Presbytery in Portland

I spent Thursday through Saturday of last week in Portland, Oregon, for a presbytery meeting. This is a bi-annual meeting of pastors and elders from the churches in our region of the country, which includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. My denomination, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, is fairly small, so that although the presbytery covers a huge geographic area, there are only twenty or so churches in it.

I enjoyed the fellowship there, and for the most part the meeting was positive. The one major exception was a decision that we made concerning a church and pastor that will be difficult to take for both. It was a sad vote to cast, but given the circumstances, one that I felt was necessary (as did the rest of presbytery, since the vote appeared to be unanimous).

On the brighter side, we heard an excellent ordination exam by a licentiate (a man who is preparing to become a minister). I was very impressed with how well he articulated his answers, and his ability to cite Scripture to support his views. The process leading to ordination is not an easy one, and each time I witness an ordination exam I am glad that I'm done with it!

As I think of it, there are hardly any occupations that involve as much intense scrutiny as a minister. There are exams before committees involving the whole range of theological knowledge, personal questions of life and faith before presbytery, preaching sermons before presbytery, and the theological exams for licensure and ordination, also before presbytery. In addition, the process of receiving a call from a church involves interviews with pastoral search committees, church sessions, and finally, at least one Question and Answer session with the entire congregation. After I completed the latter at Grace OPC in Wasilla, one member told me I must have felt as though I had just had a job interview before 50 people! It did feel like that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg!

Back to presbytery, one thing I noticed is that I'm the "Alaska guy." I got asked a lot of questions about the dark winters, and hunting and fishing (one elder from Washington was aghast that I have not done either yet; I agreed that I can't really call myself an Alaskan until I do!). Another frequent comment I heard, and one that I've heard a lot ever since we knew we were moving here, is that someone's uncle or cousin lives in Alaska. It seems everybody has a family relation living in Alaska. Now, I'm that relative living here!

Presbytery was a good time of fellowship, but I was glad to come back home. And it was good to come back home to Alaska.