General Assembly 218

The 218 General Assembly is all over except the shouting. There will probably be some shouting but it was an Assembly that may well reflect the changing climate of our society. It began with the election as moderator of Bruce Reyes-Chow, the 38 year old grandson of Filipino and Cinese immigrants. He was clearly the youngest and most liberal of the candidates. Yet, what probably tipped the scales was a combination of his energy and his desire to listen to everyone.

A signal of the Assembly mood may be in the fact that when the tough question of how they stand on ordination arose, three of the four candidates suggested in some way that they wanted the church to move in the direction of inclusion. Bruce was the most direct about it but also he emphasized the importance of “deep listening” to those who disagreed with him.

The Assembly did vote to remove G.60106b, popularly known as the Fidelity and Chastity portion of the Book of Order and to overturn the recent PJC decision that emphasized this criteria as almost an essential to ordination. This does not mean that this was a liberal Assembly. Rather, reflective of our larger society and its current political debate, the Assembly was searching for another way to get beyond a tired debate. It also reflected a desire to put the question back to the Presbyteries where it will now be debated. The issue is whether there has been a similar change in mood in the Presbyteries.

The irony is that I do not view this as a particularly liberal Assembly. Rather, it seemed like an Assembly that was invested in trusting the process. In the early part of the week, the commissioners were sent into a series of committees to examine and then respond to the various overtures before it. I was in the Health Committee but I also heard from many people in the other committees that people were willing to take a lot of time to make sure that all voices were heard. Then when the proposals were brought to the plennary, every opportunity was given to make sure that all voices were heard. When they voted, however, the tendency of the Assembly was to trust the committee and their work. The assumption was that they had more time to hear all the voices and that when they made a considered opinion, the Assembly was willing to support them. There were only a couple of minority opinions that prevailed among the many that were put before the Assembly.

There will be much discussion about several of their decisions, as there should be, but it is my opinion that the Assembly was a reflection of a strong and vital church that hungers to be faithful to God in their witness even when it is a difficult witness to make.