Evenin’, sisters!

My name is Amy Robinson, and I am currently serving as the representative of the NNPCW on the Churchwide Coordinating Team (CCT) of Presbyterian Women. On behalf of this week’s bloggers, I’d like to apologize for the silence these last few days. Since both Brianne and Noelle are out of the office, a volunteer team was recruited to write to you all about our perspectives on recent goings-on in the life of the Women’s Ministries Program Area. However, because of a few gaffes on our part, we seem to have gotten turned around about who is writing when and how to get into blogger. No surprises there - I have reasons for choosing political science over computer science in my undergraduate years ;). We may be playing a little bit of catch up in the next few days. Of course, that’ll simply give you all more to enjoy!

I met many of you all a few weeks ago, at the NNPCW leadership event. Back in my undergraduate days, I remember the thrill of those conferences packed with worship and exploration of that intoxicating combination of faith and feminism that got me started on my path towards faith-based social praxis. This summer, I was able to see the conference from the flip side. I tell you, it raised more than a few eyebrows when I told people that, at 25, I was asked to be one of the older-women-mentor-figures at the Intergenerational Dialogue event for NNPCW ;). However, this type of relationship building across age barriers is something that I have thoroughly enjoyed in my time with Presbyterian Women, and that I am excited to see my younger sisters exploring.

For example, my (and now your) friend Beulah Townsend was another one of the PW participants, there to build relationships throughout the decades. I first met Beulah when I came to my first leadership event, in Federal Way WA back in 1999. You all remember her amusing tangents, outrageous outfits, and charming sense of humor. What you may not know about Beulah is her role as a dynasty in Presbyterian Women and NNPCW’s own recent history. When NNPCW was first struggling to come into it’s own, Beulah was a member of Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church in Spokane WA, and served as both the representative of the Synod of Alaska Northwest to the CCT as well as on our Presbytery’s Justice for Women Committee. There, more than five years before Whitworth’s now flourishing WISE was formed, Beulah and her comrades in Spokane met on Whitworth (my alma mater)’s campus in order to begin conversations with student and find those among us who had a passion for women’s empowerment. She began to plant seeds. There was little response from the student body at the time, but her work was to later bear great fruit.

Meanwhile, a young woman named Emily Meyer found her way into the choir at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church, and was assigned to share her music with our very own Beulah Townsend. A beautiful intergenerational friendship flourished between the teenager and her older buddy. Beulah shared with Emily her excitement about the new, growing ministry for college women based in our denomination. Emily, too, bought into the vision of faith and feminism. She went on to become our co-moderator with Rebecca Barnes (now Barnes-Davies of Presbyterians Restoring Creation), and led the Coordinating Committee through a tumultuous period. Her ministry with us was a direct result of Beulah’s passion.

I, then, met Emily when I was a Youth Advisory Delegate that same summer of ‘99, to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I had read about the NNPCW and found it exciting and innovative, but was yet to get involved. There at General Assembly, I became acquainted with Emily and witnessed the faith that was manifest in her work and the work of her ‘generation’ in the Network. I was introduced to Gusti Newquist, Rebecca Morrison, and many others who continue to bear witness to God’s truth. They enabled me to find my place in the church. They inspired me to become involved.

That September, Kelsey Rice and I both began at Whitworth College, two students winding our way through academia and discovering our faith. In time, we both found our way into the pews of that same Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church. There, I reunited with my friend Beulah who had sat alongside me as I first explored the relationship between faith and feminism in a conference center on the Puget Sound. I introduced her to Kelsey; and Beulah, beautiful passionate woman of faith that she is, began to preach once gain of the wonders of the NNPCW. That was Kelsey’s first exposure to the NNPCW; we all know where it went from there.

Now, those few and faithful Spokanites who have listened and acted upon our understanding of Christian feminism have grown in number and are reaching greater levels. Our immediate past co-moderator (and one of my favorite songwriters ;) ), Maren Haynes, is a recent alumna of Whitworth College, whose WISE group is a direct result of contact Kelsey made when she first moved to Louisville. Hannah Kimball, one of our sisters and participants in our most recent Leadership Event, is a member of the steady supply from Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church.

This is the produce of intergenerational conversation; through relationships with those of other ages, whether older by four or forty years, we learn where we have been and what we have achieved. We retain our history and learn our traditions. We find causes to inspire us. In the same process, we give hope and renewed energy for those older than us, who are looking for those to carry on the baton. We partner together, to learn from and strengthen each other. In the process, we each grow in our faith and our passion. May this beautiful chain of intergenerational communication continue.

Mizpah,

Amy