GA Daily Dispatch

July 6, 2010

Tuesday is another full day of preliminary committee work at General Assembly. Most of the committees wrap up their business on Tuesday, though there is yet one more committee session allotted on Wednesday morning’s docket, for those that need it. From Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning, GA meets as a plenary body to vote on recommendations received from the 19 committees.

This morning I was privileged to host a breakfast for friends and members of Pittsburgh Presbytery, which drew a number of people with Pittsburgh Presbytery roots. I was privileged to share with those gathered some of the stories of good things God is doing in Pittsburgh. This evening the entire contingent of people from Pittsburgh here at GA was invited to gather for a meal at a local restaurant, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening together. Table fellowship is an important way to be renewed when we are stretched thin by long, full days of work.

You may follow the GA plenary sessions live on the GA 219 website, beginning at 2:00 PM tomorrow. Some of the items that are being closely watched because they are most controversial:

• On changing the definition of marriage in the Book of Order
• On replacing the current Book of Order with a much smaller version that grants more latitude for local application of church standards
• On eliminating language in the Book of Order that excludes people in committed same gender relationships from ordination
• On adding the Belhar Confession to the Book of Confessions
• On calling upon Israel to change its policies toward Palestinians, and calling upon the U.S. government to exert pressure on Israel toward that end
• On empowering a commission from GA to establish and dissolve synod and presbytery bounds
• On discontinuing synods altogether

Most of these items cannot be decided unilaterally by GA. Rather, GA makes recommendations to the church, which then must be voted upon by presbyteries for ratification.

Finally, our own Young Adult Advisory Delegate, Rachel Rothenberg, has been chosen as a delegate blogger by the Office of the General Assembly. Please take the time to read her terrific first blog entry.

Praying that the Spirit of God may guide the Assembly,


The Rev. Dr. Sheldon W. Sorge, Pastor to Presbytery

P.S. Please note that ongoing updates of GA News from the General Assembly’s Office of Communications are posted at http://ga219.pcusa.org/.

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