DALLAS — The Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has begun unveiling draft sections of its report — without yet addressing some of the most controversial issues before it, but by emphasizing the theological convictions underlying its work and by stressing how much its 20 diverse members have learned from one another.
The task force will vote on its final report Aug. 24 and 25 in Chicago. The task force members have been exchanging sections of the draft report privately among themselves for months, revising as they go along, and have had hours of closed door discussions, including at this meeting, which began July 18.
The draft sections of the report are being posted on the PC(USA)’s website as soon as they are handed out to journalists. And so far, the task force members’ public comments have been mostly along the lines of suggesting small editorial changes rather than any major revisions.
The theological prologue stresses that “we were not asked to draft a new confession of faith” and is organized around three “bedrock convictions” the task force members say they share: that God loves us, that God saves us, and that God empowers us with a commission and calling.
A taste of the sort of 45-minute discussion the task force had regarding this section came when Jong Hyeong Lee, a pastor from Chicago, suggested that it might be more theologically correct to say “calling and commission” rather than “commission and calling,” because God calls first and then commissions. There was also talk of whether to say “God loves us” and “God saves us,” or to bring in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit too, but some task force members suggested that repeating “God” three times has “got more punch,” as Milton “Joe” Coalter put it.
In other words, the task force members are taking care to get the nuance and details exactly as they want them, but the question of what the bedrock convictions ought to be obviously had been dealt with earlier.
The draft report begins with theological reflection centered around those three convictions and about “discerning our Christian identity for the 21st century,” which is part of the mandate the General Assembly gave the task force in creating it in 2001.
And it poses some questions. What is the loving revelation that is ours in Jesus Christ enable us to know? What does this saving revelation prompt us to hope? What does this empowering revelation call us to do?
GOD LOVES US
The draft report speaks of Christians’ identity being centered in the love of a triune God, “the God of all times and all peoples, the God of grace whose love and judgment extend to every creature.”
It states that:
· Christian identity is rooted in God adopting us through grace. God has adopted us into God’s family and “the love of God is not confined to the people of one religious perspective, or of one social or economic class, or of one race or ethnicity, or of one gender or gender orientation.”
· Identity is expressed through proclamation of the Word. Despite heated debate over biblical interpretation, “it is important to remember that the consciences of us all are bound by the witness of scripture.” Freedom of conscience “is subject to standards” and ‘must be exercised within constitutional bounds.”
· Identity is sealed in the waters of baptism, an identity more enduring than any other.
· Identity is nurtured in the sharing of the Lord’s Supper, a “meal of thanksgiving.”
· Identity is strengthened through discernment and service.
GOD SAVES US
This section of the draft report poses the question, “What is our hope?” — answering that hope is given through the power of Christ’s resurrection. And it states that “we commit ourselves to the core convictions of Christian faith in the Nicene and Apostles Creeds, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments . . . we embrace the faith of the church catholic (universal), the faith of the Protestant reformation, and the faith of a Reformed and Presbyterian tradition.”
It later mentions specifically belief in the doctrine of justification by grace through faith and that “the Bible gives us the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ, divine Word mediated and spoken through inspired human words.”
The Presbyterian and Reformed tradition has a “core vision of the majesty, holiness and providence of God,” the report states, and from that “flow the themes of election, covenant, stewardship and the recognition of the human tendency toward idolatry.”
And it quotes from the second chapter of Corinthians, in which God calls people to embrace “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit.” The report speaks of human divisions, alienations expressed “in conflicts between nations and peoples, in strategies that insist on win-lose options only, in the separations by color and class . . .”
Christians have sometimes propounded false teachings, the report states — and “the humility this engenders should impel us to step back from controversies that threaten the peace, unity and purity of the church and to take time to seek the truth together.”
GOD EMPOWERS
The draft report discusses how Christians proclaim the Gospel — including by preaching, teaching and serving and by leading holy and disciplined lives.
The Gospel is proclaimed by demonstrating a commitment to peace and reconciliation, the report states, adding that “the church acknowledges diverse traditions on the morality of war, but all recognize a just peace as the ultimate will of God and contain a presumption against violence.”
In a world in which many suffer from poverty and injustice, those in the North American church “recognize that the blessings of prosperity bring with them a sacred obligation to care for the needy” both through charitable actions and by “supporting structures that embody God’s justice,” the report states.
It also refers to the “alienation and contempt” many have experienced in the PC(USA)’s controversies over whether to ordain gays and lesbians, and says “the Task Force has heard a call to seek God’s forgiveness for our sin and divisive attitudes and actions.”
And the Gospel is proclaimed by seeking the righteousness and justice of God, the draft report states, adding that “our love and concern for the church is deeply connected to our love and concern for the world,” a world of violence and conflict, a world in which the followers of Jesus Christ can show their reason for hope “by living differently with one another.”
