The Sausage Factory

There is an old saying, attributed to Otto von Bismarck: "Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made." The biennial General Assembly is our Presbyterian sausage factory. For many, the process of considering and shaping amendments to the Book of Order, reviewing and approving policy statements and resolutions, determining our mission priorities, and electing leaders is unseemly because it appears to the untrained eye to be as much a political process as it is a spiritual one.

I believe, however, that what Winston Churchill said of democracy applies equally well to our Presbyterian system:  that it is "the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Indeed, if the General Assembly were entirely political, it would be unbearable. But it is very much a spiritual process, albeit an incarnational one.

As Presbyterians, we believe that the will of God is best discerned through gathered assemblies of ruling and teaching elders prayerfully deliberating what God might be saying to the church today. It is a conversation that is surrounded in prayer, and conducted in conversation with the Bible and our Confessions. 

But we are a large and diverse communion who sometimes hear God speak in different accents and inflections. This has been true of governing assemblies going back to apostolic times. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, we know only in part, and we prophecy only in part. And, we are universally inclined towards sin and self-interest. That is why we need to hear and deliberate with others who provide perspectives that might be a corrective to our own. And, it is why we never claim to have discovered the one, true answer to the issues that confront us, but offer them as our best understanding of God's will at this time, while preserving the right of conscience for those who disagree. As an extra corrective, those matters which would amend our Constitution are sent for ratification by the 171 presbyteries of our church.

Even so, ours is not a perfect system. It is constantly in need of review and improvement. And there are always criticisms - some helpful but many short-sighted. But that is the beauty of our system. If we believe in a living God who calls us to be faithful in a changing world, we will necessarily have to live in the tension of determining how we too must change to be faithful in our mission, witness, and service. The alternative would be to calcify our beliefs, shut out the movement of the Spirit, and declare that we have it all figured out already, so all we need to do is celebrate our uniformity and condemn those who disagree.

But in and between the debating and the voting are other extraordinary ways that God speaks to the church at the General Assembly: through inspiring worship, shared bible study, fervent prayer, bold witness, and joyful celebration. We are the most diverse of Presbyterian denominations, and that diversity makes our discernment livelier, and our witness stronger.

One last saying: ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est secundum verbum Dei (the church reformed is always being reformed according to the Word of God). Reformation means change; and even good change is always accompanied by disagreement and resistance. People of good faith can disagree, but need not be disagreeable. It is always our prayer that our love for one another exceed our political passions. But you can't cook sausage without a little heat, so fire up the grill - the sausage is coming!