Election of a moderator

It is early Sunday morning as I compile these thoughts about our day Saturday.

After some minor procedural questions, the first real order of business for this General Assembly was the election of a moderator Saturday evening. Maybe it says something about who we want to be as a denomination that of the six candidates, one is Latina, one is Korean-American, one is African-American; three are women and three are men; only one is a white male. We heard wonderful testimony from these candidates, one of which will not only moderate this General Assembly, but lead the denomination for the next two years. Here are the candidates and some of what they said.



The Rev. Julia Leeth: God is good all the time, all the time God is good. We haven't always done a great job of being the church. My hope is that we as God's people will wrestle with God's word and be as best we can God's people. That is the business of the church. Being the body of Christ.

The Rev. Jin S. Kim: A third generation Korean Presbyterian. Those who know me know I have no shortage of critiques of this denomination. I believe that God has given me some critical understanding of the issues that we face at this time.

The Rev. James A. Belle: We are in a place where we need to remember whose and who we are. I want us to see one another as the children of the one who created us.

Elder Cynthia Bolbach: The only lay person standing as moderator of the 219th GA. We are paralyzed by fatigue over constant battles over how we will order ourselves, but fear how we can proclaim the gospel effectively. Rely on relationships and not just rules. Let's accept that we will not always agree on the best way to know how to put a hole in the roof. Breaking holes in roofs is dirty, hard work. We need to talk about getting dirty and breaking holes in roofs.

The Rev. Eric G. Nielsen: We face challenging questions. Amidst all these challenges facing GA, it's important to have strong leadership leading the way. These challenges often divide us. The nons (nonreligious but not nonspiritual) hold a positive view of Jesus but a negative view of Christianity. I know we can proclaim and reclaim a positive voice for the future.

The Rev. Maggie Palmer Lauterer: The Spirit means for us to hear six voices. Different theologically, geographically. The person you choose will be your voice, the voice of the denomination for the next two years. We are listening for a voice to give us courage.

After giving introductory speeches, the candidates had 90 minutes to address questions relating to the value and role of seminary training of ministers, Christian educators and education in general; the role of the different parts of our constitution and how they should relate to each other in the decision making of commissioners; the role of mission and evangelism; what role young people have in the church; and one of the touchiest but most telling, their position on civil unions and Christian marriage. Here is what the candidates had to say on that question:

Leath: Declared herself the most conservative of the candidates, saying she supports the decision of the 218th General Assembly in its affirmation of the traditional view of marriage between a man and a woman. Having said that, it is our challenge to wrestle with that decision and the implications of what that is.

Bolbach: Who poses the greatest threat to the traditional definition of marriage: Larry King, who has been married multiple (eight?) times, or a gay couple she knows who has lived together for 62 years? She supports same-sex unions, but doesn't believe the denomination "is ready to go there." But pastors in jurisdictions where gay marriage is legal need the guidance of the church in how they can respond.

Kim: Also supports the traditional view of marriage, but also supports full civil rights for gay unions. Said if we're going to talk about covenanted relationships, there are other issues, such as polygamy that still exists in some countries in Asia. We can't address the issue of gay marriage without addressing covenanted relationships in general.

Lauterer: Believes that in any state where gay marriage is legal, that the church should be involved in affirming that covenant.

Belle: Said he supports the traditional view of marriage because one can't overlook what Scripture, the Book of Confession and the Book of Order say about it.

Nielson: Supports the covenant of marriage as being between a man and a woman. He talked about the two reports from the Special Committee on Civil Unions and Christian Marriage, neither of which recommend changes to our current definition of marriage. Noted that the minority report encourages a time of study of the current view, while the majority report went further in encouraging study of the broader issue. Said we as a denomination can stick our head in the sand and act as though this issue doesn't exist, or acknowledge what is going on in the world around us, study it, and discern how the church is to respond to this changing environment.

After working out some glitches in the electronic voting system, commissioners cast their votes in several successive ballots until Cynthia Bolbach ("elders rule!") was elected with 51 percent of the vote late on Saturday night. She was commissioned and installed as moderator, succeeding the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow.

While it was a long and busy day, it was thrilling for me to be part of the work of this body. But it was disheartening to hear some commissioners complain about the time it took to vote for moderator, or the uselessness of the advisory delegates' vote despite the still fresh responses from the candidates for moderator to questions put to them by young people about the role of young people in our denomination. It is just such attitudes that make me think that some of us just still don't get it. How unfortunate it is that we aren't fully engaged in all the work of denomination, no matter how tedious it may feel.