Committee Recommendations

The committees have worked hard for two solid days, listening and questioning overture advocates, discerning God's voice. I monitored the following and can report:

• The New Form of Government Committee will recommend to the plenary to send the new Form of Government to the church for study, and to form a new task force to receive advise and recommendations from the church to report at the next GA.
• The Church Orders Committee will recommend by a vote of 44 to 11 to strike G.6.0106b from the Book of Order and replace it with the following. "Those who are called to ordained service in the church by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination, pledge themselves to their lives of obedience to Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the scriptures, and to understand the scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and or installation establishes the candidates sincere efforts to adhere to these standards."
  
• The Peacemaking and International Issues Committee dealt with many overtures concerning Israel/Palestinian Relations. Most of the overtures which called for a balanced non-partisan approach to peacemaking.
  

Both of these recommendations will both draw considerable attention in the plenary business, and in the media coverage of the Assembly. It's important to know that any changes to the Book of Order do not go into affect until ratified by a majority of presbyteries.

Other items I will be watching closely are:

• several overtures dealing with ecumenical and interfaith relations;
• to study relationship with and promote human rights for Muslims,
• to receive ecumenical agreements with Episcopal Church and Moravian Church to be ratified by presbyteries,
• to affirm dialogue and/or common convictions between monotheistic religions.
• Evangelism Initiative: "Growing the Church Deep and Wide,"
  
• a new updated Social Creed for 21st Century following a former one adopted 100 years ago.
• Proposal to study the Belhar Confession for possible inclusion in Book of Confessions.
• And the Open Discussion on youth ministry.
• Proposals to strengthen commitment to equal legal protections for lesbians and gays, and to redefine marriage as "between two people."
• Calls to balance advocacy and resources for and against abortion.
• to reinstate the Environmental Justice office.
• resolution to conflict over allocation of designated funds,
  
• the election of a new Stated Clerk (Friday night).

Sleep will be short tonight for those preparing minorities reports. There is no business scheduled for Wednesday morning. We will be led in worship by the larger church community at an ecumenical worship service. The preacher will be Elias Chacour, the Archbishop of Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a Palestinian leader for peace and reconciliation.

The preacher at today's worship was a second generation Korean pastor of a New Church Development in Minneapolis. He gave testimony to his congregation's experience of building an intentional multicultural congregation that is post...everything, a congregation which has no majority race, and builds bridges across the gaps that divide most of us. He then went on to give a blistering look at racism in America and how deeply it is embedded in our history and culture, and then finally issued a call to repentance and healing. Whatever comes of the business of this Assembly, this prophetic message cut true to the bone for me. This and the Anti-Racism training prior to the Assembly changed me. This walk up slap in the face for justice has me feeling the need for

Grace and Peace,

John

PS. If the posting time seems a bit early in the morning, know that I am posting this in Pacific time.