After Some Rest and Prayer

I have had 3-4 days now to rest and sort through the materials from the General Assembly meeting and do some praying. After all that, I have a feeling of hope for the Presbyterian Church and also of some sadness. Let me explain.
As a voting commissioner on the Polity Committee I had the chance to first read and study, and then listen to a great number of people who spoke on a great number of issues and overtures. I posted some of the subjects in this blog early on after our committee work was done. I was impressed with the faith and passion people brought to the table. I was also impressed with the compassion with which they were received. As we went through the main plenary meetings starting Monday morning, several times going late into the night (past 12:30 AM on Wednesday) I again listened to people speak, as they understood God was leading them to speak. There were many highlights: $150 Million has been pledged to the church for renewal work in the Presbyteries. Life was affirmed by 3 votes in support of innocent unborn children. Mission speakers and workers were all over the place, talking about how much the work of God around the globe is going on because of the support of our Presbyterian Church. Many overtures were offered and voted on that strongly supported our work and witness to the world. All this gave me a deep feeling of hope for our churches locally and on the national/international level.
The sadness comes from the determination of a few to continue to loudly advocate for that, which does nothing but divide. One of the main feelings behind this GA, came out as an effort to bring us back to the real work of the church. Spreading the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father, who we come to know through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. But in the clamor of “do this, do that, do it my way, no, do it my way” sometimes this main purpose of our existence is lost and that saddens me.
I turn back to Jesus and his words from Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
I know God is pointing me, and I hope our Church, to the weightier matters of the law. When we get these things right, then we can fight it out about the rest of the law. But what do we tend to do? We fight it out about the rest of the law and offer to the world a picture of a boxing match instead of a picture of people of God who love one another, seek justice, offer mercy, and are faithful to God. If Jesus was talking to us like he talked to the Pharisees, would we listen as well as the Pharisees?
Then again I find hope in the fact we are a church reformed and always reforming and I would hate to be a part of a church that thought it had everything right, now and forever. I draw an illustration for this hope from John Calvin who, after years of trying to make Geneva into the perfect model of Christian living, admitted it would never happen: “Nothing that comes from the human mind, or made by the human hand will ever be perfect, including the church.”(or words to that effect) Maybe this is why we are so sure we need to be a church reformed and ALWAYS reforming. The truth is, we will always be a church reforming untill Jesus returns and reforms it for us Himself.
We will go at it again at another GA meeting in 2 years, my hope is that in those 2 years we find reasons to celebrate the work of God, rather than argue even more about the less weighty matters of the law ad nauseam. I hope and pray as people look at the PC (USA) they would see a church doing the work of Christ instead of wondering what all the arguing is about. I challenge all of you to consider what people see in you!
I would be happy to answer questions about my GA experience from members of the Presbytery. I can be contacted at pastor@nhpcusa.org.

Trusting In Our Lord
Rev. Rob MellgardPastor, New Hope Presbyterian Church Knoxville.