I realized yesterday that I'm already tired - which is not a good sign considering that the intense work of the General Assembly is starting today. It's been a busy few days already. We've had four official GA Business Meetings so far; some of them interesting, others extremely boring. Bruce Reyes-Chow was elected as our new Moderator, we received nominations for the new Stated Clerk (the election will happen on Friday) and we've done a lot of other stuff that was less interesting. And now we're into the work of Committees. There are around 14 committees, some of which focus on Church Polity, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Mission, Social Justice, Health Issues, Peacemaking, Worship and Youth. I'll probably be stopping in on a few committees, including the Church Orders and Ministry Committee (they're focusing on the "sex stuff"), Peacemaking Committee (which is focusing on the Iraq war and Israel/Palestine issues) and the Youth Committee, who are using a communal discernment process to determine what to discuss in their committee.
It's my understanding that the committees will spend the next two days going over all the overtures that have been brought to the committees, and then will bring before the entire General Assembly, recommendations that will then be voted on. So, while the conversations in the plenaries can get pretty heated, I've heard that a lot of the real intense work is done in the committees, before the issues are presented to the floor at plenary meetings.
I think for myself, as I'm sitting now in the Church Orders and Ministry Committee, it's pretty easy for me to become skeptical that anything very productive or helpful will come out of these committee meetings. I know that sounds rather bleak, but it doesn't seem the best way for the church to have important conversations and move forward. I am, however, hoping that I will be proven wrong over the next few days.
It's my understanding that the committees will spend the next two days going over all the overtures that have been brought to the committees, and then will bring before the entire General Assembly, recommendations that will then be voted on. So, while the conversations in the plenaries can get pretty heated, I've heard that a lot of the real intense work is done in the committees, before the issues are presented to the floor at plenary meetings.
I think for myself, as I'm sitting now in the Church Orders and Ministry Committee, it's pretty easy for me to become skeptical that anything very productive or helpful will come out of these committee meetings. I know that sounds rather bleak, but it doesn't seem the best way for the church to have important conversations and move forward. I am, however, hoping that I will be proven wrong over the next few days.
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Although committee work is tedious and tough, it seems to be really important. In the past, the entire assembly has tended to trust the committee's judgment on many things -- usually there are only one or two items each year where the plenary does not adopt the committee's recommendation. So the committees' recommendations mean more than the tedious discussions might seem.