I intend to blog my reflections
while attending the 221st General Assembly in Detroit. Thus far I’ve had a love/hate relationship
with technology. I can post to my
Facebook timeline via my Iphone and Ipad more easily than logging into my blog
account via my laptop. I haven’t figured
out how to blog from my Ipad. So look…
for my facebook posts for photos and brief comments. I will try to post my blog at the close of
each day. After a flurry of activities the first two
days, I write now as I sit observing committee meeting. I will try to catch up in this post.
Friday, Eileen and I
arrived with materials for the APCE (Association of Presbyterian Church
Educators) Booth in the Exhibition Hall.
Just down the aisle I met Sara Dorrien and Will Christians who had just
completed setting up the booth for the GA Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. They greeted me with broad
smiles and shared the news, “We got engaged to be married last night!” Congratulations Sara and Will! I then made a first walk through the
Exhibits. Three quick observations:
·
The PC(USA) has apps. The
OGA (Office of the General Assembly) has a “Guidebook”
app for this 221st GA which provides the schedule for the GA
meetings and events, which I/you can then personalize. It gives the times, place, and maps for the
activities I selected. Slick! Another app is for prayer and Bible study for
this Assembly. The D365
app for daily devotions is show cased at the Young Adult Ministry booth in the
Exhibition Hall (See the next bullet point).
One recommendation being considered at this GA will be funding for the
development of an app for nurturing and supporting mission practice of disciples.
·
The PMA (Presbyterian Mission Agency) staff persons
are younger. A young twenty something PMA (Presbyterian
Mission Agency) staff person helped my download a Daily Prayer app which has
the daily liturgy and scriptures in the Book of Common Worship, Daily Prayers,
onto my Iphone. “How cool!” The YAV (Young Adult Volunteer) program hosted
a reception Sunday night celebrating its 20th anniversary. The room rocked, and buzzed with energy. T.J. Piccalo, a veteran of our Camp Greenwood
Staff was there fresh back from a year in Northern Ireland.
·
Our Church has Resources. The Exhibit hall is filled with booths to connect with the resources of the
denomination and networks associated with the church. One I noted is Research Services. They provide guidance and support for congregations
and presbyteries doing strategic planning, help for engaging groups in
discernment, and Mission Insight, U.S. Census demographic data, available for
every congregation to help leaders understand the demographics of their nearby
community. One reason to come to these
assemblies is to be introduced to the new resources to support us in ministry.
Saturday, the 221st
General Assembly opened with worship.
Three bus loads of Presbyterians from Lake Michigan Presbytery arrived
in the nick of time for this opening worship service. This was a new experience for me as I tried
to touch base with as many of these visitors as possible and guide our folks to
the worship area and point to restrooms.
Holt/First brought a large group of young people. Others are volunteering. What a joy to see so many of our members
having a taste of the GA experience!
After lunch, the Assembly began
with orientation for commissioners and receiving greetings from the host
presbytery and COLA, Committee on Local Arrangements.
A Personnel Connection:
I found myself sharing with all who
would listen, that the labyrinth in
the Exhibit Hall was designed by my nephew, Jason Best. He is a landscape architect. He designed the labyrinth incorporating the
Presbyterian Seal in it as a gift for my brother the Rev. Charles Best on the
occasion of his 35th anniversary of his ordination in 2007. His church, the Monaghan Presbyterian Church,
in Dillsburg, PA, had just moved out of their historic building into a new
church building on 15 acres. The
labyrinth was installed in the landscaping on the church property in honor of his
father’s, and my brother’s 30+ years of service there. Jason is now the co-moderator of the Trinity
Youth Conference, once a Synod sponsored conference. The proceeds of the canvas labyrinth on sale
support this beloved conference known as TYC.
Although Jason is not mentioned at the display, here writes a proud
uncle!
Opening Worship: It is
always inspiring to worship with a large gathering. And so it was. We worshiped in the plenary space, so we were
really spread out. Singing and liturgy
readings were awkward as we were so spread out.
The young contingent from Holt sat in front of me. What an experience for them! I was honored to be a communion server for
this service. Memorable! Holy Communion will be celebrated at every
worship service. This is a new practice promoted
by my colleagues in the Association of Middle Council Leaders to instill more spiritual
practice at the Assembly. COLA is
scrambling to recruit enough communion servers!
Opportunities to volunteer still are open, I think.
Presbyterian Outlook Luncheon: This luncheon attracts the "who's who" list of
the denomination, including most past moderators. I sat
with Bill and Pat Fuerstanau.
Two Opening Plenary Highlights: Assembly planners highlighted the racial tension
in Detroit and our country playing excerpts of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s speech at the March on Detroit, June 1963. We discussed in small groups how King’s speech
was mirrored in our personal experience of racism. The
COLA report and orientation to commissioners played a U-Tube of the 6
presidents of the 6 Presbyterian Corporations (OGA, PMA, PILP, BOP, PF, PPC) singing
a new version of a “Les Mis” in which
they lip synced with voice overs by
professional Broadway singers, of their G.A. anxieties, to thunderous applause. This is not your parent’s PC(USA)! These leaders have a sense of humor! Check it out on U-Tube.
Wrestling with technology: There are blessings and curses with
our love/hate relationship with technology! We love the advantages. We hate the learning curve! The OGA (Office of the General Assembly)
stretched itself again this year. See
above concerning the “Guidebook,” a welcomed and helpful new innovation. A new online voting process was introduced on
Saturday only to fail when tested. The
internet support was not sufficient to support it. Curses!
The OGA modeled how to test out a new system and are to be commended for
taking a risk, and for not being rattled when it did not at first work. They moved to a backup electronic voting system,
which they began using in Birmingham in 2006, and which has served us
well. It did not prove reliable either
on Saturday. Curses again! So for the election of the moderator on Saturday
night, they voted by paper ballot. So it goes.
Election of the Moderator of the 221st G.A.: Normally,
this provides Assembly watchers an early gauge of an assembly. This year all three candidates nominated
supported a change in the church’s stance on same sex marriage. All of them expressed a respect for those who
may disagree, and promised to be a bridge-builder. There was little difference in them. They were all articulate, and accomplished
leaders. There seemed little difference
in their responses. The election
provided no gauge of this Assembly except, in my opinion, the absence of a
conservative option among the candidates.
Heath Rada was elected by a large margin on the first ballot. Another personnel note: Heath was the president of P.S.C.E.
(Presbyterian School of Christian Education) in Richmond, when my wife, Eileen
attended there. Also, I learned that
Heath was the best man at Dave and Pat Milbourn’s wedding. Heath
has much experience in leadership and mediation in the church and as executive
director of the American Red Cross.
Sunday Worship: The Assembly worshiped at many congregations
throughout Detroit Presbytery. Eileen
and I worshiped with the Calvary Presbyterian Church in northwest Detroit. We were given a tour sponsored by the GA Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.
The author of a study paper with recommendations “the Gospel from
Detroit” led our tour of the old Packard Plant, closed in 1958. The white flight from the city and economic decline
began immediately after World War 2. The
Packard plant is symbolic of this. The post war public policies including the GI Loans and FHA, red lined black communities llimiting loans. No investments were made in Black
neighborhoods. Lost economic base, lost
employment, lost institutions, lost churches , and decay we witnessed are the
result. After worship we visited the wall, built by the white community in the 40's in the suburbs to keep the black community out. Detroit is the canary in the mine
of what can happen in urban centers elsewhere.
“The Gospel from Detroit” is a major report/paper before this Assembly
in Committee 8 (Mission Coordination). Look for it in the documents on “PC-Biz” for committee
8. We have had no Urban Ministry
initiatives for decades. This study
calls to change that, and to invest in urban ministry, and to reclaim the city
for Christ. The Calvary Presbyterian
Church, and Rev. Kevin Johnson, who is a member of the GA Advisory Committee on Social
Witness Policy, and co-author, is a leader in Detroit Presbytery leading the
way for reclaiming the city for Christ.
Sunday Plenary: Greetings were brought from Ecumenical
Delegates. And by a 92 year old African
American Presbyterian who shared his reflections. Sorry I missed his name. He brought the Assembly to its feet with a thunderous
sustained applause with his comment that as a minority in the church, “there have been many things which have annoyed
me and made me feel unwelcome in the church, but I never left the table.”
Sunday Evening the Commissioners
met in 15 committees in closed
session to get organized, for group building and worship. Observers like me attended receptions for everything under the sun: I got to four: to greet the moderator, 1001
New Worshiping Congregations, Fossil Free P.C.(U.S.A.) a new group bringing an
overture to the Assembly, and Young Adult Volunteers celebrating the 20th
anniversary of this program. The YAV
reception rocked!
Note, I was too
tired Saturday and Sunday to write up this blog… G.A. is a marathon of a lot of
walking, events, conversations….
Monday:
OGA Breakfast: Two young adults led worship, powerful and to
the point, followed by the speaker Lillian Daniel, senior minister at
First Congregational Church, Glen Ellyn, Illinois and author of “When Spiritual
But Not Religious Is Not Enough.” She
is young, smart, funny, and right on in her critique of the church and the "Nones". I have not read her book, but based on her speech,
it is an essential read for ministry today.
Committee Hearings: Similar to Congressional hearings, people can
sign up to speak to overtures. They get
90 seconds to speak. The Committees hear
one after another, alternating pro then con, without question or comment. Committee #10 Civil Unions and Marriage,
which I observed, heard thirty persons speak, followed by small group
discussion and prayer. Then after a
break, the committee heard overture advocates speak in support of the overture
they wrote. I am serving as a “Presence Keeper” for the
Association of Middle Council Leaders.
Presence Keepers observe and intentionally pray for the committee as
they work. I am assigned Committee #10.
Covenant Network Luncheon was well attended. Mark
Achtemeier, former professor at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary,
spoke powerfully on the biblical, theological, and pastoral importance and
gospel mandate to change the church’s position on same sex marriage, and how he
as a conservative, evangelical scholar came to change his mind. Personal Note:
Mark is a seminary classmate of mine.
I have taken the afternoon away
from the committee deliberations to put these thoughts down to share with those
who read them.
Please note that you can
comment on this blog. Please use this
and others to engage in conversation….
I’ll be attending a Tiger’s
Baseball game tonight. This outing is
sponsored by the Special Offerings committee--a fundraiser! No blog tonight. Next blog will be on Tuesday night, when most
committees will have finished their work.
Until then….
The Deep Peace of Christ be
with you.
John
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