Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the PC(USA).

Like-Minded

Last Friday I was at the Fellowship Gathering in Minneapolis. This coming Friday I will be at the More Light National Conference in Rochester, NY.

My guess is that the number of people attending both of those events is fairly low. In fact, maybe just me.

Nevertheless, both events have one very important, hugely important, thing in common: people who are committed to following Jesus. People who are seeking to live out the Gospel message authentically and prophetically to a 21st century world that sorely needs to hear that message. People who are eager to talk and brainstorm about how the P.C. (USA) can be an effective agent of proclaiming the Gospel. 

To be sure, there's lots that we don't agree on. When has there ever been total unanimity among us?

As we continue to talk together about how we live into both a new ordination standard and a new Form of Government, we need to always remember that people who have differing points of view about either or both of those are still committed, faithful Presbyterians. There were committed, faithful Presbyterian at the Gathering. There will be committed, faithful Presbyterians at the More Light conference.  

We seek to follow Jesus. We seek to proclaim Christ, crucified and risen. In that sense, we are all like-minded.

Let's Hear It for the Synod!

Bet that title got your attention! We don’t hear much these days about synods, unless it's to ask what  the future holds for them.

What I’m discovering, however, is that there’s lots of places where synod-driven ministries are thriving. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be at the renowned synod school last month sponsored by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, but, judging by the Facebook comments I saw, lots of Presbyterians were enlightened, educated, and entertained.

And last week I saw in action the Mobile Health Fair ministry of the Synod of the Covenant. Every summer, the synod hires a team of young adult volunteers who travel throughout Ohio and Michigan providing health screenings to children and adults who otherwise wouldn’t have any access to medical care. This summer, 44 health fairs were held, and over 1,900 children and adults were screened. Many of those screened are the children of migrant workers who come to Ohio and Michigan during the summer.

The screenings provide real benefits. Over 600 glucose tests were administered to persons over 18, and 84 persons who had no prior diagnosis of diabetes were found to have abnormally high levels. They will be given educational information about diabetes and the opportunity to follow up with more intensive medical care. Vision and dental screenings are also provided, along with follow-up referral care.

This ministry requires an enormous amount of organization and planning, not to mention volunteers above and beyond the core team who set up and help at each of the fairs. More than 350 volunteers from congregations across the synod helped at the health fairs this summer.

Most of us who are not in the Synod of the Covenant probably haven’t heard about the Mobile Health Fair Ministry. But it’s an important and effective ministry that all of us as Presbyterians should be thankful for. Kudos to the Synod of the Covenant!

Hands of Christ

There's a lot of discussion across the denomination about new ways of "doing presbytery."

This past weekend, I saw a terrific way of doing presbytery -- the Hands of Christ ministry in Charleston, SC. More than 20 congregations in Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery participate in this program, which distributes clothing and school supplies to needy children. In 2010, more than 4,000 kids each received one new pair of pants, one slightly used pair, two new shirts, two pairs of underwear and socks, and needed school supplies.

When Tammy Gregory Brown, the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charleston, where the program began, and I pulled up at the Aimwell Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning around 8:30, a line of people had already formed, even though the doors wouldn't open and the distribution  wouldn't start until 9:30.

The volunteers that morning came not just from Aimwell and from Westminster, but from congregations all across the presbytery. What I heard again and again from the volunteers there on Saturday was how effective the Hands of Christ has been, not just in carrying out its intended mission, but also in bringing together Presbyterians of different races, different perspectives, different worship styles -- bringing them together while doing ministry together. Every distribution, which is held at participating churches across the presbytery, ends with a meal together.

Hands of Christ fills two needs: first, getting the basics that so many of us take for granted into the hands of kids who would otherwise do without; and, second, engaging Presbyterians in mission and ministry that doesn't involve debating or voting.

The most fascinating part of Saturday was watching the volunteers set-up and operate a "conveyor belt" by which clothes and supplies left over were loaded onto a trailer, ready to be taken to the next distribution site. Here's a photo -- but you can see an actual video clip at the Hands of Christ Facebook page.

 

 

 

Women Ruling Elders -- They Rock!

When I was in law school, I occasionally was asked, “So – you want to be a lady lawyer?”

I never really knew how to answer that question.  I wanted to say, “I wasn’t aware that a sex change was necessary in order to be a lawyer.”

But in fact I encountered very little discrimination as I in fact became an attorney,  perhaps aided by the fact that I was lucky enough to get a job right out of law school with BNA, Inc. – still my employer – which is a remarkably diverse and inclusive place to work.

And I haven’t encountered much discrimination in my work within the PC (USA). I think in part that’s because I’m a ruling elder, not a teaching elder.  Women teaching elders still, in my opinion,  have a higher bar than male teaching elders in seeking out and obtaining calls.  How many tall steeple congregations have a woman teaching elder as head of staff?

All of that is to say that I was humbled last week to meet with five women ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church in Guatemala. These women have had to struggle and fight every step of the way to be accepted within the church. One told of persons refusing to accept the bread and wine from her when she was helping to serve the Lord’s Supper. Another talked of her continuing effort to encourage the use of inclusive language. Each of them still faces the reality of being ignored by the male leadership within the church.

I met with them at a remarkable place in Guatemala City – the Centro Evangelico de Estudios Pastorales en Centro America – known to one and all simply as CEDEPCA. In its modest yet functional offices (thanks to the Presbytery of the Peaks for helping to make that happen), CEDEPCA, which is an independent, ecumenical ministry and a validated mission partner of the PC (USA),  seeks to encourage and inspire women’s leadership in the church, as well as to provide men and women in Central America with a flexible, inexpensive approach to theological training. In addition, it designs and hosts mission and work teams, bringing together people from different cultural backgrounds to focus on issues such as health, education, free trade agreements, and the situation of women in church and society.

I am uplifted by what these five women ruling elders have accomplished. 

 

Me and John Buchanan

John Buchanan and I will be forever linked in PC (USA) history: he served as Moderator when the "fidelity and chastity" amendment was approved by the General Assembly and ratified by a majority of presbyteries as G-6.0106b; I served as Moderator when the General Assembly approved Amendment 10-A, a replacement for G-6.0106b, which has now been approved by a majority of presbyteries.

John, who is the editor of The Christian Century in addition to serving as pastor of Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago, wrote about the adoption of 10-A in the June 14 issue. Two sentences resonate with me:

"Presbyterians have a great evangelical opportunity to show a fractured world that it is possible for people to disagree with one another and yet remain in fellowship." He went on to say that "unity in diversity" is not "a mere slogan or an idealistic pipe dream but a real gift of the Christian life."

We have debated, discussed, and voted on ordination standards for the last quarter century. During all that time, there was no unanimity about the ordination of gays and lesbians who are in committed relationships, yet, for the most part, we remained together. Today there is still no unanimity about the ordination issue. And I hope we can still remain together.

I want to be sure that everyone understands what Amendment 10-A does, and does not, do. Amendment 10-A allows, but does not require, an ordaining body to determine that a candidate who is in a committed same-sex relationship is eligible for ordination -- assuming that the candidate desires to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ "in all aspects of life." That, to me, sets the bar pretty high.

I believe that there are central Gospel messages that we all affirm: our God is a sovereign God who has acted in history and continues to act today. Jesus is Lord.

I believe that there are central polity beliefs that, as Presbyterians, we all affirm: the importance of our connectional polity; the importance of a system in which ruling and teaching elders share in spiritual leadership and governance.

I also believe that throughout our entire Reformed history, indeed throughout all of Christian history, Christians, and Presbyterians, have argued about issues -- sometimes to the point of fracture. Attempting to live out the Gospel in a particular place at a particular time means that there will be issues on which we disagree. I believe such disagreements are an inevitable part of trying to follow Jesus faithfully.

I for one am enriched, and my faith is enriched, by engaging with those who think differently than I do. I do not want to be in a faith community that is composed entirely of people who are just like me and who think just like me.

So here's the challenge: can we show a fractured world that we can disagree with one another yet remain in fellowship?

Tornadoes

 

     The devastation caused by flooding and tornadoes over these past weeks – most recently in Joplin – has been unimaginable.  Lives lost, lives changed -- all by forces that are outside our ability to control. 

     Our prayers go out to all who have had their lives unalterably affected.  Prayers are also lifted up to  those who put their own lives in danger to help and serve others, including all those who are responding on behalf of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

    We know, on an intellectual level, that our lives are transitory -- that we are here but for an instant. To view the devastation in Joplin puts that reality front and center on the most basic emotional gut level.

    I won’t say that I dislike change, but when I admit that I have worked for the same employer for almost 40 years, and have lived in the same house for 25 years, you will know that I don’t seek out change.  I admit that I would be totally, overwhelmingly, daunted if the office, the home, that I have known for all these years would vanish in an instant.

    Tornadoes attack physical structures. What if they attacked organizational structures?

    If a massive tornado bore down upon the Presbyterian Church (USA), tearing it to shreds, leaving shards in its wake, what should we seek to salvage?  What family photos, what memorabilia, what wall art, of the PC (USA) should we grasp and take to shelter so that it can be saved as the winds come roaring in?

    And isn’t that – the essentials, the things we would take with us to whatever seems to be the safest haven in the face of the storm --  what we should be focusing on as we seek to be the PC (USA)?

Mystic Chords of Memory

One week ago today, Twin Cities Presbytery became the 87th vote in favor of Amendment 10-A, thereby ensuring its adoption.

In the week since, I have been heartened by the discussion going on across the Web about what this means for us as a denomination. There have been some vitriolic comments, always to be expected because of the high emotion of this issue. But Presbyterians from all points of the spectrum have been stepping foward to talk collegially and respectfully about what this means for all of us. I'm grateful to Robert Austell for compiling a great list of the responses at http://bit.ly/10Aresponses.

About ten days ago, I started reading a wonderful new book about the Civil War. Written by Adam Goodhart, it's called 1861: The Civil War Awakening. It's astonishing to me how much I don't know about the swirling currents within the country in those first six months of 1861. Stay with the Union? Join the Confederacy? Try to ignore the whole thing?

I'm not going to equate our nation's struggle in 1861 with our struggle within the PC (USA) today.

But I have to say that these words from Lincoln's first Inaugural Address resonated with me, in this time and in this place: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

As Presbyterians, we too are bound together by our "mystic chords of memory." We are bound together by our gratitude to those who have gone before us, proclaiming the Gospel in every corner of Christ's kingdom. We are bound together by our common understanding of our Reformed heritage. We are bound together by our appreciation and affection for our Presbyterian polity.

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies." 

Ordination Standards

 

Months ago, Nancy Grittman, the Stated Clerk of Twin Cities Presbytery, invited me to attend a Twin Cities Presbytery meeting. After consulting calendars, we agreed that the date that worked best was May 10, 2011.

Twin Cities, in planning its voting on Amendment 10-A, the new Form of Government, and the Belhar Confession, decided at some point that it would vote on 10-A on May 10. 

Little did Nancy or I know that Twin Cities' vote on 10-A on May 10 would be the determinative vote on its adoption.

I expected to come to Twin Cities to talk with presbyters about the current state of the presbytery, how it sees its future, what it envisions as the future structure not just of presbyteries but of the PC (USA) generally -- conversations that I've been having in many presbyteries.

Instead, I witnessed a significant moment in our life together as the PC (USA). 

I was privileged to listen as Twin Cities commissioners wrestled with the issue that has dominated our life together for these last 30 years.  What was shared Tuesday night in Minneapolis are the same emotions that have been shared all across our denomination: the pain of gay and lesbian Presbyterians who feel excluded from full participation in leadership unless they renounce any participation in a committed relationship, juxtaposed with the pain of those who feel that any change in our ordination standards violates the clear commands of Scripture.

Twin Cities' affirmative vote on Amendment 10-A gave 10-A the necessary majority vote needed to mean that it will replace the current G-6.0106b in our Form of Government.

We all know, however, that the vote by Twin Cities it does not mean that we as the PC (USA) are of one mind on this issue. We are not. We are, and we continue to be, divided on whether gay and lesbian persons in committed same-sex relationships should be considered for ordination and/or installation.

That conversation will continue. But as we continue that conversation, I call on us to also focus on an important part of 10-A: its directive that standards for ordained service "reflect the church's desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life."  I've highlighted "in all aspects of life" because I believe that we, as a church, have all too often failed to heed what a high calling all of us -- as deacons, ruling elders, or teaching elders -- are called to when we are ordained.

I believe that we are in danger of losing our historic parity between ruling elders and teaching elders (aka Ministers of Word and Sacrament). There are many reasons for that. One main reason is that all too often we sidestep the demands of what it means to be a ruling elder. Ruling elders are called to measure their community of faith's fidelity to the Word of God, which is an awesome task. Being able to do that goes way beyond sexual practices -- although sexual fidelity is one part of whether they are suitable candidates for ordained office.

How often do candidates for ruling elder get asked whether they are tithing, or working sacrificially towards tithing? How often do Nominating Committees, or Sessions, really ask whether a candidate for ruling elder has the emotional maturity to serve as a ruling elder?

"Measuring a community faith's fidelity to the Word of God" -- how often does that high bar really get used in choosing candidates for ruling elder?

I've seen a lot of blog comments talking about how the PC (USA) is descending into moral laxity. I'll save discussing whether a committed same-sex relationship constitutes moral laxity for another day.

For today, I ask this question:  does your congregation ask prospective elders whether they tithe, or are moving towards the goal of tithing? 

Sacrificial giving -- and not just of time and talent, but of money -- now THAT's a standard for ordained service that we ought to be talking about.

 

A Letter to Commissioners to the 219th GA

Vice Moderator Landon Whitsitt and I sent the following letter on May 2 to all who served as commissioners and advisory delegates to the 219th General Assembly:

 

Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

It is now nearly nine months since we parted ways in Minneapolis. We have been blessed with the opportunity to reconnect with some of you as we travel across the denomination. We hope to be able to see many more of you between now and July 2012.

It's probable that commissioners and advisory delegates to a General Assembly conclude their work thinking, "We're the best GA ever." Obviously, we're biased, but we believe the 219th created an extraordinary body of work. While all of our decisions were important, three items have garnered notable attention: (1) the proposed new Form of Government, (2) the addition of the Belhar Confession to The Book of Confessions, and (3) the replacement of Amendment 10-A for the current ordination standard now found in G-6.0106b of the Book of Order.

Over the past few months, presbyteries have been discussing, debating, and voting on each of these issues. The discussion about each has, regardless of the outcome, been helpful as we as a denomination seek to determine who we are and how we organize ourselves as we respond to God's call in this 21st century.

It goes without saying that the most emotionally intense issue is, and has been for some years now, the ordination issue -- whether to approve Amendment 10-A, which would mean that persons who are in same-gender relationships could be considered for ordination as deacons, elders, and ministers of the Word and Sacrament. While some presbyteries have yet to vote on the amendments, some of which will do so as late as June, it would be disingenuous of us to ignore the current reality that, if prior voting history on matters relating to G-6.0106b holds in those presbyteries yet to vote on 10-A, it will be approved. And that will be a decisive moment in the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

If 10-A is adopted, reactions will vary widely. Some will celebrate what they see as an acknowledgement of full inclusiveness; others will be distraught over what they see as a diminution of biblical standards. This will be a testing moment for whether our denomination really is a "big tent" that can accommodate both those who rejoice and those who grieve over this particular action.

This is where you come in. We were deeply gratified and humbled by the graciousness, camaraderie, and receptivity to different points of view exemplified by all of you who comprised the 219th General Assembly. As with the rest of the church, some of you supported 10-A, some of you opposed it. Yet, despite differing views, we, as the assembly, discussed, debated, and decided this issue with civility, mutual respect, and acknowledgement of the deeply held views on each side. You did good work in Minneapolis, and we know you will do good work now by modeling in your congregations, presbyteries, and synods that same graciousness and openness to all points of view that exemplified our work last summer.

We ask that you help Presbyterians understand both the range and depth of the emotions that are involved with the passage of Amendment 10-A. It is our hope that all of us within the denomination can, in prayerful dialogue with one another, live into what this constitutional change means, and that those who are not in agreement with its passage will take time to evaluate whether it in fact impacts their integrity to proclaim the Gospel prophetically and authentically.

We are indebted to you for your service and commitment. We are grateful for your continued work to preserve the peace, purity, and unity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

A Prayer for the Church

 

Harry Emerson Fosdick's God of Grace and God of Glory is one of my favorite hymns. Below is a prayer he wrote that resonates as powerfully with me as that hymn, especially in terms of our life together as the PC (USA):

Eternal Spirit, from whom we come and to whom we belong, and in whose service is our peace, we worship thee.

Lift us up, we beseech thee, from cowardice to courage. Save us from self-pity. Build into us stout hearts, that we may stand undaunted by fear, unconquered by adversity, unstained by cowardice.

Lift us up, we pray thee, from vindictiveness to good will. If we are harboring grudges, if hatefulness has taken hold of our spirits, save us, we pray thee, from such a desecration of this holy hour.

Lift us up from malice and evil-speaking and unkindness of heart. Arouse in us the spirit of Christ, who could pray upon the cross for those who put him there.

Lift us up, we pray thee, from selfishness to service. Let our imaginations run out into our prisons, the unprivileged areas of our city's life and of the world where blessings that we take for granted are little known, and hunger stalks, and fear taunts, and tomorrow is full of terror. Wake up with us, we beseech thee, our forgotten kindliness.

And with all this, Spirit of the eternal Christ, lift us up from doubt to faith. Lift us out of our cynicism, our skepticism, our unwillingness to believe that the good may be true, into a courageous faith and certitude concerning God and divine purposes. Illumine us, thou Sun of the morning, until not only shall our mountain peaks shine with a new confidence, but the very valleys shall feel thy noontime's splendor and we have faith again in ourselves, in others, and in thee.

We pray in the Spirit of Christ. Amen.