After minimal discussion, the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted on Wednesday to send a revised Directory of Worship for ratification by the presbyteries. The decision to write a revision grew out of the new Form of Government that received approval in 2011.
Kristen Saldine educated the General Assembly commissioners about the background of the revision saying, “this document is not entirely rewritten and retains its roots in the 645 Westminster Directory of Worship. However, it has not been rewritten for 27 years and a lot has changed.”
In describing its importance and its impact, Saldine said, “It is our compass and gives us bearing and direction for worship. It points out that the purpose of worship is to glorify God and provides a reformed theological understanding of worship while it navigates the relationship between freedom and form. It is more structurally flexible and encourages a variety of styles and expressions.”
Earlier in the week, Joyce Liebermann, denominational staff member, said that a major emphasis was placed on making the Directory of Worship a good partner to the new Form of Government approved in 2011. “It fulfills that goal as the revised Directory of Worship is shorter and streamlined – more permission giving just as new FOG is more permission giving. It is less formulaic yet a sense of reformed worship is maintained and it has constitutional integrity. This revision is what we had hoped to accomplish.”
Presenters stated that the revision preserves the spirit and strength of Reformed tradition; giving glory to God, focusing on Jesus Christ — crucified and risen, and maintaining the centrality of scripture. Some of the highlights include an emphasis on grace and gratitude and new sections on worship and culture and the work of the Holy Spirit. It has been reduced from seven to five chapters with 9,000 fewer words compared with the original Directory of Worship.
While not all the suggested amendments made by the Theological Issues committee were voted on individually by the entire body of commissioners, two motions received some attention by voting commissioners and reflected that there is still a cadre of commissioners that lean toward a more traditional and conservative understanding of the sacraments and marriage but ultimately failed to have an impact on the more permission giving document.
Justin Marple, teaching elder from Western New York Presbytery, presented a motion that would have reinserted the stipulation that baptism is a requirement for partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
David Gambrell, associate for worship at the Presbyterian Mission Agency, spoke to the motion saying that the ordinary pattern is baptism and then communion. This order reflects that a person becomes a member of Christ’s body through baptism and then shares in communion. However, at the 2010 General Assembly, the Office of Theology and Worship was urged to consider that when someone comes to the table without being baptized, they should be welcomed, fed, and invited into deeper relationship – thereby preserving the traditional pattern of baptism then communion but without excluding an individual from partaking of communion prior to baptism.
Father Steven Voytovich, the Ecumenical Advisory Delegate from the Orthodox Church in America, spoke against the omission of the baptism requirement. “The proper administration of the sacraments is a mark of the true presence of Christ in the church, and this decision could negatively the PCUSA’s ecumenical relationships.”
In the end, the desire to be more inclusive and welcoming led the commissioners to disapprove Marple’s motion to reinsert the baptismal requirement. The exact number of commissioners voting to retain the requirement was not clear as the moderator called for a voice vote.
Docket item 14-01 brought an overture from the Kiskiminatas Presbytery that would have reinstated language into the revised Directory of Worship upholding that marriage is between a man and woman. The overture requested that the suggested language in the revised Directory of Worship be replaced with the following:
Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage involves a unique commitment between one man and one woman to love and support each other for the rest of their lives. The couple is called to live out the sacrificial love modeled for us by Jesus Christ as faithful and responsible members of the church and the wider community.
Earlier in the week during open presentations to the Theological Issues and Education committee, Sandy Gaudolfi, of Kiskiminatas Presbytery, made the following statement:
I speak in support of the proposed amendment to Section W-4.9000 of the Directory of Worship. The approval of same sex marriage by our denomination is not in line with the teaching of scripture, the instruction book of our lives. The Bible continually defines marriage as between one man and one woman. By changing our Book of Order we have brought conflict between it and Scripture and the Book of Confessions. Both of these documents take precedence over the Book of Order. We must, therefore, bring our Book of Order back into alignment with these fundamental teachings of our faith.
Gauldolfi also said, “While I agree that many members of the LGBT community have been mistreated and that there is absolutely nothing in scripture that condones that behavior, that doesn’t mean we should accept, or worse yet, celebrate a behavior that the Bible teaches us is sin. Instead of dealing with the issue of treating everyone with love and respect, we have offered to set aside a commandment from God to atone for the sin of those who have mistreated them.”
The overture drew immediate ire from those who support the same sex marriage decision reached following the 221st General Assembly held in 2014, with one commissioner reminding the body that the “decision has already been made, and the decision is no longer debatable.”
Young Adult Advisory delegate, Mika Rangel of East Iowa Presbytery, spoke in favor of changing the language. “As Christians, it is not up to us to judge a person’s lifestyle, but it is up to us to uphold scripture.” Rangel lifted up Romans 12:2 that states: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind …” She went on to say that society is taking God out of schools, out of our government, so “please do not push God out of our church.”
When the vote was taken by electronic ballot, the overture was defeated by a margin of 443 to 119.
The online version of the revised Directory of Worship will include instructional videos and other resource documents.
The next hurdle for the revision is to receive the required number of votes of approval from presbyteries across the United States over the next two years.
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“The overture drew immediate ire from those who support the same sex marriage decision reached following the 221st General Assembly held in 2014, with one commissioner reminding the body that the ‘decision has already been made, and the decision is no longer debatable.’”
Did no one counter such logic with a reminder of how many times the fidelity and chastity amendment to the BoO was challenged?
They can remove the Book of Order requirement of baptism to receive the Lord’s Supper, but I have no intention of complying with this nonsense. Why does the PCUSA think that they are so much wiser than 2000 years of church practice???
You can’t try to argue from logic with liberals, as they immediately label you a bigot and discount anything you say.
Bob, I thought the exact same thing when I read that statement. They brought it up just about every General Assembly until finally, because of the constant push by the secular world especially through television, enough minds had been changed plus the mass exit of conservative members and churches