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Assembly approves keeping ‘fidelity-chastity’ provision in PC(USA) Constitution

BIRMINGHAM -- (PNS) The 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian  Church (U.S.A.) voted overwhelmingly June 20 to leave the "fidelity-chastity" ordination standard for church officers in the denomination's Constitution.

The Assembly's 405-92 vote with four abstentions affirmed a recommendation from the Assembly Committee on Church Orders to keep G-6.0106b in the denomination's Book of Order. The provision requires "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness."

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Presbyterian Women told God at work in chaos

LOUISVILLE -- Former General Assembly moderator Susan Andrews, during the opening plenary of Presbyterian Women's Churchwide Gathering July 7, spoke of God being at work in the chaotic places -- in the messiness, in the disorder, in so many Bible stories where people were curious or defiant or reckless or brave.

With Mary, God spoke "out of the turbulent confusion of a maiden's womb," Andrews said. In his ministry Jesus entered chaos joyfully, creatively -- turning water into wine, healing the sick, welcoming questions, bringing new hope out of the "chaos of crucifixion."

Jesus, she said, "was recreating the cosmos."

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Hernandez shares stories of immigrant crisis;
exhorts PW gathering to speak out against injustice

LOUISVILLE -- At Manos de Cristo, a Presbyterian social service agency in Austin, Texas, 1,500 children come each summer for a back-to-school program. They are given clothes and school supplies, treated to some fun, introduced to stories from the Bible. The organizers hope to plant "a small seed that will grow and one day lead to complete transformation," said Lydia Hernandez, a Presbyterian minister who's the agency's executive director.

That's what Hernandez hopes for Presbyterians everywhere too: complete transformation.

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Robins encourages PW gathering to “value diverse spiritualities”

LOUISVILLE -- Diversity is one of the daily themes of Presbyterian Women's 2006 Gathering, meeting July 7 to 11 in Kentucky. But how Christians -- who teach that faith in Jesus Christ is central to salvation -- should interact with those of other religious traditions is not something on which all Presbyterians agree.

Kikanza Nuri Robins, a Presbyterian minister from California, https://www.kikanzanurirobins.com  spoke from her own personal experience during the morning plenary session on July 8 -- and she encouraged the 3,000 women at this gathering to bring to the table those from other religious traditions and to value diverse spiritualities.

Robins, an organizational development consultant, is the author of the 2007-2008 Bible Study for Horizons on the gospel of Luke. She also has been a consultant to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s national staff on issues of cultural proficiency.

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Advisory Opinion: Discernment in Examining Bodies

Since the 217th General Assembly adopted the Authoritative Interpretation proposed by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, the Stated Clerk's Office has been asked by many Presbyterians to issue an Advisory Opinion (Standing Rule M.2.b.2).

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Editorials

Rebuilding Community II


Last time in this space a discussion of the need for the rebuilding of community in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — at every level of corporate existence — was begun. As pointed out, the fabric of our community has been severely frayed by a combination of external and internal developments. If we are to be faithful to God’s call in the future, we must self-consciously begin to pray in earnest that the Holy Spirit will reconnect the sinews of our body, and we must take steps to support that work.

Voices

Educators: The other ordination issue

The question of ordination once again looms large on the horizon. For those of us who are Christian educators, our passionate focus rests on two overtures (12-01 and 12-02) that advocate for a fourth ordained office within the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.)  In this article I will (a) give historical and present reasons for a fourth ordained office; (b) summarize the similarities and differences between the two proposals.

Voices

Ordination: One Certified Christian Educator’s journey

On October 1 2003, I wrote a letter to the Candidates Committee of the church I serve as a Director of Christian Education, and of which I am a member, inviting them to join me in a journey. It contained an application for enrollment as an inquirer in the preparation for ministry process in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the usual transcripts, one from an undergraduate school in Nova Scotia, Canada, and one from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, now Union-PSCE. I had served in educational ministry for twenty-three years, nineteen of them as a Certified Christian Educator, and it was time.

It wasn't time to stop doing what I was doing, or to change my focus from educational ministry to another kind of ministry, or to be more than I am, or to be someone I'm not, or to "sell out" as someone suggested I was doing. It was time for me to again affirm that the call to educational ministry in the church is a call from God, a call accompanied by spiritual gifts, a call to ministry "understood not in terms of power but of service, after the manner of the servant ministry of Jesus Christ" (G-14.0103). It was time to invite my church, my presbytery and my denomination to explore the question of what to do with a Certified Christian Educator with a master's degree from an accredited theological institution who sought to be considered for ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.

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“A more excellent way:” TF Pre-assembly event June 15

BIRMINGHAM -- Consider it a last chance before the big event for the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to make its case.

The morning of June 15, just before the General Assembly was to open for business, about 300 Presbyterians gathered for a three-hour "pre-assembly event" -- a chance to meet the 20 members of the task force; to ask questions; to hear a last pitch.

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Middle East symposium precedes GA opening; urgency stressed

BIRMINGHAM -- Words of ecumenical understanding, reason, and balance from representatives of the three great faith groups of the Middle East challenged Presbyterians attend the pre-General Assembly "educational event" on the Middle East June 15.

A panel of speakers both presented their understandings of what is needed to address the problems in the Middle East--specifically between Palestinians and Israelis--and to respond to questions from the more than 200 persons attending.

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Sparks awarded 2006 Ernest Trice Thompson Award

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O. Benjamin Sparks III, pastor, ecumenist, dedicated Presbyterian scholar, is the recipient of the Ernest Trice Thompson Award. He received the honor June 15 in Birmingham, Ala. at the Outlook's dinner held in conjunction with the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

He currently serves as pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va., where he has been pastor since 1982.

 

 


Ben with Jack Haberer (left), editor-in-chief of

The Presbyterian Outlook  and (right)
William Stacy Johnson, Outlook Foundation Board chairman.

 

Correction

In the OUTLOOK issue for July 3, in the story "Sparks awarded 2006 Ernest Trice Thomson Award' recipient O. Benjamin Sparks recalls a discussion with Ernest Trice Thompson. One quotation from that story was inadvertently shortened. The last sentence should read: "This is a word to the church", Ben Sparks concluded, "at a time 'so full of peril and promise.'"

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Joan S. Gray elected Moderator of the 217th General Assembly

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Joan Gray, a pastor from Atlanta, Ga., is the new moderator-elect of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She was elected June 15 at the beginning of the 217th PC(USA) General Assembly. She will serve a two-year term along with vice moderator-elect Robert Ervin Wilson of Huntsville, Ala.

 

Photo credit line(s) Presbyterian Outlook photo(s)

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has elected as its moderator Joan S. Gray -- a pastor from Atlanta who spoke of God making a way "where there was no way" and said her experience ministering to congregations in conflict would help her build bridges in a deeply divided denomination.

Gray, 53, was elected on the third round of balloting, winning 307 votes, or 62 percent of the votes cast. She prevailed over three other candidates, all of them pastors: Deborah Block of Milwaukee, who earned 152 votes on the final ballot (31 percent); H. Timothy Halverson of Cape Coral, Fla., with 20 votes (4 percent); and Kerry Carson of Conrad, Iowa, with 19 votes (4 percent).

In the first round of balloting, Block drew the most votes -- 143 (28 percent), compared with 139 for Gray (28 percent), 113 for Halverson (22 percent), and 109 for Carson (22 percent).        

Editorials

Asking the tough ethical questions

What purposes might we anticipate from the GA forming an authoritative interpretation making such giving obligatory? Baltimore Presbytery's overture 23 would fund the larger church's service without causing undue hardship to the presbyteries in the process. They are expected to send 100% of all per capita assessments for all their member churches, and, says the overture, that obligation should be met by the churches themselves. What else might we anticipate from such a ruling?  Well, just the opposite is likely to happen.

Book Reviews

Summer reading list

Outlook Book Editor Randy Harris has asked several Presbyterians to select books for challenging and enjoyable reading during summer work and vacation times.

Voices

Pentecost to Birmingham and beyond

Grey fog hangs heavy,

                             hovers,

        like a decision that eludes grasp.

 

Rays of our burning star break through,

                     dispersing fog,

         yet, like a direction that flits finality,

                   reveals but familiar banalities.

 

Around said star,

earth orbits and rotates,

and still we speak of sunrise and sunsets ...

routines in which, unchanged, we ever move.

           Kairos, not chronos,

                               something new,

                                 to scatter shibboleths.

 

So,

we wait,

uncomfortably together,

in a room too small,

trying to contain the damage,

until descends a Time,

a gift unmanaged ...

Peace, unity, purity.

 

Michael Nelms is pastor of The Yellow Frame Church in Fredon, N.J.

Voices

The Authoritative Interpretation of 1978 still requires ‘fidelity in marriage or chastity in singleness.’

There has been quite a bit of discussion about what the Authoritative Interpretation of the 217th General Assembly (PUP as amended) really means for the Church. Soon our stated clerk, whose job it is to "preserve and defend the Constitution" of the church will issue an advisory opinion about what the Assembly did. His advisory opinion is important, because it will likely give sessions and presbyteries their first official word about whether, in his opinion,  sexually active  gays and lesbians may be ordained or installed. For now, the Office of the General Assembly has set up a page of FAQs where it asks the question, "Will gays and lesbians now be ordained," but it does not answer the question.    

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June P. Bucy, treasurer, Shenandoah Presbytery died June 28

 

June P. Bucy, treasurer, Shenandoah Presbytery and elder, Massanutten Church, died on Wednesday, June 28, 2006, at her home at Massanetta Springs, Virginia.  Her husband, the Rev. Dr. Ralph Bucy, and sons Tommy and Flynn were all with her at the time of her death. June was diagnosed with cancer in March and was under the care of hospice for several months.

 

A memorial service has been tentatively set for Saturday, July 8, 2006, 2:00pm, at Massanutten Church in Penn Laird, Va.  No other information is available at this time, but further details will be given as they become available.

 

Your prayers are greatly appreciated for Ralph and for her family at this time of great loss.

Editorials

Deer in the headlights?

So now comes the biennial (formerly annual) convention of the deer in the headlights. If past patterns hold, then 80% of the General Assembly commissioners and 95% of advisory delegates will be serving for the very first time. They will have tried to wade through enough reading to earn a graduate degree. They will feel the weight of a highly conflicted denomination. When asked upon their Birmingham arrival, "How do you feel?" the most common responses will be "bewildered," "befuddled" and "overwhelmed."

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The Trinity

Editor's Note: Responding to the General Assembly Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity, these essays attempt to give voice to the center of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The essays seek a place where all sides can meet--without compromising the Gospel--and move forward together.


The Trinity is a fitting topic for this series. The early Christians faced a crisis concerning who Jesus Christ is in relation to God. Perceiving that the Gospel itself was at risk in this question, they redefined the moment in terms of the Trinity and rallied the whole Church around it, then and now. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) faces such a defining moment today. Perhaps now is a time to reaffirm the Trinity as the "summary of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" (report to Birmingham GA, p. 3). This essay covers (1) the Biblical origins of the Trinity, the trinitarian affirmations about (2) Jesus Christ and (3) the Spirit, and (4) the interconnections among the three "persons." 

Voices

Let us not lose our head

Because of our successful remedial complaint (Johnston et al vs. Heartland Presbytery) I have received mail from commissioners to this month's G.A asking my view on the current overture to make per capita payments mandatory. Here is my response.

 

If the proposal to force all churches to pay per capita is passed:

Voices

Where is the church on Thursday and what is it doing?

I have a mischievous habit of asking pastors the question: "What's going on with your church on Thursday afternoon?" Their predictable answer is usually some equivalent of "nothing much."

That question was provoked by the chapter title in a book I read a few years ago, Where Is the Church on Thursday Afternoon? The response of most pastors is a predictable "Christendom" answer. After all, the church is about the clergy and about properly authorized services and sacraments and the custodial care of passive members. Responders think only of the "church gathered" for its meetings and assemblies, and under the supervision of the church's duly ordained leadership.

Voices

Why Montreat matters

A few weeks ago I was discussing issues coming before the General Assembly with friends from around the country. We all agreed there were more than a few "hot topics" for the commissioners to debate. Someone brought up how amazed they were by the number of overtures petitioning the Assembly to keep the Montreat Historical Society open. There was laughter as he pointed out what an important issue it was.

I have to admit I was shocked. I thought everyone knew how special the Montreat Historical Society was, how much it meant, how important it was to inspire denominational loyalty. But I realized I was only one of two southerners in the conversation. The two of us began protesting that keeping open the Montreat Historical Society was indeed important, even crucial to the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.). A friend then kindly said, "We don't get it. Please explain why this is important to the rest of the church. We want to understand the passion and the pain this decision is arousing." So I am writing this to try and convey why keeping the Montreat Historical Society open is important to so many people and to the future of the PC(USA).

Voices

Customer Service 101 for churches

c. 2006 Religion News Service

 

Listen up, church leaders. This parable is for you.

Dell Computer Corp. is losing a repeat customer, because their process and data requirements overwhelmed my need to buy their product.

Last week I wanted to order a $39 USB memory key. Dell's Web site required me to locate a username and password (serving their purposes, not mine). Dell's toll-free number led me into a labyrinth of voice commands. A second toll-free number landed me with a live person who insisted on creating a "profile" for me. No, I said, I simply want to make a $39 purchase.

I persevered long enough to complete my purchase. But I will think twice before making another one. No business can afford to make purchasing its products this difficult.

Voices

A prayer

Your Spirit, O Creator God,

your brooding, bright imagining Spirit,

is inviting us, cajoling us, entrancing, inducing,

yes, even seducing us, beyond life into creation,

into imagination, into all the shapes and hues,

the textures, postures, melodies of grace.

 

So let that flaming, flagrant Spirit

be afire now among us here.

Lift our imaginations through the laughter of the soul.

Restore to us our poetic vision,

that we may see this world anew

as your mighty work-in-progress,

that we may see ourselves as others see us,

that we may see you, the unseen God,

as the source and goal and heart of all delight.

 

Through these moments of welcoming,

of sustenance, of encouragement, mirth and wisdom,

move up, across, among us once again

with your Spirit of inspiration and of ecstasy.

 

We ask this in the name of the living Word,

that Word we seek and find and lose,

and then are found by.

Let us say . . . AMEN.

Voices

How do you spell relief?

As Americans brace themselves for yet another hurricane season, they might look at one congregation and its response to the Gulf Coast disaster. Perhaps it will become a blueprint for the future.

Suspended between Orlando and Daytona Beach is a small town, DeLand, Fla., home to Stetson University. Across from the campus, along a major tree-lined boulevard, is First Presbyterian Church, a congregation of 550 (Web site: www.firstpresdeland.com .)

In 2004, when hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne hit Central Florida, residents were sensitized to the pain caused by evacuations, flooding, damaged homes, and lack of electricity.  The face of suffering was personal.  Then Katrina slammed into coastal Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, touching the hearts of DeLand's people like Jim and Rachael Winter, Mississippi natives.

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