newsletters. To order, call (800) 524-2612 or order online from the Presbyterian Marketplace.

 

Walking Alongside the Young

Red Clay Creek PC

Saturday, July 26

9:00 am to early afternoon

For Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, etc.

Download the brochure here:  walking alongside.pdf

The Interpreter's Bible

West Presbyterian Church has a complete set (12 volumes) of The Interpreter's Bible, published by United Methodist Publishing (Abingdon/Cokesbury) beginning in the 1950s.  Covered are the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Apocrypha.  The series utilized the KJV and the RSV.  Anyone interested may have the set merely by calling Mary McKnight, Church Secretary, at (302) 656-8326.

Celebrate Small Church Sunday

 

Small Church Sunday, July 13, is a time for Presbyterians to gather together to celebrate and recognize the work of small congregations. This year’s focus is cooperative ministry among smaller membership churches. An increasing number of these congregations are recognizing the value of working together to enhance their engagement in ministry and mission. These churches are discovering that through collaboration they are able to accomplish much more than they could imagine doing alone.

 

A collection of Small Church Sunday resources is available to help plan your service. These include hymns, prayers, an offering and a list of suggested activities for congregations and presbyteries.