A Word from our General Presbyter – December 17, 2020

By Ed Thompson

Each year since I began serving as a presbytery executive, I’ve used my last newsletter article of the year to reflect on the past 12 months of our ministry together. While I have to admit it was a strange year, perhaps the strangest in my now 40+ years of ministry (now there’s a phrase that makes me feel old), I also have to admit that there was no shortage of highlights. In many ways, it was a very good year. I’ll list these in chronological order because I get stuck when I try to rank them in order of significance.

1. The Leadership Team retreat – This happened back in January, so we were able to meet in person. We spent a lot of time dealing with the demographics and financial realities of the presbytery, which I’m sure some people find boring, but I find these statistics fascinating as well as somewhat scary. We also had the committee chairs with us for part of the retreat, and because of that time together, I felt that there was a much better sense of alignment this year.

2. Presbytery meetings – Maybe this is cheating because I’m going to lump the February, August, and November meetings together as one highlight. In February, I remember the talk by David Staniunas, as well as the hospitality of the Riverlawn church. In August, I remember the sense of exhilaration after the meeting was over that we had actually pulled off a virtual meeting with only a few minor blips, and in November, I remember being impressed with Trey Kay, not only because of his honesty and graciousness but also because of his connection with First Presbyterian Church, Charleston.

3. Worshipping with First Presbyterian Church, Parkersburg on March 15 – This was the last Sunday before churches closed. In fact, I think a number of churches had actually decided to suspend in-person worship on that Sunday. I was there to moderate a congregational meeting, and the whole day felt strange. People were kind and gracious, and Patricia Jarvis, who was preaching, made reference to Mister Rogers in her sermon, which is always nice, but you could also sense that people weren’t quite sure what to do (although that had nothing to do with the polity involved). I think this was the last time I shook hands with anybody for at least five months.

4. Closing the office on March 23 – I think technically we beat the Governor’s stay-at-home order by a couple of hours since we got together as a staff during lunch and decided that we needed to shut things down, and the official stay-at-home order didn’t come out until around 5 p.m. I remember gathering the papers and files I thought I was going to need to work from home. It felt like I was in a war movie, and we were being invaded and had to leave town, not knowing if or when we would ever return. It was probably at least a month before I ventured back to pick up some other things I needed, and that was also a strange feeling.

5. Pastoral Leaders’ Zoom Gatherings – We started doing these on March 18 and have been gathering weekly with a few exceptions ever since. In the beginning, we had more than 30 people online every week; now, we’re probably averaging 10-12. People have shared ideas about how to do worship online, talked about different platforms and different equipment. We also spent time when churches began resuming in-person worship talking about best practices and whether and when it was safe to do so. This fall, we spent time talking about how and when to suspend in-person worship again. Sometimes, we’ve had outside speakers. Most weeks, I’ve just asked a few questions and then served as a facilitator. Maureen Wright has also done a great job of taking notes so that those who couldn’t be there could keep up with the ideas and resources being shared and perhaps so that those who were there would also have a better way to remember what had been said.

6. General Assembly – Like so much that happened in 2020, this GA was different. We had good commissioners – George Lilley, Ruling Elder from First Presbyterian, Morgantown, and Claire Butler, Pastor of First United Presbyterian Church, Ravenswood, as well as Young Adult Advisory Delegate Rachel McNeel from Beckley Presbyterian Church. I think the co-moderators Reverend Gregory Bentley and Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart will do a good job representing the church and handled some of the way too long plenary sessions really well. However, we let our polity get in the way of doing the right thing when it came to addressing the needs of women of color. There was so much good, but also a lot that was disappointing.

7. Election of Evan Walker as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Fairmont – This was my first Sunday at an in-person worship service since mid-March. Again, I didn’t have to preach, but I got to moderate a congregational meeting. What I remember most was the feeling of joy that day. I think this was the first time the Fairmont church had been back for an in-person worship service since March, so that was part of it. But they were also excited to welcome Evan as their new pastor. It was a great day.

8. Our book study on White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo and Michael Eric Dyson – This took place over four Monday evenings in August. We had a good mix of participants from throughout the presbytery, including one Honorably Retired minister living in Maryland (David Deadrick). For those of us with white skin, I think the book helps opens our eyes to some realities we might prefer to overlook. Although this may not have been the easiest book that I could have chosen, we had good discussion every week. 

9. Meeting with pastors who were leaving the presbytery – I almost called this one “meeting with retiring pastors who were leaving” because I originally was thinking about my meetings with Bob Wood and Skip Seibel. Both of them retired at the end of September, and I met with them at different times that month to thank them for their ministry (Bob at Fayetteville and Bream Memorial and Skip at First Presbyterian Church, Huntington) and for their long service in this presbytery. Bob has been in the PWV since 1997 and Skip since 2002. But since they were both moving out of state, I also wanted to say goodbye to them in person because I didn’t know if or when I would ever see them again. I decided to expand this category, though, to include meeting with Kevin Geurink, who was leaving First Presbyterian Church, Logan to take a new call in Nebraska, as well as saying goodbye to Karen Kinney on one of our weekly Pastoral Leaders’ Zoom Gatherings before she left Glenville Presbyterian Church to take a new call in Pennsylvania. I don’t blame them for retiring or taking new calls, but I do miss all four of them.

10. Agnes Brady’s installation – Agnes started her ministry at First Presbyterian Church, Nitro in the midst of the pandemic when churches had suspended in-person worship, and she had her installation when churches were considering whether to suspend in-person worship again. So, this was a hybrid service, with some people in the sanctuary and others watching online. What was really neat, though, was when the congregation was asked to affirm their support for her ministry. Instead of having everyone say, “We do” – which is what typically happens in response to these constitutional questions and which in the midst of the pandemic would spray germs around the sanctuary – they had people ring bells to affirm their support of her. That just tickled me and made for a wonderful memory. I have been to more installations over the years than I can count, but this one definitely sticks out.

While I will thank God when 2020 is finally over, I will also thank God for some great memories and the great ministry that has happened in our presbytery this past year. What were your highlights in 2020?