We again welcome the Rev. Janet Newman as the guest worship leader this Sunday. Janet’s sermon is “Rest for the Weary.” Janet says, “The gospel reading from Matthew begins with a series of sayings by Jesus denouncing the people who refuse to change and follow him.  The reading however, ends up with this very familiar passage; “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  The transition from the beginning of the passage to these verses of comfort is an interesting journey, which has much to say about us and our times.  Questions to ponder include who we are as Christians in today’s world and in the face of today’s immigrant crisis, what does it mean to hold the banner of a place of refuge?” More about this Sunday’s worship here.

(Jill Fandrich has been a commissioner at the PC(USA)’s 221st General Assembly this week in Detroit.)

Friday, the last day of General Assembly, was spent inside a windowless conference hall from 8:30am to 12 midnight. My eyes were glued PC-Biz on my laptop, my ears to the speakers, my butt to a chair, and my heart to God. It was the last leg of a marathon week. It was exhausting- physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

We accomplished a lot of business yesterday—a real lot—but the piece that is making headlines and with which I struggled the most personally was the overture recommending that the PC(USA) divest of stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, and Motorola because their products are used in “non-peaceful pursuits” in Palestine. Read more →

(Jill Fandrich is attending the PC(USA) General Assembly in Detroit this week. Follow her blogs here, as well as updates on Facebook and Twitter)

For the most part, I think I was a responsible commissioner to the committee to which I was assigned-  Social Justice Issues.  I was there on time and for each meeting, I read all the materials several times, I was attentive, I listened carefully, I took notes, I thoughtfully considered each vote, and I took my role seriously. But I didn’t speak. For those who know me, that’s not surprising. I need time to formulate my thoughts which is why I prefer writing to speaking. So the day after my committee completed its work, here’s what I should have said.

We dealt with a lot of really big, important societal issues- abortion, end-of-life, voter suppression, tax justice, drug policies, child nutrition, gun violence. Many of these topics were of interest to me because of my job (in the court system) and my involvement in politics. More than once in the course of discussion, some committee member, usually a Teaching Elder (pastor), would say something like “We need to proclaim the prophetic witness of God on this issue!” I know the church uses this kind of language, and I should be used to it. But it is so often said in a superior, “we know God’s will” tone that it makes me uncomfortable. There were several times, in both the tone of the overtures and the tone of the discussion, when the condescending, superior, “holier than thou” attitude put me off.

Now I might be a little defensive for personal reasons. In my “day job,” I work for the NY Court System and have for 24 years. My husband is an elected county judge. I believe in our justice system and have great respect for it. In my experience, it is made up of good people working very hard to be fair and ensure the rights of everyone, including drug dealers, gun owners, voters, families with impossibly difficult challenges, ill-equipped mothers.  Is our justice system perfect? No. Is it sometimes convoluted? Yes. Does it make mistakes? Yes. Are there always good answers? No.

Our justice system, for all its faults and human error, is still pretty darn good.  Just like our churches and the people in them. I try every day to live a life modeled after Jesus’ example, in my work life, my personal life, my family life, and my church life. I don’t like to see the justice system painted so negatively with such a broad brush by my fellow Presbyterians . I wish I were braver to speak up, but I wasn’t. If I had been, here’s what I would have said:

“Why do you see the speck in your friend’s eye but do not notice the log that is in your own?”

Jill

Westminster’s Clerk of Session Jill Fandrich is the Ruling Elder Commissioner for the Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery at the PC(USA) General Assembly in Detroit this week. Follow GA221 on this blog, and on Facebook and Twitter.

For non-Presbyterians reading this blog, there is something important you need to know. Presbyterians love meetings. There is actually a theological reason for this. We believe that the holy spirit breathes through our voices and our collective wisdom. We believe that God’s will can be discerned in conversation, discussion, and prayer through listening, hearing, and speaking with others. The Pentecost story- of people of many lands and different languages all hearing and understanding each other- speaks to us as People of Committees. God’s voice is heard through our voices.

So we’re in Presbyterian Heaven here at GA with all these meetings. We began the week with two days of plenary sessions with the whole assembly, and then we broke into our committees. I was assigned (randomly) to the Social Justice Issues Committee. Other committees are dealing with Marriage and Civil Unions, Middle East Issues, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Church Polity and Ordered Ministry, Mission Coordination, Peacemaking and International Issues, Congregational Vitality, and more.

My committee has 67 members. We met yesterday from 9:30am to 9:30pm, with breaks for meals of course. We dealt with overtures which had been submitted by presbyteries on issues relating to Child Nutrition, Food Sovereignty, Gun Violence, Trauma Counseling Resources, and Racial Ethnic issues. Our discussions were considerate, passionate, respectful, and thoughtful, all ably controlled through a gracious use of Roberts Rules of Order. We’re back today to deal with abortion, end-of-life issues, death penalty, and voter ID, and “tax justice.”

When we reconvene in plenary sessions tomorrow, the whole assembly will deal with the overtures from the committees. Now off to Pentecost, GA221-style. More tonight or tomorrow.

Jill

(Westminster Ruling Elder and Clerk of Session Jill Fandrich is the Ruling Elder Commissioner for the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse to the PCUSA General Assembly in Detroit this week. You can follow her perspective on GA221 on Facebook, Twitter, and this blog.)

I am glad I added the qualifier “time permitting” to my promise that I’d blog from GA. The first day, Saturday, started at 8:30am and I got back to my hotel at midnight. I’ll try to give you a taste of the day before heading for Sunday worship at Fort Street Church in downtown Detroit.

I started Saturday by attending two Riverside Conversations before the opening worship. I chose to attend “Meet the Moderator Candidates” and “Mission Responsibility Through Investment” (about divesting in companies that profit from non-peaceful pursuits in Palestine). Both were very helpful.

More about the moderators in a separate blog. The divestiture recommendations look to be this GA’s hottest topic based on the pre-GA lobbying I’ve been getting. I am listening carefully to all sides. I believe in responsible investment, both personally and denominationally, as a form of good stewardship, but I am concerned about the “anti-Israel” message that this appears to send. Saying “This isn’t political” doesn’t keep it from being political. I will follow this closely with an open mind.

Opening worship was impressive. It took place in the cavernous plenary session hall, complete with jumbotrons, orchestra, bagpipes, dancers, etc. Singing and praying with over 2000 other Presbyterians is a powerful experience, especially coming from a church which usually has about 100 in worship. We joined voices in song and shared communion by intinction. I am trying to keep an open mind about some of the “new” music. It’ll be tough to win over this old bird who loves the traditional hymns.

The afternoon was spent in our first plenary session, mostly devoted to orientation. Kudos to the COLA (that’s local arrangements) and COGA (that’s the Office of General Assembly) folk for being informative and helpful in an engaging, good humored way. Major win for the “GA Floor” video, a take-off on “One Day More” from Les Miserables, which you can and should watch on YouTube. Presbyterians can be pretty funny after all.

Technology failed us in the evening. The best laid plans of Presbyterian mice and men surely went awry. The on-line voting system failed, then we completed lost internet connections, then the clickers didn’t work either, so we resorted to good old fashioned paper ballots, making for a fair amount of frustration and a long evening.

The theme of this General Assembly is “Abound in Hope” from Romans 15:13. The mood so far is hopeful, I would say, despite the challenges our denomination faces. I will keep you posted on our work throughout the week. Time permitting, that is.

Jill