I was only able to catch the second half of the session once again (after coffee break at around 3:00).
I did catch some of the discussion about the Contemporary Testimony. There were a variety of concernas about it, but most could be lumped together. Many thought that the 2008 revision was not distributed widely enough or for enough time, as it could only be found online or in the printed Agenda for Synod. A number of people thought the statements in articles 48, 50, and 51 were too political in nature; the revision committee responded that this was indeed intentional, and that the political views are those already decided upon by a past Synod; the committee not trying to prescribe its own views for everyone. Because of this, a few delegates wanted to defer the report for next year, and there was a whole bunch of procedural goo that needed to be sorted out about this. (Henry De Moor had plenty of opportunity to speak!) In the end, the revision was adopted.
Overture 9, wanting Synod to instruct the Board of Trustees to develop ecological guidelines for the CRC, was also considered. The advisory committee affirmed that ecological action is an important part of the church’s mission, but because of an abundance of existing resources, instructing the BOT to make this list would not be necessary. As an alternative, the advisory commitee proposed instructing the BOT to assemble a web page on the topic of eco-justice for the CRC. Synod adopted both these recommendations.
The list of resources about eco-justice the committee recognized is probably going to get lost and buried in the Acts, so here is the list:
- “The Just Stewardship of Land and Creation” published by the Reformed Ecumenical Council of 1996.
- The CRC Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action’s eco-justice page at www.crcna.org/pages/osjha_ecojustice.cfm
- Earth-Wise: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues by Calvin B. DeWitt
This session of Synod was extremely well-watched, with over 100 viewers at some points. This is over triple what it has been.
(the sessions I missed I can’t watch right now due to technical difficulties, but I will as soon as possible.)
Tags: CRC, synod, Synod 2008
