Assemblies like this one make me proud of my church.
As a general church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) operates on a two-year cycle. The General Assembly marks the end of one biennium and the beginning of the next. For this two-year cycle, ending with this General Assembly, we have been blessed with extremely gifted and solid leadership.
Moderator Bill Lee not only preached a powerful sermon, but he guided the delegates over our only true rough patch of the Assembly with poise, grace and wisdom. Strictly following the rules of procedure, he moderated our debate on the Iraq War resolution, which was the most touchy and had the most potential for division. The resolution had already been referred for revision once. Debate was spirited. Our parliamentary procedure was tested.
Eventually, the amended resolution passed. I did not agree with the Assembly's action, but I am nevertheless very proud to be a Disciple. It was not the decision we made that was important. How we made the decision was important.
Moderator Lee consistently reminded us that we were on the same team. Furthermore, he instructed us to cease actions like applauding this speaker or that speaker during debate because such behavior toward one another took us away from a spirit of discernment and led us instead toward a spirit of competition.
After it was all said and done, Moderator Lee led us in prayer. I took the hand of the delegate next to me, whose votes had consistently been opposite my own, and we prayed together. I am proud to be a part of such a church. We don't have all the answers, but we're learning to trust one another with the questions.
I think I read somewhere that we're not the only Christians, but we are Christians only. That's just my kind of church, and we have a powerful witness to offer a fragmented and contentious nation and world.
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Although I must be in a tiny minority, I feel strongly that any resolution referring to support of or opposition to any governmental policy should be out of order. Activists for every imaginable cause have innumerable groups through which to organize and express their views. The cause unites them. If you agree with the platform of the Democratic Party, then go be a Democrat – more power to you. . If you’re pro-life, then support your local chapter of National Right to Life. If you want to express opposition to the war through a DOC organization, then go join the Disciples Peace Fellowship and work in the booth at General Assembly to persuade fellow Disciples to your point of view. My problem is, none of these things define us or unite us as Disciples, so why are we forced through a General Assembly resolution to go on record with our disagreement?
Unity is our polar star and so we have from the beginning intentionally chosen NOT to fight over our differences, but rather to celebrate the bare essential things we have in common. We are united in following Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are united in the Lord’s Supper. We are united in proclaiming the Good News about Jesus. We shouldn’t need a skillful moderator to keep a lid on things at General Assembly. We shouldn’t need to celebrate that we know how to have a fight that alienates a substantial portion of our denomination and then sing “Blest Be the Tie that Binds” in an effort to soothe the raw wound we just self-inflicted.
At General Assembly, let’s have workshops and forums on every issue of the day. Let’s have booths and pamphlets and fliers. But let’s restrict the business sessions to doing the essential business of the denomination: financial oversight, approving structural changes, electing leaders, and so on.
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