Overtures on same-sex marriage, other issues
submitted for PCUSA GA consideration
The Layman, December 6, 2011
Work is beginning to pile up for the 688 commissioners to the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 220th General Assembly to be held June 30-July 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
GA theme
“Walking, Running, Soaring in Hope.
GA verse
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31
While many presbyteries are in the process of, or have already approved, overtures on various subjects, as of Dec. 1, 17 overtures have been posted on the General Assembly’s website. Of those, three deal with the issue of permitting same-sex marriages by PCUSA pastors and in PCUSA churches; two concern the denomination’s Board of Pensions; and two request changes in the new Form of Government.
Marriage
Overture 009 from East Iowa Presbytery requests an amendment to W-4.9000 in the Book of Order be approved that would uphold session and pastoral discretion in their responsibility for the covenant of marriage. The proposed amendment deletes every reference of “man and woman” and replaces it with “two people.”
The purpose of the overture, according to the rationale, is to allow same-sex marriages to be performed by PCUSA teaching elders (pastors).
“Since April 2009, Iowa has been allowing two people of the same gender to marry. Although some Iowa pastors in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have declined to perform such marriages in keeping with their conscience, many others are caught in an untenable position: Their conscience tells them to exercise their pastoral responsibility and perform the marriage but the church tells them to fear prosecution. … We are all trying to discern God’s Word for us. And as surely as we are all unique creations of the loving God, we will each of us disagree from time to time. But if we profess to call all people to Christ, to call all people to proclaim God’s love for us in worship, to guarantee full participation in worship to all persons, we must give teaching elders and sessions the discretion to choose to recognize the covenant of Christian marriage for two people of the same gender just as we allow teaching elders and sessions the discretion to choose otherwise. To do anything else unfairly denies this group of our membership the opportunity to fully worship our God.”
Amendments to the Book of Order must first be approved by the General Assembly and then be sent out for approval by a majority of the denomination’s 173 presbyteries. They are often amended by the GA committee to which they are assigned and they are also often amended on the floor of the GA plenary.
Overture 010 is also from East Iowa Presbytery and deals with the same subject: same-sex marriage but seeks to sidestep the constitutional amendment process and only requires approval by the assembly. The overture asks the assembly to issue an Authoritative Interpretation (AI) that would allow pastors to conduct marriages between two people and church property to be used for the ceremony. The proposed AI says:
“Teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders authorized to conduct services of Christian marriage may exercise pastoral discretion when asked to officiate at such a ceremony for two people who have obtained a civil marriage license, and sessions may permit the use of church property for such services. Teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders may refuse to conduct such services, and sessions may refuse to permit the use of church property for such purposes.”
“Teaching elders and sessions need the General Assembly’s assurance of their pastoral discretion to provide the care that their members require,” according to the rationale. “This is based on the same principle as W-4.9002b, which provides that pastors are free, as their judgment dictates, not to officiate at marriages their members and others are contracting. … The authoritative interpretation will prevent deep grief to church members who might otherwise be denied the pastoral care of the church; it will protect pastors and sessions from judicial challenge for exercising their pastoral responsibilities; in the spirit of mutual forbearance widely urged in recent years by General Assemblies and their task forces, it will promote the peace, unity, and purity of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
Overture 016 from Boston Presbytery also requests the assembly issue an AI that would allow teaching and ruling elders to officiate same-sex marriages and allow such ceremonies on church property. The proposed AI of W-4.9000 of the Book of Order reads:
“The 220th General Assembly (2012) declares that in the states and other jurisdictions that authorize same-gender marriage, teaching elders (ministers of the Word and Sacrament) and ruling elders commissioned to pastoral service (where jurisdictions allow) may officiate at such marriages in the context of Christian worship, and sessions may permit the use of church property for such services. This authorization does not oblige anyone to act contrary to their judgment or conscience.”
“Where same-gender marriage is recognized under the law, it is neither fair nor pastoral to exclude members of a congregation by declining to perform their marriage on the grounds of gender alone,” the rationale reads. “In practical terms, what this authoritative interpretation means is that clergy and commissioned lay pastors will be able to exercise their pastoral responsibilities without running the risk of prosecution by the church. Such prosecutions have placed a formidable financial and spiritual burden on councils of the church.”
The presbytery of Hudson River is due to vote on similar overtures at its December meeting. Overtures seeking to reaffirm the existing definition are also expected.
Board of Pensions
Overture 002 from San Diego Presbytery asks the assembly to urge the Board of Pensions to refrain from exploring, developing or adopting amendments to the Benefits Plan that extend eligibility for spousal and dependent benefits under the plan to members, their same-gender domestic partners and the children of their same-gender domestic partners.
The rationale states, “Regardless of the action of a single General Assembly, the constitutional standard for the Presbyterian Church (USA) is that self-avowed, unrepentant homosexual practice is contrary to God’s will and purpose for humankind. Thus, it is detrimental to the life and health of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to require mandatory participation in Benefits Plan while simultaneously exploring, developing, and/or adopting amendments to extend coverage to persons who specifically reject the standards of the church. It is inappropriate for the Board of Pensions to take any action to extend coverage to persons whose manner of life is contrary to the historic, unchanged, biblical, confessional, and constitutionally approved standard of the church.”
Overture 013 from Washington Presbytery asks the assembly to “protect Presbyterians who believe abortion is sin, from the sin of complicity in the t
aking of human life by directing the Board of Pensions to provide a medical benefits plan that will not pay for abortions, except that any procedure necessary to save the physical life of the woman will be covered.”
“The Board of Pensions medical plan currently covers abortion under a wide range of circumstances,” the rationale says. “We believe this coverage should be revised to a more focused scenario – namely, medical emergencies when the life of the mother is at stake. To do otherwise is to fly in the face of the Scriptures, which show a clear and consistent regard for human life at even its earliest stages. Has not the Lord chosen His people even from before the foundation of the earth (Eph. 1:4-6)? Does not He Himself knit us together in our mother’s wombs (Ps. 139:13)? Did not John the Baptist even leap for joy in the womb of his mother when he heard the voice of Mary, the mother of our Lord (Lk. 1:41)? Let us not treat lightly lives that are costly and precious to our Lord, but instead adopt a medical plan that shows compassion for both mother and child, in full obedience to God’s revealed will.”
new Form of Government
Overture 008 from Santa Fe Presbytery asks the General Assembly to return the terms “elders” and ministers of Word and sacrament,” to the denomination’s Form of Government (FOG). When the new FOG was ratified in 2011, those terms were replaced by “ruling elder” and “teaching elder.”
The rationale states, “The change from ‘elder’ to ‘ruling elder’ is both restrictive and negative in its implications. It was apparently of sufficient concern to the authors of the new Form of Government to cause them to write a disclaimer into their text (‘Ruling elders are so named not because they “lord it over” the congregation…etc.’) in two places (F-3.0202 and G-2.0301). The need for this is understandable, as the word ‘ruling’ evokes an authoritarianism that is foreign to the ‘ministry’ of elders in the current church. … Comparable concerns arise in relation to the title ‘teaching elder.’ Vocational ministry encompasses many functions. … Another, presumably unintended, consequence of the change to ‘teaching elder’ from ‘minister of the Word and sacrament’ is that the emphasis on ‘teaching’ may too easily focus on ‘the Word’ at the expense of ‘sacrament.’ …A return to the nomenclature of ‘elder’ and ‘minister of Word and sacrament’ is particularly appropriate in light of the new Form of Government’s repeated emphasis on the three historic ‘marks’ of the Reformed church as being a body that ‘proclaims and hears the Word of God … administers and receives the sacraments … and nurtures a covenant community of disciples of Christ.’ (F-1.0303).”
Overture 014 from the Utah Presbytery requests an amendment to the first section – F-1.01,God’s mission –of the new Form of Government. The overture requests that the section be amended as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strikethrough; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]
“F-1.01 GOD’S MISSION
“The good news of the Gospel is that the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and all people. This one living God, the Scriptures say, liberated the people of Israel from oppression and covenanted to be their God. By the power of the Spirit, this one living God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, who came to live in the world, die for the world, and be raised again to new life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces the nearness of God’s kingdom, bringing good news to all who are impoverished, sight to all who are blind, freedom to all who are oppressed, and proclaiming the Lord’s favor upon all creation.
“The mission of the Church is given form by the activity of the triune God in the world as told in the Bible and understood by faith.
“F-1.0101
“a. God’s Activity: God created the heavens and the earth and made human beings in God’s image, charging them to care for all that lives; God made men and women to live in community, responding to their Creator with grateful obedience. Even when the human race broke community with its Maker and with one another, God did not forsake it, but out of grace chose one family for the sake of all, to be pilgrims of promise, God’s own Israel.
“b. God’s Covenant: God liberated the people of Israel from oppression; God covenanted with Israel to be their God and they to be God’s people, that they might do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with the Lord; God confronted Israel with the responsibilities of this covenant, judging the people for their unfaithfulness while sustaining them by divine grace.
“F-1.0102 God in Christ: God was incarnate in Jesus Christ, who announced good news to the poor, proclaimed release for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, let the broken victims go free, and proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost; in His life and death for others God’s redeeming love for all people was made visible; and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is the assurance of God’s victory over sin and death and the promise of God’s continuing presence in the world.
“F-1.0103 The Holy Spirit: God’s redeeming and reconciling activity in the world continues through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who confronts individuals and societies with Christ’s Lordship of life and calls them to repentance and to obedience to the will of God.
“F-1.0104 The Church
“The mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church. In Christ, the Church participates in God’s mission for the transformation of creation and humanity by proclaiming to all people the good news of God’s love, offering to all people the grace of God at font and table, and calling all people to discipleship in Christ. Human beings have no higher goal in life than to glorify and enjoy God now and forever, living in covenant fellowship with God and participating in God’s mission.”
The rationale gives two reasons for the change:
- “The ‘new’ language of the amendment better captures and explains who the God we worship is, who we are and why the church does what it does.”
- “The ‘new’ amended language brings this section of the Book of Order into better concordance with The Book of Confessions.”
Editor’s note: Tomorrow we will explore overtures forwarded to the General Assembly related to ordination standards.