GA Day 5 - O Canada! And a Final Decision on Belhar

With the only free morning of the entire week, my room mate, Nancy Wilson, and I decided to leave the country. Fortunately, from Detroit that involved a 30 minute ride on a $4.50 bus ride. We walked around Windsor, Canada for a few hours.

Now in all honesty, Windsor is not all that different from other American cities. But it was nice to see Detroit from across the river...

as opposed to seeing Windsor, Canada from across the river.

It was a breath of fresh air to get away from the United States and walk around the great town of Windsor, have lunch on the river, and get a couple of Canadian souvenirs for the kids.

Then it was time to get down to work...well kind of. There were many presentations and non-business items that took up our time.  My favorite was this video called the Spirit of GA: part 5.  http://vimeo.com/98572797   It was a way to laugh at ourselves about what we find humorous about the General Assembly. There are other Spirit of GAs that are also very interesting.

But seriously, the most important item of business was whether or not to approve the Belhar Confession and send it on to the presbyteries for a 2/3 vote to include it into our Book of Confessions. I was so passionate about this topic that I was one of three people who spoke in favor before we voted on it. While a small contribution to the discussion, I was happy to be a positive part of the next step in including this in our Book of Confessions.  It passed 86%-14%. For all you Presbyterians, it will go before your presbytery next year. Please be an advocate for it.  It's a wonderful confession and prophetic word we need for our country today.

Finally, if you want a more official reporting of what goes on at GA, please see the Presbyterian Outlook page which writes several articles a day on the latest news.  You can find them at http://pres-outlook.org.

Tomorrow we talk about marriage equality issues: whether or not redefine marriage and to allow pastors to do same gender weddings where it is legal. Stay tuned!  More to come!!

The Presbyterian Family Reunion

General Assembly. Some people love it. Others run away from it like the plague. I happen to be someone who loves General Assemblies having attended five of them (although my last one was ten years ago). The pulse of the denomination runs through each assembly. Every other year thousands of Presbyterians gather to worship, pray, make connections, discuss, argue, and make decisions together. There's an energy like no other. And I feel the Holy Spirit at work in my denomination.

This year I will have a different perspective on General Assembly since it is my first year as a commissioner. As a commissioner I am assigned a committee: Theological Issues and Institutions. I work with all the business that relates to our Presbyterian Seminaries as well as the Book of Confessions and the Directory of Worship. Some of the items are a bit mundane (although still important) such as approving seminaries to serve communion, approving the new president at Princeton Theological Seminary, and approving the trustees of our theological institutions. Other items are much more controversial such as a proposal to revise the Directory for Worship and adding the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions, something which hasn't been done since the 1980's. I look forward to discerning God's will on these issues and adding my voice to the discussion.

Of course, there are hot button issues: whether or not to redefine marriage as between two people instead of a man and a woman, allowing Presbyterian clergy to perform same sex marriages in states where it is legal, and whether or not to divest our investments from American companies that are making a profit from the violence in Israel and Palestine. These will be discussed on the floor of our plenary sessions after the appropriate committee brings its recommendation to the body.

The General Assembly is the Presbyterian family reunion. Like all family reunions, there will be parts of the family that don't see eye to eye and get into heated arguments. There will be parts of the family that try to bring peace and compromise. There will be parts of the family that bring humor and laughter. There will be parts of the family that remind us God is in charge, not us. Maybe that's why I love General Assemblies. It reminds me that I am part of a family and while we are not perfect, or always in agreement, or even make the "right" decisions, we are family nevertheless.

I look forward to blogging everyday from the General Assembly starting June 13 to share my perspective on each day's events. I know our Transitional General Presbyter Rev. Betty Meadows will be as well. I'm sure many other people will be sharing their insights. If you want to keep up with all that's going on, you will want to visit www.pc-biz.org.

For now I ask for your prayers as thousands of Presbyterians descend upon Detroit for one week to discern God's will for the future of our denomination and the various issues we face. We need a Pentecost moment. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us and bring us together. We need God's presence to be palpable as we gather. Please join me in prayer. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer...