June 2022

It is Sherlock Holmes AND Dr. Watson

A Note from the Stated Clerk

In one of the congregations I served, my long-time clerk of session, “Keith,” was all you could want in a clerk: well-organized, prepared, on time. More or less on the healthy side of compulsive. He also saw the world quite differently than I did, on nearly every issue, inside and outside the church.

Despite that, we made a good team for many years.

People are different and relationships are different, so your experience may be very different. Even so, I hope and pray that you, and the session you serve, benefit from a productive working relationship between you and your pastor/moderator. Because you two are a team.

Keith and I talked before meetings to set an agenda, we prepared as much as we were able and tried to fill in the gaps when the other fell short. We disagreed on many things, but we had each other’s back, even when it meant privately or publicly (when he was also a sitting ruling elder) disagreeing.

Sherlock Holmes may get his name on the book cover or church sign. But he wouldn’t have made it without Dr. Watson. (I thought about Batman and Robin, but Batman seems to be doing just fine on his own.)

I write this from a somewhat unusual position. Prior to my become the Stated Clerk of Highlands Presbytery, I spent five years serving two Lutheran congregations. Since 1997, the Formula of Agreement, has permitted pastors in the Full Communion partnership –— PCUSA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, and Reformed Church of America –— to serve in the other congregations “for the sake of participation in the mission of God.” Essentially our theologies are similar enough to make this partnership possible. In these times when many churches are without pastors, this has been a lifesaver for many congregations.

Similar is not the same, however. In my “Lutheran years” the Council President was the moderator. And while the recording secretary took the minutes, I largely served the role that a clerk of session would, the jots and tittles that keep a church running and connected to the wider church.

My name was on the church sign, but in Council (for us, session) and other official meetings, I was Dr. Watson.

As was true with Keith, I did my best to be a good team player, even if we didn’t necessarily see things the same way.

To paraphrase Judy Collins, “I’ve looked at church from both sides now.” Because I believe so strongly in the parity of ordained ministry (which is why I’m Presbyterian and not Lutheran), I don’t believe that Holmes is better than Watson. Rather, they both have God-given and needed gifts, and it is only by sharing those gifts together that their finest fruit comes forth.

May God bless you and those with whom you serve God with healthy, fruitful relationships, not just for your sake, but to the glory of God.

God is all in all,

Stated Clerk

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