Being a General Assembly Commissioner has been exhausting –  incredibly long days. But it has also been a renewing and reassuring experience.  I have been touched by the friendship and collaboration even between folks who disagree on deeply held beliefs.  I served on the Theological Issues & Institutions Committee which debated restoring the Heidelberg Catechism to a more accurate translation and commended the Belhar Confession for study and possible inclusion in our Book of Confessions.  Both received faith-filled and sincere conversation and no small amount of intense debate.  Both were recommended by the General Assembly for consideration by Presbyteries.

I am particularly excited about studying the Belhar Confession with church members.  This confession of faith was written by Reformed Churches in South Africa as an expression of the good news of the gospel in the face of racism and apartheid.  This brief statement of faith recenters those who read it in a biblical understanding of ourselves and each other as indispensable parts of the Body of Christ, made in the image of God and gifted by the Holy Spirit.  If the Belhar Confession is added to out Book of Confessions (at the earliest in 2012), it will be the first from the southern hemisphere and only the second that is not from Western civilization.  I look forward to learning from our sisters and brothers from South Africa about how we might be more faithful disciples.

Thank you Winnebago Presbytery for electing me as one of your commissioners.
It was a blessing for me to share this experience of God’s church.

Peace,
Susan