An Open Letter to Cherokee Presbytery

November 5, 2014

Dear Presbytery Colleagues;

If you’re like me (or at least how I was before serving as a Presbytery Stated Clerk), the press of many things means that you likely don’t take much time to get ready for a Presbytery meeting.

I recently attended an event that reminded me of the importance of deep and intentional preparation for meetings, gatherings and conversations.[i] The way we prepare for any conversation or meeting determines much of the outcome of those encounters.  What are the deep reasons for my participation in this gathering?  How do I wish to engage with others?  How does this gathering relate to my/our calling as a Presbyterian Christian?

If we truly believe that God is present in our Presbytery gatherings, meeting us there to form us as His people and to guide us in the way we are to go, then I would suggest that getting ready for a Presbytery gathering is spiritually and practically critical. Every member and each commissioner’s presence, attention and voice is important and vital to our worship and to our deliberations on matters both large and small.

Therefore, I would invite all of us to be deliberate in making ourselves ready for our upcoming meeting of November 18th.  Specifically, I would invite us to get ready in two ways:  practically (prepare); and spiritually (pre-prayer).  Here are some suggestions for both movements:

Prepare

1. Read the Handbook, noting those items that you will be asked to vote on (either after discussion or by consent).
2. Study the information
3. If you have questions or need clarification, please contact the appropriate team leader, the Stated clerk or Moderator.
4. If there are items you wish to remove from the consent agenda for discussion/debate, contact the Stated Clerk and/or the Moderator.

Pre-prayer (Set aside 15-20 minutes for prayer)

1. Pause:  set aside any distractions, breathe deeply 3-6 times.  Still your heart and your mind.
2. Remember with gratitude
   • Who you are in Christ:  A beloved child of God.  Called, gifted and sent to be part of the Body of Christ.
   • What God wants to be as a Presbytery:  a holy expression of God’s intention for the world, obediently following Christ together with confidence, joy and hope.
   • What we are called to do as a presbytery:  pray the faith together, think the faith together, live the faith together.
3. Imagine:  Think about the people that will be at the meeting. Visualize them there.  Who do you already know?  Who have you not met yet?
4. Pray: For those attending; for those leading (Moderator, Stated Clerk, Parliamentarian and Discernmentarian, Committee and Commission chairs; Team Leaders, New Minsters, Musicians, Servers, etc.)  Pray for the gathered body to demonstrate the fruit of the spirit, to welcome one another as brothers and sisters, to act with wisdom.  Pray that our time together would make God smile.  And pray that we will take what is good out into the world so that the world will know the good news of the gospel in all that we say and all that we do.

I am looking forward to being with you on November 13^th, and eager to discover what God will do as we gather in Christ’s name to be the church and to do the work which God calls us to do.  I can’t wait to get ready to be with you.

Your sister and colleague;

Mission Coordinator/Stated Clerk

End Notes:

i At the Association of Mid-Council Leaders, we were led by Rev. Terry Chapman, author of Sabbath Pause and Claudia Eisinger, Managing Associate of Fifth Element Associates.   We talked about the Sabbath journey as well as how we come together for conversations and meetings that matter.  They introduced us to a book called The Art of Convening:  Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations by Craig and Patricia Neal.