Presbytery of San José

July 30, 2025

A Pastoral Letter to the Presbytery of San José

The Rev. Dr. Neal D. Presa, Executive Presbyter

July 30, 2025

“As If We Were Dreaming”

Dear Friends and Members of the Presbytery of San José,

Grace and peace in the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit! I hope and pray that you are flourishing in God’s joy, engaged in God’s justice in some way, and blessing others with kindness and generosity.

At this writing, nine youth and three adults from our Presbytery are with 2000+ other youth and adults in Louisville for the 2025 Presbyterian Youth Triennium. With four days of worship, recreation, bible study, fellowship, and various activities, young people’s lives and faith are transformed forever. Historically, at least 40% of Triennium attendees end up serving as young adult volunteers, serving in mission, and even go to seminary. While held every three years, this is the first Triennium in the last six years due to the disruption of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place. Also, our very own, teaching elder The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, preached last night. Way to go, Bruce! Let us continue holding in prayer all those at Triennium, and for their safe travels back.

Triennium is gathering with the theme, “As If We Were Dreaming” based on Psalm 126:1. This is one of the so-called “Song of Ascents.” It belongs to a group of 15 songs (Psalm 120-134) which expressed exiled pilgrims of God’s people as they traversed desert and rocky terrain towards the gates of Jerusalem. And if you’ve ever been to the Holy Land, there is a part of the Kidron Valley where the hills ascend and you see the holy city emerge. It is as if gazing upon the presence of God, as it were, from whence you came to where you are heading. Psalm 126:1 expresses a joyous disbelief that in the midst of and after waiting decades for God’s help, God has poured blessing upon blessing. It is “as if we were dreaming” (the New Revised Standard Version says, “we were like those who dream”; The Message translation puts it colloquially, “It seemed like a dream, too good to be true.”)

Faith is that way, isn’t it. God keeps us on our toes and knees – praying, waiting, being on the edge, right there at the verge of giving up. Often times, we won’t see the answered prayer, or the deliverance we hoped for. Remember the generations on Moses’s exodus who didn’t make it to the Promised Land; even Moses didn’t arrive. But we are called to keep praying, to keep hoping, yes, to keep dreaming for a better tomorrow. And when we feel we’re on the last part of our energy, and at our wit’s end of hoping and dreaming, being a part of a community like our congregations, our networks, our families, our Presbytery. . .we encourage one another to keep on keeping on.

It's been 191 days since the inauguration of our current president. And what a tumultuous time it has been. I wish all of what we are experiencing were a dream, but it is not. This is real. Thousands of Gazans are starving. Children have and are dying. Newborns are struggling to stay alive, as with the doctors and the meager resources they have. It is not a dream when members of our communities right here in the bounds of our Presbytery are threatened to appear at ICE detention centers for fear of being deported and separated from their families. I had a lunch meeting yesterday with an agency colleague about how the so-called “big, beautiful” policy bill recently signed into law by the president, when fully implemented after the mid-term elections in 2026, will have ramifications on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act recipients, which will invariably affect medical costs for all of us. And on and on it goes, this dream, or what often feels like a nightmare. Pinch me and wake me up from this dream. But I can’t. You can’t. We can’t. We cannot slumber when there are real life consequences to policies and to dangerous theologies and ideologies that give rise to and support such policies. Lives and livelihoods are endangered.

As with every generation, we have been called to dream, to pray, to persevere. The tools we have been given are Word, sacrament, prayer, our breath, our voices, our hands-feet-heart, our community, the fruits of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit (faith-hope-love), and the imagination to behold the God who accompanies. This is not a us vs them, because if we learn anything, we are in this together. Our common humanity is precious. And because of that, we have a sacred responsibility to hold accountable our fellow human beings, to conscientize fellow human beings to the suffering and deep pain of fellow human beings whose cannot dream, whose hopes are dashed, and who are fighting for their survival.

I dream for when all will be well for all people everywhere. It’s not an illusion nor a false hope, but the divine vision that the Lord has imparted to every generation. It’s what propels and inspires us to pray and work for a better tomorrow. In the midst of it, and not just in the aftermath of the struggle, we sing, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced” (Psalm 126:3), “Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed of sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” (Psalm 126:6)

In Joy and Justice,

Neal D. Presa

Executive Presbyter

408.763.5004 | Neal@sanjosepby.org

#CalledToCommunity

#CommittedToJustice

Please Pray for our Presbyterian Youth Triennium delegation in Louisville, KY

Youth Triennium updates on PCUSA.org

After six long years, Presbyterian Youth Triennium opens its doors and its heart to young people from across the nation.

Photos of the San José delegation by Chaperone Kathleen Oliver.

Please pray for the host of our Unity Candle

August 3: Trinity Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz and Urban Works

This week, our Unity Candle travels to Trinity Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz and Urban Works Santa Cruz, headquartered there. Please pray for the congregation, for its staff and for Pastor Rev. Diane Ford, and for the board, staff and volunteers of Urban Works led by Executive Director Katie Gentile.

Photos by EP Neal Presa. Trinity Church Santa Cruz hosted Unity Candle Jan 5, 2025, when Rev. Diane Ford was installed.

Informational Meeting: South Bay and Mid-Peninsula Interfaith Response POD for Immigrant Justice

Friday, August 1, 2025, noon-1:00 on Zoom

This time will be spent discussing a clergy and people of faith POD initiated by Revs. Diana Gibson and Bruce Reyes-Chow, in coordination with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, focused on court accompaniment with immigrants and possibilities for direct action.

We will cover five topics during our call:

Purpose of the group
Methods of Communication.
The types of actions that will be shared/that you will be invited to participate in.
How to show up at actions.
Best practices for Signal use.

Please register at this link and invite your interfaith colleagues to attend. This meeting will NOT be recorded.

Five seats remain in Saratoga cohort; Santa Cruz is filled.

Registrations will be closed at the end of this week.

2025-26 Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius - 19th Annotation - Saratoga, Santa Cruz, & Zoom

Follow Jesus into the heart of God as we journey in the Gospels, based on the 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius-Choosing Christ in the World. We will walk, sit, listen, laugh, and cry as we accompany Jesus in His incarnation and discover our own story in His.

You will immerse in the Holy Narrarative for thirty-three weeks in daily sessions with Jesus, supported with prayer guides, Scripture, poems, readings, and time-tested prayer practices, as we follow the Church calendar.

Agenda for Presbytery's September 6, 8:30am -1:30pm NEAR-II Gathering at First Presbyterian Church, Mountain View

Reserve your seat

1667 Miramonte Ave, Mountain View, CA

Saturday, September 6, 2025

8:30am-9:00 Breakfast

9:00-10:00 Worship (with Communion and commissioning of CRE Tim Parmentier)

10:00-10:30 “Winged Chairs” Conversations with Mark Labberton

10:30-10:40 Break

10:40-11:40 Panel Discussion: moderated conversation with 3-person panel of local ministries

11:40-12:00p Small Group Discussion Reflection

12:00-12:30 Plenary Q&A with Mark Labberton

12:30-1:30 Lunch

12:30-1:30 Mission Fair Exhibit (during lunch) Visit tables and learn about various ministries, agencies, and organizations.

Mark Labberton's profile on sanjosepby.org

How to get an exhibit table at Sept. 6 NEAR-II

To reserve an exhibit table for your congregational mission project or affiliated non-profit, please contact EP Neal Presa or Presbytery Moderator, Rev. Dr. Libby Boatwright ASAP. Space is limited!

All-Clergy Retreat, Sept 9-11

St. Francis Retreat, San Juan Bautista

Open to TE and CRE within the Presbytery of San José.

Full Stay: $250/two nights single-occupancy plus meals*, Commuter registration: $90

*scholarships available.

Leaders of Color Retreat, Oct 13-16

Zephyr Point Conference Ctr., Lake Tahoe, NV

Open to TE and CRE within the Presbytery of San Jose, San Francisco, Redwoods, and North Central CA.

Registration: $200

A Thought on Mental Health and Faith, by Pastor Sharon LeClaire

Be careful what you read.

I am a lifelong student. If I want to know something, I read until I feel satisfied with my newfound knowledge. I have been studying mental illness and faith for 30+ years, and I have found some great books and not so great books. One of the difficulties being a Christian is that I want to believe that if “Christian” is in the title of the book it will be a faithful account of the topic.

However, when it comes to mental health, there are still many myths that can make the sufferer feel judged, misunderstood and even hopeless. (I covered this in more depth in the April 9, 2025, Digest.) The first topic in some books is that mental health challenges are the FAULT of the ill person and are a result of sin and weak faith. There are so many studies and books that have proof that mental illness is biological even if environmental issues also apply.

There are stories in the Bible that can be confusing. When we read of someone

“possessed by demons” we need to remember that mental illness was not known

during those times so in reality it might have been illness. Finally, if you are interested in reading about mental health, ask someone who works in the field and can guide you to books, Christian or not, that are good sources of up to date information.

If you need support, here are some channels:

Teaching Elders/Ministers in the Presbytery can contact Neal Presa, Executive Presbyter and he will connect you to the Pastors Supporting Pastors (PSP) program.
As well, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefit through the Board of Pensions for six free 1-hour sessions with a licensed therapist and unlimited 24/7 crisis counselor phone calls.
For anyone (clergy and anyone) experiencing suicidal ideation, you should immediately contact 988 or 911.