Every year, synod elects a “sergeant-at-arms” whose job is to enforce a time limit on delegates’ coffee breaks.
In honor of their shared Canadian heritage, Rev. John Tenyenhuis presented this year’s official with a snow shovel.
“This is a scepter of office,” Tenyenhuis told Sergeant-at-arms Diane Plug, an elder from Classis Chatham. “It’s actually a snow shovel. There is no snow, so you will have to scoop other things. Carry this proudly, and shove people to the meeting on time.”
“Kindly think of me as the lady who is ready to scoop you up and get you to work on the task we have at hand,” Plug said to the delegates.
Tenyenhuis said that, as Canadians, they were “trying to make this a non-violent Synod.”
Delegate Rod Hugen of Classis Arizona objected. “I was hoping to get elected but was not because I am burly and hairy. We should love on burly and hairy people,” he said.
Synod 2014 is meeting at Central College in Pella, Iowa, from June 13-19. For continuous Banner coverage, please follow The Banner on Facebook or @crcbanner on Twitter. You can find more tweeting by following hashtag #crcsynod. News stories will be posted at www.thebanner.org several times daily. For CRC Communications releases, webcast, and live blogging, please visit www.crcna.org/synod. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are by Karen Huttenga.
About the Author
Roxanne VanFarowe is a freelance writer who claims both Canadian and American citizenship and grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. She is a member of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina.
