Sunday at the General Assembly

Sunday began as Sundays do when you are a pastor . . . with worship. But, this week rather than serving as the pastor I got to serve as a participant in a wonderful opening worship service at the 219^th General Assembly. From the liturgical dancers and opening processional to the 250+ person choir and the sermon by Bruce Reyes-Chow (the now former moderator) the worship service was full of energy.

We celebrated both sacraments (communion and baptism) during worship, including the first baptism ever during worship at General Assembly. The baptism was a wonderful and moving experience; and on a personal note my former upstairs neighbor during seminary (Rev. Kara Root) provided the introduction to the baptism.

During the service there was a time of special recognition for military and veterans affairs chaplains thanking them for their dedicated service to the men and women who serve our country. Thank you to all who serve and have served as military & veterans affairs chaplains!!

Also, those Ministers of Word and Sacrament who have died and joined the great cloud of witnesses in the church triumphant since the last General Assembly were acknowledged. Among those acknowledged were several members of the Presbytery of Wabash Valley, including the Rev. Jim Rankin who served at First Presbyterian – Delphi where I now serve.

The worship service was a wonderful experience and it was only after the service that I realized we had worshiped for 2 hours and 10 minutes (and that Bruce’s sermon was about 30 minutes long).

This afternoon found us beginning our committee work. I am serving on Committee #06 – “Church Orders and Ministry” which will be considering overtures related to Christian Educators, ordination standards, evaluating the call process, and behavior of ordained officers.

Today was a short day of committee work that focused on getting to know each other, orientation to the committee procedures and approving our docket. So, tomorrow we will move forward with three working sessions as we dive head first into the 20 overtures assigned to our committee.

I am also serving as an “Overture Advocate” in support of the Presbytery’s concurrence to Overture 04-05 “On Creating a Special Committee to Explore the Roles and Relationships of Synods and Presbyteries to Each Other, to the Agencies, and to Congregations.” So far, there has been very little advocating but the overture is on the docket for tomorrow evening so this will change tomorrow.

We capped off the 4^th of July with a “picnic” (and if you wanted to stay fireworks) on Nicollet Island in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4^th of July!!