 
210th
General Assembly The Presbyterian Layman |
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Voices of Sophia hold rally Introduced as a “denominational prophet,” Katie Geneva Cannon addressed a breakfast rally of Voices of Sophia, a Presbyterian group that grew out of the 1993 ReImagining God conference. Cannon is associate professor of religion at Temple University and author of Black Womanist Ethics. In a speech titled “Faithful Living in the Public Domain,” she called on her audience to rekindle its commitment to overthrow the oppression of “paralyzing uncertainty.” Cannon said America’s moral environment has been polluted with an increase in hate crimes and the rise of groups like Promise Keepers. She said the danger of living in a polluted environment is that people adapt downward in order to survive within it. She suggested that her audience learn the lesson of Israel when it won the battle against Jericho but lost a subsequent war because its leaders acquired booty from those whom it had conquered. “We’ve been messing with the enemy’s stuff,” she said. “The people of God should not attach themselves to anything that belongs to the enemy. “ As voices of Sophia, the personification of God’s wisdom in the world, we must be conscious of those with whom we travel,” she said. “We must not march to the drumbeat of the Moral Majority.” Cannon offered three principles to help the Voices of Sophia live faithfully in the public domain: 1) Start with “rational self-interest,” the wisdom of God that resides in us. 2) Exercise self-discipline, rejecting “the enemy’s stuff” and confronting “Bible thumpers and Promise Keepers” who are “polluting the stamp of God on each person’s soul.” 3) Develop God consciousness by communicating with God regularly. The Voices of Sophia, an independent organization, works with the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns, and other groups seeking to make the Presbyterian Church (USA) a “more inclusive” denomination. (PLC) COCU continues The General Assembly voted to remain a member of the Consultation on Church Union. The Assembly voted 324-147 to continue the Special Committee on the Consultation on Church Union, which will report to the 211th Assembly next year. The Special Committee represents the Presbyterian Church (USA) at COCU. The Assembly subsequently voted 325-168 to disapprove an overture that would have changed the PCUSA’s status from COCU member to observer. (PNS) Guns, tobacco and hate groups Thou shalt not pack sidearms, use tobacco products or join hate groups, declared the 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). In separate actions, commissioners voted: • To work “intentionally to remove handguns and assault weapons from our homes and communities.” • To call for stiff taxes on cigarettes (an additional $1.10 a pack in 1998 and more later) and strong curbs on the marketing and worldwide distribution of tobacco products, especially to children. • To condemn hate organizations that target ethnic groups, especially organizations that claim a Christian conviction. (PLC) Curtis Kearns confirmed The 210th General Assembly approved with a standing ovation Curtis A. Kearns, Jr., to an additional four-year term as National Ministries Division director. The approval sailed through GA with much affirmation of Kearns’ work over the last four years. No one in the Assembly plenary or the Mission Coordination and Budgets Committee, where the confirmation was first endorsed, expressed any negative criticism of Kearns. The General Assembly Council (GAC) had previously voted approval of the additional term. Kearns’ confirmation stood in contrast to the recent end-of-term reviews of former GAC executive director James Brown and former Congregational Ministries Division Director Eunice Poethig, neither of whom received second four-year terms. (PNS) Evangelism made a priority Racial Ethnic/Immigrant Evangelism, New Church Development and strategies for urban church growth were obvious priorities for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) this year. Commissioners voted to move forward with ministries to specific groups of persons making sure that racial ethnic persons are involved in the planning and implementation of ways to reach out to Hispanic, Native American, Korean American and new immigrant groups. The Assembly established a goal of reaching a 10 percent racial/ethnic constituency by the year 2000 and a 20 percent constituency by 2010. The Assembly concurred in the recommendation of the Evangelism Committee to add commissioned lay pastors to those who would be able to organize new churches and gave the presbytery commissions for a newly developing church more leeway to assume the same duties afforded the session of an organized church. (PNS) Economic collapse predicted Dr. Richard Austin, author of a series of books on environmental ethics and theology, believes the world is headed for economic collapse. In his address “Beyond the Bull Market: Catastrophe or Repentance” at the Presbyterians for Restoring Creation lunch, Austin outlined three possible scenarios. The most likely, he predicted, is the worldwide collapse of economic systems because of the increasing disparity between rich and poor. Another reason, he said, is that technology allows dollars to be moved at high rates of speed on a daily basis. The crisis may happen either suddenly or gradually over the next 10 to 20 years. (PNS) Mariners address family spirituality Using the seed as an image of the way God is present with us, the Rev. Ann Reed Held presented a message in word and song to those gathered for the Presbyterian Mariners Breakfast. As faith-nurturers, Held said, we use the seeds of sharing our faith, service, and Sabbath. We are storytellers to our children, our families, and our communities, telling the story of how God works in our lives. Because the faith journey is both a journey inward and a journey outward, we plant the seed of service, encouraging those whom we nurture to do simple acts of mercy. Finally, she said, we plant the seed of Sabbath in ourselves and in the community of faith. When we try to work without Sabbath-time for rest and renewal-we try to outdo God, she said. To illustrate how we can make Sabbath time daily, Held led her audience through a guided meditation of thanking God for the previous day and asking forgiveness and petitioning God for the gifts of grace needed for the new day. (PNS) Faith and science luncheon Anne Foerst, a post-doctoral fellow at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Research Fellow at the Center for Studies in Values in Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, addressed the Presbyterian Association for Science, Technology, and Christian Faith luncheon. She related current work in the area of artificial intelligence to the historic Christian understanding that human beings are made in the image of God. Before introducing Foerst, PASTCF president Jim Miller recognized Iain Campbell, Derek Pursey, Rebecca Stricklin and Robert Wagner as recipients of the association’s inaugural “Science as Christian Vocation” award. (PLC) Presbyterian Media Mission Hollywood TV/film producer Michael Rhodes, a member of the Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, told a large crowd at the Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM) luncheon, “As a fellow Presbyterian Christian, I want you to know there is a great spiritual hunger which exists in Hollywood just as it does throughout the rest of the country.” Rhodes, who has produced episodes of “China Beach,” “Christy,” “Promised Land,” and “Beverly Hills 90210,” cited “Christy,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “Nothing Sacred” as evidence of Hollywood’s new openness to spiritual themes. He also listed a number of Hollywood’s influential figures who are deeply spiritual. “The doors of Hollywood are open to you,” he said. “And it is terribly important that you help your parishioners understand, as we race toward the millennium, this phenomenon we call media, in a world where there are more televisions than toilets, where children by the time they are six years old will have spent more time with television than [they will] with their fathers in a lifetime, and when the average student spends twice as much time in front of the TV than he does in school, your ability to understand and respond in faith to this phenomenon we call the entertainment world is critical.” (PNS) Scouts honor former moderator Former General Assembly Moderator Marj Carpenter was honored during the 210th General Assembly for her years of devotion and service to the Boy Scouts of America. At a breakfast sponsored by the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters, Carpenter received a plaque from Paul Winchester, president of that organization. Pointing out that more than 4,000 Presbyterian congregations host troops, Winchester focused on the impact Presbyterians have historically had in the scouting movement, and applauded Carpenter for her leadership and support. Interviewed afterwards, Winchester stated that although the Boy Scouts have been subjected to considerable legal battles for their refusal to admit either girls or homosexuals, no such challenges had surfaced within the denomination. (PLC) NPWL breakfast The Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership (NPWL), a ministry of Presbyterians for Renewal, breakfasted together to hear Peggy Bell describe how she developed a personal style of ministry at churches her clergy-spouse has served. (Clayton Bell is pastor of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX.) Bell told of having four young children during her husband’s early pastoral years in Alabama. She easily related to other young mothers and “by accident slid into a ministry” of fellowship, encouragement and sharing with them. All had personal needs and often bore intense spiritual pain due to losing loved ones or having dysfunctional families. Now that her children are grown, married, and all in ministry of some kind, she continues to teach and encourage young mothers, working also with a team in grief ministry at Highland Park Church. (PNS) |
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The Presbyterian Layman, July/August 1998 contents |
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