Like a bad penny, or a well trained pigeon, I have
once again returned to Pittsburgh – the city of my birth, and my adolescence;
where I received my seminary education, and married Ann; my home. This time,
I’m on a mission: to save the Presbyterian Church.
At least that’s what my friend John Leggett told
me.
Actually, I find that I am a (relatively) small
cog in the biggish machine that is our denomination; on the one hand, the
helpful COLA volunteer (that’s “Committee On Local Arrangements,” for those of
you who don’t speak GA) nodded and said ‘Oh, yes,’ like he knew just who I was
when he heard my name; on the other, he looked through a lot of packets before
he found mine.
My handy dandy Program Book tells me there are 687 other Commissioners, 160 Young Adult
Advisory Delegates, 24 Theological Studant Advisory Delegates, 8 Missionary
Advisory Delegates, known intriguingly by the acronym MADS, and 15 Ecumenical
Advisory Delegates. In addition, 100
Corresponding Members, 115 Staff and volunteers from the Office of General
Assembly, 500 PCUSA staff, elected
committee members, consultants, straphangers, lookers-on and guests, 60 folks
from the Theological Institutions, 265 staff members from Presbyteries, and 22
Ecumenical Representatives. Finally, there are the 565 people other people
registered as Observers and as many as 2000 local Presbyterians volunteering or
just hanging around.
Fortunately, none of them are staying with me.
Heeding the sage advice of a previous
commissioner, I am paying the extra in order to have this lovely room at the
Omni William Penn all to myself. The opportunity for quiet reflective time, the
avoidance of inevitable awkward small talk while in my underwear, free use of
the bathroom and no snoring (but my own) seems well worth it to this introvert.
I’m not sure than Ann agrees, though; any donations to the “Help Patrick Keep His Sanity at GA” fund will be
gratefully accepted.
Just kidding.
The fun actually starts tomorrow morning, bright
and early, with Riverside Conversations, a
sort of new, low-key, non parliamentary thing where we will begin “encountering each other, and listening for
God’s Spirit of discernment as a gathering body.” I should get to meet the
candidates for Moderator, so look for my impressions tomorrow.
Of course, if you don’t know the candidates, you
won’t know if my impressions are any good…
From #ga220
Patrick
The Preacher
No comments:
Post a Comment