The final report of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church contains few surprises. The recommendations flow effortlessly out of the theological prologue that has been strengthened in its final draft. I do not mean that the recommendations were effortlessly achieved. I suspect they required negotiation and prayer, patience and longsuffering. But they demonstrate the same love for the church that characterize the prologue — and for that, all Presbyterians may give thanks.
Faithful Presbyterians will profoundly disagree about some of them (see guest viewpoints in this issue). What is remarkable is that the same disagreements are incarnate within the Task Force itself, and yet they, after meeting for these past years, have invited the church to work for a more profound unity than we now know. The Task Force has given us the means to walk the walk that they have walked, and to stop tearing down rather than building up the Body of Christ, Presbyterian. They offer an “opportunity of discovering ways that the church can live more faithfully in the face of deep disagreements.” And even in disagreement, they were able “to discern in their life together the outlines of Christian identity to which, we fervently believe, the church is called.”
The report belies a theological orthodoxy and constitutional integrity that the church sorely needs to begin a renewed quest for genuine unity. It is from that foundation that we are asked — not so much to eschew politics — as to speak theologically and personally with our opponents for the sake of the church. Some presbyteries and sessions and congregations have already begun such mutual engagement. Governing bodies where minds are made up will need to reach out to those with whom they disagree if the process is to succeed. We are being called to personal responsibility, especially those of us who are elders, deacons, and ministers of Word and Sacrament.
There is also an admission of brokenness, and of the need for mutual forgiveness and restoration. All of us have been part of groups that scorn and belittle the opposition, and seek to discredit them — rather than seeing them as brothers and sisters for whom Christ died, as those who have been equally elected for salvation and service. In a Fox News/Swift Boat world, the call of the Task Force is to a proactive, courageous engagement, to make constructive efforts to prevent schism. This is to be initiated by studying the Theological Reflection paper at every level, and modeled by a General Assembly that seeks alternative methods of discernment and decision making.
The pivotal recommendations are numbers five and six, which should be held together. If they are separated, the opportunity is lost. If they are followed on a case by case basis, sessions, presbyteries, and the General Assembly will discover anew how to respect scruples and uphold standards at the same time, something already being practiced here and there. The most provocative possibility, I believe, is the hint that the church may be able to move away from proscriptive language with respect to ordination, and learn to rely more upon the Holy Spirit. We must forget the language of rights with respect to ordination. It is the church’s call, the church’s decision, the church’s need. It is not about us who are called, equipped, and ordained. It is about the church making a faithful witness to Jesus Christ.
I served on the subcommittee of the Reunion Committee that crafted the proscriptive language. I can still hear the words of the sainted Agnes Marsh as she spoke in anger to us all: “Why do we need language like this in the Book of Order? Are we not following Jesus Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit? We live by love and not the law.”
The Task Force is asking us to live by love with respect for law and the gospel. May our light so shine before all mortals that they may see our good works, and glorify God who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, adapted).
What we did not steal, must we now restore? (Psalm 69:4) O let it be, let it be.
