Days Three and Four = Tired Commissioners

The last two days have been spent working in our various committees. For me, it has been a very good and meaningful experience. I hope to write more about it later, but for now... I need to sleep... You can check out what overtures will be presented to the assembly by checking out http://pc-biz.org/. Thank you for your continued prayers for me and the whole of the assembly!

Day Two

Alas, I still seem to be having issues with my mobile blogger, which means that I will not be able to post as often as I had hoped. But, I will post updates as often as I am able to gain access to one of the email kiosks or a WiFi hotspot.

Worship was held this morning, and it was a wonderful service! They posted a link to view a replay of the worship service on-line at the PCUSA website. I think that it was done in streaming video, so it may not be available still... But, if it is still available, I encourage you to check it out. (If you did see it online, I invite you to share your thoughts by commenting to this post.)

One of the most moving parts of the service for me was hearing the choir sing an anthem entitled "Offertory" by John Ness Beck. It is a beautiful setting of the words of Micah 6:6-8 (the text of Micah 6:8 is the theme of GA this year). This particular anthem has a very special place in my heart, as I sang it when I was a camper at the Jr. Music Camp at Kirkmont (a Presbyterian camp in Ohio). It was a true blessing to me.

I was also truly touched by the communion service. We served each other, passing the bread and the cup down each row. To see the people of God serving one another -- all of us coming from places near and far, representing a wide spectrum of theological standpoints, and even speaking different languages -- was certainly a glimpse of the Kingdom coming to life. It was a time for the Church to truly be church. I purchased one of the chalices that was used in worship today, and I look forward to using it in continued service and witness to what the Church is called to do and to be.

In other news, the committees began meeting tonight. Most of the activity tonight on my committee (Church Orders and Ministry) involved getting to know the members of the committee and approving the docket. Our really official business begins in the morning (and continues for most of the day). If I am able to post anything before tomorrow evening, I will. And, hopefully we will conclude our business tomorrow evening on time so I am able to post something...

I believe that I can speak for all of the commissioners from our presbytery in that we deeply appreciate your prayers -- both for us as commissioners and for the General Assembly as a whole. I believe that the Spirit is alive and at work here, strengthening and challenging the Presbyterian Church as we work together to discern God's call to us in this time!

We Seem to be Experiencing Some Technical Problems...

Clearly, there are some technical issues with my mobile blogger... arg! I will try to get those last 2 posts fixed this afternoon or evening.

Congrats to the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, the new moderator of the 218th GA!

Day One...

Pc-biz is back up and running... We are a connected church once more! Indeed, we started with some technical related bugs this morning, but we seem to have those fixed. Opening worship was very nice, but I am really looking forward to what worship will be like tomorrow (Sunday). I'm guessing that it will feature more than responsive readings and a few hymns...

The afternoon session is about to start, so I must get back to my seat. If/when there are posts without titles, those have been posted via mobile blogger (using my cell phone). Hopefully the technology gremlins will stay far, far away from my phone!!!

My Eyes Are Going to Fall Out...

I've just spent the last 3 hours reading through a handful of the overtures to General Assembly that will be coming before my committee (Church Orders and Ministry)... and I think that my eyes are about to fall out! Seriously. Page after page of "stuff" from this Presbytery and that Presbytery...

The overtures that I've been looking at all have to do with either upholding the recommendations from the PUP Task Force that were approved at the 217th GA in 2006 or doing away with those recommendations. Frankly, the ones that seek to do away with them are laughable -- well, laughable or cry-able, I suppose. Let me list the first 4 of the 5 recommendations for you to see... The Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church recommends that the 217th General Assembly (2006):

1. strongly encourage (a.) every member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to witness to the church's visible oneness, to avoid division into separate denominations that obscure our community in Christ, and to live in harmony with other members of this denomination, so that we may with one voice together glorify God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit; and (b.) all sessions, congregations, presbyteries, and synods to renew and strengthen their covenanted partnership with one another and with the General Assembly.
2. urge governing bodies, congregations, and other groups of Presbyterians to follow the example of the task force and other groups that, in the face of difficult issues, have engaged in processes of intensive discernment through worship, community building, study, and collaborative work.
3. commend for study the Theological Reflection that heads the task force report.
4. direct the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, and urge those who plan and moderate other governing bodies, to explore the use of alternative forms of discernment and decision-making as a complement to parliamentary procedure, especially in dealing with potentially divisive issues.

I have to say that these all make a good deal of sense to me. I cannot imagine a time when the practice of discernment could be a bad thing. And I think I remember there being several places in scripture where we are called to treat each other -- even our enemies -- with honor and respect. And I certainly am in support of anything which calls us to study our theological understandings of things.

So, I am disappointed, to say the least, when I read overtures from presbyteries that want to do away with these recommendations. Their reasoning tends to be based on the notion that "peace" (aka - no disagreements) has not been made manifest in the last 2 years. People are still disagreeing with one another, so we want to run away from each other? That seems a bit reactive to me...

I'll keep you posted on my other musings as I am able... This is going to be interesting...

New Links and Blog List

I've changed my Top 5 Links again -- two of them are the same, but I added three new ones that I hope you will enjoy. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Also, I have listed some of the blogs that I like to read. Most of them are written by friends of mine! I hope that you take some time to give them a look. Enjoy!

Blogging On the Go!

I'm blogging on the go with mobile blogger! Yay! Let's hope this works...

Franken-Phone (It's Alive!)

So, my cell phone decided to come to life the other day. Really.

About a month ago, my cell phone started acting all crazy-like whenever I tried to use my bluetooth headset. All of a sudden, it wouldn't connect properly. So, I took it to the Verizon store and they gave me a replacement phone. The new one seemed to work okay. All seemed well.

But last week, my "new" phone started acting of its own free will. It started by hanging up on people while I was still trying to have conversations. These were not your typical "dropped call" situations. It stopped connecting to my bluetooth headset again. The "recent calls" menu would pop up without my even touching the phone.

I started to wonder if I needed to get in touch with a young priest and and old priest...

But this last Tuesday, my cell phone officially stepped out on its own. I was leading a training session on the new Presbyterian Women Bible Study. My cell phone was in my purse. Apparently, it got bored... so it called my dad. It was a flip phone. No way to "pocket dial". My bluetooth headset was in my car. And yet, according to my recent calls menu, I had called my dad a few times in the middle of my training session. I had even answered a few of his calls (since he called me back, wondering why I was calling and then not saying anything when he answered).

Maybe the young priest and old priest would have been a good idea...

Needless to say, I have a completely different phone now. And really, I couldn't be happier. How I survived this long without a phone that has a full keyboard, I'll never know. Plus, this phone doesn't seem to have a life of its own...

Time Keeps Ticking Away...

Well, I had hoped to blog while I was away at the Festival of Homiletics, but the hotel where I was staying thought that it was cool to charge $9.95 per day if you used the Internet access in your room. And as much as I wanted to post updates... I was too tired to drag my behind down to the lobby after a long day of sermons and lectures to use the free WiFi -- not to mention that I didn't feel really safe doing that as a single female at 11:00 at night or later. (Mini-Rant: Seriously! You spend almost $200 per night for the room, and they can't provide free Internet access in their rooms? Really? I get free WiFi every time I go to a Holiday Inn Express, and their rooms are usually less than $100 a night! Note to self: try to find a Holiday Inn Express when I go back to Minneapolis in November...)

Anyway... I doubt that I will be posting any pictures from the Festival, since I just don't think I'm going to have time to do it. If it turns out that I do, then I will... but I don't want to make any promises that I can't keep.

Preparations for going to General Assembly are going full steam. I feel as if I am in a race against time to get all of my reading and studying done before I go!