I saw Jesus

She sits huddled between two other people, gently whispering.

Frequently she points to her laptop screen, highlighting a few lines of text as she whispers.

She gestures with her hands and pauses frequently to ponder the best way to phrase things.

She is the interpreter for some of the Spanish-speaking commissioners in my committee. I can't tell you her name, though I have thanked her for her ministry to my brother and sister in Christ. She laughed gently and accepted my compliment with a smile.

In her gentle whispers and patient face, I see Jesus, just by looking at my neighbors. What a gift she is to us, the church, providing access to and participation in our discussions for those who do not speak English as a first language.

EP Advisory Vote?

We encountered our first bit of confusing business not too long into our first full day of plenary.

There was a motion (and a second) from the floor of the Assembly to give Executive Presbyters an ADVISORY vote.

What does this mean? In addition to polling the standard advisory votes (Young Adult Advisory Delegates, Missionary Advisory Delegates, and Theological Student Advisory Delegates), prior to every vote, we would now ALSO vote Executive Presbyters/General Presbyters/Transitional Presbyters/Whatever else they may be called right now.

Lickety-split before you know it, the motion passed by a show of hands. And, judging from the buzz I heard from commissioners and advisory delegates, there were those who doubted that the voice vote was clear enough for a definitive answer to the motion.

Someone called for a "division of the house," which would require the number of votes on each side to be counted. Because we were in the midst of #technopalypse (when none of the technology we planned to use was working and it would have required a paper ballot), the Moderator, using his discretion, put off the "division of the house" until Wednesday when the plenary is in session again and all the bugs have been worked out of the system.

Based on the conversations we are having, now that we've had some time to think about it, I strongly suspect that this motion will fail when the votes are counted. Reasons tossed around include: we already have sufficient advisory votes; we don't have enough "clickers" for the EPs to use to vote; they're not always there when business is in session; not every Presbytery has an EP and not every Stated Clerk is in attendance to fill that role.

This was probably the case of a newbie Moderator who did his best to move things along--he seems eager to do right by the Assembly and God. And, in the end, the vote will probably end up coming out "right" (ie the will of the majority of the Assembly) even if it didn't start that way. We'll see for certain on Wednesday.

That's Jesus, I tell ya!

UPDATE: The vote fails, the motion garnering only 48% of the votes. 

A YAAD's Perspective

Written by Josh

This week we have been given the job to discern many hot-topic and sensitive issues.  Many of which may make some Presbyterians so upset that they in-turn decide to dissolve from the church.  But we need to look at the big picture, not that I am voicing my support one view or another.  This is God's church and need to work towards his will.

As a YAAD I may struggle to deal with things some of the more experienced commissioners may have an easier time dealing with, such as, not getting my way.  At first I will be upset about it as a natural reaction; however, I think that is the norm.  But I cannot let it get to me and affect the way I continue to carry on handling business the way God wants me to and to do my best for God's church.

This is a nice segue into another place I have found Jesus.  Well, I really should say places.  My mom is an absolute God-send I talked to her on the phone for probably 45 minutes today and at first we were fighting but by the end she had me calm and ready to get back to the table.  Another place I found Jesus was in the calm quiet hallways of Detroit's COBO Center just catching my breathe and I felt his presence there helping me to calm back down and to know that everything will be alright.

My hope is that everyone involved can resolve their issues together in a peaceful manner that will allow us to continue to worship God as one people united under one church. 

Romans 5:2-7
Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.