 Stated Clerk's column  The Presbyterian Layman Volume 33, Number 4, Posted August 4, 2000
Evidence of differences and diversity abounded among us, yet the bond of our communion held firm. The theme was borrowed from Paul’s exhortation in Galatians 3:27-28: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” New Testament scholars believe that the apostle was quoting a baptismal formula used in his churches at the time new Christians came into membership. 10,000 attend worship service At the Assembly’s opening service of worship, held in the Long Beach Arena, the more than 10,000 participants were conscious of disparate protest groups immediately outside the building challenging several church policies. Still, the ancient baptismal assertion was proclaimed: all are one in Christ. This sacramental motif led appropriately to celebration of the Lord’s Supper. As Biblical commentator Neil Elliott has written, “Paul understood baptism and the Lord’s Supper as moments that revealed with intense clarity the Christian’s ongoing participation in the body of Christ, at once crucified and alive again.” Witness to unity In the multicultural setting of contemporary California, the Long Beach Assembly bore witness to the unity of our faith and sought to build up the one body of Christ. Syngman Rhee, long a colleague on the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and now the moderator of the 212th General Assembly, appointed as vice moderator a director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Rebecca McElroy, as a symbol of reconciliation and fellowship. Leaders of the Presbyterian Coalition and the Covenant Network, who have disagreed on issues that many view as pivotal to the direction of the church, met together to plan a common retreat during the year to come. ‘Irreconcilable impasse’ shunned The General Assembly declined to agree with an overture warning of an irreconcilable theological impasse among Presbyterians, committing the church instead to seek means of living together in charity and acting together in common ministry and mission. At a press conference during the Assembly, civil rights and ecumenical leader Andrew Young spoke of a Christian movement in the world which is “not so much united on the issues as it is united in Christian fellowship.” It was just such unity that was on display in Long Beach: a recognition that the distinctions between Jew and Greek, male and female, are ultimately superficial. For all are one in Jesus Christ our Lord. Clifton Kirkpatrick |
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