Category Archives: General Assembly

135th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada — Summary And Comments

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How can a GA Junkie not love a General Assembly with its own soundtrack…

For the 135th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada held this past week in Hamilton, Ontario, they introduced the CD Some Assembly Required – Songs about General Assembly by the Rev. Angus Sutherland.  They have been kind enough to post two tracks on-line.  The first, “The Clerk’s Rant” will bring a smile to any GA Junkie’s face as the singer raps on parliamentary procedure in a very appropriate tone, and the back-up singers provide a chorus with the delicious double entendre “wrap/rap it up Mr. Clerk, wrap/rap it up.”  The second is an Elvis-ish number titled “First Time Commissioner at the General Assembly Blues.”  I suspect that the name is self-explanatory.  For more info check out the Presbyterian Record page, and it is listed as available through the denomination’s book store, The Book Room.  (I don’t see a listing yet.)  Cost is CA$15 and proceeds go to Presbyterian World Service and Development.

On the General Assembly page you can find a nice photo gallery of the Assembly, and at the bottom of the page the GA 2009 News articles including the Daily Digest.  Minutes of each sederunt as well as the reports are available on the Documents Page.  There was a nice set of official Twitter messages (around 175 total), mostly posted by Matt Donnelly and some others chimed in on the hashtag #pccga09.  The Communications Office also had the Twitter messages with #pccga09 fed to a webpage using an application from Cover It Live.  The live feed was useful, especially for us who would just keep it in the corner of our screen and not want to keep reloading it.  While the coverage did not include webcasting audio or video the Twitter conversation went a long way in helping us feel like we knew what was going on.

There were 129 clergy commissioners and 121 elder commissioners at the Assembly, a number that was comfortably seated around round tables in the Assembly hall.  However, the opening worship and business were held at near-by Regent University College.  Following worship the Rev. A. Harvey Self, pastor of Tweedsmuir Memorial Presbyterian Church in Orangeville, Ontario, the selection committee’s nominee, was elected Moderator of the Assembly.  In his comments the Rev. Self described his upbringing as the son of a military chaplain and his intent to highlight the work of the chaplains in his moderatorial year.

The first full day of the Assembly was a Briefing Day where the commissioners have the opportunity to hear information about the reports they would be discussing later in the week.  That evening there was the traditional banquet that provided a time of fellowship and socializing before the full business sessions started.

Tuesday’s business sessions had a heavy emphasis on military chaplains with the presentation by the Rev. Dr. Brig. Gen. David Kettle who talked about chaplains as “agents of grace, offering a human face in inhuman situations.”  There was also a presentation on the Emmaus Project: Open Eyes, Burning Hearts that is planning an event for presbyteries next spring to help “refresh, renew and transform” presbyteries.  At the luncheon the E. H. Johnson Award was presented to His Excellency Archbishop Elias Chacour.  He spoke on the plight of Palestinians in the Middle East.  From the Twitter messages about his 30 minute speech I recognized several of the lines from the sermon he preached at the last PC(USA) GA.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of the Government of Canada’s Apology to
Aboriginal people for residential school legacy as well as the fifteenth
anniversary of the PCC’s Confession to residential school survivors. The day included a
“special program of reflection” to commemorate these anniversaries and continue the healing and reconciliation necessary.

In terms of polity business it is interesting to compare the personal reflection of a Young Adult Representative via the Presbyterian Record and a brief post from a church about the meeting.  Both highlight the discussion over Lay Missionaries and whether they should be authorized to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  As Allyssa de Bruijn, the YAR, describes it the session had a spirited debate with motions, counter motions, and amendments with the result being that motion was referred back to committee for further study.  (For the record, this sounds like the PC(USA) Commissioned Lay Pastor position who may celebrate the Lord’s Supper if they are already an elder, trained to do so, and authorized by the presbytery.)

The other issue mentioned by Central Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, was the salary/stipend structure for National Employees on which a compromised was reached.

I found it interesting looking through the minutes and seeing the dispositions of the various overtures from presbyteries.  They are broken into two groups, overtures 1-9 which are referred immediately and overtures 10-18 which where sent to the full assembly and then most of them were referred.  While there are many interesting issues raised in the overtures I will highlight just two.  The first is overture 12 from the Presbytery of Prince Edward Island which asked to have the days of assembly changed to include a weekend to make it easier for elders to attend.  I personally am always interested in how we structure our business to best encourage elders to be a part of the process, especially younger elders who already have many demands on their time.  The Assembly adopted the recommendation of the Bills and Overtures Committee to refer it to the Assembly Council in consultation with the Clerks of Assembly.

As far as I can tell from the minutes the one overture to be directly decided by the Assembly was overture 16 concerning the definition of marriage.  It is also the only piece of business I saw with the possibility of being sent to the presbyteries for concurrence.  Specifically, the Session of St. Andrew’s, Ottawa, overtured the General Assembly:

[The Session] humbly overtures the Venerable, the 135th General Assembly, praying that the General Assembly make and ordain the following Declaratory Act, after remitting the same to the presbyteries:

1. Our understanding of the rite of marriage is the solemnization before Almighty God of the vows of commitment and loyalty of two persons, the one for the other, for the duration of their lives and to the exclusion of all others;
2. The subordinate standards of this church are to be interpreted in the light of this principle;
3. Ministers of Word and Sacrament may for reasons of religious understanding decline to solemnize a marriage;

And that on the website of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, those passages of the Westminster Confession and Living Faith that are contrary to the wording herein, in particular Chapter 24, Parts I and III of the Westminster Confession, each contain a footnote referring to the adoption of this Act, or to do otherwise as the General Assembly, in its wisdom, may deem best.

The overture was transmitted by the Presbytery of Ottawa without comment.  The Committee on Bills and Overtures recommended referral to the Committee on Church Doctrine in consultation with the Clerks of Assembly.  There was an amendment from the floor to also refer to Justice Ministries which was defeated.  The recommendation was amended from the floor to not receive the overture.  The Twitter posting is brief and I have found no other source about this action, but the Assembly agreed and the overture was not received.  There was clearly some strong feelings on this overture since 39 commissioners asked to have their dissents recorded in the minutes, including that by M.W. Gedcke who asked that his dissent be recorded with the following reason given:

Overture No. 16 raises important issues in regards to marriage that our church needs to discuss and seek God’s guidance in our discernment and decision making.

While similar issues have been discussed at other Presbyterian GA’s what I found interesting about this overture is the added wording to footnote the subordinate standards regarding this decision.  I am not aware of other branches considering the annotation of their confessional standards in accord with such a change in polity.

Finally, the Assembly considered switching to biennial meetings.  At the present time the Assembly Council has been undertaking a study and has produced several  benefits and recommendations if biennial meetings are adopted.   It appears that with the adoption of the Assembly Council report the issue will be sent out to the presbyteries for discussion.

Finally, a comment on following an Assembly as a GA Junkie.  This GA had no webcast but daily updates and a nice Twitter feed.  In addition there were a few more tweets from people both present at the GA and following at a distance, who commented using the hashtag.  What I have decided is that the webcast gives you the details, the twitter feed give you the play-by-play and maybe some colour commentary, but being present for the GA gives you the nuance and the “flavor” of the event.  The contrast in the Twitter feeds has been interesting this year for the three GA’s with a major twitter presence.  Now on the #pcaga starting to ramp up today.

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 2009 — Summary and Comments

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The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland concluded last Wednesday evening.  I was disappointed that the webcasting was discontinued before the concluding worship service because I found the opening worship moving and inspirational.  (Deepest thanks to Alan at Alan in Belfast for alerting me to the BBC Ulster broadcast of the opening worship.)

At the opening worship the outgoing Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Donald Patton, preached on Philippians 2:1-11 and talked about his time as Moderator and the theme of “Journeying” — how Jesus journeyed by “emptying himself,” being “born in human likeness,” and being “obedient to death – even death on a cross” as the scripture passage talks about.  In his sermon he identified some renewed sectarian violence in Northern Ireland as a threat the church must address and not let get out of hand.  He also commented on the implications of the Presbyterian Mutual Society situation for members of the church that have money now “locked up” in the Society.  And in the sermon, and throughout the Assembly, blame for the run on the Society was placed with the British Government when they increased the guarantee on banks and other financial institutions but not on the Mutual Society leading people to move money to safer locations.

One of the joys of having the audio or video webcast of GA worship is the opportunity to hear hymns not usually used in my regular circles.  For the opening worship the singing was full, the music and musicians inspiring, the musical arrangement and orchestration uplifting, and the selection complimented the worship very well.  In particular, I found the singing of “There is a Higher Throne” by Keith and Kristyn Getty as a response to the time remembering the 12 ministers that have gone on to their heavenly reward in the past year a very moving moment.  (I was also interested to hear from the radio host that Keith Getty has served as the musical director for Assembly worship in the past.  And you have to love the radio host saying that “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” is one of his favorite hymns but he desisted from singing along.)

Following worship the new Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stafford Carson was formally appointed by the Assembly, introduced and installed.  The PCI Twitter messages said that during the opening worship Rev.
Carson was outside talking to those protesting the Mutual Society
situation and lack of church response.  For his installation he was escorted into the Assembly hall by all the former moderators in attendance.

Acknowledging the controversy of this Assembly, Mr. Carson in his opening comments referred to the situation with the Presbyterian Mutual Society and how it relates to his theme for the Assembly and the coming year: “Passion for Christ; Compassion for People.”  He noted how the crisis had touched people in every congregation.  How their cry for help had been heard.  How it called for a uniquely Christian response.  He talked about the threat to the unity of the church:

It is this awful situation that the Presbyterian Mutual Society unfolds some of us are fearful that as a church our unity is under serious threat.  That what Satan has failed to achieve through arguments about theology or about ecclesiology he now seeks to achieve through this financial crisis.  He wants to divide us.  He wants to neutralize our effectiveness as a witness to Christ in this community.  And that is why we need to resolve that however this situation develops we will support and love and care for each other.  Make no mistake about it, we are all in this together. (applause)

The references to the work of Satan, while scriptural, strike me as a bit strong for a Presbyterian preacher and probably in some part reflect Mr. Carson’s pentecostal upbringing.  William Crawley at Will and Testament talks a bit about this statement and some of the theological implications, such as whether the protesters are “unwitting pawns in the Devil’s plan to disturb the unity of the Presbyterian Church?”  

William Crawley also notes that there was a second much smaller protest outside addressing the new Moderator’s expressed opinion against the ordination of women as clergy.

Throughout the Assembly it was hard to miss the implications of the Mutual Society collapse.  During the Mission In Ireland report it was noted how the Mutual Society collapse hastened the decline and demise of the Sankill Road Mission.  The United Appeal Board noted how giving to local churches for the United Appeal had been placed in the Society until forwarded on to the Board and were now lost or tied up.  (They also noted that this practice of placing it in an investment account while a common practice was against the policy for the handling of the United Appeal funds.)  And throughout the Assembly there were other stories of what “could have been” if funds invested with the Society were available.

Tuesday afternoon’s debate on the Presbyterian Mutual Society was orderly if passionate.  Many of the leaders of the church shared that they and their churches were also heavily invested in the Society and had their money tied up.  The debate was opened by reminding the commissioners that the debate was not legally privileged and that statements made in the discussion could be used in future litigation so be careful what anyone says.  While there were lots of reports of the many individuals and churches that have been affected by the crisis easy answers were not forthcoming.  The PCI and the Society, while affiliated are legally separate entities.  But there were still protests that the church had promoted investing in the Society for the good of the church and that the investments were presented as lower risk than they actually were.  In the end the Assembly expressed concern for all those impacted by the situation and agreed to continue their aggressive efforts to have the British Government guarantee the Society as they have done for almost every other financial institution.  In addition, a committee will look into the theological and moral implications of the situation.  William Crawley has his report on the Society debate as well.

[There have been some developments in the last few days in this situation including a preliminary mild admission of regulatory problems in this situation.  And there is discussion if this is a matter for the British or Northern Ireland government.  But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments about his “Presbyterian conscience” at the time of the Assembly, in regards to an unrelated issue of MP expense reimbursements, has not generally gone over well in this situation.]

There was a much more encouraging theme running through the Assembly as well and that was SPUD.  SPUD is the name of a program that began with a youth conference earlier this year to which two youth members of every congregation were invited.  That conference included the discussion, debate, and forwarding of business to the Assembly.  But the 14 items of business were not presented during a unified report on Spud, but during each of the board reports there would be a section where youth representatives would present their business that fell under the area for that board.  It was a great way to handle this business, not just from the point of view of grouping the business, but from the aspect of having youth delegates before the Assembly on a regular basis throughout the meeting.

Among the presented items were

  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations in the process of formulating Mission
    Plans, to ensure young people are involved in a meaningful way in the
    development of each local plan.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage the appointment of youth representatives in
    Congregations and Presbyteries to promote engagement and participation
    of local congregations in global mission.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations and Presbyteries to reassess buildings
    and resources by June 2010 to see how they can most effectively be
    utilized in and by our communities.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations to ensure the empowerment of young
    people in meaningful and appropriate participation in every aspect of
    Congregational life and witness.

In addition, there was a report with a video presentation on SPUD and the Youth Assembly.  The term SPUD was used as an acronym for “Speaking Participating Understanding Deciding.”  In particular, the SPUD delegates also voiced their concern for the elimination of two peacemaking posts in the church.  The Assembly agreed with them and left the posts for another year.

In the Peacemaking report there was a story I found particularly powerful of a church that got a call from the local guard post asking when their Holiday Bible Club would be held.  After some discussion the pastor learned that the guard post could let some of their officers take vacation during the time the Club met because past experience had shown it was a time of reduced crime.

In other business the Assembly:  Agreed to study the admission of children to the Lord’s Supper.  Discussed the training of different forms of ministry including Recognized Preachers and Evangelists.  Heard reports on Peacemaking, especially in the wake of the recent sectarian killings.  Received a property report where the tweet says “Adrian McClernon
likens property performance over past 2 years to the alleged
performance of the Irish swimming team ‘Nobody drowned’.”  Associated with this was passed a proposal to renovate the headquarters building Church House.  And there was ample discussion of general financial conditions and implications for pastors’ salaries and pensions and keeping individual churches open.

The Moderator has now posted two articles to his blog about the Assembly.  The first is a general summary and includes the observation that the Assembly showed a great sense of unity as demonstrated by the fact that no standing vote card vote was taken in this assembly.  The second article is about the Wednesday night rally/worship where the Revival of 1859 was remembered and celebrated.  At the rally Mr. Carson’s friend, the Rev. Phil Ryken, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, preached.  In addition, the official Twitter messages were plentiful providing a detailed narrative of what was happening at the Assembly, in all totaling 486 messages.

It is interesting to follow this Assembly because unlike North American Presbyterian branches this church, while suffering some effects of secularization, is still woven into the fabric of the society.  One evening there was a very interesting panel discussion about health care and the ministries of the church and the respect those ministries are shown by the political leaders on the panel was a cause for celebration.  While the Assembly was marked by the Mutual Society crisis, which is unique to this church, the general global financial downturn and the decreasing importance of the church can be seen here as they are in many Presbyterian branches throughout the world.  But the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the youth representing SPUD was another point of celebration.  At one point a commissioner asked a youth delegate if they wanted to be more specific about how to incorporate youth into the life of the church.  The youth answered that “the resolution was intentionally vague.  Dream Big!”

I encourage you to dream big for all of us.

In The Middle Of General Assembly Season — Hitting Stride

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Well for the first time in a couple of weeks there is no General Assembly of a Presbyterian church going on today.  (If you know of one I have missed pleeeeeeese let me know — this junkie is going through withdraw.   )

Five down:

I’m writing comments on each of these that I hope to have posted in the next few days.  But the break is very brief…

Up next – the 135th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada

Thanks to Colin Carmichael from the Communications Office, most of what you need to know is listed in his blog post this morning.  But I’ll pass it on as well…

In addition, for the last few weeks the weekly PCConnect-TV segment on the web has been building up to the General Assembly.  While focusing more on the churches in the Hamilton area than the issues and workings of GA itself, the series has provided a great insight into some of the things going on in the PCC today.

Having grown up a-ways down the lake shore from Hamilton I though about attending myself, but I’ll drop in on one of their Assemblies another time.

That is all that I am aware of.  I’ll update if I find other things.  And now a couple of additional comments…

For the different sessions of the GA the PCC uses the (I believe Scottish from the Latin) term “sederunt,” meaning “A formal meeting, especially of a judicial or ecclesiastical body.” (from Wiktionary)

I have been impressed with the response to Twitter at GA’s this year.  There are two great examples with very different approaches so far.  For the Church of Scotland GA there was a great Twitter update coming from the Assembly Hall as well as a lively discussion that developed around the #ga2009 hash tag.  For the Presbyterian Church in Ireland GA there was an even more active news update from the Assembly Hall, a very close play-by-play, but I found no sign of a discussion that developed. (For comparison there were 486 official updates for the four-day PCI GA and 231 for the week-long CofS GA.) For the PCC we have the hashtag, now lets see what happens.  One other advantage of the hashtag is that when there is more than one individual posting official updates they can come from different Twitter names.

Finally, a personal and public congratulations to Colin Carmichael, Associate Secretary for Communications for the Presbyterian Church in Canada, who will be following this GA from a distance owing to the recent birth of his twins.  Congratulations to the whole family and I can think of no better reason to miss a GA.  And the Twitter picture of him holding the kids is great.  But he may be on leave from the office but not from the web as you can tell from his blogging today and twitter updates.  God Bless!

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland — There Is Webcasting

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Thanks to Spud for the comment on the last post letting us know that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will be webcast at

http://ga.pcinet.org/

I will check it out tomorrow.  Thanks again.

(Update – Tuesday Morning:  I am having trouble getting the Java viewer to work in Firefox but it is doing fine in IE7.)

Also, the Twitter service has been good but I have not seen a search term for discussions yet.

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland — A Lot To Look Forward Too

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As tempting as it is to open this post with the line “In a neat little town they call Belfast…” I will resist that temptation.    But on Monday at 7:00 PM local time the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will convene in that city.

While it does not appear that there will be webcasting, they will be on Twitter and providing tweets from twitter.com/pciassembly.  (I have not yet seen a hash search term yet for twitter.  Maybe we can use #pciga09.) The agenda for the assembly is on line as are the reports.  And the incoming Moderator, the Rev. Stafford Carson, has a personal blog on which he has been providing interesting little vignettes into his days leading up to the Assembly.

Clearly the hot topic on the Assembly agenda (4:00 PM Tuesday to be exact) is the situation with the Presbyterian Mutual Society.  You can check out my earlier post for more details, but this affiliated, but not church controlled, investment society collapsed last fall when requests for withdraws exceeded the cash on hand and the value of the property that had been invested in.  The Society itself got its stakeholders to agree to “wind down” operations in order to eventually get the greatest potential return from the properties it was invested in, but it appears it will still be substantially less than before the global economic collapse and there are now reports of delays.  The church, the Society, and Northern Irish politicians have petitioned the British Government to guarantee the deposits, but without success yet.  In fact, the appeal to the government was noted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland who added the following to their Church and Society Report:

39. Note with concern the impact of the collapse of Presbyterian Mutual and urge the UK Government and devolved executive in Northern Ireland to take urgent action to resolve the situation.

This support was welcomed by the current Moderator, the Rev. Donald Patton, in an official press release.

There is still considerable question about what the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will, or can, do about the situation.  There was even a question whether there would be anything more than a report on the situation as noted in the first agenda:

[Tuesday June 2] 4.00pm MUTUAL SOCIETY COLLAPSE ‘A TREMENDOUS CHALLENGE’ — General Board/Moderators Advisory Committee (p23-32 & p106)

The report describes the PMS going into administration as ‘a tremendous
challenge to many loyal members’ and details how the church has
responded through a chronology of meetings and statements up to the
handing over of a petition to Northern Ireland MPs on 1 April. Attached
resolutions call the Church to continued ‘prayer and concern for all
involved.’

Note that since the main reports go to press in early April the General
Assembly publishes ‘Supplementary Reports’ on the Tuesday morning of
Assembly week with more up to date information. It is expected that
these will contain a more up to date report and additional resolutions.

But Moderator Patton has said in a BBC interview, and published on the web site, that a debate will be held.  He says “There will be a full debate… a speech and questions. It will be an uncomfortable debate because of the anxiety and emotion.”

And many stakeholders in the Society, who feel betrayed by the church, will be protesting outside the opening session Monday evening.  The stakeholders’ concerns are expressed in a Belfast Telegraph article:

Mervyn Redmond, a spokesman for the Shore Street PMS Action Group in
Donaghadee, said: “We feel betrayed — once by the PMS which assured us that
our savings would not be at risk, and even more by the Presbyterian Church
which has failed to provide any meaningful support for us since our savings
were frozen last autumn.”

He added: “We and our families and forebears have always turned to the Church
in times of serious difficulty, but during this desperate situation we are
reduced to confronting the Church leaders and elders because they have
refused to take a compassionate and fruitful initiative.”

A lot of people will be watching to see what the GA figures out to do with this situation.  We will find out at the Order of the Day on Tuesday.  Debate is docketed for 90 minutes.  Keep watching Twitter.

While there are other important pieces of Assembly business involving the voice in state education and a “response to the report of the Eames/Bradley Consultative Group on the Past” so far the Presbyterian Mutual Society situation has dominated the news and blog discussion.  For a bit more on these check out the official Assembly preview.

Stay tuned…  It will be interesting.

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland — Say What?

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To use the line from the old Westerns — “It’s quiet around here.  Too quiet.”

Yes, at least for the last day it does seem that office holders and members of the Church of Scotland have been observing the “urged” “quiet period” regarding public discussion of issues related to human sexuality.  One day down, 735 to go.  (For the record, I am an office holder and member in another Presbyterian denomination.  I can’t imagine our gang being so well behaved.)

Anyway, sarcasm, cliches, and snarky comments aside, I have to admit that I have been very impressed with how “all the usual suspects,” on both sides of the issue, have taken this to heart.  Stewart Cutler did comment on the “gag” order itself.  Ian Watson posted the text of a news story about the quiet period.  Danny expresses the concern that waiting another two years just allows each side to become entrenched.  And Chris Hoskins, in his reflection on Monday, says he’ll avoid that topic in his daily reflection.

What are the instructions?  The minutes have not been posted yet, and I don’t see a full read-back in the daily updates, but tracking back the changes (and checking it against Stewart’s text) it seems that the sections dealing with the quiet period say

2. Instruct all Courts, Councils and Committees of the Church not to
issue press statements or talk to the media or to make public comment,
whether in publications or otherwise, on decision-making in relation to
contentious matters of human sexuality, with respect to Ordination and
Induction to the Ministry of the Church of Scotland, until 31 May 2011;

and

3. Urge all members who are subject to the discipline of the Courts of
the Church of Scotland to act in accordance with the process outlined
in 1 and 2.

And it was understood in the debate that blogging was included in the prohibited communication.

The exact parameters are still not specifically understood and I am sure the boundaries will be worked out as people “test the limits” of the motion.  As people have a chance to think this through there may be official guidelines.  And while I consider it unlikely, there may even be a complete breakdown for individuals since the term is “urge,” not a strict instruction like “shall,” leaving little force for ensuring compliance.  In fact, the limits are being tested already, as reported by the Scotsman, with one minister writing a letter to that paper criticizing the Assembly’s earlier action in the Aberdeen case.  As a member of a presbytery it is being debated if he is representing the presbytery after being “instructed” not to comment, or acting as an individual after being “urged” not to.  As is customary in Presbyterian polity it will be up to the presbytery to decide on a case to discipline a member.

And what constitutes “public comment?”  Could the suggested actions of some sessions to withold their payments to the larger church in protest be considered a form of public comment?  This is a form of protest and comment that has been used in the PC(USA) and has clearly gotten the attention of some governing bodies there.

So there are many uncertainties and two years to go with this.  We will see what understandings develop as time goes on.

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland — Live Blogging The Lochcarron-Skye Overture Debate

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Greetings — I am semi-live blogging this session of the
General Assembly (2009) of the Church of Scotland.  I apologize to those with e-mail feeds or a feed
reader since you will probably only get the first section of the post
since I’ll be adding updates throughout the session.  Also, if you are
reading this on a browser live you will also need to refresh the screen
since I don’t have push technology on my blog.  It’s tough being Web
1.99999 in a Web 2.0 world.  Thanks for your patience.

This
blogging is semi-live since I am not there but only following on the webcast.  This session is to deal with the overture from the Presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye proposing specific standards for these cases.  It is being continued from Saturday evening from whence it was postponed because the judicial case ran until almost 11:00 PM.

4:00 PM local time – Right on schedule the Assembly turns to the order of the day, the Overture from Lochcarron-Skye.  There is a proposed motion to reverse the order of the motions in this section.  The Moderator asks for advice and when the Deputy Clerk begins a longer answer the Moderator reminds her “I was looking for advice, not a conversation.”  Based on the advice then given the Moderator says not to reverse the motion.

4:03 – The opening presentation by Rev Dr John L McPake moves the following:

For the sake of the peace and unity of the Church the General Assembly:
1. Appoint a Special Commission composed of nine
persons, representative of the breadth and unity of
the Church, to consult with all Presbyteries and to
prepare a study on Ordination and Induction to the
Ministry of the Church of Scotland in the light of the
issues (a) addressed in the report welcomed by the
General Assembly of 2007: “A challenge to unity:
same-sex relationships as an issue in theology and
human sexuality”, and (b) raised by the case of
Aitken et al v the Presbytery of Aberdeen, and to
report to the General Assembly of 2011;

2. Instruct all Courts, Councils and Committees of the
Church to observe a moratorium on issuing public
comment, whether in publications or otherwise,
and decision-making in relation to contentious
matters of human sexuality, in particular with
respect to Ordination and Induction to the Ministry
of the Church of Scotland, until 31 May 2011; and

3. Urge all members who are subject to the discipline
of the Courts of the Church of Scotland to act in
accordance with the process outlined in 1 and 2.

4:14 – Rev Dr Angus Morrison seconds

4:19 – The Assembly turns to Addendum.  There are three that are being read by the Deputy Clerk so commissioners know what is ahead.  In addition, the Deputy Clerk notes that the three addendum’s are no inconsistent with the main motion or the other addendum’s.

4:24 – Motion to amend so the Special Commission reports back to GA from 2011 to 2010.  Wants to minimize the time this process will take since it could be followed by an act sent to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act.  Another commissioner argues that this has been going on too long as it is.  Moderator asks him to speak to the amendment alone.  He says he will but continues on speaking to the whole motion saying that it should be denied and just adopt the presbytery overture and get a vote over with.  Give the presbyteries a vote not just a consultation.  Moderator stops him to commissioner applause.

4:30 – Other speakers on both sides of dates.  One speaker reasonably arguing for 2011 to take the time for real discussion and “cooling off.”  Commissioner in background can be seen rolling his eyes.

4:40 – Moderator calls for one more speaker on each side.  Speaker for 2010 speaks of media perception and “people in the pews” think the GA made a decision Saturday night on the whole subject not just that case.  Speaker against 2010 is convener of Special Committee on the Third Article — Committee was given two years and he wishes they were given three.

4:48 – Now there is an interesting polity question from the floor: Can this motion be taken outside the Barrier Act because it stops presbyteries from sending overtures to next year’s GA on this subject.  Deputy Clerk responds that this is a narrower focus (single issue) than the Lochcarron-Skye Overture so some reconciliation might be needed.

Motion to change to 2010 rejected overwhelmingly.

New addendum to include kirk sessions as part of the consultation, not just presbyteries.

5:03 – “and kirk sessions” agreed to
Section 1, as amended, is agreed to

Debate on Section 2
Active debate on exactly what the moratorium means:  no sermons?  no public comment at all?  how broadly is the topic of human sexuality to be avoided? what about discussion groups?  What about blogs?

The discussion tries to focus on “press statements” but there is concern about other statements which might be picked up by the press.  In deciding on the current amendment to the amendment the Deputy Clerk reminds commissioners that they are only voting on which version they prefer even if they dislike them both.

5:52 – This discussion continues, and there are still other motions and the overture to deal with this evening.  OK, I now see why the business from Saturday night was continued to today. 

Deputy Clerk weighs in that having made the decision on Saturday night it would not be advisable now to make a decision that would reverse that particular case.  [Editorial comment:  Then why was the specific dealt with before the general standard?]

The vote on Section 2 as amended by standing is ruled against, there is a challenge so they are now voting electronically.
Section 2 as amended is agreed to 314 to 285.  The Moderator apologizes for his previous incorrect call.

Section 3 – Motions for new Section 3’s

Motion to “instruct Presbyteries
to observe a moratorium on ordination and inductions which might appear
to prejudice the Special Commission before it reports.”  Moderator states that it is probably already agreed to based on the vote for Section 2.  Allows seconder to speak about how the Kirk now needs time and how the liberal side, which he is on, needs time to wait and maybe be uncomfortable.

While the Moderator acknowledged that this was already agreed to, he did call for a vote on this as a sign of support.  It was agreed to overwhelmingly.

New motion: For the avoidance of doubt, affirm that the provision of this whole
motion shall in no way be interpreted as offering grounds for
challenging the decision in the referred case Aitken and others against
the decision of the Presbytery of Aberdeen.

6:38 – The motion is approved

New motion to clarify other Assembly committees that may work during the discussion period.  Agreed to.

The Moderator declares the motion agreed to.  A commissioner protests that there was no vote on the whole motion.  The Moderator say that all the sections were agreed to but “for the avoidance of doubt” he calls for the Assembly vote.

6:46 – The Assembly turns to the Overture.  There is a request for the Presbytery to withdraw their overture.  One of the presbytery commissioners asks for time to consult with all the presbytery commissioners.  The Moderator suspends the meeting for 5 minutes.

6:55 – The Presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye agrees to withdraw the overture to a great round of applause.

6:58 – The Assembly adjourns with prayer.

So the Church of Scotland has a Special Commission to work on this for the next two years.  Blessings upon all those on the Commission.

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland — Saturday Night Session

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Greetings — I am semi-live blogging this session of the
General Assembly (2009) of the Church of Scotland.  I apologize to those with e-mail feeds or a feed
reader since you will probably only get the first section of the post
since I’ll be adding updates throughout the session.  Also, if you are
reading this on a browser live you will also need to refresh the screen
since I don’t have push technology on my blog.  It’s tough being Web
1.99999 in a Web 2.0 world.  Thanks for your patience.

This blogging is semi-live since I am not there and since only part of the session will be webcast.  This evening session is to deal with two related items of business.  The first is the protest of the call of the Rev. Scott Rennie to Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen.  This is the business titled “Dissent and Complaint Against A Decision of the Presbytery of Aberdeen.”  Since this is a judicial case the tradition of British judicial cases will be honored and there will be no webcast.  There will be no official twitter comments either but there may be some from inside the Assembly Hall on the Twitter subject #ga2009.  The second business item is a related overture from the Presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye proposing specific standards for these cases.  Webcasting is announced to resume for that portion.

10:45 PDT (6:45 PM local)-  At this point the business should have been going for about 15 minutes.  An earlier Twitter comment indicated that the gallery was full and that the overflow room was going to be used.

10:55 – There are some Twitters (or is that tweets) from the Assembly Hall including Stewart Cutler.  With Stewart in attendance I know of two bloggers, Stewart and Chris Hoskins at GA.  Watch their blogs after the session for thoughts.  UPDATE: My mistake, those tweets, including Stewart’s, are not coming from the Hall.  Still, Stewart has good connections so read what he has to say when this is over.

11:05 – With nothing else to talk about there is a Twitter discussion going on about the session not being webcast but having observers and the media in attendance in the gallery.  It seems to me the point is tradition, precedence, and the freedom for commissioners to speak freely in their debate as they try to discern the will of God on this matter.  There is  some question about impartiality of commissioners if they have already spoken out, but in the Presbyterian tradition they are now working together to discern the will of God.  In fact, their opinions can come into play in the debate.  They are not asked to be impartial.  They are asked to be open to the Spirit’s leading as they discern the will of God.

11:45 – The Assembly Hall continues to maintain “radio silence” with no updates yet.

12:33 PDT (8:33 local) – Stewart reports on Twitter that there is a break and the “motions are about to be called for.”

12:51 – Then again, another on Tweet implies a decision is not close.
12:53 – Update from Stewart that the parties have presented their cases and now discussion/debate begins

2:35 PM PDT – Twitter has come alive to report that the Assembly has voted to refuse the complaint and dissent regarding the Presbytery of Aberdeen’ approval of the Rev. Scott Rennie’s call to Queen’s Cross Church.

Conclusion:  The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passed the following motion (from the Update page, but that will disappear at the next business session.)

The following motion is agreed by the Assembly:

a)
refuse the dissent and complaint of Aitken and others and sustain the
decision of the Presbytery of Aberdeen on the basis that the Presbytery
followed the vacancy procedure correctly in Act VIII 2003.

b) affirm for the avoidance of doubt that this decision does not alter the Church’s standards of ministerial conduct.

The business regarding the overture has been remaindered (postponed) until 4:00 PM Monday.

UPDATE:  A couple more thoughts
1)  In good Presbyterian manner the motion that was passed is really about the process not the candidate.  While I have not yet gotten info on the debate it appears that the GA, correctly in my opinion, separated the individual from the issue and at least acted only on the issue.  And the issue here appears to be the process.  The debate on the overture will deal with the issue of standards.

2)  According to an early article in The Herald the vote was 326 to 267.  It will be interesting to see how Monday’s vote compares.

It will be interesting to see both the reaction to this decision and the debate on Monday.  I will follow up on both.

General Assembly (2009) of the Church of Scotland Convenes

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OK GA Junkies — Game On!

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland convened a few hours ago and so the GA season has begun.  As I am watching it now there is notable discussion on the report of the Council of Assembly and the charitable trustees.

If you are interested in this Assembly you can find more information on the web:

The Church of Scotland does not have a Book of (Church) Order like many other branches do.  (Or The Code in Ireland.)  You can find the church law in the Acts of Assembly and The Regulations of Assembly.  For an more user friendly document check out An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland.

That will give you a start.  Have fun!

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland This Week — The Media Build Up Continues

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The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland convenes in Edinburgh this Thursday.  I’ll post once more before the Moderator calls the commissioners to order so that I can talk about something else.

But if you only read the mainstream media on this side of the world you would think that the Assembly is about one thing, and only one thing — The suitability of the lifestyle of a partnered gay man for service as the pastor at a church in Aberdeen.

I would like to think that the Assembly will deal with this in its usual decently and in order fashion.  In fact, I expect that it will having followed these debates for a while.  What I don’t know about will be what will happen after that.

The other problem that I have is that I am following this from 8261.97 km away.  (That would be 5133.75 mi for those of us who only know the metric system as 2-liter bottles.)  I have been struck in the last week by the prolific, and frankly hyperbolic, coverage by the media.  They seem to be almost exclusively focusing on the conflict and “impending doom” that this controversy in the Church of Scotland will cause.  Yes, there is coverage of other issues, but usually in an “oh, by the way” manner.

The hot topic of the week was the sermon preached on the last Lord’s Day by the Rev. Ian Watson.  The title was “Jude: Fighting Truth Decay #3” and it is available on the Rev. Watson’s blog.  (And I must trust that what is posted on the blog is what was preached.)  From that the media got the following headlines

Anti-gay ‘Nazi’ slur causes Church of Scotland outrage – Ekklesia
Anti-gay Minister the Rev Ian Watson in ‘Nazi battle’ outrage – Times Online
Minister compares fight against homosexual clergy to resistance of Nazis – The Telegraph

Having read these articles and the sermon they are based on there is clearly a reference and implicit analogy to the run-up to the Second World War that would strike a nerve in many people.  Related to that, here is exactly what the Rev. Watson posted on his blog.  The Introduction:

There are very few people who enjoy conflict.  The vast majority of
decent people will do almost anything to avoid situations of
confrontation.  So, the soup may be cold, the meat tough and the
pudding inedible, but when the waiter asks us if we are enjoying our
meal we’ll smile and nod.  We don’t want to complain, we don’t want to
make a fuss.  We’ll even pay for the privilege. 

This is how bullies succeed.  They realize that no matter how
unhappy we are with their behaviour we’re not going to stand up to
them, because the last thing we want is a shouting match. 

That was the gamble Hitler took when he marched German troops into
the Rhineland in March 1936 in breach of a condition forced on Germany
after World War 1.  It was a huge gamble.  If the French army,
stationed on the other side of the border, had marched against him, the
Germans would have had to retreat and there’s no doubt Hitler’s regime
would have collapsed.  But he guessed correctly that the French had no
stomach for a fight.  If only they had, then the tragedy of a second
World War might have been avoided.

And from the Conclusion

Let me assure you, neither I nor like-minded minsters enjoy
conflict.  We long to be getting on with the work of the gospel in our
parishes.  It’s a distraction we could do without.

But have we learned nothing from history?  Remember Hitler and the
re-taking of the Rhineland.  He got away with it.  No one stopped him. 
So next it was Austria, then Czechoslovakia, and then Poland and only
then world war.

I can’t help asking myself: if we say nothing, do nothing at this
time, what next?  What scriptural truth is next for shaving?  The
uniqueness of Christ as our only Saviour?  The nature of God as Holy
Trinity?  

What moral standards will we depart from?  Can we expected unmarried
couples in our manses?  A line has to be drawn in the sand, or the
whole edifice will come tumbling down (now there’s a mixed metaphor for
you!)

In between he makes no further reference to these events but talks about various conflicts in church history and his scripture passage, Jude 3-4, particularly v. 3 where it says

Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we
share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for
the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

While many people found Mr. Watson’s sermon illustration disturbing, the press reports that I have read focused on the Germany analogy and did not properly convey, in my opinion, the full sense of the sermon.  In addition the media states that many religious and political leaders have expressed disapproval, but are weak backing that up with quotes.  The Telegraph article does give two reactions:

Rev Peter Macdonald, the leader elect of the Iona Community and
minister of St George’s West, Edinburgh, told The Times he found the
sermon disturbing while Rev Lindsay Biddle, chaplain of Affirmation
Scotland, a pro-homosexual group, said: “If you don’t like homosexuals,
then get on with it – but don’t use the Bible to justify opinions.”

And a defense from Rev. Watson

Rev Watson defended his sermon: “There is no doubt that there is a
conflict,” he said. “I was trying to explain why I am engaged in this.
People say to me, ‘This is not a hill to die on’, but I think it is a
fight worth fighting. “Evangelicals seek to defend the historic and
orthodox Christian faith. If we don’t what are we? I am a man of
convictions.”

So while I can see Rev. Watson’s perspective and why some are offended and concerned by the comments, I still find the media reports as superficial and too focused on the most controversial aspects.  (And I would note that I have searched Rev. Watson’s posted text a couple of times and he does not actually use the term “Nazi” himself, instead referring to “Hitler” and “Germany.”  I don’t know if the media uses the term for brevity or impact?)

The other thread that is going around related to this story, and again promoted more by the media than in direct statements that I am reading, is the prospect of schism.  In the Telegraph article I have already quoted from the second paragraph opens with

His [The Rev. Watson’s] comments will widen divisions within the Kirk over the appointment of an openly gay minister to a parish church last year.

As far as I can tell this article is firmly in the News section, not the opinion, so I would fault the writer, Alastair Jamieson, for the inclusion of the “will widen” without a direct attribution.  Yes, in the next paragraph he writes

Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, the minister at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral,
which is attended by the Queen, has warned a schism would occur if his
appointment was confirmed.

But the way the article is constructed it appears Mr. Jamieson is using the Rev. MacKenzie’s statement to support his own thesis rather than report on other people’s concerns about divisions.  And in many of these articles quotes from those who do not think there will be division are missing.

I should point out some good coverage of the issue.  Two good examples come from the BBC.  There is one story that tones down the headline a bit with “Church Split Warning Over Gay Row.”  It also contains a 15 minute video that has a very good conversation between two CofS ministers, the Rev. Randall and the Rev. Gilchrist, discussing the issue and theological viewpoints.  And they make the very important point that this controversy is about standards for ordained office, something that you could not tell from two of the three headlines I listed above.  (Style points to the Telegraph for bringing that out in the headline.)  The second article is on William Crawley’s religion blog Will & Testament.  I enjoy William’s writing because it is usually balanced, well informed and relevant.  This article is no exception.

At a news conference earlier this week the Moderator Designate, the Rev. Bill Hewitt, refused to answer questions about the issue, just saying it was his job to oversee the Assembly debate.

Finally, in another post William Crawley notes that religious leaders in Northern Ireland have added their names to the petition from The Fellowship of Confessing Churches that urges the restriction on those called to the pastorate.  He points out that the list of signatories includes several former moderators of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

I expect not to address this issue again before it comes to the floor of Assembly at the end of this week.  Debate on the filed protest of Aberdeen Presbytery’s actions is docketed for Saturday evening.  I expect to be live blogging it.  I do want to finish one more post before the Assembly begins, especially since there is another important matter that won’t come to the floor until next year, but will have an influence on several other items of business.   (Update:  Thanks to Iain I have been informed that there are not plans to webcast the Saturday evening debate.  I guess I’ll have to depend on the reports after the debate.)