July 2001 Pastoral Letter to the Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church, Bunker Hill, WV,

from its pastor, John E. Harris

[published here 6-25-01]

John Harris to the church that is in Bunker Hill:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

I write to you having just returned from the 213th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). The General Assembly was held June 9-16 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Though he is certainly no liberal, most progressives at the General Assembly favored the Reverend Jack Rogers, a recently retired seminary professor, for election as Moderator. He was elected Moderator on the first ballot with 55% of the vote, or 286 of the 524 votes cast. Elder Nancy Maffet, the candidate favored by most conservatives, received 24% of the vote, or 125 of the 524 votes cast. Two other candidates garnered the remaining 113 votes.

Rogers perhaps clinched the election when he responded to a question about the "Confessing Church Movement" during the question and answer time preceding the election. The Confessing Church Movement is a small conservative movement championed by the Presbyterian Lay Committee and its publication The Presbyterian Layman and its Editor in Chief, Parker T. Williamson. Even though the Presbyterian Church USA is already a confessional church, the Confessing Church Movement calls upon congregations to make their own statements of faith, statements that seem to recall the bygone era of 1920's Presbyterian Fundamentalism, and also calls upon denomination staff to sign what appear to many to be "loyalty oaths."

When asked about the movement, Rogers suggested the Confessing Church Movement "is a threat to the peace, purity and unity of the church." He has since softened his criticism of the movement but still contends that "some behind the Confessing Church Movement ... are sowing discord and disunity."

In addition to electing Rogers their Moderator on Saturday, commissioners on the following Friday voted 317-208 with three abstentions to send a constitutional amendment removing a four year old ban on ordination of non-celibate homosexuals to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes. Following the Assembly vote, a conservative minister reflected "I am deeply concerned about whether or not the church can hold body and soul together under this challenge." A progressive minister offered that she thinks the Assembly "really took seriously the middle ground" and "would hope this church would be guided by the spirit of this Assembly."

While at the assembly I was fortunate to see a one hour PowerPoint presentation prepared by those advocating removal of the ordination ban. Rather than focusing on the differing interpretations of scripture on this matter it focused on the need to recommit ourselves to the two hundred year old historic principles of church order, especially the recognition that "there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters and principles may differ. And in all these we think it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other." It also suggested that perhaps the church ought to say the same thing Jesus had to say about homosexuality and the ordination of homosexuals -- nothing!

If the current ban is lifted, presbyteries and particular churches will once again be able to practice their right to determine who, and who can not, serve as ministers, elders and deacons.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

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