Demonstrators

In the middle of our afternoon session, people began marching toward the front of the assembly room carrying signs. As they made their way down the aisle, someone shouted, “order on the floor!” Suddenly, the Moderator announced we would sing a hymn; after singing, the demonstrators still remained at the front of the assembly. We immediately went into prayer for the church's unity. The prayer ended, but the demonstrators remained. After a time of awkward silence, the demonstrators began singing (I couldn't understand their words). When some of the observers began booing, the Moderator called the assembly into recess. As we moved around in recess, I noticed some of the General Assembly staff and the Moderator talking with the protesters. I also noticed that Fox news was present taping the demonstration. After the protestors left, we reconvened and finished our business before our dinner break.

After the dinner break, the Stated Clerk shared with us what had happened. It turns out the demonstrators were not a Presbyterian group, but an outside group that was demonstrating at our assembly (I heard unofficially from another person that this group goes to national meetings of churches, alerts the news media, and then protests at them as well). Although they did not have the proper credentials (there is someone checking credentials at each entry point), they somehow gained entry into our meeting area. Apparently, there is a standard procedure to move into recess if a demonstration occurs (demonstrations on the floor are not allowed by our standing rules). The Moderator had added the singing of the hymn and prayer (perhaps to give the protestors time to leave on their own), but they remained into our recess. Ultimately, they were advised that they could leave on their own or be arrested for trespassing. Some chose to leave on their own; others were escorted by police (peaceably) and were ticketed for trespassing.

I suspect we will be on Fox news somewhere; I suspect that there will little attention given to the peaceful response we had in song and prayer or the fact that the protestors were strangers in our midst; but I bet the media will report (accurately) that it happened at the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly!

Peace,

Richard

Living waters

I finally emptied the water I brought from Troy into the General Assembly's collection of water that is being used each meeting as a reminder of our theme, “Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living waters.” As some of you may recall, I solicited your thoughts on what water to bring. I ended up going down to the Miami River on Thursday night prior to my leaving. It was a bit muddy, so Rachel and I slipped our way down the riverbank. Thank goodness for the two men fishing who helped me back up from the river (the Crocs I wore were not the best choice).
Admittedly, I was in rush since I had waited until the eve of my departure before getting the water.

As I scrambled to figure out how to carry the water in my carry-on bag (I had sent my big bag with our Executive Presbyter had driven up earlier in the week), I stumbled upon the little plastic container that I had used for communion juice earlier that week. When I filled the container with river water, it took on a pink tinge as remnants of the juice that remained in the container blended with the river water. At first, I wondered why I hadn't cleaned the container better; but, upon reflection I realized that this was the perfect sacramental blend – juice from communion and water symbolizing baptism.

All week the container with the water sat on a table in my hotel room. At first, its presence was a reminder that I had forgotten to turn it in at registration. Then, I began to reflect on how our sacraments are at the heart of how we understand ourselves as God's children – claimed by God in the waters of baptism and given the gift of Christ's death and resurrection by God, both of which we discover by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Friday, as the assembly neared its end, they announced a final chance to bring our water forward to be poured into the water being used by the assembly. Even as I was grateful for the chance to do what I had neglected to do previously, I felt a little possessive about giving up the water that had become a symbol for me in my hotel room and during my time at General Assembly. Nevertheless, I rushed to my hotel room over the dinner break, brought the water back, invited one of the other commissioners from our presbytery to go with me, and we went forward to pour the water into the larger pitcher. There the water from the Miami River co-mingled with water from other places around our country. It has already been used (or will be tomorrow) and now I have an empty container to bring home with me.

Peace,

Richard

Generosity?

We heard about our generous offering from the opening worship service that amounted to $33,000. Those funds will be split between three different groups that represent international, national and local ministries of the Presbyterian Church. The three areas are: an alliance that deals with international human trafficking; two new ventures of the Office of Collegiate Ministries; and Presbyterian Clearwater Forest camp, an outdoor ministry site of the host presbyteries (The Twin Cities Area, Northern Waters, Minnesota Valleys) along with the Presbytery of Northern Plains adn the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. As we congratulated ourselves for the generous giving, I began to think about how generous we really were. If 6000 Presbyterians gathered for worship, we only gave $5 per Presbyterian gathered there. Surely we could (should) have done better. That always seems to be a challenge – how do we give thanks for giving while still having challenging ourselves to give more. I actually gave approximately $17 to the offering, which made me way above average in my giving. Sounds great, doesn't it? But, when I stop and ask myself how much should I have given in the context of an incredible worship service and for the wonderful purposes for which it will be used, I find myself embarrassed at my lack of generosity.

Peace,

Richard

Headlines

I saw a headline from Friday's “Dayton Daily News” that inaccurately depicted an action taken by the General Assembly. As I have come to learn through the years, the media does not understand the Presbyterian process enough to know what we have done, and they tend to gravitate to the sensational, regardless of the facts. In our August newsletter we should receive “Assembly in Brief,” which is a summary of actions taken by the General Assembly. After you read that (or before), feel free to ask me any questions you want about the General Assembly. I will also plan on some type of presentation in worship or some other appropriate setting. Since I have been here, I won't have to guess what happened, I can tell you firsthand. This General Assembly has made several major decisions that I believe will impact the Presbyterian Church far more than the decision highlighted in the newspaper article, so I hope we all will have a chance to discuss many of the decisions made by this General Assembly.

Peace,

Richard

Change is in the air

Yesterday was an amazing day. Regardless of how other Presbyterians may feel about how the motions reflect their hopes and dreams for the denomination, I think any observer would acknowledge that the actions so far by the Assembly have been amazing in their breadth and their far-ranging implications for change in our denomination. So far, we have recommended The Belhar Confession to be sent to the presbyteries for their approval so it can be added to our Book of Confessions. We have recommended sending to our presbyteries a totally new Form of Government document that would replace our current Form of Government section of the Book of Order. Each one alone is a major change (for example, we only have eleven confessions to cover the last 21 centuries!), not to mention both these major changes to our Constitution coming at the same time. Additionally, new language is being sent to the presbyteries for their approval related to the ordination standards. For some, the new language is a way of lfiting up ordiantion standards without focusing on the question of oen's sexuality; for others, the new language is a major weakening of ordination standards; for all, it will be a challenging time of discussion and decision in their presbyteries. If that's not enough, we have also empowered a committee to work with any prebyteries or synods that want to make systemic changes, even to the point of ceasing to exist, in an effort to become more efficient and effective in doing ministry in our changing world. In a sweeping judgment, most of the changes suggested by this General Assembly so far have been about trying to reduce or redesign structures to allow ministries to be more nimble and responsive with an emphasis on allowing the governing body nearest the point of engagement to have more responsibility and oversight power.

Peace,

Richard

Worship

Worship Sunday had some amazing moments. The music was terrific. From a huge chorale choir singing traditional music to a contemporary band to a band with traditional Native American instruments to the hymns we sang together, I found the music inspiring.

We also witnessed a baptism for the first time at a worship service of the General Assembly. Many members of the congregation (located in Minneapolis) where the infant will grow in faith gathered around the baptismal font to answer questions for their community. The baptism was a tremendous reminder of God's covenant that reaches out to us and the future that awaits us as a church united by our baptism in Christ.

The outgoing moderator of the General Assembly (Bruce Reyes-Chow) preached the sermon. I had not heard him before, so it was good to hear his stories.

Perhaps the most powerful moment came when I turned around (I was somewhere near the front) and saw the mass of people gathered in worship. I'm not sure if we numbered 8,000 as anticipated, but is was awesome to realize we were all united in Christ as we worshiped together.

As I sat in the pew, to my left were a husband and wife (ministers who served in the presbytery where I did my internship) who I had met 20 years earlier when they extended themselves to Leslie and me in our first year of marriage while I served in the bounds of their presbytery. To my right was a new friend whom I met that morning when we arrived for worship. He was from the presbytery where I served in KY, so we had several friends in common. When we sang the song after the baptism that spoke of God's love that follows us through our lives and then again when we shared communion, he had tears in his eyes ans was overcome with emotion. I do not know his story or why those moments touched him in such a powerful way, but I was moved to know that I shared the moment with him.

Peace,

Richard