Comments for Congressional mode at http://pres-outlook.com , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://pres-outlook.com Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:42:25 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://pres-outlook.com/opinion/editorials/7719-congressional-mode.html#comment-4079 I liked your analysis. The one point I wish you had made is that the congress must depend upon each other in future debates and votes, like farmers depending upon a neighbor to help them get their harvest in even though they dislike the neighbor. We act like "the issue" is the key to our own salvation! That's just plain stupid. We can't see the forest for the trees. God is the judge not the GA, Presbytery or congregation. We have lost all sight of the reason the church exists to share the Gospel and the great love of God... We fight because we have forgotten how to love. This is the first Assembly I have missed since 1973... and I was building a school for Mexican children in Valle Hermosa, Mexico... a much better use of my time and witness. Bruce Berry Interim Pastor Marshall, MO - bruce berry Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:08:47 +0100 http://pres-outlook.com/opinion/editorials/7719-congressional-mode.html#comment-4078 I was ordained in 1983, the fateful year of "reunion." As far as I can tell, in the past 25 years there has been no union. The presbytery (Twin Cities Area) in which I've served for 23 of those 25 years is the current epicenter of debate about GLBT ordination. After 23 years of debate, I could take either side of this argument and defend it. But I happen to be on the politically incorrect side -- I can't see my way clear to call homosexuality blessed. I didn't go into ministry to argue with passion over this one issue for 23 years! In his editorial, Haberer makes it sound like argument and debating, or even conversation on this issue is what we're supposed to be about.[u][/u]What a waste of the Holy Spirit and Kingdom resources! I've begun to despair of ever serving a denomination where "the main thing is the main thing" -- letting Christ live through us as we seek to live out the Kingdom of God for the sake of those outside the Church. - Judie Ritchie Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:03:11 +0100 http://pres-outlook.com/opinion/editorials/7719-congressional-mode.html#comment-4077 OK. You're crazy. More seriously - in Congress, EVERYTHING done is measured for political impact. The position taken by those arguing with passion may or may not reflect their own beliefs about the issue, and may or may not reflect the will of their constituents back home. They may be arguing for side X on issue A because somebody else will then argue for side Y on issue B. Imagine such a trade in the PC(USA) - I'll vote for/against homosexuality as long as you vote on the same side as me on our response to the Middle East. I think a better model is hockey fights. Two folks pour everything that they have in fights out on the ice. These same players will often get a beer together after the game and laugh about the debates. When I was a YAD to the Synod of the Northeast in the mid-80's, the hockey fight mindset prevailed. People actually ate together, talked together and laughed together about their positions on issues and the debate itself. Times have changed. I have run into a small number of General Assembly participants who were still smarting from their wounds after the meeting. I know that the collective PC(USA) blogs are still ringing like a bell with either celebration or outcry after this year's decision. I hope that everyone will take your words to heart and try to reach out to someone "on the other side". The Spirit needs people to work - and there generally aren't any people in the No-Man's Land between the battle lines. Mark Smith Hamilton, NJ Member, Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (NJ) - Mark Smith Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:24:58 +0100