Covenant Network conference draws over 500 to seek
ways of living faithfully "in the meantime"
by Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon Issues Analyst
[11-11-02]
Some specific issues reported here
include:
Dealing with G-6.0106b
Seeking theological common ground
Times of worship and preaching
More on the conference
Covenant
Network reports on their recent conference, and provides
full texts of many of the presentations and sermons.
Presbyterian
News Service reported on the Covenant Network conference on
Nov.11, emphasizing the group's decision to broaden their focus
beyond the issues of gay ordination to promoting
"progressive theology."
Lawyers Peter
Oddleifson and Doug Nave explored ways the ordination
of gay and lesbian persons can be sustained in church courts |
The Covenant Network held its 2002 conference in
Minneapolis,
November 7-9. The host church was Westminster Presbyterian, whose ample
facilities offered plenty of space for meals and small workshops, and
whose sanctuary was the locale for both plenary addresses and four
impressive services of worship with varied musical resources. While the Layman
reported an attendance of 200, more than 500 were registered and fed;
worship drew 750 or 800.
Fashion note: the local volunteers, who were numerous
and helpful, wore rainbow scarves for easy recognition, and many people
wanted them to take home. These were sewn by the mother of a Westminster
member, and while we don't want to promote sweatshop exploitation of
mothers, we recommend this for future conferences.
Some Witherspooners have expressed concern about the
predominance of males at earlier conferences. This year there was gender
parity on the platform, both in featured speakers and preachers and in
other leaders in worship.
Mention was made of a number of recent deaths that
diminish the church and the nation: Randy Taylor, Harry Smith, Clinton
Marsh, Richard Shaull, Norm Pott, Elizabeth Achtemeier, Paul Wellstone.
One subtext of the gathering, which began two days
after Election Day, was disappointment at the conservative victory
nationally and in Minnesota. Since the Confession of 1967 was one of the
featured topics, some participants expressed concern that the election
results threaten to continue the "undoing of the Sixties" that
began with the Nixon administration and "restructure" in the
Presbyterian Church.
Walter Mondale is a member of Westminster Presbyterian
(the congregation has plenty of Republican members, too). He had been
scheduled to address the conference, but he was exhausted after the
short, intense campaign. Tim Hart-Anderson recalled that Mondale had
been in church the Sunday before he was designated as Wellstone's
successor on the ticket, and in conversation saw the decision as a
theological issue.
More overt was concern at the state of the world,
especially in the Middle East. Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel had recently
been in the Occupied Territories and had seen the suffering there.
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, recalling Karl Barth's saying about
holding the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other,
commented that the newspapers are full of news about preemptive war,
poverty, and the AIDS epidemic. He reminded the gathering that God loved
"the world," not the church; the sovereignty of God means that
one task of the church is to transform the world, but all too often this
has been put on the back burner, he said.
G-6
Once Again
A major topic of discussion, of course, was how to
deal with "Amendment B," G-6.0106b. At several sessions,
attorneys Doug Nave and Peter Oddleifson discussed possible courses of
action.
1. What joins all the progressive groups in the PC(USA)
is that they want to remove G-6 from the Book of Order, since it is an
obstacle to exercising ministries that need to be carried out. Joanna
Adams and Eugene Bay, co-moderators of the Covenant Network, reiterated
their commitment to change in the church; Adams reinforced the need for
"hope, patience, and persistence." Repeal, they said, is not
likely for several years - at least until the Theological Task Force
makes its report in 2005 (or rather 2006 if Assemblies meet only
biennially). What are we to do in the meantime?
2. For some in the church, commitment to long-term
change is not enough. To them it is essential to continue witnessing to
the injustice of G-6 and its contempt for the spiritual gifts of GLBT
people in the church. They insist that they and their concerns continue
to be listened to. Shower of Stoles, with its traveling displays, is
graphically illustrating the loss of those who might have become
ordained leaders in the church. That All May Freely Serve continues its
evangelism, bringing Jane Spahr and others into direct contact with
congregations and presbyteries. More Light Presbyterians continue to
enroll more congregations that affirm the GLBT persons in their
membership. Some congregations have openly declared their
"defiance" of G-6, raising a new set of issues, both practical
and theoretical, for the church.
3. A third mode of action has also been with us since
the "definitive guidance" of 1978, the "authoritative
interpretation" of 1991, and the passage of Amendment B in 1997: to
respond, skillfully and knowledgeably, to the disciplinary cases that
have been filed by the right wing of the church. It is significant that
no actions by a governing body have been overturned on appeal; judicial
commissions have affirmed the way governing bodies exercised the
discretion that is their responsibility.
Nave and Oddleifson pointed out, furthermore, that the
Londonderry decision by the General Assembly's Permanent
Judicial Commission in 2000 declared that no part of the Constitution
can be ignored, but every part must be interpreted in
the light of the whole Constitution. There are no fewer than four major
issues of interpretation.
(1) "Self-acknowledged" was dealt with by
the Weir decision, which declared that questions cannot be
asked of particular individuals unless all candidates are asked
in a similar way.
(2) "Chastity in singleness" clearly does
not mean celibacy, since the Heidelberg Catechism speaks of living
"chaste and disciplined lives whether in holy wedlock or in single
life" (C-4.108).
(3) "Sin" is a far more complex issue than
the one statement of the altered Heidelberg Catechism about
"homosexual perversion" (C-4.087). What about
"heterosexual perversion," for example? And when the Larger
Catechism speaks of "unnatural lusts" (C -7.249), it raises
further questions: are there lusts that are natural? and are there some
desires that are not lusts at all, but love?
Finally, (4) "refusing to repent" must be
understood not in an external, legalistic way, giving in to the demands
of some party in the church, since the confessions themselves emphasize
inward conviction as the mark of true confession. In all of these ways
G-6 must be interpreted. To dismiss such concerns as merely clever or
devious is to ignore the complex tasks that the Constitution puts before
the church.
The Constitution itself creates a curious dilemma. Ever since the
Adopting Act of 1729 our church has allowed those seeking ordination to
declare "scruples" about particular features of the
confessions of faith, leaving it to governing bodies to judge whether
these are within legitimate bounds under the authority of Scripture. But
the "radical principles of church government" say that "a
majority shall govern" (G-1.0400); despite all that is said about
conscience, mutual forbearance, and the right to advocate
change in potentially any aspect of the Constitution, one must act
in accordance with the decisions of the PC(USA). This seems to set the
Book of Order ahead of the Book of Confessions, a move that seems
inappropriate, if not illegitimate, on its face.
Every part of the Constitution must be interpreted in
the light of the whole Constitution, and the confessions are more basic
than the ordering of the church, which the Reformed tradition has always
regarded as a matter of human law, governed largely by principles of
convenience. Thus we will always have the responsibility of
"interpreting" the Constitution, and doing it with a sense for
what is more or less important. In this connection it would be salutary
to look at the Confession of 1967, which affirms that "every church
order must be open to such reformation as may be required to make it a
more effective instrument of the mission of reconciliation"
(C-9.40).
And that, quite appropriately, brings us to the theme
of this conference, chosen with an eye to recent controversies in the
PC(USA) . . .
Confessing
Christ Today - Seeking Common Ground
This year is the 35th
anniversary of the Confession of 1967. John Wilkinson sketched the
history of "C-67," as he has also done in his article in the
May-June issue of Church & Society (PDS 72-630-02-603). He
noted that conservative attitudes varied during the years when C-67 was
being written. Presbyterians for Biblical Concerns, while initially
skeptical, eventually supported a slightly revised draft; the
Presbyterian Lay Committee opposed it then and still opposes most of
what it represents.
It was Gayraud Wilmore, the only African-American
member of the committee, who insisted on clear witness in the face of
pressing political and social realities. This led to the four statements
about race, war and nationalism, poverty, and (at the suggestion of the
Committee of Fifteen) sexual confusion (C-9.44-47) -- in connection with
which, we should note, the confession says that the church "comes
under the judgment of God and invites rejection by [human beings]"
when it withholds the compassion of Christ or fails to lead men and
women into the fullness of life.
Curtis Jones, in many ways
Wilmore's successor in raising a strong African-American voice within
the church, recalled these aspects of C-67. He openly expressed his
disappointment after Election Day, shifting his Scripture reading from 2
Corinthians 5 (the ministry of reconciliation) to 2 Corinthians 4,
taking as his theme "Struck Down, But Not Destroyed."
Commenting on the problem we have with people who are different, he
emphasized that we really have a problem with the God who created all of
us. He ended by citing the end of the Brief Statement: "The Spirit
gives us courage to ... lead holy and joyful lives."
Shirley Guthrie tackled the issue of evangelism in a
pluralistic society. He suggested that authentic Christian evangelism
has at least these characteristics: (1) the focus is not our own
religious experience or "faith journey" but God; (2) our own
story must be set in the sequence of many other stories in the Bible,
all of them about Jews, who "were the people of God before we came
along"; (3) the focus is not the Christian community, either, whose
role in the world has not been all that good and which is still a group
of sinners in need of God; (4) evangelism bears witness to God beyond
all group and ideological loyalties and therefore welcomes outsiders;
and (5) it speaks not only of justification but of sanctification,
discipleship, reconciliation. As C-67 says, "to be reconciled to
God is to be sent into the world as God's reconciling
community" (C-9.31). God, Guthrie emphasized, is interested not in
"pious narcissism and consumer religion" but in the whole
world, and there is no right relation with God that does not include a
right relation with others.
Responding to Guthrie, Rabbi Joseph Edelheit of
Minneapolis, who earned his Ph.D. under Catholic David Tracy, expressed
gratitude for being invited to participate in an intra-Presbyterian
discussion. Commenting on the often-heard expression "Abrahamic
religions" to designate the unity between Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam, he suggested that the answer to their tensions is not likely
to come from Abraham, since "tired old angry impotent men" are
the ones who have gotten us into the current mess, and that we ought to
listen instead to Sarah and Hagar.
Anna Case-Winters, moderator of the 2002 Assembly
committee that dealt so effectively with the tough issues of
"Confessions and Christology," spoke about confessing Christ
in the 21st century. Talk about God, she pointed out, is associated
today with nationalism and holy war; we must continue to ask, then,
"what we mean by God," since not all share the same
assumptions. If there are stumbling blocks, she said, they should be
God's, not ours.
She made three points about confessing Christ.
1. What about Jesus' maleness? "True man"
includes definiteness in this and other ways; yet a male Jesus,
fossilized in the church's doctrine, has been used to oppress. Rather
than reject Jesus' maleness, we need men to be more like Jesus. Mary
Daly's complaint that "if God is male, then maleness is God"
needs to be taken seriously; if our understanding of God is
"Christ-formed," then we need to understand God anew, and she
mentioned the way the "cosmic Christology" of Colossians 1:15
has reshaped our definition of God.
2. What about the cross? Does it amount to
"divine child abuse"? The Christian tradition, to be sure, has
sometimes glorified sacrificial suffering and made it the model for
those most oppressed. Much better, she said, is the suggestion that God
in Christ is a "co-sufferer," and she commended Irenaeus's
Christology of "recapitulation," in which Christ replays human
history in the right way.
3. What does it mean to say "Jesus is Lord"
in a situation of religious pluralism? Here too, she said, we must do
"two-handed" theology ("on the one hand," "on
the other"). This, she pointed out, is exactly what Bullinger did
in the Second Helvetic Confession, stating that salvation is only in
Christ, yet respecting God's freedom to act outside the sphere of the
church and urging us to "hope well of all." (C-5.055) Jesus
shows us what God is, and yet, as the extra Calvinisticum
reminds us, there is more to God than Jesus, and Christian mission is
likely to find God already out there, active throughout the world.
Paul Capetz, agreeing with these points, added some
elaborations. (1) Jesus' being truly human does include a sexual
identity; yet "truly divine" must always enlarge our vision.
The Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:24-30, Mt 15:21-28) brings this tension
to light, confronting what appears to be Jesus' ethnocentrism and
enlarging the horizon. (2) The cross shows us that sin exacts a price,
and it remains true today that "the Easter faith must be lived in a
Good Friday world." (3) As to the extra, the divine is not
exhausted in Jesus, as the early church recognized when it appropriated
Greek philosophy as coming from the divine Word. Theology matters. But
this means engaging the tradition, understanding why it spoke as it did,
and then making new statements that are convincing in our own time.
Times of
worship
Preachers at the four services of worship were
eloquent in relating
biblical passages to the
theme of the conference and applying them to the current situation. Curtis
Jones has already been mentioned. There were three others. Here are
some of the highlights.
Andrew Foster Connors, a recent seminary graduate with
several preaching awards, who is currently associate minister at
Idlewild church in Memphis, took as his text Peter's vision in Acts 11
and suggested that many today might respond to this proposal for an
"inclusive church" by saying that "this is not the time
to press a divisive issue in the church" -- especially since it was
not based upon biblical hermeneutics, evoked no guiding principles of
theology or ethics, manifested little respect for authority, went beyond
all existing "definitive guidance," but simply said, "The
Spirit told me." In our day, Connors said, we should not try to
"build bridges over the bodies of our gay and lesbian brothers and
sisters."
Cynthia Jarvis, pastor of the Chestnut Hill church in
Philadelphia, took as her theme some words from Paul Lehmann:
"God's Private Arrangements." She explored the dilemma that
God's way of acting can be learned in Christ, yet God's actions still
cannot be predicted. Her text was the passage in John 10 that contrasts
the hireling and the true shepherd, and she emphasized that the one who
seeks us continues to accompany us. Despite our difficulty loving those
who are in our own flock, we must stick with each other, she concluded.
Linda Loving, pastor of the House of Hope church in
St. Paul, took as her text Joel 2 and elaborated on the image of songs
in the midst of destruction, in times when there is a plague of locusts
and "the seed shrivels under the clods" (Joel 1:17). She urged
the church to be "an on-going people who will rise again"
(Maya Angelou), not because of us but because God's Spirit will be
poured out on all flesh. She concluded with the saying of Julian of
Norwich, "Once you know the song, you can never get lost."
2003 plans announced
Next year's Covenant Network conference will be held
at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, November
6-8. The theme will be "The Church God Calls Us to Be and to
Become."
