Western District Synod – “Encouraging Hope”
A Welcome Address from President, the Rev. James T. Hicks

Holy Spirit, Here are the people entrusted to you by Jesus. May your presence cultivate faith and stir us to a love for family, friends, and foes. May we be known by Jesus’ non-discriminating love. In your presence we gather as the church. Amen.

I’ve been talking with the Holy Spirit lately. Where that conversation has led to listening I find hope. As the church we face enormous challenges. That there are dreams is a strong affirmation of the hope bestowed upon us by the Spirit!

In our pre-synod gatherings we dwelt in Luke 10. I’d like to welcome you in that text, mindful that we have gathered to be “sent” on Sunday.

“After this the Lord appointed seventy others.…” We gather in the echo of the joys and challenges our sisters and brothers faced at prior synods. I pray that echo is an encouragement for you! As you listen to those voices who do you hear? I’m mindful of Brother Gohdes, who said about his beloved North Dakota: “there aren’t any trees to block your view out there.” The beauty of the prairie captures me to this day. I also hear the echo of Brother Sautebin’s voice. “We are the church.” And we are “sent on ahead of him in pairs.” To be the church is to be in this together – a witness this war torn world sorely needs.

We are sent to “where he himself intended to go.” Be assured it will involve risk. Where are you being sent - to the state capitol? To share the Lord’s Table in a meal ministry? We are blessed with the presence of Cora Antonio, Superintendent of the Nicaraguan Moravian Church, her sister Clara and Gilberto Molina. As we hear from Cora tomorrow evening, perhaps some will feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit. Cora, Clara, and Gilberto - Welcome to the Western District!

As the Luke text was shared at Joint Board meetings and pre-synod meetings, one phrase was highlighted more than any other – “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Here is the tension in the church. Are our energies engaged in working on the harvest? The perception of “few laborers” is a deeply felt discouragement for many of our leaders. It can lead to isolation. More than half of our Joint Boards have indicated to me that they feel isolated. May this synod experience forge relationships in which we are appointed to choose against isolation and for our common passion to “follow Him.”

And so we are told, “Go on your way.” You will be sent out “like lambs in the midst of wolves.” I hope this synod is full of direct, honest, forthright conversation. I also hope it is a place where disagreements, some of which are profound, are an occasion to seek to understand the one with a different point of view. Agree, disagree, … do both heartily, and only let it be tempered by the love of the Lamb who first loved each of us.

It is easy to identify the other as opponent, as wolf. Remember the witness of a young child from the West congregation who listened to the text and so expects the day will come when the lamb and the wolf will lie together. As we speak, especially in disagreement, may we do so with wounds displayed that we would speak and touch with love.

“Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals,” and I assume no laptop computer. It’s a naked feeling. As a church we’ve grown accustomed to carrying a lot of stuff. What are you being directed to not carry? Fear, worry about finances, solutions that have been tried and failed, interpersonal conflicts, a sense of unworthiness, a sense of always being right? When we are without all this stuff, it becomes possible for us to become open. In that vulnerability we are of use to the Holy Spirit.

The design of this synod places a strong emphasis on the ministry of the local congregation. It is why the synod planning team asked the local churches to name their strengths, challenges and dreams. In addition, Brother Frank Crouch will engage us in Scriptural texts that our congregations sensed are timely in this moment. I think it is self-revealing that a small church recognizes its need to be rooted again in a story about a tiny mustard seed and what happens with fish and loaves of bread when they’re in Jesus’ hands. Sniff your hands – I trust they have a lingering fish smell!

Frank, welcome! By the way, in the first drafts of our synod calendar Frank’s name was listed as “Fr Crouch.” Someone asked me when he became Father Crouch?

Another tension is the matter of who speaks up in small groups and in the large group assemblies. What I want to say is this – those of us who talk all the time need to be conscious to listen to our sisters and brothers. Those of us who rarely speak, need to take courage and speak up. But if I say that I know a bunch of folks will get offended so I won’t. Instead, I ask you, especially in your small groups to actively seek the imagination of each beloved sister and brother. Express an interest in each other and offer encouragement to speak especially where you sense something and are having a difficult time finding words to say what is in your hearts! In this vulnerability is the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Be mindful also of the time to seek to understand what a sister or brother sees. When we carry the baggage of wanting to make our own point, we too easily fail to be stretched in our thinking and understanding of where the Holy Spirit seeks to lead us. If every voice is heard at this synod, we will have listened for the voice of God!

Now we get the meat of the matter. As you come ready to weigh in on this or that matter, will you come and offer your brokenness? It is a profoundly humbling experience to come to grips with how the Holy Spirit seeks to make use of our strengths and our brokenness. And while our strengths give us reason for gratitude, it is in the offering of our brokenness that we come closest to understanding our Lord’s work.

The Holy Spirit is alive and active in the church as it is, even in our brokenness. Will we offer what is broken about us to the Holy Spirit? Jesus embraced the world’s worst and took it into himself. In doing so he transformed the fear of the disciples and the hopelessness of the world.

Jesus embraces the worst that this world offers. He takes into his broken body violence, sin, degradation and transforms all that could keep us from God from each other and from the work the Spirit seeks to entrust to our hands.

As you are engaged in your small group and in the large group assemblies, I pray the Holy Spirit will help you voice your perspective. You may be the one who offers a glimpse of the Spirit’s leading as another catches in imagination a direction, a hope, a word of encouragement.

Finally, I’d like to offer a word of gratitude to:

Brother Rick Santee, for serving as our Synod leader and for Brother Gary Straughan for backing him up!

Thank you to Sister Maggie Wellert and Brother Matthew Knapp for co-chairing the synod planning committee and to their able committee which includes, Nancy Baldwin, Jeff Brandt, Cindy Fahney, Esther Glas, Reeder Herrick and Betsy Miller.

I would note that after Maggie leads our worship this evening, Nancy, Jeff and Cindy will be leading our other worship experiences.

There will be others that we will thank as synod unfolds.

Holy Spirit please helps us with this work. Amen.