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Thank you for almost coming to Baltimore: Reflections from the chair of the Committee on Local Arrangements

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  Guest commentary by Carrie Finch-Burris  Way back in the fall of 2016, a small group from the Presbytery of Baltimore gathered to talk about what it could be like to host the 224th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  Since those earliest of conversations, there has been a team of people dreaming, creating and working hard to welcome every person that would be coming to Baltimore for this upcoming GA.  We’ve poured a lot of time and energy into it, and done so happily. For many in Baltimore Presbytery, this was going to be their first experience of the church on such a grand scale as they would see the work of the commissioners, advocates and various staff on every level of our governing structure come together and be the church.  We even had volunteers from nearby presbyteries willing to lend a hand.  This really was going to be a showcase not only for us here in the Presbytery of Baltimore, but also for the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic and our friends … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Baltimore • GA224

Planning for General Assembly in a pandemic: Reflections from the leaders of COGA

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Guest commentary by Barbara Gaddis and Stephanie Anthony Nothing can prepare you for a General Assembly in the midst of a global pandemic. The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly has been wrestling with how to do exactly that since March.Utmost in our minds at all times was the health and safety of our volunteers in Baltimore, our commissioners, our advisory delegates, our staff and visitors from all around the world.  How could we be certain we would not risk spreading the disease with such a large gathering?  How could we ask folks to risk air travel in such uncertain times? As we saw the country closing down, we began to look for alternatives should we not be able to gather. We first asked the Advisory Committee on the Constitution if we could cancel the assembly, considering perhaps meeting in 2021 or just waiting for the 225th GA in Columbus in 2022.  We were advised that the Book of Order mandated an assembly this year. We began to think about the possibility … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19 • GA224

Pondering in the pandemic

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Guest commentary by Donald K. McKim The pandemic, COVID-19, is all around us. The range of its reach is global; its power can be deadly. Our lives have been disrupted in so many ways, beyond what we could have imagined just weeks ago. Life in society is now marked by “social distancing,” working from home and washing our hands as often as possible. Our social fabric seems torn apart as we hunker down in our homes as we hope “this too shall pass.” We hope the pandemic curve flattens, and medical relief can be become available — and effective. Meanwhile waves of worry follow, one after another, with concerns about unemployment, finances and the health of others – especially those we love – as foremost on our minds and in our hearts. There are no quick cures for a pandemic. We cannot escape its reach and its effects touch us all. What we can do, however, as Christian people, is to look to the resources of Christian faith. Through the centuries, the church has endured pandemics … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19

Passing Things

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A generation goes, a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Ecclesiastes 1:4 The sun rises against its will would choose the comfortable quilt of darkness over ineluctable morning. The earth turns. Obvious things, mentioned for the obviousness of things, the tiresome rote of days. Yet beneath, something different. Something new. Swelling, pulsing, throbbing like unsatisfied longing, hangover from a future held politely to the lips but not drunk. Something is passing away— disease, an order, a way of life, a dream— We will all survive this, we are told. Some, not all. José Ameal survived the Spanish Flu. Nineteen eighteen. He was four. From his bed he peeked through drawn curtains looked outside to watch the souls passing by— “so many dead”— on the streets of Luarca in north Spain. Did he wonder if his turn would come? He lived to be imprisoned by Franco, bury his wife in ’fifty-one, marry another and live fifty more good … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19 • poetry

Symbols

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Beyond the fragrant lilies and hydrangeas crowding the chancel, beyond the festive Easter bonnets still occasionally scattered bright across the pews, beyond the chocolate eggs, marshmallow chicks and bunnies, beyond this entire appealing world of charming things to see, of tasty things to eat, there can be found, by faithful seekers, two simple sticks, pieces of wood which, held together crosswise, hold a universe within their outstretched arms, which held together hold both past and future fast beside a broken loaf, a shared cup, a shattered empty tomb. … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Easter • poetry

Initial Offer – Easter Morn

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This winter ending day which dawns in quiet chill recalls another morning born in thunderclap and rending as the gates of hell exploded from within and the Harrower led forth a wakening multitude of startled souls who never dreamt eternal life lay in their fearful, grasping, grudging hands, if only they would open them and yield to that astonishment yet lays in wait to shock this latter day with its still bright, alarming grace. … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Easter • poetry

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