Do you remember how great it felt when your team came away with that huge victory? Do you remember the victory party that followed? And do you remember encountering your friend on that losing team and seeing that piercing look of disappointment and dejection? Do you remember how torn you felt — wanting to crow yet wanting to comfort the defeated rival?
At this past General Assembly most votes went your way. The assembly eliminated 30 years of constitutional interpretations that had declared homosexual practice to be incompatible with ordained service in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The GA declared that candidates who acknowledge a point of departure from ordination requirements — whether practice or belief — may be approved, if their ordaining body determines that theological essentials are not violated. The GA also sent to the presbyteries for ratification a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the requirement that officers “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”
So now, should you throw that victory party or, maybe, will you extend comfort to your defeated and deflated rivals?
If you don’t know your opponents, let me tell you a little about them. Almost none of them are militant fundamentalists or homophobes. They believe in the love, mercy, and power of God. Having been transformed in their own lives by the work of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible, they feel compelled to obey those Scriptures as they read them — even the parts they find difficult. Some believe that, no matter what the cause of same-sex attraction, the loving way to care for those so inclined is to point them to a God who changes people. Their words may sound judgmental at times, but most of those I know do not aim to be insensitive toward GLBT folks.
To them, this GA sounded insensitive toward the historic faith. They cannot comprehend why the commissioners proposed another vote after the church had already voted three times over the past decade to adopt and retain the existing standards for ordination. The seeming determination of this GA to circumvent such votes feels deceitful and disrespectful. Accordingly, some are reacting in anger. Most of all they are feeling dispirited, disillusioned, and even despondent.
Beyond all the talk about allies and opponents, we have been called to be church together. For that to happen, we will need to hold more in common than simply our denominational label or a few good dialogue events. We will need to revisit the slogan introduced at the 1994 GA by two of your leaders, John Buchanan and Robert Bohl: “Theology matters.”
They got it right in 1994 — to the delight of folks on the right as well as on the left. They realized that to change the church’s practice without changing the church’s mind would only promote ecclesiastical chaos. And to change the church’s ethical teaching without theological rationale ranks right up there with building houses on sand.
Now, 14 years later we have to press the point. Does theology matter? Does Reformed theology matter? The major issue before the church has less to do with sexual behavior than with being biblically faithful and theologically Reformed. If the church is moving into a season where the application of the ordination standards may demonstrate greater flexibility than before, will the core teachings of the Scriptures be honored more widely or less?
In the amendment discussions and debates ahead, you can help the process if you will demonstrate how Scripture has shaped your thinking. Share what understandings of God, Jesus Christ, salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit compel your convictions. At minimum, you will be establishing a common language for discourse. You may even make a persuasive impact.
Last week I wrote to conservatives and evangelicals that the way they conduct themselves in the debate may have as much to do with the outcome as the words they use. The same is true for you. If you will listen intently and show respect toward those who resist these changes, you will earn the right to explain your convictions to them.
Finally, please pray that, unlike most athletic contests, this season will lead miraculously to a win-win conclusion.
— JHH
