Final Business

Friday was the worship service celebrating Racial and Ethnic Ministries. We were challenged to become rivers flowing together, not lakes that remain separate. My prayer is that we are able to walk together to reach this goal.

Again, our day was filled with tough topics, this time regarding decisions that have the potential to affect the international world. The day began with reports from the Middle East Study Committee and much discussion on the best way to encourage the pursuit of peace in various regions. There is no easy solution and my prayer is that one day peace can occur. There was much discussion on the issues at hand and I know that the assembly struggled with the decisions before us. Hopefully they will help move forward the process or open up opportunities for discussion at the very least. We also made decisions on reports from the committee on church polity, both social justice committees, general assembly procedures, and health issues as well. Business completed around 10:30. Tomorrow we have some routine business to complete and then the closing worship service before we leave this place to go home.

A deep love for the Presbyterian Church-YAAD

Today was an emotional roller coaster for me. It started out with a phone call from my father letting me know that $300 was spent out of my bank account at a couple of drugstores. This was a surprise to me since I haven't used my debit card or checkbook since I left Indiana 8 days ago. Somehow, somewhere along the way someone has stolen my debit card number and taken the liberty upon themselves to spend my money. Thankfully my bank is working it all out and I will get my money back, but none the less it is frustrating and scary... That was the beginning of my day and as it continued I began to realize something in our denomination. While we as Presbyterians love to point out that we can agree to disagree, I would hope that we can agree on this...Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. I realized today that so many times we get caught up in the agenda's we bring to the table that we forget whose church it really is. We forget that the Holy Spirit is present among us, moving in us, working through us, and dwelling among us. We forget that our amendments are not ours, that our motions are not ours, that our new ideas are not ours, but that they belong to God. We forget that the things we say and do we should remember that ALL THINGS...I'll say it again ALL things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). I have been amazed at the ability of Presbyterians to fight with their words in ways that are sneaky and sometimes down right mean. I have been saddened by the lack of trust we have had in the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us. But I have been impressed with our ability to come together and worship God in all things no matter what the outcome. I would hope that as we press on in the future we will be more aware of how God can work in situations even when we do not agree with the situation we are in. But that we trust God's kairos (God's timing), knowing that our will is not the will to be done...but God's will, will be done. I sat in the worship service with my fellow YAAD's and as we sang hymns I could not help but cry (there ya go Chris I cried...but not at the mic) for I have been overwhelmed by the movement of the Holy Spirit this week, this day, and I am thankful and humbled by my experience here at the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Church is moving in the 21st century and there are still things to be decided tomorrow and I would hope and pray that as we move in to the final day and a half of plenary sessions that we remember just who is the head of the church, Jesus Christ, the one who came, who died, who rose again, and who dwells in us through the power of the Holy Spirit renewing our hearts and minds while transforming the church and the world as we know it. Thanks be to God for the things that are flowing forth from this place in this time. Now it is time to rest by body and mind.
Peace be with you,
KP

Tough Business

photo captions from top to bottom: commissioning our partners in mission and young adult volunteers in mission, Gumby carrying the Presbyterian flag, it is important to break the tension!


Thursday began with the commissioning of our Partners in Mission and our Young Adult Volunteers in Mission. We pray with them as they continue God's work in various parts of the country and world.

The business portion of the day was filled with lots of tough topics to which people have a lot of emotional ties. One of the hardest things to remember at Assembly is that the Spirit calls each of us and that that calling is not always in the same direction. You could feel the mood of the assembly change throughout the day. We are all weary and our emotions are near the surface. We have had wonderful programs from a program called "Grow God's Church Deep and Wide" which have helped to focus us on the reason for our ministry as a church. These presentations have introduced us to the ministries occurring throughout the denomination that are attracting many members. This is the hope that we live in together, that we may continue to do God's work throughout creation.

YAAD thoughts...that are hopefully YAADtastic

I've been here a week. Wow.
I have met new people, caught up with old friends, and been constantly amazed by the things that have come forth from this assembly. The fellowship has been amazing, the worship has been inspiring and filling, and the opportunity to serve Christ and Christ's church in this way has been humbling.

As the time goes on here and I continue to meet new people and build relationships, I realize how awesome God is. I realize how much I know and how much I have to learn. But more importantly I realize that no matter what I do, no matter what I say, or how I feel this will never be my church because it is Christ's church. The reality is that many folks here and around the world, and I'm sure I've been guilty of this too, we all get caught up in the politics of the church and forget that Jesus alone is head of the church. That no matter what we say, think, or do, the church is not ours in the end. And for this I am thankful.

Today was a big day. Not only did the recommendation of continual work on the new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism pass through the assembly, the approval of the Belhar Confession is being sent to Presbyteries to vote and so is the New Form of Government.
These are big changes for our denomination as a whole (if they pass through Presbyteries and come back to the Assembly in 2012). I was shocked tremendously by the votes and how they turned out, but it was also kind of exciting to sit there and know that Presbyterian Church that I love and serve is so willing to continue to reform and change in a world that is constantly changing.

Something else I have noticed over the last week is that not only has my love of the church increased, but I continue to hunger for God's word. Scripture has always been very close to my heart, but something about being here and hearing the word of God daily makes me long for it even more. There are times I read scripture and feel the tears come to my eyes, there are times where I find myself reciting verses to myself, there are times where I start to pray and the words that come to my mouth are the words that God has provided in scripture. Scripture is beautiful, it is a gift, and it is something that I respect and something that has authority over all I say and do.

In short this experience has been fantastic for me so far. I love being Presbyterian, I love being around people who share this passion, and I love engaging in conversations with people who challenge me, who stretch me, and who continue to help me plant my roots deeper in Christ so that I may overflow with thanksgiving.

We shall see where tomorrow goes...until then...my body needs some rest.

Peace,
KP

Day two of plennary

photo captions from top to bottom: worship at Westminster Presbyterian church (amazing stained glass!), the banner created during opening worship service hangs in the plenary hall, prior to plenary, we have fun with Gumby and Pokey given to us by Susan McGhee to remind us to be flexible, an example of the paddle system used to communicate to the body your intentions, the results from the New Form of Government vote (electronic keypads allow for an exact vote on difficult issues)


Our morning began with an amazing ecumenical worship service. Walter Mondale, a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church located across the street from the convention center, welcomed us to the church. The service began with kites representing the tongues of fire dancing over our heads. The Minnesota Boys Choir sang several pieces and there were also hymns from many different cultures sung in their native tongue.

Wednesday morning is considered a time of preparation for meetings. We spent the morning looking at what the following day's agenda would be and learned that we would begin with some easy reports to allow us to get use to the process that would be followed as parliamentary procedure is even more closely followed during this time. There are many paddles on the floor to indicate what the person at each microphone is going to speak too: green=in favor, red=against, yellow=question, blue=amend, and orange (our favorite)=call the question.

The reports that will have items that will be heavily debated are considered order of the the day and we have 90 minutes in order to debate. We had two such items yesterday. The first was the report from the committee dealing with the Heidelberg and the Belhar. The Heidelberg was approved for re-translation. The Belhar was approved to be sent to the Presbyteries for consideration to be entered into the Book of Confessions. It will take a 2/3 majority vote from the presbyteries to do so. The final item of business was the committee dealing with the New Form of Government task force. Again, the vote was to approve to send the New Form of Government document to the presbyteries for their approval. We actually finished ahead of schedule and opted to recess for the evening. I'm guessing this will not be the norm so we should take advantage of it when at all possible! We look forward to continuing debate tomorrow!

Final Day of Committee Work

photo caption: at the 4th of July picnic, Krista realizes that her action figure Jesus can hold the PC (USA) flags used as table decorations.


Our final day of committee work was on Tuesday. I was quite pleased to see how our committee came together and was much more efficient at accomplishing the tasks at hand. We were able to finish our work by noon. Afterward, a small group of us went to lunch together to celebrate and process the work we had done. Our leadership team was not done by this point. Each leadership team is in charge of preparing a report to present to the floor of the plenary session and it must be completed by Wednesday morning so that there is time to print the needed materials for the commissioners and delegates. With a free afternoon and evening before me, I had three choices to make. I could go and sit in on some of the other committee meetings to see how they were going. I could go and do something completely unrelated to the business of General Assembly. I could go back to my room and take a nap. I decided that the latter was probably the wiser decision knowing that there is the possibility of some of our plenary session going long into the night. One could feel some of the tension release as committees adjourned. Even knowing that we still have a lot of debating ahead of us and a lot of important decisions to make, there was great relief in knowing that we had completed some of the tasks before us.

YAAD-July 6

Over the last 6 days my mind has been stretched, my heart has been filled, and love for Christ's church has grown.

I was questioned by a friend moments ago on the phone over many theological questions, and for the most part he and I see somewhat eye to eye theologically. But he brought up some questions that raised concern for me and the main issue at hand was the way we use scripture.

I have a deep love for theology, but I have an even deeper love for the word of God. Every time I open my Bible I am filled with emotion, my heart swells, I become excited, and sometimes I even weep. The scriptures we have are beautiful and in speaking with my friend I realized how many times they are taken out of context, twisted, and used in ways that make me feel hurt. When someone says I believe what the Bible says here but not there, and this does not fit with the way I want to live my life or what I want to believe so I just ignore that it scares me. It makes me sad.

We have a precious gift in scripture, sola scriptura, two words that have been echoed many times in the last 6 days. Scripture alone, the authority I turn to (I have 35 pages written on my personal beliefs and many pages are hard reflections on sola scriptura) first in all that I say and all that I do. And this is hard. In a world that is changing so rapidly it is hard to see how scripture lines up and sometimes it does not. The reality is that we as a church are called not to conform to the ways of the world (Romans 12:2) but instead to be renewed by the transforming of our minds. This renewal of our minds comes from staying true to our scriptures and I fear that this is something the church is moving away from. Instead we are moving towards being transformed by the world and that is scary.

The theme of this assembly is "Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living waters" (John 7:38). This theme calls for something radical. It calls for things to flow forth from this assembly, to change the world as we know it and to make new paths, wider paths, and fresh paths. However, it is my fear that this paths will not be transforming the world but instead conforming our denomination to the world.
When rivers flow forth they cut a pass in the land, I don't have to look to far from where I live now to see that in the Ohio River. These paths that rivers provide are places where transportation takes place. Rivers are where life is found above and below the water. Rivers rarely run dry and rivers carry momentum down streem into a bigger body of water.

My hope and dream for this church that I love is that our river that flows forth from this General Assembly would be one that does not conform to the world but that creates a new transformation future for the church and all of God's people. One that says we are one in Christ, one that says Christ is more powerful than any overture, any report, any committee, any person, Christ is Lord, Christ is head of the Church (not just our church), and Christ cannot and will not be used in ways that are not in line with Scripture, yet Christ will be used to free the oppressed, restore sight to the blind, and proclaimed to all. It is through Christ that we have been called to this place and this time to respond to the business before us and I pray that we are listening carefully...first to scripture and second to one another...to discern what the will of God is for us as we push to move the church forward, as we look to be a river of living water to the world around us.

It's late, I'm tired, and I don't want to be cranky tomorrow!

I will say I enjoyed our YAAD field trip to the Mall of America where I road roller coasters and watched a ComedySportz show that was AMAZING...and we asked during Mr. Know it All, for Mr. Know It All to explain Parliamentary Procedure to us...It is official that all YAAD's desire to become GA junkies now. :D Also a side note that the picture with Lego Dinosaur was taken at Mall of America as well...


Peace,
KP