CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Amidst pageantry and splendor, the 210^th General Assembly's opening worship service, billed as the largest congregation of Presbyterians ever assembled under one roof, was celebrated here Sunday. Reliable estimates place the attendance between 15,000 and 16,000. A mass choir, hundreds of voices strong, led the musical portion of the service, supported by a 45-ringer hand bell choir, a brass quintet, a violinist and various other ensembles.

Fulfilling her promise to produce a truly multi-cultural celebration, outgoing Moderator Patricia Brown personally designed every aspect of the ceremony to be so inclusive of all possible constituencies, that the vast majority of the worshipers (English-speaking Presbyterians) were at various times excluded. Never was this more in evidence than when Rev. Ana Loyda Lugo read a long passage in Spanish that was never translated into or re-read in English, and was not even signed for any hearing impaired visitors, unlike the rest of the service. Celebrating diversity was brought home as the theme of Brown's sermon.

The moderator's message, titled "Just for the Love of It: The Community of Christ," exhorted the audience to witness that unity is possible only through diversity. Thus, "worship through immersion into various cultural styles," was the deliberate order of the day. Wearing a robe and stole on which the dove/cross symbol of the church's seal was inexplicably divided vertically in two, with one-half respectively displayed on the front and back, Brown spoke for the longest single segment of the 2 1/2 hour service. She launched her message with a condemnation of "corporations" that are "ever downsizing" and inflicting us with a "stormy weather of corruption, downsizing, and stinging hailstorms of stress and self doubt." Deriding American business for no longer providing employees with the protection of a "gold watch or pension," Brown's hostility to what used to be called the "Puritan work ethic" was pervasive.

Brown offered numerous and wildly varied examples of boundary-free "worship" that she witnessed in the past year as a model for the future. Inclusiveness and diversity were hallowed as the mechanisms by and through which unity is formed-diverse styles of worship were championed and said to be woven into the "tapestry of unity." As long as we have the unity of our church as one of our highest goals, Brown told the Presbyterians, we can "act with diversity," to enjoy a "new relationship with each other and with God...Just for the love of it."

Before the service concluded with the traditional commissioning ceremony for missionaries, communion was celebrated. This portion of the service was introduced by a liturgical dance segment, which consisted of group of barefooted women in white robes dancing to a recorded accompaniment of music, wailing and clapping, the meaning of which went unexplained. Thus, Brown concluded her year as Moderator much as she had begun it, with a paean to multiculturalism and diversity that spoke to, but not for, the vast majority who heard her voice.

Deferring to the planned multi-cultural event at the Charlotte Coliseum, scores of Presbyterian churches in this city closed their doors on General Assembly Sunday. But not all of them did. "Our people know they are free to go wherever they choose," said First Presbyterian Church minister William P. Wood, "but God will be worshipped in our sanctuary that day."


William P. Wood,
minister of First Presbyterian Church

Wood preached to a packed house in both morning services, and to an area-wide television audience as well. Then his congregation remained to welcome more than 1,800 commissioners who were bused in for lunch after their Coliseum event.

Wood reminded Presbyterians of their heritage. He spoke of churches, hospitals, colleges, children's homes and seminaries built by Presbyterians. He talked of the Presbyterian form of government, a legacy that inspired and informed the American republic. He highlighted the Presbyterian passion for freedom, fierce independence, determination, and leadership in public affairs. He reminded Presbyterians of their Scottish forbear, Jenny Geddes, "who let out a scream during a worship service in Edinburgh's St. Giles Cathedral and threw the stool on which she was sitting at the head of the Anglican Bishop who was trying to bring the Church of England to Scotland."

The greatest contribution

But the greatest contribution of the Presbyterian church, said Wood, may be, in the long run, theological. "Presbyterians have at their best lived by the Scriptural revelation of the total sovereignty of God over all creation and the power of God's grace to overcome the inherent sinfulness of the human race. All limited and petty conceptions of the living God, all attempts to speak glibly about 'the man upstairs,' all sentimental piety that talks about the 'Lord of the Universe' as if God were some kind of cozy friend, all attempts to confine religion to the private or spiritual sphere of life, all timidity in the face of rival powers that try to dominate our lives ... all these are totally foreign to the authentic Presbyterian spirit."

Cults of self affirmation

Wood then zeroed in on current aberrations that have decimated the modern church, movements that have abandoned the sovereign God for cults of "self affirmation, self centeredness," led by "ego dominated ministers and lay people." Aware that the General Assembly has been inundated by issues of sex, politics and economics, Wood said that if its commissioners ignore two pressing questions, evangelism and mission, "we risk losing our very soul."

Evangelism

For 170 years, Wood reported, the Presbyterian Church in this nation was evangelistic, a growing and vital church. But, he pointed out, if the trend of the past three decades continues for the next three, everything that was built up over those 170 years will be lost. The denomination will cease to exist. "The fundamental question the church faces today is the question Jesus asked to his disciples: 'Who do you say that I am?' The churches today that are growing, vital, alive churches are precisely those churches that can say boldly, unequivocally, and unapologetically, 'You are the Christ, the Son of God.'"

Mission

The second issue, said Wood, is mission. He reminded his congregation that for almost 200 years the Presbyterian Church sent missionaries throughout the world: in Africa, Asia, South America. "The Presbyterian Church today desperately needs to recover an authentic sense of the mission of the church mandated by Jesus Christ in the New Testament: preaching the gospel, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, giving sight to the blind."

Wood reminded Presbyterians of events in Antioch when Paul and the apostles preached the gospel with conviction and power. "The Book of Acts tells us that the church in Antioch had a profound impact on that city," said Wood. "It was in Antioch of Syria that the disciples were first called 'Christians. Reflecting on denominational events in his own city, Wood wondered aloud whether, when people hear what is done by Presbyterians here, they will say what was said of the people in Antioch.

With a hymn tailored for the occasion- verse one: "All Strangers Straight and Queer"- Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns held their "Flame of Faith/Seeds of Hope" worship service Sunday at the Hilton Hotel during the General Assembly.

The week just prior to the General Assembly is one of the least felicitous weeks in the year for thoughtful reflections from the Stated Clerk.   However, I do want to respond briefly to some of the concerns by Jay Poppinga in the questions he posted on the Coalition's web page.

The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly has a primary responsibility to uphold the Constitution.  He or she is expected to lift up its vision to the church and to manage the mechanisms that produce, distribute, interpret, and adjudicate the Constitution.  It is not the responsibility of  the Stated Clerk to offer advisory opinions on the interpretation of the Constitution when asked.  Based solely on Mr. Poppinga's description of the three situations in his communication, I would offer the following advisory opinions related to those matters:

G-6.0106b is clearly constitutional.

There is no "G-6.0106b - Free Zone" in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  The whole Constitution applies to the whole church.

Persons should not be ordained and/or installed as elders who are unwilling to live a life that reflects "fidelity in marriage or chastity in singleness" (G-6.0106b).

I offer this counsel freely to all Presbyterians including those in the three cases mentioned by Mr. Poppinga.  Since those three cases primarily involve Presbyterians who are neighbors of Mr. Poppinga in the Synod of the Northeast, I would suggest (in the spirit of "A Call for Sabbatical" that Mr. Poppinga seek out the colleagues whose actions trouble him and seek to mutually "speak the truth in love" with these persons.  At a much deeper level, I would encourage all of us to give our first priority to honoring and respecting our Constitution and to sharing the love of God in word and deed with a hurting and hungry world and not to continue to be consumed with judicial and legislative conflicts over matters of ordination and human sexuality.

In a last-minute action, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Southern New England ordered a "stay of enforcement" halting the installation of an elder who was elected in defiance of constitutional ordination standards. The installation service was scheduled for today.

For further details, see the Presbyterian Forum web site.

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