219th General Assembly - Day 6

The Liturgy of the Assembly - PART 1
It's Wednesday, we have been meeting in committees from morning until night, gazing at laptop screens and listening to advocates, resource persons, moderators, one another and the Holy Spirit, we hope. My thought is this: what if we imagined our deliberations and debates, our arguments and disagreements, our laughter and our tears, as liturgy?

Our common understanding of this ancient word is ‘work of the people’. Every Sunday morning we participate in liturgy in various ways. We recognize the presence of God through song, prayer and Word doing our part of the heavy lifting toward becoming the people of God, disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, infused with the Holy Spirit. It is grace revealed.

Certainly anyone who has ever participated in GA understands its work! It takes a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of fortitude to remain focused, connected to community and disciplined in listening more than speaking. It is in the midst of the process we see Christ revealed--a particular story to emphasize a point; a gesture of compromise to maintain relationship; a dawning recognition that we all bow down to the same Lord and Savior.

This is liturgy. Thanks be to God.

The Liturgy of the Assembly - PART 2
The continued liturgy of the Assembly is happening even as I write. It’s after 9 p.m., we are in plenary, debating the nFOG report and amendments. There is tension in the room as some lean one way and some the other. Trusting one another and more importantly trusting the Holy Spirit to ‘...be in the house...’ takes deep faith. No matter the decision, we have to get up tomorrow looking toward the morning sky, thanking God for the new day to do the liturgy of the Assembly. And the day after that and after that and after that...

Allowing the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all our lives forces us to let go. Yikes, its hard work!

Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Minister/Commissioner
Des Moines Presbytery

Tiare blogged on Wednesday for the PC(USA) General Assembly Web site.