In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah (2 Samuel 11:1a-TNIV).
Welcome to Eastertide, a season to enjoy Easter’s afterglow, to anticipate Pentecost’s empowerment, and to go off to war.
‘Tis the season to prepare for General Assembly.
The spring of 2005–the first GA off year–afforded Presbyterians the luxury of focusing their attention on Jesus’ resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s outpouring. This year such reflections could be drowned out by saber rattling and megaphone shouting. The 217th war, er, uh, meeting of the GA looms on the Alabama horizon–just three months away.
A certain amount of arguing is inevitable at a time like this. Debate, deliberation, and discernment all come with the Presbyterian territory. We wax contentious because we take seriously our theology and polity, our morals and ethics. We don’t want to be conformed to the world around us, but we have been commissioned to transform it. Thus we are called to vigilance in reconfiguring how we engage the world. We also know that good thinking can lead to right living and that bad thinking destroys. In that light, we try to persuade others to see things as we see them–to see things as we believe God sees them–and to act accordingly.
Such conviction easily leads to some unmannerly outbursts of anger, to exaggerated argumentation, to hurt feelings, and to much chagrin.
Is there a way for us best to prepare for the GA?
For one thing, we can become informants. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Democracy’s very existence depends on an educated electorate.” Pastors serve well their elders when they put before them advance understanding of the issues being considered by a General Assembly. Pastors also serve well their members by helping them after the GA to digest the actions of the Assembly and recalibrate their involvement with the larger church. Careful analysis and thoughtful commentary on such matters arrives weekly in the homes of The Presbyterian Outlook’s subscribers. Nobody else provides such insights. \
Next, while being introduced to the issues, we can listen carefully to the ideas and proposals of others. No doubt some will sound misguided and misinformed. Some will need to be amended or rejected. But they are proposed by well-intended believers seeking to serve God and the world God so loves. Most of those proposals (whether overtures from presbyteries or reports from committees and denominational entities) have been discussed and prayed over at length by some group of Presbyterians. We dishonor them if we dismiss their ideas out of hand. In fact, some GA action that initially stuns us proves later to be the word of the Lord to us.
For another thing, we can believe what we know to be true. God is sovereign. Jesus is building his church. No past GAs have taken actions so radical that they escaped the reach of God’s grace. Foolish as some decisions may sound, this GA will not thwart Christ’s mission in the world.
Finally, we can do the obvious. Pray. Years ago townspeople would gather at the stagecoach station to pray for their pastor or elder before they embarked on their journey to the meeting of the General Assembly. Their fervent prayers asked God to provide safety en route and wisdom in the work. Let us not forget to implore God to lead today’s servants of the church in all they do as they prepare, as they study, as they travel, and as they seek to discern God’s will for the work of the PC(USA).
In the meantime, let this be a blessed Eastertide, a season to enjoy Easter’s afterglow and to anticipate Pentecost’s empowerment. May it not be “the time when [the Presbyterians] go off to war.”
