Opening Worship, or: How to be Two Places at Once

Ok, so I admit it, I was a skeptic.

The opening worship service at General Assembly is always a high moment of GA. Thousands of Presbyterians, gathered with tremendous music, meaningful liturgy, and an electricity enough to light up 11,000 churches, or thereabouts.

This year, though – San Jose didn’t have a space big enough to hold us all – so our worship was held in two locations, about a mile apart. Surely this wouldn’t work – surely we’d feel separate. Surely we’d miss out on the intensity of the Spirit.

I am happy to report that God’s loving, exuberant, alleluia-awesome Spirit is at least a mile wide.

Coming together beautifully, almost to the second, the two locations worshipped in sync. The Moderator of the 217^th Assembly, Rev. Joan Gray, preached in one location, and made her way to the other in time for Communion. Who says you can’t be in two places at once. (Well, almost.)

Rather than recount the whole experience, a task at which I’m sure words would fail, allow me to share instead the words of our Gathering Prayer. (There is no citation, but I’ll try to track it’s author down…)

O Majesty, O Magnificence, O Mystery, come!

Be earthquake, and shake our indifference.
Be sun, and splinter our shadows.
Be wind, and scatter our despair.

In the dry countries of our soul—
let your grace rain freely and fully.

Make of us stout branches, strong in all seasons—
bearing good fruit, giving shade to the weary, hope to the grieving, and shelter to those who are lost!

May we be channels of peace!
Where there is hatred, may we bring love; where there is injury may we offer pardon; where there is despair may we embody hope; where there is darkness may we be bearers of light!

O Divine Lover,
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love those around us.

For it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is through kindness, justice and humility that we are
brought into unity with God’s abiding Spirit!

O Sacred Challenger, in you all struggle is reborn to strength, all pain is remolded to promise, all wounds are re-created to wholeness. Hold us in your love—and help us to be ever-present to your resurrective movement in our midst and your radical mission in our lives. Amen.

Indeed, may it be so. And may that Spirit that stretches across more miles than we’ll ever know go the long journey with us all.

Women of Faith

“If you are a beloved child of God, please stand as you are able.” With these words, Rashell Hunter, Director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries, invited all of the attendees of the Women of Faith Awards breakfast to recognize our oneness in Christ’s love. Had Thea Jackson be able to join us, I suspect this would have been a favorite moment.

In Thea’s acceptance speech, made via DVD presentation since ill health prevented her from traveling, Thea wondered why she should be singled out for such an award. “Most all the women I know are women of faith,” she said. Indeed, her humble spirit moved the room even though she was not physically present.

Rev. Rose Niles-McCrary, a member of Hudson River Presbytery currently serving in Education ministries of the PC(USA), introduced Thea, celebrating her as “an embodiment of God’s smile.” Recalling Thea’s many contributions to church and society, she recognized that Thea has “traveled a mighty road in a mighty way.”

Thea joins Revs. Magdelena Garcia and Ann Hayman as this year’s honorees. Susan Andrews accepted the award in Thea’s absence.

Celebrating our journey together, Thea concluded her remarks with poignant words of a poignant song, “We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord. Trusting in God’s Holy Word, he’s never failed me yet. No, we can’t turn around, we’ve come this far by faith.”

With justice, kindness and humbleness, we’ve come this far. Beloved children of God, let us stand, and walk on.

A Changing Platform

Elected on the second ballot, the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow is the newly installed Moderator of the 218th General Assembly. Self-described as "a 39 year-old, father of three, earring wearing pastor of a funky church," Reyes-Chow is sure to bring a fresh spirit to the Assembly, and to the church as a whole.

The election followed a full evening of speeches, and an hour long period of questions from the floor. Those questions ran the gamut of church concerns -- rural issues, gospel understanding, missional church identity, and the ordination of GLBT persons in the PCUSA.

Addressing a question from a Youth Advisory Delegate on inclusiveness in ordination, Reyes-Chow Responded, "In my church we have a basic policy of no elephants in the room..." He spoke of his hope that the way would become clear for GLBT persons to serve openly in the church, and at the same time, he acknowledged that this is not yet where the church is. "Even still," he said, "we can know and trust in Christ to be the bridge and bond between us."

The new moderator earned 48% of the vote in the first ballot, and 55% on the second. (Among the Candidates, Rev. Carl Mazza had 52 votes, Elder Roger Shoemaker had 7, Rev. Bill Teng had 255, and Reyes-Chow had 390.)

As a curious feature of the evening, perhaps a symbol of the change in the air, every time Reyes-Chow came to the lectern, a extra platform had to be added, as Bruce is, well -- a little vertically challenged, shall we say. So, it is literally true -- he had a different platform than all the rest.

May God grant us all new ground to stand on...

Learning the Game

You'll be happy to know -- the "Enter" key means nothing, be welcome to play with it.

The Assembly is officially in Session -- the work has begun. Day One of GA is a day full of learning -- hearing the reports of various PC(USA) entities, getting acquainted with the various faces and places we'll be seeing throughout the week, and, of course, the all important buttons to push and paddles to wave.

At this Assembly, there are 752 Commissioners, 173 Youth Advisory Delegates (YADs), 25 Theological Student Advisory Delegates, 8 Missionary Advisory Delegates, and 15 Ecumenical Advisory Delegates. All together, there are a whopping 973 seats on the Plenary floor -- 973 hearts seeking the Spirit's lead in the work of the PC(USA).
Of this diverse and beautiful crowd, Hudson River Presbytery has 4 Commissioners and one YAD -- they are, as in the picture below: Rev. Chip Low, Elder Judy Wason, YAD Jason Cerillo, Rev. Cathy Surgenor, and Elder Bruce Mather.
Tonight, the attention will turn to the first significant item of business -- the election of the Moderator. Four candidates will stand for the office -- we will hear nominations, speeches, and a full hour of questions before the voting begins. We pray for all of those 973 hearts beating, that they may beat in tune with the Spirit.

As they practiced today in orientation, they'll cast their votes by pushing a button on their individual keypads. "Y" for yes, "N" for no..."1, 2, 3, 4" for whatever they need to be... but the "enter" key -- well, it means nothing. You don't have to push "enter." Associate Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons invited the learning commissioners to play with "enter" if they wanted to.

I liked the sound of that somehow. Enter. The church ought to push that button more often -- enter, enter, enter. Come in, come in, come in. Affirmation, affirmation, affirmation. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Let's this Assembly be a glorious game of Enter.

Covenant Network Dinner

Friday evening's Covenant Network Dinner featured our own Susan Andrews as keynote speaker. In her address, "From Syracuse to San Jose, the Perseverance of the Saints," Susan spoke with passion, reminding us that "Our God is a faithful God, and we are called to be a faithful people -- and we will persevere in faith." She spoke of God's covenant, sealed in our lives at Baptism. As children of the covenant, we are called "to hold on to one another, even those with whom we disagree."

(Set in the lovely rotunda of the San Jose city hall, each speaker spoke from a landing in the grand staircase. I must admit, had echoes of 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' running through my mind!)

(Susan Andrews and Chip Low -- cleaning up the place!)

Flight 218

At this point, it’s all up in the air.

Or, more precisely, I am… well, we are.

Taking off from LaGuardia this morning, I could imagine thousands of Presbyterians going through the same motions – this first ritual action of the 218^th General Assembly: the Getting There. Tickets bought. Luggage packed. Car parked. Checked in.

(Oh, and speaking of checking in – I’m happy to report that the first mixed message of the week (of which I anticipate many) has proven to be a positive. I walked into the airport to be greeted by a Continental agent who first informed me “this flight will be at least four hours delayed,” – insert my frustrated sigh – only to add, “so we’re putting you on one that leaves in 15 minutes.” I know my fellow travelers Bruce Tischler and Cathy Surgenor join me in thankfulness for this unusual surprise.)

Somewhere in an air traffic control room, several dozen little lights are blinking, inching bit by bit toward San Jose. On board those dots are hundreds of copies of the Book of Order, waiting to be changed… thousands of laptop computers ready to sync-up to PC-BIZ… several bottles of Tylenol anticipating needful headaches… many well worn Bibles willing to endure a bit more abuse…

Also inside each blessed blip on the radar – many Presbyterians, like you and me, who love their church. In between cat naps, we see the endless patchwork beneath us – a stunning syncopation of shapes and silhouettes – held together by countless seams that seem themselves senseless: greens and grays and blues and browns, weathered and worn but wondrous, wiggling, and wild – many stitches in the fabric that binds us all. We are going to a place where many will say that the fabric is fraying, but this is not what I see out my window.

For a moment, here we all are, up in the air. Though we come from different places, we’re all on this journey together. We’ve been given a new perspective on things, one that our ancestors scarcely dreamed. We’re all sitting still: reading, listening, resting, or maybe even praying. No need to move mountains, we can leap them.

And, at least for a while, we are relying on the fact that there is nothing under our feet.

Specks of light, trusting their pilot.

Welcome aboard.

Another blog?

Hello fellow Hudson River Presbyterians, and friends --

The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is just 'round the corner. It will be a week filled with worship, prayer, study, hopefulness, anxiety, questions, ups, downs, and in-betweens. Who knows what will happen? We join in prayer with the whole church for the guidance of the Spirit, whatever may come.

This blog is an offering to the presbytery -- intended to offer a view on the actions of the Assembly as it gathers in San Jose, California. Not all of us can be there, so I'll be blogging throughout the assembly, offering my reflections as the week unfolds. Please keep in mind -- I'll be offering a view...not the only view...just mine. I'll do my best to keep my eyes and ears open for items of particular interest for Hudson River Presbytery -- and this will certainly include (yet won't be limited to) actions taken with regard to our Overtures -- those on the deletion of G-6.0106b, the War in Iraq, and the Book of Order language regarding marriage. I'll also pay special attention to the process regarding the Form of Government revision (the FOG, as it were). And, moving beyond the legislation, I'll also try to keep up with our HRP folk in attendance - including our Commissioners, YAD, General Presbyter (and Former GA Moderator), Stated Clerk -- along with our Woman-of-Faith Award winner, Thea Jackson. It promises to be a full week!

I hope you'll join me in conversation, too. Please be welcome to add your comments and questions, and I'll do my best to respond as I'm able.

For now, we pray for wisdom and guidance -- for the healing of the church, and the renewal of its life. It is a long, but joyous journey.

God's peace,
Chris