My first Churchwide letter

This is my first Churchwide letter that will be out in September -

A monthly column for the church-at-large by the Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This month, the column has been written by The Reverend Byron Wade, Vice Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008).

Mending

September 2008

I don’t really listen much to the radio while I’m driving. However, when my six-year-old son Andrew is occupied with his Nintendo DS games in the backseat, I listen to the local affiliate for National Public Radio (NPR). One of my favorite broadcasts is This I Believe – three-minute essays in which real, everyday people discuss their core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives.

I was particularly struck by the story of Susan Cooke Kittredge, a minister in Vermont. She talked about her grandmother, who was an excellent seamstress. Unlike her grandmother, Susan couldn’t sew well, but she enjoyed mending torn clothing.

She said, “Mending something is different from fixing it. Fixing it suggests that evidence of the problem will disappear. I see mending as a preservation of history and a proclamation of hope. When we mend broken relationships we realize that we’re better together than apart, and perhaps even stronger for the rip and the repair.”

As I travel and listen to the many voices of the people in the pews, I hear a mixture of sentiments being expressed. One is of joy and hope that our church will embark on doing new things. The other is of pain and loss due to the actions of General Assembly. Both have the ability to break apart the unity of the church.

However, I believe despite our differences that God will “mend” us through the Holy Spirit and the example of Jesus Christ, the Savior who brought reconciliation to a broken world. I believe that God will mend our differences – whether theological, cultural, social, or economic – to make the PC(USA) a stronger witness in the world, for I truly believe that we are better together than apart.

I believe that God will mend and mold our hearts to view each other not as adversaries, but as brothers and sisters who have a common unity in Christ in working together to reach the unchurched, develop ways to grow our churches spiritually and numerically, and give rise to a greater emphasis on mission and new ways of doing ministry.

Susan ends her story with, “Mending doesn’t say, ‘this never happened.’ It says, instead, as I believe the Christian cross does, ‘Something or someone was surely broken here, but with God’s grace it will rise to new life.’”

This I believe.

Comments

[Kim Steinhorst]

Byron,
Peace be with you in and through our Lord Jesus the Christ. Your blog on mending was great; thank you.

It reminded me of something the church secretary shared with me recently from the Episcopalian rector where she is organist. I pass it on to you. The context was Communion.

She wrote -
"He mentioned the four actions - 1) receiving the offering of the bread and wine, 2) blessing it, 3) breaking it, and 4) giving it.

"The next part is what I've been thinking: If we think of ourselves and all that we have (been given) as a potential offering, then one of the unavoidable realities of life is that getting broken is part of being human.

"We get broken no matter what. We can either choose to give ourselves (back) to God to be broken in a way that gives our lives meaning, or run away from God and get broken anyway."

Again, peace.

[Susan Phillips]

Thanks Byron for your faithful voice! I will post a link on our church site and hope others will be blessed by their own mending efforts.
G-d;s deep peace,
Susan

[Byron]

Kim - thanks for sharing that story. I appreciate it!

Susan - thanks for your kind words as well. BTW, are you keeping Sabbath?

[Lisa]

Bruce is right. You do rock! I really like this analogy of mending. The question is "how?"

One thing that I believe that your and Bruce's election as Vice-Moderator and Moderator said is, "we can't continue to do business as usual." And you and Bruce are certainly plowing a new path in terms of communication.

But how can we open ourselves to this mending process of the Holy Spirit? Words aren't enough . . . how do we move forward in positive and affirming ways?

I don't expect you to have the answer, but this is one of the other conversatione we need to be having. Thank you.

Grace and peace,

Lisa

[Byron]

Lisa - thanks for the reply. You are right in that we are called to get past the words and begin enacting mending. That is definitely the challenge before Bruce, myself and the entire church. I believe that God will make a way for that to happen!

[ann deibert]

Byron,
Read your "mending" piece via the Presbyterian News Service then discovered your blog. Mending was beautiful. Thanks for that.
Ann

[Byron]

Ann - thanks!