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Dispatches from GA
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday began early with a breakfast with the Council on Theological
Education awards – Salem received a “poster” award thanks to the fine work of
Rev. Paul Sink, who is our advocate for the Fund for Theological Education – an
effort to get our churches directly involved in supporting our excellent
educational institutions. The morning was then spent in the plenary going
through the (sometimes tedious, often slow) work of an Assembly with committee
reports. Somewhere I seem to remember a reception (all the convention meals fade
into a San Francisco “fog”) given by the Middle Governing Body staff – stated
clerks, presbytery and synod staff, as well as folks from the General Assembly
Council and Stated Clerk’s office. The Fred Jenkin’s Governing Body awards for
lifetime service to the church were presented to Stated Clerk Kim Leech, and to
General Assembly outgoing Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick. Some lively debate
followed the afternoon and evening reports – with the always remarkable emerging
“culture” of the assembly plenary commissioners. A GA begins to develop a
“personality” (part of ‘group process’) as it works through its agenda…it’s
fascinating to watch their tolerance for tedious amendments and parliamentary
“wonks” attempt to drive the agenda in one direction or another – depending on
their personal views. This assembly has a high ‘tolerance’ for listening and
caring on substantial issues….after about 8 PM at night they have much less
patience with commissioners who believe God is calling them to speak on almost
every agenda item. All in all, I believe the commissioners have been very
respectful in listening to the full theological spectrum of our seven hundred
commissioners. Thursday evening dinner was a hamburger and fries meal with our
Commissioners Steve McCutchan, Wayne Green, and Diane Givens-Moffett; then back
to “work” - the Assembly met until almost 10:30 PM. Friday may be an even longer
day, depending on how the work goes. As I type this I am in the LAX airport ,
connecting back to a week in Mississippi with my family. The “news” from GA I
have gleaned from my laptop this morning is that Grady Parsons has been elected
Stated Clerk for a four year term, and that the Orders and Ministry overture
regarding portions of the Book of Order dealing with ordination, have been
approved for referral to the Presbyteries for their votes. This will involve
some patience and understanding on our part, for almost everything that deals
with ‘ordination’ these days provokes no small amount of anxiety in the Church.
So as we prayerfully receive the actions of the General Assembly, we first will
need to remain in conversation, covenant, and communion with one another as we
digest and discern how our Presbytery will respond to the amendments that come
to us. The actions of the commissioners of this General Assembly will challenge,
and hopefully inspire us to reflect on how God’s Holy Spirit is leading the
Church. Please take time to thank your Salem commissioners for their prayerful,
respectful, and dedicated service on behalf of the Body of Christ that we call
the Presbyterian Church USA.
Gracefully,
Sam Marshall
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday evening all of us from Salem Presbytery had supper together and
enjoyed our fellowship and great food from San Jose. The Commissioners returned
to their meetings, some of which lasted until midnight (stamina is required for
General Assembly Commissioners!). I attended a workshop given by the
Office of Theology and Worship on the Emergent Church (cf. Bruce McLaren).
Two young pastors in California have commissioned a video on the "Emerging
Church" - and we received a preview of the rough draft. The movie
documents a mainstream Santa Cruz congregation that was in significant decline
in its neighborhood - joined by an emerging church of high school, college, and
young adults. They now have over 500 attending three services - and all
has not been easy nor without losses of those who had trouble adjusting.
In our postmodern age the Emergent church is trying to seek to interpret the
gospel into today's languages of youth, and we all must be open to some
relearning.
Wednesday began with an early breakfast with all of the Presbytery Executives
and General Presbyters from the Synod of Mid-Atlantic, followed by long
conversations with our neighboring Presbytery Executives Bobbi White from
Western North Carolina and Sam Roberson of Charlotte. We hope to
collaborate more on our CLP training - and a course is being formed in Charlotte
for leaders of our Hispanic congregations that wish to take a CLP training
course in Spanish!
Morning worship was with Bishop Elias Chacour of Galilee - who has a school
ministry to over 2,000 Christian, Jewish, and Palestinian children. A genuine
call for us to be friends of all people in the Mid-East was eloquently preached.
Lunch was with the alumni and faculty of Louisville Theological Seminary - with
a fun "Louisville Slugger" baseball theme - a creative staff person had created
baseball trading cards with pictures of the faculty and staff of the seminary.
A dynamic introduction to Worship Professors Claudio Carvalhaes and Debra
Mumford ensued. Claudio came to the United States as a missionary FROM
Brazil! Our seminaries are engaged in exciting support of students, and
collaborations with new church developments and transformation of existing
congregations. You would be proud!
Wednesday evening began with reports to the plenary (General Business
Meeting) of all commissioners. A celebration of 100 years of Presbyterian
Church camping was noted. When the presenter asked all those who had
attended a Presbyterian camping program, practically all the commissioners were
on their feet. Some routine reports and actions on the Presbyterian
Foundation were received, and then the matters of human sexuality education
(scriptural and reformed in theme) for adolescents was debated. The
reporting committee set guidelines of a trust in balance and fairness with those
who will compose the curriculum, but a general need was expressed that our youth
need to have a Presbyterian Christian education about those subjects - to fail
to act was seen as leaving that educational task to our "culture". After
respectful debate it was passed. A second debate is now emerging on
reports from Ecumenical Relations - regarding language affecting our ecumenical
outreach, particularly in engaging different faith traditions such as Islam.
The presiding secretary of the National Council of Churches addressed our common
hopes and dreams together in Christ. There will be more "late" nights to
come. Please keep us in your prayers. The debates are respectful and
sometimes passionate, but all appear to be genuinely concerned for the
discernment that takes place is the process of debate. We trust God is
present with us all. God's blessings upon you all.
Gracefully,
Sam Marshall
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Today started off with a mission trip to San Francisco's Chinatown, where the
Cameron House Presbyterian Mission has been operating since 1874 initially
providing ministry and welcome to young Chinese women who were brought to the
USA in the 19th century for forced labor and prostitution. It was preceded
by the First Presbyterian Church in Chinatown that began its ministry as the
oldest Asian Christian Congregation in North America in the 1850's. Both
First Presbyterian and Cameron House, (which operates a block away from the
church) work together in the youth ministry outreach program, and provide all
sorts of ministry and evangelism to the constant stream of new immigrants to
Chinatown. The Cameron House and First Presbyterian Church have overtured
the General Assembly to set up a program office in the General Assembly that
will deal with victims of clergy abuse/sexual abuse - provoked by a long history
of abuse by a former director of the Cameron House. The staff has dealt
with that painful episode very honestly and programs of healing ministry with
victims who are now coming forward continue. The church completed
construction of a new sanctuary built a floor above the existing one just six
years ago. That has allowed the church to support a food pantry through
United Way and San Francisco city grants, serving 120 persons weekly. You
would all be proud of their ministry. I met youth volunteers from all over
the USA who are working with the summer children's programs at Cameron House.
This evening all of the members of Salem Presbytery will gather for a fellowship
meal. Our committee members have been working long hours in their various
assignments - some go past 9 in the evenings. Speaking of long meetings -
the Session of First Presbyterian in Chinatown is trilingual - English, Mandarin
and Cantonese are used among the 27 elders (9 from each language group) - and
you think YOUR session meetings get long-winded. Keep us all in your
prayers.
Gracefully,
Sam Marshall
Monday, June 23, 2008
Greetings from San Jose....Watching the United States unroll its beautiful
landscapes from 30,000 feet as I flew West is an inspiring glimpse of the
remarkable gifts we have in this country. I believe GA is off to a great
start ....around 700 commissioners this year - makes it one of our larger
assemblies in recent years. The moderator election was characterized by
four solid gifted and missional candidates; very respectful and insightful
questions and answers from all of them regarding the mission and ministry of the
church. I think Bruce Reyes-Chow will be a dynamic leader and moderator.
There seems to be (so far) a very upbeat tone to the GA - I don't sense the
intense factionalism that has characterized some previous assemblies...San Jose
is a remarkably diverse community - a mini-United Nations culturally....and so a
good model for our dreams of multicultural churches and where we are headed in
this global economical/political century. There has been a good missional focus
from almost all the speakers - lots of excitement and creative mission
partnerships. I had interesting interviews with Presbyterian
pastors/authors: Robert Short (author of "The Gospel According to Peanuts", who
has just written "The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss"); along with Michael Lindvaal, who wrote "The Good News from Northhaven". Mike Farrell, the actor
from M.A.S.H., is also here having authored a biography on his journey from
author to activist against the Death Penalty. The Living Waters for the
World clean water project is on the front page of Presbyterians Today, and their
booth is gathering new recruits for their mission of clean water for the bodies
and "living water from Christ" for the souls of so many third World countries.
The General Assembly is always a reminder of how much local, regional and
international witness and mission we are doing every day in the PCUSA.
There are a great many good things going on here. I trust God will keep us
"focused" as well on our calling to witness and serve. Please keep us in
your prayers.
Gracefully,
Sam Marshall
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