In late September my husband and I spent a week in Colorado Springs, for with the goal of renewal on several levels. I was invited to the 2 1/2 day fall board meeting of Presbyterians for Renewal as a new board member. In the hotel as I prepared for the meeting, I watched with America the Wall Street crisis, and controversy over the bailout solution. The PC(USA) is in similar shambles, and our task at
PFR this week was to discuss a bailout of another sort - some form of reform, renewal, restoration, recovery...of a denomination that is crashing as fast as the stock market. We would spend 2/1/2 days inside a meeting room considering options, Pike's Peak in the distance out the windows.
As for personal renewal, we extended our trip and the Rockies did the trick - bright yellow aspen splashed the mountains, and the weather was cool on our faces. I was fascinated by the Garden of the Gods, marveling at the upheaval of enormous sections of petrified striated sediment towering over us. I gaped at Balance Rock, teetering precariously on its red rock platform. We hiked along the river on Seven Bridges trail, wandered the streets of
Manitou Springs and stood on the world's highest suspension bridge and gazed out over the Royal Gorge. It is as deep as 1,200 feet in places. We learned that the gorge was forged only 2 inches every 1,000 years. Amazing how patient God was in the creation of this amazing place.
In the evenings we found our way to
Southside Johnny's ("Bikers Welcome"), and let down with cold beer,
quesadillas, and pool. It's a place where everybody DOESN'T know your name but welcomes you anyway. A place where a happy customer can join in singing with the live entertainment, and no one stopped him, including the singer. On our beautiful drive to the former ghost town, Cripple Creek, we listened to the Chiefs beat the Broncos. My husband and I laughed long and hard for the first time in months, and considered that renewal can be ours, if we allow for it. I felt free and disengaged from the cares of this life. I considered all God had made, & I called it good.
As for my time with
PFR, I was grateful for this beautiful setting and our experiences there as the context for our meetings. It helped put my renewal work in perspective. Like Balance Rock, much hangs in the balance, teetering over the future. Yet I reflected, whatever happens to our denomination, God is still sovereign over the church, the world, the people He loves. God is still creating, restoring,renewing HIS Kingdom - maybe inches at a time. In the PC (USA) we are trying to seek a way together, but I am certain God is forging something new - redirecting the path of the flow of living water, taking us deeper and to places we may not want to go. God is bringing new voices into the discussion, and silencing others. We believe WE have the answers to the crises of our lives. But it is God who creates a way through hardened rock, whose Spirit blows cool breezes through our stuffy polity and brings life to ghost towns that are our churches. It is Jesus who is Lord of the church.
I saw splashes of color as we prayed and worshiped the one sovereign Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer together. That's all God asks from us, as we seek his wisdom on our future.
