Has it only been a week?  It seems much longer, but it was only a week ago today that the fires broke out around Southern California.  We have lived with a week of evacuations, uncertainty over the status, or continued existence, of homes, and smoke-clogged air.  We have had closed roads, canceled sporting events, and fire crews and aircraft moving around us.  It has been a long week.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance workers arrived last Sunday and they stopped by our Synod Meeting on Friday evening to introduce themselves and let us know what they were doing. ( Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, California wildfire response page).

There were numerous people who called in to request to be excused from the Assembly because they were under evacuation or otherwise affected by the fires.  Even the Synod Moderator was checking in with family several times a day to find out the status of his home.  By adjournment on Saturday he could report that the evacuation had been lifted for his area and his home was safe.

And at the Assembly we twice sang a new hymn, “O God of Mighty Wind and Flame,” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette written in response to the current disaster.  I appreciate the tie-in to the tune Ellacombe which is also the tune frequently used for “I sing the mighty power of God.”

But it was also a long week for me as part of a Synod Task Force that was working on a new mission design for the Synod.  We had our last meeting on Tuesday with the Synod meeting starting Thursday evening.  The Synod meeting was pretty full with reports and we gave ours on Friday afternoon and then did two rounds of Q&A.  “The devil is in the details,” if you will pardon the expression.  Much of the questioning was about details:  why people were selected this way or that, why this or that was put where-ever.  And some of the questions were due to the fact that certain details did not agree between our three documents.

The surprise came on Saturday morning when the Assembly debated and voted on the new design.  While there were several proposed amendments and a few that were approved, overall the design was approved in its basic form with only details changed.  In general, the new design strips the synod organizational chart down to its essentials:  Ecclesiastical matters, corporate matters, and cross-presbytery ministries.  The synod size is reduced with reductions by almost half to the Assembly and the council.  And only Book of Order committees are specifically mentioned in the design so the design is flexible allowing each division to organize themselves as they see best for their function at any given time.

But maybe the biggest surprise, and stress, of the week was being asked to take a significant role in the new structure and help shape the cross-presbytery ministry piece.  No good deed goes unpunished.  Anyway, after prayer and talking with several people I agreed to do it, but I committed all of them to keep praying for me as I take on this position.  We shall see what the next year holds.