Finding Relief at GA 2010

Being a Commissioner at the Presbyterian Church USA biennial meeting, this year in Minneapolis, is hard work.

There are hours and hours of committee meetings. At some points it's boring; at others it's extremely painful--the initiative you care about has been voted down, or something you really disagree with has passed.

The solution of the Reverend Ron Roberts, representing the Presbytery of Missouri Union, was to seek solace in Solitaire, as item #19.03 was being discussed in committee.

Titled "On Making a Statement Regarding Violence Against Pregnant Women," 19.03 turned out to be a anti-abortion wolf in sheep's clothing. Maybe Roberts knew this all along--anyway, he tuned out.

In another case, immediately after 11.07 "On Living a Human Life Before God" was voted down in Committee 11, Social Justice Issues B, I walked over to Bible scholar David Fuentes-Cortes to commiserate--but I found him deeply engrossed in Sudoko.

We had both put hours into 11.07--but he is a theologian and is part of the Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy, which had worked for ten years to craft this statement.

He cared a lot--he had to retreat from the present moment into a game.