Listening

We began this morning with a 7am breakfast and a speaker named Brian McLaren. His website is brianmclaren.net if you would like to see what he is about. He talked about the emergent church and what we need to be thinking about as Christians in the 21st century.
Then we were dismissed to our committee work.

Today the committee work began in earnest. We spent most of the day listening to people talk. These were individuals who wanted to speak about marriage and how they think the church should define it, representatives from the Presbyteries who presented overtures for our committee to look at to decide what move on to the gathered assembly, and agencies of the PC(USA) to advise on issues related to marriage and civil union.
In all of this our moderator and vice moderator have been very prayerful and respectful, and have created a worshipful atmosphere for us to listen and reflect on what we were hearing.
All of us, I believe, realize whether to allow same sex marriage is a hot button issue, an extremely divisive one. Every person has a definite opinion on it, a very passionate opinion. And there is a large chasm between one side and the next. We heard interpretation of the same Scriptures yet coming down on different viewpoints of the issue. We heard personal stories of people who have been hurt in the name of Christ and healed in that same name. But there are some things we agree on as a committee: this is a hard job, and there is not a consensus on the marriage issue.
The picture above is a table set up where our committee meets. On it perhaps you recognize the cross, a chalice representing The Lord's Cup, and a bowl of water representing our baptisms. In front of the bowl is a basket with many folded up papers in it. Included on one of those papers is my greatest fear and my greatest desire. Each of us on the committee had to write down what our greatest fear was in all of this and what our greatest desire was in all of this.
Then we prayed over what was on our papers. And we gave it up. We gave it up,and we gave it over to God. Then we handed the paper to the person next to us so they could pray over our greatest fear and our greatest desire-that we would truly give those over to the Lord.
After that we placed the papers on the table, and we prayed again.
God is working here in the midst of our committee, this General Assembly, and the Church. God has been laying a foundation for a long time for the work we do. That's pretty amazing, and here's something else amazing.
There is no fear that God cannot overcome. So, though this feels like a pretty heavy job I'm doing, I realize that God is working through us, all of us-and you too-for what is happening next with the church.
This time has caused me to reflect on what happens next for our shared ministry at First Presbyterian Church. As I've seen God at work in our midst as we are gathered here, I would like to see that sort of movement once I get back to Ashland and gather our faith family together.
As you can tell I am excited about what I've experienced here, but one lesson I am learning is that in discerning the Spirit, we first have to listen.