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Thoughts on the General Assembly by commissioners.
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- A positive experience at the 219th General Assembly
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So here I am at last, at General Assembly.
I feel a bit like Mary Tyler Moore, tossing her hat in the air. The old TV show, filmed in Minneapolis, is immortalized in a statue at Nicollet Mall, just a few blocks from my downtown hotel. Perhaps, like many attending General Assembly for the first time, l am enthused, excited, hopeful, and curious about how this, our remarkable Presbyterian governing system, will work.
I am humble about how much I do not know, occasionally disoriented as I figure out the web of elevated gerbil tunnels between hotels and Convention Center. And like any good Presbyterian, I carry a bit of guilt about the books, reports, and overtures I still should read. (The ability to read fast is perhaps as important a qualification for commissioner as an interest in matters of the spirit.)
Several of us have been asked to write blogs about our experiences during the next ten days, to share with the folks back home what it is like to serve as a commissioner. If our comments seem a bit vapid and superficial at times it is because we have been cautioned not to discuss the issues or business before the assembly, including our opinions. This is fair, it seems to me.
Yesterday afternoon, I registered and, like all the other 712 commissioners (356 elders and 356 ministers) received my name badge in a blue badge holder. By their badge-holder colors ye shall know them – green, advisory delegates; red- GA staff; black – presbytery and synod staff and stated clerks; orange vinyl – exhibitors, etc.
After an evening meeting last night I walked back to the hotel with a black badge from Oregon and an orange vinyl badge from Maryland. The three of us marveled at the clean streets in downtown Minneapolis, the marvelously balmy air, and the lack of traffic on the wide streets, even at this early evening hour. In early days of the assembly, this is perhaps one of the most important activities – meeting new people, greeting former colleagues, discovering mutual friends.
A poster advertising a spa in the elevator of my hotel says, “Travel should be more than going from A to B. It should refresh body and soul.” And the feeling of the presence of the Spirit, one novice GA participant might add.
by Nancy Kriplen
- Posted at 2:38 p.m.
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