Well, the majority of the committee work is done. Tomorrow we start meeting as a whole and voting on the recommendations of the committees. For those who may not understand what occurs at GA, let me try to explain (at least from my perspective). The foundational question we're dealing with is how can the church better be the church today and in the future. While God may be the same “yesterday, today, and forever,” the Church must change. I don’t know of any congregation (or even many Christians) who would let St. Paul preach as long as he seemed inclined to preach (cf. Acts 20:17-25)! The old, traditional hymns may be very meaningful and inspiring to some of us, but they don’t speak so clearly to teenagers and young adults. So we must seek to find ways that better allow us to share the Good News of the Gospel to our culture while not simply changing to be culturally “up-to-date.” So this “foundational question” is ever before us, and it comes to the General Assembly in the form of “overtures” that seek to answer the question. Sometimes the answers to this question involve organization. Sometimes they involve our understanding of Scripture and the Confessions. Sometimes they involve our actions and attitudes.

Generally overtures come from Presbyteries, and depending upon their subject matter, they are assigned to one of seventeen committees. The committees are made up of both Minister-Commissioners and Elder-Commissioners, as well as “Advisory Delegates” (Youth Advisory Delegates, Theological Student Advisory Delegates, Missionary Advisory Delegates, and Ecumenical Advisory Delegates. Advisory Delegates can vote in committees and have voice but no vote in the plenary sessions. Since Sunday evening the committees have been looking at the overtures and seeking to discern if the changes or actions requested will help the church better be the church. That’s why I’ve asked you to keep praying.

We are beginning to hear what some of the recommendations from the committees will be. (When I describe the following overtures, I will be giving you the rationales given by those who brought the overtures, not necessarily my views. Since I have not heard the full explanation of these overtures, it would be premature for me to have already decided how I should vote.) One recommendation having to do with structure is that the GA establish an Administrative Commission to respond to requests from Synods and Presbyteries to be more effective, creative, and flexible in helping local congregations. Another “structural” recommendation concerns the form of government as described in the Book of Order. The Book of Order is one-half of our constitution (the other is the Book of Confessions), and it is currently about one inch thick. Over the years it has become not only a “constitution,” but also a “manual of operations.” But not all congregations, not all presbyteries, not all synods are alike. We would think it ludicrous to have an operations manual that applies to washing machines, motor boats, and computers. So a new form of government book has been produced that is about one-fourth/one-third as long as the current Book of Order. It seeks to be the “constitution” part, and it lets individual congregations, presbyteries, and synods work out their own manual of operations so that they can be meet the specific needs of the entity in its specific situation.

Two examples of overtures having to do with what we believe that will be recommended deal with an old confession and a new confession. There has been some concern that the current translation of the Heidelberg Catechism is inadequate. One of the committees is recommending that a Special Committee be formed to work with the Christian Reformed Church in North American and the Reformed Church of America to produce a new translation and have it acted on by the 220th General Assembly (2012). This GA will receive a recommendation to accept the Belhar Confession into our Book of Confessions. The Belhar Confession grew out of the apartheid period in South Africa (similar to how the Barmen Confession grew out of the Nazi period in Germany).

An overture will come to the full assembly that urges Presbyterians to further study the issues of same-sex civil unions and marriages and to stay in covenant with each other while we do so. Another overture recommends denouncing Caterpillar, Inc. for its actions in the Middle East. Yet another committee will be bringing a recommendation having to do with racial and ethnic diversity in our congregations and one having to do with ways to help Sessions better do their work. In sending this latter recommendation to the full GA, it was said, “Sessions aren’t necessarily fulfilling the fullness of their call. The session is a body of elders whose primary job is discernment. We must ask the question, ‘God, what are you up to in this community, and how can we serve with you there?’” These are examples of overtures having to do with actions and attitudes.

I mentioned that there were seventeen committees. Each committee had ten or more overtures. This means that people were thinking in at least 170 ways about ways to make the church better. Each committee has made a recommendation to the whole assembly as to how we should respond to the overture (it may recommend approval; it may have amended the overture and recommends approval of the revised proposal; it may recommend disapproval). Each commissioner is charged to discern what God is saying about each of these overtures. With as many overtures as there are, it will be easy to get tired and tune out. Please pray that we (I) don’t, because it is probable that in tuning out, we (I) not only quit listening to fellow commissioners, but we (I) quit listening to God.

The one good thing is that there is nothing really early tomorrow morning, so I’m sleeping in until about 8 am! At least I won’t be able to plead lack of sleep.