By Maureen Wright
I am fascinated with New Year’s resolutions. The leaving behind of one year and the start of a new year offer endless possibilities, like an empty canvas or a blank slate. It seems natural that many people choose to make New Year’s resolutions. According to an online article from The History Channel (post by Sarah Pruitt on December 19, 2023), the forerunners of modern New Year’s resolutions were part of a 12-day pagan festival in Babylon known as Akitu. The Babylonians “crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.” In ancient Rome a similar practice existed. The reforms of Julius Caesar grounded the practice in the god Janus who looked “backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future.” For Christians, John Wesley, created the Covenant Renewal Service held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. These services focused on scripture, hymn singing, and prayer and included making resolutions for the coming year. Today the practice of New Year’s resolutions is mostly a secular practice. Regardless of the history of New Year’s resolutions, I am fascinated; I love the endless possibilities, the blank slate. I find the anticipation and invitation to answer and live out what comes next to be energizing – offering endless opportunities to be creative. The theological context is closely related to the invitation from Christ to live a new life as one who confesses Christ as Lord and Savior.
The Presbytery of West Virginia begins 2024 with anticipation, possibilities, and invitations. The Presbytery’s blank slate calls those of us who are members of Presbytery, members of Presbytery committees, churches of the Presbytery, members of those churches, and friends of the Presbytery to think, serve, pray, and study as we discern who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do now.
The Leadership Team will meet for a retreat January 15-16. Emily Swanson from Holy Cow! Consulting will be with the team on January 15. Emily will invite the Leadership Team to begin to think about where the information and data collected last year is leading the Presbytery. The team will begin to name fresh Presbytery priorities and values to which God is calling PWV. This is the first step toward naming priorities and values that will determine a bold, visionary committee structure, staffing plan, and budget for the Presbytery’s future. This work will continue with the expectation that a vision will be presented to the committee later this year.
The Presbytery committees are at work in this new year. By January 30, the Bluestone, Mission, Nurture, Relations, and Vocations committees, the Committee on Ministry, the Committee on Representation, and the Trustees will have met. Five of these committees have met this week alone! These leaders continue to live out the mission and ministry of the Presbytery even as we seek to discern the emerging identity and priorities for our future together.
The staff began the year by beginning a study of the book dare to lead by Brené Brown. We are committed to expanding the resources that we have to assist you in doing the work of the Presbytery. While the staff is not making any professional New Year’s resolutions, we are thinking about what continuing education will expand our “toolboxes” as we partner with you.
2024 will present the Presbytery with the opportunity to approve recommendations regarding Bluestone Camp and Retreat and the ways in which Bluestone fits into the mission and ministry of the Presbytery. The Bluestone Working Group, which has been studying the camp for more than a year, is nearing completion of its work having spoken with camp staff, the Friends of Bluestone, Bluestone committee members, and Run River Consultants is preparing a draft of its report.
I encourage you to study and read about this community we call the Presbytery of West Virginia – information will be shared in newsletters, email blasts, and events. Continue to share your ideas, questions, and concerns with me, Moderator Dawn Adamy, and members of the Leadership Team. The year will provide opportunities for you to join in the work, the mission, and ministry of the Presbytery; please accept the invitation to join the adventure. Pray. To repeat the closing words of my report at the November Presbytery meeting and my early November 2023 newsletter article, pray for me, for the staff. Pray for the Presbytery leaders you have elected – Moderator Dawn Adamy, and Leadership Team chair Randy Fife. Pray for the committee chairs and all those who serve on Presbytery committees. Pray for the mission partners of Presbytery. Pray for Emily Swanson, for A Season of Discernment, and for the Leadership Team who is leading this process. Pray for our churches and pastoral leaders. I invite you to pray so loudly that God cannot help but hear and that we cannot help but hear what God is saying to us.