They decided.  The General Assembly amended then approved an authoritative interpretation of our church’s constitution yesterday by a relatively close margin.  The effect seems to be that sessions and presbyteries will have greater authority to exercise judgment.  On a case by case basis, some who are otherwise gifted and qualified to serve but who will not comply with all standards may be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons.  This is widely perceived as a decision to allow gay and lesbian people who are in committed relationships to be ordained.

 

I was able to sit in on the press conference with denominational leaders after the decision.  The moderator, the stated clerk, the moderator and vice moderator of the committee that recommended the report and three of the task force members that created the report answered questions from television and print media reporters.  I expected cameras and the scrutiny of the media would present a difficult situation for these seven.  But instead this was a shining moment.  They answered the questions beautifully.  They explained their hopes for the effect of the decision better than they had in all of the time leading up to the vote.  No longer under pressure to persuade people to vote in support of the recommendations they were relaxed and gracious.

 

The true story may not make it onto your television, though.  The constraints of reporting news will make it difficult to communicate the subtle nuances in the decision.  What is being attempted with this decision is a series of shifts in the way we decide who should be ordained.  

 

I want us at Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church to become a model of how to live faithfully in this new set of boundaries.  For years we have proven that Christians who see things differently can love one another deeply.  But sometimes that unity has been the result of simply not talking about some of the hardest issues.  This decision by the General Assembly may have taken away the option of silence.

 

In this new world we need to be able to grant to one another the right to hold differing views.  Let me explain how I see this happening using myself as an example.  In the past I have at times said as little as possible about my convictions when it comes to sexuality matters.  I have said a lot more when I was alone with individuals or smaller groups because the opportunity for talking back and forth and clarifying reduces the chances of being misunderstood.  Some provisions of the new policy require more rigor in the examination of people who have been nominated as elders, deacons or ministers of Word and Sacrament.  I will have to say more in larger settings about my deepest convictions about how God created human beings and our sexuality.

 

But at the same time, one facet of the mandate of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church addresses how power is used in the church.  The task force had so much to work on that they never fully explored this part of their mandate.  But we certainly can’t go forward without resolving to bring observations about power into consideration.  I recognize that my office brings a tremendous amount of power to my statements.  The very fact that the pastor is speaking makes those who disagree with my statement anxious.  I pledge to you that I will engage in the spiritual practices of humility and restraint.  I am prayerfully considering how I can daily cultivate the virtues needed to properly use the power vested in me in the laying on of hands at my installation.  But I am asking everyone to also engage in the practice of recognizing the authority and responsibility of my calling to serve as pastor.  That will not always mean agreeing with me in your heart or in the words you speak.  But it will mean talking directly to me.  It will mean honoring my intentions when I make mistakes.  And it will mean honoring in your heart the good of our church.

 

We may need to start thinking of the unity of the church as a patchwork quilt.  One of my treasured possessions is a quilt that was given to my great-great uncle by my great-great grandmother.  All of the children in the family were required to memorize the Westminster Catechism and the one who did the best was awarded the quilt she sewed while she tutored them.  My great-great uncle won, but he had three daughters who never married and the quilt passed over into my branch of the family and was given to me by mother.  All of the fabric was new and the two-color design of the quilt is neat and orderly, just like the catechism.

 

My mother also has a crazy patchwork quilt made a generation later by my great grandmother during the depression.  Scraps of fabric from worn out clothes were salvaged and sewn together to create this second quilt.  The Presbyterian Church (USA) is now more like this second quilt.  

 

So now I must address portions in the church rather than the whole quilt at once.  But as I do this remember we are all sewn together.  Everyone listen with love, even when I am not speaking directly to your concerns.

 

 

Q. 27. What do you understand by the providence of God?

A. The almighty and ever-present power of God whereby he still upholds, as it were by his own hand, heaven and earth together with all creatures, and rules in such a way that leaves and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and unfruitful years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, and everything else, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.

Q. 28. What advantage comes from acknowledging God’s creation and providence?

A. We learn that we are to be patient in adversity, grateful in the midst of blessing, and to trust our faithful God and Father for the future, assured that no creature shall separate us from his love, since all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot even move.

 

Consider that this decision by the General Assembly may be part of God’s providential plan for us.  Consider that we may have entered into a transitional phase on the way to greater fidelity to the things of God.  Your patience in this matter should not be unlimited because there are times when you must, for conscience sake, withdraw.  But perhaps we are not yet to that point.

 

You should know that the most conservative groups present here are urging us to stay in the PC (USA).  Those who are calling for withdrawal are doing so more because they are exhausted, not because they have clearly thought things through.

 

 

You who disagree with the boundaries, you who feel that homosexual living should not be considered a barrier to ordination need to be a bridge to our gay and lesbian friends.  You need to validate our sincerity.  You need to listen to the pain of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, invite them to express their sincere belief and welcome them into a conversation.

 

 

The church needs to ask your forgiveness.  You hold wisdom on how to get along but you have been the rope in our tug of war.  You have been wrenched as friends from both sides of the issues argue.  

 

Take comfort in the news that this General Assembly voted your way this time.  This was an attempt to reach a compromise in the center of the church.  Whether it will work or not is unclear.  No matter how painful it is, I hope you will pray that God will use you as the rope we hold onto in order to keep this family together.  If things get more heated for a time, remember that faith and courage are contagious.  Go.  Listen.  Pray. Repeat.  Just being there makes a difference.

 

Now, having written many words I must warn you that all of this could be undone before I see you again.  I’ve seen so many twists and turns here that I start to wonder if I can be confident about anything.  Motions to reconsider are still in order.  But if that happens, we’ll deal with it.  We know we can.

 

Until I see you again, remember, “I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.  I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”

 

Ephesians 1:16-19 NRSV