So now that it's dying, we find out it can be fun. Who knew?

Last night I attended a Presbytery meeting ... and fun broke out!

It was the oddest thing.  

I think it started when three women shared with us a report on a year-long experiment in amalgamation by three struggling congregations that they were involved in, that in the end "didn't work" -- and that we honestly applauded.  Not because we were glad the amalgamation didn't take, or that one of the three congregations is now closed and the other two face even more challenges back in their own separate places.  But somehow the courage, openness, and honesty of both the experiment and the report moved us to some new place as a presbytery that seemed quite joyous and freeing.

Then there was the report on the Skylight Festival this summer and the need for financial support if it's to include all that the planners envision ... that led to a motion (passed unanimously) to direct Mission Council to consider sponsoring an invited presenter, to the tune of $2,500 ... and then to the Social Justice Committee deciding at a hastily called meeting at the coffee break to commit $500 of their budget to the Festival .. and then an impromptu free-will offering among the presbyters that raised another $507!  And ... oddest thing of all, we seemed to be having fun being so spontaneously generous!

And then there was the Resource Centre conversation question: "Think about the end of Presbytery [remember: Presbytery and Conference are slated to cease to exist as entities after Dec 31, 2018 as the United Church restructures itself, and none of us have any real clue as to how the important things we count on from the these levels of the church are going to be done after that date -- quite a fearsome prospect in some ways] ... what sort of Resource Centre would you need?"  And the unusually engaging and hopeful comments and suggestions that ensued.  We were actually having fun envisioning a little bit of a new future beyond the death of what we know. 

I wonder if there's something about dying ... or at least, about detachment from the need (or even the possibility) to maintain what we are and what we are in, against dying, that frees our spirit -- or Spirit in us, to enjoy the present moment in a different way than usual ... to just simply have fun with the possibilities for courage, generosity and creativity that are always with us, but are most often hidden by the prayer and the need we feel for things to stay as we have known them.