There is plenty of information regarding the two teams standing for Co-Moderators of the 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The GA website includes a Moderator Candidates page as well as the traditional booklet that includes the questions and answers to a variety of questions. For these posts, I will give a brief introduction to each team but will focus mostly on the answers to the official questions.
The second team listed is Ruth Santana-Grace and Shavon Starling-Louis. Their theme is “Unbounded We Thrive” and the components of the theme are the Theology of Calling, Theology of the Table, and Theology of Flourishing. Much more of their material and discussion of the components can be found on their Unbounded We Thrive website, Facebook page, Instagram stream, and Twitter feed.
The Rev. Ruth Santana-Grace is currently serving as the Executive Presbyter of Philadelphia Presbytery. Previously she served as the Executive Presbyter of San Gabriel Presbytery and as an Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Before her journey to ordained ministry, she had a career in public policy and international relations that included serving as Director of The Bridge Association in Rome, Italy. That time included not just international relations but ecumenical relations as well. Her service to the national church includes eight years on the Presbyterian Foundation Board and twelve years on the Princeton Theological Seminary Board.
The Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis is currently serving as the Pastor and Head of Staff at Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. Her previous calls include Providence Presbyterian Church, Rhode Island, First Presbyterian Church, Midwest City, OK and Meadowlake Presbyterian Church, NC. As she says in her brief bio information in the Booklet she “Discovered [her] call to ordained ministry working as church office administrator, campus ministry intern, and ecumenical community organizing office administrator.” She earned an M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary. Shavon has served in a number of leadership capacities on the national level including as Co-Creative Director for worship at GA 225.
For the booklet, the candidates were asked to answer the first four questions and any two of the additional five questions. Both Ruth and Shavon contributed to the answers of the six questions for the Booklet.
For the first question about helping the church journey from Lament to Hope Ruth emphasizes that lament is as old as human history and at this time our lament reflects the time in a pandemic as well as the current racism, economic injustice, poverty and increased violence. But the circumstances allow us to join our voices together in lament and “join God on the journey of redemption and restoration.” Shavon also reflects the theme of journey but begins by naming it as a spiritual journey from lament to hope. She goes on to say:
In lament, our bodies testify to the impact of suffering upon us. Holding space in our spirits, minds, and bodies to truly lament is an act of faithful hope. It trusts that we are
safe enough to outwardly share what is inwardly real.
Shavon concludes that question with the image of Jesus Christ calling us to new life like he called Lazerus.
The second question reflects on what the Co-Moderators do between the Assemblies to interpret the actions of the Assembly. Shavon begins and includes the comment that “The ambassadorial responsibilities of the office of Moderator of the General Assembly reflect our shared Christian vocation to show up and listen to each other’s
stories.” And she invokes one of their themes – the Theology of the Table – about how we need to gather together “literally and virtually.” Ruth echos the idea of sharing stories and how in the present season she sees the Theology of Flourishing where worshipping communities work from what they have and not out of scarcity. As Co-Moderators they need to “carry that joy and hope into our many sacred conversations and engagements.”
The third question asks “How can the 225th General Assembly (2022) be a sign of hope to the city and the whole church?” Ruth talks about how the Biblical narrative involves many urban centers and how her ministry has happened in many large urban centers. She concludes by saying “God is at work – redeeming the city as the place of new life and resurrection hope.” Shavon takes a different approach and boldly begins:
I appreciate this question but I think it is really important to acknowledge that GA is not happening in Louisville, but actually happening everywhere the commissioners, advisory delegates, and observers find themselves which includes Louisville but also many other locations – cities, towns, unincorporated lands where violence and injustice exists as well.
But she does circle back and later adds “There are many ways in which the time spent in Louisville is a huge opportunity for the PCUSA to listen and learn from this vibrant, evolving, lamenting and hopeful community and take it with us.”
The fourth question essentially asks “how do we be church in the new normal?” As we move on from these times what happens now? Ruth begins and includes in her opening “In a seismic-like movement, we pivoted from our traditional seven deadly words – “we never did it that way before” – to embracing seven words of determination – “we must find a way to witness.” She goes on to talk about how the pandemic forced technological change on churches large and small and all of those in ministry. As she says later, “…there’s no going back.” Shavon starts off with “Reformed and always reforming” but affirms that the call to love God remains and the call to love people remains. In her conclusion, she talks about how the church found a way through it. It was faithful, we started anew and often it came out better than we thought it would. “We found grace. Grace found us. Grace that allows us to love God and God’s creation.”
The first optional question they chose was Question 5: How can the church community make room for all people to share their stories of faith? How can we listen to the stories of people who are not in the church? In her answer, Shavon first invokes the Theology of the Table as the place to listen, be it the sacraments or gathered around the table for Bible study. Or maybe even virtual tables. But turning to the internet there are also lots of stories of faith out there to be heard. Ruth begins by saying:
As I consider this question, perhaps a place to start would be to reframe what we understand as stories of faith. I grew up unaware I had a story of faith. My story didn’t fit into the image I had of what that meant. I thought a story of faith needed to be framed with biblical language. It took me too many years before realizing and claiming my story. My story is framed by everyday struggles and language.
Finally, they chose to answer Question 6: Suggestions for developing faithful leadership? Shavon begins by talking about the Theology of Calling and how they see everyone being called to something and in that calling to service a call to leadership. Ruth echoes those ideas and talks about the preparation of pastoral leaders so they are equipped to identify and prepare those in the church for various callings in the church and in the community.
This information is but a brief summary of the material on the Candidates Page and the Moderator Candidate Booklet. I encourage you to check those out for more detailed information and answers.
And now for my disclaimer: I do not endorse candidates for Moderator or Co-Moderator on this blog, but I need to let you know that Ruth is a friend of mine and we worked closely in the past. In fact, I was installed as Presbytery Moderator at the same meeting she was installed as Executive Pastor. I do not have the same background on the other candidates but from my knowledge of Ruth I have every confidence in her ability to serve as Co-Moderator of the General Assembly.
The election of the Co-Moderators begins at about 8 PM Eastern Time this evening (Saturday, June 18). Stay tuned and we will see what happens. I intend to have a review post of the election up later this evening.