Our Moderator has followed the procedures laid out in the Constitution. If, after careful assessment that all is in order in the call for such a meeting, he will moderate that meeting with all the fairness and respect for others that he demonstrated in Columbus and has shown in his travels across the church and around the world.
We do not agree with the necessity or importance of such a called meeting because of its drain on the mission of the church, both in dollars and staff time as well as its cost to the commissioners who will be asked to attend.
As former Moderators of our church, and conscious that many other Moderators would agree, we are very disturbed by the charges and insinuations against the current Moderator and expect that many in the church, when they hear about them, will feel likewise. That the charges come from intense feelings and convictions about the paths the church has taken is no excuse for treating the Moderator or anyone else in this manner. We protest and we pray that those who have taken such means to achieve their goals will reconsider their actions. We have, in Jesus Christ, an incarnate reminder of what God intends for us to be and to do, and love and justice do not look like the proposed action against a servant of the church and a faithful disciple.
The Rev. Robert Lamar, Moderator of the 186th General Assembly (1974) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Elder Price H. Gwynn III, Moderator of the 202nd General Assembly (1990) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Rev. Douglas W. Oldenburg, Moderator of the 210th General Assembly (1998) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Elder Freda A. Gardner, Moderator of the 211th General Assembly (1999) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
