I begin my response to the Barbara Wheeler and Mike Loudon articles in the November 3, 2008, Outlook by telling you about this sorrow in my presbytery because Amendment 08-B is about the suffering of real people in our church everyday.
From what I observed, the San Jose General Assembly (GA) voted to revise (not remove) G-6.0106b for two primary reasons. First, actual lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Presbyterians spoke openly about their integration of their sexuality and their Reformed spirituality. The Assembly saw their obvious deep faith in Jesus Christ and their spiritual gifts. Second, the Youth Advisory Delegates had vote in the committee and voice on the floor of GA. They showed clearly that the question is not whether G-6.0106b will be revised. The question is “When?”
And every day we allow to go by, telling our own LGBT faithful that God’s love for them is in doubt in our church, is another day with certain despair and suffering. 54% of the 2008 General Assembly understood this and voted for now, not later, on revising G-6.0106b. Unfortunately, the structure and process in the presbyteries excludes most young adults and LGBT Presbyterians from voting.
The good, faithful ordained elders and ministers who will vote, have all promised to “try to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ.” So “what would Jesus do?” is the essential question in this discerning and voting season. I hope we can all agree that Jesus would not dwell on the nuances of scrupling, the choices of believers to worship and fellowship where they will, or the judgment that some in the church are fighting the culture wars rather than living out their faith as best they can. And Jesus would not equate the preoccupations of some among us over church property with the anguish of His LGBT children.
Contradicting centuries of Reformed theology, the old G-6.0106b in essence made heterosexual works righteousness the only essential of the faith. The revised G-6.0106b contained in Amendment 08-B focuses on the candidate’s faithfulness to the whole counsel of God and applies that higher standard to all candidates regardless of their sexual orientation. If 08-B passes, presbyteries that choose to, like mine probably will, can still use G-6.0106a, “Their manner of life should be a demonstration of the Christian gospel,” or G-6.00106b, “pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ,” to question candidates on their sexual practice. But other presbyteries will rightly recognize and call qualified LGBT candidates, including those in same-sex relationships, whose lives exemplify Christian commitment and stewardship.
Our eleven-year misuse of the ordination standards of the church in G-6.0106b shackled the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to a particular sexual ethic the whole church has not agreed upon, and certainly has not agreed upon that ethic being an essential of Reformed faith and polity. This revision of G-6.0106b breaks those chains. It will free the ordination process to function in the way the PUP Taskforce envisioned. And it will free us all, including LGBT Presbyterians, to use the PUP process of Christian friendship to discern God’s will for us all as sexual and spiritual beings.
Both Wheeler and Loudon insist that passing 08-B will halt the grand experiment in the PC(USA) to return to our roots in G-6.0108 and to imitate the effort at Christian friendship modeled by the PUP Taskforce. This is simply not true. In fact, passage of Amendment 08-B will open up the discernment process to all aspects of our life together, freeing us from the box of wrangling over G-6.0106b. Following the PUP Taskforce, we can renew our church so that we delight in strongly held differing ideas of God’s will for us just as Barbara and Mike delight in their friendship. And our LGBT children can join in without fear.
And finally, the PUP experiment cannot be “the last hope for our denomination,” as Mike Loudon says. Our only hope is in Christ who calls us to follow His example and teaching. Thank you, then, for prayerfully approaching the essential question: What would Jesus do with Amendment 08-B?
Janet Edwards is co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians and is a pastor of Community/Reconciliation Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.
