| On the scene reports from General Assembly by Stated Clerk Carl Wilton
Carl Wilton is in Minneapolis and posting daily reports and observations. The following have come in since July 3 (most recent first). You can sign up to follow his postings by visiting the Clerk’s Corner.
As a public service, I’m posting some tweets that have come in during the last few minutes to Twitter #ga219, reporting on actions taken by various Assembly committees. These come from a variety of people who have been sitting in the committee meeting rooms, so I can’t vouch for their accuracy. By and large, though, I think we can trust them. Read more . . .
A Question of Privilege
The Assembly’s Civil Unions and Marriage Issues Committee just voted, 15-40-1, not to substitute the Minority Report of the Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage for the Majority Report.
Just before that, a member of the Committee moved that the vote be taken by paper ballot. It’s a debatable motion, but there was a surprising amount of debate on the motion to vote by ballot. The mover had expressed how it was, for her, a highly sensitive issue, so she would feel more comfortable voting “privately.” Read more . . .
Here’s a scriptural interpretation angle I hadn’t heard before – as much time as I’ve spent investigating the scripture passages typically cited as foundational to Christian marriage. Read more
“Why are we here? We are here because, just like your families, we want the best for our children.”
Those were the words of David Wall, Presbyterian Certified Christian Educator, member of the administrative staff at Princeton Theological Seminary, partner in a same-gender couple – and father.
David told the General Assembly’s Civil Unions and Marriage Issues Committee of the daughter whom he and his partner, Bob, adopted as an infant, and who has now grown up to become a student at one of our Presbyterian colleges. He also told the committee how he and Bob recently got “unionized” according to New Jersey’s civil union law – or, he quipped, maybe the better word is “civilized.” That got a laugh. Read more . . .
Opening worship at the General Assembly. Time for all the bells and whistles – and then some.
Today was the first-ever baptism at a General Assembly. A cute little girl from a Minneapolis church was baptized up there on the platform by her pastor, with the congregation also in attendance to answer the promises. I wonder if she’ll always be known as the General Assembly Baby? And, I wonder what difference it will make in her life to know that her baptism took place in such an unusual way? Read more . . .
 “We have an election!” Those were the words of outgoing General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, as he announced the name of his successor, Elder Cynthia Bolbach of National Capital Presbytery.
It happened on the fourth ballot – rather quickly, actually, considering that there was an unusually large field of 6 candidates.
There was the usual variety of questions – with a few more lightweight, non-controversial questions than usual. It wasn’t until the last question, when a seminary advisory delegate asked the candidates to state, in a paragraph or less, what views they held on the marriage and civil unions issue, that the Assembly could really hear the candidates address a divisive issue. Read more
The Assembly leadership has been orienting the commissioners and advisory delegates to their task. Part of this was teaching the commissioners to use the electronic keypads they use for voting. There were a few practice questions that were essentially polls.
One question was how many times each of the commissioners has served as a commissioner or advisory delegate before. Here are the results: Read more
Here’s the question everyone wants to know, as the General Assembly convenes: What are the big issues?
This time around, there are four, as I see it. Read about the Big 4 |
