by
Marcia Slentz-Whalen
Every three years Presbyterian women from all across the nation and around
the world travel to a Triennial PW Gathering expecting to have a
‘mountaintop experience”. Once again, this year’s event was disappointing
in many ways, two notable exceptions being:
· The VOW Booth in the Exhibit Hall.
· The VOW Hospitality Suite in the nearby Seelbach Hotel.
(For specifics please watch for my article in the September issue of the VOW
Newsletter.)
THE THEME
The theme for Gathering 2003 was “Gods Vision / Our Calling”. The Scriptural
references included these words from Ephesians 4:1-6:
_”I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy
of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making
every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”_
What a glorious vision for Presbyterian Women in 2003! In this time of
contentious disobedience within our denomination, we are reminded that our
oneness is in Christ. Through Christ — and only through Christ — can we
lead lives worthy of God’s calling. However, the pervasive disappointment
experienced by so many women during this four-day event was the ubiquitous
manipulation of this Scripture to advance various specific political
agendas. As many attendees observed, *this year’s Gathering was more of a
political rally than a spiritual event.*
THE CHANCEL
In stark contrast to the beautifully designed chancel area at the previous
Triennial Gathering, the stage this time was bare. There was a lighted
backdrop suggestive of windowpanes and there were several large pieces of
colored fabric hanging from the rafters, but not a single Christian symbol
on the stage to suggest a chancel in a worship space. Once again, as was the
case three years ago, there was no cross — which should have been our
visual focal point at the center of everything else we saw and heard, just
to remind us of why we thousands of women were gathered there together.
Sadly, this time the Bible was missing as well. There was no Christ candle
— nothing but a bare stage with a podium.
It has been observed that funding has become critical and that perhaps the
lack of worship symbols was a result of economic hard times. On the other
hand, how difficult would it have been to put a cross and a Bible (and maybe
even a Christ candle and a baptismal bowl) on a cloth-covered table on the
stage? Surely, those items are readily available in Louisville, given that
Louisville is the administrative seat of the entire PC(USA).
THE BIBLE SCHOLAR
The Bible scholar for Gathering 2003 was Janice Catron, who authored the
Horizons Bible study on Job. What an engaging speaker she was! Most of what
she said rang true and consistent with reformed theology. One notable
exception was her faulty premise in her opening speech that death (sin)
existed from the very beginning, as opposed to entering creation with the
disobedience and fall of humankind. (Makes one wonder whether or not she
would consider human beings responsible for their own sinful behavior and in
need of the atoning work of Christ — pretty basic to reformed faith and an
essential part of what it means to be a Presbyterian.)
THE MUSIC
The music leaders, sisters Jacqueline Pharr Robinson and Jocelyn Pharr
Thompson, were extremely well-qualified and did a wonderful job with just
their voices and an acoustic piano. However, much of the material they had
to work with was less than inspirational. We sang a lot of ethnic hymns of
non-western cultures, and I understand the importance of doing so to make
the Gathering meaningful for women from all around the world! In addition, I
realize that many people like to sing new songs with simple tunes and
contemporary language in the lyrics, and I recognize that there is a need to
include some of that newer music. In fact, that’s how great new hymns come
along — every one of our traditional hymns had to be new at some point in
history. Still the ratio of ethnic and ‘pop” music to the great hymns of
the church was more than 5 to 1. I believe the ‘mountaintop experience”
that those thousands of Presbyterian women were expecting would have been
helped along considerably had that ratio been reversed.
THE WORKSHOPS
I attended two workshops, both of which I sought out because I wanted to be
open to the points of view of others on issues of controversy. I went
primarily to listen and to learn.
Christian Feminism
This workshop, presented by Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos, intrigued me because
I consider myself a Christian and a feminist. I was quick to jump on the
feminist bandwagon back in the 1970’s because the clarion calls for equal
rights, equal respect for women, equal opportunity and equal pay for the
same work resonated with me. Things were not fair in our society (and still
aren’t, though we’ve made significant progress). At it’s inception that
movement, as I understood it, was largely about choices — particularly
career choices. As time passed the movement was co-opted by women who wanted
to make it about lesbianism and abortion, and finally I had to cancel my
subscription to Ms. magazine. What we’re seeing in our church today is
women’s liberation run amok. Radical feminism is replacing one evil (the
denigration of women) with another (the worship of woman-ness: womanism).
In her seminar presentation Ms. Wijk-Bos had some very interesting material
to share on Old Testament times, and she even debunked some of the radical
feminist myths about patriarchy in the Hebrew culture before the time of
Christ. ‘The Bible reflects a patriarchal world,” she said, ‘which was in
some ways a milder patriarchy than ours today.” Her position is that ‘we
have institutionalized patriarchy.” She went on to say that ‘the Old
Testament reflects patriarchy but not sexism,” defining ‘sexism” as the
ideology that declares one gender to be inferior to the other.
She began her talk by characterizing three groups of thinkers (Left, Right
and Middle), commenting that those on the ‘Left” are guilty of ‘a lot of
dismissal of Scripture” while those on the ‘Right” simply ‘are not into
fresh appreciations of Scripture” (as she is), and those in the ‘Middle”
just ‘don’t know where to turn.” Some of what she said I liked — for
example, ‘We should not read our own situation back into the Bible.” Some
of what she said was in stark contradiction to reformed theology — for
example, her claim that the concept of ‘original sin” was nowhere to be
found in the Old Testament. She also declared that ‘today we try to pay more
attention to historical context than Paul did” in his New Testament
writings.
In challenging the validity of New Testament writings on women’s behavior in
the early church, she also managed to promote her opinion that the issues of
women’s ordination and the ordination of unrepentant practicing
‘homosexuals” are one and the same issue. What she fails to realize is that
they are not the same because the New Testament guidance regarding women’s
roles in the church was based on cultural concerns at the time of its
writing. Those injunctions did not address any timeless truths governing
moral right and wrong, as do the numerous injunctions throughout Scripture
against homoerotic behavior. In my evaluation of her seminar I suggested
that Ms. Wijk-Bos read Brian J. Dodd’s _The Problem with Paul_ — one of the
best explanations I’ve seen of why the ‘gay” issue does NOT belong in the
same category as the issues around women (gender discrimination) and slavery
(racial exploitation).
Instincts of Love vs. Entrenched Social Norms
The description for this workshop referenced ‘the need for support” where
there is ‘the struggle within families” caused by a family member’s
declaration of homoerotic desires. I attended this workshop, which was
presented by Margaret Dee (Mardee) Rightmyer, because I care very deeply
about the hurting human souls behind the continuing attack on the Biblically
based Confessions and Constitution of our denomination.
As I wrote three years ago, I had an ‘epiphany” experience at Gathering
2000. Specifically, it became clear to me that distressing movements (like
‘Re-Imagining” God, challenging the authority of Scripture and celebrating
homoerotic behavior) don’t come out of a vacuum. These demands for the
redefinition of sin and salvation are coming from suffering people and from
their parents and other family members and friends who love them and who
hurt for them.
The clambering to declare homosexual behavior not only sinless but even
something to be celebrated as God-ordained — that cry originates in
personal pain. These are hurting brothers and sisters in Christ. They have
been subjected to incredible cruelty for decades, centuries even. Finally,
they are ‘coming out” with their personal stories. As part of her
presentation, Ms. Rightmyer showed a video which portrayed the personal
testimonies of several of these individuals. One young man made the
statement that he was ‘tired of lying to make others feel comfortable.” In
the discussion that followed, I raised the point that for the thousands of
Presbyterians who, having looked long and hard at the totality of Scripture,
having prayed and dialogued and thoughtfully considered God’s guidance for
us on this matter, and having come to the very clear understanding that
homoerotic behavior never has been and still is not acceptable in God’s
sight — for us to pretend to be okay with the celebration of this sinful
behavior would be ‘lying to make others feel comfortable.” It works both
ways!
While I am convinced that we are not called to redefine their sexual
brokenness as God’s gift, nor to celebrate their homoerotic behavior as
exemplary, we are called to respond in love to their cries of pain. While
many of them will stubbornly uphold their choices as God-ordained, many more
are truly in struggle. They are trying to deal with sexual confusion and, in
their sexual wounded-ness, they are being told one of two cruel lies by our
culture:
Two Lies
Lie No. 1: ‘It’s in your genes. You’re just wired that way. It’s not
something you can make choices about, so just accept it.” This message
falls on the ears of every young person who’s had a bad experience with a
first date. Or who’s been turned down repeatedly for that first date. Or
who’s been taught so to fear the opposite gender that he cannot bring
himself even to ask for that first date. ‘Just accept it — you’re wired
that way.”
This message falls on the ears of every sexually broken adolescent who’s
been so traumatized by abusive adults that she doesn’t know whom to believe
or what to believe about the rightness and wrongness of sexual behaviors.
‘You feel a hatred for the opposite gender? — just accept it — you’re
wired that way.”
And where is the church in this? The PW Gathering seminars continue to be
(at worst) a part of the message-sending and (at best) silent. My own
church’s youth ministry doesn’t even present the notion that young people do
sometimes experience confusion about their own sexuality and that even in
their confusion they do have a choice. My own church and my Presbytery are
silent. Not only is there no effort at all to minister to such as these –
there is not even the willingness to acknowledge officially that they exist.
How loving is that?!
Lie No. 2: The other cruel lie is a message to those who have lived in that
lifestyle and have, with God’s help, rejected it. They’re being told this
second cruel lie by a culture that wants to celebrate homosexual behavior:
‘You haven’t really changed at all. Just because you’re able to reject the
behavior doesn’t mean you’ve won the sexual-orientation battle. You’re bound
to have a relapse, it’s only a matter of time. Just accept it — you’re
wired that way.”
That message falls on the ears of every healed and healing victim of sexual
confusion. The culture won’t accept that ‘with God, all things are
possible.”
And what about all those individuals who have won the battle and are happily
married and perhaps even parenting their own children. That message tells
them their struggle wasn’t real. ‘You didn’t really overcome anything at
all. You were never homosexual’ to begin with — you only thought you
were.” How cruel — how un-affirming of these brothers and sisters in
Christ.
And where is the church in this? My own church and my Presbytery are silent.
Not only is there no effort at all to minister to such as these — there is
not even the willingness to acknowledge officially that they exist. How
loving is that?!
Ms. Rightmyer echoes the popular secular pronouncement that these
transformational ministries (which she refers to as ‘reparative therapies”)
do more harm than good. In our discussion I questioned her as to whether or
not that can be said about those whose lives have been healed and
transformed by the power of Christ through ministries like OneByOne (an
affinity group within our own denomination). She responded that she has no
first-hand knowledge of anyone in that category. Many in the ‘gay and
lesbian community” who have made peace with a lifestyle of yielding to
their homoerotic temptations accuse non-supporters of being cruel and
hurtful. It seems to me that to repeat indictments against such a
proven-successful ministry as OneByOne is cruel and hurtful to those who
have been helped through that ministry. It works both ways!
Attending Ms. Rightmyer’s workshop renewed my conviction that we as the
church should be ministering to our hurting sisters and brothers. We must
not deny the pain and suffering they’ve experienced, but we must also try to
help them heal. We do not heal hurting people by declaring Scripture
invalid, redefining sin and celebrating sexual brokenness. We must stand
firm and continue to speak the truth in love.
SUMMARY
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this year’s Triennial Gathering was
the abuse of the term ‘worship”. Over and over again, plenary sessions that
were billed as ‘worship” were appropriated for political grandstanding.
Although the theme was ‘God’s Vision / Our Calling”, the Gathering planners
chose to build many of the plenary sessions around such political sub-themes
as ‘Globalization”, ‘War and Peace” and ‘Antiracism.” One after another,
speakers took the podium to promote a particular political point of view.
The over-arching theme was that all the world’s problems are the fault of U.
S. corporations. In a husband and wife kibitzing session over a kitchen
table, we were instructed that, ‘Economic injustice is the sole reason for
terrorism and violence.” And, of course, ‘it is the U. S. corporations that
are responsible for economic injustice.” All we need to do is to
redistribute the wealth from the producers to the needy consumers. (One
wonders if these people already have forgotten that the former Soviet Union
collapsed of its own dead weight because communism as an approach to
economics is NOT the right answer.)
Other recurring refrains were that the U. S. Department of Defense and the
U. S. State Department need to be told by the PC(USA) how to do their jobs
properly. And wherever there is war in the world, it is the U. S. and its
big corporations that are behind it and that are benefiting from it. At
least speaker Anna Rhee had the good sense to state clearly that, ‘Sometimes
war is justified”. She, like many others from eastern cultures, used the
word ‘lucky” (she considers herself ‘lucky”), and I wished each time that
the speaker had chosen instead to consider herself ‘blessed”. It’s a small
thing, I know, but such language hints at the religious pluralism that
threatens our mainline denominations, and that’s no small thing!
A Peace Education Program session on education and self-control as a tool
for improving the lives of young women of color was, essentially, a primer
for these young teenagers in ‘womanist” theology. No mention was made
anywhere in that entire presentation of God, Christ, prayer, faith, sin,
repentance, transformation through faith and prayer, change for the better
through the power of Christ — it was all about pride in Self. It was the
old image of pulling up oneself by one’s own bootstraps.
Speaker Gloria Tate slammed the ‘melting pot” concept that has
characterized our nation’s development from its beginnings. Her promotion of
the preservation and celebration of ethnic differences seems to me to be
tantamount to promoting segregation. She continued by condemning recent
efforts to contain the spread of the SARS epidemic as an example of racial
or ethnic discrimination.
As the Gathering continued each speaker became more and more the performer,
playing ‘the crowd” for applause, and less and less a contributor to the
worship of God. One of the most pathetic moments was when a young boy lead a
beautifully-read Call to Worship. His little boy voice was strong, and his
words were carefully and clearly spoken. It was so spiritually moving that
the brief silence that followed it was profoundly appropriate. It was as if
those thousands of women had momentarily escaped from the entertainment mode
that had become the norm, making every ‘worship service” a series of staged
acts, one following another. Then, sadly, someone jolted from her spiritual
reverie, went into auto-pilot and started the applause. I suppose the
thought was, ‘Well, we’ve applauded everything and everyone else, and we
certainly don’t want this sweet little boy to feel that he didn’t perform as
well as all the others.” Pathetic — for him and for all of us
‘worshippers”.
By Saturday evening, women were walking out in droves as they refused to
listen to further defamation of our country and, particularly, of our men
and women in the military — many of whom were at that very moment in harm’s
way in the Middle East.
Thankfully, many of those women who walked out during the evening plenary
sessions found their way to the VOW Hospitality Suite.
Our Message
The VOW team communicated a consistently positive and proactive message to
our sisters to stay involved, to stand firm, and to hold accountable those
in positions of leadership. It has become increasingly clear that the
pluralism of our culture is seeping into our main-line Christian churches.
We now are facing a broad-based campaign to re-imagine every aspect of our
faith, and our national PW leaders have been enabling this campaign, giving
it a national forum in the Triennial Gatherings, and funding it with our
money. They are mis-using buzzwords like ‘inclusivity” and ‘tolerance” and
‘diversity”. They are confusing the distinction between embracing a
diversity of ethnic heritages and cultures with the embracing of false gods
and sinful behavior. As Sylvia Dooling, Executive Director of VOW has said,
‘As Christians, our unity is found in the knowledge of the Son of God’
(Ephesians 4:13), not in the unthinking celebration of diversity.”
The inevitable extension of this pluralistic trend is the notion that Jesus
Christ becomes a way, (not THE way, as He clearly declares in John 14:6), a
truth (not THE truth), a life (not THE life). If we (who are the church)
allow this trend to prevail, then the path we are witnessing to the world
will have ceased to be that narrow path to heaven of which Jesus speaks in
Matthew 7:13 but instead will have been transformed into that broad, easy,
all-welcoming and all-affirming slide into hell. If it comes to that, we no
longer will be the church.
Am I worried about this? Of course I am.
Do I think the Re-Imaginers will re-imagine the PC(USA) right out of the
Christian church? I don’t think so, but it could happen.
What will prevent that from happening? Nothing, if the orthodox believers
don’t stand up for Jesus and start saying ‘yes” to positions of leadership
in the PC(USA).
Our polity does not permit us to tell our voting commissioners how to vote.
Each person who has the power to vote on decisions that affect the entire
denomination is charged to ‘vote his/her conscience”.
If we women-in-the-pew are content to be just women-in-the-pew, we may wake
up someday to a PC(USA) that we barely recognize and that has mutated into
something of which we can no longer be a part. If we women of orthodox faith
cannot accept the call to serve as ruling elders, we must make sure that we
communicate with those who can. We must make sure that those who are
nominated and elected to our Sessions are committed to upholding the
Biblical and confessional tenets of our denomination and are not out to
re-imagine them right out of existence.
There were some God-glorifying aspects of this year’s Triennial Gathering,
but there were far too many disappointments. Our evening debriefings in the
VOW Hospitality Suite in Louisville always included words of encouragement
to the attendees to prayerfully consider and to thoroughly respond to the
Gathering evaluation form, adding specific comments to the
mostly-multiple-choice questionnaire. We are hopeful that the women in
positions of national leadership will hear and respect that feedback from
those many women, all of whom spent time, money, and energy to be there for
PW Gathering 2003. And, with trust in the transforming power of Christ
alone, we look forward to a healthier denomination and a much better
experience for all in 2006.
_____________
Marcia Slentz-Whalen and her family are members of a Presbyterian
congregation in Severna Park, Maryland, where she and her husband serve in
the music ministry of the church.