This morning began with a wonderful worship service. There was a remarkable ensemble of young men and women from an area high school that sang magnificently. We heard a wonderful message and celebrated the sacrament of communion.
This afternoon we began our plenary sessions where we began voting on overtures coming out of the committee's. A couple significant things occurred. One of the decisions was in the adoption of a new directory of worship. Directory of worship is part of our constitution or book of order. One of the significant changes that is coming out of this General Assembly is to remove the mandate that when a young child is being presented for baptism that one of the parents must be a member of a Christian Church. This recognizes that there are times when it is appropriate to baptize someone who does not have a parent who is an active member.
There was also an overture that had been presented to one of our committees in an attempt to reverse the 221st general assembly's decision that redefined marriage. This Overture was attempting to return to stating that marriage was between one man and one woman. This Overture was defeated by a vote of approximately 79 to 21%.
We also had a banquet honoring Grady Parsons who is retiring after eight years as stated Clerk of our denomination. At this someone gave a talk on the future of the church which was a very strong talk about the future of the church is love. I'll be looking for a transcript of that talk to share with people in the future.
Leaving we will be acting upon more overtures. For more information you can go to the website of Presbyterian Outlook Magazine as they are giving regular updates on the happenings of the general assembly.
I continue to be thrilled to be a part of this assembly and a part of our remarkable church.
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