A clear-eyed look at who’s at the table — and who’s not
PC(USA) mid council moderators open their time together with introspective worship
LOUISVILLE — General Assembly Co-Moderators and mid council moderators alike worshiped the risen Christ Friday morning in the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center with liturgical innovations and gentle spirits, taking communion together in silence and also being fed by God’s Word brought this day by the Rev. CeCe Armstrong.
“Grace and peace to you who have said yes to serving God’s people, you who carry the weight of leadership and enjoy watching the Spirit move,” said the Rev. Tony Larson, who alongside Armstrong is Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024). “Before we were all moderators, we were disciples, welcomed and fed by the One who set this table.”
Moderators and moderators-elect of presbyteries and synods from across the country are gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, and online for their annual conference, which includes training sessions and worship that’s always stellar. The gathering concludes Saturday, when Larson is scheduled to preach for the closing worship service.
Opening worship in Friday featured powerful and thoughtful liturgy. “We confess that we have loved our positions more than we have loved your people,” moderators said during the prayer of confession. “Call us back to the table where grace is the only dish served with more chances than we can number.”
Armstrong centered her sermon on Luke 22:14-23, an account of the Last Supper, which Armstrong calls “The Lasting Supper” because “it lasts in our understanding.”
“I want to encourage you to use this text as an entry point into your life of service,” she told the moderators and moderators-elect. “I hope you realize sometimes you are the only Bible people will ever read, and your leadership style will be the only time they open the Book of Order.”
Alongside the communion table, the Co-Moderators placed a smaller table and chair so that those in worship could think about the people who aren’t at the table. Pens and cards were distributed so those in worship could write down their names and were taken up as an offering.
During her sermon, Armstrong named each of Jesus’ disciples, asking her hearers to decide the ones they identified with. Peter? “We can be faithful and illogical at the same time,” she said. James and John? “Most of us can relate. We are also willing to be bullies if it grants us rank in heaven.”
Thomas? “We can relate because of our desire to have our faith sprinkled with assurance,” she said. Judas Iscariot? “He drew as close to the Savior as it was humanly possible to be. He enjoyed every privilege Christ offers and was intimately familiar with what Christ taught,” she said. “We can relate because we don’t want to admit our faith is too weak to believe God all the time.”
“These 12 exemplify how common people with typical failings can be used by God in uncommon, remarkable ways,” Armstrong said. “God calls each of us to this table, which means God calls each of us to ministry.”
“We can easily be turned from the promise of baptism and the beauty of communion to betrayal,” she noted. “Remember Jesus’ prayer: not my will, but your will be done.”
Larson led liturgy that reminded those in worship of those not at that table in the Upper Room: Mary Magdalene, Martha, the Samaritan woman at the well, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the Syrophoenician woman. “Thanks be to God, who calls us not because we are perfect, but because we are beloved,” Larson said.
Those gathered then celebrated communion in silence, prompted by video clips on display in the Chapel.
Armstrong brought a globe for the table, and Larson the Bible. They poured water into a bowl, flinging a bit on worshipers in the front row and, playfully, on one another.
They brought forth the elements, with the monitor displaying people enjoying a large feast. While Armstrong broke the bread in silence and Larson poured juice into the cup, accompanist Phillip Morgan provided quiet versions of “Lift High the Cross” and “Thine is the Glory” on the piano. When the Co-Moderators waved everyone forward, Morgan switched to the more upbeat “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ.”
Worshipers returned to their seats carrying a small stone and a packet of seeds. Larson noted the stone “represents what you carry — the weight of leadership, the responsibility of leading discernment for decisions yet made, the burden of navigating conflict.” He urged them to let the stone remind them “that Jesus knows the weight you carried. He carried it too. And he invites you to lay it down at this table again and again.”
The seeds “represent what God is growing — the small acts of faithfulness that bear fruit, the quiet work of the Spirit in meetings and votes, the potential hidden in every gathering you convene. Keep these seeds with the stone and remember: God takes what seems small — common people with typical failings — and grows something uncommon and remarkable.”
After worship, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, told those gathered they are “leaders who will help shape and hold spaces for that representation and full participation of all in your mid council as you discern the mind of Christ.”
“The church is changing, and has been for a long time,” she said. “Society is changing. How can we — in voice, in practice, and in our theology — begin anew, so that Christ’s good news can go forward in impactful ways? Mobilizing one million [PC(USA)] members for the sake of Christ’s love and justice in the world — there’s a lot we can do.”
Come back to pcusa.org for additional reporting on the Moderators Conference.
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