Note #9201 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06165 March 15, 2006
Theological Task Force members offer reflections on their final report
Long-awaited document is on its way to 217th General Assembly for approval
LOUISVILLE - The following reflections, from all 20 members of the Theological Task Force, are presented unedited and in alphabetical order. They were written after the group voted unanimously to approve its final report to the 217th General Assembly. - Jerry L. Van Marter
The Rev. P. Mark Achtemeier, Dubuque (IA)Theological Seminary:
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) finds itself at an impasse. Qualified persons of good faith and sound judgment, seeking to form the church's life according to the authoritative Word of Scripture, are coming back from that scriptural encounter with divergent conclusions about what biblical faithfulness looks like for the church in its contemporary setting.
We have been trying as a denomination to deal with this impasse by a winner-take-all parliamentary approach, which seeks by judicial and other means to impose a top-down settlement on an unpersuaded and unwilling minority.
It has not worked. The violations of conscience involved are too serious for committed Christians of the minority persuasion to simply acquiesce in the imposed solutions. The influence of the minority position is also too widespread for premature attempts at top-down resolution to result in anything other than bitter polarizations, escalating conflict, and constitutional chaos.
As Protestant Christians committed to the Reformation watchword "Scripture alone," the only faithful recourse we have in such situations is to return once again to the authoritative Scriptures, opening ourselves anew to God's guidance and submitting our established conclusions and polarizations to renewed biblical scrutiny. As a corrective action for the whole church, this needs to be a cooperative undertaking of the whole church. Through a common encounter with the Word, the differing members of the one body of Christ seek and pray together for the Spirit's promised guidance that will lead the church into a fuller and more unified apprehension of the truth.
This kind of renewed effort to seek God's truth together requires disciplines of attentiveness and openness to the Word. It also requires habits and practices of patience and mutual forbearance, along with structures to support them. I support the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church because I believe it lays the necessary groundwork for this kind of renewed commitment to cooperative faithfulness that our church so desperately needs.
In place of the arrogance and mutual condemnations that have so often marred our relations with one another, the report counsels a cultivation of the mind of Christ (cf. Phil 2:1ff.), characterized by humility, repentance, shared responsibility for the church's problems, and a common discernment of biblical truth in seeking solutions.
In place of a church life whose most prominent public witness is bitter engagement over divisive issues, the task force counsels renewed commitment to study and formation in the huge body of core theological convictions and shared history that we as Presbyterian Christians hold in common.
In place of national-level ideological conflict that shouts entrenched positions past the opposition in hopes of rallying superior numbers of the already-convinced, the task force counsels a careful, attentive engagement of differences among neighbors and co-workers at the local level, with the goal of fostering mutual understanding, common discernment, and upbuilding of one another in the truth.
In place of a polity of centralized authority that seeks to impose premature settlement of contested issues by the top-down application of ecclesiastical power, the task force proposes a more flexible and forbearing approach, grounded in time-tested principles of Presbyterian church government. This approach distributes governing power and responsibility in the church more broadly, and in so doing shifts some of the weight of the debate away from national settings, where opposing sides tend to engage one another as enemies and strangers, and into local arenas where intensive efforts will be underway to foster mutual understanding and respectful, productive engagement across differences.
This principle of classical Presbyterianism also allows the church's practice to more accurately reflect the actual state of the church's mind on divisive issues, balancing the church's historic concern for the rights of dissenting conscience with its concern for unity in essentials of the faith. In deeply contested areas of church life, it establishes as a working principle that I must first persuade my neighbors and co-workers of the rightness of my views before I can expect them to be governed by those views.
In short, I support the task force report because I am convinced it represents a step toward a more faithful, truthful, and sustainable way of working through our differences as we seek together to be the one body of Christ in mission to the world.
Scott Anderson, Wisconsin Council of Churches, Madison, WI:
When I first read about the General's Assembly's decision to create the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of this group. Having served most recently as one of the national co-moderators of More Light Presbyterians, I have attended countless General Assemblies and have been deeply involved in developing strategies to overturn our denomination's ordination standards regarding gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender persons.
Over time, I have grown profoundly disenchanted with our General Assembly process. It wasn't a matter of winning or losing a particular vote at a particular moment in history. It was the unsatisfactory way we were dealing with difficult and complex theological issues through legislative means, and the toxic byproducts of perpetually creating winners and losers, friends who are with us, and enemies who oppose us.
The General Assembly looks increasingly like the religious version of the Wisconsin State Legislature - with its cadre of professional lobbyists, partisan vitriol, and warring factions exercising power to gain strategic advantage - all of which seems to have little to do with being the body of Christ.
The Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force has proposed a different way, a more faithful, lifegiving way, of "being church" in the midst of our disagreements:
? Practicing gracious hospitality and communal discernment feel to me like a truer expression of Christian community than three-minute pro and con speeches, motions to end debate, and backroom strategizing to manipulate the rules.
? Relocating our locus of our theological disagreements from the General Assembly - 700 strangers who meet for nine days every other year - to the presbyteries, where there is at least the possibility of relationship and where our theological differences around ordination are considered in the context of flesh-and-blood candidates with gifts for ministry.
? Expending less energy on pronouncing judgment on who is right and who is wrong and more energy on the spiritual disciplines that draw us together as the body of Christ.
The Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force experience is one of the best I've had as a Presbyterian. I am grateful to God for the opportunity to be a part of this group, and I long for the wider church to have this same experience of unity in Christ even as we continue to disagree on important issues.
Barbara Everitt Bryant, research scientist, Ann Arbor, MI:
I strongly support the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, issued on August 25, 2005, for the following several reasons:
? The report has strong theological grounding in Christian and Reformed doctrine;
? On the most controversial issue addressed by the task force - the ordination of gays and lesbians who are either celibate or in long-time, committed relationships - the report is broadly reflective of current, first decade of the 21st century, attitudes of members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination and of U.S. society as a whole. (My personal career has been as a social researcher who surveyed, analyzed, and studied public opinion and demographics. I find the differences in views within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on gender relationships very similar to differences within the U.S. public as reflected in recent votes.);
? While broadly reflective of current attitudes, the report recognizes that members of both the denomination - and members of the task force itself - hold sharply differing views on biblical interpretations of gender orientation. Thus, one of the report's major recommendations offers ordaining congregations and presbyteries some flexibility with respect to their interpretations of the eligibility of an individual candidate for church office. At the same time, this recommendation preserves the setting of standards for ordination at the denominational level;
? The task force was charged with devising a process and instrument to help the church deal with divisive issues. In its recommendation to use methods of discernment, study, discussion, and prayer before moving to debate and vote, the task force shows, both in the report and in resource material to accompany it, alternatives to direct confrontation with opposing views;
? In its over-four-year life of study, discussion, prayer, and worship together, the task force has demonstrated that Presbyterians with very different views on biblical interpretation, the role of Jesus Christ in the church, and ordination standards can stay in community and talk about and respect each others' positions. With this experience, the task force makes its primary recommendation that the denomination remain united.
The Rev. Milton J (Joe) Coalter, Union Theological Seminary/PSCE, Richmond, VA:
I believe that the way of Christ is neither simple nor easy. The report of the Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church is certainly not simple. It requires a careful, prayerful reading and time to digest. This is not a report to read from the recommendations backwards. Its recommendations, in like manner, will not be easy to effect. They will require remarkable humility, trust, restraint, mutual understanding, and accountability on the part of every Presbyterian in our communion-qualities that only the Spirit of God acting on human hearts can bring.
At its heart, the report recognizes that the ties that can and do bind us inextricably together in Christ, despite our differences, are certain core beliefs. These shared convictions are greater than our differences, and while our differences are not insignificant, that which we hold in common as a community summons us with authority to continued mutual fellowship. The report also locates certain tensions within Presbyterians' principles of polity that Presbyterian Christians have long felt called to sustain in order to maintain a faithful discipleship, an embodiment (albeit a human manifestation) of the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. These tensions do not lend themselves to simple resolution as checklists of rules and qualifications applied mechanically. Instead, the complementary tugs of Presbyterians' historic "principles of polity" outlined in the report press Presbyterians in communal gatherings to measure whether a fundamental balance of our core commitments are faithfully upheld in a course of action contemplated or a candidate presented for leadership.
Finally, I believe that the report offers a way forward with measures and resources, some of which represent traditional Presbyterian practice of governance alongside additional tools for discerning in community where the Spirit is leading us. The church is not a committee beholden to a particular set of rules to keep it in order. It is a communal gathering of believers seeking direction from God's Spirit - a spirit that has the baffling habit of moving wherever it wills. Where tools of discernment are available and not only consonant with the mission of the church but also found useful in locating the Spirit's movement, they should be employed along with other time-tested means of faithful decision-making in the governance of our lives together as a body, the body of Christ.
Before you pass judgment on the report, read it. Read it carefully, and I think you will find that, imperfect as it surely is, all these elements offered in the task force report are sufficient for our company of fallen, but redeemed, sinners to walk together into a new century - a century as in need of our proclamation of God's Word and our example of God's love as any century that preceded it.
The Rev. Victoria G. Curtiss, spiritual director, Portland, OR:
The church is battle-weary. The experience, report, and recommendations of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church offer a new way of being church in the midst of disagreement.
We have debated for many years on some issues, but we have not engaged in substantive Bible study, theological reflection, and prayer with those with whom we differ. We have voted yes or no on some issues repeatedly, but we have not explored the full range of values, beliefs, concerns, hopes, and fears present within the church around those issues. We have sharpened our differences, but we have not articulated the theological convictions that bind us together. We have sought to gain or retain the majority vote for "our side," but we have not sought a common direction that moves us all forward. We have talked about gay and lesbian persons, but we have not knowingly included them in the conversation. We have taken formal disciplinary action against one another, but we have not first sought mediation and reconciliation. We have focused on the question, "Which side is right?" but we have not lived into the questions: "How is Christ at work through the multiplicity of voices?" and "How can we live together faithfully in the midst of our differences?"
The task force's report and recommendations offer ways for the church to do that which we have not yet done to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church. They seek to hold together significant points of balance in our polity and theology, such as the balance between adherence to essentials and freedom in non-essentials. They seek to retrieve equilibrium by clarifying that persons seeking to fulfill a call to ordination have the means to declare their conscience, and governing bodies have the right and responsibility to discern and apply national standards for ordination.
The task force was mandated to "develop a process and an instrument by which congregations and governing bodies throughout our church may reflect upon and discuss the matters that unite and divide us, praying that the Holy Spirit will promote the peace, unity and purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." The mandate and the task force recommendations require all members of the church to do the work of living into a new way of being. Ongoing discernment of the leading of Christ demands time, effort, and trust. Yet, the principles upon which the recommendations are grounded have enduring value. They can bear fruit beyond any particular issue of the day. The fact that the task force grew in understanding and has spoken with one voice bear witness to the power of the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is at work in the whole church. In an era in which relations among nations, races, and religions are tense and often destructive, it is critical for the church, in the ways it wrestl! es with differences, to witness to God's transforming love.
The Rev. Gary Demarest (co-moderator), retired pastor, Pasadena, CA:
I am deeply grateful to God and to our church for the privilege of having served on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church. I'm deeply grateful to God for the privilege of this four-year journey with twenty brothers and sisters in Christ.
I accepted the invitation to be on the task force hesitatingly and reluctantly, believing that the journey held more peril than promise. I've felt a kinship with Abraham on this journey, being given a challenging call at age 75, and embarking on a journey "not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Reflecting back on my first meeting with Jenny Stoner as co-moderators, neither of us could have anticipated the shape or the form of what has now become our final report and recommendations.
I'm deeply grateful for the experiences of working with twenty people chosen because of our differences. Most of my ministerial journey has been spent joining like-minded people of my choosing to accomplish agreed-upon objectives. I've learned more about the breadth and depth of the body of Christ in such a group than I have ever experienced among the fellowship of the like-minded. Thanks be to God!
I'm deeply grateful for the enriching processes of spiritual discernment with and by a group of twenty people who neither began with nor came to complete agreement on all of the issues that gave rise to our being brought together. As we came to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we grew in our commitment to listen and to understand each other. My experience of Christ has been enriched by seeing Christ in the faces of others through, not in spite of, our differences.
I'm deeply grateful to have been a part of this group that has been energized and united by a new vision for the future of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The greatest surprise of the journey was in the unanimous vote to adopt the final report and recommendations. I know of no greater privilege than to invite our General Assembly to lead the whole church "in spiritual discernment of our identity in and for the 21st century."
The "peace, unity, and purity" that this unlikely group of twenty people has experienced as a gift of the Holy Spirit gives me hope for the renewal of the whole church. It is time for a season of discernment. I long for the day when it will be said of us as disciples of our Lord: "See how they love one another."
The Rev. Frances Taylor Gench, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA:
In 2001, the 213th General Assembly created the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity to wrestle with the issues that are uniting and dividing us as Presbyterians. For this task, three former Moderators of the General Assembly "collared" twenty Presbyterians as different from one another as they could possibly be - twenty Presbyterians who under ordinary circumstances would never dream of hanging out together! So much of the diversity within our church is reflected on our task force that many Presbyterians wondered, "How will they ever get along?" Most of us were thinking the same thing when we first got together. I, for one, was not at all sure I wanted to be drafted. But friends and comrades in the pitched battles in which we find ourselves engaged wrote me, called me, and encouraged me to take it on, to get in there and "speak the truth." So, I put on the whole armor of God and flew to Dallas, ready to knock heads and speak the truth. This was going to be my ! opportunity to set some very misguided folk straight.
Task force members have continued to receive a lot of mail these last few years, representing the entire spectrum of opinion in our church - much of it exhorting us to "speak the truth" - a lot of that exhortation accompanied by biblical quotation and commentary and threats of hell and eternal damnation. Indeed, one of the most important things I have learned from this experience is that we've all been so busy speaking the truth to each other in the PC(USA), that nobody is listening. We aren't actually having a conversation! We've all got truth by the shorthairs and everyone else is in denial, so we have to set them straight. And I have come to recognize an important form that denial often takes in my life, perhaps in yours as well: the denial that people I disagree with have anything to teach me.
It has been a hard lesson to learn, but one for which I am grateful and for which I have twenty diverse Presbyterians to thank - people with whom, as it turns out, I have more in common than I had imagined. Every one of us entered our journey together with trepidation, not at all sure it would be a joyful part of our service to the church. But it has turned out to be the most powerful experience of the Holy Spirit I have ever had, as a genuine sense of community has formed among this very diverse group. An important part of our work together has been learning how to lower the decibel level, to speak our truths with love and respect, but also to listen to each other and engage in genuine conversation, really trying to hear and understand another point of view.
We discovered along the way that those we disagree with may actually have something to teach us - that indeed God uses our disagreements and strong convictions to test and strengthen us, to challenge and correct us, as we seek the mind of Christ together. We discovered also that we can no longer demonize each other, for our caricatures of each other turn out to be inaccurate and we are bound to each other in our baptisms as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Moreover, our discussions as a task force were permeated by a growing, shared conviction, articulated in our interim report: that we cannot achieve peace, unity, and purity on our own, but can only be held together because they all reside in Jesus Christ, and that perhaps our job and the church's job is to appropriate what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ - to live into the fullness of that gift.
I am now convinced that our denominational struggle - our family struggle to live into the fullness of that gift - is integral to our ministry and mission in this world. As one of our members has said to us repeatedly: "It is our mission to show the world that the gospel makes some kind of difference - that if you've got it, you don't need to kill each other over differences."
It seems to me that is an important witness to make, crucial to our vocation in a world of increasing polarization and violence.
Last spring, Martin Marty of the University of Chicago, an astute observer of the American religious scene, was asked the question, "So how should our denominations deal with their conflicts over sexuality?" I was interested in his reply: "Well first, we need to stop voting on all of these issues, and rid ourselves of the fiction that majority rule in a 55-45 split reflects the will of God. And then we need to start practicing a new kind of polity, one rooted in conversation and hospitality."
I think he is right about that, and I hope the church will receive the task force's report and recommendations as a means to that end, a call to Christian maturity and forbearance, and a modest step in the direction of greater faithfulness.
The Rev. Jack Haberer, The Presbyterian Outlook, Richmond, VA:
Note: As the new editor of the Presbyterian Outlook, Jack Haberer has declined to contribute to these reflections about their final report by members of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, so that he can maintain appropriate boundaries between his work as a task force member and his work in reporting/analyzing the news (see: http://www.pres-outlook.com/tabid/511/Article/955/Default.aspx). His reflection at the time of the task force vote, prior to his becoming the Outlook editor, is included below as it appeared in Jim Berkley's summary of the comments by task force members just prior to their vote on their final report at their August 2005 meeting:
Jack Haberer referenced John 9:6 about being salty and said, "When I came on the task force, I had a great fear that we would throw out the salt. But we have something before us (the report) that is very salty." He continued: "I believe that what we have done has given us a way to maintain the standards but a way to be together and live at peace with each other.... I am pretty well astounded that we have come to this place and have agreement."
The Rev. W. Stacy Johnson, Princeton (NJ) Theological Seminary:
Many of us on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church agree with evangelical biblical scholar Richard Hays when he points to the arbitrariness of a church that targets its gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ for particular exclusion from church office while it neglects or ignores so many other issues at the heart of the gospel. Still, I think the mandate given to the task force by the 213th General Assembly in 2001 was the right one. We were not asked to solve the sexuality battles in the PC(USA), but to lead the church in an even bigger task: the process of discerning our Christian identity as followers of the crucified one in and for the twenty-first century.
To that end, we have suggested to the church concrete ways of living together, including returning to the theological guidance in chapter II of the Book of Order in handling disputes over essential tenets (see our final report, page 6); holding in creative balance the historic tensions that are the genius of Presbyterian polity (page 24); and seeking to step back from controversial issues to see if they can be framed in a more constructive way.
One implication of our report is that disputes over sexuality need not be church-dividing. Since The Book of Confessions contains more than one theology of something as important as the Lord's Supper, does it not stand to reason that we (like Scripture itself) can also have more than one theology of sexuality? The final report is unequivocal in its rejection of sexual licentiousness, yet it allows for discretion over matters where reasonable Christian minds differ. When we read the Westminster standards, we see that "sodomy" is a practice our confessions call sin; however, as that term was defined in the seventeenth century, almost all contemporary American heterosexuals have violated it. Who among us today is questioning the ordination of heterosexual departures from the Westminster standards?
Much attention has focused on the Authoritative Interpretation (AI) proposed in Recommendation 5, which sets forth a fair and consistent framework, implicit in G-6.0108 of The Book of Order and in keeping with historic Presbyterian polity, meant to guide all ordination decisions now and in the future - no matter the issue. The framework operates by a two-fold logic: (a) there are churchwide standards that may not be ignored, and (b) these standards must be applied on a case-by-case basis by responsible governing bodies. For example, it is a clear and important requirement that ministers of Word and Sacrament know Greek and Hebrew; but occasionally, if circumstances warrant, the requirement is not applied rigidly. (How many seasoned ministers could pass the Greek and Hebrew tests if they were administered to them today?) There are some standards that a governing body will determine may not be relaxed - these are essentials - and still others in which the governing body may discern degrees of compliance, thus necessitating a judgment call. Since "obedienc! e to Scripture" is one of the standards of G-6.0106b, then all of us fail to comply fully with a crucial ordination standard, and thus all of us stand in need of grace if we are to exercise our office.
As long as G-6.0106b is in the Book of Order, its meaning must be responsibly interpreted. No ordination of a person who falls short of compliance with it could take place under the AI without the ordination specifically being declared a "departure" from the norm by the governing body. In this way, the AI does not violate what proponents of G-6.0106b have always resisted, namely, having to "affirm" conduct they believe is sinful. To acknowledge a departure is not the same as to affirm it. For those who favor the removal of G-6.0106b, the AI requires something of them in return if G-6.0106b is ever removed; namely, they must grant to the other side the same forbearance they now wish for themselves. In short, by highlighting the mechanism of G-6.0108, the task force is asking the church to take seriously the importance of liberty of conscience in the interpretation of Scripture, while recognizing that Scripture is interpreted within constitutional bounds. I believe this is a f! aithful step in moving the church forward.
Mary Ellen Lawson, Redstone Presbytery stated clerk, Mt. Pleasant, PA:
In the second recommendation of the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, the task force urges governing bodies, congregations, and other groups of Presbyterians to follow the example of the task force: In the face of difficult issues, we engaged in intensive processes of discernment of God's leading through worship, community building, study of Reformed theology of church governance, Presbyterian polity, and resources for constructive engagement such as mutual invitation, consensus building, and other tools for communal discernment.
As Christians, we must be willing to be in dialogue with those with whom we may disagree, and this is a challenge for all of us. We must be willing to really listen and hear positions other than our own; otherwise, we simply reinforce our own position when we continue to exchange views with those who are of the same mind. When we function in such a narrow and insulated environment, we may be denying ourselves an opportunity to find a more faithful way to discern the mind of Christ.
In his book, God's Politics, Jim Wallis said it well: "Our absolute insistence that our way is the only way keeps us from hearing one another." I have had the privilege of serving the larger church at all governing body levels, and that experience has given me the opportunity to attend numerous meetings, including over twenty meetings of the General Assembly. I have observed commissioners to the General Assembly - Presbyterians gathered together, not simply to reflect the will of the people, but rather to seek together to find and represent the will of Christ - listen to divergent points of view for the first time and leave that gathering with an appreciation for new information they had not heard or considered prior to meeting with other Presbyterians from across this denomination. They were awakened to the broad diversity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and to the passion and faithfulness of others who also take the Bible very seriously.
While we, the members of the Theological Task Force, still do not agree on controversial issues like sexuality and ordination - and we experienced some uncomfortable exchanges - we never walked away from one another. We are convinced that we must hold on to one another and trust Jesus' promise that the Holy Spirit will ultimately lead the church into God's future.
The Rev. Jong Hyeong Lee, pastor, Hanmee Presbyerian Church, Itasca, IL:
The recommendations of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church are the best outcome of efforts by those who formed a community of consensus with a common purpose, despite having diverse ideas about a certain issue.
But no recommendation or statement can satisfy everybody, especially those involved in the division due to the issue. The recommendations are both win-win and lose-lose ones. They win-win in the sense of holding on to the basic tenets of faith and polity - the confession of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the recognition of the authority of lower and higher governing bodies. The recommendations are win-win, for they keep the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) without amendment and they open the door to ordaining and installing bodies for their action based upon their discernment.
However, the recommendations are lose-lose, for the Constitution shall not be changed for a while (to the dismay of those seeking a change), and homosexual people may have opportunities to be ordained to church leadership (to the dismay of those wishing for that not to happen). Because of this lose-lose perspective, I am afraid the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will lose many Presbyterian friends, both in the United States and in other countries.
The Rev. John "Mike" Loudon, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Lakeland, FL:
I was a newly ordained pastor in 1974 when the Kenyon decision sent shock waves through conservative arenas of the church. Wynn Kenyon had pleaded his case for ordination before the candidates and credentials committee of Pittsburgh Presbytery, and had used the 1729 Adopting Act as a point to argue his case. He did not believe in the ordination of women and believed that he could claim a scruple on what he viewed as a non-essential of church government.
The candidates committee did not see it his way, but the presbytery did and voted to proceed with his ordination. The case was appealed to the synod and then to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission. They overturned the presbytery decision and upheld the candidates committee. It was a landmark case that shifted the balance of power for determination of fitness for ordination from the presbytery to the General Assembly.
The congregations I was serving at that time were upset, confused, and angry. They struggled with the issue of women's ordination and felt that they somehow were no longer acceptable in what was then the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
I received a call to another congregation in 1978 and moved to that church just in time for another landmark decision - Definitive Guidance on the ordination of sexually active gay and lesbian people. This time, the congregation I served breathed a sigh of relief with the General Assembly decision. They did not believe that sexually active gay and lesbian people should be ordained and concluded that the denomination had dodged a bullet.
Ten years later, I answered a call to a congregation in the Midwest. Issues began to surface among some that definitive guidance was not sufficient, that a constitutional amendment was needed to assure that sexually active gay and lesbian people would not be ordained. I attended the first meeting of the Presbyterian Coalition in Chicago in 1996 and was very supportive of adding the "fidelity and chastity" amendment to the church's Constitution (The Book of Order, G- 6.0106b). I have lent my voice to efforts to keep this amendment as part of the Constitution throughout the ensuing years.
My years of working on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church have been very rewarding. It has taken a great amount of effort and study, as well as many hours away from home and local church work (away from those good folks who pay my salary.)
The document the task force has proposed is not perfect. People on both sides of the aisle have read it and found it wanting. But I think it provides a way for us to move forward as a church. It also addresses some of those major issues I have faced in my ministry, namely definitive guidance, fidelity and chastity, and the Kenyon decision.
The task force recommendations ask the General Assembly to maintain both the 1978 Definitive Guidance, and the 1996 "fidelity and chastity" amendment. We also request that the General Assembly adopt an authoritative interpretation of G.6.0108 that deals with the freedom of conscience with respect to the interpreting of Scripture, and recognizes that the congregation or presbytery has authority to apply the constitutional standards. This is not something new; it is simply a shifting of balance that was changed with the Kenyon decision. The right of appeal is still in place. The standards are also still in place, but the Adopting Act of 1729 and freedom of conscience are also recognized.
I dream of a denomination that no longer spends vast amounts of its energy fighting ordination issues, but rather puts energy into teaching children about Jesus, encourages youth in spiritual formation, seeks to comfort the elderly, organizes justice ministries for the oppressed, and introduces the lost to a Savior. I'm tired of the name-calling and the fighting, and ready to find some way we can move forward together, even if we do not agree on every non-essential of doctrine. I pray that the task force report is part of that solution.
Joan Kelley Merritt, elder, Newport Presbyterian Church, Bellevue, WA:
I support the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church because it calls us all to work toward being a more faithful church - more faithful to our foundation in Jesus Christ, more open to the work of the Holy Spirit, more grateful to God who loves us and graciously calls us together.
I support the report because it calls us all to the hard work of talking with each other about our differences, listening carefully, affirming our common faith, building community, and repenting of our part in the alienation of parts of the community.
I have a strong sense of ownership of this report. The writing teams captured our deliberations and affirmations. They listened to suggestions; they changed wording and accepted editing to the end that it faithfully reflects our shared convictions. And we all - all of us - said yes, this is our report to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Living with the report is uncomfortable at times. Not only am I reminded that my attitudes and statements have contributed to divisive alienation in the past, but I am no longer free to be easily dismissive of views that diverge from mine. Working with the task force has stretched me intellectually and spiritually. The nineteen others have been channels of God's grace for me and I trust that I have been that in some measure for them.
The Rev. Lonnie Oliver, pastor, New Life Presbyterian Church, Atlanta:
The report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church comes at a time in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) when presbyteries, congregations, and people who belong to God with a global consciousness face many challenges and chances to respond to God's call. We have the privilege to obey God's will and participate in God's transforming power to work through Presbyterianism to make a difference in God's dream of love and justice. The report provides a mirror for us to see ourselves, and a window so that we can see God's vision for our denomination.
The report suggests a process that will help us affirm a covenant community with diversity and appreciate the unique gifts we bring to a process for discerning God's will together. I believe the recommendations will help us discover the words of the African proverb that says, "When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion."
The Rev. Martha Sadongei, pastor, Central Presbyterian Church, Phoenix:
Support for the final report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church is more than just a "yes" vote. Support for this report comes out of the words that were put on paper, words that were also lived out.
My Tohono O'odham grandfather taught me that the integrity of an individual could be seen by watching and listening to them. An individual could use words to say anything about themselves, their accomplishments, and their visions, but such claims would be just about words. To really understand what an individual thought, what they valued, and how they felt, all you needed to do was watch that individual to see whether what they said matched with how they lived out their life. My grandfather taught me that words and actions must match if there is to be any kind of integrity.
The integrity of this report comes in the fact that the words that were chosen to be put down on paper came not only out of a thought process, but a lived process. The integrity of this report comes in the experiences and the learnings that we discovered together over the years, building upon a strong foundation that we all believed Jesus Christ is Lord.
This report offers practical ways in which we can live out our discipleship within our differences, and once again encourages us to live out our faith in action. As different as we task force members are, we came together with our life experiences, cultural experiences, and faith expressions, and were reminded that we do not live by words alone. It is the living together as the community of faith that binds us together, even though we may disagree with one another. Support for this report comes not just for the words, but also in the affirmation of how we as a task force lived out faithfully what we believe.
The Rev. Sarah Sanderson-Doughty, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Lowville, NY:
I am a child of church - the worst sort of the church's children, actually. I'm a preacher's kid. If there's one thing I think I know the truth about, it's the church. That's why, when I took my introductory course in systematic theology in seminary, I was both puzzled and amused when we arrived at our study of the church. We contemplated key questions of Christian doctrine through a wide range of contemporary theologians, as well as our professors and classmates. As is often the case in contemporary theology, I found that all of the authors approached each area of doctrine with incisive criticism, raising questions about long held assumptions at every turn.
When it came time to talk about the church, however, I felt the incisive criticism evaporated. In its place were "pie in the sky" renderings of the true church. But, in my experience, there's nothing "pie in the sky" about it. I wondered where these theologians were getting their crazy ideas - certainly not from any church of which I had ever been a part. I laughed at the dim resemblance between theological renderings of the church and the actual church. In those early days of seminary, I also struggled to see how the church was any different from the world. For my entire lifetime, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) has been struggling over questions about peacemaking, abortion, and sexuality and ordination, to name a few. As I drew closer to responding to a call to ministry, it appeared that these struggles were escalating; it appeared that I was part of a polarized church on the edge of division. But then, I grew up in a polarized world of escalating conflict - from the threat of nuclear war that hung over my earliest years, to the culture wars, to actual wars of more recent years. If we weren't any different from the world, I shuddered to pose the question: Why should the church continue to exist? This is a scary question to ask when one has been called by God to be a minister in Christ's church, when one is just beginning this journey in faithfulness.
I seized the opportunity to serve on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church because, while I don't wear the rose-colored glasses of some of the theologians I first encountered, I believe the church is different from the world. It must be different from the world, for the world needs a witness. I found myself impatient at gatherings of like-minded Presbyterians in the years leading up to my service on the task force. The patterns of isolation I was observing in our church were distressing to me. Our basic fear and distrust of our brothers and sisters in Christ was exceedingly distressing to me. I felt much more at home at my college and seminary, and at General Assemblies and similar gatherings that provided me the opportunity to encounter the breadth and depth of diversity in our church.
But even in these diverse settings, I was distressed by the power politics - the us vs. them dynamics at play and the lack of evident unity of purpose and vision. I don't know why God has made us so irritatingly different, but this is how God has made us. I don't know why God perpetually chooses to call together a motley crew of broken human beings and claim all of us as God's own in the waters of baptism. But this is what God does. And as irritating as our differences are, somehow, each of us is beautiful and precious in God's sight. Each of us is bound by the Spirit in baptism to everyone else in this motley crew. We have a chance to show the world that difference doesn't have to divide, that conflict doesn't have to produce bloodshed, that the good news of Jesus Christ really does make a difference in real lives.
I had no idea when I joined the task force during my senior year in seminary if we would be able to fulfill the mandate given to us. I had no idea if twenty strong-willed, differently convicted Presbyterians would ever be able to speak in one voice. I had no idea if the church, in particular the Presbyterian manifestation of it, could live up to the witness I believed we needed to be if we were to be faithful.
Now, three and a half years into ordained service as a pastor, four years into service as a member of the task force, my questions of "if" have been answered. Secondary questions of "how" have been answered as well. The report and recommendations we offer to the church paint a picture of a church that chooses to be different from the world. It is a church that witnesses to a faith that is diverse but not divided; whose members take responsibility for their own sins and weaknesses and work hard together to resist the divisive impulses that characterize our day; who hang on to one another through struggles with the Scriptures; who break bread together and seek the mind of Christ. By the grace of God, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can be a manifestation of this true church. The question now is whether the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) wants to be that kind of church. With a potential fifty years of ministry yet ahead of me, you can imagine my prayers for the choice this churc! h will make.
Jean S. "Jenny" Stoner (co-moderator), elder, East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church, Craftsbury, VT:
Serving on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church has provided a powerful experience as part of a group led by the Holy Spirit to listen and take the risks essential to fulfill our mandate.
Our listening has taken many forms. Our initial prayerful and careful listening to each other's hopes and concerns led us to develop the covenant that guided our work. When our non-Anglo members shared the decision-making models of their traditions, our listening gained a new dimension, which provided understandings that informed subsequent meetings. In all our study, whether of Scripture, or of books and articles on topics before us, we always strived together to understand what the author intended: to first listen to the author's voice before discussing our response to it. In the study of Scripture, we worked to hear the many layers of meaning and to be informed by both scholars and each other's readings. As we began to work on formulating a final report and recommendations, task force members all listened intently to the contributions and concerns of others, so that together we crafted a report that all support and which we all believe offers a gift to the church.
Risk-taking has also been a consistent theme. It required a leap of faith for each task force member to agree to be a part of this group, selected for its diversity and charged with a broad and ambitious mandate. All started our work with many, many questions, including those relating to how we could carry out our mandate. We risked using a new model of leadership. We replaced the customary model of leadership provided chiefly by moderators with a team of task force members that included not only subject experts, but also a coordinator to pay attention to process and the integration of Bible study, worship, and community building. Although trying the unfamiliar was uncomfortable for many of us, we risked using many new ways of learning and discerning together. As a result, we found that deeper understandings grew from these experiences. The willingness to take risks developed as our community strengthened and trust grew.
Both listening and risk-taking were essential components in enabling the group to come to shared theological understandings, appreciation of new ways to be the church together, and specific recommendations to provide a way for the church to move forward. Our recommendations offer a way to reclaim historic Presbyterian principles and a balance between the roles and responsibilities of ordaining bodies and governing bodies. But more important than achieving a balance, our report proclaims the joyous news that we are one in Jesus Christ. It lifts up a vision of a future for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) where we celebrate each other's gifts and hold on to each other, even as we continue our respectful discussions on issues about which we disagree.
I pray that our report and recommendations will help lead the church toward this vision.
The Rev. Jose Luis Torres-Milan, pastor, Tercera Iglesia Presbiteriana (Third Presbyterian Church), Aguadilla, Puerto Rico:
In my community, family is a way of living with your loved ones, your friends, your community, and your church. It is not always easy to be an effective family. Through the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, you are reading the words of an informed experience of many different persons who came together, prayed, heard each other, and affirmed that we all are friends and brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
Our denomination has gone through tough times. Many doors have been closed. Many wounds have been opened and some think we have come to an apparent dead end. Our report and the recommendations in it are a way of relating to each other and learning how to live together as the family of God in Jesus Christ. It is not always easy to be a member of a family; we all are different, but we all are called by Jesus to give witness to God's work and presence in a broken world. I support the report of the task force because:
? it helps the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to learn through discernment how to live together, even with our differences and our diversity;
? it provides the church with tools of the mind and of the heart to look at each other with the love and guidance of the Spirit of the Lord;
? it will allow the church to make decisions that will create ways in which all voices are heard; and
? it will affirm that people with different views, responding to God's call, are willing to prove to be brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
Barbara G. Wheeler, president, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York:
Much of the attention to date to the task force report has focused on the recommendations, and more specifically on one or two. What few commentators have noted is that the recommendations are a package. The whole task force voted all the recommendations together. I doubt we would have produced a unanimous report if any of them had been omitted. In fact, many of the features of the report that seem to accommodate a particular side were the suggestions of the other side out of concern that our colleagues' views be respected and included. This report can only have a salutary effect if that same spirit of mutual respect and concern is forthcoming from the whole church. If various factions cherry-pick the recommendations, omitting those they don't like, we will be back to the winner-take-all victory for a party or side that has not made this denomination more holy or more just, much less more peaceful.
The adoption of the report would mean that those who have been fighting hardest for particular outcomes will not get everything they want. In other settings, I have quoted the Israeli writer Amos Oz, who says that there are only two ways to end a serious play - like Shakespeare: one character wins and everyone else is a dead body on the stage; or like Chekhov: everyone alive and a little bit disappointed. If the task force report is accepted, most will be somewhat disappointed and few will have everything they want, but everyone - gay and straight, liberal and conservative, and politically and sexually label-free - would still be in this play, this drama of redemption and reconciliation, together.
Why stay together? Several reasons. One is that Christ commands us to seek unity. Another is that our opponents are good for our spiritual health. They show us features of the faith that we and our friends may have neglected, and they keep us honest. There is no greater obstacle to the work of grace, Luther once said, than the conviction that we do not need it. In our theological enclaves, we have a tendency to flatter each other about the rightness of our cause and the goodness of our selves. Our critics can be depended upon to remind us of our faults and our desperate need for God's forgiveness and grace.
We need each other to seek and find the truth and to do justice. Some say that unity is in tension with, even opposition to, truth and justice, but I think not. If we split, either by schism (one side walking out or banishing the other) or by erosion (people drifting away because their consciences have been bound too tightly), we lose our chance to persuade those with whom we share a confession of faith of the truth we have been given the grace to see, and the justice we have been called to do. We forebear not because truth and justice do not matter, but because they do.
The most important reason to stay together is for sake of the world in which we are commissioned to preach the gospel. In the last section of the report, we say that we believe the world is watching the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to see whether the gospel is any help in the resolution of differences. If we cannot model an alternative to trouncing our opponents in our own life together, how can we convince a world where people regularly kill each other over differences of the reconciling power of Jesus Christ?
I joined the task force because I want to belong to a denomination to which two groups that have ministered to me most powerfully in recent years also belong. One of those groups is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered Presbyterians, who sacrifice so much to stick with the rest of us. Because the church insists on it, some have embraced celibacy even through they are not called to it. Others have remained members of a denomination that denies them ordained leadership even though they are called to it. Still others live in a kind of limbo, unable to tell their brothers and sisters in faith about significant parts of their lives and struggles. From all of them I have learned about Christ's kind of self-giving love, what it means to love God and God's people more than ones own comfortable life.
The other group is conservative and evangelical Presbyterians. I have met extraordinary conservatives in this denomination - in theological education, on the task force, and, not least, in my own Presbytery of Albany - whose views I often cannot agree with but whose faith, character, and courage frequently exceed my own. Numbers of them have become some of my closest Christian friends. I endorse this report with all my heart because I believe it brings us closer to the days when these two groups of exemplary Christians, and the rest of us, can live joyfully in the church together.
The Rev. John Wilkinson, pastor, Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY:
I remain grateful for the invitation and the opportunity to serve on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church. It has been described as a "thankless" task. It was not.
Whatever "spirituality" is, mine has been deepened, as has my own sense of vocation. Primarily, though, my gratitude and appreciation for the church as the body of Christ - and our little Presbyterian branch of it - has been strengthened and sustained.
Yes, our experience on the task force has been extraordinary. But even so, it need not be unique, neither should others seek to replicate it. That would not be desirous, for each Presbyterian gathering, from two or three to a session or congregation or presbytery or synod or General Assembly will seek its own, Spirit-led experience of the church's peace and unity and purity.
Nor is our report either perfect or a panacea. We are hopeful, though, and I am hopeful, that it suggests some modest, concrete steps for the church to take to stay together with integrity and faithfulness, to build a new culture, and to discover a new way of living together. Elsewhere, my colleagues will comment about the report itself - the whole report, including the recommendations. Please read it, all of it, not only for the words it contains, but the spirit it seeks to embrace.
We all long for ways that the church may live differently, a new way of "doing church," as we have said. This will not be a church without conflict - such a thing seems near impossible. But cannot we envision a church whereby conflict is engaged differently, that seeks and discovers a historic, theologically and biblically sound, and polity-based equilibrium to stay together?
I was born into the Presbyterian church. It loved me through my baptism, taught me, called me, inspired me through its worship and mission. Later, when I learned its history and confessional heritage, I was given a framework upon which to place my earlier experience about who the church was and was called to be.
Our report, along with some resources and modest tools, may provide a window into that Possibility - the possibility of the church as an approximate, provisional demonstration of the commonwealth of God. In the meantime, A Brief Statement of Faith reminds us that "the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing," which would further the peace, unity, and purity of the church more than any report ever could.
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