Gradye's Preview

Before getting into all the good stuff about change, Gradye Parsons gave us his overview of what's coming up in the week ahead.

The Book of Order calls for a larger number of commissioners when the Assembly is held biennially; at the last Assembly that meant the average committee had 70-80 members! This year they have split up some of the Assembly business into several committees. All of the "social issues," for example, will be split over 3 committees to allow both more participation from commissioners and a more thorough look at the business before them. Even so, committees are still looking at having about 60 members on average.

There are about 120 overtures before the Assembly this year, which is in the range of normal. However, there are SIX candidates for Moderator, which is well above average! Be prepared to stay up late on Saturday night.

He also reports that there is a new design for the platform this year, which some have already compared to "American Idol!" The space has been opened up to communicate more of a connection between those on the platform and those on the floor. (Think about the change in the "Tonight" show between Johnny Carson sitting behind his desk and when Jay Leno began to move about and shake hands as he entered.)

New statistics have been released this week from GA about the size of our denomination as a whole. I haven't seen them yet, but they will probably be publicized during the Assembly. Gradye says that while we still lost about 60,000 members in the previous year, it is the smallest loss we have experienced in 10 years. He also noted Deborah Bruce's new study of the trends, which indicates that about 70% of Presbyterians are optimistic about the future of the church, and about the same number are open to making changes for the church's health. There is also a high appreciation for some of the things which are strengths for Presbyterians, like involvement in the local community.

Here are some particular items for us to watch together:

The Israel/Palestine Report - I've heard him say this before, and he continues to say that this will be the top story out of this year's GA. There are actually 3 pieces of business in this arena, spread out over 2 different committees: the report itself, another report about relationships between Christians, Jews and Muslims; and the recommendations coming from MRTI (Mission Responsibility Through Investment).

"Authoritative Interpretation" - "AIs," as they are otherwise known, are not binding in the same way as the Book of Order, but similar to a legal opinion they provided advice in applying the Book of Order in particular cases. You may remember that at the last GA, several "authoritative interpretations" regarding what the Book of Order has to say about ordination standards were stricken from use. This year there are a number of overtures which seek either to bring back the AIs which were removed, or to create a new one.

Peacemaking - while issues of peacemaking are perennially before the Assembly, they are taking on a new significance this year with the war in Afghanistan and ongoing issues with Iraq and Iran.

The General Assembly itself - several overtures are coming which would affect how General Assembly conducts its business. One is suggesting that GA meet only every six years! One is asking to remove the Assembly's ability to rule on issues of conflict in lower governing bodies. Some, Gradye says, are "an attempt to keep GA from doing embarrassing things." In two words: good luck! Stay tuned...

Reports of special committees - the committee which dealt with the question of Civil Unions will be making its report, which basically says that they were not able to come to any consensus.

Our Confessions - for those of you who, like me, love our Book of Confessions, this will be an interesting area to watch. The Assembly will consider whether to include the Apartheid-era Belhar Confession from South Africa in our Book. It is my belief that the strongest confessions are written in response to a time of turmoil in church or society, so this one would qualify. It would also, interestingly, be the first Confession in our Book written below the Equator. And since Christianity is experiencing explosive growth in the southern hemisphere, we would do well to be more in touch with what our "southern" brothers and sisters in Christ have to teach us.

A new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, already part of our Book of Confessions, is also on the table. Work began on this two years ago, and was motivated by those who found questionable the use of the word "homosexuality" in the text (questionable because that was not a word used in 16th-century German parlance). As it turns out, the Christian Reformed Church was already ahead of us and working on a new translation from the German because of many spots where the current translation has missed the mark. Gradye reports that the CRC has agreed to slow down their work a bit so that we may work cooperatively with them in producing a new translation together.

Postscript
Personally, back to the Middle East issues, I have been a little taken aback with the level of passion around the study paper. In the time that I have been in New Mexico, I have already met three times with Sam Sokolove, the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. He and other colleagues have done a wonderful job educating me on the issues, and Sam and I have already prepared a joint statement which we plan to share with the media immediately after I return from Minneapolis.

One evening I was talking with my husband Paul and I quipped, halfway sarcastically, "Honey! Someone still thinks that Presbyterians matter!" I found it refreshing that there are those like Sam who still put stock in what we have to say. It seems to me that as our numbers have shrunken nationally, as the church has begun to lose its once-quite-prominent place in society, as our nation has become more cynical overall, that people are not exactly hanging on every pronouncement that the PC(USA) has to make.

Gradye addressed that concern. He said that what we say as a denomination might not change the world, on this issue or any other, but that we are indeed (and still) considered to be a bellwether on social issues: as in, if the Presbyterians are willing to say this, maybe America is shifting. For example with the Middle East Study Committee, Presbyterians have deep and long-term ties to that region; our willingness to produce a study paper which comes down in a very different place is causing a stir.

My takeaway lesson from this: what we have to say does indeed matter, especially when we say it coming from an atmosphere of prayer and study. People are listening. It is not helpful if we have nothing to say. And so, with humility and a willingness to learn that we might be wrong, we need to share what we know about God and where we believe God is leading us.