Dispatches from GA227: Bagpipes, women, Tagalog, Rubik’s cube, network fail
Photos: Gerald Farinas.
As children of the Church of Scotland, of course we had to begin with bagpipes. After visiting different churches across Milwaukee for morning worship, Commissioners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly gathered for their first in-person meeting.
The PC(USA) took time to honor the first woman ever ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. The Rev. Margaret Towner was ordained on October 24, 1956, in upstate New York. Even though the men in charge back then kept her from doing much real pastoral work, she later moved to the Milwaukee Presbytery where she spent many meaningful years serving as a pastor.
This celebration comes at an interesting time. The smaller, rival Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) just rejected a proposal to allow women to serve as deacons. The PCA still blocks women from serving as ministers and elders. Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist Convention recently did the same, reaffirming its stance against women pastors.
During our breaks, we watched in awe as Lukas Boynton, a Young Adult Advisory Delegate from the Presbytery of Chicago, showed off his amazing Rubik's Cube skills. The Rev. Hailey Braden-Lynch gave it a try and actually impressed us, too. At least, Elders Sandy Zeles, Brian Satre, and I were impressed.
Another highlight was hearing the Lord's Prayer beautifully sung in Tagalog during the opening. It surprised a lot of us since we usually hear Spanish and Korean as the main secondary languages in our Church. But Tagalog is quickly becoming the most spoken Asian language in the U.S. after Mandarin and Cantonese.
There is a deep history there. When the U.S. took over the Philippines from Spain in the late 1890s, American Presbyterians set up ministries in the northern islands, while other denominations went elsewhere. Today in the Philippines, Korean Presbyterian missionaries are leading the way in bringing traditional Filipino Catholics into the Reformed tradition.
Late Sunday night, the main task was voting on the consent agenda, which is a large package of items already approved by committees. Commissioners pulled out a few controversial overtures, or proposed changes to our Book of Order, so they could be debated later this week. We were supposed to vote on more items, but the electronic voting system's network crashed. The co-moderators and the Stated Clerk promised it would be fixed overnight before wrapping up the first evening.
The next three days are definitely going to bring the heat. Outside, the weather is climbing toward nearly 100-degree weather. Inside the Baird Center, things will warm up just as fast as we head into heavy debates on LGBTQ inclusion, changes to our ordination processes, Palestine, and more.
Oh. And who the heck is the one other Hawaiian here?!
