The Moderatorial Mix

One of the first events of an assembly is the election of a moderator.  The moderator is a commissioner, who, with the endorsement of their commissioning body, "stands" for election to preside over the business of the assembly.  It is a two-year responsibility, with the moderator serving as an ambassador of the church and interpreter of the assembly's work until the next one is elected.  Perhaps more importantly, the moderator chooses the committee leadership from among the elected commissioners to the next assembly, which can affect significantly the outcome of controversial business.

This year there are six -- count 'em! -- six candidates for moderator, and they span the full spectrum of church politics.  Alphabetically, they are:  Philadelphia pastor James Belle; Elder Cynthia Bolbach of Arlington, Virginia; Minneapolis pastor Jin Kim; Burnsville, NC pastor Maggie Lauterer; Lompoc, CA pastor Julia Leeth; and Eau Claire, WI pastor Eric Nielsen.  None of these are denominational "stars" who would be handed the position out of respect (such as Benjamin Weir or Marj Carpenter in years past).  Some are better known than others, however -- Jin Kim has been a "rising star" on the right wing for the past decade; Cynthia Bolback co-moderated the new Form of Government Task Force -- but those identities may hurt their candidacy as easily as not.

Because of the range of positions and the lack of a standout candidate, it is more likely that the election to be held Saturday night (tonight) will be an early indicator of the leanings of this assembly as to its political makeup.

The official "moderator's booklet" introducing the candidates can be found at www.pc-biz.org/resource.aspx, but those who want to assess the candidates' positions on the more controversial issues of the day will find a helpful Q&A at www.presbyvoicesforjustice.org (the new successor to the Witherspoon Society and Voices of Sophia).  Progressive blogger John Shuck has rank-ordered the candidates from the most to the least sympathetic with the progressive agenda.  With the exception of James Belle, who is not quoted in the blog, I have eliminated the blogger's personal comments and just includedthe candidates' responses.

  1. Maggie Lauterer "Perhaps when we can speak with a strong majority on matters of human sexuality, we can move on with our mission."

  2. Cynthia Bolbach "Those in favor of the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in our life together - and I include myself in that group - believe that we fail to satisfy the Gospel imperative of inclusiveness as we

continue to exclude gays and lesbians from leadership in our church."

  3. Eric Nielsen "Assessment of the gifts for ministry of Elders, Deacons, or Ministers of Word and Sacrament should be returned to congregations and presbyteries. They know their people and churches best."

  4. James Belle He quotes the Bible and Westminster with the slickest non-answer to the question.

  5. Jin Kim "My reflections on the life of Jesus lead me to reject both complete equality in the matters of either ordination or marriage, and ruling out any further GA consideration of these questions for years to

come."

  6. Julia Leeth: "I pray the Assembly maintains the traditional definition of marriage as supported by the Bible..."

Of course, ordination standards is just one issue to consider in selecting a moderator.  And, while these are obviously highly excerpted quotes, and just one person's assessment of them, they are consistent with what else I have heard of the candidates' positions.  

It will be interesting to see how they respond to the questions from the floor tonight, and how the assembly votes.  I'll add a late post to update the news.