June 23, 2006
Yes, it’s Friday morning, and we’re still in Birmingham! Claire’s car spent the night at the Volvo Dealership, and we spent the night at the Sheraton. Hopefully, we’ll be on the road this afternoon.
General Assembly ended on a high note yesterday afternoon with worship and the final business meeting. The worship service Thursday morning was our favorite and the sermon and prayer will be available on http://www.pcusa.org. The speaker is an inquirer in Southern Louisiana and spent last year as a Young Adult Volunteer in Guatemala. She focused on the importance of mission in the life and work of our church. It was neat for Claire to be able to picture scenes from her Spring Break trip to Guatemala during the sermon. The prayer after the sermon was written by middle-schoolers at a conference last week and read by one of their counselors.
We did so much business this week that it would be impossible to recount it all here. If you are interested in a particular subject, please ask us or see the website (listed above). Instead, we’d prefer to concentrate on other highlights of the trip.
For instance, we had a true sense that it was always the work of God that was being done here. Despite the controversial nature of some of the issues before us, God was always present and we could all feel the love of God while we were doing the work of the church. When things got heated, we stopped to sing a hymn or pray together, often joining hands to remind ourselves of the real reason for being here.
It really is amazing that so many people with such diverse perspectives can live together for over a week and manage to still love God, each other, and the church after such an experience.
The worship services were awesome, especially the opening worship on Sunday with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America. The exhibit hall was fun too, and full of resources and goodies like a jump rope for Anna. Donna is coming home with lots of new ideas!
We appreciate the opportunity to represent our church and presbytery by being here. Thank you all for your love and support!
Hopefully, we’ll be home later this afternoon! Don’t forget that Vacation Bible School starts Sunday, and we will see you all there!
Donna, Claire, and Anna
Friday, June 23, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
And I'm Here!
Hi from Birmingham!
I arrived yesterday afternoon, went to my hotel to pick up my registration packet, and then straight to my committee meeting at the Convention Center. Kerra, you'll be happy to know that the YADs do at least have a hotel. Though our key cards don't work most of the time, we are grateful that we are not staying in dorm rooms that haven't been cleaned from the previous school year.
For those of you who don't know, I'm on the Ecclesiology Committee (number 6), and we're dealing with the infamous Peace, Unity, and Purity Report. Because of the controversial nature of the business before my committee, we began meeting early (most other committees meet for the first time tomorrow). So, I missed the YAD orientation yesterday, but I hear that I'm probably better off that way anyway. We started yesterday with some group building exercises. Then, we broke for dinner where I ran into my friend from Vanderbilt Shane's Dad (Mike Magee), who is a commissioner from Middle Tennessee and Roger Marriot, a missionary in Guatemala who spoke to my Presbyterian Student Fellowship group at Vandy. I love that the PC(USA) is such a small world! We approved the committee agenda with some discussion as to what a Quasi Committee of the Whole is (I'm sure you can all bust out the Robert's Rules as many of my committee members did).
Today, we had more YAD orientation, which I got to go to. I've met some terrific people already. This afternoon was the first plenary meeting, and tonight we got into the "good stuff," the election of the moderator. Joan Grey, a minister from the Atlanta Presbytery won. To be honest, she was my second choice, but I really think she'll do a great job.
I appreciate all the love and support you are all sending my way. I get teary-eyed just thinking about my wonderful church family at home. I just hope I can live up to your expectations!
It's 12:30 and just about bedtime; we start early tomorrow morning with a breakfast and then committee meetings!
Claire
I arrived yesterday afternoon, went to my hotel to pick up my registration packet, and then straight to my committee meeting at the Convention Center. Kerra, you'll be happy to know that the YADs do at least have a hotel. Though our key cards don't work most of the time, we are grateful that we are not staying in dorm rooms that haven't been cleaned from the previous school year.
For those of you who don't know, I'm on the Ecclesiology Committee (number 6), and we're dealing with the infamous Peace, Unity, and Purity Report. Because of the controversial nature of the business before my committee, we began meeting early (most other committees meet for the first time tomorrow). So, I missed the YAD orientation yesterday, but I hear that I'm probably better off that way anyway. We started yesterday with some group building exercises. Then, we broke for dinner where I ran into my friend from Vanderbilt Shane's Dad (Mike Magee), who is a commissioner from Middle Tennessee and Roger Marriot, a missionary in Guatemala who spoke to my Presbyterian Student Fellowship group at Vandy. I love that the PC(USA) is such a small world! We approved the committee agenda with some discussion as to what a Quasi Committee of the Whole is (I'm sure you can all bust out the Robert's Rules as many of my committee members did).
Today, we had more YAD orientation, which I got to go to. I've met some terrific people already. This afternoon was the first plenary meeting, and tonight we got into the "good stuff," the election of the moderator. Joan Grey, a minister from the Atlanta Presbytery won. To be honest, she was my second choice, but I really think she'll do a great job.
I appreciate all the love and support you are all sending my way. I get teary-eyed just thinking about my wonderful church family at home. I just hope I can live up to your expectations!
It's 12:30 and just about bedtime; we start early tomorrow morning with a breakfast and then committee meetings!
Claire
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