The picture is metro Birmingham, Alabama the site of the 2006 General Assembly of the P.C. (U.S.A.) where we will all meet in June. This Assembly celebrates the 300th Anniversary of the first G.A. where Francis McKemie served as Moderator. I wish he could come back for this one.
The theme is "A Mighty Cloud of Witnesses" because we need a witness and because we will be sharing time with our sisters and brothers in two Cumberland Presbyterian denominations. Or, so I understand from going to the PC (U.S.A.) website.
We need a witness because this Assembly contains a Big Elephant of An Issue which will hover over us the entire time. If the Big Issue passes, Christians plan to bolt. If the Big Issue fails, Christians plan to bolt. If the Big Issue is tabled, Christians plan to bolt.
Did I mention that I'm not up for this? I've gone through a house fire, hurricane, loss of friends through death and moving and I think I saw a wrinkle on my face when I looked through my 8x
magnifing mirror. Further, I can't be discussing schism until I've mastered the Gospel of John and Jesus' will for my life.
If you are a RevGalBlogPal and will attend this meeting, let's prepare a secret signal beforehand so we can meet up. I'll need the encouragement. Don't want to lose my privacy though because this blog is important to me and I like to think I can speak freely here.
The last Assembly I attended was in Philadelphia in '90, I think. LS was in a fold-up stroller and Mr. C. attended with me. LS gave me a black eye by bouncing back into my head while being a precious toddler. The big face bruise drew all sorts of miserable looks because domestic violence was a prime topic. Poor Mr. C. suggested I wear a sign saying, "The Baby bumped me in the face with his hard little head." I have a cracked front tooth as a souvenir of this event.
I worry that I'll return to Hurricane Backwater with more than a black eye this time.
St. Casserole
10 comments:
I don't think I'll make it to GA. My son gave me a whopper of a black eye by jumping at just the wrong moment when I bent over to pick him up. Luckily it was the Saturday after Easter, so my Sunday in the pulpit with enourmous purple bruise was low Sunday.
I'm going to remember this one. It precisely mirrors my gut reaction to the ECUSA's upcoming General Convention, also in June, God help us all.
Jane Ellen, did you see the ENS press release that says all those at General Convention are invited to 'grow?' (It's the use of the quotation marks that made me laugh).
St. C--I highly recommend knitting (or some other form of occupying one's hands) as a way of staying sane during crazy church meetings. I pray for you that you don't have the cameras around that we did at GC '03.
I second the knitting recommendation.
Are you actually a commissioner this time around? Because I think it would be wonderful for you to share a version of this post from the floor, either during the debate (if it's pertinent) or during the "talkback" segments they do before the plenaries begin. These issues we're struggling with aren't unimportant, but you provide a necessary perspective and reality check.
Unfortunately I'm probably not able to be there at this point--and I'm somewhat of a GA junkie.
I'm planning on it! If you have an inside scoop on a great place to stay, e-mail me!
Woohoo! A meet-up!
(Hint: one of the candidates for moderator is from my neck-o-the-woods!)
I'm glad you're going, but I think I would share the sentiments you express about the prospect if I were. I'm not going but our senior pastor is--not as a commissioner, though.
I wish I was going, but a specialized minister will get commissioned to GA about the same time Hell freezes over, and I can't get the vacation to do it otherwise. I went as a YAD. WAY back in the day. And guess what? We fought about homosexuality. Not much has changed.
I'll be there- I serve on the GA Nominating Committee, so I'll be in the exhibit hall quite a bit- it would be great to see some RGBPs...
apstraight
Not going, but suggest RevGal t-shirts for easy identification.
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