wfn.org | Fireworks in New Mexico: General Assembly 208

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

09-July-1996 
 
GA96122   Fireworks in New Mexico: General Assembly 208 
 
ALBUQUERQUE--In a photograph of the spectacular New Mexico scenery, 
sometimes the light looks strange. It may have been taken at sunrise; 
perhaps at sunset; or it could also be the result of one of the sudden 
mountain storms that sweep down from the peaks.  Actions of the Albuquerque 
General Assembly will be interpreted in very different ways; some will call 
it sunrise, some will think it sunset, and others will assess the events as 
random storms that scour the mesas and canyons before they disappear. 
 
     This set of commissioners was fiercely independent, minutemen (and 
women) called from city, farm, household, and parish kirk to take up voting 
keypads and oppose the forces of wickedness.  Nine hundred agenda items 
stressed them fiercely:  they were forced to celebrate the Fourth of July 
in thrall to a cruel monarch, the agenda, driven by a clock that ran faster 
every day:  what a fun holiday week!  
 
     Switch metaphors:  GA 208 picked its way through minefields, adopting 
part and rejecting part of nearly every important proposal, seeking a 
middle way of cautious progress.  This will be called the "However 
Assembly," since nearly every decision was balanced by another.  No wonder: 
seldom have commissioners been selected with such careful attention to 
their political leanings, so this was an assembly of partisans.  Of course 
the decisions were 60/40; that may be a mirror of our church. 
 
     They began that pattern in the election of a moderator, choosing from 
the middle of three good white male ministers.  The vote was 56 percent. 
John Buchanan proved a worthy choice, steering with even-handed dispatch 
through the mines. 
 
     --They declined to retrofit the national structure of the church -- 
however, they chose significant changes in the way we do business, to 
tighten our ties.  
     --They refused to make a major change in the pattern of odd-year 
Assemblies, however restored Youth Advisory Delegates to each presbytery 
every year.  
     --Under Theology and Worship, once more the body chose selectively: 
they were asked to define the "essential tenets" of Presbyterianism, but 
declined that privilege. 
     --They expanded the privileges of commissioned lay pastors, but 
stiffened requirements for the office.   
 
     In the human sexuality matter, as in no other, the conflicted emotions 
of our church were on display. The Assembly voted to send to the 
presbyteries an overture adding requirements for "fidelity" and "chastity" 
to the Form of Government. However, they passed that motion by a margin of 
57 percent, hardly a landslide; then received quietly a quiet singing march 
by hundreds of "those who felt the pain most acutely."  Under another 
report they affirmed civil rights for non-traditional couples. 
 
     The election of the Stated Clerk was no exception to the "tinker and 
fiddle" motif:  Not one, but five choices:  observers pointed out how 
strange this process would feel if it were carried out at the 
congregational level, if a pastor nominating committee's selection were to 
be met by four other nominees for the job of pastor.  The other four showed 
competence and flair in certain areas -- but the body went with the 
eminently practical choice of the experienced Cliff Kirkpatrick. 
 
     In the COCU question the Assembly was perhaps most doggedly 
Presbyterian; they ended the continuing controversy about "Presbyterian 
bishops" by abolishing them before their investiture; in place of this 
vexing shadow officer the Assembly proposed to send a representative 
commission made up of elders and ministers to fill the Presbyterian slot in 
the regional covenanting councils of COCU.  "You're expecting our bishop? 
Here's our commission!"  It remains to be seen whether the other 
covenanting bodies will accept the PCUSA proposal. 
 
     It was in the matter of the re-election of James D. Brown as executive 
director of the General Assembly Council that the body showed its 
unpredictability and its stubborn independence most clearly. Twice. Even 
seasoned observers were astonished when the vote was taken:  222 to 
confirm; 258 to oppose. Unwilling or unable to accept this verdict, 
supporters moved reconsideration Friday night; the margin of defeat was 
greater than before. 
 
     Questions to commissioners supported the view that Brown had fallen 
victim to a cluster of factors which all exploded at once:  general 
distrust of Louisville leadership; lack of confidence in the capability of 
the GAC; uneasy resolutions of the Reimagining controversy; and even 
criticisms of the method by which the matter was handled in committee and 
on the floor. 
 
     An Assembly of process; however, one of poetry as well.  The GA Poet 
Laureate, Ann Weems, ended the Assembly with a pair of book-ends.  One poem 
spoke of "place at the table for damaged hearts," of which there were many 
in Albuquerque.  The other said, "If I could, I'd write you a rainbow." 
The meaning of the Albuquerque Assembly will have to wait until the new 
century for assessment; it will take three years to tell which of these 
hesitant "howevers" has become the Presbyterian theme for the next century.  
 
Houston Hodges 

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