PC(USA) Committee Moderator: '9/11 an act of faith and courage'

Solomonia ^ | Solomon

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Coming up in June, the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be holding its 217th General Assembly. On the agenda will of course be the highly contentious decision from the last General Assembly to explore divestment against corporations perceived to be aiding in Israel's "occupation." I'll let the Presbyterian News Service take it from here:

Commissioners, GA business to be divided among 15 committees

Committee leaders for the eight-day Assembly, which starts on June 15 in Birmingham, AL, also were named this week by OGA [Office of the General Assembly] and Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase. Each committee will have elected commissioners as moderator and vice-moderator, plus an appointed assistant and a parliamentarian/recorder. The 534 commissioners — 267 elders and 267 ministers — will be randomly assigned to the 15 committees. Nearly every item of business before the Assembly will be processed by one of the committees, which will make recommendations to the full Assembly. The committees will meet all day on June 16 and 17, and on the afternoon of June 18 if necessary.

Some Assembly committees will be more closely watched than others...

...Various proposals related to Middle East peace and to the 2004 Assembly’s decision to “initiate the process of selective, phased divestment” from multinational corporations profiting from the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the construction of Israel’s security barrier will be considered by Assembly Committee 11 -- Peacemaking and International Issues...

Let's take a look at which commissioners were appointed to lead Committe #11 on Peacemaking and International Issues: the Rev. Gretchen Graf, Northern Plains, M[oderator]...stop! That's far enough.

Rev. Gretchen Graf...where have we heard that name before?

First Presbyterian Rev. Gretchen Graf managed to create a predictable controversey with a speech she gave at a memorial for 9/11 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. At that event, Graf opened her speech by saying, One year ago today, 19 young men on a mission profoundly changed our lives and the life of our nation. This was an act of faith and courage, a carefully planned statement against what they saw as the evils of a corrupt and oppressive nation. They were willing to give their lives so that the world would see their outrage. See the rest of that entry for more, in which the words "put...the shovel...down" may come to mind. Also see Best of the Web, here, under the heading, "Stupidity Watch."

Why does this cause me to become suspect at the prospects for how things are going to go at the next GA?

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Islamofascists can find no better friend than Presbyterians.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

ping

[muawiyah]

Are they really different?

[Presbyterian Reporter]

It does not seem there is any difference between Presbyterians and Islamofascists based upon the propensity of the Presbyterian delegations to the Mid East to make sure they have lunch with the Hezbollah terrorists.

[dd5339]

Please limit your reply to PCUSA. PCA and RPCNA are just two of the several CONSERVATIVE Presbyterian church offshoots here in the US. Semper Fi

[Reactionary]

I like the way liberals confer victim status upon terrorists, America-haters, and seditious mutants across the globe.

They're such Stalinist freaks.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

The title of the news report clearly identifies the organization as the PCUSA.

PC(USA) Committee Moderator: '9/11 an act of faith and courage'

[Salem]

Incredible!

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"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
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[WestSylvanian]

There are Presbyterians within the PCUSA who are trying to wrest control from these nuts. Two of the conservative, reformist groups are called the "Confessing Church Movement" and the "New Wineskins Initiative." They OPPOSE the hierarchy's tilt against Israel, their determination to eliminate ordination standards, and other nutty left wing ideas. They are PCUSA Presbyterians who are NOT willing to let the radicals gain complete control. They are fighting back.

My minister is one of these and my PCUSA congregation may decide to withdraw from the denomination if, at the upcoming General Assembly, the so-called PUP report, which refuses to uphold ordination standards, is adopted. In other words, don't brand all Presbyterians as Islamofascists and left wing extremists. A majority of PCUSA members don't even approve of what is being done by the nuts running things in Louisville.

[PeteB570]

I told my preacher that they had until the end of the meeting. I will be very interested in what they come up with.

I have given my tithing statement to the church for this year but I told the preacher not to count on me next year. My butt and my money would be down the street in the PCA church.

[Irene Adler]

If you google Gretchen Graf, you will get to the church she pastors. The home page has pix of its employees. It's very nearly an all-gal operation. Interesting the degree of gender change in the lamestream churches in one generation.

[SittinYonder]

I grew up in a PCUSA church and, because we moved to where my former pastor's son was now in the pulpit, the first church I joined as an adult was a PCUSA church.

My parents left for a PCA church when I went to college, and my family and I now attend a PCA church.

The liberal political attitudes of the church were part of what drove us away, unquestionably, but the primary reason was that there was little if any evidence that God was working through the PCUSA churches and even less evidence that anyone among the congregation was a believing Christian. The PCA church is a different thing altogether.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Good to hear your church is taking strong measures.

Has your church stopped sending money to the GA, Synod, and Presbytery?

The surest and fastest way to bring the radical leadership to their knees is to stop the money flow from the churches to the denominational bureaucrats.

[I see my hands]

I really don't understand. Had I lost a "first degree" loved one in the 9/11 attacks people would not be saying things like this with impunity.

[WestSylvanian]

I'm not sure how they're resisting. The head of our session presented the PUP report which suggests that local congregations and presbyteries can ignore ordination standards which require chastity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman for anyone seeking to be ministers or church officers. Our session apparently is opposed to any change in the church constitution that allows the ordination of gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals or "transgender" people. Our minister is vehemently opposed to any proposals that allow local congregations to ignore the church constitution on this point or any other. He apparently intends to stand his ground. The moment of truth for our church will come in June when the GA meets.

[popdonnelly]

Getchen Graf sounds like she is deranged and doesn't have the first clue what Christianity is.

[glowworm]

Islamofascists can find no better friend than Presbyterians.

Less than half of PC(USA)Presbyterians are are crappy as the leadership. The Liberal leadership took over by stealth. Very few support their leaderless weirdness and views. It is the blind trying to steer the blinded into a ditch.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I agree that very few Presbyterians in the Pews support the leaders wierdness and radical views. That being said these same Pewsitters send money to these whacko leaders in the denominational bureaucracy.

It is one thing to verbally complain about the leadership in the PCUSA. It is quite another for churches to stop the money flow to the denominational bureaucrats.

[glowworm]

>I agree that very few Presbyterians in the Pews support the leaders wierdness and radical views. That being said these same Pewsitters send money to these whacko leaders in the denominational bureaucracy. >It is one thing to verbally complain about the leadership in the PCUSA. It is quite another for churches to stop the money flow to the denominational bureaucrats.

Our congrgation is a "Confessing Church" but in my case I don't give as much to the local church to send on, pending things shaping up. I still give unselfishly but I have found other places to do the Lord's work.

[weegee]

PCUSA and CPUSA (Communist Party USA). Is there much difference in ideology?