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The human side of the debate |
| On Deciding Who's "In" and
Who's "Out"
by Etta and Harry Smith
[11-15-01]
One of the preachers at a recent General Assembly
exhorted us repeatedly, "Don't lower the bar!" He was
defending our Church's current standards which exclude certain persons
and groups and define who is "in" and who is "out."
Persons have been categorized and barred from full
participation in the church throughout its history. Whether today's
church can learn from the experiences of the past is perhaps the
defining question in determining the church of the future.
Deciding where the bar should be set has been
influenced for us not just by our understanding of Jesus' example of
acceptance and openness, but also by our own experiences, which deepened
our commitment to inclusivity.
Our involvement in the struggle for racial justice
provided us opportunities to learn from persons who suffered exclusion
and were deprived of their human rights.
Our personal experience of divorce, placing us in a
previously barred group, heightened our appreciation of the Church's
increasing acceptance without judgment of divorced persons.
Our involvement in the anti-war movement taught us the
high cost of disagreeing with our government's actions as another
category - "unAmerican" - was created to demean dissenters.
"You are either for us or against us" is still today a
simplistic way to distinguish between our allies and enemies.
Our daughters increased our sensitivity to gender
exclusion, the challenges facing women in the Church's ministry, and the
way our sexist language alienates and creates barriers, especially in
our talk about God.
Our knowledge that two of our sons are gay heightened
our awareness of how our culture labels and rejects those of different
sexual orientations and how the Church, the institution that should be
most open to those who do not fit into our culture's boundaries,
currently bars them from leadership.
Through our involvement in programs to feed the hungry
in Santa Fe, we have learned firsthand the mistake made by lumping
people into categories like "the poor,"
"unemployed," and "on welfare." Packing food bags
alongside recipients helped us see them as persons rather than the
categories which differentiate the poor from the affluent in our
community.
Our exposure to sweatshop workers, coffee growers and
underpaid laborers created a concern for the impact of economic
globalization and the widening gap between the "haves" and the
"have nots." We recognized anew our interdependence with the
marginalized and our need to include them in our quest for justice.
These experiences have made us aware that even our
theological categories exclude persons and groups. Labeling as
"unsaved" those who do not believe in God the way we do or
respect Jesus as "the only way to salvation" is another way of
excluding and dismissing a large number of God's creation. And in our
discussion of inclusiveness, we must not exclude those with whom we
disagree theologically.
Although some in our church want to determine who is
"in" and who is "out," we believe that such
decisions are not ours, but God's. God's accepting love extends far
beyond our categories.
Etta and Harry Smith
Santa Fe, NM
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch
Seminar!
GHOST RANCH SEMINAR
July 26-August 1, 2010
WE’RE ALL IN
THIS TOGETHER
CONFRONTING THE STRUCTURES OF INJUSTICE |
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