There have been enough events happening this week that I thought it worthwhile updating the preparations for the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Probably the biggest single news item, one worthy of a Presbyterian News Service article, is that at least one individual, the Rev. Edward Koster, Stated Clerk of Detroit Presbytery, will challenge the search committee nominee, Rev. Gradye Parsons, for the job of Stated Clerk of the General Assembly. Rev. Koster has served 13 years as a Presbytery stated clerk and in addition to his theological training he is also a lawyer. The News Service article quotes Rev. Koster from a prepared statement as saying “I believe that while our leadership has been faithful and competent, it
has increasingly strayed from the core of the church. If I am called to
serve, I believe I can make a difference.”
The blogosphere has had some response to this challenge. In particular the Rev. Bob Davis of San Diego Presbytery has an analysis of the process from his perspective and concludes that the process as it currently stands limits the commissioners’ exposure to the challengers and favors the committee nominee. The Rev. Davis has some experience with this, having been one of the challengers to Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick when he was last re-elected by the 216th General Assembly in 2004. In a follow-up post today Rev. Davis suggests some changes to the Standing Rules to improve the process. Specifically, he wants more time for conversation between the candidates and the commissioners and delegates and so suggests establishing a commissioner committee to interview the candidates. While I don’t have my materials in front of me, it is my memory that was the process at the preceding election at the 212th General Assembly (2000). I would also note that the Rev. Davis appears to be a commissioner to General Assembly from San Diego presbytery so he may be in a position to do something about his suggestion.
There are some additional reactions on blogs to the Stated Clerk election, including Quotidian Grace and Spoiled Dinner Party that express concern about the choice of an insider as the committee nominee at this point in time and they welcome the challengers. The other 12 applicants who were not selected by the nominating committee have until May 7 to declare if they also wish to challenge.
Another place there has been activity is on the business system PC-biz. The big news is that overnight the members of the committees were added to the system. In scanning through the lists I recognize a bunch of names, like the Rev. Davis who will be on Committee 8, Mission Coordination and Budgets. For the candidates for Moderator and Vice-Moderator, Rev. Carl Mazza is on Committee 4, Church Polity; Rev. Byron Wade is on Committee 5, Church Orders and Ministry; Rev. Tamara Letts, Committee 13, Theological Issues and Institutions; Rev. Peter deVries, Committee 14, Review of GA Permanent Committees; Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow and Rev. William Teng, Committee 16, Worship and Spiritual Renewal (note: these are supposed to be random assignments so someone from Presbyterians for Renewal on the Spiritual Renewal Committee is coincidence); and Elder Roger Shoemaker on Committee 17, Youth. Those that are elected Moderator and Vice-moderator will not serve on their committee so they may moderate the committee report impartially.
As far as the business is concerned, almost all overtures and recommendations have been assigned to committees at this point. There is one new overture, 99, also known as business item 11-23, from the Presbytery of San Francisco. The title is “On Divestment from Caterpillar, Inc., and Motorola, Inc., for Profiting from the Israeli Military Occupation of Palestine Territories” which pretty much says it all. It is also interesting to note that two more overtures have been withdrawn: Overture 4 on clarifying the Rules of Discipline about pronouncing censure and Overture 75 on temporary suspension of military aid to the State of Israel. No reasons for withdrawal given.
In other news related to the Moderator election, the Candidates Forum at First Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, NJ, is tomorrow night and I look forward to comments and impressions from any of the candidates, from Mark Smith on his blog Mark Time. or from any other blogger who makes it to the event. And thanks to Mark for putting this event together. Being on the left coast I don’t think I’ll be making it myself. Also, I continue to watch but have not seen word yet on Rev. Mazza’s nominee for Vice-Moderator.
Finally, the denomination has announced the prayer emphasis for the week before GA highlighted by a road trip by Tammy Wiens-Sorge, Associate for Spiritual Formation and Stephany Jackson, Coordinator for Congregational Leadership, traveling from Louisville to San Jose. For six months now I have been steeling myself for all the upcoming references to that old song about San Jose and the title of this effort, Praying Our Way To San Jose, comes pretty close to the first authentic reference I have heard. But I have to agree with Joan Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly, when she says in her message on the web page “If you haven’t already, start praying now!” I could not agree more.