I Am is Enough...by Erin Kirkland

Cleaning out my car today I found last Sunday's bulletin stuck between the two front seats. It was wrinkled after a week traveling next to my coffee mug and laptop case, and some of the notes I had scribbled upon it were smeared; I think my water bottle dripped.

I retrieved it from the floor and glanced at the reading and my hurried writing over some of the words. At the top was written "Filled with I Am". Next to that was "I Am is Enough".

It's been a rough week. Tragic events in our city, an incredible loss in the lives of some precious friends; I just wanted to rewind the last few days and start over with different results. But as I sat down in my driveway with the words I scribbled, I realized I had forgotten about I Am and what I heard last week as I Am was transformed into "To Be", a verb.

I Am is us, we heard. Jesus asks us to be action words. He expressed this to the disciples up on the grassy mountainside with words that gently and beautifully instructed to be "care-full".

The light of I Am is here, there, and everywhere, even if the valley is dark. If we are the light of the world, maybe then we are the ones who can help the suffering, the sorrowful, and the poor in spirit.

And that was indeed enough this week as I gathered a grieving friend in my arms and promised I would be there, with the light of I Am surrounding both of us.

Huffman Park Project Update! by Megan Holliday

The Huffman Park Project is moving right along! Since receiving a grant in June to work on the park we share with Huffman Elementary, I have had the opportunity to meet with the Huffman/O'Malley Community Council and the Huffman Elementary PTA. Both groups are so excited for this project and are ready to get on board!

The next steps from here are to form a small group made up of folks from all three larger groups to be the planners and facilitators of this project. Trinity should have 2 or 3 representatives in the small group, so please contact me (mholliday@trinityalaska.org) if you want to be a part of this exciting project!

The park project is a perfect opportunity for us to partner with our neighbors and work on something to benefit the kids of Huffman Elementary school and this neighborhood. I can't wait to get going!

Trust and strays, by Tom Letts

So, so sorry to miss the last post (more internet connection issues!).

As I reflected in the last post, 'Among the biggest changes in the living out of faith in our communities are issues surrounding trust and authority.' There are, in Anchorage, two kinds of people: 'church people' and 'not church people.' Most of the time these two don't understand or trust each other.

Remember, I've spent this summer involved in the National Assembly's 'Evangelism and Church Growth, Committee 15' and then off to the denomination's Academy for Missional Preaching, followed by a visit to the Evangelism Department of Fuller Seminary. Everything I'm hearing and reading from these three places leads to the same place: those of us who follow Jesus face challenges in our 'post-christendom, post-modern, secularized, pluralist world' that require a vast reworking of our theology, practice, words and deeds.

Here are the seven main sticking points for the people we work, school and play with (do you have one to add?): 1-Christians are judgmental, 2-Christians are hyper-patriots who support war (God, guts and guns made this country great!), 3-Christians are anti-intellectual/anti-science (the world is 5,000 years old, evolution is wrong, God got a virgin pregnant, and later, came back from the dead...), 4-Christians are hypocrites (they are all about morality but have affairs and get divorced as much or more than the rest of us), 5- Christians are bigoted homophobes, 6-priests are pedophiles, 7-ministers are only in it for the money (well, I'M in it for the cool, black robe...).

Now, one thing is clear to me in all of this. The days of being a lukewarm 'Christian' are fast coming to and end! I believe we were born in this era on purpose. I believe God has much to communicate to our precious neighbors. I believe that we have come to the point where our faith must become deeper, more real, and more powerful in its expression as we follow our Lord, carrying our crosses. Read Luke 14:25-33 and we'll talk.

More tomorrow. Peace, tl

"God's Love in Action": Stephen Ministry at Trinity

It's a ministry of action: Walking, Praying, Caring, Loving, Meeting. The Stephen Ministry program, first founded in 1975, is designed to provide training and resources to dedicated lay-people for confidential, one-to-one Christian care within our congregation and community.

Not totally new to Trinity (we have had in the past a number of trained Stephen Ministers), the Stephen Ministry program will be reintegrated this fall under the tutelage of James Kirkland, installed today as the new Stephen Leader. Beginning in September, potential Stephen Ministers will engage in 50 hours of intensive training to equip them for ministry to anyone in the community who desires support during a difficult period.

We all experience challenges in life, and the Stephen Ministry program benefits those faced with loss, hospitalization, divorce, spiritual crisis, terminal illness, lonliness, and many other times when life seems too difficult to handle alone. Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry; the identity of those receiving care is absolutely private.

The most important aspect of Stephen Ministry is our role as members of Trinity and the greater community: "Filled up-poured out", for sure. We can pray for hope and healing through this ministry, we can accept care from a Stephen Minister in a time of need, we can refer hurting and broken individuals to the program. Most of all, if you are a compassionate listener, you can prayerfully and carefully consider becoming a Stephen Minister yourself.

Trinity's Stephen Ministry program is accepting applications for the upcoming fall class. Please contact James Kirkland with questions or comments regarding the program at deacon4u@alaska.net. Or, for information about Stephen Ministry as an organization, visit their web site HERE.

Remember what we heard this morning? YOU ARE the Light. Why hide it under a bushel basket? Shine.

Trust and obey?, by Tom Letts

Serra Retreat Center, Malibu, CA

Welcome back! I want to start by saying how cool it is that we continue to get lots of hits on this blog every day (from a high of over 100 to still over 70 each day!). And be sure that the next few weeks will include posts on the fallout (good and bad) of GA.

So, I'm in LA at the PC(USA) Missional Preaching Seminar (year 2). Twenty-four of us are studying and practicing issues of developing and leading congregations in worship, preaching and mission (mostly preaching). This much is becoming clear to me/us. Everything has changed. We live in a world that is nothing like our grandparents' world. Among the biggest changes are issues surrounding trust and authority. Let me explain.

There are, in Anchorage, two kinds of people: 'church people' and 'not church people.' Most of the time these two don't understand or trust each other. Before I go any farther I want to make it clear that, from where I stand, Trinity's 'church people' are pretty free of this fear of the 'not church people.' So I would like to spend time on how 'Trinity people' are perceived by our 'not church people' neighbors.

Here is the rub. We believe, really believe, that we all were created in God's image, broken and in the midst of being healed. We believe that something really special happens when the 'covenant community' (remember your membership vows, and the sacraments?) gathers to celebrate God's presence in their lives. We believe that if our 'not church people' neighbors could see what we see and know the Love that we have known, they would be deeply enriched.

So for the next few days I would like to look at our 'not church people' neighbors. What do they think of 'church people?' And what do they think of 'Trinity people?' Mixed with this, we'll look at 'Trinity people' and how we live, speak, and engage 'not church people' in ways to introduce them to the Love in Christ we know. More tomorrow.

God is good. Love you all, tl

Kids Fun Week Wraps Up to Rave Reviews by Erin Kirkland

Our first-ever nature-themed, world-oriented, self-driven Kids Fun Week finished in a big way yesterday afternoon with a performance by the kids and a ton of food provided by everyone.

What started as a "seed" in the midst of winter "grew" into one of the most positive and productive events we've ever done. At least I think so.

Comments I've overheard ranged from "This is the coolest idea ever; I've been looking for ways to connect my kids to nature and God, but I hadn't yet found a way," to "I hope you're going to do this next year!"

Many moms and dads headed directly from Kincaid Park's Bunker to the home store to buy planters to hold the multitude of plants and seeds brought home by their kids. What a great reminder of a great week; a pot full of blooming plants and a home full of blooming kids.

Well done, everyone involved!

2nd Friday post late night by, Tom Letts

Sarah and an old guy

Ran into Sarah Pisk this week! That's no big deal to you yet, but I think it will be. You each have someone like this in your life, or maybe you ARE this to 'an old guy.' Sarah came to faith as a Jr Hi kid at our presbytery camp in Montana. I was dean of that camp for eleven years and have vivid memories of her as just a kid. She has grown in maturity in Christ and has become a winsome witness to the fruit of faithful ministries to youth. I am that kid to a handful of men and women who 'raised me from a pup' in Christ. You are that kid to someone too, aren't you? I stand in awe in the face of the Spirit's good work in maturing us in Christ. Sarah was food for my soul. [And, of course, I encouraged her to apply for an internship next summer!]

Outside the convention center each day, and outside the meeting room doors most days, have been groups protesting for or against decisions of the Assembly. Today, we had a group (news cameras and all), enter the meeting with placards, and stand, singing, on the stage. The moderator did as we have all been taught to do in seminary and had the assembly stand and sing a hymn (thank God the delegates from Montana with gun racks in their trucks weren't in charge!). We then took a recess for a few minutes and returned to business.

Three proposals related to the formation of non-geographic governing bodies were disapproved by the Assembly. These three proposals, respectively, called for the formation of a new non-geographic Korean presbytery; flexibility in presbytery membership; and a New Synod designed in part to overcome the constant preoccupation with battles over sexual ethics.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Assembly gold, by Tom Letts

Kirk, Tom and Tom (Fuller Seminary class of '84)

OK, so, kids' fun week looks like a WHOLE lot more fun than GA. Please greet 'Moose" and "Goose' for me.

These three guys had similar hairlines and a net weight about 150 pounds lighter in '84. While at Fuller we worked together in ministry, played intramurals together, and studied almost as hard as Tammy. This week became much more than business as the three of us laughed at the foolishness of our youth and talked deeply and honestly about our lives. Good, and godly men are worth their weight in gold.

A really interesting conversation/debate was held today over the stock portfolio held by our board of pensions. The PC(USA) holds many millions of dollars of investments for its pastors' retirement funds. The board has a standing mandate to monitor all companies in which we invest for practices that might contribute to abuse or oppression of people (like tobacco companies, weapons manufacturers...). The board is monitoring, and in conversation with, six companies in which we hold stock that might be problematic. I am impressed with the diligent, mature monitoring done by the board. We've divested from some very profitable corporations for the sake of seeking more righteous investment.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Kids Fun Week Rocks and Rolls and Kincaid Park

Our Kids' Fun Week participants are jumping, crawling, and digging into the beauty of our earth from the ground up. Whether it's planting seeds, turning everyday products into useful items, or singing the rockin' cool song "Everything Has a Place", kids from all over Anchorage are enjoying an awesome three days of God, our community, and ourselves.

Here's a few pics from the week so far. Don't forget, a picnic for all those involved will be held at Kincaid Park (site of KFW) tomorrow at 3 p.m. Please give your RSVP to the folks at the registration table in the morning.

Late night vote a surprise, by Tom Letts

After the dinner break following the ordination and sexual standards vote, we were addressed by an ecumenical advisory delegate from the Orthodox church. His opening was, 'I bring you greetings from the orthodox church, never reformed and never reforming. We have held our orthodoxy for 2,000 years.' The priest then went on to note, 'I see that you have been guided by the Holy Spirit to overrule the Holy Spirit's Book and redefine sin. This is confusing to me. Maybe there is another spirit than one being listened to. This kind of activity seems more like pagan hedonism than Christianity.' These were humbling and sobering words.

At 10:38 pm Central, by a 51%-48% vote the 219^th assembly voted to honor the current biblical standards and definition of marriage.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]

God is good. Love you all, tl

Big 219th GA vote by Tom Letts

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

In a 53%-46% vote the GA chose to send to presbyteries for vote, a proposal to strike sexuality standards from ordination requirements. It is likely that the presbyteries will reject this proposal. Here we sit, however, tied up again for hours and spending tens of thousands of dollars on this issue. Oh well. God is good and we'll work this out.

Did you know that trick-or-treat for UNICEF is a PC(USA) program? 2.4 million kids did it last year!

Did you know that the fastest growing churches in the PC(USA) are racial-ethnic? And, that only 8% of the PC(USA) is racial-ethnic?

Did you know that 'The only person who likes change is a wet baby?' (Mark Twain)

Did you know that the members of this assembly donated over 7,000 articles of new clothing to local homeless projects in the Twin Cities area?

Did you know that my birth year (1956) was the year that women were first ordained as pastors in the PC(USA)?

You do now... God bless you all.

More later today, tl

First Full Day Of Plenary by, Tom Letts

Committee 15 ends its work!

Dear Saints- It will continue to be a 'good news-bad news' week. I'll mix them up for all of our sakes.

C15 (Evangelism Church Growth, PILP), as the first to finish its business, became the first to present today. We presented without a hitch and some great 'legislation' has been put into place. There is an emphasis/program called 'Deep and Wide.' that sounds and acts remarkably like 'Filled up. Poured out.' So cool to be a part of continuing this essential work if the denomination is to grow in vitality and numbers. The stat that I use so often is being used here all the time, '75% of our congregations are in decline, but 25% are growing. What can we learn from the 25%?'

C15 showed an instructive and inspirational video about a couple churches in the 25%, that I'm bringing home and will use in worship. BTW, we've seen some great video production here but none better then what Todd Hardisty has done for us.

The 219th GA daily paper is my first read each day. Tough, tough headlines today. 'New language offered for ordination standards does not include sexual ethics.' 'Definition of marriage to include union of 'two people.'' '$1.9 million cut from PC(USA) mission/ministry budget.' 'Committee votes to disallow formation of non-geographic synods based on theological agreement.' Each of these headlines is contrary to where Tammy and I (and I am confident the session as well) stand. The votes on these pieces forwarded from the committees start tomorrow and I expect all to pass, but you never know...

The worship music has been great. We are led by a young guy (late 20something) on acoustic guitar with a variety of his local worship team on vocals. Their band has a bass player, keyboard, and drummer. They are really good (but they aren't Cam, Will, Lori, Ryan, Meg2, and the rest). Oh, and I miss a good brass section! The musicians are from the Church of the Nations based here in Minneapolis. Look it up, its a great, 'missional' (Filled up. Poured out.) church.

Love you all, tl

Live and In Color by, Tom Letts

Looks like C15 reports live on ga219.pcusa.org at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Watch if you are bored! Peace, tl

They Say Its Your Birthday by, Tom Letts

C15 was first done with official business! So we will present tomorrow afternoon. I'll find out our docket time at about noon Wednesday. You will be able to follow our report before the Assembly on a live video feed at ga219.pcusa.org I'll let you know as soon as I can our exact docket time. It's like live TV and everything!

Tammy joined four other panelists in presenting, to C15, practical applications of how churches reach out to their communities. She was brilliant as she walked the committee through, among other things, our developing relationship with Huffman Elementary School and Huffman Park.

After lunch, C15 went on our field trip. We are the envy of the Assembly! Both churches we visited had teams of pastors who were married (see, we're doing great stuff at Trinity!). Our second church was in 'THE bad part of town' (according to our bus driver). This inner-city church, Kwanzaa Community Fellowship, is doing just super work in their neighborhood. They partner with all kinds of secular and government institutions. Their creativity in partnerships has led to all kinds of amazing mission in their community. One of the coolest is their community garden. Unbelievable how it came together and the impact it is having. After a couple hours with the pastors and staff of a tour of the area (a lot of white people for that neighborhood), we gathered in their 'lobby' and prayed. People were laughing and crying and thanking God for all the activity of the Spirit in this beautiful work. You'll hear plenty later.

Tammy must have told the world of my birthday. Thank you, C15 and all of you at Trinity, for the blessings. It was a great day to turn 54. And tonight? A Jazz club for Brazilian jazz (that's right, Cam)!

Peace, tl

54 of My Closest Friends by, Tom Letts

What has 54 voting Presbyterians, meets two floors underground, has no cell or internet coverage, and makes its own coffee? That's right! How did you know? Its committee 15 'Church Growth, Education, and PILP.'

Early morning prep meetings, late night prep on our own, and lots of coffee and dark chocolate have drawn the leadership team of C15 close. I love these four friends and partners! For those of you who follow temperament and management style profiles, the three women are devoted, hard-working 'Beavers' who don't rest until the work is done (in triplicate!). Tim is a 'Golden Retriever' who quietly keeps us together ('You doing, OK? What can I do for you?'). And I make cool power-points (I got on line and downloaded pictures from everyone's home churches), keep the coffee and snacks coming, mingle like crazy with the committee members at break and...got us a FIELD TRIP! [That would make me an 'Otter.' PS-no 'Lions' on the leadership team but we have plenty on the committee. Lions make big noise, and expect things to go their way a lot. They really don't like being told 'no' even by a meticulous otter who has done their homework. It is after a 'lion attack' that otters (that would be me) bring a cup of coffee and make a quiet lion joke to the beavers to loosen them back up.]

I've been asked to lead some prayer times and have introduced Committee 15 to guided prayer like on Sunday mornings. Lots of, 'Thank you, Tom. That was great after this long day...'

Tammy is spending her time between the PFR guest booth in the exhibit hall and visiting committees dealing with controversial topics. She leaves Tuesday to join Megan Holiday and the Kid's Fun Week staff out at Kincaid Park.

These are the three sites I use every day:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
pfrenewal.org [you can register for updates or just click on the articles you want]


More later.

Peace, tl

Cool GA Sites by, Tom Letts

Hey all! I hear we missed quite a worship service today. Alice Green and Derick Lee in a baptism not soon to be forgotten! God bless you Alice and Derick (and the rest who led!).

Opening business meeting: There are over 1,000 of us on padded metal chairs in a large convention center whose floor is polished concrete. Every time we stand or sit en masse it sounds like 1,000 Vuvuzela horns at the world cup. I almost broke into a German football song today.

There were technical problems with the voting machines (I believe they were brought in from Florida). But after a long tech delay (so glad for our worship tech people at Trinity!) the new moderator is... elder Cindy Bolbach. She was the most liberal of the candidates and won handily. One wonders what this will mean for the rest of the voting this week...

We finished the plenary meeting at 11:05 pm (after starting with my committee leadership team at just after 8:00 am). It was a memorable 1st day.

Websites for going deeper:
pc-biz.org [following the work of the committees of GA]
ga219.pcusa.org [the official site for news and information]
presbycoalition.org/ga2010main.cfm [a great site for all your GA questions]
pfrenewal.org [click 'ministries' and then 'issues' for exceptional background materials]
covnetpres.org [the 'liberal PC(USA)' website. Read to see the liberal views]
pres-outlook.com and go to Adam Copeland's GA blog [a denominational news agency asked this experienced writer/blogger to write this 'unofficial' blog]

More later. Peace, tl

Going deeper into pc-biz.org, by Tom Letts

If you missed my last post, go back and read it. The site mentioned is a good one. This post deals exclusively with pc-biz.org so read no further unless you are REALLY into web-searches and the GA. Really. Stop reading now. You're still reading? Here we go!

OK, so, there is A LOT of information to sift through here! Were we using paper the initial materials for each commissioner would be more than six inches high, with the final tally closing in on a foot-high stack. It is a crazy amount of material but I've got some helpful hints for using pc-biz.org as a tool for finding what you need.

Remember pc-biz.org is the official website for the 219^th GA. You can click 'register as a new user' if you would like to track overtures and create bookmarks for future reference, or you can just start using the site.

As you search the site you can choose one of two filters (like looking through the whole bookstore or just going to the 'cooking' section). The larger-scoped filter is the event filter labeled '219^th General Assembly.' The smaller one is 'Assembly Committee' (this filter will keep you within the work of a particular committee, and you can change the committee -like leaving 'cooking' and going to 'fiction').

Now, if you are looking at an item and want to keep following it: you must have an account and be logged in, then you can click the 'watch this item' button on the orange bar. Each time you go to the home page you can choose 'I'm watching' in the 'show items' box and your watch listed items will appear, click for the latest activity.

If an item has an attachment (resources for background or further study) you can click 'Additional Resources' in the grey box in the upper right corner of the screen. Browse to the attachment you want and then you can either read it or download it.

Some controversial items to follow:

Marriage -committee 12 -key overtures: [weddings 12-06, 08, 09] [change definition 12-02, 03, 04, 10] [reports: pro change 12-12, pro traditional interpretation 12-13 (a GREAT doc)]

Ordination standards -committee 6 -key overtures: (new standards) 06-06 through 10 and 12 through 17, (traditional standards) 06-02, 03, 04, 05, 18

Muslims and Christians -committee 8 -key overtures: 08-04, 02

Happy hunting. Peace, tl

Live Site by, Tom Letts

We are in our first meeting and have opened with commissioning and worship. I've got some good news and some bad news. First the good: there is a live site other than pc-biz.org that seems to be more 'newsy' and less 'techie.' The site is ga219.pcusa.org and has a live feed to the video feed for the assembly hall. If you are on an iPhone click the icon for iPhone, everyone else click VOD in the dark blue box. The bad news.? My email access to tletts@trinityalaska.org is down. Send (for the next 6 days only) to thomas_letts@hotmail.com More later.

Peace, tl

Introduction to the controversial issues by, Tom Letts

Minneapolis Convention Center

Up in the air and on our way to the 219th General Assembly of the PC(USA). Thanks for your questions and comments relating to the Assembly and to the blog.

I've said repeatedly that there are four major issues coming before the Assembly but I think we should add a 5th. So, below is a list of controversial issues.
1-Sexuality and ordination (a variety of overtures -see my last post on 'overtures'- seeking to make the way clear to remove sexual preference restrictions in our ordination standards. In other words, to make the way clear to ordain self-avowed, practicing: gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans-sexual persons).
2-Redefinition of marriage (from 'between one man and one woman' to 'between two consenting adults').
3-Non-geographic synods (a proposal seeking to offer synod-type alignment to churches on opposite sides of the ordination standards issue. In other words, churches that could not, in good conscience, ordain a gay person to office would be free to align themselves with other PC(USA) churches who believe the same way.).
4-Palestine/Israel relations (a 150 page report that paints a stark picture of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The report is factually accurate but scathing and some say might do more harm by alienating Jewish neighbors than the good it might accomplish in 'speaking the truth in love.').
5-Inter-faith worship (a task-force report seeking to affirm common worship between Presbyterians and Muslims -and Jews- as 'we are of the same Abrahamic lineage.').

Going deeper: a note on pc-biz.org
The site takes some getting used to but it works. The search engine is a good one. You can type in a word (like 'ordination') and you'll get a variety of 'hits.' Just go through the list and click what you want. Also, you can follow any overture or committee-work by searching for the overture or committee number (my committee is 15, Evangelism and Church Growth. We have no contentious overtures.). I'll post committee numbers and their controversial issues tomorrow.

I've run into some great sites that help interpret the issues of the Assembly. I'll give you a few tomorrow and maybe even a 'site of the day' during the Assembly. Blessings, tl