The Rev. Jihyun Oh is joined by her family on the platform to lay hands on her and participate in the litany of her installation as the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly during the fourth plenary meeting on July 1, 2024. Photo by Rich Copley
With family members laying on their hands and more than 500 commissioners and advisory delegates in full-throated support as well, the Rev. Jihyun Oh was elected and then installed as the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly Monday. Oh, who’s currently director of Mid Council Ministries in the Office of the General Assembly, begins her new work on Aug. 1.
The margin was 420-2. After the vote was announced, the assembly gave her what can only be described as a standing Oh.
“I love this church, the part of the body of Christ that is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),” Oh told the assembly. “I love this church for who we have been, warts and all, and for who we are now, and who we will become as we faithfully discern God’s call for us.”
Owen Gibbs, a transgender teen from Utah, spoke at the opening of Plenary 4 of the 224th General Assembly on July 1, 2024.Photo by Rich Copley
“Knowing who we are,” Oh said, “can help us identify and shed forms, habits and assumptions that no longer fit or serve us — a decluttering of sorts.” She drew on Marie Kondo’s method of thanking an item for its usefulness and the joy it gave at a point in time before letting it go.
“What are the things within our ecclesial lives that were useful at one point, where things were different, but are no longer useful and even sap us of joy and gratitude toward God?” Rather than lugging those things around or shoving them away into storage, “could we intentionally take stock, give thanks to God for those things that helped us grow and mature and be faithful at a time, and let them go, so that we can attend to the things that energize us and help us now?”
“I hope that we will continue to shift from lamenting the loss of the church’s central (and leadership) role in society and our communities and befriend the hopeful possibilities of our liminal marginality,” Oh said. “If we could see the possibilities of the margins, might that empower some and free others to see new ways of being church now and into the future?”
The Rev. Jihyun Oh reacts to the applause from participants of the 224th General Assembly (2024) as she was elected as the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly on July 1, 2024. Photo by Rich Copley.
The Rev. Jihyun Oh reacts to the applause from participants of the 224th General Assembly (2024) as she was elected as the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly on July 1, 2024. Photo by Rich Copley.
After the vote, members of Oh’s family joined her on the platform to lay hands on her and participate in the litany of her installation, along with members of the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee. One committee member, Nelson Capitan, sang Oh an honor song, and the entire assembly sang, “Be Thou My Vision.”
Committee members who were present said nice things about the leader they selected.
“Someone along the way said to me, ‘Jihyun is always the smartest person in the room — any room,’” said the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson, the committee’s moderator. “But along with her intelligence, we were impressed with her wisdom, moved by her humility, thrilled with her passion for soccer, delighted by her sense of humor, and just blown away by the breadth and depth of her experience in, and love for, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).”
A moving opening
Owen Gibbs, a transgender member of First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City, spoke movingly and lovingly about his story and the acceptance and love he’s experienced at the church.
At 12, he came out as transgender. “The same kids I had been friends with in Sunday school are still my friends now,” he said. “The same old ladies who would ask me questions about school and give me candy and cake at church parties still do that. When I changed my name and pronouns, our church didn’t miss a beat.”
“Every queer person deserves the kind of love and support that I’ve received — especially in Utah, where being queer can be so, so difficult,” he said.
Gibbs noted only 6% of LGBTQ youth in Utah have reported being accepted by their community. “I am part of that 6%, and I really believe we can grow that percentage,” he said. “Families like mine, faith events like this, churches like First Pres — they show us that it's possible.”
“That’s what we need to do — love big, love proud and love in the name of the God who did whatever it took to make sure we knew we were all beloved children of God. Thank you.”
Commissioners and advisory delegates gave Gibbs an extended standing ovation.