wfn.org | Re: [Ga212reports] Commentary

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #15 from PCUSA NEWS to GA 212 REPORTS:

This is David Steele commenting on life at the 212th General Assembly
meeting in Long Beach, Ca.

Yesterday afternoon, about 4:00 buzzers sounded, sirens shrieked in the vast
Assembly meeting hall; Bystanders rushed to see what was happening.  Had the
long feared theological explosion finally taken place?  The moderator
suggested a recess was in order but as commissioners began to leave their
seats, a voice over the loudspeaker did a Linda Radnor "Never Mind...false
alarm."

As far as I can see the assembly is running smoothly on all cylinders. 
Moderator Rhee is a natural; congenial, good humored, attentive.  He sings
lustily and prays mightily and is loving every minute of this experience. 
The commissioners seem to feel the same way.  There are good vibes in the
hall.

At dinner last night Grand Canyon Presbytery had a whole room of folks.  Us
westerners seldom have that many folks at an assembly.  The General Assembly
doesn't come west very often.  Most Presbyterians live East of the
Mississippi River.  A few years ago I talked to a man who had determined the
demographic center of our church population.  It was in South west Indiana a
few miles from each border.  That affects Presbyterian thinking.  A
Presbyterian group had it's convention in St. Louis one year because they
wanted it to be "out west".  Joan and I drove to the meeting, leaving
Phoenix and driving east for three days before we made it.  St. Louis may be
called the gateway to the west–but the West it ain't.

So us Westerners feel good about the Church being here.  I drove just 400
miles east to get here.  This is practically next door!
 
My commentary assignment provides me with a desk and computer in the vast
News Room.  At last I can meet the folk behind the names that appear in
"News Briefs" and various church publications.  They are even more
impressive in the flesh.

There is a young man named Luke Hagen here from Ogden, Utah.  He's a
computer whiz and puts stuff on the church web site.  I grew up in Utah in
the days when I was the only non-mormon in my class at school.  Utah is a
long way from the center of Presbyteriana.  How did he get hooked up with
General Assembly?

Luke said he was a high school sophomore when he got his drivers license. 
He was rather at sixes and sevens so he decided to drive to church.  He
began to get involved with the worship and youth group and discovered the
Church web page.  He began to ask theological and Biblical questions on the
chat line.   Merrill Cook who runs the computer office  answered them. 
Merrill who sees himself as a pastor with a "ministry of administration",
eventually invited Luke to join the computer staff for the 210th General
Assembly.  And he worked out so well he is here now for his third along with
several other young people.

I find his story greatly uplifting.  We used to be so isolated as
Presbyterians in Utah..but the computer age has put isolated folk at the
heart of the action.  Thanks be to God that now Cool Hand Luke and all his
breed are part of the action!

And finally, Shelly Moe has an addition to the parable of the Exhibition
Hall.  She points out it is the site of the General Assembly Gaze.  That is
you are talking to someone and find their eyes are looking over your
shoulder.  They  have spotted someone else they know and are no longer
enamored of you.

It's rather humiliating when one is the talkee and finds oneself ignored. 
But we had to admit we do it to others when we are the talkers.  She calls
it the Gaze–I think of the phenomenon as the roving eye.  I think it is a
form of Presbyopia. More another time.

This is David Steele...Thanks for listening...Shalom friends. 

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