The Revs. Shavon Starling-Louis and Ruth Faith Santana-Grace, co-moderators of the 225th General Assembly, lead communion during opening worship on Monday morning. Photo by Kristen Gaydos
As the 226th General Assembly moved into its second day of plenaries, the Revs. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace and Shavon Starling-Louis, Co-Moderators of the 225th General Assembly (2022), ended their term by leading opening worship.
Staying true to the promise they made two years ago of bringing everyone into the experience and community of God, their planned worship service represented the diversity of gifts, talents and people from all backgrounds to share in the good news. Young Adult Advisory Delegate Ellie Stewart from the Presbytery of the Mid-South and Ruling Elder Commissioner Zayn Silva, a BIPOC trans man from the Presbytery of New York City, led worship. The music was also diverse, and the Holy Spirit was invited into the space from the onset.
Since 2022, the Co-Moderator team has asked the question, “God, what would you have us do with what you have given us? What are you calling us to create and co-create?” This question was weaved into the sermon “Anointed and Unbounded: We Thrive,” with Luke 4:16–20 framing their message. This was a pivotal moment in the ministry of Jesus as he lifted up the Isaiah passage to declare that the Spirit of God had anointed him, and just as God anointed Jesus, God has anointed the commissioners to do this work.
Santana-Grace began the joint sermon by reflecting on her own journey, discussing how she was not quite sure why God called her to serve the church on such a large stage, to discerning the nudge of the Holy Spirit, and then the meeting and subsequent connection of meeting her Co-Moderator, her proclaimed sister. Santana-Grace then shared her own family journey as her parents, who were Presbyterian leaders, journeyed from Puerto Rico to New York and elsewhere. Santana-Grace also, in her own vulnerability and humanity, shared the question she asked God, “Would I have anything of value to offer? Would my now-compromised voice be heard beyond its broken sounds of the vocal dysphonia?”
Santana-Grace lifted up the ancestors from Moses to Rahab, from David to Mary, all anointed and called by God for such a time as this. Santana-Grace then said, “This calling out, this anointing, is more than a ritual act of marking one another with oil. It is a setting aside, a blessing, an equipping that compels us to step beyond the ‘what is’ to God’s ‘what can be,’ trusting the truth of a phrase: ‘God doesn’t call the prepared; he prepares the called.’”
Zayne Silva takes part in worship at the morning plenary. Photo by Kristen Gaydos
Santana-Grace named the unknown heroes of communities who have been called by God to use the areas and experiences of life to bring a better world. She lifted up Jaylen Arnold, now a 23-year-old anti-bullying advocate, Arnold was 8 years old when he started the Jaylen’s Challenge Foundation to expose the impact of bullying. Santana-Grace said, “Jaylen has been called. His voice is opening the hearts of others to a movement of unbounded possibilities.”
The energy continued as Starling-Louis continued the sermon, sharing her lived experiences of recalling the time when she first learned of the phrase "Sankofa" and connecting that back to the text when Jesus says, “He has come to set the captives free.” Sankofa is a West African/Ghanaian Adinkra symbol that means “it is not wrong to go back and get that which has been forgotten.” The symbol of a stylized heart shape or a bird with its head turned backward while its feet face forward carrying a precious egg in its mouth was the symbol of the Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly, the Rev. Gregory Bently and Ruling Elder Elona Steet Stewart.
The Holy Spirit was astoundingly present as Starling-Louis began to close the sermon by charging the body with these powerful words: “Beloved children of the Most High, I pray for your encouragement and strength as you intentionally follow God with energy, intelligence, imagination and love. Jesus exerted energy and intention by coming back to his hometown, Nazareth, where he declared his ministry, ‘The Spirit of the Lord, Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah, El Shaddai, Elohim, Triune God, Abba, Allah, the Alpha and Omega, the Good Shepherd, Immanuel, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, El Elyon, El Roi, the Supreme Reality, Wonderful Teacher, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Almighty, the Everlasting, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent, the Eternal, the Redeemer, the Deliverer, is on me, because the Holy One has anointed me.”
Commissioners were then invited to partake in Communion and an anointing of oil to begin the good and faithful work each was elected to do through the power of Christ Jesus.