Last Day

The 217th General Assembly adjourned yesterday. I meant to post my thoughts about it yesterday evening, as I have with each previous day, but due to circumstances I will get into later, did not.

The day started with worship in the plenary hall at 8:30. It was, in my opinion, one of the best worship services we have had so far. The sermon, given by a seminary student whose name escapes me, was incredible. After the worship service, a motion was given that the sermon be posted online. This motion was greeted with enormous applause.

After the worship service, we got down to business. We had finished most of the heavier business the night before (or earlier that morning, depending on how you look at it). The first order of business was to review the budget implications of everything we passed. We viewed the per capita budget, both over all and broken down by increase per person, as well as the mission budget. For greater stewardship of both finances and resources, we passed a motion to consider sending items to churches electronically, as opposed to through the U.S. mail. Other than that, the budgets passed only a few questions and little opposition.

Next we heard from the Committee on Local Arrangements, or Cola. These are the people who arranged everything around Birmingham. We recognized them for the outstanding work that the did during the assembly, as well as the period building up to it. They really did an incredible job. They were always around to give directions, greet us, tell us which buses to get onto, or direct us to a good restaurant. They went out of there way to accommodate hundreds of people. They did more than accommodate us, but they made us feel welcome. The experience would not have been what it was without them. It was great to recognize COLA, because they were often behind the scenes or unnoticed.

We then heard from the COLA for the 218th General Assembly. The next General Assembly is going to be held in San Jose. They showed us videos presenting the city and the surrounding area. It looks like a very exciting place to host General Assembly.

We then joined together in singing a verse of Holy, Holy, Holy and adjourned with prayer. It was around 11:30 when the assembly ended.

My flight didn't leave until 3:00, so several of the TSADs that had later flights got together and went to lunch together. There was a lot of laughing and fellowship, but it was bitter sweet. It was hard to believe that a little over a week ago we had been strangers. We had bonded so much through seeing each other every day, all day, that it was hard to believe that tomorrow we would not see each other. There were many promises made to stay in touch, some that would be kept, and some, I'm sure, that would unintentionally not be kept. We then parted ways and headed to the airport to catch a 3:00 flight. Even with losing an hour due to time zone changes, we would be landing by 6:00 and home by 7:00.

While waiting, it started to become obvious that the flight was probably 75% Presbyterian. The plane was running a little late and we ended up boarding at 3:30. We started to taxi onto the runway. We stopped and everybody figured we were just waiting in line for our time to take off. Then the pilot came on the loudspeaker and announced there was a small electronic problem. It was most likely a circuit breaker that needed to be flipped, so we pulled back into the gate. After quite some time waiting, the let us know that a hydraulic something-or-other needed to be replaced. We were ushered off the plane and back into the gate, unsure of when or how we would be getting home. Even after eight long days, for the most part, everybody's spirits remained high. They finally got us another flight that would take off at 6:45. I got home around 10:00, had dinner with my wife, played with my puppy and went to bed. I figured posting this could wait until today.

Being a Theological Student Advisory Delegate was an amazing experience for me. I need to spend some time over the next few days thinking, reflecting, and praying over it. Then I will post my final thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any questions about General Assembly, either what happened or what was passed, feel free to contact me at cdeacon@lpts.edu or contact one of your other delegates or commissioners. I urge you not to take information only from news stories. Please contact one of us, or look into it for yourself. All the information is available through LES and the PCUSA website, www.pcusa.org

Faithfully,

Chris Deacon
Graystone Presbyterian Church
TSAD, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary