wfn.org | Pro-Gay Ordination Network Urged to Persevere

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99036 
21-June-1999 
 
          Pro-Gay Ordination Network Urged to Persevere 
 
      Harvard Theologian Peter Gomes Says God is on the Side of the 
                           Covenant Network 
 
FORT WORTH More than 500 supporters of the fledgling Covenant Network of 
Presbyterians were exhorted at the pro-gay ordination group's second annual 
General Assembly luncheon June 21 to "never give up because God is on your 
side." 
     Peter Gomes, preacher to Harvard University and professor of Christian 
morals there, told the group, "What you are fighting for is far more 
important that just the internal politics and polity of the Presbyterian 
Church, but is a witness to the whole church of God and civilization from 
which they will take courage and example." 
     Gomes, who is openly gay, praised the network for the "courage" to 
invite him to speak and said, "The Covenant Network is the way of the 
future, which is why you encounter so much resistance   you are the seed 
that will grow into the church of the next millenium." 
     Though the Covenant Network has been on the losing end of the 
PC(USA)'s recent votes on sexual standards for ordination, co-moderator the 
Rev. John Buchanan sounded optimistic. "Thousands and thousands of 
Presbyterians look to the Covenant Network of Presbyterians to articulate 
and present a theology of the church that is different and more expansive 
and more grace-filled and more inclusive than the ecclesiology represented 
by G-6.0106b (the commonly called "fidelity and chastity" requirement for 
ordination to church office)," he told the cheering crowd. 
     Referring to allegations leveled against the Covenant Network by "The 
Presbyterian Layman" newspaper, Buchanan said, "One of the great ironies is 
the accusation that the Covenant Network is preparing to 'take over' the 
PC(USA), coming from a group [The Presbyterian Coalition, of which the 
Layman is a part] that has been trying to do just that since 1993 ... we 
don't have as much money or as much staff, nor do we have a newspaper with 
a distribution list in excess of 500,000 to promote our agenda." 
     Gomes, a Baptist, rigorously asserted that the Bible is an inclusive 
document and said, "I long for the day when you are free of textual 
harassment."  He said the Bible "invites all in, in all times and places 
and climes.  This is my book," he continued, "it is not a book that belongs 
to someone else and not me and every effort throughout history to keep 
people from it has gone down to defeat.  The Bible has always brought every 
person into its gracious embrace." 
     Gomes also urged the crowd to listen more attentively to "what the 
Holy Spirit is saying today."  Presbyterians claim to be trinitarian, he 
said, "but you tend to put two-thirds of the emphasis on two-thirds of the 
trinity   the Holy Spirit is a little too loosey-goosey for you."   
     In the Bible, he continued, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as fostering 
understanding but in order to understand, Presbyterians must be willing to 
listen.  And "listening is an unfamiliar posture for Presbyterians," he 
said.  "You're not good listeners.  I have observed that you only stop 
talking in order to prepare your next speech." 
     Gomes said there is a very good reason why Presbyterians, among 
others, don't want to listen.  "We fear what we might hear," he said, "that 
God is telling us to change our ways." 
     Since the Covenant Network of Presbyterians was founded two years ago, 
its founders -- former General Assembly moderators Buchanan and Robert W. 
Bohl of Prairie Village, Kan. -- have served as its co-moderators. 
Beginning in November of this year, Buchanan announced, new co-moderators 
will assume leadership of the network: the Rev. Laird J. Stuart of San 
Francisco and the Rev. Deborah Block of Milwaukee. 
     Covenant Network executive director Pam Byers of San Francisco 
announced that the group will hold its third annual national conference 
Nov. 4-6, 1999, in Atlanta. 
 
 Jerry Van Marter 

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