Young people

The Youth Advisory Delegates (soon to be re- and slightly misnamed Young Adult Advisory Delegates) put their practice in caucus and committees to good use during my last day at General Assembly. Recall that these high school and mainly college students could speak and vote in committees, and recall that I had attended a Monday night YAD caucus in which they reported on committee progress, including on a committee with which I worked – and were alternatively thoughtful and funny (if not always both). Riding chartered buses simultaneously to me riding the Highway 17 express bus, the YADs traveled to the Santa Cruz beach/boardwalk Tuesday night (and the next morning I noted leaving Santa Cruz that the boardwalk was still there), and so they had no caucus. My manager and I – along with the rest of the exhibitors – wrapped things up and packed up Wednesday night. Going back to my hotel business center to blog, I noticed something my manager had intimated about – that is, it was possible to watch the Assembly plenaries on the Web.

Blogging in one window and listening to GA in the other revealed a couple of surprises. YADs did have “voice” at the plenaries, and plenty of them spoke on various issues. I watched as my friend’s daughter asked a question about a Youth Committee item, and she did well, as her peers did. I also noticed something the Moderator had alluded to the YADs two nights earlier – With a fancy, high-tech, United Nations style voting system (part of the shift to the less-paper Assembly that I helped work on two years ago), the Moderator – before every official vote – was able to call on all of the advisory delegates (YADS, seminary students, mission workers, and also ecumenical delegates from other U.S. Christian denominations and from partner churches) essentially to vote – and then vote totals show up for each of these four on the screen – and then they’ve “advised” the commissioners – and then the commissioners vote.

I also noticed that, in making their quick presentation about their committees’ work, I thought they had matured. The most memorable presentation was by a young man with no shoes on who switched effortlessly back in fort between Valley Dude/hip hop language to excitement about a conservative “Solemn Assemblies” (quiet services in Presbyterian churches around the country repenting for a our failings as churches but calling for good to intervene to help us revitalize our churches.) (He used the word “awesome” a lot.

On my way out of breakfast this morning I saw Clara, who had originally invited me the caucus, told me more about the Santa Cruz trip (including that several kids went swimming – brrr – though not as cold as June Baltic Sea swimming!).

God bless these young people in their final day of GA deliberations and in their ministries and lives back at home.