Note #9203 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
(Previous transmissions of this story were truncated halfway through, apparently because of its length. This is the portion that was not included in earlier versions.)
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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