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This story online: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2007/07414.htm
07414 July 11, 2007
Second National Pastors Sabbath draws hundreds to the mountains
'A rich blessing' to participants
by Sharon K. Youngs OGA communications coordinator
LOUISVILLE-The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly dreamed it. The six agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) funded it. A planning team built it.
And they came.
Hundreds of pastors and their spouses from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathered at Snowbird Resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah for the National Pastors Sabbath, June 28-July 2.
The event, the second of its biennial kind since the General Assembly adopted its every-other-year format in 2004, centered on the theme, "Lift Up Your Eyes on High and See," from Isaiah 40.
Unlike most Presbyterian events - that have every minute packed with programming - this gathering was designed to help pastors step aside from the rigors of ministry and find rest for their souls. Activities were scheduled for mornings and evenings, with afternoons free to explore Snowbird Resort, settle in with a good book, engage in conversation with participants, and much more.
The Rev. Cynthia L. Rigby, professor of theology at Austin Theological Seminary, was the keynote speaker and one of the preachers.
"Weariness makes us lose our passion to create space," Rigby told the participants. But it's important to "clear the space," so that we can live "imaginatively," which is "the only way to be in the kingdom of God where the lion and the lamb lie down together; it is what God imagines."
Other preachers included Craig Barnes, pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh and professor of ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; Robert Burkins, pastor of Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange, NJ; Catherine Gonsalus González, professor emerita of church history at Columbia Theological Seminary; and Justo González, a retired professor of historical theology and author of numerous books, several co-authored with his wife Catherine.
"The event did all we were hoping and praying it would do," said the Revs. Laird Stuart and Jerry Tankersley, co-chairs of the planning team. "Those who attended this Sabbath event commented that they were returning home refreshed and rejuvenated for the work of ministry. In a time when the renewal of our clergy is so critical, we feel this event was a rich blessing to all of us who were there."
Stuart, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, and Tankersley, pastor of Laguna Presbyterian Church in Laguna Beach, CA, were both candidates for Moderator of the General Assembly in 2002. They have become close friends since the election, which neither of them won.
Joining Stuart and Tankersley on the planning team were six Presbyterian pastors from across the church: Sharon H. Edwards (United Presbyterian Church, Albany, OR), Karen Hernández-Granzen (Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton, NJ), Lloyd Green (Radcliff Presbyterian Church, Atlanta,), Nancy Kahaian (First Presbyterian Church, Michigan City, IN), James H. Y. Kim (Trinity Presbyterian Church, The Colony, TX), and Laurey H. Murphy (Spring Branch Presbyterian Church, Houston).
Edwards also provided musical leadership for the event. She directed "Grace Notes," an intergenerational ensemble of members from the United Presbyterian Church of Albany, Oregon, that made the trip to Utah.
Additional musicians included Malvis Alexander, minister of music at First African Presbyterian Church in Lithonia, GA; Sheila O'Bannon, minister of music at Shawnee Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY; Rosa Lamb, director of the "Voices of Praise" choir in Louisville, and Lynn Rubier-Capron, a Presbyterian minister and violinist from Rochester, NY.
Well over half of the 173 PC(USA) presbyteries were represented, with a sizeable number of pastors coming from congregations of less than 150 members. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance made it possible for 18 pastors and 13 spouses to attend from the Gulf Coast and other areas that were hit hard by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, or had experienced other disasters.
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