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    I had the honor of serving the PC(USA) as a member of General Assembly Council from 1989 through 1994, including as Chair for the 1991-92 GA year.  I recall at a General Assembly early in my time on the Council, that some of us neophytes observed to an 'old hand' at Assembly matters that it appeared that the Assembly had taken a rather odd and irregular action.  Someone asked, what might result later to correct this action?  The old hand replied, "The Assembly will do what the Assembly will do."   That is, once that Assembly adjourned, its actions and statements were written into the permanent records and would not be directly revisited.  Second guessed, maybe, but not revisited.  Each General Assembly is an independent delegated body, not subject to higher (or parallel) review.

   The action of this year's General Assembly (213th) in recommending that G-6.0106b of the Book of Order be stricken, are well known.  A related part of this action has not received as much attention.  As part of this action the Assembly stated,

 "Interpretive statements concerning ordained service by homosexual persons by the 190th General Assembly (1978) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the 119th General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and all subsequent denominational affirmations thereof, shall be given no further force or effect…"

   With all due respect for the Assembly, it is my understanding that the 213th General Assembly did not have the power or prerogative to do what it sought to do by this statement.   The practical implementation of programmatic decisions of one Assembly may be altered by action of a later Assembly, but this does not affect the work done during the year following the enacting Assembly, nor its intent.   By its statements, one Assembly may disagree with an earlier one but this does not affect or erase what the earlier Assembly said.

   The Form of Government can only be changed by concurrence of a majority of the presbyteries with an action of a General Assembly.  Within this boundary, Assemblies have spoken on matters affecting the ecclesiology and polity of the PC(USA), and these statements are taken seriously by the church.  On more than one occasion over the past quarter century, General Assemblies have sought a way to speak their own especially strong word on the issue of the ordination of practicing homosexual persons to office in the PC(USA).  These statements have been issued as "Definitive Guidance" and as "Authoritative Interpretation."  While not binding, as are provisions of the Book of Order, these statements of particular Assemblies were intended to be something more than just simple voicings of opinion.  One may disagree with them, or they may be ignored, but they cannot be undone or written out of the record.  They stand as official statements of those General Assemblies.  Their force is that of powerful persuasion of one particular instance of the highest governing body of our Church speaking as forcefully and authoritatively as it knew how. 

    This force cannot be undone by a subsequent Assembly.  Each stands on its own on a par with statements of any other Assembly.  The 213th General Assembly certainly was free to make its own strong statement on this issue.  I believe that it erred by attempting to remove the force, even the record, of the actions of previous assemblies.  It was not simply wrong to attempt to do so;  it was beyond its power.

   The PC(USA) would do well to understand that this attempted action of the 213th General Assembly has no force and does not constrain the Church in its practical dealings with its ordination standards and practices.