From the General Presbyter

In 2016 I called my then mentor, the Rev. Warner Durnell, who served as an Exec in Alabama. I remember asking him “how do I lead when the worst has happened?” Progressives, this is a terrible day for us.

Warner’s comments were honest, and prophetic. He admitted that he too had shed tears and raised his hands to the heavens asking “why”? Then to the questions of leading, he simply said, “you just lead.”

After the tears and the questions and the sickening feeling and the fear and the anger, we just lead. Outside my window, people are walking their dogs, the sun is rising and shining through the leaves. Babies are being born and folks are going to work. Today, I am leaving for Louisville for a Funding Model meeting. This committee recommends to the General Assembly how Presbyteries and Synods will help support this Interim New Unified Agency. I also found out that many people at the National office will find out if they have a job or not. Yes, for some, it can get worse.

This is not a pep talk; this is a survival strategy! Do the work that is in front of you. Turn off the news and focus on what you need to concentrate on in the present. Generations before us have struggled and made it through. This is our time to follow in their footsteps. I can hear the “yeah, but…” and believe me, I have my own and I will probably spend a good portion of this day in mourning.

Then I am going to comfort my friends in Louisville, and help figure out, with my colleagues, what’s next for the PCUSA and what’s next for us as the Presbytery of Baltimore. And I am determined to find joy in this beautiful autumn season and during the holidays with friends and family. We’ve done it before with grit and with prayer, we’ll do it again and again.

– Jackie