Jesus is identifiable in our midst Ufford-Chase tells COGA/GAC
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, March 31, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, began his report to the joint meeting of the General Assembly Council and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly by reading from John 21.
The Scripture tells the story of how Jesus appeared to his disciples – who did not recognize him – following his resurrection. The disciples had fished all night without catching any fish, and it was only after Jesus told them to cast their nets again, and they did so, catching many fish, that the disciples recognized their Lord.
“It strikes me often as I travel in the church now,” said Ufford-Chase, “many of us are part of a resurrection body and have a hard time finding where Jesus is … or been fishing all night with nothing to show for it and is it worth casting the nets again?”
Ufford-Chase listed three signs that “Jesus is identifiable in our midst and we can cast the nets again.”
His first sign was the “bold ways” the PCUSA has moved to create a program of non-violent accompaniment work in Columbia. The work will include accompanying members of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (PCC), a 150-year-old denomination that is being terrorized by armed factions.
The church office is reportedly under government surveillance and church workers have been harassed, detained and intimidated while attempting to minister to displaced persons.
Ufford-Chase named the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Worldwide Ministries Division, the Peacemaking Program, presbyteries, congregations and brothers and sisters in the Columbian church as partners in the project.
He said volunteers come together at their own expense for training, and are then designated short-term mission volunteers by Worldwide Ministries. Four teams of two have traveled to Columbia.
Ufford-Chase called it “a new kind of church, or a renewed kind of church.” He said he was interested in how to “find the energy that exists in supporting organizations and match that with the great skills here in Louisville and use it to do mission.”
“The more we can let go and find ways to partner across the denomination and follow the movement of the Holy Spirit in their own place, the more exciting the denomination will come,” he said.
Ufford-Chase’s second sign was the mission work being done on college and seminary campuses.
Saying he had been on 21 college campuses in the last 10 weeks, Ufford-Chase said that “students are weary of hearing that they are our future. They want to know that if they are providing leadership now, who is watched and how are they valued? . . . I am telling our students ‘Don’t wait for us. Begin now providing leadership on campus.'”
He spoke of a ministry by students at Austin Seminary in Texas, where the students conduct youth retreats for congregations and presbyteries. Upperclassmen in the program lead the youth retreats while training and mentoring the underclassmen. “They are casting their nets,” said Ufford-Chase.
His third sign that Jesus is “identifiable in our midst,” was the victory of the Coalition of Immolakee Workers (CIW) in the Taco Bell boycott.
YUM! Corporation, Taco Bell’s parent company, agreed to address the low wages and poor working conditions of workers in the Florida tomato-growing industry and to pay a one-cent-per-pound price increase that its suppliers will “pass through” to the workers.
“The workers found the courage to stand up … Presbyterians showed great courage in standing with those workers,” he said.
Ufford-Chase praised the leadership of YUM!, who could have “dug in their heels. .. In this case we have a victory we can celebrate in all sorts of ways.” He encouraged everyone to “go eat at Taco Bell. Write a letter and take it with you and say I’m back or I’m here for the first time.”
“There are moments and signs of hope all around us. Some days it is hard to recognize Jesus, but he is standing there. If you cast out the nets and really believe you will find him,” he said.