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Clerk's Corner
Content warning:
Warnings. We all see them. Sometimes they are designed to keep us safe, sometimes they are to tell us what we need to do to keep ourselves and others physically safe. Sometimes, even, emotionally safe. Today, as I write this, it is my 40th birthday. I have been in a day of true rejoicing and celebration! Then I just opened the mail and found a speeding ticket. Now, if you ask my husband, he will tell you I absolutely deserved it and he has no doubt I was speeding. I'm not going to admit one way or the either. But I do remember exactly where the interstate speeding photo was taken. I was on my way to Rev. Kris Schondelmeyer's installation service in East Iowa and I was running late. I saw the alert on my GPS that there was a photo-enforced speeding area ahead. And I didn't heed the warning and now I have to pay for it.
But there are other warnings we come against.
Earlier this week, I was at the Synod of Lakes and Prairies Synod meeting south of Minneapolis, MN. We had an educational opportunity that was about trauma-informed ministry and how we all understand and participate in trauma-informed ministry. One area I had not thought about or been aware of, was a particular word that we use to try to warn people. We use the word "trigger" often in posts on social media to alert people that the post could be unsafe for someone who has been through a specific situation. But the word, "trigger" could be a word that is in itself a "trigger". The counseling establishment recommends using the word "activating" or "activation" warning. This word tells people, in a trauma-informed way, that the content they may hear or read will activate a response within them because of a lived-through experience. It also got us talking about whether or not scripture and our sermons sometimes need their own "activation warnings". Personally, I have given them before.
Now, I have certainly heard the argument before that our society has become too sensitive and that is why we have to put warnings on everything. Well, in my speeding ticket photo, you can clearly see no one else was around me. So why should I have to heed a warning about speed if I determine it isn't a big deal? Well, maybe it isn't about me. Maybe it is about setting a precedent. Maybe it is about following the rules. Maybe it is about understanding that regardless of whether I think something is okay or not for me to do (speeding when no one else is around), the reality is that others can get hurt. Content warnings, activation warnings, and warnings even about scripture are meant to keep others safe emotionally and spiritually. We don't know what others have gone through. But when we take care to speak warnings of the difficulties in what lies ahead, we say that we are safer people to be around and that we understand that trauma affects us all differently. So heed warnings. Write warnings. Take care of others around you. You never know who... or what... might be watching..
The next Clerk's Convo is Monday, May 15th at 6pm. These zoom meetings are for clerks to discuss anything that is on their minds or what is coming up in their congregations and contexts. Please feel free to come with questions.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82477487297?pwd=ZXNIc29YRit3cTE2SGhsK0N5YzUrZz09
Meeting ID: 824 7748 7297
Passcode: 832216
All amendments to the Book of Order have passed! Please know more information will continue to stream out about how these will affect your congregations, contexts, ministries, and the presbytery as a whole.
I will be out of the office Monday and Tuesday, May 21st and 22nd for presbytery minute review in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. I will also be taking a day of vacation on Thursday, May 25th.
As always, please reach out if you need anything.
Thank you,
Rev. Elissa Bailey
Presbytery of Great Rivers Stated Clerk
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