Moderator addresses General Assembly Council
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, September 21, 2000
MONTREAT, N.C. – Wearing his robe of many signatures, Moderator Syngman Rhee gave a report full of hope for a united Presbyterian Church (USA) to the General Assembly Council and the council’s executive committee on June 20.
The white robe was a gift to Rhee when he was elected moderator during the 2000 General Assembly in June. More than 900 people have signed it – both inside and out. He likes to tease those who have signed it but cannot find their signature by saying, “It must be inside, close to my heart.”
Rhee spoke to the two groups a few hours before departing to South Korea, where he was scheduled to speak to several congregations and address a unity meeting of Presbyterian denominations.
South Korea has about 25 Presbyterian denominations. Rhee’s vice moderator, Rebecca McElroy, a Presbyterian elder from Missouri and a director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, is also on the trip. She will speak at one church, he said.
A native of North Korea, Rhee left his home as a teen-ager after war broke out between the two Koreas. He has worked for many years to encourage reunification of the two Koreas.
A former PCUSA staff member and former president of the National Council of Churches, Rhee compared the emerging reconciliation of the two Koreas to what he believes is an emerging unity in the PCUSA.
He said there are three signs of that unity in the PCUSA: an emphasis on mission, an emphasis on spiritual reunion and reconciliation among people who have divergent views over controversial issues.
On controversial matters, Rhee pointed to the recent Bible study involving two teams selected by the Presbyterian Coalition and the Covenant Network. He said there were efforts “to understand and reconcile their differences.”
However, at the conclusion of 20 hours of Bible study, worship and eating together, participants gave no indication that they were moving closer together on the issues that divide them: the ordination of self-affirming, practicing homosexuals, the blessing of same-sex union ceremonies, and the authority of Scripture.
Exchanges between the two groups were civil, but they reflected interpretations of Scripture that appear to be miles apart. They will meet again in 2001 to discuss how they interpret Scripture and to what extent they affirm Scriptural authority, a benchmark doctrine of the Reformation.