The marathon begins!

As I chatted with commissioners at the end of the day today they talked about how tiring a day it was.  And this was the preparatory day.  Things actually get underway tomorrow.  Today was about orientation and training.  Just wait until 1 AM on Friday night, that would actually be Saturday morning, as you still have one committee report to finish before you can go to bed.  Well, we will get there in a week.

But Today… Sed Hodie

Actually yesterday, YAD Philip, my son, made it to San Jose without any problem, got checked in, and began “YADding.”  I’ll talk more about the YAD program another time, but they keep them too busy for them to really get into trouble even though we had to sign a waiver that we understood there would be no “adult” supervision.  One of the highlights for him was riding on the shuttle bus from the airport next to Mr. Robert Wilson, Vice-moderator of the 217th GA and talking to him.  My Son The YAD seems to be doing fine when I chatted with him briefly today.  One thing he did note during the antiracism training for commissioners and delegates was that over lunch before the training the YAD’s were talking about how in their generation/culture it is not racism as it has been in the past as much as drawing lines of who is in and who is out on other criteria:  where you live, what you do, etc.

As for me, I grabbed a flight on Southwest up here and made it early afternoon.  The flight was on a new airplane, was on-time, had that little bit of Southwest’s stand-up comedy from the flight attendants (including a couple of bits I had not heard before), cost me nothing extra to check a bag, and cost less than filling up my truck twice.  But I was not the only Presbyterian on the flight.  One good friend, a few faces I recognized, and a few that were new faces to me but the “frozen chosen” stood out in the crowd.  And folks, we may like the back pews in church, but we’ll take the front seats on a plane.

Had a nice clear day for flying and it is well known among the geologists that the flight path from LA to the Bay Area follows the San Andreas fault, visible as the linear valley running from lower left to upper right in the picture. From the airport we had a nice ride on the shuttle bus to the convention hotels and it was an honor to help a former Moderator of the GA with their luggage.

The convention center area is convenient.  There is a light rail system to help get around but most things are walking distance including San Jose State University.  I will note that I think the drivers are even crazier here than in LA LA land.  Be especially careful of cars looking like they are about to pull a right-on-red.  Then again, it is Friday evening and we Angeleno’s are at our driving “best” then as well.  After all, “L.A. is a great big freeway.”  And I do regularly confess that when I am driving is when I am probably my least Christ-like.

After checking in I got registered and started looking for friends old and new, including a number of the virtual kind.  I’ll have a few more days to do business but I did take care of some of that today.  But the surprise of the exhibit hall is that the Office of Evangelism and Church Growth and presbygrow.net has put the Easter card from Mission Bay Presbyterian Church on a t-shirt.  Had to have one.  All it took was agreeing to be on the e-mail list.  (I would also note that as I called up the web site to link it I see that the Office of Evangelism and Church Growth has changed their subdirectory from “/churchgrowth/” to “/goodnews/”  Sending a message with that one!)

I got a little time to talk to Moderator/Vice-moderator candidates but I’ll do more of that Saturday morning.  I also ran into a bunch of people I know mostly from the Web 2.0 world.  It was great to put names and faces together in the “face-to-face” world.  It got me thinking about what the wider electronic community of the Church Virtual misses when it does not gather in person.  Sunday worship will be an interesting experiment in technology as we gather in two large “arena” worship spaces but with a television feed between to share parts of the service.

I finished the evening at the Church Basement Roadshow at First Presbyterian Church of San Jose, just a few blocks from the convention center area.  A little on the Roadshow in a moment, but I was also struck by the church.  It is very “utilitarian” architecture with a sanctuary (worship space?) with theater seating for a bit over 100 that with some minor modifications could be just another lecture hall.  But it is a historic church and this is the third building they have had in their history.  One of their members spent a great deal of time telling me the history of the church.  The first building was destroyed in the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, a reminder that San Francisco, while large and having the great fire, was not the only city devastated by that earthquake.  The second building became “unsafe” and the current space was built in 1972.  There are stained-glass windows from the previous building hanging over the current windows.  While preserving the past this looks like an example, at least in its architecture, of a church that moved on to modern or post-modern thinking early on.  And what’s this about a church basement, this is California and most residences, churches, and small commercial spaces don’t have basements.

As for the Roadshow, I found it entertaining and moving.  I need to say that it is part entertainment.  It is also part promotional with the corporate sponsors and each of the principals having books on the market.  And the bucket was passed with a suggested donation of $10. (Although it seemed around me that less than half put anything in.) But it also included three significant “testimonies,” even if tied to the books.  After reflecting on this I have decided not to thoroughly review or deconstruct the evening in case others will be seeing the roadshow later on.  Getting back to the “face-to-face” thing, you should hear the testimonies in their original voice first.  But I will comment that one speaker shared a story similar to Augustine’s with “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in YOU.”  It was also a critique that as God is working in our hearts, salvation is not a “one-size-fits-all” “four spiritual laws” path to salvation, but when God calls, the call may come differently for everyone.  It is where your heart is broken and there is a place for emotions in your spiritual life.  Another testimony picked up on where your heart is broken and the call to covenant community.  The theme of love was present throughout the evening, but not in the general sense that “God is Love,” but in a very real and tangible sense of love for others in the covenant community, really caring about your brothers and sisters in Christ.  And also, like the remaining testimony talked about, loving like Jesus loved for the outcast and marginal.  The show is not for everyone.  But if you want some entertainment with some hard-hitting stories consider it.  I thought it was an evening well spent and an interesting voice about the body of Christ in the future.

As for tomorrow, this little piece of the body of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) convenes it’s General Assembly in the morning.  Back then.