One Witherspooner's view of the need to act now

[1-10-04]

The Rev. Frank Vardeman served as a pastor in various congregations, then served on the staff of Twin Cities presbytery and the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. He is now the executive director of the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis. He offered these thoughts in one of the recent conversations among people in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, who are working in various ways for a more inclusive church.

My name is Frank Vardeman. I am a minister member of Presbytery and I am speaking here tonight as a member of the Witherspoon Society.

The issue before our church is whether we will be an inclusive church or not. Will we continue to speak out of both sides of our mouths when we say that Jesus' table is open and that there is room at it for all? Because the reality today is that we are saying that the table is open, but that some, simply because of their personal orientation, are not fit to serve at it. So the Lord's table in our Presbyterian Church is not open. How shall we work together to make it open?

The strategy of the Witherspoon Society is pretty clear. I believe, with their board, that God calls us to not only work for those who are oppressed, but also to work with them, in concert with them, and guided by them. They believe that in working for justice with those that are hurt by official policies, it is important that we be guided by those who are most deeply wounded by these policies, and whose lives are most deeply at stake. Therefore, they are supporting a variety of forms of witness and action against this discrimination including legislative actions to remove "Amendment B" from our Book of Order (G-6.0106b).

They do not believe that the legislative strategy should be "put on hold" or delayed "because the time is not right". They urge all groups and people of good heart that seek a more inclusive church to work diligently at whichever of the strategies seem most appropriate to them, while actively supporting the strategies of the groups working for similar goals.

Speaking personally, I believe that the paths of delay in terms of following the legislative strategy are deeply hurtful to our brothers and sisters who are denied ordination because of their orientation. The fact that the groups that most closely represent the GLBT community within our church are calling for legislative action is for me reason in itself to support these actions. However, I also believe that it is the right thing to do. It is not the fact of legislative action that is creating tension and conflict within our church; it is the fact of unjust discrimination that is creating the tension. The body is wounded and the wound is festering and it will never be healed as long as it is covered up. It is the right thing to do to persist in our efforts to move the church toward justice, every year, at every General Assembly, in as many ways as possible.

I close with this quote from nearly 41 years ago. I don't wish to be heavy handed here, but I believe that the issue of "the time is not ripe" and how we make decisions about strategy is addressed by the spirit of this quote:

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace, which is the absence of tension to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

This quote from Martin Luther King's letter from jail to the white clergy of Alabama in 1963 seems to me to be speaking to the liberal wing of the Presbyterian Church today as powerfully as St. Paul speaks to us in his letter to the Galatians when he says that now there are no differences between us, for in baptism we have been made one by Jesus Christ.

Thank you.