photo captions from top to bottom: scenes from the opening worship procession (top two), banners from the opening worship (next two), General Assembly participants enjoying the 4th of July picnic

July 4, Independence Day, the first full day of business of the 219th General Assembly, in true Presbyterian fashion kicked off with the worship of God by over six thousand participants. And boy did we worship! If any of you have seen the Broadway production of The Lion King, imagine the opening number in worship in the form of a prayer led by Commissioned Lay Pastor, Fern Cloud, in the style of a Native American prayer. Liturgical dancers led a procession of banners, kites, children, and animal puppets. Upon the completion of the procession the congregation joined in singing All Creatures of our God and King. The out-going moderator, Bruce Reyes-Chow, offered the message from Isaiah 64. He stressed that mountains are moving in our denomination. The challenge before us is whether or not we are ready to embrace that movement. We were able to celebrate both sacraments at the service. It was wonderful to witness a local congregation come forward to celebrate the baptism as well. Each commissioner and delegate was asked to bring two ounces of water from a meaningful source in our area. That water was used for the baptism testifying the cloud of witness by which we all are surrounded. Did I mention that we did all of this in 2 hours and 20 minutes?

Then it was off to committee meetings after a quick lunch. My committee is Committee 19, Health Issues. We have six items of business coming before us which means we will have plenty of time to debate and I'm sure we will use as much time as we are allowed! We are slowly getting our feet under us as we get used to the more formal use of Robert's Rules used at this level. We muddled our way through over an hour of debate trying to figure out how amendments worked and eventually were able to reach a decision. Integral to this process were our Young Adult Advisory Delegates. Their voices in debate reminded us why we are here, what it means to be the church, and played a key role throughout the debate.

It would not be July 4th without fireworks and fortunately they were the real kind and not the theological kind! Our day ended with an opportunity to meet the new moderator and vice moderator and enjoy a picnic together on the banks of the Mississippi River.