I Think These People Are Fun

So tonight, after committee meetings (which you will hear more about in a later blog), we went to a group dinner and formed a YAD table with all my friends. I really like them. :)

We just sit at the table and laugh. Even at this point when I am so very tired, I still can keep running with this group.

After dinner, there was a worship service, but we *cough* skipped it to go play Mafia in Nate's room. It's the first thing I have skipped the whole week, unlike many of the other commissioners, and after a day of a committee meeting like mine, (again, tune it later for that report) :) it was well-deserved.

Just to give you a run-down of "the group" for future reference, starting from the left (this was taken in the elevator):
Pat, mid-PA.--We both feel like we know each other from something.
Maggie, Wilmington, NC--Became my best friend online before we got here as she was referred to me by a family friend. :)
Cate, D.C.--The first person I met as we were waiting to get our bags in the airport.
Erin, Virginia?--goes to a college called Presbyterian like Westminster
Me, PA--blogs a lot.
Jay's mouth, San Jose, CA--Went to the More Light dinner with me, is in my committee.
Luke, Wisconsin--When I introduced myself to Luke, I told him he looked familiar. Turns out he goes to Conference. :)
Merideth, South Carolinia--has the sweetest laugh and makes funny faces. I want to room with someone like her.
Nate, Arkansas--has the sweetest southern accent and is married to me in M.A.S.H.
Mike's ear, Columbus, OH--came to the OneByOne lunch with me, gets up and runs in the morning, is my directions man for the week.


Oh yeah, I was Sheriff twice and died as soon as I found someone out each time but solved it the third round as a townsperson.

OneByOne

For lunch I went to a ticketed meal with Mike sponsored by OneByOne, basically the opposite of More Light.
I wanted to hear both sides of the issues so I had signed up for both of them.

Earlier in the week I had visited their booth in the Exhibit Hall. The guy there tried to joke with me and I felt uncomfortable around him. This was before I found out which side of the debate they were on.

So today Mike and I walked to Bella Mia Restaurant and received a small box lunch at the door. It was a small crowd, about twenty. The weird guy from the booth was there and he recognized me. It's always a nice thing to be recognized, but then the rest of the time he kept coming over and refilling my drink and being awkward nice.
I mean, let's not let one weird guy ruin the organization for me, but to compare it to More Light, it was awkward, and though I most definitely fit in better with the OneByOne group in appearance and background, I felt far more comfortable at More Light, which was kind of ironic.

I tried to talk to a man at my table about the stances of OneByOne, mainly whether or not they thought homosexuality was a societal thing or a genetic one. He didn't really answer. I know this issue is one that takes a conversation to answer, but I was just looking for information. In the end he told me to go to there booth in the exhibit hall, even though I told him I'd been there before.

Last night we had a man from OneByOne come to speak at YAD caucus. (We have "mission groups"--special interest groups in disguise--come every night and talk to us for like two minutes each.) The man told us about how he has "suffered from same-sex attraction" before but that now he had found the church and was back with his wife. People are so picky with their words. "Same-sex attraction."
I felt sorry for the man. He never said that he loved his wife. He never said that he had found a way to get rid of the feelings. He had just gotten back to the societal norm of what was expected of him as a Christian husband and father. I think the poor guy was living a lie just to be accepted by Jesus. No one has to do that.
And what about his wife? Poor woman. She deserves the right to love someone that can love her back.

He didn't seem "healed." He seemed well-rehearsed.

The speaker at the lunch talked briefly about having a homosexual past, but then "reconciling" with his wife years later. He then found out he had AIDs. His whole speech then became about "suffering with others as Jesus tells us to." When he talked about having AIDs though, he never said anything about the fact that he was the one that gave himself AIDs. He compared himself to the African people a lot, which I thought was weird. Their story is completely different from his.

I did like his speech when I was listening to it, but coming out of it, I'm not really sure what he talked about, and he said nothing of the work that it took to stop being homosexual.

I think a homosexual, just like a heterosexual, can, over time, faithfully work with God to halt their sexual feelings into abstinence. I find it hard to believe that they can "switch back to the other side," but I do think that anyone, homo- or hetero- sexual can abstain from sex with Christ's help. Whether or not that abstinence is required by God is debatable, but the issue I am annoyed with is when people appear to have coaxed themselves into being genuinely attracted to something they were not previously attracted to.

I feel like you can wane out attraction, but you can't create it.

Anyway, I liked More Light better. They were truly friendly, and they answered all my questions with real answers.

Committee Meetings

Right now I'm in a committee meeting for Theological Issues and Institutions.

Committee meetings make me love the church, but hate the people in it.

Moderator Election

Another very important thing happened yesterday night: we selected a moderator. The moderator is the highest position you can hold in the Presbyterian church. It's not like a President in that it does not have much power to change, but rather to moderate the meetings that are held at General Assembly. They are the mediator, the host of the meeting. If you have a question, you wait for the moderator to call on you.

Months before I got to GA, I was told about the candidates for moderator in an email. The email had a link to the GA site, which then had a link to one of the Moderator's blogs. As this was the most easily accessible, I clicked on it and began to read Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow's blog. (http://www.mod.reyes-chow.com)
I really liked him and I would revisit it every once in awhile when I remembered to.

So, coming into GA, I had really only exposed myself to one of the candidates. When we got here, the candidates had booths right at the entrance of the Convention Center. Bruce's booth had a painting to sign with your vision for the church, pins, and free t-shirts for all the YADs. He had now sold all the kids in my group. :)


It became evident that Bruce was the "candidate for the youth." His connection to them was very similar to the craze around Barack Obama--people just followed him. Though Barack and Bruce are very different people, and Bruce's position of leadership will be different in many ways, they had both captivated an audience.

So Saturday night was the Moderator Election. Each candidate had five minutes for someone to nominate them, then they themselves gave a five minute speech (as Bruce is pictured below), and then there was a question panel that took place for an hour.


I tried to listen to this because I had to admit to myself, though I was wearing a BRC pin and t-shirt, I did not know a lot about the other candidates.

As I listened, I was more inspired by Bruce, but also impressed by Carl Mazza, a man who did not grow up in the faith, but appeared to live a life for Christ. I thought both would be a great moderator, but I gave Bruce my vote. He had the freshness I was looking for in the church.

The YADs vote (which is really an advisory vote for the commissioners to view and then keep in mind for their own vote, which is the one that counts) first. The were almost all in support of Bruce. Then came the commissioner vote. Bruce had the majority, followed by Carl, but a "majority plus one" vote was needed.

After a revote, Bruce won!
He is now our new moderator. Not only is this exciting for the church, but also for me as all of the GA moderators speak at Conference! Yay for next year! : )