This morning, although I over slept, I made it to the breakfast of the Presbyterian Coalition. There were not as many people as this breakfast as were at yesterday’s lunch, only about a quarter to one-third as many. Part of that is the breakfast begins at 7:00 AM. Bill Giles, retiring executive director, was honored. After singing several "praise hymns" Vic Pentz, pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Ga. was introduced as the featured speaker. He said, "The renewal of the church is in a discovery of our heritage: evangelical, revivalist and populist.." He also stated, "The past is past and the future is alive with possibility for celebrating the glory of God." Pointing to the "great awakening" era of American and Presbyterian history, he urged the attenders to renew the church.

As I reflect on the gatherings of many "affinity groups" over breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I am struck by how the speakers at each one tend to identify that particular group as especially standing in the right on various issues and concerns. It doesn’t matter if it is the Covenant Network, the Coalition, Voices of Orthodox Women or the Voices of Sophia. Each one is cast as somehow having a particular, and maybe peculiar, grasp on the truth about God, the Christian faith, and ethics. Is it possible that so many can be right, even when their rightness is in direct opposition to the rightness of others? It is possible that the wrongness of others is really that wrong? It is ironic that frequently "opposing viewpoints" are gathered for a meal in adjoining dining halls. Sound systems are cranked up to a decibel level intended to penetrate the folding walls which thinly separate the two groups. Hymns and songs are sung heartily as if those on each side of the wall were trying to drown out those on the other side.

My personal take on this is that all the affinity groups are wrong and they are all right. Not a single group has a grasp on the fullness of God. The minute we think we have it all firmly lined up we are no longer worshiping God. We have created an idol, a god we can control because we have defined this god and made it in our own image. The Voices of Orthodox Women need the Voices of Sophia, and vice versa. The Covenant Network needs the Presbyterian Coalition and vice versa. Parker Williamson needs Janie Spahr and vice versa. I think there is something about this in Scripture. What does it say? For just as the body is one and has many members, and all of the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ... Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (I Cor. 12:12-31)