Linda Valentine

Signs of Christ's Coming

During Advent, we are invited to watch for signs of Christ’s coming.

I wasn’t sure, however, how to interpret this particular sign, spotted and preserved for posterity by my husband, Chris!

Perhaps we are to take it as a modern-day spin on Tertullian’s famous question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”  In other words, for this time and in my present context, the updated question would be, “What has Bethlehem to do with Louisville?”  To which I gladly respond that Bethlehem has everything to do with the ministry and the mission we are about here in Louisville on behalf of Christ’s church.

In this very building — among my many colleagues — there are even now the sounds of Bethlehem in the work that we do and the relationships that we forge.  The strains of the angels’ song of peace on earth echo in the programs that are so faithfully carried out by our staff who work for peace in the world, in the church, in our communities, and our lives.

I share with you here a picture of my 18-year old daughter, Christie, which was taken in Jordan. She and my husband visited there on their way to join a group from our church in Israel/Palestine, places I had visited earlier in the year.  When I ask my daughter what is one thing she remembers about Jordan, she says, "Jordanians are so hospitable. They accept all cultures and religions, which is rare in the Middle East.”

My colleague, Victor Makari, Middle East Coordinator in World Mission, agrees.  In hospitality, Victor says, Jordanians are superlative, as evidenced, in part, by the fact that nearly half of Jordan's population is made up of Palestinian refugees who were given citizenship.  Jordan is also now host to 750,000 Iraqi refugees.  In terms of religious tolerance, Victor says that it is one Middle Eastern country that has had minimal religious tension.

What a wonderful message of peace that is both for this time of year and for this time in the world!

So what has Bethlehem to do with Louisville? Everything! Love’s pure light — as held in my daughter’s hands — informs all that we are, and all that we do here.

May it be so in your life this Christmas and always.

A Visit from Jan DeVries

I’m consistently amazed at the number of our General Assembly Council ministries that touch the lives of our PC(USA) presbyteries, synods and congregations. And my associates and I are always pleased to welcome colleagues from other parts of the church to come and talk to us about how we mutually inform, support and resource one another.

Jan DeVries, Synod Executive/Stated Clerk of the Synod of the Southwest, generously traveled to Louisville last week for a visit. The number of people she saw is evidence of the varieties of connections that we have with the life of a synod. Because Jan is on the Steering Committee of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, her first visit was with Karen Schmidt, Deputy Executive Director of Communications and Funds Development, Bob Thompson, Interim Director of Funds Development, and Joey Bailey, our chief financial officer, to talk about progress on the campaign and how the synod could help. Since the synod hosted itinerating mission workers in October, Jan’s next stop was with Bruce and Lora Whearty, the coordinators of the Mission Challenge ’07. Then she met with Hunter Farrell, Director of World Mission, to speak further about Mission Challenge ’07. They were later joined by Stan DeVoogd, coordinator for Central America/Mexico, to talk about border ministries in the synod, of which there are three.

Another visit that Jan was happy to make was with Eric Graninger, who serves as General Counsel for the PC(USA). Eric is a friend and former colleague of Jan’s from the time when Jan was on the national staff in the Office of the General Assembly.

And still there’s more. Because the synod has mission relationships in Peru and with members of the Peru Mission Network, Jan had prearranged for a special visit with Harry and Debbie Horne, mission workers in Peru, who have been in Louisville since August for itineration and Mission Challenge. Harry and Debbie, who will return to Peru in January, have been providing support to our GAC staff in World Mission while they are here.

The synod also has a number of ethnic and multicultural congregations and fellowships, and has worked with our Congregational Enhancement offices in nurturing those, so Jan found her meetings fruitful with Amgad Beblawi, Middle Eastern, Sallie Cuaresma, Native American, and Hector Rodriguez, Hispanic-Latino-a. The synod is planning a bi-national immigration and border issues event that Jan was able to discuss with Angel Suarez Valera, new immigrant groups ministries, and Raafat Girgis, multicultural ministries. Teresa Chavez Sauceda is associate for Racial Justice and Advocacy and staff to the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns; Jan stopped in to catch up with her. Another stop was with Ruth Anne Boklage of the Church Financial Campaign Service to talk about interpreting budgets to church members, an important stewardship subject.

Finally, because churches in the Synod of the Southwest have benefited from loans by the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP), the synod, in grateful response, has invested an additional $40,000 to PILP, bringing its total investment to $200,000. Jan made sure to pay a visit to Jay Hudson, too, PILP’s president and CEO. All this in three days! Thank you for your visit and your many ministries, Jan. Learn more about the Synod of the Southwest.

We encourage more visits like Jan’s from middle governing bodies, and from congregations. Several months ago, Pastor Tom Are from the Village Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, came to Louisville with the chair of the church’s mission committee; Pastor Bill Barron of Sequoyah Hills Church in Tennessee and a number of their elders visited earlier this year; and I was just at First Church in Atlanta and learned that Pastor George Wirth and several elders visited before I came to the GAC. Such opportunities to spend time together help us to become better acquainted with congregations and middle governing bodies to share in the wonderful ministries that we each are doing, thereby learning how we can support each other. We welcome and encourage such visits. Please contact me or Curtis Kearns to plan your visit.

Delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church

This past October, when I stood before over 600 Presbyterians who had gathered in Louisville for the Mission Celebration ’07, I felt as though the Mission Yearbook had come alive.

I had that same sensation again this week when I welcomed to my office a delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Their arrival marked the first time in over a decade that a Russian Orthodox delegation has formally visited the Presbyterian Center.

Their primary reason for coming to the United States this month is to see models for halfway ministry and to deepen their understanding of methodologies that will help to transition clients from the Russian Orthodox rehabilitation centers back to urban life.

Father Mefodii Kondrateev, Abbott of St. George’s parish/monastery on the banks of the Volga River and director of a drug rehabilitation center, told us that the church in Russia has had a long history of providing social services, a role which was lost during Communism. He stressed how important it is now for the church to reestablish its historic role in rehabilitation. Another member of the delegation, Father Sergei Goncharov, a parish priest in the village of Grigoyevo, is a founder of an AIDS hotline in the Ivanovo region and also serves there as director of a rehabilitation center.

One of our PC(USA) mission co-workers in Moscow, Ellen Smith, is with the group, accompanying them as they visit sites in Kentucky, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Forging partnerships and making connections is a specialty of Ellen’s. She reminded us that what we have in common more than outweighs our differences.

Margarita Nelyubova, who serves on the staff of the Department of External Relations of the ROC, expressed gratitude for the humanitarian assistance that Presbyterians provide through the Boots for Children program. Gifts to this project provide warm boots and other clothing for the children and adults in the frozen extremes of Russia. Wouldn’t a gift to this program make a marvelous alternative Christmas gift?

It is so often said that to be Presbyterian is to be ecumenical. I believe this in my heart. My friend and colleague, Cliff Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, recently told a group of ecumenical leaders that maintaining the church’s historic leadership in ecumenism “will require a major reorientation and recommitment” to the world ecumenical movement. May that recommitment begin with each and every one of us.