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Erin's GA JOURNAL: 
Reflections from Erin Cox-Holmes

The business of the General Assembly is conducted in the bowels of the Convention Center. It’s a great dark dungeon of a room. The dim lighting makes you feel you’re in an underground concrete cave, or a parking garage, or an airline hanger.

Seating is divided according to function. The commissioners are corralled in an enclosure guarded by diligent volunteers. Nobody gets in, so the autonomy of conscience of the commissioners is not compromised. The purpose is noble, but the actual assembly mechanics make you snort, if you’re inclined to cynical snortings. One side of our Great Divide has publicly said they plan to spend a quarter of a million dollars on lobbying expenses. The other side says wistfully they haven’t got that much to spend. Someone else can do the math on how much that comes out to per commissioner. Certainly it’s enough to turn up the lights a little.

Outside the corral, seating is arranged by form and function. Presbyteries are allocated 2 seats: one for an administrative staff member, the other for the presbytery clerk. These seats are not together. If you’re attempting to be a team of equals, as Wayne and I are, this is a significant pain. I do have a place to sit: the news staff has very graciously issued me press credentials ("Kiski?? Oh, we’re a start-up online presbytery commentary service." People nod sagely, as if they understood what I just said.) This entitles me to have a spot to perch my digicam, laptop and "stuff."

Behind those with assigned seats are rows of folding seats. Most of the time, these are sparsely occupied. When what we define as significant votes (all too often, what that means is a vote on a topic related to sexuality) are pending, the hall suddenly fills like the rising tide. Waves of people swirl in, then recede when the action is over.

The beginning of the meeting is a masterpiece. While the opening might be viewed by some with hyperactive rear ends as "just another bunch of reports," what it actually does is set the stage—the tone–for what’s to come.

One of the first items is to report on evaluations from last year’s General Assembly. What commissioners’ valued most was: "the powerful sense of worship and building a sense of community with Presbyterians who are different than me." Those in charge of this first meeting seize the time to begin that worshipful sense of community building. John Bartholomew, from the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, pledges COGA to the goal of building future assemblies which are spiritual gatherings rather than political action committees.

But the real highlight is the "Cliff and John" show. One of the subthemes for this week is that the standing Stated Clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick, has been challenged by the Rev. Casey "Winfield" Jones of Texas, and must stand for re-election later this week. John Detterick is the Executive Director of the General Assembly Council. I’ve had the privilege to watch the 2 of them in action before. They radiate an easy liking for each other and a passion for the peace, unity and purity of the church which is a balm in the midst of the storm. The moment they won my heart, head, and loyalty was at this year’s National Churchwide Staff Meeting in March. I was on the Design Team. We had planned poorly: evening prayer was at the end of a very long day. Nobody was much in the mood for another worship service, including the Design Team. Most of the Gathering exercised their freedom to split. But there – in the 30 or so who remained – were the most senior staff of the Presbyterian church, who had had the longest day of any of us. Cliff and John quietly stayed – along with many other senior national staff members whose motives are regularly questioned in some publications. They stayed. And they prayed.

Here, at GA, Cliff and John radiate "nonanxious presence." During the opening they dare to focus on something besides the questions which will consume the headlines for the rest of the week. The General Assembly Council shows us what’s happening in the church: Disaster Response, New Curriculum, Church Growth Centers, the new online Church leadership connection with 85% of new PIFs and CIFs being received online, an ambitious revitalization grant proposal, the "Toll-free 3". For the blessed space of an afternoon we shift our gaze to what unites us. It’s a glorious ride.

I leave the hall with a spring in my step and an ache in my heart. It won’t be long before we’re back in the arena, battling in the light which is too dim to read the other properly. But for just a space, we’ve remembered who we are, and why we’re here. Outgoing Moderator Freda Gardner ends her report giving thanks for this "wonderful church, filled with people who get side-tracked, but who mostly keep on trying to act like Christ in the world."

On this particular afternoon, we’ve all been riding in the same train, heading towards the same destination, all on the same track. Thanks be to God.

This is Erin Cox-Holmes, for KiskiOnline, www.kiskipby.org.

Off to GA We Go
Waves and Margaritas
Where's Waldo? Part One
Where's Waldo? Part Two
Noodling About Neckerchiefs
A Digital Digression