Friday Morning, It is Finished

Actually, the 219th General Assembly will close in about 45 minutes with a worship service. I am glad for the opening and closing worship services. It frames the context in which we do business. We are not here just to conduct business, but to worship the Lord who has redeemed us and called us. Our business is part of our worship. I have been in session meetings in other churches where we only open a perfunctory prayer, and then dig right into the business at hand. I think this sets the wrong tone, and dishonors Jesus. What we do is because of who He is.

Last night was a long night. The plenary session ended around 10:30 p.m., and then my committee, Committee Three- General Assembly Procedures, had its final meeting. We met to approve the General Assembly per capita budget for 2011 and 2012. This morning, our recommendation was presented to the whole assembly for approval.

I found the whole process bizarre to say the least. Each overture in the General Assembly has a section called "Financial Implications". Every Task Force, every Study, every thing we do, it seems, costs money. And commissioners keep voting for overtures with financial implications, and the cash register tape keeps on going. There seems to be no thought whatsoever on this issue.

For example, last night, an overture was made for some study on women's issues. Part of the cost was going to be paid from money that was not used for a similar study in 2009. However, no one seemed to know whether the amount for 2010-2011 was in addition to that money, or whether the 2010-2011 budget was the whole thing, or what.

In addition, and I cannot find the documentation right now, an overture to define "youth" was passed that called for about $60,000 over three years. The emphasis was to make sure that across the board, ever board and committee and group in the PC(USA) used the term "youth" to refer to the same group of people. Interesting concept, I suppose, for a policy wonk. But $60K?

Sadly, we seem to be following the culture on this. We keep adding things to do, all good things, no doubt, and then we will figure out later how to pay for them. The financial guys I talked to here seem to be solid citizens, and good fellows. But they are clearly trying to do the best they can in the situation they have been given. There is no time given to prioritizing these items, developing a process to determine which of the dozens of new things should be given priority.

There was a committee/department called the PHEWA, Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Agency. In the downsizing in Louisville in the recent past, much of this department was gutted, and its functions absorbed into other departments. But last night, overture after overture was presented to restore this agency which had been cut. Instead of adapting to new realities, people just wanted one more opportunity at the trough.

There was an interesting proposal from the Mission Committee to fund some 1,000 Volunteers In Mission. There is a cost, to be sure. But these VIM's are expected to raise their own support, and the subsidies are minimal. Right on cue, a YAAD (Young Adult Advisory Delegate) rose to speak in favor of the funding. She said that she would love to volunteer for mission, but someone else had to pay her way.

Another woman bemoaned the fact that there was no Presbyterian Church near her college campus, and that the Presbyterian Center on her campus was shutting down due to lack of funding. She was bereft, and pleaded for more funding. The answer for many, it seems, is "more funding".

Another clear answer during the entire Assembly was the mantra of "diversity". I really like the diversity of people. Different genders, different cultures, different points of view, it all makes for a rich experience. And yet, especially when discussing the GLBTQ issues, time and again it was stated as dogmatic fact that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not growing because we are not being as inclusive as we should be. Code language, I suppose, for the idea that if only we ordained GLBTQ folks, the PC(USA) would explode with growth.

Well, it is an idea, to be sure. And yet, look at the denominations where the ordination has been happening, and look at how their denominations are "exploding" with growth.

One more take on the GLBTQ discussions. We heard repeated time and again that the Global South was the next wave of growth in the church, and that we needed to support our brothers and sisters in the Global South. This was true for debates about Iraq and Afghanistan. However, when it was pointed out again and again that our current discussions entertaining the idea of ordaining GLBTQ folks is viscerally disgusting and disappointing to our brothers and sisters in the Global South. Our pursuit of this agenda may be winning a friend or two in our decadent and narcissistic culture, but we are really offending our mission partners around the world. And yet, as always, since the days of colonialism, we listen to our "partners" as long as they toe the line on our agenda. For all the talk about sensitivity and inclusiveness, in my own opinion, this General Assembly failed to be consistent with its own stated values.

But politics is not life. There are some here this week who absolutely live for this. This political process is a drug for them. And having the GA meet every other year just makes it worse for them. It is like eating every other year. They are famished for the political machinations. For many of us, the experience is confusing, and overwhelming. We are given a week to digest huge amounts of information, and debate on things we have only recently heard about. It is tough enough to keep up with ones own committee work, much less all the other issues to any depth.

Still, I am grateful to have been a participant. it is a singular opportunity. I will probably never attend another GA as a commissioner. Too bad, really. In a perfect world, the number of delegates would decrease. We deliberated with 712 delegates, and almost 200 advisers. That's almost 1,000 people! Can't get much done in a group that size. In a perfect world, each presbytery would send one minister and one elder as commissioners, and also one minister and one elder as "trainees". That is, they would go as observers, and participate in the whole process, except voting. Nothing prepares one for GA like actually going. But after the experience, there is little one can do to follow up on that experience. I think this sort of thing would be most helpful.

It is the people who make GA what it is. Last night at dinner, I sat next to a guy whose name looked familiar. As we talked, we discovered that we had gone to the same high school together, though he was a year older. It was great to connect with him, and hear about his church near Olympia, Washington.

I got to know a young man named Mark who is a pastor in San Jose. He is a Japanese-American serving a largely white congregation, but doing it with enthusiasm and joy.

In committee, I sat next to Eric who had run for Moderator of the General Assembly. From Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he had really good insights into the processes during the week.

I talked with a woman named Sara who spent four years in the Navy, and just finished her first year at Princeton Seminary. She has a passion to use her more artistic side to communicate the gospel to others.

General Assembly was not like going to camp for a week. This was not about my spiritual growth, it was about work, about serving Christ, about wrestling with the how Jesus wants us to respond to contemporary problems and opportunities. And yet, the wise words of Bob Davies run through my head, "The GA exists to do business, not to solve problems." So I am grateful for the opportunity to take part, to voice what I think Jesus stands for in these crucial and not so crucial votes, to get to see the larger body gather to worship and pray and work, to get to meet colleagues from the past, and colleagues I will work with in the future.


There was much to like here. There was much to appreciate here. There was much to be frustrated by and disappointed in here. And yet, that is our lot on this side of the Jordan, isn't it? Even in a like-minded place like APC, we disagree, we sometimes treat one another in a less than Jesus-honoring manner, we can act studpidly, selfishly, desiring our own preferences above God's will. And yet, God loves us. We are God's people, and He is shaping us in this crucible of life and ministry and community to become his beautiful bride. A bride not out of some pristine bubble, but a bride who has taken her lumps, who has worked in the fields, who has been through hard times. A bride who is all the more beautiful because of her suffering and wounds, because that suffering makes her long all the more for the bridegroom.

So at the end of this experience, my desire is stronger than ever for the growth and health of the church. But more importantly, my heart yearns more and more for Jesus. "Come Lord Jesus, come!" Maranatha!

Thanks for your prayers this week, they helped. They sustained me. And thanks for allowing me to go on this madcap adventure called General Assembly. I hope I honored the Lord, and I hope I served you well, to the best of my ability. I look forward to seeing you all soon. Now, I gotta pack, and check out, and get to the airport, etc. California, here I come.