Reflections on General Assembly by Stafford Fredericks
Do Justice
Micah 6:6-8
I am always pleased to be a part of the dynamic of General Assembly as it meets. The 218th General Assembly held in San Jose was especially meaningful and gave me a glimpse at the future of our denomination.
We came together as groups of people, some with their own agenda, and yet others not knowing what to expect, but all who attended felt the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit as it moved among the Commissioners, Advisory Delegates and observers.
Our denomination has a bright and dynamic future.
Justice was one of the topics on the top of the list of overtures that were considered in committees and in plenary. I would like to mention two of the many overtures that had special meaning to me.
The first of these was from our presbytery. The Presbytery of the Pacific brought forth a recommendation for our denomination to study in depth the AIDS pandemic, not only in Africa, but also in the United States where there is a surge of cases among ethnic groups and young people living within our borders.
The second overture:
The Synod of Belhar, in Cape Town, South Africa and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches brought for consideration the adoption of the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions in 2004. Our Book of Confessions has not been changed since the Confession of 1967 and the Brief statement of faith in 1983.
Our brothers and sisters in South Africa had suffered under Apartheid for many years. Our black brothers and sisters in this country were marginalized by oppression and slavery for many years.
Because of this request, the General Assembly in 2004 set in motion a task force to seek methods for the church to express a way to address reparations and reconciliation for our actions in this country. The Belhar Confession, having already been adopted by the New Dutch Reformed Mission Church, with the assistance of our former Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches promoted further study.
By an overwhelming majority, the commissioners of the 217th General Assembly in 2006 voted to urge each presbytery and all congregations to undertake a study of the Belhar Confession before the 218th General Assembly.
The Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns asked that the Belhar Confession be presented to the 2008 General Assembly, and the Assembly voted to begin the process of amending our Book of Confessions.
I was honored to be able to work along side our former moderator of the General Assembly, the Reverend Jack Rogers as he gave a presentation to ministers and elders at a meeting of the Association of Stated Clerks. He provided detailed background and his theological interpretation of the Belhar Confession.
One of the major components of this confession as restated by Dr. Rogers is as follows:
“Justice…
We Believe
--that God has revealed himself as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people;
--that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged…
--that the church as the possession of God must stand where the Lord stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that 9in following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.”
We would ask, as members of this congregation, that we hold the committee that is empowered with completing the draft of this document, deeply in our prayers and thought.
Do Justice, and as we do, we should be reminded of all peoples who are marginalized in our own communities and in our churches.
God will provide… we only need to ask what God wishes of us. We know that our Lord is asking us to do justice with His help. As our denomination grows and changes I am ever mindful of how we are Reformed and always Reforming. That nothing is too great if we ask for God’s help along the way.
Jesus was an incredibly just man, and remains so even now within our hearts. He is ever present with us. We just need to listen.
3 comments:
Stafford,
will, in fact, the Book of Confessions be revised to include this creed. If so, when will it show up in the revised B of C.
Excellent question. Amending the Book of Confessions is a long process. A committee of 15 has been appointed to create a draft of the Belhar Confession. That draft will be presented to the 219th General Assembly (2010) in Minneapolis. If adopted, it will then go to the presbyteries for ratification and if ratified will be put into the Book of Confessions in 2012 at the 220th General Assembly in Philadelphia.
Hi Stafford,
Nice summary of GA.
One comment on a minor point: While you are correct that nothing new has been added to the BofC since the Brief Statement, there was a change in 1997 when the Nicene Creed was replaced with the "Ecumenical Version."
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