A Lot Like Noah

12 11 09 Like Noah

As a Christian watching the Copenhagen Talks unfold, the irony of the times we live in are inescapable. I remember hearing the story of Noah as a child and marveling at the kind of person he was. Noah heard the Voice of God instructing him to save all land-bound life by building an ark. Further, he was to build the ark where he lived, far from the sea, and he had to do it despite the taunts of the entire surrounding community. I remember marveling at the kind of times Noah lived in, and the amazing faith exhibited in his life.

Ironically, we now we live in a time when we must hear the Voice of God calling us, once again, to save life on the planet. How ironic that I, and all people who claim faith, are called to put our faith-money where our mouth is and display the same kind of faithfulness as did Noah. It is not enough simply hear the Voice of God, but we are called to stand out in the world and make a difference. We are called to be ark-builders once again.

Only it turns out that if we are to be successful this time we have to save both the planet and human civilization. That is, it will take the combined effort of all the worlds peoples working together to pull it off. Nothing on this scale has ever been successful before. I am not even aware of something on this scale ever being attempted.

Yet, God is in it. We have the scientific knowledge and technical ability to pull this off. We have the communications networks to spread the word and build public support. We have all that it takes to pull this off. And what is more, if we pull this off, it will transform human society as we know it. .....Erosion Caused by Melting Permafrost.....
We will know
forevermore that we are capable of uniting in the face of real need, in spite of all the anxieties that go along with the trying to live with so many ‘others' on the planet. This knowledge of what we are capable of will be with us forever. WOW!

But it does require belief—belief that
God has empowered and is empowering something majestic and monumental in human history, and belief that our faithfulness can make a difference. It does require more than just hearing God’s Voice, though. It requires faith in action. It requires responding to what we hear with all our heart, with all our minds and with all our strength.

A Glimpse At a Theology Of Earth Care

Servant Leadership

Christians have always proclaimed that they have good news to tell. The good news addresses whatever bad news is in the world, and is about new life because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Since the bad news I have been addressing this month has to do with the need for better stewardship of the environment, I must raise the question about what Jesus’ life and teaching can offer in the way of good news. Here is one perspective.

One of Jesus’ key teachings is about each of us taking responsibility for our place in leadership. Paying attention to this part of Jesus’ ministry is hugely important if we are to address environmental stewardship. On Saturday NPR reported on national polls indicating that environmental concern ranks as last among the top 20 concerns among Americans, despite the fact that the great preponderance of scientists agree that current warming trends pose a great threat to civilization as we know it. Without real leadership, we have no hope to turn this around.

Like theologian Douglas John Hall I believe that that true confession of faith must include stance, word and deed. We see this demonstrated through Jesus’ life.

1. Jesus took a stand
for humanity and for all creation, both now and into the future, by joining with us in the flesh in history;
2. Jesus took action
conferring the essence of his right-ness upon all of us, despite whatever wrongness is in us, first by joining us in the flesh and then through dying and rising—opening new possibilities for all who will receive it, and
3. Jesus took pains to teach
what transformed life is like—teaching both through words and through personal demonstration—so that we might begin to understand and participate in it.

I therefore wish to look at how Jesus took a stand, took action, and took pains to teach about leadership. I then challenge myself, and any who read this, to apply it.

To keep this to some reasonable length, I am summarizing Jesus teaching on leadership as finding proper understanding of human dominion over creation, and a proper understanding of being “the salt of the earth.”

In Genesis 1:23 of the creation story, God told the human creatures that they had dominion over creation. This makes a lot of sense today. No species on the planet is affecting the whole of creation, and throwing the delicate balances out of kilter, on the same order as human beings. We have dominion, which means responsibility, whether we want it or not.

As the one good human Jesus must be our model of what that dominion looks like in practice. Jesus is described in Colossians 1 as the Lord of creation. Yet, Jesus rejected the glory-based lordship and its potential for tyranny as proper understandings. Indeed, Jesus
• rejected James’ and Johns’ bid to aspire to become his top lieutenants. Instead, Jesus told them that whoever would be first must become the servant of all—the least.
• Jesus also employed a demonstration method to teach this at the Last Supper, when he did slave duty by washing his disciples’ feet. This kind of pointed teaching brought the true nature of Jesus’ leadership into focus when he paid the ultimate price on the cross. Dominion, as Jesus demonstrated it, is a humbling responsibility calling on us to take action, even at great personal risk or great personal cost.

Jesus also took a stand against “losing our saltiness.” If we disciples of Christ are the salt of the earth, called to preserve the earth as salt preserves food or hides, then we cannot hide behind the idea that God has everything in control and we have no responsibility. We have been given responsibility (dominion) by virtue of being human. As followers of Jesus, we must not lose our saltiness; we have been given this message to proclaim and to put into action.

Further, Jesus’ followers understood that Jesus’ salvation is for all creation. Paul wrote that “all creation groans” (Romans 8:22), awaiting the salvation of God. As Presbyterians, we proclaim that the church is the provisional demonstration of the salvation of God until He comes. We cannot escape the call for standing with creation, teaching about stewardship of creation, and putting our teaching into action. We are called to be like Jesus, and to lead in stance, word and deed.

Jesus took a stand against a false doctrine of dominion—i.e., believing either that we have tyrannical, glory-hoarding say about what happens in creation. God is King and we are not. But Jesus also took a stand against claiming that God’s sovereignty absolves us from responsibility. We are called the same kind of leadership as that demonstrated by Jesus: leadership that responds to the needs of the world around it. Or, to put it in other words, leadership that operates out of the same responsive love we saw in Jesus’ life as proclaimed in the Bible, and as we find it at work today through the action of the Holy Spirit. A proper doctrine of sovereignty calls us to be responsible stewards of creation, caring for the Earth on God’s behalf.

Today, the Earth needs people who see and feel its distress. Humanity is over-consuming, and over-polluting. We are called to be stewards and find that we are stewards of God’s creation, whether we want to be or not. So, since we do have that much impact on the world, how can we take effective leadership, today?











There is a great contrast in this between the understandings of dominion and of saltiness that are often proclaimed. Some teach dominion as hierarchical control. Such teaching stands in great contrast to Jesus, who emptied himself of glory (Philippians 2:5), and who never controlled other human beings (though Jesus did show control over nature and demons). As theologian Douglas John Hall points out, Jesus demonstrated human leadership by always honoring God as King. If God is King, we don’t have to be…and shouldn’t be.

A teaching of dominion strictly as hierarchical control always has negative spiritual. Observe these examples:

1. Domestic violence is a huge issue in Alaska largely because we don’t know how to share leadership in our relationships, and because we have not been taught how to hold onto our own sense of personal integrity unless we have personal control of others in important relationships.
2. Recovery from addictive behavior (drugs/alcohol, gambling, and relationship addictions) only begins when we come to terms with right leadership in our own lives—which includes the fact that we can’t control our own addictive behavior on our own, that God and God’s people can help, and that we must take responsibility for a program of recovery that includes that help.
3. The environmental changes are affecting the whole world but are showing the first signs of drastic change near the polar regions like Alaska. In the short run Alaskans might smile at an October without the inconvenience of snow and ice—not to mention smaller heating bills—but down deep we all know that this is not how it is to be. Scientific models indicate that the entire world will suffer greatly if this trend, strongly enhanced (if not caused) by human behavior, is not turned around.

Nor does teaching that God is King absolve us from all human responsibility. Jesus cried out to God to “take this cup from my lips.” Yet, as a human being, Christ knew that ultimately God’s will might call for him to take up this cause and its consequences for him, even though he did not want them.

Leadership, then, is for everyone. All of us are called to make a difference whenever we are present. All are called to seek an understanding of what kind of difference we are called to make. All of us are to stand out as called, to come to know and be able to explain why we stand out, and to put our explanations into practice. None of us are called to be on this earth without making a difference.

The question I am seeking just now is: how to make a difference as stewards of God’s creation?

Signs of the Times

Faithful people need to relate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the times in which they live. This means paying attention to the signs of the times, and joining in on how God is responding to these times in holy love. Indeed, the Scriptures tell us that paying attention to the signs of the times is important.

The 24th Chapter of Matthew relates how Jesus told his disciples that we would not know the time for the end of the world. Even so, there would be signs that show the beginnings of the end (wars, rumors of wars, etc.), and we should pay attention to them. Earlier (Matthew 16:1-4) Jesus berated the Pharisees for wanting miraculous signs from Jesus, when they were not paying attention to the signs of the times that God had provided in the world around them. Clearly, faithful people are to pay attention to the signs of the times they live in and shape their ministry to relate the gospel to those times.

We now live in a time where there are 6.8 billion humans on the world. Our cumulative impact on the rest of the planet is huge. Indeed, one of the big issues right now is climate change. The warming trend of the globe is happening faster than the most dire warnings scientists gave ten years ago. Updated science has resulted in updated estimates, and we now know with a high level of certainty that the planet will warm by at least 2 degrees Fahrenheit no matter what we do. However, by repenting of our current fossile-fuel dependent life, we can arrest the warming trend to only two degrees and, over time, turn the warming trend around. Two degrees will already mean huge, life damaging changes in the planet. More than that would threaten the very future of our grandchildren.

The problem, of course, is that we must respond to the signs of the times now, and not after the worst of these predictions (flooding of low-lying countries, spread of deserts across Africa and even parts of the United States, etc.) begin to come true. There is momentum behind climate change trends, and letting that much momentum build would make any reversal come too late. We must respond now to God’s signs provided in nature.

Of course, Scripture depicts another moment like that. Noah was considered crazy for building an ark in the desert (Genesis 6:1 - 9:17). The coming flood was years away, and no one would believe him. In such times, the faithful are called to pay attention to God’s voice, however God speaks to them, and respond faithfully. This is just such a time. We need to be the ark builders for future generations.

Not all members of the Presbytery of Yukon interpret the signs of the times the same. As a result, not all believe that the looming crisis is that drastic. Obviously, I do [For more on why I think this is so important, see the following book: Orr, David W. Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse (Oxford University Press, USA, 2009).]

Yet, all who read their Bible know that humans are to be good stewards of God’s beloved creation. On Monday, I’ll add some thoughts from that perspective, sharing thoughts that I believe all Christians must support strictly due to the biblical witness—even without the signs of the times.

Yukon Presbyterians For Earth Care

Yukon Presbyterians For Earth Care

Curt and Cindee Karns' Bioshelter










For my wife, Cindee and me the stewardship of the earth is a real passion. We are so passionate aboutit that we bought a special “green-built-house,” both to live easier with the planet ourselves, and as a teaching platform for sharing various ideas on how we all can make a difference. We were therefore thrilled to learn that the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Presbyterians for Earth Care had decided to join the world-wide 350 Day effort.

350 Day is part of a world-wide effort to bring down greenhouse gas emissions to the
point where people and the planet can continue to coexist. Current estimates indicate that the maximum concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that would allow something similar to our current civilization would be somewhere between 295 and 350 parts per million. Recent measurements indicated the planet was passing 384 ppm. Grassroots efforts like 350 Day are aimed at raising awareness and encouraging human response to the problem—including bringing our CO2 emissions down to at least 350 ppm.

Much of the current efforts are aimed at forging a political solution to the problem, and I agree that politics must be a part of the solution. But I also believe that Christians are essential in making the theological and moral case for the effort. Reducing greenhouse emissions will not be easy, and without strong moral arguments it won’t happen. Happily, we have very strong biblical and theological support for making this case.

I will add a few thoughts on this biblical and theological material in the next few days. In the meantime. W O O H O O ! for Presbyterians for Earth Care and for 350 Day.

AKP 50th Anniversary Jubilee

My thanks to CLP LeeAnn Crumbley for allowing me to use this report. She wrote it to send to people, who serve as prayer intercessors for the Chapel in the Mountains. I am under pressure to do other things this week, and was behind on this blog. Thank you, LeeAnn, for permission to use this for this week's blog.

For Facebook friends of Presbytery Yukon, check out our newest photo album for more pix.
Curt

The 50th Jubilee celebration in Anaktuvuk Pass, Aug. 27 -30, was a wonderful, encouraging event. There were folks from Anchorage, Atqasuk, Nuiqsut, Barrow, Fairbanks, California, and Washington in attendance. We enjoyed traditional singspirations, Eskimo dances, a traditional village potluck, a KFC dinner sponsored by the corporation, with chicken flown in from Fairbanks. There was lots of visiting. A number of folks went berry picking or toured the village, including a visit to the Arctic Research experimental house.

Worship services were held Friday and Saturday afternoons, including a rededication of the Chapel, and on Sunday morning. The weather was typical, some rainy and cool, some pretty cold breezes (winds?), and some lovely sunny times.

Caven Keith, son of Bill and Terry Keith, was there continuing work on a documentary DVD, telling the story of the Chapel, the village and the people as they look back at the last 50 years and ahead to what God may do in their midst. Caven will continue working on the project into the winter, hoping to complete it in about November. Anyone interested in purchasing a copy when it is finished can let me know and I'll make a list. The interviews with village elders, church elders, and others are so well-done,it's easy to see the heart of the church and village. Caven is so committed Chapel in Mts. Choir to the project, he will finish it even though the funds raised do not cover the expenses.

Our group from Trinity, was Jeff and Sandi Bentz, JoAnn Bantz, Jack and LeeAnn Crumbley, Bob and Joan White (Joan is daughter of the late Rev. Ralph Weeks, itinerant NorthSlope pastor in the early 1970s) and Bill and Terry Keith, joined by sons, David and Caven Keith.George Gilchrist (AKP acting moderator during the 1990s), now in CA,
and son Cameron, Anchorage, joined us, as did Kendall Lancaster, Michigan, who pastored in AKP 1993-95. Mary Tener Sanders, Homer, was an itinerant S.S. teacher and teacher trainer in the early 1970s. Rev. John Chambers, missionary pilot, served the church, flying in from Barrow, in the 1950s. He came from his home in California.

Rev. Bill Wartes was the missionary pilot/itinerant pastor who designed the church. Seven members of his family, including widow Bonnie, attended, along with Doreen Simmonds, the granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Simmonds. From Palmer, Rev. Leisa Carrick, moderator-elect of Yukon Presbytery, and Martha Guinotte, wife of Rev. Henry Guinotte, joined us. Rev. Curt Karns, Yukon Presbytery executive, and Heather Smith, Trinity, serving Nuiqsut as CLP, were there. And many of our native brothers and sisters in Christ.

From Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, the focus was on the hope and joy we have in God's promises and in his faithfulness to his children. Our prayer is that people will bedrawn to support and encourage each other through the Chapel In the Mountains. Please pray for Rev. Keith and Sally Johnston as they pour themselves into the Lord's service tothe people of AKP.

They expended a huge amount of energy and prayer in preparation for this event, and encouraged many villagers to take an active part in the planning and executing of the plans. Pray they now have some well-deserved rest and that they can see the fruit of their labor.
Pray that God will bring revival to Anaktuvuk Pass and that our dear friends there will respond to his invitation.

Thanks for your prayers,
LeeAnn

Jubilee: It's About Restoring Right Relationships Being (Lv. 25)













Captions:
Top Picture: The Original Chapel
Middle PIcture: Drummers Warming Up
Bottom Picture: The Mountains!!!

Uniting AAMP's Younger Leaders

Young Leaders Participants-AKP

Today I want to reflect on a new effort in support of leaders in the arctic. The Ahmaogak-Akootchook Memorial Parish (AAMP) recently invited a number of younger leaders to meet in Anaktuvuk Pass. Anaktuvuk’s Chapel in the Mountains was celebrating a Jubilee year (more on this next week!), and people had gathered from across the arctic to participate. The parish leadership invited younger leaders (people in their 40s and younger) to gather and talk about the future of leaders in the arctic churches.

The gathering began with a Bible Study of 1 Kings 19, and this passage of Scripture provided guidance that led to some wonderful new beginnings. You will remember that 1 Kings 19 speaks of Elijah (usually remembered as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets) falling prey to fear and depression. Finally Elijah cried out to God, saying:

"I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

God responded to Elijah, telling him that he was NOT the only one left. Indeed, there was a sizable remnant of faithful people left, so he should stop acting like a solo artist and join with them. Further, he should anoint the next generation of leaders.

And so Elijah followed God’s leading. He anointed a new king and a new prophet to come after him. And this younger prophet, Elisha, became his attendant, honoring and learning from the older prophet.

This passage pointed out two tasks.
• First, leaders of today sometimes reach the point where they, too, feel fearful, angry, and used up. Knowing this, how might we join younger leaders to the wider body of Christ in such a way that they do not feel that they are alone in their ministry, and that they would be less likely to fall into despair and burnout like Elijah did?

• Second, how might we provide training and connection to older leaders, so that they, like the younger Elisha, might be nurtured and strengthened as leaders into the future?

After some discussion, the group decided to form an ongoing electronic meeting, allowing the younger leaders to share devotions and fellowship by electronic means. They also agreed that others, who wish to join this meeting would be welcome. Together, they hope to avoid the frustration that sometimes plagues lone leaders, and also to hear from their elders.

Anyone interested in learning more about this ongoing meeting should contact the Presbytery of Yukon office by email: office@pbyukon.org. All arctic area leaders are welcome.

Free Speech Theology

The recent demonstrations staged at town hall meetings on health care reform have received a lot of press, lately. I hope that one result will be a review of the nature and importance of free speech as a moral value. The time has come when we need to speak freely about the ethics of free speech. There are simply too many abuses happening just now, and the consequences for our society, and for our understanding of ourselves as human beings, are huge.

Free speech, as it turns out, is not only about civics but also theology. The Bible is full of accounts describing the importance of all voices being heard. A few examples include:

1. the Exodus account depicting God’s response to the cries of the Israelites in bondage to Egypt,
2. the Wisdom Literature and Prophets accounts depicting the response of God through prophets and (eventually) foreign kings to the cries of a defeated Israel in exile,
3. the Gospel description of Christ extending God’s grace to the outcast and foreigner, including the blessing of Bartimaeus, of a Canaanite woman and of others, who refused to be silenced.

We are in a time, however, where people are misappropriating the concepts behind free speech to actually silence other voices. Contrast, for instance, the difference between the Christian-led civil disobedience of America’s civil rights movement with last week’s civil disobedience at town hall meetings on health care reform. The 1960s civil rights effort invoked the rights of free speech to insist that long-silenced voices (the voices of African Americans) be heard. Last week’s civil disobedience at public gatherings was invoked to silence open and frank discussion on a burning issue of our day: health care reform. For Christians, this represents a serious ethical abuse of free speech, because it turns the theological basis of free speech (i.e., hearing all voices that we might respond with justice) on its head.

Of course, free speech is not just about civil disobedience. Talk radio and a number of other venues could use this discussion, too. The point is for us to value the ability to listen to all voices with respect, with the goal of then discerning ways of living into justice and right relationships.

With this in mind, Christians must insist that respectful free speech is an important Christian value. After all, we Presbyterians understand the church to be the provisional demonstration of what God intends for all humanity (PCUSA Book of Order G-3.0200). As with all values, we must acknowledge that we are sinful and fail to achieve perfection in pursuing it even within the church. But we don’t give up, and neither should our civic society. The pursuit of respectful listening and respectful talking is important, because God’s justice is important.

Judged by Health Care

In August our legislators will be holding town meetings across the country regarding the upcoming Health Care Reform vote. It seems that the debate is boiling down to three major issues: 1) making sure that the vast majority of Americans are covered, 2) controlling costs, and 3) assuring that medical innovation continues. The prevailing political wisdom is that these issues compete against one another. Doing a good job in one area will weaken our ability in one or more of the others.

The Bible consistently shows God's preferential concern for the poor and outcast. As an American Christian, I find it embarrassing that our nation ranks 37th in the world in providing health care. I find myself meditating on the voices of various Christian ethicists, telling us that in the end we will be judged by how well we care for the least and the lost in our society.

As a result, I find myself echoing the same concern repeatedly voiced by The Presbyterian Church (USA) that we enact reform that focuses more on concerns 1) and 2) than 3) . Besides, given the nature of the American spirit, I can't help but believe that ways to encourage innovation will be found, even if it means finding a future moment to reform whatever initial reform might pass this fall.

Right now it is my main hope that the competing political interests don't succeed in totally blocking any possibility of reform now. It seems to me that such resolute inaction would indicate an ongoing disdain of the poor, rather than a preferential concern for them.

I want to encourage your prayers on this issue, and I want to invite your comments.

The Purpose of a Synod (or Presbytery)

Curt Karns' Notes for The Council

Synod of Alaska-Northwest, PC(USA)
June 19, 2009

Last year the synod assembly approved A Working Vision as the document to guide the synod more effectively into mission. As I have worked with it over the past year, there are two key elements in A Working Vision that have given focus to all the rest, and one I would like to offer as a possible way of describing the whole.

First Element:
The Title of the Adopted Synod Vision—A Working Vision

The title indicates that the vision itself is still in motion. This seems most appropriate, given the literature indicating that we are living in a time requiring adaptive change. That is, we do not have solutions to today’s problems, and cannot simply improve the techniques of old solutions in addressing these problems. Instead, we must begin to adapt, trusting that God will provide the solution. Any vision we have, then, must be a working vision that will be in a state of change as we continue to develop new understandings of what God is doing now. As Robert Quinn put it, “we must build the bridge while walking on it (Deep Change, Josse-Bates, 1996, p. 83.).”
This corresponds well with the biblical passage about the first human, Adam, grappling with the need for adaptive change for the first time. God presents Adam to the world and then gives this first human the task naming God’s creatures. God, of course, created the universe by SPEAKING it into being in progressive stages. Now, the human is called to see what God has created and to give a name, or speak in creaturely terms of what is found.
This, it seems, has been the human task ever since. We describe everything we find. To the degree that our descriptions are better descriptions, we humans live better in the world. To the degree that our descriptions are worse, we live worse. For instance, if we describe illness well enough, we become able to find effective ways of treating the illness.
However, despite Adam’s best efforts, no adequate partner appears for him. When Adam finally has done all that was possible (and only after this long period of exploring and naming), God causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep. When Adam awakes, he discovers there has been a huge change. Now, there is not just one type of human, but two—male and female. Indeed, it is only at this point that the text uses the terms male and female. God has caused the human to change, and Adam names the new way of being female and male.
It is important to note several elements in this foundational story.

1. Being human is about naming what we encounter. Historically, this has meant naming and renaming. Just as the cause of some diseases was once described as evil vapors, and later were as germs, so it is with much of our life. The ability to understand and describe better is key to being human. It is very appropriate that our synod is operating under A Working Vision. We can expect change to continue, both in how we describe our mission, and in the strategies we employ to fulfill that mission.
2. Just as Adam’s ability to name things did not solve his adaptive challenge (no creature could be named an adequate partner), we also do not currently have the ability to name final answers for our adaptive challenges. Yet, God tasked Adam with the job anyway. Evidently, the process of seeking and naming is important, even if it is not an adequate answer by itself.
3. Just when Adam finally came to the end of his efforts, and had to let go of the illusion that he would find his own fulfillment, we also must finally trust God to do what we cannot do on our own. There comes a point, perhaps at the very end of our abilities, when we must be willing to let God change us. Getting to that point is the adventure that stands before people facing adaptive change.
4. God is faithful, both in directing us to the point where adaptive change can happen, and in bringing about change that is only possible because of God’s gracious redemptive activity. We can trust God through all the discomfort of adaptive change.

Second Element:
|Understanding Synod as an Arena For Mission Partnerships

According to A Working Vision the mission of the synod is to “empower and support presbytery missions [recognizing that] More is accomplished for the Kingdom of God when two or more presbyteries are working together.” This vision can be helped by using Phil Butler’s vocabulary of the difference between networking and of partnerships (Well Connected; Authentic Publishing, 2006). Networking inspires ministry by the cross-fertilization of ideas and the more-than-the-sum-of-the parts inspiration of the Holy Spirit that comes when diverse parts of the Christian body connect. Partnerships form when different parts of the synod recognize both the opportunity and the call of God to form a commitment to form a covenant relationship in the pursuit of a goal that neither could accomplish alone. Both networking and partnerships are of great value.
A Working Vision goes further and identifies synod commissioners as key participants in this partnership work. Synod commissioners are to operate under and apostolic ministry model of leadership. Just as the apostles shared the gospel message first in Jerusalem, and then to the uttermost ends of the earth, so the commissioners are to be in touch with ministries across the presbytery, gathering the stories of God’s work in those places, and sharing those stories as they travel throughout the presbytery, and on to the synod assembly. Through the sharing of stories through mission fairs and other contacts, the commissioners become brokers of information (networking) and possible new relationships (partnering).
However, we are building the bridge as we walk on it. There might be other means for networking and partnering beyond the synod commissioners that would be worth exploring.
One of the questions worth pursuing is whether this approach to synod assemblies will be effective or not. I am suggesting that we should be asking whether the money spent on travel for synod assemblies would be better spent in gathering gather people with a specific area of interest from across the synod for networking and the formation of possible partnerships.
For instance, the current assembly has targeted five areas to explore for synod mission. Task forces of synod commissioners are being formed to pursue ministry in these five areas. I am wondering if synod commissioners are the right people to have on these task forces. What if, instead, the commissioners were to gather for assembly meetings electronically, rather than face-to-face, to vote on policy, budgets and to elect council members. If so the travel money would be available to gather Presbyterians engaged in at least one of these five areas from across the synod for some kind of synod convention. Then the people actually engaged in the ministry would have the opportunity to network and partner, eliminating the middle-man role required of the synod commissioners.
Of course this brief account leaves a lot of loose ends and questions unanswered. For instance, would it then be left to the staff and the council to determine which areas of concern God is lifting up from across the synod for future conventions? Even with so many questions, though, I believe this line of inquiry to be worth pursuing. I am not sure that synod commissioners are really the people the synod should gather together if the goal is networking and partnership building.
One thing is certain, though. With A Working Vision to guide us, we have begun building the new bridge needed for more effective synod ministry. We will be designing and redesigning as long as we continue on this adaptive journey.

Third Element:
On Dance as Metaphor Describing this Ministry

This metaphor lifts up the very interesting point that God chooses to work out the details of the history of salvation in partnership with human beings in general, and with God’s faithful in particular. It is like a dance, where God leads and we follow. This metaphor makes the most sense when we think of it from different cultural perspectives.

1. In some European dance, both the leader (God) and the follower (the disciple) give their best to the dance partnerships and produce something uniquely beautiful to those two in partnership in that place and time.
2. In Greek circle dances, all join together to produce the dance. It is not just between God and one partner, but it involves the whole community.
3. In Iñuit dance, the drummer and singer calls the dance setting both the theme and the tempo; and the individual dancers respond, coming forward to add body and interpretation to the tempo and theme set before them.