GA BLOG: Wrap Up & Pack Up
(This post will go up soon on The Outlook website, but I’m traveling so can’t link there immediately. Feel free to read and comment here, but also check out all the awesome General Assembly coverage over at The Presbyterian Outlook.)
And Friday night, at the General Assembly, the commissioners were tired, the energy level was low, and the most controversial items had already been considered. So, first a few funny recollections from the week:
- The Stated Clerk, Gradye Parson, has a suave-looking John Calvin bobble-head on his desk. I covet.
- Moderator Cynthia Bolbach’s fun sense of humor kept the assembly in good spirits throughout the week. Perhaps her best crack cams during the moderator election when she, and elder said, “Ministers going on tangents…who knew?”
- The chairs in the assembly hall, when scooted back or forth, sound like vuvuzelas. It’s hilarious.
More seriously, my read of the assembly is that it was a perfectly fine one, one that wrestled with tough issues conscientiously and sought the Spirit in its work. Many hugely important changes are proposed to the PC(USA) constitution, including the addition of the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions.
But, as I prepare to go back home, I’m also struck with a questioning sense about whether this formal, costly, somewhat unwieldy church structure is the most faithful way of conducting business at a national level. At 27, I’m too young to be a hardened cynic, but many times this week I thought, after a beautiful policy statement or theological document passed the assembly, “How much did we spend per word to make that document? And, how many Presbyterians – let alone others – will ever read it?” When I closed my eyes and listened to debate on the plenary floor, I wondered how much —really, how little— the basic way we govern ourselves has changed in fifty years. … Continue Reading
GA BLOG: A Fair Hearing?
(The Outlook website has this post up too, though comments here aren’t moderated as they are there so they pop up more quickly. I’ll keep this post up too.)
An Explanation of the Procedural Questions on the Definition of Marriage at General Assembly
Way too early, Friday Morning at GA in Minneapolis….
I’m seeing lots of questions and concerns on Twitter about what happened last night at General Assembly. Folks might be confused some complex parliamentary procedure things went down, and it’s especially difficult to follow new motions when watching the live feed of GA online.
A quite accurate 140-character summary that caught on last night reads:
PCUSA marriage debate wrap-up: We don’t really feel like hashing this out right now, so meet back here in two years? YES.
In fact, I think that quick summary is a valid analysis, but for a few more than 140 characters, read on. I’m too exhausted to write in paragraphs, so I’ll just interrogate myself: … Continue Reading
Blogging the PC(USA) General Assembly for The Presbyterian OUTLOOK
Here’s a list of my PC(USA) General Assembly blog posts for The Presbyterian Outlook.
- – Wrap Up & Pack Up
- – A Fair Hearing? an explanation of the procedural questions on the definition of marriage at General Assembly.
- – The Questions Coming Sunday Morning
- – Contemplate This, a hodgepodge of opinion/analysis of Wednesday’s meeting.
- – Social Media at General Assembly
- – Committee Size Matters
- – Lunch with the Vice Mod
- – Reading the Tea Leaves of the Moderator Election
- – The Family Reunion: For Good or for Ill
Paltry Posts and PC(USA) General Assembly Possibilities
The posts have been paltry recently, but next week everything will change. I’ll be attending the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly meeting in Minneapolis and blogging for The Presbyterian Outlook.
I’ll put links to my work here. I also have a few other writing pieces that may come out next week to which I’ll link as well. So, apologies for the past week, but good things come to those who wait. Also, for you non PC(USA) people, sorry for a week of very Presbyterian posts. I’ll make it up to you at some point.
But if you are connected to or interested in the PC(USA) General Assembly: What would you like to see covered by the Presbyterian Outlook blogger? What should I consider, discuss, debate, relate, rehash or refry?
Update: see my first (and pre-GA) post at the Outlook website here.
Teaching an Old Denomination New Tricks
Yesterday, for the first time, I participated in a Webinar. Being who I am, it was a Webinar hosted by The Presbyterian Outlook on issues before our next Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly. (Full disclosure: I’ll be blogging the assembly for the Outlook.) I found the Webinar very helpful, partly because it presented two differing perspectives but also because it helped me to begin to think again in terms of General Assembly debate and policy.
Here’s how it went down: Jack Haberer, editor of The Presbyterian Outlook, introduced the two speakers. Ron Shive spoke on favor of the Israel Palestine report coming before the assembly, and John Wimberly spoke against. Each speaker than gave his position on the issue, using powerpoint that flowed smoothly on my screen. There was no video of the speakers, but you could see their presentations clearly using the Webinar format. During the presentations, Jack received questions from the audience via instant messaging. After the presentations Jack asked some of the questions from the audience.
The format, though it did feel more removed than an actual in-person meeting, was more than sufficient. Part of me wishes there were a way to live chat more easily (I ended up doing some of that via Twitter), but I also fear that would be too snarky and angry quite quickly.
The Outlook is hosting a webinar every Tuesday in June. For more information, go to their website. If you’re a commissioner to the assembly, you can participate for free! The cost, for others, isn’t bad at all. Future topics include:
And, for all your GA info needs, check out the main website, as well as a spiffy unoffical GA Help site run by Robert Austell.
the Church is ALIVE — Charity:Water
You should check out The Church is Alive and their Lenten Charity:Water project. The Church is Alive is a blog/website/idea/group of presbyterian-type bloggers and videographers who explore the ways the church is alive today. Contrary to calls that the church is dying or already dead, the group runs a spiffy website and facebook page and the like, to showcase the more optimistic side of things — and, hopefully, the more true side of things. I guess, speaking theologically, if the church is the body of Christ it will never die. Well, these good folk keep the vision alive either way.
I’m giving them a bit of good PR now though, especially now because of their Lenten Charity: Water project. I’ll let their words fill you in below, but it seems like a good deal for sure. Additionally, I like to reward the ingenuity and tech-savvy to get an online project like this off the ground. Please help them towards their goal of raising $5,000 this Lent for Charity: Water. I did, and you should too.
From the Charity: Water announcement post of The Church is Alive:
In the days and weeks after the earthquake that hit Haiti, the churchisalive team – like so many others around the world – watched the images that flooded our television screens, computers, and magazines. Feelings of hurt,sadness, and helplessness filled us as we were reminded of the great need in our world each day of the week, let alone when a natural disaster strikes. As a team we donated and prayed, and continue to do so, but we felt that we should be doing more. This led us to conversations about partnering in mission with an organization, in order to raise awareness, to live into the call to help our sisters and brothers in Christ – to break out of our shells of apathy and take action.
We chose to launch a “water campaign” at the beginning of lent, because instead of giving something up, we wanted to add something to our lives and our world. There is something so somber and real about the Ash Wednesday services that we attended today. Something very poetic, very soul filled, to be reminded that our lives will too come to an end, and to dust we too will return. We believe that the charity:water initiative – the organization we have chosen to work with – reminds us of this message. After celebrating Fat Tuesday, in which we gorge ourselves on pancakes and whatever else we will soon be giving up during the season of lent, we gather on Ash Wednesday to begin the Lenten season as a community of faith that marches together into the reflection, confession and prayer of this season. As we walk away from the music and celebration that is Fat Tuesday, we walk into the silence and quiet of lent.
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