- The Church Orders and Ministry committee sent to the whole assembly a recommendation to approve 05-12, the overture from John Knox Presbytery that would adopt a new authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108 that would undo the work of the last assembly and the Bush decision of the GAPJC. This would permit presbyteries to approve the examination of candidates who seek a scruple from the obligation to conform to G-6.0106b ("fidelity and chastity"). The committee appeared to be considerably more pro-ordination than the assembly as a whole, so it remains to be seen what will come out of committee.
- The Mission Coordination and Budgets committee recommended approval of a compromise motion resolving (for now) the feud between the General Assembly Council and the Presbyterian Foundation. Under this compromise, an impasse between the two regarding donor intent and the application of obsolete funds would immediately be resolved by the civil courts.
- The (new) Form of Government is likely to be with us for a while longer. Reportedly, the committee did not even open the nicely bound volume containing the text of the amendment before they voted to recommend the Assembly refer the proposal for consideration by the 219th General Assembly in 2010. The referral motion, which is not yet posted, reportedly calls for the formation of a new committee to develop a study process and materials, and present the overture before the next assembly.
- The Polity Committee (where I have spent most of my time) voted to disapprove a motion from the Presbytery of Baltimore that would redefine marriage in the Directory for Worship to include same-sex relationships. They did, however, vote for a Denver Presbytery overture endorsing equal family rights for gay couples.
Some of my favorite committee moments:
- An amendment that might require vows of membership somehow managed through the committee process to refer to "affirming faith in Jesus Christ to the session as Lord and Savior." Now that's a powerful session!
- Running across the street to the special committee on Youth Issues, for an emergency consultation, to tell them why a motion to give Youth Advisory Delegates the status of commissioner (with voice and vote) would effectively require rewriting the foundations of our polity, namely that we are governed by presbyters - elders and ministers.
- Defending advice that "sympathy" and "empathy" are sufficiently similar so as to promote confusion, and having YADs in the committee read definitions off their computer dictionaries that proved my point.
- Seeing a compromise motion I helped mediate pass the committee unanimously. It was an affirmation of what can happen when we listen to each other.
Unfortunately I had to miss a concert tonight by David Bailey, a Christian singer-songwriter I have come to appreciate. But the Witherspoon dance will still be going strong when I get done in committee. It is the only semi-official "party" at the Assembly, where people of all theological stripes "get down" together. Tomorrow morning is "reading time" to consider committee reports, or to sleep off the after-effects of the Witherspoon dance. Time to boogie!
