United Church of Two Harbors

General Assembly 2010

My personal highlights are as follows:
1) Serving communion at General Assembly. That was my second time.
My first time was in MIlwaukee in 1992.

2) Working the information booth at GA and being at the Narthex entrance of
Westminster Church. I had the chance to have short conversations with
many people. They ranged from a petroleum chemist for Eastman to
several pastors who lived in various parts of the United States. I also
ushered for the Wednesday morning service at Westminster..

3) I spent too much money at the bookstore. Many of those books will to
into our church library.

The 219th General Assembly is on the internet at ga.219.pcusa.org .

Saturday, 3 July

I arrived in the Twin Cities about 1:00 p.m. and I was able to ckeck into my hotel in Roseville????? for about $55.00 per night. for Saturday and Sunday nights. That is less that the deals at the downtown hotels at $75.00-$100+ per night. I found a coupon and I was able to extend my stay for Monday through Thursday night at $45.00 per night. I will check out Friday morning.

I am parking at the Central Lutheran Church lot. It is located across the street from one of the entrances to the Convention Center. Central Lutheran is in the ELCA. One of tier banners says "Welcome Presbyterian Church General Assembly Our full communion Partner". They also claim to have the largest traditional Lutheran worship space in North America. It is worth a visit. It was open for viewing and meditation.

I drove down town and I parked in the Central Lutheran Church parking lot which I later found out is the low cost place to park and it is across the street from the Minneapolis Convention Center which is the meeting site for the General Assembly. I checked in with the volunteer coordinator. She issued me a badge which allows me to view all events and activities during the General Assembly (GA). I worked an information booth from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We had receivers and ear phones so that people could get real time translations into Spanish and Korean. The PCUSA must have many members who speak those languages. We were asked many times about places to dine locally. The convention center is about 2 blocks from several eateries.

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Six people were placed in nomination for the position of Moderator. That person will lead our denomination for the next 2 years. It was a rainbow group including-blacks, whites, Hispanic, Korean and a pastor from our presbytery. Normally there are fewer people who stand for the office. I went out for supper after the nominations. There was a 90 minute question and answer session. It took 4 ballots to get a new moderator who immediately takes office. This felt like the political conventions that I remember from the 1960's.

I went out for supper and as I returned, I met the Stated Clerk from the San Diego Presbytery. She was returning to her hotel to watch the activity as I returned to the convention center. She was an observer and she could not vote. She has known Rev. Phil Weiler for several years.

The balloting was done by computer. First there were test questions such as "Did you eat supper?" Each delegate had 15 seconds to record an answer. The results were tabulated and displayed within seconds after the end of voting. The results were displayed on screens throughout the convention center and in the meeting room. The only people who had a good view of the podium were those in the rows nearest the speakers. The best views were on the screens similar to what is done at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Two Harbors. I left about 10:00 p.m., went to my motel and went to bed. The voting was done about 10:45 p.m. after ballots.

Sunday 4 July

I got up at 5:45 a.m. for "work". For the first time in many years I would be getting up at this time to be to work 6 days in a row. I needed to be at the convention center by 7:30 a.m. to get instructions on how to serve communion to the up to 8000 people expected to attend. I parked at the Hyatt Hotel which has a skywalk to the convention center as the low cost place on Sundays. The skywalk was handy because it was raining this morning. Logically First Lutheran needs their lot for Sunday worship.

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The worship area was divided up into sections. I was in a section that had seats in retractable bleachers. I was assigned a group of 5 rows between 2 aisles. I started with the bottom row. Another person was at the other end received the tray and cup and moved them to the next row. Basically like we collect the offering. I started the tray with the bread and it was passed from one person to the next and then the other person moved things to the next row. After the bread was 3 persons down, I started the cup on its way. We got to our locations and our 2 captains checked to make sure that all of her areas of responsibility were covered. Our captains are in charge of about 20 people who were serving. The bleachers had 15 rows of seats. So, there were 2 other groups with us to cover all 15 rows. The trays for holding the bread and the cups for the grape juice were made by an artist in Wisconsin for this GA. I had served communion at the General Assembly when it was in Milwaukee in 1992. I do not remember anything special about the trays or cups. There was also great concern about gluten(sp?) allergies. There was a container of gluten free bread on each tray. There were also stations for those who had extreme allergies. Again I do non remember any concern in 1992. We used the intinction method.

The service lasted 2 hours. I went out once for a rest room stop. Many people-particulary those with small children took breaks. Again the screens in the worship area were set up similar to Emmanuel Lutheran in Two Harbors. The service began with a "Sage Ceremony" similar to the one done for the first time in Milwaukee in 1992. English was the main language of the service although parts of the service such as the institution of the elements for communion was done in English, Spanish, and Korean. The person who gave the sermon was the outgoing moderator. The theme of this General Assembly is water because the Presbytery of Northern Waters with Lake Superior and the Presbytery on the Twin Cities on the Mississippi river are the host presbyteries and the Red River of the North also being part of Minnesota. For the first time at a General Assembly, an infant was baptized. This done in keeping with the water theme.

The communion servers also collected the offering. After the offering, the baskets went to a security guard. The serving of communion went well. I did not spill the grape juice and I did not drop the tray of bread. That is always one of my worries.

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I stayed at the convention center for an hour or two to look at the booths. I also bought some books. They will eventually end up in the Church Library. Then I went back to my hotel to sleep for 2 hours. Up again at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow to be at Westminster Church at 7:00 a.m. I will help man an information booth there until 11:00 a.m. each day through Friday. That will be my routine for the week.

The Presbytery has one of the communion serving sets. Perhaps we could borrow it once to use for communion at the United Church.

I watched the fireworks with family in downtown Minneapolis. It was a spectacular 25 minutes long. I waited about 45 minutes for traffic to clear out ahd then I drove back to my Motel.

Monday, 5 July

I was up at 5:45 a.m. Then I drove to the convention. I got off at 11th street and I had to thread my way through much street construction. I parked at the Central Lutheran Lot for $6.00. I was at Westminster Presbyterian Church for work at 7:00 p.m. I was assigned to the Nicolette Mall entrance. I greeted people as they entered the narthex of the Church. Some people wanted to look at the sanctuary. Most wanted to go to Calvin's Cafe for breakfast. I ate there for $10.00 during a break. It was busy from my start until about 8:30 a.m. which was the end of breakfast service. It was quiet for the rest of the morning until the end of my shift at 11:00 a.m.
I went out for a bike ride. Bike riding is easier in Minneapolis than in Two Harbors because it is flatter. In Two Harbors, it seems like any travel is up steep hills much of the time.
I helped a relative install some cabinets in his condo. Then I went back to General Assembly and I served at the information booth again. Some of the same people who were there on Saturday were also also there on Monday. I returned to my motel and I had supper and I went to bed.

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Tuesday, 6 July

Again up at 5:45 and I headed to the Minneapolis Convention Center. The Central Lutheran Church parking structure is very convenient. I did my 4 hour shift from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Westminster. After "work" I went to the trolly and I rode it from downtown out to the Mall of America. It was a $1.75 trip. I went both ways during the allotted time. I bought my ticket before I got on the train and nobody checked it as I got on. I thought that it was odd. About 3 stops into the trip, the transit police came onto our car and checked our tickets. A person near me did not have a ticket. He had tried to get a free ride several times before I gathered from the conversation with police. He did get a ticket from the police. I suspect that his ticket cost more than mine. I also went up into the Foshey Tower. The top level is a small museum and then I went up to the observation level. It was the tallest building in downtown Minneapolis for 40 years. Now it is hidden among the many taller buildings.

I did look at some of the General Assembly Activity.

I went back to my motel and i rested for the evening.

Trivia: Who or what brought forth live in the sea and vegetation on the land? Look in Genesis Ch 1.

Wednesday, 7 July

My travel to downtown Minneapolis from the motel has now become “routine”. I was asked to usher at the Wednesday worship service at Westminster. So, I was wearing a suite and tie. The service started at 9:00 a.m. and it went until 10:30. I helped collect the offering. Other people served communion to the 1500 people at the service. Walter Mondale gave a welcome. He is a member of that church.

After my GA work for the day, I changed into Tee shirt and shorts and i helped a relative continue to assemble new cabinets in the condo. I traveled by bike from the convention center to the condo. It was raining when we finished. So, I got a ride back to the parking ramp.

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We had a Presbytery of Northern Waters dinner at a downtown restaurant at 5:15 p.m. Dee Talley who was my pastor in MIlwaukee for several years was there. I have not seen him in 3-4 years. He is a representative of the Presbytery of Milwaukee. Arlon Talley, Dee’s brother, was also there. He served as pastor in Calumet for several years. Hi is now in California. The evening session of GA started at 7:30 p.m. So, most people left by 7:00 to get back to the meetings.

I picked up some friends in a southeast suburb and took them to the train depot. They were going to Seattle and then take a cruise up to Skagway, Alaska.

Thursday, 8 July

I had a routine morning and then I went back to my motel for a time.

I had “coffee” with the son of one cousin. It was a fun conversation. I had the evening meal with another cousin.

Friday, 9 July

I had another routine morning. I left at 10:30 a.m. and I headed for home.