The Fun Begins Again . . .

Wednesday morning at GA is traditionally a morning of catching up . . . on reading (all the reports/actions that other committees have taken) and with friends (during the annual seminary lunches). So a room full of Princeton Seminary alums gathered at the Hilton for lunch, fellowship and catching up. Our table had alums from 1947 to 2008 and it was nice to connect with friends and meet new people.

During the lunch, President Iain Torrance updated us on recent changes at the seminary (without going into lots of detail here) the seminary is building new family housing (maybe this means no more pink tiled bathrooms) and working to make more library resources available to the church (both locally and globally) including replacing Speer library with a new Bicentennial Library.

This afternoon and evening we took final action on items from several committees (for the Assembly with several items going to presbyteries for approval). Here are just a few of the items that we addressed and my perceptions on them:

• Passed – Item 16-06 “Baptism Requirement for Participation in Lord’s Supper.” – while not amending the constitution the “statement is offered as pastoral advice” and provides guidance in serving communion to those who are not already baptized by placing the emphasis on grace and hospitality as well as beginning a conversation about the “significance of the sacraments.”
• Defeated – Item 16-03 “On Amending W-2.3008b Regarding Baptism of Children” – the debate was personally difficult for me. There were references by a pastor and a chaplain in support of the amendment about how paraphrasing a quote from John Calvin about God adopting us before we are even born is reassuring to parents who have suffered a perinatal loss (infant death in the first 28 days of life) or still birth. The debate brought back many strong emotions of when we faced this very issue as the parents of a very premature daughter who died at 23 days old. While the speakers were 100% accurate about the wonderful support that this knowledge provides, it also hurt to hear the death of infants and the pain of parents used as leverage in a larger argument that is really not related to the issue of baptism!! Particularly since the full quote from Calvin is meant to assure the faithful that infants who die are already adopted by God.
• Passed – Item 16-12 “Report of the Special Committee on the Belhar Confession.” –77% of commissioners voted in favor of referring the Belhar Confession to the presbyteries for approval. There was less debate than I expected and the number voting in favor was more than I thought it would be.
• Passed – Item 07-01 “Form of Government Task Force Report to the 219th General Assembly (2010).” – after extensive debate (and after a defeated substitute motion) the amended new Form of Government (nFOG) has been approved by the GA and will be sent to the presbyteries for approval. As a former soccer referee, I like the idea of a more streamlined constitution that provides guidance but is hopefully not bogged down with too many provisions to be easily & effectively implemented (like the difference between “The Laws of the Game” in soccer versus the huge rulebooks for football or baseball).
• Wonderful polity phrase that was heard a couple of times – “on this vote . . . yes means no” which was used when voting to approve a recommendation from a committee to disapprove an overture.

For more info about what happened at GA there are many sources online including these UNOFFICIAL perspectives: The Presbyterian Outlook, GA Help, and The GA Junkie.