Note #9121 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06078 Feb. 10, 2006
Moderator asks for council's help in dealing with stock-divestment issue
Urges thoughtful preparation in advance of upcoming General Assembly
by Alexa Smith
LOUISVILLE - Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase asked the General Assembly Council (GAC) on Friday (Feb. 10) to help prevent rancor when this summer's General Assembly begins wrestling with a previous Assembly's decision to undertake a process of phased, selective divestment of stock in firms profiting from violence in Israel and Palestine.
The 217th Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will decide whether to affirm or rescind the divestment action, which has created a firestorm of controversy in the church and a hail of criticism from the Jewish community in the United States and abroad.
Ufford-Chase, who recently met with Christian and Jewish leaders in the Middle East, told the Presbyterian News Service that he'd like to have a comment from the GAC in hand when the commissioners begin debating.
"If we do not make the attempt to go into the next Assembly offering ... guidance, I fear the worst," he said.
"The worst," he explained, would be half of the church leaving the Assembly angry, hurt and isolated from their own denomination.
The measure passed by the last Assembly calls for the PC(USA) to use its financial leverage to "engage" corporations that profit from the violence associated with the Israeli occupation or with terrorism.
Its adoption - which prompted several churches and church groups around the world to take similar actions - drew fire from the U.S. Jewish community and from some Israelis. It also brought expressions of gratitude from some Muslims and from Palestinian Christians, who have complained that the western church has been indifferent to their plight.
After a prayerful introduction, Ufford-Chase asked the council members to contemplate Ephesians 4, where the apostle Paul asks the early church to lead a life worthy of its calling, seeking unity of body and spirit.
He said he hopes the council can develop a response during its April meeting here.
The moderator said that, when he visited the children's section of the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, he was able to imagine his own son's name being read among those of the dead. And he said he also remembers that, during his first visit to the Holy Land, four years ago, he visited Bethlehem, a town under house arrest, and noticed that children woke up in the morning and asked whether the curfew had been lifted, much as he had asked about snow days when he was a boy.
Holding that dual tension, he said, requires empathic listening to both stories, and sharing the pain of both parties, rather than simply siding with one.
Ufford-Chase affirmed the work of PC(USA) staff and elected officials in implementing the Assembly's actions, especially the diligence of the Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) Committee, which was assigned the task of identifying and engaging the corporations.
"The bottom line is that there (are) a lot of different nuances on the way to the next Assembly," he said, noting that some Presbyterians want to reaffirm divestment, and others want to divest themselves of it.
"So what is the response of the GAC?," he asked, recommending a period of discernment between now and April, especially a thoughtful reading of Ephesians.
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