The benefits of being an observer to GA are:

You can go to any committee meeting you choose and stay as long as you want.

You can walk in and out of plenary meetings of the GA when you wish.

You can participate in wonderful field trips designed by the hard working GA committee that cares for the weeks activites.

You learn so much about the PCUSA and its people’s concerns. You get tired after all the interacting and listening and learning. Maybe not as tired as the commissioners but one is ready for rest.

So….get ready to attend the 2010 GA in Minneapolis. Put it on your calendar.

What we’ve learned:

One can watch the GA business online by clicking on the video icon on Church’s web page. It is better than attending live. Here we drove 2,000 miles to sit in folding chairs and people across the US and beyond can watch from their computer screeen. Wow!

Thursday Ted and I took a bus tour to Stanford University and were treated to a lecture on Peacemaking Principles by Byron Bland who is associate director of the Stanford Center for International Conflict and Negotiation. He has worked with Northern Ireland and Israel. Points he spoke on were shared futures, trustworthiness, loss acceptance, just entitlements. Other questions were “what do you want?, why do you want? and what can you live with? It was a presentation worth hearing for all relationships, not just about warring countries. We went on to tour the Memorial Church and Rodin Sculpure Garden and Gallery on campus. Lots to see.

Ted and I find ourselves having many discussions on the sights we see, issues raised, new insights, reactions to new cultural experiences. Even the food we eat and the air we breathe seem to catch our attention. Ask us to share when you see us back in Wisconsin. GA is more than going to meetings.

This will be our last posting. We are on our way up to Eureka to visit our pastor from Vallejo of 33 years ago. On the way we plan to check out San Francisco Theological Seminary where we lived for 3 years and Vallejo, just across the bay where we lived for 4 years. God’s peace be with you all.