March 16, 2010: What do we do with that?
One of the realities of life of being a commissioner to the General Assembly is having to deal with a ton of verbage. There is simply a lot to read.
Case in point: "Breaking Down Walls", the report of the Middle East Study Committee.
Now, this note is not going to be an analysis of what the report says, it is a look at how to understand the operation of the Assembly in dealing with a report of this size.
It is not yet listed on pc-biz, but will be soon. It is available here. The full report is 172 pages. Given the history and complexity of the issue, 172 pages is short. Given the time frame in which the Assembly has to handle it, 172 pages is the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
However, before you get freaked out by the size of the report, break it down. (This would have been a whole lot easier if the pages had been numbered! Yes, the report at the back end of the document has numbers, but that does not preclude some sort of orientation at the front end -- Section 1 - 1; Section 1 - 2; and so forth)
There are "PARTS":
PART ONE: We Bear Witness.
a) Page 2 and 3 of the Acrobat (.pdf) document are the introduction (look up at the tool bar on top; it will say "3/172"-- meaning page 3 of the 172 pages of the report. That page numbering includes the cover; so, if page numbers are added later, these numbers will not correspond).
b) "Letters to Our Church, Partners and Engaged Parties" (4/172 - 11/172)
c) "Witness of the Scriptures: A Biblical Theological Reflection"(12/172 - 28/172)
d) "Our Witness: What We Have Seen and Heard." (29/172 - 43/172)
PART TWO: Recommendations (44/172- )
I. Affirmation of Human Rights & Moral Principles (page 45/172)
11. Affirm Previous General Assembly Policies and Statements (page 46/172)
III. For the Witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (page 47/172)
1V. Urgent Actions Toward Justice and Peace in Israel, The Occupied Territories of Palestine, and Jerusalem (p. 48/172)
V. Urgent Actions for a Comprehensive Peace with Justice in the Middle East (p. 49/172)
VI. Addressing Our Own Government (p. 50/172)
VII. Concerning Christian Presence in the Middle East (p. 51/172)
VIII. Engaging This Report (p. 51/172) -- keep a finger in this one.
PART THREE: Study materials (53/172)
There is an introduction and then (p. 63/172)"A Plea For Justice: A (sic) Historical Analysis". Page 64 has a table of contents with an outline of what follows (with page numbers).
Appendix 1 lists the contacts made by the committee. (134/172)
Appendix 2 is a General Assembly Policy Review (137/172)
Appendix 3 is Presbyterian Panel survey and results (147/172).
OK, so now what?
1. There is no substitute for reading. It is long. It is complicated. It is a situation with theological, physical, political, and emotional dimensions. Know that it is going to take more than one sitting. Read it so you know what is in it.
2. Go back and look at Part II, Recommendation VIII (p. 51/172). Do not shortcut and just read the recommendations; however, after you have done the reading, come to this recommendation
a. The Assembly is being asked to approve the introduction and the letters; presumably so the letters will be sent.
b. The Assembly is being asked to receive Part III, the study materials and commend them to the church for study.
c. The Assembly is being asked to authorize the creation of a study guide.
3. Then, look at the other recommendations. There are a number of things the Assembly is being asked to approve, express, affirm, call for, urge, and so forth. One that will draw a lot of attention and (you might as well know it now) media coverage is Recommendation III C. "Strongly denounce Caterpillar's continued profit-making from non-peaceful uses of its products and presses Caterpillar to review carefully its involvement in obstacles to a just and lasting peace in Israel-Palestine and to take affirmative steps to end its complicity in the violation of human rights."
This will be only one of several issues handled by a commissioners committee. At the 218th General Assembly, it was called "Peacemaking and International Issues." Whatever it is called this time, the committee will meet for the first time on Sunday night, July 4 (fireworks, anyone?). Then, it will have Monday and Tuesday to have public hearings and complete deliberations on this report and everything else it is assigned. It will make recommendations, which recommendations will be deliberated and any minority report or amendments will be considered by the whole Assembly for about an hour or so -- most likely on Thursday. That's it.
Here's my point: if you like the report, you will love the process. If you have questions or would like to make a change to any part -- the action, recommendations, or language in the report -- you have to know when and how to act in order to not simply get run over.
For example, when I read the "Letter to Our American Muslim Friends," (p. 7/172), I was somewhat taken aback by the sentence, "We are aware that American Muslims have come under more scrutiny, pressure, and, indeed, racism since the tragedies of September 11th." Now, I get the point they are making -- but am irked by the notion of our classifying terrorism as "tragedies." Assuming I am not on this commissioner committee (a 1 in 15 or 16 possibility), I would either have to persuade the committee to make the amendment or propose the amendment on the floor.
How long and how many of those kinds of corrections do you expect will be debated before the commissioners groan?
That's why preparation is the key. If you have something you are passionate about addressing -- whatever it is God is leading you to do -- you have to, have to, have to be prepared both substantively and procedurally.
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