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Humans of GA: Hats edition

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  This is Stanley Kessler. He’s a teaching elder commissioner from the Presbytery of Wabash Valley in Indiana. He is wearing a Levine straw hat, “because you wear straw after Memorial Day!” Levine & Co hats are made right here in St. Louis. Gregory Chan, a member of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board from Presbytery of San Francisco, said, “I have a Griffin hat, but I have been looking for a porkpie hat for years!” He found this one three weeks ago! Tom Link is a ruling elder commissioner from Presbytery of San Joaquin in California. He has a reversible hat. He said, “I can be in your face with this hat, but when I’m no longer in your face, I can blend in with the crowd.”   Beatrix Weil, assembly assistant from New York, wore a blossom hat all week. She is an advisor to the YAADS. She wore the hat so the YAADS would be able to see her and know that she is there to support them. She likes it because she’s gotten a lot of comments about the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

Humans of GA: Young commissioner edition

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Rebecca Wind was at General Assembly four years ago as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAAD). This year, she returns to the assembly as a ruling elder commissioner.  At 25 years old, she is one of the youngest commissioners in attendance.  She comes from Syracuse, New York, where she attends Isaiah’s Table, a 1001 New Worshipping Community providing breakfast and worship for people living with homelessness or food insecurity. As one of about 15 people who attend and provide leadership for Isaiah’s Table, Rebecca is deeply involved in her faith community, and the broader community of the Presbytery of Cayuga Syracuse.  As an NWC, Isaiah’s Table has had to be dependant on other churches around the presbytery for support of their mission and vision.  Various churches across the presbytery have stepped up and offered everything from volunteers and food, to kitchen appliances and a place to gather. The church’s story and Rebecca’s story are intrinsically linked, and her passion for the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

Humans of GA: Father and son edition

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  I typically consider it luck when all tables in a room are taken, and I have to take a seat with a stranger. This time, I hit the jackpot. As I spun around the convention center searching for a perch to people-watch, Edmund Freeborn, a 66-year-old pastor with eyes that crinkle like Santa Claus, invited me to join him. After a minute or two, I realized the conversation had morphed from pleasantries into a sort of makeshift therapy session, with each of us vying for the clipboard. As I divulged the history of my soul, I managed to learn some of his. Presbyterianism is a Freeborn family affair. Edmund's father was an elder, while his mother was a professional opera singer. At  age 16 she joined the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and Edmund could vividly remember her singing the Lord's Prayer in church. Edmund isn't a time-waster. He was ordained at age 24 and has since observed 42 years of Presbyterian politics. When I asked what's changed since his … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

Time’s up: Walking in pursuit of climate justice

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Guest commentary by Alison Wood, written for the Presbyterian Outlook in the midst of the PC(USA) Walk for a Fossil-Free World from Louisville, Kentucky, to St. Louis where General Assembly will be held.  We’re learning all kinds of things on the #walk2divest: It takes us two hours to walk five miles, with a snack break in the middle. Ten miles in a day is an easy goal; to finish 15 or more we have to push our pace a little. As a group, we like flavored potato chips better than plain. We learn that Casey often breaks out in dance, Ashley often breaks out in song and three people have broken out in poison ivy. We learn how to identify poison ivy. There are 14-25 of us on the Walk for a Fossil Free PCUSA at any given time. We are walking from Louisville to St Louis in preparation for the 223rdGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in pursuit of climate justice. The youngest walker has been 11, the oldest walker in their 70s. On the walk so far, we … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

Leveraging MRTI’s Christian witness to climate change

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Guest commentary by Kerri Allen We live in times where moral ambiguity can have devastating and even deadly consequences.  When it comes to the reality of climate change, there is no ambiguity of the disastrous impact of human degradation of the planet. Right now, the first government-funded climate change refugee resettlement is taking place in the contiguous United States.  Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw band of Native Americans, has lost 98 percent of its land since 1955.  Just in the past two weeks, a Harvard University study estimates that over 4,500 lives were lost as a consequence of Hurricane Maria. Well over a decade following Hurricane Katrina, white New Orleans has recovered; black New Orleans has not. See a pattern here?  The devastating effects of climate change are undeniable, as is this disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable communities throughout the globe. While the effects of climate change are black and white, the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

Showing up and walking

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Guest commentary by Angela Williams, written for the Presbyterian Outlook in the midst of the PC(USA) Walk for a Fossil-Free World from Louisville, Kentucky, to St. Louis where General Assembly will be held. “What are y’all doing?” “We’re walking to St. Louis!!” This conversation happens about every mile or so, typically from someone in a car that slowed down along highway 50 or someone mowing their grass. We usually get looks of confusion or exasperation. Why would anyone choose to walk from Louisville to St. Louis? Certainly there are more scenic routes to take. The story of why I walk begins three and a half years ago on the streets of Tacloban, Leyte, a city on an island that was my home in the Philippines for my year of service as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV). I was in Tacloban for an ecumenical memorial service remembering the thousands of lives lost when Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan wreaked havoc one year earlier. At the time, Typhoon Yolanda was the strongest storm to … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

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