Birds are among God's most beautiful creatures and bird watching in the world around us is a pure delight. People of the Middle Ages were also fascinated by birds and filled the borders of their manuscripts with obsessively accurate drawings of birds. Birds were regarded as cheerful, hopeful, impudent and above all free. They enrich our lives and some of them enrich our tables.
The setting is a sleepy French village around 1960. Everything was nice and neat and orderly. The town is run by a benevolent despot of a mayor (Alfred Molina), who also takes attendance as the head usher at the Catholic church every Sunday. His wife is always traveling abroad.
John Sonnenday says he hit a "turning point" in his spiritual life when he figured out that just because he had a blank spot on his calendar, he wasn't obligated to fill it.
Sonnenday, a pastor from McLean, Va., said he gradually began to realize that unless he made more time for God and for rest -- unless he said "no" to some of what other people wanted him to do -- he could not do his best at doing God's work.
The range of responses to Alexander McKelway's reflections on the theology of homosexuality illustrates the diversity of perspectives in the Presbyterian Church today. Without commenting on the merits of what is said, I wish merely to note that each position is offered in good faith, and that each has a certain Christian plausibility to it.
A friend of mind has said from time to time concerning persons in the church with whom she violently disagrees, "Talk? I wouldn't want to be in the same room with that person!"
Before the presbyteries for a vote, as the new year begins, is the issue of Amendment O. Narrowly passed last summer by the 212th General Assembly, Amendment O proposes an addition to the PC(USA) Directory of Worship to the effect that church property shall not be used for, nor shall any church officer "take part in conducting any ceremony or event that pronounces blessing or gives approval of the church or invokes the blessing of God upon any relationship that is inconsistent with God's intention" of monogamous marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.
By ceaseless and careless repetition, our society teaches us many things. Few Presbyterians under 40 years of age, I suspect, can distinguish between Rosinante and Dulcinea. However, everyone knows, and has been influenced by, Don Quixote's conviction, "When in Rome do as the Romans do" (Part II, Chapter 54).
All good teaching elders have bad consciences and genuine humility because first-class seminaries instruct them in how much there is to know about divine science (including human and natural science) and how little they ever will. In addition, Presbyterian seminaries do not encourage the notion that any amount of pious zeal can make up for abysmal ignorance.
The sophisticated elegance of Plato's reflections on the dualism of body and soul and the resulting view of the immortality of soul continue to make a powerful impact on Christian theology. However, Plato thinks on a much higher level than I do. I just try to keep body and soul together.
The litany of Presbyterian woes gets tiresome. In the New Year we should covenant to cultivate a more positive spirit, not because of what we can do, but because the church belongs to God, not us, and God's strength is always made perfect in our weakness.
These remarks are inspired by A. J. McKelway's thoughtful reconsideration of "Definitive Guidance," the grandmother of our present impasse. Our church now has before it Amendment O on homosexuality and marriage. I hope it will be defeated. Concerning the ordination of gays and lesbians, we have not yet convened a real theological debate on the issues/dilemmas raised by that issue.
Laird Stuart, whose efforts at reconciliation are well known, has reported significant points of my previous article, which I hope interested persons will consult.
As one involved in writing what came to be known as the "Thompson Overture" a number of years ago, I was taken by Professor McKelway's intent in "Reconsidering 'Definitive Guidance.'" Through an overture which was sent -- with many others like it -- to the 1992 General Assembly, the session of Nassau church, Princeton, N.J., was seeking "a way through" the difficulty.
In his well-intended article, "Reconsidering 'Definitive Guidance,'" A. J. McKelway essentially argues for the ordination of homosexual persons because they are really the victims of an "involuntary condition." But, he adds, as long as they do not impose their "life style publicly" on the church. That is, if they don't flaunt it, ask for the church's approval or cause injury or public scandal.
A. J. McKelway's article offers to make distinctions that, it is agreed, are often so helpful when considering issues before the church, but one distinction, essential to the conversation, remained unspoken -- a distinction the church has rightly made.
A. J. McKelway has done all of us a great service. He has gone back to the l978 documents regarding the ordination of gay and lesbian people. He believes the original issue was missed and he leads us to a new possibility for our present debate.
A. J. McKelway, a retired Davidson College professor of religion, wrote a guest viewpoint, "Reconsidering 'Definitive Guidance,'" which was published in the Nov. 6, 2000, issue of The Outlook.
In that article, McKelway wrote that the church cannot approve of homosexuality, but should return to the position of ordaining into the ministry "homosexuals who do not insist upon that approval."
MONTREAT, N.C. -- With a few protests about having to make "forced choices" and not understanding why they were doing what they were doing, members of the General Assembly Council did Friday morning what their leaders have insisted they do: rank programs according to how much impact they have on two top priorities, evangelism and discipleship.
This year, presbyteries throughout the denomination will be considering a proposal [Amendment D] to require that churches pay certified Christian educators the minimum salary they set for pastors. It is important that before they vote, they understand what a certified Christian educator is.
The church has been debating the issue of homosexuality for more than a quarter of a century to the neglect of more important issues and the creation of divisions within our fellowship which border on the catastrophic. So far, only two alternatives have been offered: that the church embrace homosexuality as simply another form of God's will for sexual life, or that the church condemn homosexuality as an egregious form of sin and deny office to homosexuals.
Yesterday Joan and I joined Hospice of the Valley. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever faced. By doing so I affirm that my cancerous condition is terminal and that in all likelihood I will die within six months. I also agree that in the light of my poor reaction to radiation the likelihood of significant help from chemotherapy is dubious. So I have opted for community and care and quality of life.
The season is upon us when all our hopes are trained on the inexhaustibility of a particular event in time and space, the coming of Jesus Christ. It is a season in which we remember that the gospel is received in the mode of anticipating and awaiting a promise.
I have on my desk a map of the United States that shows how every county voted in this year's presidential election. Counties in red voted for Bush, counties in blue for Gore. The red and blue appear in different gradations of color, so that according to the intensity of the color one can tell by what margin the favored candidate won.
The candlelight service is over, the darkened church is locked and we set out into the cold, starry darkness of a Texas Christmas Eve.
The long ride home holds its own surprises as the headlights shine on the eyes of foraging late-night creatures.
PITTSBURGH -- Dr. Kenneth Culver, a physician and Presbyterian elder who helped conduct one of the first clinical trials on human beings involving gene therapy, sees genetics, in the not-so-distant future, as "changing every aspect of our lives."
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