Few days here in Pittsburgh have been as full as Friday, July 6! The Assembly began their deliberations at 8:30 am and continued well past midnight. Much was accomplished and several important deciscions were made — the most significant of which was the action to NOT redefine marriage.
After several hours of debate and by a margin of 48% to 52%, the Assembly voted to disapprove the recommendation of the Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues which attempted to call the church to two pieces of action. First, the recommendation was to change the Book of Order from referencing marriage as “between one man and one woman” to “two people.” And second, the committee called Presbyteries and Sessons to enter into a two-year period of study on the subject, reporting their findings to the 221st General Assembly in Detroit.
Discussion was civil, and respectful, and this commissioner’s opinion is that most of the assembly believes that choosing to change the definition of marriage could be a faithful, Biblical decision. However, concern for the church prevailed! There was much emotion over whether or not the average PCUSA church-goer would be able to handle such a profound shift in church theology, so soon after the passage of 10-A. And such emotion was understood. However, when fear squelches faithfulness, we ignore the way of Christ and the Spirit is quenched.
Is it also this commissioner’s opinion that because the make-up of our churches is what it is, with the vast majority of our members being over the age of 65, meetings such as this lack, like most Presbytery Meetings, the voice of younger people who simply have different views on God, faith, scripture, and community.
Everything wraps up this morning, and I’ll post one final report on my way home.
Bob's Blog 
Please forgive an earlier draft of this post stating that people over the age of 65 were ‘narrow and entrenched.’ That was waaaaaay inappropriate, and I apologize!