Midweek Update

It has been a couple of long, busy days. Most of this week has been spent in committee meetings, arguing over the finer points of Presbyterian life and practice. For complete news updates, I'd recommend visiting the Presbyterian website.

Let me share with you a few short impressions before I unplug for the evening. Here, then, is my assembly top-ten for the middle of the week:

1. It's very cool when the newly elected moderator of your denomination leaves a comment on your blog! (Thanks, Bruce!)
2. The amazing surprise of this week has been how many people I know. Many, many old friends (well, let's say long time friends) and I have crossed paths. I've lost count, but I think I'm well into the dozens.
3. The work is very hard, but people do take it seriously. Fortunately, they do not lose their sense of humility, either. Tonight, as we finished a day of heated debate on our committee's report to the assembly, our committee leadership led us in a short prayer of confession. Each side of the room stood and confessed our sins to each other, and received the gift of forgiveness from each other. That is a practice well worth preserving.
4. Meals with large groups can be exhausting, but they do open the possibility for table fellowship with one another in ways I'd miss by having lunch by myself.
5. Worship at General Assembly is always a highlight. Imagine 4,000 Presbyterians receiving communion together -- simoutaneously. The music was great, the prayers meaningful, but perhaps most moving was when an 11-year old baptized member of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, CA led us in the invitation to communion. The young man's presence was incredible, and moved me deeply.
6. Presbyterians have deep convictions, but are almost always willing to listen to each other and support each other when given the opportunity.
7. My daily commute into the convention center has been by light rail. Since our hotel is about three miles from the convention center, this has sometimes meant we've had a few minutes or more of hang time. Not always convenient, but it has left me with a sense of what light rail might be able to achieve in my hometown.
8. Our movement across downtown often looks like a body in motion. But that is what we are: a body of Christ, commissioned to be in motion, serving each other in Christ.
9. The voices of our Youth Advisory Delegates were well received in my committee, contributing to the progress of the discussion and reminding me that they, too, are stakeholders in this body in motion.
10. David Lamotte, a folk singer and peacemaker, provided my greatest moment of the assembly so far. Recounting the story of Rosa Parks, Lamotte reminded us that "saving the world" does not always involve major steps. Parks, he told us, was available to change her world because sometime she had been invited to a NAACP meeting by her husband. The point? Someone had to first invite Parks' husband to a meeting so that she could come. The rest, they say, is all history.

The depth of the assembly takes shape tomorrow as we reconvene the plenary. I'll try to post something midday.