My blog page has a little different look today because earlier today I accidentally deleted the whole thing in the process of trying to edit a post. But I am still here (or back again, I am not sure which) blogging away at the 219th General Assembly of the PCUSA.In this picture, please meet the vice-moderator of the 219th General Assembly, Rev. Landon Whitsitt from Heartland Presbytery. He was actually elected along with the moderator but was not installed till yesterday and since then has been sharing the moderator duties with humor, skill and grace. Welcome. Landon!
Well, the news of today that was picked up on NPR, was the assembly's 53% t0 46% decision to send to the presbyteries an overture to delete G-6.0106b - the "fidelity in marriage" and "chastity in singlenesss" clause. As you can imagine, this decision was taken after much discussion and prayer. It will now go to the presbyteries. In de Cristo, we will take this matter up with prayer and conversation and, I am sure, utmost respect for one another and the working of the Holy Spirit. In a previous post, I posted some pictures (trying to post more than one along with text is what led to the deletion of the whole blog so I am not going to try it again right now). One of those pictures is of the assembly immediately following the vote, holding hands and singing, with full voice and heart, "Blest Be the Tie That Binds."
In other news, the Assembly voted to approve the commissioner's overture 11-11 which denounces SB1070 and calls for a boycottt of Arizona until the bill is revised. (Please see pcusa.org/ga219 for the complete wording of this resolution because I do not have space here to do it justice.) Rev. Jon Ashley, a member of the committee that considered this overture, offered a substitute motion which would have focused on accompaniment and education rather than boycott and condemnation. This allowed for much conversation, illustrative of the diversity of opinion on the matter. To my mind, both reports shared a common goal and differed only on the way to get to that goal. But the goal - to acheive a just, compasionate and biblical resolution of immigration issues - was the same. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Finally, the Assembly took up the matter of marriage and civil unions. (12-12 if you're following this on pcusa.org/ga219 and, again, it's too long to include the full report here). The Assembly voted to send a study on Marriage and Civil Unions to the presbyteries for study. Interestingly, this committee also offered a minority report and the assembly voted to include the minority report in the majority report and commends both for study. This prompted a comment from one twitterer who quipped, "We just married the majority and minority report. At least we didn't marry two minority reports." Several additional items related to the definition of marriage were put on hold until after the church has an opportunity to study the report.
Ok. With the words of "The Summons" ringing in our ears, the asssemly recessed for the night, praying, together, "Even so, Lord, come quickly."
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