For me, the greatest experience in this assembly was to catch a glimpse of the bigger picture of the church. We can all so very easily get totally wrapped up in what we are doing on a congregational level. But at assembly we see the bigger picture. We see what our church continues to do—even though times are tough economically—in mission and in service around the world through Presbyterians sharing and Presbyterian World Service and Development. We meet mission partners and brothers and sisters in Christ from across Canada and around the globe. We were inspired to see and hear what God is doing among the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan, and through Archbishop Elias Chacour and the Melkite Catholic Church in Galilee among Palestinian Christian, Muslim and Israeli children. We were moved to tears by the assembly’s commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Confession of the Presbyterian Church in Canada to our aboriginal peoples for all the wrongs that were done through the residential schools. I was excited to hear that the Presbyterian Church in Nigeria is planning to grow threefold in the next few years, a pretty amazing goal considering their membership is already near one million. We have indeed a great deal to learn from the faith and the enthusiasm of our African brothers and sisters. We have reason to praise God that Canadian Presbyterians can worship God with the wonderful pipe organ at Redeemer College but also with youthful praise bands from across the Presbytery of Hamilton. The assembly truly made a joyful noise.
—from the sermon delivered by Rev. Harvey Self, Moderator of the 135th General Assembly, to his home congregation of Tweedsmuir, Orangeville, Ont., on June 14, 2009.
