Dr. Allison Seed's Message
| Trinity Presbyterian Church 1400 Sheley Road Independence, MO 64052 |
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Dear Friends in Christ,
By now I would guess that practically everyone has heard that I have accepted
a call to serve as a regional representative for our national Board of Pensions
of the Presbyterian Church (USA) based in Philadelphia. It will be a totally
different kind of ministry, working with members, ministers, congregations,
presbyteries, synods and retirees to explain the medical and pension benefits
offered by the Presbyterian Church, a task made increasingly complicated, as
you all know, by changes in federal and changes in people’s needs. My last
Sunday at Trinity will be Dec 26, the day after Christmas. Saying goodbye
after fifteen years is hard, but it must be done on all sorts of different levels,
and sometimes it doesn’t need to be said at all but just is there in a hug or
quiet understanding.
Because this is our Trinity Thanksgiving weekend with the celebration of
the Lord’s Supper and our Stewardship Commitment Sunday, I want to share
with you a brief part of that goodbye in highlighting ten things about you as
a congregation for which I am deeply thankful. I am not modeling myself this
morning after David Letterman, because number one isn’t more important
than number six or number ten, and because I want you to know that I mean
them not from humor or sarcasm but from the bottom of my heart. Let me
say also that mostly I will not be mentioning specific names, not because I can’
t but because I would be mortified if I inadvertently left someone out, so I
trust that you can put faces to my words.
#1: I am thankful for our staff here at Trinity. If I added up the years of
service our current staff have given, not including myself, we are looking at
about 87 years all told. More importantly, each and every one of them is
thoroughly committed to the good of this congregation, totally reliable,
caring, and conscientious. Kerry and Diana are like second moms to the
infants and children in their care, and you can tell how much they are loved
by how eagerly the children go to be with them. Barbara in the office has
greeted all callers with a warm welcome and kept everything running in a
timely fashion. Your worship leadership–Jack and Catherine, ably assisted by
the choir-- have worked as amazingly creative team throughout my time here
without our having to sit down and have formal meetings about what we are
going to do. Somehow–and it may be because we are similar personality
types–we are able to bounce off of each other’s contributions and the
lectionary and somehow come up with a meaningful, consistent whole Sunday
after Sunday. Sometimes I just sit and marvel at the joy and the creativity in
how everything comes together so beautifully and so how our worship so
fittingly points us to God. Thank you, Jack, thank you, Catherine, for being
friends as well as colleagues.
# 2: I am thankful for all the people here at Trinity who work tirelessly
for the good of the church. The Thanksgiving meal, Scouts, the Strawberry
Festival, the women’s circle, youth activities, Sunday School–just to name a
very few activities–would never happen without people planning, being present
to work, participating, giving of themselves hour upon hour. And I am
especially thankful for those who work quietly behind the scenes, sometimes
seven days a week, taking care of the property, answering alarm calls,
checking for leaks, taking cans for recycling, mending things gone bad,
changing batteries and light bulbs, filling the hand wash soap in the rest
roams–you name it, someone does it. That’s discipleship–not seeking
recognition but serving in whatever way is needed.
#3. I am thankful that you are a congregation that is not afraid of
change. Now wait a minute, you may be saying, Allison, you are going to be
putting us all through a major change when you leave, and we’re not all that
happy about it. I understand, but I also know that you have a tremendous
spiritual reservoir to draw on when times seem uncertain. When I came to
Trinity, attendance and giving had dropped alarmingly, and we had not paid
our per capita for three years. You rose to the challenge. We began to grow.
We paid the per capita. We were able to hold off on the Santacaligon money
till the following year. And you did it under the leadership of a woman
pastor. When we had the opportunity to meld with Westminster, neither
Westminster nor Trinity hesitated for a moment, and from an initial letter and
prayer in Oct 2000 we were able to join as one congregation January 21, 2001,
and we are one congregation now. Do you know how incredibly smooth that
all went? You will rise to this new challenge, and you can come out a stronger
church for it.
#4. I am thankful that every Sunday we are joined in this sanctuary by
that great cloud of witnesses who continue to join their prayers with us and
for us. Since I began ministry at Trinity I have participated in about 81
funerals or memorial services. Not all of them were for members, some were
for family members, for friends, for former members, but each of those
occasions were testimonies to me of the strength of the ties of love that we
have shared that death does not sever. I remember those who have
transferred their membership to the church triumphant, and I give thanks for
the way their faith and ministry lives on through you.
#5 I am thankful for the spirit of generosity that lives with you. Our
needs as a church, as a congregation have always been met. Unlike some of
our neighboring congregations, we have no endowment to fall back on. We
have nothing we can really call a reserve, but every time we have truly needed
a repair or a special project undertaken, there is always at least one check
contributed immediately, and the rest follows. We ask for food, and there is
food. We ask for school supplies, and there are supplies. Money for a goat,
and we can contribute three. You are people with a giving heart, and you
know the special blessing that comes from being a steward of God’s resources
rather than owners of possessions.
#6: I am thankful that you have envisioned bold projects, and you have
accomplished them. Selling funnel cakes for four days every Labor Day
Weekend–how have we been able to do that year after year? How? The
storage building, the picnic pavilion, Founders’ Hall turned from a huge
storage closet into a place of fellowship and light, the renewed cross, the
electronic organ, the elevator and other capital improvements, the new sign,
the auctions, Trivia Night–over and over we have taken the loaf and fish
entrusted to us and multiplied them. Which is not to say there haven’t been
hitches, but what we set out to do we as a congregation accomplish, through
people giving of their time and talents as they are able.
#7: I am thankful for our members who work for the greater good in the
church beyond our congregation and in the community. We have many who
are committed to service as CSL, in our hospitals, and in our schools, among
other places, making real Jesus’ command to go out into the world. We have
many who have served on committees at presbytery and at synod, and several
have attended General Assembly, either as a commissioner or visitor. We
consistently send members as commissioners to Presbytery, and we have
members in attendance at Presbytery training events. Even our confirmation
class has been to Presbytery. Our participation in the greater Presbyterian
church wasn’t always the case, and we have been active in Independence
ecumenical events as well. I will always remember with great fondness when
we hosted the February meeting of Heartland Presbytery in 2000 when I served
as moderator. You were wonderful hosts, and the food was superb. And we
have a sister church relationship in Stara Boleslav, Czech Republic. Don’t
forget them, for they remind us that God’s love has no boundaries.
#8–I am thankful for our children’s and youth ministries and all those
who participate. I have helped lead twelve mission trips since I have been
here, and there isn’t a better way of getting to know our youth and advisors
than sharing blisters, mosquitos, and sweat. I have had the privilege of
watching babies I have baptized grow up. Mindy Degenhardt was my first
baptism here, and I have seen young people I have confirmed get married and
some even present their children for baptism. I am so glad that I will be able
to end my time here with two more baptisms–Helen Gray’s granddaughter
Shelby and her son Elliott. I have loved doing children’s sermons and
putting aside any self-consciousness just to be silly in order to teach a gospel
truth and to learn a gospel truth out of the mouths of babes. The fifteen years
of Christmas pageants–soon to be sixteen–have been especially dear to me,
and I thank you for sharing your young ones over these years together. Some
of our baby Jesuses have grown up!
#9: I am thankful for your care for one another and for Bob and me. I
am glad that this is a hugging congregation but glad also for those who
express themselves in other ways. I do believe that people feel genuinely
welcomed here. When members have special needs you are there to help,
providing meals, transportation, phone calls, visits, and cards. You look
after one another as the Body of Christ. In our time here at Trinity Bob and I
have lost three of our parents, and your support meant so much. I am also
grateful that you all gave me the opportunity to serve in significant leadership
outside the congregation and to grow in those experiences, bearing with me
through service in Heartland Presbytery and seven years on the General
Assembly Council, finishing with two years as chair. When doors opened, you
let me pass through, and there is no question that that has led to the position
that I am accepting.
And # 10. I am thankful for the precious gift you have given me of
allowing me into your lives. You have let me share the uncertainties and the
concerns of hospital rooms. You have let me be there when one of your loved
ones is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. You have let me
participate in the joy of weddings and baptisms and marriage vow renewals
and birthday and anniversary celebrations. You have shared questions,
challenges, and frustrations. All those things have left a mark on my soul
that I will never, ever forget.
Yes, change and uncertainty lies ahead–for you and for me, but our
strength–yours and mine–is to be found in the words of our Psalm: “Know
that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his. We are his
people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and
his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name! For the Lord is
good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all
generations.”
Thank you for our fifteen years together.
In Christ.
Allison K. Seed
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.
John Calvin
By now I would guess that practically everyone has heard that I have accepted
a call to serve as a regional representative for our national Board of Pensions
of the Presbyterian Church (USA) based in Philadelphia. It will be a totally
different kind of ministry, working with members, ministers, congregations,
presbyteries, synods and retirees to explain the medical and pension benefits
offered by the Presbyterian Church, a task made increasingly complicated, as
you all know, by changes in federal and changes in people’s needs. My last
Sunday at Trinity will be Dec 26, the day after Christmas. Saying goodbye
after fifteen years is hard, but it must be done on all sorts of different levels,
and sometimes it doesn’t need to be said at all but just is there in a hug or
quiet understanding.
Because this is our Trinity Thanksgiving weekend with the celebration of
the Lord’s Supper and our Stewardship Commitment Sunday, I want to share
with you a brief part of that goodbye in highlighting ten things about you as
a congregation for which I am deeply thankful. I am not modeling myself this
morning after David Letterman, because number one isn’t more important
than number six or number ten, and because I want you to know that I mean
them not from humor or sarcasm but from the bottom of my heart. Let me
say also that mostly I will not be mentioning specific names, not because I can’
t but because I would be mortified if I inadvertently left someone out, so I
trust that you can put faces to my words.
#1: I am thankful for our staff here at Trinity. If I added up the years of
service our current staff have given, not including myself, we are looking at
about 87 years all told. More importantly, each and every one of them is
thoroughly committed to the good of this congregation, totally reliable,
caring, and conscientious. Kerry and Diana are like second moms to the
infants and children in their care, and you can tell how much they are loved
by how eagerly the children go to be with them. Barbara in the office has
greeted all callers with a warm welcome and kept everything running in a
timely fashion. Your worship leadership–Jack and Catherine, ably assisted by
the choir-- have worked as amazingly creative team throughout my time here
without our having to sit down and have formal meetings about what we are
going to do. Somehow–and it may be because we are similar personality
types–we are able to bounce off of each other’s contributions and the
lectionary and somehow come up with a meaningful, consistent whole Sunday
after Sunday. Sometimes I just sit and marvel at the joy and the creativity in
how everything comes together so beautifully and so how our worship so
fittingly points us to God. Thank you, Jack, thank you, Catherine, for being
friends as well as colleagues.
# 2: I am thankful for all the people here at Trinity who work tirelessly
for the good of the church. The Thanksgiving meal, Scouts, the Strawberry
Festival, the women’s circle, youth activities, Sunday School–just to name a
very few activities–would never happen without people planning, being present
to work, participating, giving of themselves hour upon hour. And I am
especially thankful for those who work quietly behind the scenes, sometimes
seven days a week, taking care of the property, answering alarm calls,
checking for leaks, taking cans for recycling, mending things gone bad,
changing batteries and light bulbs, filling the hand wash soap in the rest
roams–you name it, someone does it. That’s discipleship–not seeking
recognition but serving in whatever way is needed.
#3. I am thankful that you are a congregation that is not afraid of
change. Now wait a minute, you may be saying, Allison, you are going to be
putting us all through a major change when you leave, and we’re not all that
happy about it. I understand, but I also know that you have a tremendous
spiritual reservoir to draw on when times seem uncertain. When I came to
Trinity, attendance and giving had dropped alarmingly, and we had not paid
our per capita for three years. You rose to the challenge. We began to grow.
We paid the per capita. We were able to hold off on the Santacaligon money
till the following year. And you did it under the leadership of a woman
pastor. When we had the opportunity to meld with Westminster, neither
Westminster nor Trinity hesitated for a moment, and from an initial letter and
prayer in Oct 2000 we were able to join as one congregation January 21, 2001,
and we are one congregation now. Do you know how incredibly smooth that
all went? You will rise to this new challenge, and you can come out a stronger
church for it.
#4. I am thankful that every Sunday we are joined in this sanctuary by
that great cloud of witnesses who continue to join their prayers with us and
for us. Since I began ministry at Trinity I have participated in about 81
funerals or memorial services. Not all of them were for members, some were
for family members, for friends, for former members, but each of those
occasions were testimonies to me of the strength of the ties of love that we
have shared that death does not sever. I remember those who have
transferred their membership to the church triumphant, and I give thanks for
the way their faith and ministry lives on through you.
#5 I am thankful for the spirit of generosity that lives with you. Our
needs as a church, as a congregation have always been met. Unlike some of
our neighboring congregations, we have no endowment to fall back on. We
have nothing we can really call a reserve, but every time we have truly needed
a repair or a special project undertaken, there is always at least one check
contributed immediately, and the rest follows. We ask for food, and there is
food. We ask for school supplies, and there are supplies. Money for a goat,
and we can contribute three. You are people with a giving heart, and you
know the special blessing that comes from being a steward of God’s resources
rather than owners of possessions.
#6: I am thankful that you have envisioned bold projects, and you have
accomplished them. Selling funnel cakes for four days every Labor Day
Weekend–how have we been able to do that year after year? How? The
storage building, the picnic pavilion, Founders’ Hall turned from a huge
storage closet into a place of fellowship and light, the renewed cross, the
electronic organ, the elevator and other capital improvements, the new sign,
the auctions, Trivia Night–over and over we have taken the loaf and fish
entrusted to us and multiplied them. Which is not to say there haven’t been
hitches, but what we set out to do we as a congregation accomplish, through
people giving of their time and talents as they are able.
#7: I am thankful for our members who work for the greater good in the
church beyond our congregation and in the community. We have many who
are committed to service as CSL, in our hospitals, and in our schools, among
other places, making real Jesus’ command to go out into the world. We have
many who have served on committees at presbytery and at synod, and several
have attended General Assembly, either as a commissioner or visitor. We
consistently send members as commissioners to Presbytery, and we have
members in attendance at Presbytery training events. Even our confirmation
class has been to Presbytery. Our participation in the greater Presbyterian
church wasn’t always the case, and we have been active in Independence
ecumenical events as well. I will always remember with great fondness when
we hosted the February meeting of Heartland Presbytery in 2000 when I served
as moderator. You were wonderful hosts, and the food was superb. And we
have a sister church relationship in Stara Boleslav, Czech Republic. Don’t
forget them, for they remind us that God’s love has no boundaries.
#8–I am thankful for our children’s and youth ministries and all those
who participate. I have helped lead twelve mission trips since I have been
here, and there isn’t a better way of getting to know our youth and advisors
than sharing blisters, mosquitos, and sweat. I have had the privilege of
watching babies I have baptized grow up. Mindy Degenhardt was my first
baptism here, and I have seen young people I have confirmed get married and
some even present their children for baptism. I am so glad that I will be able
to end my time here with two more baptisms–Helen Gray’s granddaughter
Shelby and her son Elliott. I have loved doing children’s sermons and
putting aside any self-consciousness just to be silly in order to teach a gospel
truth and to learn a gospel truth out of the mouths of babes. The fifteen years
of Christmas pageants–soon to be sixteen–have been especially dear to me,
and I thank you for sharing your young ones over these years together. Some
of our baby Jesuses have grown up!
#9: I am thankful for your care for one another and for Bob and me. I
am glad that this is a hugging congregation but glad also for those who
express themselves in other ways. I do believe that people feel genuinely
welcomed here. When members have special needs you are there to help,
providing meals, transportation, phone calls, visits, and cards. You look
after one another as the Body of Christ. In our time here at Trinity Bob and I
have lost three of our parents, and your support meant so much. I am also
grateful that you all gave me the opportunity to serve in significant leadership
outside the congregation and to grow in those experiences, bearing with me
through service in Heartland Presbytery and seven years on the General
Assembly Council, finishing with two years as chair. When doors opened, you
let me pass through, and there is no question that that has led to the position
that I am accepting.
And # 10. I am thankful for the precious gift you have given me of
allowing me into your lives. You have let me share the uncertainties and the
concerns of hospital rooms. You have let me be there when one of your loved
ones is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. You have let me
participate in the joy of weddings and baptisms and marriage vow renewals
and birthday and anniversary celebrations. You have shared questions,
challenges, and frustrations. All those things have left a mark on my soul
that I will never, ever forget.
Yes, change and uncertainty lies ahead–for you and for me, but our
strength–yours and mine–is to be found in the words of our Psalm: “Know
that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his. We are his
people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and
his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name! For the Lord is
good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all
generations.”
Thank you for our fifteen years together.
In Christ.
Allison K. Seed
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.
John Calvin