Incoming Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Jihyun Oh (left), joins GA Daily host Fred Tangeman (right) July 2. Photo by Kristen Gaydos.
Perhaps owing to its location in the Beehive State, the 226th General Assembly has been a beehive of activity for the PC(USA)’s recently elected and installed Stated Clerk, the Rev. Jihyun Oh.
Oh, who was installed in a joyous ceremony on Monday after being elected by GA commissioners by a count of 420-2, was Fred Tangeman’s guest Tuesday on GA Daily. Tangeman asked Oh to reflect on the moment of being the first Korean American and the second woman to be installed as the PC(USA)’s top ecclesial officer.
Oh recalled telling Presbyterian News Service the story of her first appearance as a church’s interim pastor. A clearly excited Korean American girl exclaimed, “Look! She’s here, and she looks like me!”
At the assembly, “I’ve been privileged to engage with a number of folks who don’t have words, but a lot of emotions seeing me installed. That’s been a reminder,” she said, tearing up a bit, “of how important having leaders who represent diverse communities can be for communicating true belonging. Your ideas, voices and leadership are welcome here.”
Tangeman said he’s watched Oh interact with several assembly-goers. “A lot of people stop you, and you are handling it with excitement and grace,” he told her. “It’s great to behold.”
After talking to one such person, Oh concluded it’s “a good reminder about the people whose shoulders you stand on, the people who paid some of the price. There’s always a cost, a responsibility, to those who came after.” Oh said she talked to a spiritual director who told her, “You know, you can choose not to do all that” work of support and cost-bearing.
“I said, ‘I actually don’t think I have the choice when I am allowed into spaces others aren’t allowed into. I need to use that space. I need to do the work to enter into those spaces. There are so many of those stories all over the denomination.”
Groups including the PC(USA)’s Coordinating Table and the Unification Commission have slowed their work and invested more time in prayer and discernment, “to hear where the movement of God and the Spirit is already at work in order to know what God is calling us to do,” she said. “Is there something that God is already doing that is stirring the hearts of multiple people?”
“When we hear that, we can, ‘There is something about this idea that is sticking with us,’” she said.
GA Daily is filmed at the Salt Palace Convention Center’s studio and is livestreaming every day on the GA226 website. Photo by Kristen Gaydos.
Tangeman asked Oh, who’s currently director of Mid Council Ministries, what she’s learned from her two predecessors as Stated Clerk, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II and Acting Stated Clerk the Rev. Bronwen Boswell, who continues on the job through July 31, with Oh commencing the following day.
Among the lessons learned, Oh said, has been, “How do we hold both the office and who we are? There are some things I might say and do, but there’s also the office, and those things aren’t always the same thing.”
“How do we authentically show up as ourselves, despite or maybe because of the office?” she said. While watching Boswell over the past year, Oh asked herself practical questions including, “How do I dress? Do I go back to pantsuits? What are the expectations? Are there ways I can play with that a little bit while respecting the office?”
Nelson and Boswell “are very different people, with different styles of leadership, who provided different voices within the church and the world,” Oh said. To date, the assembly has produced two especially memorable moments for Oh. One was her time with the Young Adult Advisory Delegates on Saturday.
“They asked extraordinary questions,” Oh said. “They were deeply curious, thinking about our faith and our role in the world. I saw so much hope for the church now.”
The second was Monday’s Ruling Elders Luncheon, “a time of real hope,” as Oh saw it. “Many had been in their churches for decades. They were talking about stretching themselves to welcome new people, invest in new leadership and find out about what God is calling us to do.”
“All those pieces I have been hearing in different spaces gives me great hope for the church,” Oh told Tangeman. “I hope I’ll get to hear more of those voices as I continue my work.”
“We’re so blessed to have you leading the church at this moment,” Tangeman said. “Everyone is so excited.”
Per Capita sponsored Tuesday’s broadcast. GA Daily is aired each day of the assembly. Watch previous editions here.