Greetings from Milwaukee!
Today I am writing about the General Assembly held this week in Milwaukee! Our commissioners are hard at work, and in time, they will bring you reports of the work they were involved in.
As for me, I am going to church!
I attended Immanuel Presbyterian Church in downtown Milwaukee. It was a twenty-minute walk from the convention center, and yes, I and several others did indeed walk to church!
Immanuel Presbyterian sits in the middle of a neighborhood block, with taller apartment buildings on the next blocks. Immanuel is a five-hundred-member church, and I learned that they are in the process of repairing and restoring the stained glass windows, for going on ten years now.
Once inside, I found myself in a spacious front-to-back hallway—sanctuary to one side, parlor rooms on the other. This hallway was where people moved about, visiting, chatting, and welcoming friends and visitors.
The sanctuary is quite large. On the front wall is a three-story pipe organ, large choir loft, and a wide space for the communion table. We sat near the front, so it was hard to count the congregants, but I offer the number three hundred plus in attendance.
The worship style was what I would call “high church.” The choir was large, wore robes, and was quite talented. The first portion of worship was filled with organ music, a choir musical call to worship, and later, a wonderful, quite complicated anthem.
I want to highlight the pipe organ for a moment. The two hymns were sung in a manner I had not seen in a while: Organ and congregation joining for verses one, two, and four. Verse three was congregation only; hearing the hymn in this manner was truly a joyful moment.
I had learned how Immanuel’s roughly ten-year search for a head of staff pastor ended when they and their presbytery discerned the obvious: The two associate pastors who had been leading were the ones God had chosen to continue the ministry.
The co-pastors shared the liturgy equally, leading collaboratively and in dual responses, with even the sermon presented in two key portions, each pastor presenting a portion of the Word. This felt a bit different at first but seemed quite normal by the end of the hour.
While I did not meet the pastors, I did meet many of the members, talked about Immanuel, the presbytery, and the General Assembly. They were as gracious as any of you have been when I was in your church.
Now, the local Presbyterian churches were hosting delegates from the GA this Sunday, and there were probably sixty of us at Immanuel. The lunch they provided included “cheese curds,” a local delicacy (and an acquired taste).
This was a good Sunday: a comfortable walk to a true neighborhood church; the company of fellow pastors and commissioners; a very welcoming body; a great box lunch eaten out on the grounds, and a time to deepen relationships with old friends and new ones alike.
Till my next time with my siblings in Christ,
Kerry
