May 10, 11, and 12 - Fourth Sunday in Easter - Synod Assembly - Into the Light

I missed Creator Worship to attend the Oregon Synod Assembly in Eugene. There were two worship services and all of us were gathered in Jesus' name, so the assembly will be my subject for this post.

How any one Synod Assembly is experienced probably will be influenced by how many attendees a participant may know from the past and how many assemblies that participant has attended before. This year's members gathered at what used to be the Hilton Hotel, is presently the Hotel Eugene, and will be The Graduate. Signs of construction to make the hotel what it will be were everywhere.

Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke

This hotel construction fit in well with a word that Bishop Dave introduced to the assembly in the sermon of the opening worship service. The word was prolepsis, defined in the dictionary as the representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so - as in, for instance, he was a dead man when he entered. Bishop Dave wrote a poem titled Prolepsis this last January. In regards to the Oregon Synod Bishop Dave was working through the problem of how one "thing" ends (the old church model particularly) and how another begins. Obviously the past shapes the present. Bishop Dave observed how the future must also play a part in shaping our present.

The Gospel reading for Friday that Bishop Dave preached on was John 16:32-33. The prolepsis was contained in the last verse, "In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world." I believe Bishop Dave anticipated bookending his opening sermon with a closing activity we would all engage in to root ourselves in associations and colors surrounding that word. For Bishop Dave one of those colors would certainly have been YlnMn Blue, the color that opens his poem. This is from a compound discovered at OSU in 2009 which yielded this new, extremely stable, color pigment. This planned closing activity ended up not happening.

After the initial worship my Friday experience at the assembly was predominantly disappointment. We proceeded to the main order of business which was the election of a Bishop. The first ballot, those first delegate discussions, and how this assembly compared  to others I attended in the past, left me with a lackluster feeling about the synod's short-term future, particularly after sensing this grander vision for the future glimpsed in Bishop Dave's sermon.

For me the assembly seemed instead focused, even more than past assemblies, on purely the business side of our church. Voting members needed to address four resolutions, together with normal business about the rules and, primarily, with the election of the bishop, synod committee positions with the other nominees to choose.

The discussions and the results of the first ballot pointed to a certain inevitability about Bishop Dave being re-elected. There was a definite possibility this might happen on the second ballot. That would be before any others being considered for the office were even known as more than a name to the larger assembly, The biographies for those lifted up were not in the initial hand-outs. Everyone knew Bishop Dave and his accomplishments for the synod these past twelve years. He is and was well-loved. I didn't feel any regret throughout the weekend about his possible re-election but not exploring the others' visions for the synod's future began to feel like it could become a missed opportunity. 

However that did not happen on Saturday, On the first and second ballot no one reached the 75% of the vote needed to be called as bishop by the assembly. Each of three who received the higher vote totals first gave a brief speech and, later, after the third ballot, they participated in question and answer sessions. It became easy to tell with the vote and atmosphere the call dynamics in the room were changing.

It would not be reasonable to record all the speeches and stories told be the three who were still on the ballot but Pastor Amanda Zentz-Alo, one of those remaining, told a story about a trip she had made to eastern Oregon that became particularly meaningful to me on Saturday.

She confessed she did not appreciate the desert landscape of eastern Oregon that she was driving through to get to her destination. In her eyes there was "nothing" around her - no beauty. It even scared her a little. A Native American resident she shared this feeling with changed Pastor Amanda's perspective by saying, "Nothing you were expecting to be there was there". The resident then encouraged her to see through God's eyes - to see what was there, beyond what was not. That changed perspective allowed her to see to see the desert landscape through God's eyes.

Rev. Laurie Larson Caesar

When I heard her story my Friday disappointment was transformed. Those words delivered me to a new place.  The reminder to look through God's eyes and see what was there, beyond what was not, was a blessing at that moment. The assembly's theme of "Into the Light" came alive.

I remembered the previous Sunday sharing with Chris and Anne at Creator that we would be voting for bishop at the assembly. Coming from a Catholic background, they both marveled that the people in the Synod were given an opportunity to choose their bishop and that there were women who were on the ballot.

Many of the opportunities and challenges for the rest of the weekend were suddenly clear to me and I was ready to live into all this rather than dwelling on what I could have done with past opportunities and challenges if they had been available this weekend. Pastor Amanda's story also made me reflect on Bishop Dave's word prolepsis again.

My appreciation for the table discussions continued to grow throughout the day. I couldn't have been more proud of Creator's representation at the assembly. Sonnet and Katie shared their views on qualities they thought a bishop should possess. They pointed out that the bios for those lifted up for bishop were not included in the hand-outs. They cared and wanted to fairly review and consider each nominee for their experience and vision. I was impressed with the questions Katie and Sonnet had, their insights, and how they shared them with me.

Pastor Laurie caught my interest in both her speech and in her question and answer time. In her Q & A she used the metaphors of entertaining in the parlor and gifts that may be stored in the attic for how the church might change. The church could recognize, for example, a beautiful but slightly worn needlepoint chair that should move from its place in the parlor to the attic. At the same time the attic may contain exactly the gifts needed in the parlor to make guests more comfortable. The discernment required as to which practices were which may be hard but this was a way to continue to keep the church vital.

Before making the fifth ballot results of the bishop election known Rev. Kevin Strickland; Assistant to the Presiding Bishop, who presided over the election, told the assembly not to react until he personally announced those results. I was thankful for that silence. The calling of Bishop-elect Rev. Laurie Larson Caesar was a dramatic moment with many feelings being experienced throughout the room, all of which I felt I could share. The brief silence honored that sharing of those many conflicting emotions.

Sunday was a Mother's Day. Having the service focus on women was already planned. With a woman as Bishop-elect the Sunday's worship energy kicked into high gear. Pastor Donna Herzfeldt-Kamprath presided and the Rev. Susan Kintner, current Assistant to the Bishop, preached. Together with Pastor Susan Granata the trio are the women who have been longest ordained presently in the Oregon synod.

The color of the day was white and the rostered women clergy and deacons all vested for the occasion. For their processional into worship every one of the women danced throughout the room to the lively opening song A Dazzling Bouquet. The mixture of appreciation for the past work of the synod and a celebration of what was to come was made palpable, just like the day before. I couldn't help but think prolepsis was making the future a present reality through this worship. When Susan read the Gospel, Luke 24:22-44, she loudly proclaimed the first verse "Moreover, some of the women astounded us." 

Her voice was the voice of the assembly at that moment as well. We were all astounded indeed by some women today!