Talitha’s Take: General Assembly
The 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) met two weeks ago in Portland. I wasn’t able to attend in person (as Ben was), but being a committed polity wonk, I followed in close detail on Twitter, facebook, and livestream video. I understand that many people consider such interest in the nitty-gritty of Presbyterian politics to indicate extremely high nerdiness, but I’ll take that label and wear it proudly.
Overall, I’d say it was a pretty great assembly. The bow ties were snazzy, the leaders were highly competent, the youth delegates were smart, and we had a lot of important “firsts.” Our moderators – that is, the highest elected positions in Presbyteriania – were Co-moderators – or “co-mods” (as they tweet) rather than mod and vice-mod, for the first time, and this is the also the first time both moderators have been female. Co-moderator Denise Anderson, at 37, is the youngest ever to serve as moderator, and our new Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, is the first Black clerk in our history.
Race and discrimination issues were at the forefront of many assembly sessions, beginning with the completion of the process we took to include the Belhar confession against racism and discrimination (which arose in 1982 South Africa). Looking forward, I am most curious and excited to see what comes of a special overture to “take specific action, not just in word, but in deed, to address and improve the worsening plight of the African American male in five cities as a pilot initiative pointing toward future and further nationwide intervention.” This work will be rolled out in Baltimore MD, Pittsburgh PA, Charlotte NC, Cleveland OH, and my home town, New York NY. It will be mainly funded by the Presbyterian Peacemaking offering, which we collect on World Communion Sunday in October.
There was one major disappointment on the last night of the assembly. You may recall that our church petitioned our Presbytery to overture General Assembly to divest our funds from fossil fuel holdings, leaving only minimum requirements for stockholder engagement, as an act of witness to the needs of our planet as climate change escalates to ever greater levels of urgency. It seemed hopeful, for a while, as the subcommittee voted in favor of divestment. But in the end, the minority report from the committee held sway with the assembly. They created a substitute motion that was much softer in direction, focusing on direct corporate engagement first. This sounds fine and non-controversial on paper, but I am disappointed, knowing that our opportunity to speak boldly about a very time-sensitive issue has passed us by. Meanwhile, 542 other progressive organizations and foundations have divested from fossil fuels; you can read more about it at http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/
We might not be surprised to find ourselves on the trailing end, rather than the cutting edge, of social engagement. Though the church is called to act boldly when God’s call is clear, often our boldness is tempered by the slow pace of group discernment. There is a lot to do, and the way is slow – but we don’t give up. We can try the same thing again at the next assembly in 2018. In the meantime, we have hard questions. What else can we do to build social and economic pressure for a clean-energy future?
Every Blessing,
Talitha