wfn.org | When moderator wears robe, he's clothed in good will

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Note #6159 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

23-August-2000
00297

When moderator wears robe, he's clothed in good will

Rhee can no longer say he has nothing up his sleeve

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Although the robe is white, you might say it tickles him
pink.
	The Rev. Syngman Rhee, moderator of the 212th General Assembly, will
happily pull aside the sleeves to read this message or that one. Or turn so
folks can see that the words on his robe run from his neck to his heels,
inside the pleats and along the cuffs. He'll search for a note he especially
likes, rolling the fabric over and over, but he may not find it.
	There are lots of words.
	The commissioners of the General Assembly -- the Presbyterians who elected
Rhee to represent them to the world until next June -- were invited during
the GA meeting in Long Beach, Calif., to write messages to Rhee in indelible
ink on bolts of cotton fabric.
	Rhee's wife, Haesun, shipped the material to her sister in Korea, who had
the gown made.
	It was given to Rhee last week.
	Rhee wore it for the first time last weekend, when he preached at the
Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kan.
	"I have a deep sense of gratitude for the confidence, support and prayers
that the commissioners place in me as their moderator," Rhee said. "These
are encouraging words and messages. I feel surrounded, embraced by caring
love. ... Everywhere I go, (the writers') spirit goes with me."
	And, boy, does he go.
	Since he put down the gavel in Long Beach, Rhee has been at his home in
Richmond, Va., for a total of only three or four days. The rest of the time,
he's been preaching in Presbyterian churches, speaking at presbytery
meetings, sitting in on denominational conferences and planning his own
"Unity and Diversity" conference for presbytery moderators this spring in
Louisville -- an event that will press home the theme of reconciliation that
Rhee kept repeating at the Assembly, urging Presbyterians who disagree to
talk with each other with mutual respect.
	That is not simple to do in presbyteries that are deeply, and sometimes
almost evenly, divided about whether to maintain the current ban on
ordaining practicing homosexuals, whether Presbyterian clergy ought to find
ways to bless gay commitments, and about myriad other issues that tear the
fabric of community.
	That's why Rhee appreciates the robe, not only for what it says, but for
what it represents.
	On it are words that say community is still possible, even when
disagreement is serious.
	  From the Rev. John Herndon III, who ran against Rhee for moderator: "May
God's Spirit be with you always." From an anonymous gay person: "Blessings
of inclusive joy to you and your family from the gay community NOT able to
be ordained," topped with a tiny rainbow.
	There's the note from Shenandoah Presbytery: "You reflect God's love in
your beaming smile, calm, inclusive manner, firm peacemaking style and sense
of humor, assuring us that God laughs with us."
	There are notes from individuals, including Geraldine Brownlee, who blessed
Rhee with the peace of Christ, and Jim Gerling, who sent Rhee on his way
with peace, love and joy. There are comments in Korean script and Chinese
letters. A drawing of a fish. A message from a minister celebrating 50 years
of ministry, urging Rhee on into his 40th year.
	And closer to home, there is a note written by Rhee's daughter, Anna: "Dear
Dad, we are with you spirit and in prayer, especially through this important
year. We know you will do a wonderful job." That one was signed by Anna;
Joongyal, her husband; Benjamin, her son; Peter and Mina, her brother and
sister; and Michael, Mina's husband.
	Reconciliation is something Rhee, 69, has had to learn the hard way.
	He grew up in a Korea that had been annexed by Japan, which did not permit
Koreans to speak their own language or keep their Korean names. The Japanese
had set out to eradicate Korean identity. Korean towns and villages were
divided between those who collaborated with the Japanese and those who
resisted.
	When World War II ended and Soviet units took over northern Korea in 1945,
Rhee's minister-father was arrested and killed. Rhee, then 19, helped his
brother dig up their father's manacled body and rebury it properly before
they headed south to join the South Korean Marines.
	They left behind their mother, four sisters and one older brother, who
later was killed by a U.S. bomb.
	Rhee -- in his former roles as president of the National Council of
Churches and as a representative of the PC(USA.) -- was allowed to visit
North Korea several times as a religious leader, and was reunited with his
sisters. He became a prominent advocate of reconciliation of the two Koreas
when few others were doing so publically. And he insisted that ecumenical
aid go to North Korean families when famine hit the region earlier this
decade.
	Rhee's commitment to working for reconciliation was embodied at the
Assembly last June when he named Elder Rebecca McElroy of Monroe City, Mo.,
as his vice-moderator -- a choice that drew fire from liberal Presbyterians
and from gay activists.
	McElroy is a board member of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, a privately
funded coalition of conservative Presbyterians who are headquartered in
North Carolina and produce a bimonthly tabloid  that advocates conservative
political and theological views.
	The Presbyterian Layman printed an article back in the Cold War days of
1989 charging that Rhee had become a dupe of the North Korean government, a
suggestion that Rhee resented deeply.
	In those days McElroy, a supporter of the Lay Committee but not a board
member, established a dialogue with Rhee out of what she calls "empathy for
his plight" -- despite their vast ideological and theological differences.
	  Their partnership on the podium in Long Beach modeled Rhee's hope that
members of the denomination can work together in ministry despite their
differences.
	In the past two months, Rhee says, he has watched Presbyterians "speak the
truth to each other in love, without a hostile spirit; with a sense of
conviction, yet a sense of humility."
	Rhee hopes Presbyterians with differing convictions will approach difficult
issues while holding on to their commitment to Jesus Christ and to the
church. As he sees it, "How we come to particular conclusions is an
important as the conclusions we come to . . . with mutual respect."
	After an interview with the Presbyterian News Service, Rhee was walking
with his robe over his arm when Tony Aja, the denomination's associate for
immigrant groups in the United States, saw the robe, hugged Rhee and asked
if he had seen his comments.
	"Yes," Rhee said, adding that he also had found the message written by
Aja's wife Loyda, manager of the stated clerk's office.
	He smiled and started trying to find them again, thumbing through the ample
folds of the robe.

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