"Presbyterians Together," a joint project of The Presbyterian Coalition and Presbyterian Renewal Network, recently sent a thick packet of stuff to the church that they say they "think will be helpful to you as you debate and vote on Amendment 'O' in your presbytery."

[Click here to see the material on their web site.]

I rather like the page, "Be Anxious for Nothing . . . Pray." The "Prayer for our presbytery" is good. So are the suggestions for praying with several psalms during the weeks leading up to the presbytery meeting. One might wish they had expanded the prayer to include petitions such as "Keep us from pride that excludes others from the shelter of your love; and from mean prejudice and mass evils that scar the tissues of our common life," from The Worshipbook (1970). Or "Be with members of our General Assembly/synod/presbytery. Help them to welcome new things you are doing in the world, and to respect old things you keep and use. Save them from empty slogans or senseless controversy. In their deciding, determine what is good for us and for all people," from the Book of Common Worship (1993).

More troubling is Alan Wisdom's essay, "Let Marriage Be Held in Honor." Quoting some Episcopalians to the effect "that strict monogamy was not so important to them," he implies that this is the goal of opponents of "O." It gets worse: "It is undeniable that every argument used to justify 'gay marriage' could also be used on behalf of polygamy or incest between adults. There are even a few quarters of the left in which pedophilia already has its defenders. . . . Is this the road down which we wish to travel?"