From the Pastor’s Desk: April 2018

Dear Grace Community,

As a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), I am not a member of a church and instead am a member of a presbytery.  This means that in addition to serving at Grace, I also serve the PCUSA in different ways.  I realize that you don’t often see or hear about this, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of this with you.

Grace is part of the Presbytery of Southern Kansas. The presbytery is made up of churches in the southern part of the state as far east as Coffeyville and as far west as Colorado. Our presbytery meets quarterly and meets at Grace on May 8, 2018. This gathering of pastors and elders is designed to strengthen our ministry networks.

In addition to attending presbytery meetings, I serve on the Presbytery Governance Team. This team functions as the finance and human resources team for the presbytery. It’s been an interesting six months on this team as we’ve worked to separate funds between the presbytery and the Westminster Woods Camp.

I also serve the PCUSA at the synod level. Each geographical region of presbyteries is part of a synod. We are part of the Synod of Mid America which includes all of Kansas and Missouri. This year I began a three-year term as a synod commissioner. I’m still not entirely sure what this will consist of. My first meeting was a conference call, and in October I go to the Kansas City area for a daylong meeting.

The idea of denominational structures is to create more opportunities for ministry and collaboration. The PCUSA is as imperfect as any system designed by humans, but it also provides many opportunities for us to serve Jesus as individuals and as a church. If you are interested in serving the church outside of Grace through our presbytery, synod, or at the national level, please let me know, and I will help connect you.

In Christ,
Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

Every year Grace holds a Good Friday Prayer Vigil, and every year I ask myself, “Do I want to sign up?’”

The vigil begins at 12:30 pm at the end of our Good Friday worship service, and it ends at midnight. The time of the vigil is symbolic of the time of Jesus’ trial, beating, crucifixion, and death. Good Friday is a holy and hard day, and it is all too easy to skip over it, but spending time focusing on Good Friday is an important part of Christianity.

I know all of this, and yet I still ask myself, “Do I want to sign up for the vigil?”  It may surprise you to hear your pastor say this but praying in the chapel for 45 minutes on Good Friday isn’t the easiest thing for me. Long periods of extended prayer at an assigned time are not my greatest spiritual gift. So last year at the vigil I tried something else.

After about ten minutes of prayer I picked up the Bible and read through Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion in each gospel. These stories are found in Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19. Verse after verse, gospel after gospel, I was deeply moved by the scripture. Before I knew it my vigil time was complete, but I wasn’t ready to leave. On that holy day, reading those holy words, I experienced Good Friday in a new and powerful way.

As we approach Good Friday and Easter I encourage you to find a way to experience all of it. Come to Good Friday worship. Attend the vigil. And if you can’t do either of those things, sit down at home and read the gospel accounts of that day. Witnessing to the depth of sorrow and pain Jesus knew that day makes Easter Sunday all the more powerful. And do come celebrate with us on Easter.

In Christ,

Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

February in Wichita began on a horrifying note with the report of child rape at the YMCA Kidzone.  The news impacted me as the parent of a two-year-old who has spent time in the Kidzone and as the pastor of a church with a daycare and preschool.

Immediately after the news broke, Martin Burch, our executive pastor, and I sat down with Merodee Grannis and Nancy Morrow, our Jacob’s Learning Ladder director and assistant director. I have complete trust in Merodee and Nancy, and I realized that I am not familiar enough with our policies, procedures, and reporting structures, so I wanted to learn more.

As we talked, we confirmed that in Jacobs’ 29 years of operation we have never had an accusation of sexual abuse.  This is a result of many factors including high transparency, many checks and balances, and a wonderful staff.  Nonetheless, we need to be prepared and proactive.

Merodee and Nancy talked me through the steps that would happen if abuse was reported.

The regulations of the Kansas Health Department are thorough and complex. I understand them as the pastor and as a professional.  As a parent I’m overwhelmed by the detail.  Merodee, Nancy, Martin, and I agreed that we need to spend time in the next month with these regulations so that we can talk about them in ways that are not only accurate but also understandable for parents.

As important as it is to be prepared so that we handle any accusation well, we also want to be proactive. Families are unsettled by the news reports. In response to this we asked, how can we help?

We put together an event for Sunday, March 4, 2018, at 3:30 pm at Grace. The purpose of the event is to equip families for challenging conversations. Parents know that they should talk to their children about their bodies and who can touch them, but many parents aren’t sure of what to say. Parents know that there are resources available to educate on ways to prevent abuse and to watch for it, but they may not know how to find those resources.

Our March 4 event includes professionals to address these and other topics.  Speakers include Sandra Lessor, an attorney with the District Attorney’s Office and Jacob’s parent; Teresa McDonald, a Licensed Social worker, therapist, and Jacob’s parent; Dr. Rebecca Reddy, a pediatrician and parent of Jacob’s alumni; and Dianna Schunn from the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County. This event is open to the public, and childcare is available.

I am grateful that we have the opportunity to offer this to our community and hope you will join us, whether or not you have young children.

In Christ,

Catherine

 

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From the Pastor’s Desk- January 2018

Dear Grace Community,

Music is central to our life as a church.  We raise our voices in song, and we connect with God through beautiful music that is made in worship. For over 23 years, Donna Hetrick has led our music ministry at Grace. Our community is blessed by her faithfulness, her dedication, and her love for worship, music, and people.

Donna and her family are moving next summer, so she will no longer serve in our music ministry. Donna actually holds three positions at Grace: Director of Music Ministries, Director of Music for the 9 am worship service, and Organist. I’m writing to make you aware of this upcoming change as well as the plans that are taking place.

At its October Session meeting, the Session, at the recommendation of the Personnel team, formed a search team to lead the music ministry search. Serving on the team are Bruce Gealy, Charlene Randle, Janet Rhoads (chair), Randy Routsong, and Bill Vavra. Catherine Neelly Burton serves on the team as well.

The team began meeting in November with the first goal being to update and revise job descriptions. Great attention was given to this, and the team presented the updated job descriptions to the Personnel team and Session in January. The search team will start advertising the positions in early February.  The team is aware that we might find one person to fill all three positions, or we may find multiple people.

We ask for your prayers in this process, and if you know of someone who should apply for the position(s) direct them to the team.

In Christ,
Catherine

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Grace Community,

January 1, 2017, was a Sunday.  We started the new year with worship, and as 2017 came to a close I looked back at the sermon from New Year’s day.  In it I shared a poem by Howard Thurrman called “The Work of Christmas.”

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

-Howard Thurman

The choir sang a choral version of this song at our 8 pm Christmas Eve service last month. Spoken or sung, the words are beautiful, and challenging.

Being Christians is more than celebrating Christmas, it’s doing the work of Christmas. The good news is that we don’t do this alone. As the body of Christ we are called to share God’s love and to follow Jesus wherever he may take us. We do this as a community of faith, encouraging and supporting one another.

2017 was a grace-filled year at Grace. We worshiped together, served God and neighbor, studied scripture, and played together.

I look forward to where God leads us in 2018 and to the work of Christmas that we do together.

In Christ,

Catherine

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