Defrocked minister’s plea to presbytery
Posted on The Layman Online:, November 16, 2005
Ernest D. Smart’s comments to the Presbytery of Donegal, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005.
Madam moderator, members and friends in the Presbytery of Donegal, three and a half years ago I was privileged to accept the status of honorable retirement, after having served the great Presbyterian Church as an ordained minister for some forty years. I did NOT retire from preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
When ordained in Scotland, there was an understanding that ordination vows were for life. Indeed, in the old Gaelic Church language, there is no word for ordination. So the word marriage is used instead. Yes, I am joyfully married to the Church of Jesus Christ, and I am following through on the promise to use every talent I have to spread the Word passionately as long as I have breath in my body. Then why would you want to force a divorce?
I have also been blessed with good health, a great and supportive family and hundreds of very positive, creative and generous friends from many backgrounds such as the St. Andrew’s Society of Baltimore, the St. George’s Society of Baltimore, the Boy Scout Movement, the Maryland Bible Society, and many retirement communities which I have loved serving for well over twenty years. Why would any responsible Presbyterian Church leadership want to shut me down? What are their motives?
Tragically, it is clear to most of us that this evening’s proceedings have more to do with the turmoil within the Presbyterian Church (USA) than Ernest Smart being forced to renounce the jurisdiction of the Church. It is widely known that the Presbytery of Baltimore, within whose bounds I served as senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church for fifteen years, and as a co-pastor for three years, is extraordinarily liberal, political and intolerant of any views which run counter to their own agenda. The Baltimore Presbytery’s landscape is littered with casualties, ministers whose careers have been brought to a swift end because they thought differently.
One of several is your own Bill Netting. When Bill found himself forced out of his position as Stated Clerk in Baltimore, we at Second were happy to bring him on board for a few months until he found another full-time position for himself. Then, when it was my turn to be forced out, Bill invited me to come to Donegal so that I might share my talents here as an interim. I still have good friends at Unionville.
Some two years ago, some of the leaders of the St. Andrew’s Society of Baltimore with over four hundred members, challenged me to extend my chaplaincy there to hold more regular worship services for the whole community. Word spread quickly, and by some Divine intervention, my friend of many years, the Rev. David Caldwell, invited us to establish our Christian Community within his Church facility, which also is “home” for a Jewish Synagogue and a small Baptist congregation.
As you have heard this evening we are not Presbyterian in structure. But together, we are reaching out to hundreds of “lost sheep,” creating partnerships with local schools, supporting many music programs, and always enthusiastically spreading Christ’s Message. Our motto? LET’S MAKE GOD HAPPY.
David Caldwell and I share ministries. This is wonderfully helpful as I accept invitations from around the country to speak and preach about the history, principles, and personalities of our origin as Presbyterians.
With an open mind, we have invited members of the Committee on Ministry of the Presbytery of Baltimore to see for themselves our new and exciting ministry. But they adamantly refuse. How I also wish that someone from our own Committee on Ministry had visited us either to see and interview some of our leaders. How can anyone, with a foundation of Christian integrity, simply condemn from afar, without evidence?
I was trained for the ministry in Scotland, both in Aberdeen and Glasgow. My debt of gratitude to some of the finest teachers and supportive friends will always be enormous. One was William Barclay whose commentaries on the New Testament are to be found in most Church libraries.
In his commentary on Second Corinthians, chapter twelve, William Barclay tells this story as a commentary on slander, misinterpretation and cruel misjudgment. A popular teacher, Archelaus, was addressing some people gathered in a city square. A man came up and poured a pail of cold water over him. But he continued teaching. When challenged by a friend in his audience, his reply was simple: “He threw the water, not on me, but on the man he thought I was.” How well do you really know myself?
We, as Presbyterians, are called to be people of the Word and Sacrament. The Book of Order is meant to be a source of encouragement in our ministry, not to be used as a weapon with which to destroy. Have you read the Great Ends of the Church lately? Surely this is our true calling! It is mine.
Here, I hold in my hand proudly, God’s Holy Scripture. Christ’s commandments are clear: that we go out to preach and teach to make disciples of all nations. Jesus says in John 15: You did not choose me. I chose you and appointed you to go out and bear fruit. St. Matthew 9 speaks of the great harvest of souls. But the laborers are few. What an exiting future!
Please find me one word of Holy Scripture which will support the motion you have before you.