GA Summary - Day Five

After a "free" morning (which I spent at the "face-to-face" room speaking to persons interested in positions in our presbytery), the General Assembly met in plenary session for its first day of final action on committee recommendations. There were two somewhat controversial items of business that dominated the time. The first was an overture from Grace Presbytery (Dallas area) "to direct the General Assembly Council to produce adolescent human development resources based upon Scripture and the Reformed theological tradition. These resources would explore all facets of adolescent development including human sexuality." The last time such a resource was developed, it was the spark of a firestorm that resulted in the General Assembly rescinding its approval of the curriculum (but still letting it be sold) and a replacement being authorized, but not developed until the first was sold out. Go figure. This time will be different however (hold up "sarcasm" sign now) because the assembly adopted the following comment:

We choose to plant the seed of peace. We set aside our individual desires to “win” and to further our own agendas and put our faith in God, and send this overture on without trying to advocate one position or another, trusting not only God, but our fellow Presbyterians to do what is right not only for our children but for our denomination. We send this overture on in the hope that the next step of the process will cultivate the seed we have planted, faithfully stepping out in mutual trust.

The second was a resolution from the Ecumenical and International Issues committee titled "On Calling for Tolerance and Peaceful Relations Between the Christian and Muslim Communities." The resolution sought to commend and encourage dialogue and conversation between and among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The hangup was in a prefatory declaration that "we worship a common God" and "acknowledge Abraham as an expression of our common commitment to one God." After 90 minutes of motions, amendments, and votes, the Assembly finally came up with the following language for the disputed section: "2. State that though we hold differing understandings of how God has been revealed to humankind, the PC(USA) affirms that, as children of this loving God, we share the commandments of love for God and neighbor, [and] the requirement to care for the poor." However, even this innocuous assertion is contradicted by a footnote which seems to confuse a Christian and Jewish commandment to love God and neighbor, with a Muslim promise that God could, if God chose, provide us with the power to love our enemy. These are not nearly the same.

Other business was conducted, some of which was passed even without discussion. An authoritative interpretation was adopted regarding whether Presbyteries may dismiss churches to "transitional presbyteries." Outgoing Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick was honored for his ecumenical leadership by Dr. Michael Kinnamon, president of the National Council of Churches of Christ, and by the Assembly. The last item of business was to approve Dr. Brian K. Blount as the first African-American president of Union Theological Seminary/ Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. 145 years after the abolition of slavery in the South, one of the church's "anti-abolition" seminaries has finally shattered its last racial "glass ceiling." Who says Presbyterians aren't socially progressive? (display sarcasm sign)

The business for the day concluded after 10 p.m. The Assembly will need to discipline themselves better or we may be here until July.

Breaking news: There is controversy afoot regarding alleged abuses of General Assembly standing rules in Committee 5 (Church Orders and Ministry), which considered the overtures seeking to overturn the "fidelity and chastity" clause and the GA Permanent Judicial Commission decision enforcing it. Based on a protest filed by three overture advocates, it is alleged that Standing Rules were waived or disregarded by the committee chairperson so as to prejudice the information the commissioners were able to receive. If this is true, and is upheld, the only remedy I can imagine would be to refer the disputed overtures to the 219th General Assembly in 2010. If the allegations are true, and no remedy is offered, it taints the integrity of the Assembly and of the rule of law in the church. The committee makes its report Friday morning.