Preparing for the Fall Presbytery Meeting and Retreat is a little like the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24, Matthew 22:1-14). The Presbytery Meeting Work Group and Coordinating Council plan for months on end and then say “Come, for everything is ready now.” We never know who will show up or how many until we complete registration. For some meetings, the registrations and the reality of who shows up are two separate things. In past years, the responses sounded eerily similar to what we encounter in that parable, “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’”
The response to and the culture around these presbytery meetings have begun to change in recent years. While we do important business at these presbytery meetings, the essential element of the meetings is the value of the fellowship, worship, and spiritual development. While sometimes the meetings bore us with polity and an endless maze of Robert’s Rules of Order, increasingly they are marked with shared meals, lively conversation, and moments of respite in a busy world of ministry. In their best moments, they are filled with hope.
I was heartened by the attendance and response to the most recent presbytery meeting at Sequoyah Lodge. “If you missed it, you really missed out,” is not a phrase you hear about presbytery meetings often, but it was an apt response to this meeting. From Rev. Bill Carter’s work leading worship to the jazz music to the discussions around sabbatical, rest, and using our gifts, it was an impactful time. Celebrating communion in the round drove home the connectedness of this presbytery. We rejoiced in the decades of ministry as the Pastoral Care Committee gave mugs and certificates to folks observing ordination anniversaries this year.
There is a spirit of camaraderie in Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery. Since I began in this role five years ago, a constant remark I have made is “you are the presbytery.” There is a sense that we are in this beautiful and hard work of being the church together instead of alone. This is particularly true when you show up to worship, learn, and eat together. Know, for this opportunity to connect and the ones to come, that Christ and the leaders in this presbytery are preparing a great banquet for you. Will you come?
Rev. Tim Blodgett
General Presbyter
Comments