SeaPres Update from Eliana Maxim
Seattle Presbytery
Dear friends,
I recently spent time with our grandkids (almost 2 and 4 year olds) where there was non-stop storytelling, tea parties, horsey rides, and cuddling when it suddenly hit me: they will have zero memory of these moments. All the trips to the park and kitchen experiments, the bouncy house extravaganzas and naps in the backyard hammock will never be recollected by my grandchildren, the hours upon hours that my husband and I have lovingly poured into their lives will be one big blank slate.
But is it though?
Or are these forgettable moments building blocks to a much bigger framework of care, trust, and love that is being constructed around these little ones by not just this pair of doting grandparents, but the entire community standing alongside their parents in raising them up?
In some ways, life in the presbytery can be like this. We bounce from one zoom meeting to another, an ordination here, an installation there, a retirement, a dissolution and so on and so on. Some are tremendously memorable, for good or not, others, not so much. And yet each instance is another thread weaving the fabric of who we are and who we are hoping to be.
I am grateful for each of you and each of the instances where our lives converge for that is where we are church, we are a community of faith. It is how we impact and influence one another in our quest for mutual transformation. Thanks be to God!
News You Can Use
The updated Book of Order with the newly adopted changes to our polity is out and ready for your reading pleasure. You can download it here.
The presbytery’s nominating committee will be presenting a nominating slate for incoming officers, including General Assembly commissioners and youth advisory delegates to the October meeting for election. More information on GA & application forms. If you would like to be considered for any open presbytery position, please check this link for more information and contact nom@seattlepresbytery.org.
At its most recent meeting, the presbytery’s executive board voted to host future presbytery meetings in person. Meetings are scheduled for the third Tuesday of the following months: October, January, April, and July. Locations will vary and are yet to be determined.
Be sure to check out two important upcoming invitations open to all in the life of the presbytery:
Save the date: October 24 Conversation on the Marcus Whitman myth: journalist and writer Blaine Harden and Rev. Irvin Porter, pastor and PCUSA’s associate for Native American congregational support will be in an open conversation facilitated by Rev. Heidi Husted Armstrong on the true story behind Presbyterian physician and missionary Marcus Whitman. Time & location details will be announced when confirmed.
And as always, we look forward to being in communication with you all as together we seek the will of God to be the Presbytery of Seattle.
In grace and peace,
Rev. Eliana Maxim
Co-Executive Presbyter