GA Moderator and Vice Moderator Candidates: Heath Rada and Larissa Kwong Abazia

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR:

It’s Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly week on ecclesio.com.  All three of the candidates standing for Moderator of the General Assembly, meeting in Detroit, Michigan, June 14-21, 2014, have written responses to questions from the Office of the General Assembly, to introduce themselves to the Commissioners and Advisory Delegates.  One of the questions was on the Confession of Belhar, a matter that will come before this Assembly. I am grateful to serve on the Special Committee on the Confession of Belhar, and was particularly interested in the candidates’ responses to this question.  On ecclesio.com this week, those responses will appear, with responses of both the moderatorial and vice moderatorial candidates to three more questions I posed, based on the three themes of the Confession of Belhar:  unity, reconciliation, and justice.  I thank all six fine disciples of Jesus standing for election in Detroit for their willingness to respond quickly to my questions, and look forward to your insights in response.

Question on the Confession of Belhar from the Office of the General Assembly (OGA):

Heath:One of the optional questions asked of us as candidates for Moderator related to the Confession of Belhar which will come before the Assembly for possible adoption this year. The Question read, “The special Committee on the Confession of Belhar has approached it through the lenses of “justice, unity and reconciliation”. How might the Confession of Belhar help Presbyterians both confess historic and current brokenness with the Church and seek authentic relationships for the present and the future?”

Whereas this was not the optional question I chose to answer, I appreciate the opportunity to address it at this time. No other social justice issue has impacted my life more significantly than has racial divide. As a young southern boy, I grew up in a segregated world – my community, my church, my schools, were only open to people of African American heritage if they were providing some service to us. When my father died (I was eight) we moved to my Uncle’s farm, and my closest friend (both geographically and socially) was David, whose father helped my uncle with his farm duties, and whose family lived in a proverbial shack adjacent to our large, old brick home – where Patrick Henry’s father had lived and was buried on the grounds.

But my Mother taught me that the separation of races was not God’s intent. Although my wonderful uncle believed fervently that God wanted humans to be separated by race just as the birds that flew in our skies did not “integrate” with one another, my Mom put me into situations where I was helping to pave the way for a new day of relationships between black and white people. And David Lawrence and I would play together and realize that the color of our skin, and our personal circumstances of privilege were the only differences between us.

By the time I was an adult, I had spent time demonstrating with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I had been the first white person to integrate a major public school system (I was a teacher and there were no other white people, students or faculty on the campus) I was asked to go to Lesotho to represent the Presbyterian Church USA at that Presbyterian Denomination’s 100th Anniversary. While there I was invited to be the guest for three weeks with Maake Masango, Desmond Tutu, and Allen Boesak in South Africa in order to witness the realities of apartheid. (I could and have written many pages about this life changing experience, but I wish to focus on my second visit, in 2003). Apartheid had been abolished, and the Peace and Reconciliation Process had transformed this volatile country (where I had been gently and humbly asked in 1983 by a Presbyterian Session in Soweto to pray that they would kill only the necessary people when revolution occurred) into a place where people of different races coexisted with one another. Just as apartheid had been created as an act of the Church, so was this effort in peacemaking. And I marveled that the hostility and anger which I had seen and understood two decades earlier, had not resulted in bloodshed.

One of the valued results of this extraordinary circumstance was the adoption and use of the Confession of Belhar. Written and proposed by Christians in South Africa, this document has placed before us a confessional which is still needed today. And it isn’t just needed in South Africa. If we in the PCUSA could only recognize and accept the contents of this confession as sincere expressions of our faith and our need for faithfulness, we would be much more like the Church which Jesus Christ must have envisioned. It calls for love, and acceptance, and the recognition of our unique gifts and offerings.

I pray that our commissioners will see this document as the prophetic statement which I believe it to be. I pray that the Presbyterian Church USA will step up to the challenge and say to the world that we have participated in, and continue to perpetuate, sinful behavior against our sisters and brothers because of their racial or cultural background. That is not anything that resembles the Golden Rule in my opinion. Nor should we hide behind our own misdeeds by suggesting that this confession related to issues experienced in another country and thus it is irrelevant for us. Excuse me, but that is just ignorance, or some other strange force which prevents some people from seeing the whole picture. The time is now for us to adopt this Confession and weave it into the tapestry of our Confessional Church. It is not just an opportunity – it is a responsibility!

Questions from ecclesio.com

We live in a time when people can choose to hear news, commentary, comedy, and discussions about faith that agree with their own, confirming their own points of view.  Research shows that a majority of us do in fact make our viewing, listening and internet choices in this way. We see this in politics and we also see this in the church.  How do we in the PCUSA confront this in ways that would work toward a more unified witness to Christ’s grace mercy?

Heath: The Bible tells us that we “see through a mirror dimly”.  As Christians we work hard to know the truth and to follow God’s will. We seek answers from the scriptures, but also from other sources – like family, the media, and the Church.  As members of the PCUSA we need to spend more time focusing on issues of love, and compassion, and acceptance, and peacemaking – instead of believing that we serve as judge and juror with the misunderstanding that we are the ones with the only TRUE understanding of God’s will.  That is just not so. In fact, the Bible also tells us that we “shalt not judge”.  We need to focus our energies on dispelling the myth that we are called to name one another’s sins.

Instead of finding single issues that divide us, we need to find those common bonds that hold us together.  We are a family. We were baptized and made a promise to love and uphold one another throughout our entire lives. We have all been invited to share at the same table. Working toward justice is the right thing to do. But it must be done in the context of Christ’s model of grace, gratitude, acceptance and inclusion, and not on any model of guilt and damnation.

Larissa: I confess that I, too, am guilty of skimming the results of an internet search to find the websites and individuals that support my own perspective.  “Yes!”  I think, “See, I was right…”  What a great feeling when what we want is so easily confirmed by a stranger.

But when it comes to the Church, I think that we spend too much time looking outside of our walls for truth instead of who draws us inside.  It is in Christ’s ministry that we see the radical potential of our world made possible through unconditional love.  It is in his death and resurrection that we are offered new life to live into such love.  It is my hope that our denomination will focus on this gift of life. I believe that we can bring our own perspectives, hopes, goals and even agendas, but, in the end, must still be led by the Holy Spirit.  By joining together around our common call to bring a taste of God’s kingdom here on earth, we will bring God’s plans into reality, not our own.  Together, we will arrive at places we could never have dreamed if differing perspectives were not gathered around the table together.

Comment on a few justice issues in which you feel God calling you to respond, and which you understand the church being called to respond.

Heath:My formative years were in the 1960’s.  Racial injustice, Vietnam War, integration, disillusionment with government and authority were factors that shaped my understanding of the world in which we lived.  And it was not an understanding that I liked.

But as I have matured, I have realized that the very lessons of those days which tore me apart in so many ways were also shaping the values I hold today.  I am passionate about justice.  But justice as I know it is an act of love, not judgment. Justice is the way we model the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ, and is that which calls us to listen to each other and work together to find the “ties that bind” rather than the hostilities which divide.

We face so many issues related to issues of justice today. We still have an inordinate amount of racial and cultural prejudice and discrimination. We have dramatically different understandings of how peace and reconciliation can be carried out in the Middle East.  We see our sisters and brothers who are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and queers facing a Church that is divided in its understanding of how they should be included or excluded in various ways.  We see women abused, sometimes physically and sometimes emotionally, and we see children who have done nothing wrong having to live as outcasts and in conditions where many of our pets would not survive.  Do I believe that such issues deserve our attention? Absolutely!  And it needs to be action which makes a difference, and does not just give nice platitudes about how we treat one another.

It has been my privilege to serve as a mediator in a number of situations in our denomination where congregations have considered leaving the PCUSA, and in the secular world. As the official liaison between the President of the American Red Cross and the Governor of Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, I was acutely aware that politics and personal vulnerability were driving forces for many people who were in leadership positions during those horrendous days.  My job was to get people to talk with one another, to have folks realize that we might not all see the same situation through the same lenses, and that we must find ways to move forward in order to restore some semblance of normalcy to the tens of thousands of people whose entire world had been turned upside down.

I have spent time with Desmond Tutu, Allen Boesak, and Maake Masango in South Africa in 1983 when Apartheid was at its worst, and in 2004 when much progress had been made toward peace and reconciliation. In the life and work of those men and many others I saw that peace through forgiveness and love was not only a possibility but ultimately became a reality.

I has also been my privilege to have a friendship with Archbishop Elias Chacour whose efforts to focus on peace in Palestine and Israel have brought him world acclaim, including being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, We sat together in my homes in Richmond and Montreat, and discussed ways to focus on peacemaking rather than separation or issues of justification, and I have spent time in his school in Ibillen in Israel where I saw students from various religious and cultural backgrounds study and play beside each other and recognize that they were brothers and sisters, not enemies.

It has also been my pleasure to know and love gay couples who have committed themselves to one another for life, who are raising children in the church, and who want and deserve to be recognized as God’s children. These are a few issues of justice where I believe I have been called to speak out, and to try and find ways to restore peace.  But it must be done with a spirit of love and peacemaking rather than confrontation.

Larissa: Here are a few:

Racial and gender justice. I’ve been faced with the blessings and challenges that my cultural background and gender bring as a Chinese American clergywoman.  My service  with Racial Ethnic Young Women Together, Presbyterian Women, and the Racial/Ethnic Dialog in our denomination provided safe space to share my voice and bring all that I am to the table without judgment or insecurity.  I am passionate about providing such spaces for others where they can embrace all that they are and then leave these spaces renewed with confidence to engage in the world. As we grow in our diversity, my prayer is that our church and the larger denomination can lift up the perceived differences among us as one of our greatest assets.

Age.  I regularly hear the desire for “younger voices” in the Church but seeking the voices of generations X, Millenials and Plurals mean changes to how we do our work. The ability to work across generations is a key ingredient to thriving congregations and governing bodies.  We should value younger voices by lifting them up as equal, necessary parts of the whole. Mentoring relationships, partnerships along common goals, mutual service, and friendships enhance Christian life when we value one another, no matter what age or experience level.

Accessibility to power, influence, and authority.  I’ve been particularly drawn to the information put out by the General Assembly Committee on Representation found here: http://www.pcusa.org/blogs/spirit-and-truth/2014/5/16/first-look-commissioners-and-advisory-delegates-22/ As our country becomes more diverse, the denomination’s decision-making body continues to be made up of more Euro-American/white and male representation (though females are at the highest number yet!). Our structures have always put those seeking justice in the awkward position of placing their trust in the ones who have access to power.  In the past, women seeking ordination, and now the LGBTQAI community, have to put their trust in others to move into a new future where justice is won on their behalf.  I strongly believe that the PCUSA is called to live in a prophetic way, one that uses our tradition of “decently and in order” to bring about justice.  I pray that each one of us uses the power and privilege that we possess to bring about justice for those in our midst.

How, after many congregations and pastors have left the PUCSA, can we work toward reconciliation? 

Heath:Reconciliation requires two parties being willing to seek ways to restore a peaceful relationship. If one is unwilling it is unlikely if not impossible that reconciliation can occur.  In those instances the will of the parties must be accepted and life must go forward.

However, I believe that Christians are called to be optimistic. A true leader in the faith is one who is hopeful and doesn’t give up on his or her belief that there may be a way to bond together in the unity of being Christ’s family.

As we look at the issues in Israel and Palestine we see many who have given up hope.   If Jesus Christ says we can restore love and order by following him, then how dare we deny the possibility that you and I can make a difference? We are called to be people of hope, not disenfranchised pessimists.

As an educator I often hear people talking about “getting back to the basics” of education.  In that same vein I believe we as a church need to get back to the basics of what unites us as people of God, and disciples of Jesus Christ.  Those basics include love, acceptance, compromising, listening, and even at times stepping back from a position which we have held as sacred.  We need to facilitate conversations with one another where we seek to find our common bonds rather than focusing on issues, albeit important ones, which divert our attention from being the ones we were called to be.

In the spirit of love, let’s talk the talk, and let’s walk the walk – hand in hand and arm in arm.  We are talking about our sisters and brothers, my friends. We must not turn our backs on one another, and we have the privileged opportunity of making a difference for the better if we share our hope filled compassion with each other.

Larissa: I am strongly drawn to Paul’s call to be the body of Christ, many members lifting up one another with unique gifts and talents that contribute to the whole.  It is this letter to the Corinthian church that is so often used in ordination and installation services: “Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12: 27)

Can we be the body without hands to touch the world around us?  Can we be the body without eyes to see it, without ears to hear the voices of others, or without a mouth to experience the taste of God’s creation?  Can we be the body without muscles and bones to move in the midst of God’s world? No!  We will only live into our full potential by valuing one another as important members of our denominational body.

Reconciliation begins by naming the hurt, loss and pain that each of us has experienced in the midst of our divisiveness.  We’ll need to create safe spaces for healing, making ourselves vulnerable to honest conversation about the past and present, and only then moving toward a future together. We will arrive in horizons never imagined when we were apart by coming together and dreaming dreams and seeking visions as a whole body.

Ruling Elder Heath K. Rada is standing for moderator of the General Assembly of the PCUSA.  He has chosen the Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia as his vice moderator.  Find out more about them at these sites:

Find Heath:

Website: heathrada.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/heath.rada

Find Larissa:

Twitter- @LarissaLKA

Facebook:www.facebook.com/larissa.kwongabazia

Church website: presbyfh.org