“The First Full Day”
by Rev. Dr. Lisa W. Davison
Sunday was a scattered day at Assembly. Today, we
are together for a morning business session, college luncheons, workshops, and
evening worship. It will be a full day of testing the waters of our covenantal
relationship.
The first two items of
business were referred back to Reference & Counsel for revisions. The first
item to be discussed was a resolution on raising the minimum representation of
ethnic minorities on boards of General Units from 20% to 30%. There were a few
dissenting voices. While some were obviously reflecting some unrecognized inner
racism, one person did ask the question of why we needed “quotas”
when we are supposed to be inclusive in our nature. Shouldn’t we be able
to nominate representative leadership without worrying about quotas? Such a
question does suggest an ideal we would hope to reach, but it is not
representative of reality. Yet, I must say that there is a problem with
limiting the category of “minority” to simply ethnicity. What about
minority group of GLBT* persons? Do we have a quota for that? And, if the
predictions are true about the growth of ethnic minorities in the DOC, what will
these percentages mean when the “minority” becomes Caucasian? I
have concerns about whether this demand for diversity will remain.
The other resolution was on approving the
amendments to the Design of the CC (DOC). Despite some concerns, this
resolution met with very little resistance, and I can’t help but wonder
why? There were major changes made, and yet there was not much discussion. Is
it because all the changes were understood and embraced as good? Or, was it
because no one really cares about the design? I think it was the latter. I
even have the feeling that some among us believe that these changes will
“save” the church. They may streamline the business of the church,
but the design will not repair the brokenness of our denomination. Only we,
with God’s help, can do that. It will take more than just saying
“yea” to a vote.
We still seem
to be skirting the big issues. For example, inadequate time was allotted for
questions on NBA’s report. It is still up in the air as to how the family
will behave in the heat of disagreement, when some tough votes have to be
taken.
Filed Wed - July 27, 2005, 05:18 PM in
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