This past month, April, the Administrative Council met and made a decision to,
as a church, be involved and commit to participation in an audit with Bill Easum.
A group of folks had attended the offering by the Annual Conference on the
benefits of doing such an audit. They met Bill Easum and were impressed by his
knowledge, excitement, encouragement, and skill at inspiring the church to take
seriously its mission. Together our whole church, including visitors, will take
part in this audit. The more voices lifted the better understanding for Bill
Easum. Other churches in the Annual Conference will be doing the same with
similar hopes to better understand what in ministry needs to change to fulfill
the disciple making mission we have.
During this time, four youth have been working on the building of their own
kayaks. We all have seen the benefit of committing time to be present with youth
in this important beginning of decision making for the rest of their lives. In
this process the youth and the adults take the opportunity to become more
intentionally engaged with the whole of creation, not just the way our hands and
mind work but the way that happens in relationship with the world. It has been
the hope of “Paddle” to provide the impetus for such discerning moments as those
of us involved have seen the growing strength for young people as they become
more and more aware of their own gifts and graces and their own thoughts and
opinions, and their own sense of self esteem and awareness. This affords them
the means for stepping out with courage into the future rather than with fear
and trepidation of what it might hold. In a book* written by the speaker for
this upcoming “Paddle” fund raiser dinner, she makes this statement regarding
the journey she has set out for herself. “It is not a linear story. It is a
journey of waterways, but also of mind, spirit, and emotion. It is the story of
my own inside passage amid the animals, plants, people, and oceanography of the
inside passage. I set out on this journey and no other, because I wanted to live
in nature. I wanted the ocean, tides, trees, and sea stars to be my teachers. I
had done my time at a university studying natural history and ecology, and now I
wanted to have rooted, winged, furred, and feathered teachers. I wanted to live
wildly, to be an apprentice to the ocean. I knew there would be lessons to learn
and that they’d unfold along the way. There would be hardships, too, and dark
nights filled with fear of attack. But I wanted to learn to grapple with my
fears, not cave into them.” These stories as I have unfolded them thus far have
similarities and non-similarities. But the one thread that does bring them
together is the walk with God/Spirit and how that walk is shaped by God every
step of the way. In all cases, however we must speak to God regarding this
relationship, for if we do not, we just might miss the very point God wanted us
to gain from the experience. In all cases we must take a leap of faith, be
willing to be a little uncomfortable, risk the unknown for the very point that
we might then know something so vital and life changing we would have otherwise
missed. We, as a church, will not be building a kayak and then taking a trip to
the San Juan's, nor will we be facing our fears on a night in the Inland
Passage—Alaska to Bellingham. But, we will be risking taking life as usual,
things as they have always been, and the chance to make a new friend, a new
“Companion in Christ”. God bless us for having taken the first step on the
journey - the agreement to do so. May our journey fill us with new potential and
new possibilities for each day as we gather the pieces of our story for Bill
Easum to bring us suggestions to change our steps for the better to bring our
mission statement to life. “To make disciples of Jesus Christ by sharing love
beyond hope in the circle we know and into the circle we do not know”.
*Jennifer Hahn, “Spirited Waters” (2001: The Mountaineers Books)
p ix
Shalom,
Jeanne