GENERAL SECRETARY'S MESSAGE

Dear Friends;

January was a busy time at the General Council Office.

It seems like we came back after Christmas with our eyes focused on the General Council that looms ahead in August. I don’t mean that I have a clear view of all the business and how it will come out, but there is a calendar with a lot of meetings and steps that are needed to prepare for the work of the Council. There is work assigned by the last General Council that must be completed. There are new things to be prepared for the 41st General Council. There is all the planning about the setting and the processes and the worship that will contribute to the whole experience of those who gather to do so much work in one week in August.

The Agenda Planning Committee for the next General Council met a couple of weeks ago and by the time the meeting ended, I really felt that the plans for the General Council are beginning to take shape. Most of those on the Committee are responsible for particular pieces of the Council, like worship, or business, or local arrangements, or youth forum, and they do most of their work with their own committees at different times. The meetings of the Agenda Planning Committee are for reporting in and coordinating so that the different pieces fit together and there is nothing that falls through the cracks. As the plans emerge, it is fun to picture everyone arriving at the Carleton campus for another great gathering of our Church.

In the past two or three weeks all the Permanent Committees have met at Church House (or by conference call), busy getting ready the reports and proposals that will go to the Executive at the end of March, and in many cases, on to the General Council from there. These were the last full Permanent Committee meetings of the triennium, so some of the members of the committees were here to attend their last meetings, before the committees transition to new membership after General Council. I feel wistful as I realize there are people who I’ve come to know and value through this work who won’t be here as much anymore.

Last week the Conference Executive Secretaries and Speaker were at Church House to meet with the management group from the General Council Office. There are always issues to be talked about, but we decided that our best preparation for the challenges we face was to begin by grounding ourselves in scripture. I found it very moving to share with one another the particular scripture passages that we each use to guide us in our life and our work. When you have that kind of discussion, it might seem like precious meeting time is being used up, but it turns out that the meeting is better because of the deeper sense of one another that emerges.

This week we had a meeting by conference call with the Conference Presidents and Leading Elders. The point of it was to talk about the preparations for General Council, and there were good questions and ideas. Perhaps the most significant part of the call was when one person spoke of the vulnerability of some of the congregations in his conference, and others immediately offered to follow up by sharing the experiences and approaches from their conferences. There may be no easy answers to some of these things, but we are all stronger when we support one another.

My role as General Secretary is unique in that I am in touch with what is going on in the full breadth of our work, yet at the same time on almost every topic there are colleagues who have more specific expertise that enables them to work in greater depth in their areas. Sometimes I feel like a juggler with many balls in the air; sometimes I feel like a quilter trying to fit many pieces together into a design that works; sometimes I feel like a conductor with an orchestra playing a piece that hasn’t been completely composed yet. Mostly I just feel lucky to get to be involved in the life of our Church is this way.

Peace be with you.

Nora
This site was last updated 02/03/12