Dear Friends, 

One of the things I’m most looking forward to in worship on Sunday is commissioning Brett Miller as a commissioner to General Assembly. As you probably know, the General Assembly of the PC(USA) is the national-level body that meets every two years. It’s kind of like a huge session meeting for the whole church. Commissioners, who are voting members, are elected for one meeting by their presbyteries, and are equal numbers of ministers and elders, in proportion to the size of the presbyteries. So, given the fact that it just happens once every two years, and the Presbytery of East Tennessee sends just 4 commissioners, two ministers and two elders, it’s fairly unusual for any one church to have an elder go. 

And it’s a lot of work, so we should all be super-kind to Brett, who has taken on this service to the larger church. Each commissioner has many, many documents to read ahead of time, mainly reports and overtures, which are like bills sent by presbyteries, proposing actions by the Assembly. They are also randomly assigned to a committee, which will work with each other online starting Monday. Then, when all the committees have done their business, the whole assembly will meet together in Milwaukee, WI, June 27-July 2, for joint service, worship, and decision-making, as it works through the business brought by committees. Around the edges are lots of fellowship opportunities, meals with programs sponsored by different ministries, chances to attend local churches, and a kind of family reunion atmosphere, with more Presbyterians in one place than most of us have ever seen.

Of course, what will make national headlines, if any, will be the most controversial overtures, one of which you may read about – underscoring monogamy as an important value in marriage, especially for leaders of the church (not that monogamy is controversial (!) but, rather, whether in today’s climate, we need to underscore that, in fact, it’s important to us!). But there are plenty of non-headline grabbing issues that will be discussed. The commissioners will vote whether to pass on a new confession to be added to the Book of Confessions, will deal with proposals on how to help churches who are having a hard time finding pastoral leadership. And the usual stuff Sessions deal with – budget, staff structures, relationships with our neighbors. 

If you have time on your hands, it’s all on livestream! Just go to the PCUSA website and you can find a link. But at the least, we all should be in prayer for Brett and for all those taking part in this important expression of our church life.