Common Ground
by Trina Zelle

[9-17-04]

Witherspoon's Secretary/Communicator reflects on our church's historic commitment to mission as a common ground which can hold us together - if we'll just get on with it. Zelle is currently serving Church of the Beatitudes United Church of Christ in Phoenix.

It's hard to imagine the place where we worked and played during General Assembly 216 (Richmond, Virginia) under water with many of its historic districts devastated by Hurricane Gaston. It's tempting to see Richmond's troubles as a metaphor for our own stormy situation, but it doesn't have to be that way. Because, as singer Natalie Merchant puts it, Presbyterians have "a levee built deep inside." And that levee is the power and authenticity of our mission heritage.

(A levee, for those of you who did not grow up near a river, is an earthen dam, built along a river's banks to keep floodwaters from spilling over and carrying away houses, livestock, and crops).

Because the one thing that seems to speak to all Presbyterians, no matter on which side of our big tent we find ourselves, is the compelling narrative of mission that threads through our history. It's the good news that God's intention for all of us is reconciliation, justice, and wholeness. Even back in the days when the stereotypical understanding of mission was conversion, we were doing so much more: building hospitals and schools, developing on-site partnerships to lessen dependency, encouraging local leadership, seeing Christ in everyone we encountered.

For that reason, it should come as no surprise that three of our last four General Assembly Moderators have strong ties to Presbyterian missions: Syngman Rhee and Fahed Abu Akel through the mission-founded churches in which they were nurtured in Korea and Palestine respectively, and Rick Ufford-Chase through his mission work along our own US border.

Furthermore, it should come as no surprise that PCUSA membership growth is greatest in the Latino community - or that some of the strongest legislation passed at General Assembly this year addressed immigration and other justice issues. We are at our best when we share our best - the good news of Jesus Christ in all of its expressions. We are at our worst when we obsess on static constructs that are more about prohibition than proclamation.

That's because, for Presbyterians, mission is not one activity among many - it is our reason for being. When I joined the church, the Book of Order even worded it that way: the purpose of church membership is mission. When storms of controversy threaten to wash everything away, our mission gives us solid ground to stand upon.