By Maureen Wright
Greetings from sunny, windy, beautiful Schuyler, Nebraska! This week, I am attending year one of the Presbytery Leader Formation (PLF), which is a three-year opportunity designed to equip persons leading presbyteries through education, nurture, and collegiality. The faculty includes Tricia Dykers-Koenig (Associate for Mid Council Relations, Office of the General Assembly), Sheldon Sorge, Corey Schlosser-Hall (Deputy Executive for Vision, Innovation, and Rebuilding, Presbyterian Mission Agency), Cindy Kohlmann (New Castle Presbytery), SanDawna Ashley (Synod of the Northeast), Wendy Tajima (San Gabriel Presbytery), Gavin Meek (New Harmony Presbytery), Dee Cooper (Denver Presbytery), Daris Bultena (Presbytery of Tropical Florida), and Craig Howard (Chicago Presbytery).
There is an element of sabbath to this week – sabbath as a time of rest from the frenetic pace of Mid Council work, including times of prayer and worship. I invite you to pray for me this week, for renewal, for new skills, for deeper insight, for encounters with God.
I look forward to being back in West Virginia next week, focused on journeying with you as we continue to seek to leave behind our old ways of doing and being the church, to reflect on the deeper questions of our identity, purpose, and future, and as we seek to discern who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do now.