The most interesting discussion tonight was about Overture 2, wishing Synod to “call all the churches to a return to a faithful practice of worshiping twice on the Lord’s Day”, have the Banner report on why this is a good thing, and for Home Missions to encourage second services in church plants. The advisory committee recommended not acceding to the overture, noting that in the relevant Church Order article supplement (51-a), Synod already encourages second services.
Rev. Randy Blacketer (he wrote a Banner article on the upcoming Form of Subscription debate), shared how his congregation fulfilled the purpose of having a second service while not having one. He described that the purpose of having a second service is to teach the Reformed faith and confessions, something he holds as very important. His congregation fulfills this purpose by holding a first service, meant for this kind of teaching, having a break, and then having a service for worship.
There was a moment of dramatic tension when Overture 11 was on the floor. This overture wanted to establish another committee to study the women-in-office issue. When Rev. Boot called for discussion, I waited in a moment of pure and unadulterated silent hope that nobody would say anything. And nobody did. (Yay!)
Classis Minnkota sent Communication 2 to say to Synod that it sends delegates under protest, as Synod’s decision to allow female delegates strains their conscience. The advisory committee reccomended responding by saying that the mechanism for registering such protests was established last year for delegates and not for classes. (Acts of Synod 2007, pg. 612) These protests are necessary so that those who disagree with the women-in-office decisions are able to honour their convictions while still coming to Synod in good conscience. Some delegates thought that there should be more response than this to the legitimate concern of the classis. However, Rev. Andrew Vander Leek pointed out that individuals, not classes, have a conscience, thus having the delegates rather than the classes register protest is more appropriate. Synod adopted the advisory committee’s recommendation.
Forty-one ministers retired this year, and I wish to join Synod in expressing appreciation for their work of service.
More than once tonight, the advisory committee report that was being dealt with was not on the CRCNA website on time. This is neither a big deal or much of a problem, but it is definitely beneficial to be able to see what the recommendations are. The absence of report 5A was noted almost immediately on the scrolling text below the video and was put up in a very short amount of time, but the same could not be said of reports 5B or 3B. However, everything else about the web presentation of Synod is excellent, such as the video cutting (with nice fading transitions!), the up-to-date scrolling text, and even the presence of the advisory reports; those that keep this going deserve more recognition!
(sorry for no pretty pictures tonight!)
Tags: CRC, synod, Synod 2008
