Day 31 - 40 Days of Prayer - Mike Cole

Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

In the middle of March I returned from a very eye-opening trip to Cuba with a delegation of other presbytery and synod and General Assembly executives. We were greatly encouraged by the health and vitality of the Presbyterian Church in Cuba, which has much to teach us about how to create abundance out of scarcity.

On our first full day at the seminary in Matanzas, we participated in an “encuentro,” an encounter with pastors and members of the Presbyterian Church in Cuba. Two members of the Cuban Presbyterian Church and two members of the PC (U.S.A.) made presentations on the mission of their respective church in our present world. During the Q & A time following the American presentations, which honestly characterized the PC (U.S.A.) as aging, fragmented and internally focused, a Cuban pastor asked, “How can this happen in our “Mother Church?”

I was stunned by the question and completely unprepared for the esteem in which the Cuban Presbyterian Church holds us. They view us as their Mother Church and expect us to be leading the way for them in being the missional church. What they heard from us is that their Mother Church has sort of lost her way in the midst of much in-fighting. We had to be forthright with our sisters and brothers in Cuba that our church, their Mother Church, was preoccupied with survival and a longing for the “good old days” when Presbyterians were at the center of society rather than relegated to the periphery.

When I saw the pain in their eyes, the pain of realizing that we had fallen off the pedestal they had put us on long ago, I felt ashamed, sad and surprisingly inspired. I was ashamed at the way our turf wars have distracted us from our essential mission. I was sad that we had proven unworthy of the trust the Cuba Presbyterians had given us. I was strangely warmed by the realization that these sincere Christians of meager material means were offering us a renewed vision of who we can be – the Mother Church who is honored so that all may live long in the land the Lord is giving us.

As we prepare for our biannual General Assembly, my prayers join thousands of others for each Commissioner to experience a renewal of spirit that enlivens the motherly calling of our beloved church.

Rev. Mike Cole
General Presbyter, Presbytery of New Covenant