Mark Koenig, coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, greeted those at the opening conference. Steve Yamaguchi, executive presbyter of Los Ranchos Presbytery welcomed attendees to the presbytery. “We join you in seeking God’s peace and justice in this world,” he said.
Representatives from the Joining Hands Against Hunger Network, which held a two-day, pre-conference meeting, add an international presence to the conference. Partners from networks in Peru, Lesotho, and India are attending.
Mark Lomax, interim dean at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and chair of the homiletics department at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary, challenged attendees Tuesday to face God’s mandates for loving and helping others. “There’s a mandate to love your neighbor like you do yourself. Not bomb them to hell, but love them,” he said. “It seems to me like we have come to a place and a time where we have to decide who we are.”
Bruce Reyes-Chow, San Francisco pastor and recently-elected moderator of the 218th General Assembly, also addressed the opening session. Acknowledging the variety of responses from church members, pastors, bloggers, and Presbyterian pundits since the GA meeting June 21-28, Reyes-Chow focused his sermon on the future. “As we transition into what is new,” he said, “the hope and the optimism have to come from you all.” Congregations must believe there is a future to the church, he said, adding: “Until we grasp the hope that we are joined by Christ, until we live that out, we are going to head nowhere.”
The new moderator indicated one of the themes for his two-year tenure. “I hope to keep asking the question, ‘Do we believe beyond our own imagination that God can do amazing things with this denomination?’”
