Day 36 - 40 Days of Prayer - Dan Schomer

Romans 12:9-10

'Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor" (NRSV).

I am sitting in a pew, observing the unimaginable. A little country congregation, barely able to stay afloat financially, is voting. Wasn’t it just a few years ago that the presbytery completed a decade of mission support in tens of thousands of dollars for this little congregation? Hadn’t I spent a Sunday afternoon exploring with them their sense of calling as a people of God? Hadn’t I given up Easter worship with my family in order to fill their pulpit and share with them the great good news, “He is risen”?

Now they are voting. It’s not just that they have ignored the constitution by which they swore to abide before God and God’s people. They were voting to sever a relationship that has lasted 193 years as casually as one might give up Coke for Pepsi. Yes, I was angry that they refused to listen to my pleas. Yes, I felt insulted by their conduct. But this wasn’t about me. Mostly, I was sad…sad that Christ was divided that day in that little country church that prided itself on how much it loves.

I was a commissioner to the 1994 Assembly from which came the cry, “Theology matters.” My prayer for the 219th General Assembly is that our cry will be, “Conduct matters.” It matters how we treat one another. It matters both how we agree and how we disagree. A General Assembly is many things, some of them more satisfying than others. But may this General Assembly be first and foremost a taste of the realm (kingdom) of God. May our commissioners come home with something to share that is genuine and good, promotes mutual affection and shows honor. This Assembly, like all human gatherings, will be flawed. After all, I’ll be there. But may it witness to a God who expects General Assemblies and little country churches to reflect God’s glory.


Dan Schomer
General Presbyter
Eastminster Presbytery