by Dennis L. Maher   [3-30-04]

Dear Task Force Members,

Your Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the church has been working for a long time. The Moderator has pointed out to them that "UNITY" is central and larger than "Peace" and "Purity" on your letterhead. You want us to know that Christ is our peace, unity, and purity. Now you are looking into the scriptures for guidance on ordination. Reports are that you aren't finding much there to guide us in our present divisions. I offer the following as an aid to the Task Force and the rest of us.

ORDINATION

In 1992 a report was prepared and rejected by the GA, on "The Theology and Practice of Ordination in the PCUSA." This study was quite well done, but was disturbing to those who read it. It recommended severe limitations on ordination, so that ministers and elders would move in and out of ordination, depending on what functions they are performing. This was the report that may be remembered for the clumsy term "God-Service," as an earlier report on sexuality was known for the clunky term "justice-love." The concepts were biblically strong, but the terms were not very marketable. This report on ordination said:

In the studies and debate of the Presbyterian church about ordination and ministry, there has been a consensus that all who are baptized are called to ministry and that those called to office in the church are called not to power, honor, or status, but are to share in a ministry of service, following the model of Jesus. Yet despite that consensus, the church still very much views office in terms of power, status, and privilege. In large measure, that view of office is a legacy of unexplored assumptions going back to the Reformation era. While the Reformers answered the questions of what kinds of power are to be exercised and who is to exercise them, they did not challenge the basic presupposition that questions of power ought to be the starting point for the understanding and practice of ministry.

When ministry arises from a presumption of inequality among persons, those functions of ministry that involve the exercise of institutional power by the few will always have more significance than the God Serving functions of ministry to which all are called. Moreover, the exercise of power within communities will continue to be rooted in a person's status within the community.

We [in the PCUSA] have focused on status and power rather than authority to serve, and the focus has changed to the individual rather than on the ministry of whole people of God.

In other words, there is no Biblical or theological justification for ordination as we know it. Ministry is for everyone. Some are called to serve as leaders, to carry out particular functions. While their positions may deserve respect and they as individuals may have particular skills and wisdom, they are no better than anyone else. They are no more responsible for the life of the community than anyone else. If we believe that ministry is status and power for a few, we will exclude people from ministry for many reasons. If we believe that ministry is for all members, we have a problem in denying functions of ministry to those who have the skills, abilities, and calling. We are all in this together.

The phrase "peace, unity, and purity of the church" has taken on ultimate concern in our discussions of ordination. It appears in the seventh question for ordination: "Do you promise to further the peace, unity and purity of the church?" (G-14.045 et al) The history and origin of this phrase is obscure. However, we can study how these words are used elsewhere in the Constitution. There are pay-offs in the otherwise tedious word study that follows.

PEACE, UNITY, AND PURITY IN THE CONFESSIONS

In the Book of Confessions "peace" refers to death, the absence of war, and joy in Christ. But fundamentally, the focus is on our relations with each other. The Scots Confession says that "Those who eat and drink at that holy table without faith, or without peace and goodwill to their brethren, eat unworthily." (3.23) The Heidelburg Catechism speaks of the sixth commandment: "...when God condemns envy, hatred, and anger, he requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him, to prevent injury to him as much as we can, also to do good to our enemies." (4.107) The Second Helvetic Confession speaks of peace in regard to the signs of the true church: "...joined together with all the members of Christ by an unfeigned love, they show that they are Christ's disciples by persevering in the bond of peace and holy unity." (5.135) Ministers are "...as diligently as possible to see to everything that pertains to the tranquility, peace and welfare of the churches." (5.164) Magistrates are to preserve "the peace and tranquillity of the human race." (5.252) The Confession of '67 notes that "Wise and virtuous men [sic] through the ages have sought the highest good in devotion to freedom, justice, peace, truth, and beauty." (9.13) God "enables them to receive forgiveness as they forgive one another and to enjoy the peace of God as they make peace among themselves." (9.20)

The Confessions mostly speak of the essential unity of the church in spite of the disunity resulting from the Reformation. But the essence of unity is the way in which we live together. The Barmen Declaration was concerned for the truth that is imperiled which will destroy the unity of the GE church and the unity of the nation. "The purpose of the Confession of 1967 is to call the church to that unity in confession and mission which is required of disciples today." (9.05) C-'67 noted that "The unity of the church is compatible with a wide variety of forms, but it is hidden and distorted when variant forms are allowed to harden into sectarian divisions, exclusive denominations, and rival factions." (9.34)

There are only three uses of "purity" in the Confessions. The Larger Catechism speaks of the purity of scripture. (7.114) The Second Helvetic requires a minister to "fear God, be constant in prayer, attend to spiritual reading, and in all things and at all times be watchful, and by a purity of life to let his (sic) light to shine before all men (sic)." (5.165) Marriages must be "kept holy with the utmost faithfulness, piety, love and purity of those joined together. Therefore let them guard against quarrels, dissensions, lust and adultery." (5.248) Purity, like peace and unity is about relationships.

PEACE, UNITY, AND PURITY IN THE BOOK OF ORDER

"Peace" is used a remarkable 77 times in the Book of Order. The mission of the church is to work for "peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment." (G-5.0102i). Only twice is the trinity of peace, unity, and purity combined. The more familiar usage of peace, unity, and purity is in the seventh question of ordinands, quoted above. But governing bodies "have power to establish plans and rules for the worship, mission, government, and discipline of the church and to do those things necessary to the peace, purity, unity, and progress of the church under the will of Christ. (G-9.0102b) This instance is interesting because here a fourth value of "progress" is added to the familiar three. Why don't we vow to preserve the progress of the church?

Another significant reference to peace is the description of Committees on Ministry "as an instrument of presbytery for promoting the peace and harmony of the churches, especially in regard to matters arising out of the relations between ministers and churches. Its purpose shall be to mediate differences and reconcile persons, to the end that the difficulties may be corrected by the session of the church if possible, that the welfare of the particular church may be strengthened, that the unity of the body of Christ may be made manifest." (G-11.0502i).

The Directory for Worship includes many of the strongest references to peace. As a symbol, Jesus Christ is "our peace who has broken down the dividing wall of hostility." (W-1.2004b) "In remembering [at the Lord's Table], believers receive and trust the love of Christ present to them and to the world; they manifest the reality of the covenant of grace in reconciling and being reconciled; and they proclaim the power of Christ's reign for the renewal of the world in justice and in peace." (W-2.4004) Nourished by the meal, the church "is sent by the power of the Holy Spirit to participate in God's mission to the world, to proclaim the gospel, to exercise compassion, to work for justice and peace until Christ's Kingdom shall come at last." (W-2.4007) Peace is reconciliation, so we "take opportunity to seek and to offer forgiveness for hurts, misunderstandings, and broken relationships among themselves;" (W-2.6001b.(1)) and "respond to God's act of reconciliation by exchanging signs and words of reconciliation and of Christ's peace." (W-2.6001b.(2))

Peace is central to the drama of worship. We pray for peace. "The call to healing in pastoral care involves the recognition in each one's life of the reality of sin, which is the source of all human brokenness. The believing community announces the good news of God whose love gives people grace to confess their sin and complicity in brokenness, to repent, expressing sorrow and intention to change, to accept God's forgiveness and extend that forgiveness to another, to forgive the other and accept the other's forgiveness, to work toward reconciliation in brokenness, to trust the power of God to bring healing and peace." (W- 4.8000) "Receiving confession and declaring God's forgiveness, calling for repentance and supporting in the struggle toward new life, encouraging people to forgive and receive forgiveness, and mediating reconciliation are appropriate acts of pastoral care." (W-6.3009)

Signs of God's reign are also manifest in the world wherever the Holy Spirit leads people to seek justice and to make peace. (G-3.0000) (W-7.1001) Peace is our ministry and is inextricable tied to justice: "God's reconciliation in Jesus Christ is the ground of justice and peace. (Conf. 1967 9.45) The church in worship proclaims, receives, and enacts reconciliation in Jesus Christ and commits itself to strive for justice and peace in its own life and in the world." (W-7.4001)

Justice is defined as dealing honestly in personal and public business, exercising power for the common good, supporting people who seek the dignity, freedom, and respect that they have been denied, working for fair laws and just administration of the law, welcoming the stranger in the land, seeking to overcome the disparity between rich and poor, bearing witness against political oppression and exploitation, redressing wrongs against individuals, groups, and peoples in the church, in this nation, and in the whole world." (W-7.4002)

Justice must be clearly understood, for "There is no peace without justice. Wherever there is brokenness, violence, and injustice the people of God are called to peacemaking [in church, world, and communities]." (W-7.4004)

Amazingly, the word "peace" is not used in the Rules of Discipline. However, the biblical injunction to be reconciled with one's neighbor is justification for conciliation and mediation, (D-1.0103) and many disciplinary cases concern failure to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church. These cases often involved contentiousness or disruption of worship or meetings by members or by a pastor.

While "Unity" is used 25 times in the Form of Government in reference to the unity of God and of the church, "purity" is used only once outside the ordination questions (in G-9.0102b),

The Rules of Church Discipline contain two references to "purity" related to unity and to reconciliation. "...The purpose of discipline is to honor God by making clear the significance of membership in the body of Christ; to preserve the purity of the church by nourishing the individual within the life of the believing community; to correct or restrain wrongdoing in order to bring members to repentance and restoration; to restore the unity of the church by removing the causes of discord and division; and to secure the just, speedy, and economical determination of proceedings." (D-1.0101) Mediation is necessary to "preserve the purity and purposes of the church." (D-1.0103)

THE TRUTH

Because "purity" is so often understood in terms of "truth," it is necessary to inquire about the use of the word "truth" in our Constitution in order better to understand the concepts of peace, unity, and purity.

The Scots Confession is concerned for "the truth of his [Jesus'] humanity." (3.06) This will no doubt come as a surprise to the docetists among us. Confessions repeatedly cite "the truth of God," "the Spirit of truth," "infallible truth," "the truth of scripture," and "truth" without specific content or definition. The Confessions mostly sound like Pilate.

The Second Helvetic Confession defines one truth, perhaps the Presbyterian truth, regarding the primacy of Christ as head of the church, disallowing persons as primates over others. (5.131) The shorter catechism tells us that "The Ninth Commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor's good name, especially in witness-bearing." (7.077) The Larger Catechism further tells us that "the duties required in the Eighth Commandment are: truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man...." (7.251) C-'67 tells us that the atonement is a truth that has many expressions. (9.09) The Brief Statement of Faith states that we "accept lies as truth" as a part of sin. (10.3)

The Book of Order includes the famous paragraph on truth as a preliminary principle: "That truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to promote holiness, according to our Savior's rule, 'By their fruits ye shall know them.' And that no opinion can be either more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and represents it as of no consequence what a man's opinions are. On the contrary, we are persuaded that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise, it would be of no consequence either to discover truth or to embrace it." (G-1.0304)

Truth is defined in chapter three of the Book of Order: "The Church of Jesus Christ is the provisional demonstration of what God intends for all of humanity. The Church is called to be a sign in and for the world of the new reality which God has made available to people in Jesus Christ. The new reality revealed in Jesus Christ is the new humanity, a new creation, a new beginning for human life in the world: Sin is forgiven. Reconciliation is accomplished. The dividing walls of hostility are torn down. The Church is the body of Christ, both in its corporate life and in the lives of its individual members, and is called to give shape and substance to this truth." (G-3.0200)

The Directory for Worship names two additional truths: "The Baptism of children witnesses to the truth that God's love claims people before they are able to respond in faith." (W-2.3008b) "The Baptism of those who enter the covenant upon their own profession of faith witnesses to the truth that God's gift of grace calls for fulfillment in a response of faithfulness." (W-2.3008c)

The Rules of Discipline refer to need to seek truth in our deliberations: "Preponderance means such evidence as, when weighed with that opposed to it, has more convincing force and the greater probability of truth. (D-7.0402a)

PEACE, UNITY, AND PURITY IN SCRIPTURE

Peace, or Shalom in Hebrew, is a major theme of scripture. Jesus called us to be peacemakers, and the metaphor of Christ as our peace is elaborated on in our Constitution. Because the PCUSA has established peacemaking as a priority focus, much is written elsewhere about this.

Unity is a hope in scripture. Jesus is reported to have prayed for our unity in the Gospel of John.

In Acts we read hyperbole about unity in the early church. Paul struggled to achieve and maintain unity. The church's claim that our baptism in Christ is the basis for our unity is at the heart of our life together.

Purity is not a noun found in the Bible, but verbs meaning "purify" and "to make clean" are plentiful. Classic studies of how Jesus opposed the purity system of ancient Israel have been written by Marcus Borg in Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, and by Walter Wink in The Powers That Be. While Borg and Wink may not be representative of the mainstream of the PCUSA, the Constitution of the PCUSA powerfully witnesses to their critique. In the Judaism of Jesus' day, many people were kept in poverty or were excluded from community life by their failure to keep the laws of cleanliness or purity. To be unclean or impure was the primary meaning of sin. Jesus ignored these laws and drew to himself those who were unclean and impure. He declared them clean and pure, and thereby healed them.

CONCLUSION

One friend says "Peace, unity, and purity aren't the same. There is enough tension here to heat our church buildings for many years." Another asks "How can we promise to "serve with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love (the eighth ordination question) without upsetting the peace, unity, and purity of the church?" Scripture, The Book of Confessions and the Book of Order have something terribly important to tell us:

If Christ is our peace, it is because God's mission is peace. Peacemaking is our mission, too. As A.J. Muste said, "There is no way to peace; peace is the way." Peace is the way to unity and purity. To break the peace is to break relationships with our neighbors or to fail to come into relationship with the stranger. To make peace we must be just in our relations with each other, and our systems must work in ways that promote rather than impede justice.

Unity is life together in peace, when previously we were separated by differences. We are one when we live together in peace, when we sincerely desire peace, and when a concern for justice is paramount.

Purity is faithfulness in following the teachings of Jesus, to love one another, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to seek justice, to make peace, to welcome the stranger, to live as if the Kingdom of God is present as a foretaste of heaven. Purity in our Constitution is NOT holding fast to the truth of doctrines or the customs and traditions of the past. Purity is NOT about belief, but action and deeds in faithfulness to the commandments of love.

We should be careful desiring conventional understandings of purity lest we oppose Jesus. I await the recommendation of the Task Force that we delete the seventh ordination question, or add "progress" to peace, unity, and purity in that question, and clarify the meaning of purity as faithfulness to Jesus. Semper ecclesia reformanda est.

The author:

The Rev. Dennis Maher will begin work April 1 as Co-Pastor of the Kettle Moraine Parish in Genesee WI, where he will be serving 4 churches to the west of Waukesha, 2 PCUSA and 2 UCC.