Welcome to Witherspoon on the Web       

News and networking for progressive Presbyterians

Home page

Ordination concerns

Immigrant rights

War on Iraq

Search Archive
2006 General Assembly Global & Social concerns Election 2008 Israel & Palestine About us Just for fun

News of the PC(USA)

Torture --
It's time to resist!
Other churches, other faiths War on Iran?? Join us! Notes from your WebWeaver

What's Where

Our reports about the
2008 General Assembly

You'll find much more on the GA at JustPresbys -- the shared website of 6 progressive Presbyterian organizations.

ABOUT US

The Summer 2008 issue of
Network News
is posted here
- in Adobe PDF format.

Click here for earlier issues
Adobe PDF  Click here to download (free!) Adobe Reader software to view this and all PDF files.

News of the Society
How to join us
Witherspoon's
Global Engagement Initiative
Dancing with God -- reports from the 2005 Witherspoon conference on mission for peace and justice

SEARCH

CONNECTIONS

Coming events calendar 

Do you want to announce an event?
Please send a note!
Food for the spirit
Book notes

Go to  Amazon.com

LINKS

NEWS of the Presbyterian Church

Got news??
Send us a note!
Women's Concerns
Social and global concerns
The Middle East conflict
The War in Iraq
Hurricane Katrina
U. S. Politics
Election 2008
Economic justice
Fair Food Campaign
Sexual justice
Peacemaking & international concerns
Caring for the environment
Immigrant rights
Racial concerns
Church & State
The death penalty
The media
OTHER CHURCHES, OTHER FAITHS
Do you want regular e-mail updates when stories are added to our web site?
Just send a note!
The WebWeaver's Space
ARCHIVES
JUST FOR FUN
Want books?
Search Now:

 

Tampa Bay Witherspoon Chapter urges rejection of Amendment O


A relatively new Witherspoon chapter in Tampa Bay Presbytery has sent a letter to pastors and clerks urging careful reading of the proposed O. It might be helpful in other presbyteries as well, as a brief and cogent statement.



Dear Ministers and Sessions,

The Witherspoon Society Chapter, a group of concerned Presbyterians in Tampa Bay Presbytery, would like to encourage members and Sessions of Tampa Bay to give careful and prayerful consideration to the implications of Amendment 00-O, which will come before our presbytery for a vote in February 2001.

The text of the proposed amendment to our Constitution bears careful reading:

"Scripture and our Confessions teach that God's intention for all people is to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or in chastity in singleness. Church property shall not be used for, and church officers shall not take part in conducting, any ceremony or event that pronounces blessing or gives approval of the church or invokes the blessing of God upon any relationship that is inconsistent with God's intention as expressed in the preceding sentence."

If this amendment should pass, it would be added to the Directory for Worship in our Constitution. We would like to share with you a few of our thoughts about this amendment.

1. We think the first sentence is a false statement. Scripture is a living Word whose meaning is not closed or static. God's intention, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, unfolds in the prayerful study of Scripture and in the gathered community of faith from age to age. New Confessions arise in each age to give voice to faith in a changing world. God is certainly able to speak anew!

2. We think the second sentence, apart from the fact that it rests on a false premise, goes against the spirit of the Directory for Worship which is permissive rather than prohibitive in its language. The Directory for Worship ordinarily describes what churches may do or shall do, not what they shall not do. Furthermore, to prohibit church officers from blessing a relationship seriously impinges on an officer's faith and freedom. It ignores an officer's particular knowledge of the persons in her or his family of faith and calls into question his or her good judgment.

We honor the covenant of marriage. We also honor the fact that some are called to remain single. But we also know, love, honor, and respect people of faith who do not fit these two categories.

We hope you will join us in opposing Amendment 00-O.

Rev. Charlene M. Heaton
Witherspoon Society Chapter Moderator

///////////\\\\\\\\\\\\

They also enclosed a bookmark-style card with the following list of messages. (This was composed by the chapter as a whole, at a chapter meeting.)

What messages does the blessing of holy unions send to our children?
bulletthat we rejoice with those who have found a companion with whom to share life, love, sorrow, and joy
bulletthat we admire people whose faith is so central to their lives that it's important to their relationship
bulletthat we publicly support those who, in the covenant tradition of our faith, wish to make a public commitment of fidelity to the person they love
bulletthat we affirm committed relationships marked by mutuality and love
bulletthat we honor freedom of conscience, of congregations, and of ministry
bulletthat we celebrate the diversity of God's world, including diversity of sexual orientation
bulletthat we feel called to give confidence to our children to oppose the systemic prejudice present in our culture.

The Witherspoon Society
Tampa Bay Chapter
November 2000

 
 

If you like what you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website going ... and growing!

Please consider making a special contribution -- large or small -- to help us continue and improve this service.

Click here to send a gift online, using your credit card, through PayPal.

Or send your check, made out to "Witherspoon Society" and marked "web site," to our Witherspoon  Bookkeeper:

Susan Robertson  
9650 Clover Circle
Eden Prairie, MN  55347

 

An index of our reports from

 

 

 

BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship

A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice

September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky

 

Check out our report from the Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security

 

To top

© 2007 by The Witherspoon Society.  All material on this site is the responsibility of the WebWeaver unless other sources are acknowledged.  Unless otherwise noted, material on this site may be copied for personal use and sharing in small groups.  For permission to reproduce material for wider publication, please contact the WebWeaver, Doug King.  Any material reached by links on this site is outside the control and responsibility of the WebWeaver and The Witherspoon Society.  Questions or comments?  Please send a note!