Well, apologies for not blogging during GA but it was difficult to find the time — so kudos to my Los Ranchos colleagues who did! As I began my time at GA, with a schedule filled with breakfast, lunch and dinner events and committee/plenary work, I realized that being fully present in the moment to absorb as much as possible did not give me much time to sleep, let alone blog! Will share a few thoughts today and post a few more in the coming days.
I’m glad Steve has been posting some of the GAMC videos — they tell great stories happening in local congregations. I like the one about the Riverside church that has developed the idea of empowering church members to hold Christmas Eve services in their homes, inviting their neighbors in to join them. Lots of energy at GA and encouraging news — such as church members have given $10.5 mill. to Haiti earthquake relief. New mission workers were commissioned, along with a large number of Young Adult Volunteers. A $400,000 anonymous gift was announced for worldwide mission, and a Minneapolis church member has given a gift of $250,000 for work in Cameroon.
An office for collegiate ministries was re-established, and there was considerable debate on the floor in favor of finding funding for college ministries. The YAADs were in fine form throughout the week, contributing in the committee and plenary — very thoughtful and articulate. An overture to limit their access to speaking on the plenary floor was defeated.
The plenary debate on the Belhar Confession was surprisingly not as vigorous as I had thought it would be; Jane Dempsey Douglass made a solid presentation in support (OK, I’m a fan — she was my Reformed Confessions professor 
) She made 3 good points about Belhar — it is a powerful theological statement that addresses racism and its challenges — and also addresses diversity. It recognizes our partnership with the global South and our Reformed family there (which represents 3/4 of the Reformed family of churches). It passed with 75% of the vote.
I’ll continue to post here with additional reflections — I served on the Civil Unions and Marriage Committee, and the plenary action has not always been clearly reported in some of the news stories I’ve seen. None of the overtures that passed the committee were debated or voted on — only the final report/minority report re civil unions and marriage were approved to send to presbyteries for study — and that action was approved as a response to the other overtures. I’ll post on that next time. With the recent court decision finding parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, a federal judge ready to issue an opinion on Prop 208 any day, and more and more states taking up legislation re same sex marriage, this is a topic that will not be going away any time soon!
When GA adjourned on Saturday morning, I rented a car and drove across western Minnesota and midway through North Dakota up to Bottineau, a small (1 mile sq.; 2300 people in town) farming town near the Canadian border where our sister the Rev. Deb Burger is pastor of a united Methodist/Pres. parish church. A beautiful drive with rolling fields of corn and canola and flax flowers — even saw a herd of bison — and passed countless small lakes and wetlands. I spent 2 days there — worshipped with her congregation, heard stories about their recent youth mission trip to Jeremiah’s Crossing, a horse ranch for children with disabilities, broke bread with some of her church members (and also shared some homemade rhubarb wine!) It was a stark contrast to the bustle of Minneapolis and pace of GA, but it was a good way to end this GA adventure — in the midst of God’s bountiful creation and with a good friend doing creative ministry.
Blessings.
