It’s Already Friday!
My journey to Minneapolis began one week ago this morning – 3:00 am standing at the foot of the Austrian Alps waiting for my transfer from Oberammergau to the Munich airport. Through the early morning silence came the screaming sound of a new Mercedes 350 – my ride! As we headed northeast, the driver asked if I would like to see how fast the car could go (Hooray autobahn!).
250 KPH! 160 MPH!
Fortunately there was no traffic at this hour… and the car was equipped with a large display navigational device that showed the road stretching out ahead of us.
My fast ride has become a metaphor that describes this General Assembly. A lot happens amazingly fast… we certainly need the direction and clarity of scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Early Saturday morning (30 hours later) I arrived in Minneapolis. On the way to the convention center I had a great conversation with my Somali cab driver (who drove just 65 miles per hour). He was a delightful man – dedicated to his wife and family, Muslim, but disillusioned by the extremism of which he and his family were victims. After I explained why I was coming to Minneapolis he asked, “what is all this “Presbyterian” stuff about?” I tried to explain that we are Christians whose churches are led by people called “Presbyters” or Elders. To my surprise his immediate response was, “can you help me understand what Christians mean when they say “Jesus died for our sins?”” I talked about God’s love that has been demonstrated in Jesus Christ and the assurance of our forgiveness we can have through his life, death and resurrection. He was thoughtful in his comments about forgiveness and responding to God’s love. I came away from our conversation with a fresh appreciation for the profound importance of the message we have to share with our world.
From Sunday through Tuesday I had the privilege to serve on the Church Growth and Christian Education committee. Our work was filled with encouraging reports about new church developments, growing ethnic churches, and new efforts to plant churches among immigrant groups. We even had time for a visit to a near-by inner-city church whose outreach and service to its community has impacted many. Again, I was inspired by the transforming power of the gospel and how needed this good news is – in north Minneapolis, among the 90,000 Somalis living here, in Orange County, in Europe, and throughout the world.
Then Wednesday arrived and we began the plenary sessions. Business happens very fast and many items have already been decided. By Thursday afternoon a lot of ground was covered. Among the actions of this General Assembly that will require ratification by a majority of Presbyteries are: 1) approval of a new Form of Government – yes, the “nFOG” was approved for ratification by the presbyteries, 2) a new confession – the Belhar Confession – to be added to our Book of Confessions (upon ratification), and 3) new language to replace the “fidelity and chastity” language of G-6.0106b. This last item was approved by the General Assembly by a vote of just 53% to 46%. The vote reflects how divided our denomination is regarding ordination standards.
Please remember that these GA decisions all require ratification by a majority of Presbyteries… which may take up to a year.
While both the Majority and Minority reports regarding marriage and civil unions were adopted, all actions seeking to re-define marriage were defeated.
Today we will work on the report on the Middle East entitled “Breaking Down the Walls.” Please continue to pray. More to follow.
Posted by losranchos 
