“How was General Assembly?” my parishioners will ask me on Sunday morning. “Oh, it was great,” I’ll say, “I saw lots of friends, put up plenty of posts, and geeked-out with thousands of Presbyterians who love the church.”
“Yeah, but, you know, what did they do about….you know, um….homosexuality questions and all that?”
For better or for worse – ok, for worse – general assemblies, for years, have been largely defined by their actions on matters regarding ordination standards for LGBTQ church officers, or their votes on marriage and civil unions for same-gender couples. I serve a moderate congregation of mixed opinions on such matters in a town of 1100 people. Also in town sits a Lutheran (ELCA) congregation deeply divided over the decision of an ELCA national assembly to open ordination to LGBTQ pastors in same-sex relationships. As if such conversations were not difficult enough my congregational context brings particular community anxiety over a possible church split in town and the painful division this brings.
As Leslie Scanlon’s article, “Ordination standards to be debated, voted again throughout PC(USA)”on the Outlook main webpage explains, the 219th General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted to replace the requirement in the constitution that requires candidates for ordination to live in fidelity within marriage or chastity if they are single. The old standards are not simply deleted, but replaced with new standards. That new standard, if approved by a majority of presbyteries in the coming year and upheld in the church courts, would allow for the possibility of LGBTQ candidates in relationships to be ordained.
(The newly approved ordination standards may be found here: https://www.pc-biz.org/IOBView.aspx?m=ro&id=2309 )
Later, the assembly affirmed a traditional definition of marriage and approved the study of a paper by a special committee Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage.
So, how will I answer my parishioners on Sunday? It depends where they are at the moment, but I’d likely point out the following:
1) The church, clearly, is divided over the question of LGBTQ ordination and, as much as some might want to hope otherwise, the division is not going away magically. It was the hot button question when I was a youth advisory delegate to the 2000 assembly, and the question continues to confound us. As a church, we will wake up tomorrow and continue to wrestle over such questions. They aren’t going anywhere, so…
2) Let’s talk about it. At one point today, the assembly defeated a motion to end debate even after many (I’m guessing, around two dozen) folk spoke to the question. The assembly voted to continue the discussion. It did so for another twenty minutes or so, listening to others on both sides of the committee’s recommendation. Call me “emergent” call me “naïve” I don’t care, just be open to conversing with me about it. We’re not going to live together in a divided church without speaking with one another – and that’s true on every level of the church, especially the congregational level.
3) Don’t forget this is an ongoing process. No matter whether you support the assembly’s action or not, our presbyteries will vote on the actions of the assembly and our constitution will only change if a majority of presbyteries vote in favor of the change in ordination standards. Even if you think the sky would fall if the constitution changes, it’s not falling yet.
4) Be honest with yourself and one another. Be in prayer, individually and together. Be open to the Holy Spirit, looking and listening for God working among us even now.
-Adam Copeland, Outlook blogger
photo by Erin Dunigan
