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.

Welcome to the Pbyukon Blog

Welcome!

This is the new site for the Presbytery of Yukon conversations using a blog format. The members of the churches in the Presbytery of Yukon can use this site to share their concerns, and also share their developing thinking on topics that matter to them.

I hope all who come here will contribute ideas from the heart, treat other contributors and their ideas with respect, and watch for how God works through a caring, learning community.

Grace and peace,
Curt Karns
Executive Presbytery