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Is PC(USA) consensus emerging? TF members check report feedback

ATLANTA -- They've faced some tough questions in the presbyteries, but their reception has mostly been welcoming and positive, members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are saying.

The task force, which began its work more than four years ago, is holding its last meeting Jan. 11-13 in Atlanta. Its 20 members are planning how to present their case when the assembly meets in Birmingham in June, in part through a special event focused on the report that will be held Thursday, June 15, before the assembly convenes.

People have asked them all sorts of things -- whether the task force report, if approved, would mean that more "practicing" gays and lesbians would be ordained or that the PC(USA) would essentially be divided into "red" and "blue" presbyteries.

If the denomination has a national standard which says those being ordained must practice fidelity if they're married or chastity if they're single, how can that not be considered "essential" and something that local governing bodies are required to follow? How can exceptions be granted?

What are the essentials of Reformed faith and practice anyway?

And what the task force wants to say back to the church in part is this:

We haven't proposed a new set of rules that will fix everything in the PC(USA). We can't make the battle over ordaining gays and lesbians magically go away.

But we are asking Presbyterians to consider lifting up a different and more faithful sort of spirit -- as Mark Achtemeier, task force member, put it,--to try to work through the differences in the denomination "loving one another as Christ has loved us."

ATLANTA — They’ve faced some tough questions in the presbyteries, but their reception has mostly been welcoming and positive, members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are saying.

The task force, which began its work more than four years ago, is holding its last meeting Jan. 11-13 in Atlanta. Its 20 members are planning how to present their case when the assembly meets in Birmingham in June, in part through a special event focused on the report that will be held the day before the assembly convenes.

People have asked them all sorts of things — whether the task force report, if approved, would mean that more “practicing” gays and lesbians would be ordained or that the PC(USA) would essentially be divided into “red” and “blue” presbyteries.

If the denomination has a national standard which says those being ordained must practice fidelity if they’re married or chastity if they’re single, how can that not be considered “essential” and something that local governing bodies are required to follow? How can exceptions be granted?

What are the essentials of Reformed faith and practice anyway?

And what the task force wants to say back to the church in part is this:

We haven’t proposed a new set of rules that will fix everything in the PC(USA). We can’t make the battle over ordaining gays and lesbians magically go away.

But we are asking Presbyterians to consider lifting up a different and more faithful sort of spirit — as Mark Achtemeier, task force member, put it,–to try to work through the differences in the denomination “loving one another as Christ has loved us.”

They’ve spent the fall meeting with presbyteries and other groups to explain their report, and have more trips planned over the next few months, trying to blanket the denomination with their presence.

They discussed in Atlanta the kinds of questions Presbyterians have been asking, brainstorming how best to respond. Part of that was done in open session and part behind closed doors.

Task force members say some people who ask questions about their report, which the task force unanimously approved in August, acknowledge they haven’t read it. “The weirdest experience I had was the person who wanted me to autograph the report,” said John “Mike” Loudon, a pastor from Lakeland, Fla.

But many Presbyterians are asking serious questions, task force members say — reflecting anxiety both among conservatives who fear the PC(USA) may be tacitly agreeing to ordain homosexuals, and among gays and lesbians who think the denomination, as a matter of justice, needs to change the ordination standards now.

Others — concerned over things such as small churches struggling and all the needs of the world — just want the fighting over sex to end.

The task force report is calling for a “season of discernment” in which the denomination’s ordination standards would not change. Particularly controversial is a provision it’s recommending saying local governing bodies should determine whether a particular candidate for ordination wants to depart from those ordination standards — and whether a departure in a particular case “constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”


Standards or essentials?

Milton “Joe” Coalter, task force member who is both a church historian and who directs the library at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond — said there’s been confusion all along about the differences between “standards” and “essentials.”

The PC(USA)’s national ordination standards remain intact and must be enforced, Coalter said. What the task force is proposing is “not local option,” where presbyteries and sessions determine their own standards. “It looks a hell of a lot like local option,” but it’s not, Coalter said.

But if a candidate declared “a scruple” — saying he or she couldn’t in conscience comply with a particular standard — it would be up to the presbytery or session considering that particular candidate for ordination or installation to decide whether that proposed departure from the standard was acceptable, or whether it violated an “essential” of Reformed practice and faith. A standard example given is that of a well-qualified gay or lesbian living in a committed, monogamous relationship.

Deciding when to grant exceptions won’t be easy for presbyteries and sessions, task force members admit.

The General Assembly has had opportunities to define essential tenets, but repeatedly has declined to do it, Coalter said.

And “presbyteries cannot simply create a list of essentials,” but must decide case-by-case whether to honor the scruple, based on the candidate’s gifts for service and beliefs and shortcomings, he said. Just because one candidate declares a scruple and is ordained, that doesn’t mean the next person who declares the same scruple should be. “These are not precedents, these are exceptions” from the typical standard, Coalter said. That next person “doesn’t get a free pass.”

Loudon said he’s heard some anxiety that more conservative presbyteries might not accept transfers of pastors from more liberal ones — and vice-versa. That’s already happening now, task force members said — but they also said their hope would be that presbyteries would be diligent in examining candidates, would follow the standards and not lightly grant exceptions.

They also hope Presbyterians would practice “mutual forbearance,” as Achtemeier put it, and not lightly file cases challenging the decisions presbyteries and sessions have made.

“If we really outdo ourselves, then the presbyteries have to be very wary about making exceptions,” Coalter said. And the church would become more connectional — because he’d have to trust that the “crazies” in some other part of the country would try as hard as he would try to be faithful.

Instead of coming up with more rules — a mechanical solution — the task force is calling on Presbyterians to create an ethos of mutual trust and a willingness to work together despite differences, as the task force has done, said Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.

“It is a profoundly biblical model we are commending,” said Achtemeier, who teaches systematic theology at the University of Dubuque School of Theology. Instead of dividing the denomination into red and blue presbyteries, the hope is to create more respectful purple ones.

“There is a vulnerability” for gays and lesbian candidates who try to declare scruples, instead of keeping quiet about their personal lives, said Frances Taylor Gench, a New Testament professor from Union seminary. There’s no guarantee, she said, that respect and forbearance indeed will prevail.

“It also is there for the conservatives,” who want the ordination standards fairly enforced, Coalter said. “There is a cost all along the line.”

Sometimes, when they’re pushed up against the wall, task force members acknowledge they maybe don’t have all the answers. But then they ask: does the PC(USA) want to keep fighting as it has been? Does that bring justice? Is that better?

If the assembly does nothing — turns down the task force report — Wheeler predicted at least 20 more years of fighting over ordination standards, “armed combat at the General Assembly level handed down to the presbyteries” through votes on proposed constitutional amendments.

“It’s a breeding ground for inhumanity to one another,” Achtemeier said.

Some say the task force has had a special “mountain-top” experience the rest of the church can’t hope to replicate — it doesn’t have the same time or resources. But Jenny Stoner of Vermont, the task force co-moderator, said small, diverse discussion groups in presbyteries already are making a difference.

        

The next step

Personally, many task force members say they feel sadness their time together is ending — they have formed close friendships, will miss seeing each other several times a year, will feel the loss of the spiritual support and intellectual challenge the group has provided. Over their four years they’ve prayed together over illness and the deaths of parents and job challenges and moves.

 “This has been a family,” said Mary Ellen Lawson, stated clerk of Redstone presbytery in Pennsylvania.

Many spoke of how grateful they feel to have been part of the task force, despite their initial apprehension.

“There have been more profound religious experiences per hour than any other group or configuration I’ve ever been a part of,” other than her congregation on Sunday mornings, Wheeler said.

Sometimes in life, “God gives us a little glimpse of what the kingdom will be like,” Achtemeier said.

They’re also tired — some having used their vacation time for task force commitments, having poured so much energy into producing the task force’s reports and other resources, and now traveling the country explaining to presbyteries and other groups what the task force has done.

“I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere,” said Loudon, quoting an old song. “I’ve been 10 places and I’ve got nine more to go.”

Loudon said he’d spoken to his wife, Joyce, on the phone the night before and told her, “it’ll be over in six months.” She asked him, “Will there be anything left of you?”

Some — such as Scott Anderson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, who is openly gay — said longtime friendships have been stressed because of the task force report.

And some on the task force said they’re anxious — and really curious — to see what the assembly and the church will do with the report. Support has not been strong among Koreans and Hispanics. Jong Hyeong Lee, a pastor from Chicago, said Koreans were disappointed. “Be patient with my community — God’s still working with us,” said José Luis Torres-Milán, a pastor from Puerto Rico.

And some task force members also said they’re ready to let go — to see what the PC(USA) will do with their work.

The task force is like a midwife, said Sharon Youngs, a staff member from the Office of the General Assembly who works with the group. It’s “helping to birth something, and then it’s no longer yours.”

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