Saturday was the first day of the Presbyterian Church (USA) 220th General Assembly, Pittsburgh, PA. This is the day that the whole community of faith gathers in worship and that the commissioner elect a moderator for the assembly and to be the public face of the denomination for the next two years.
Worship each year is awesome and inspiring. Inspiration comes from the numbers of people worshiping and taking the Lord's Supper together and, this year, for the out-going moderator's presence and sermon. This spring, Moderator Cindy Bolbach had an abdominal tumor removed. She continues to struggle to regain her health. Her presence at worship and the evening business session was as inspiring as the worship message of stepping out in faith to serve others.
In contrast to the previous two assemblies, this year there were no apparent malfunctions in the electronic voting system. The hardware and software vendors and the denomination staff have worked out the bugs that detracted from the work at hand in San Jose, CA, and Minneapolis, MN, in 2008 and 2010.
The election of a moderator is the first of the opportunities for the 688 commissioners to be advised by approximately 200 advisory delegates (youth, theological students, missionaries, and ecumenical guests) and then seek to do the will of God in their work of the assembly.
In the past I've observed generational shifts in the advice given by the various groups of advisory delegates. There were about 6 ecumenical delegates, 15 missionary delegates, 20 theological students, and 160 youth (ages 17 - 25). In the past I was able to observe trends in that the ecumenical delegates advised on one candidate and the other groups were increasing less supportive of that candidate and more supportive of another. This year three of the four groups supported a single candidate very strongly.
Voting continues without further discussion until one candidate receives a majority of the commissioners' votes cast. This year moderator Neal Presa was elected on the fourth ballot. He started with the overwhelming support of three of the four groups of advisory delegates and 38% of the commissioners. On the final ballot he received the votes of 52% of the commissioners.
Today is a day to worship in the various churches of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, to elect a Stated Clerk, the chief administrative officer of the denomination, and meet our committees for the first time.
More to follow as I have time.
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I forgot, a very inspiring part of the moderator's installation were the closing comments and prayer by the moderator's two sons, both of early elementary school age.
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