Noted gay activist will preach at PCUSA worship service
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 27, 2004
Chris Glaser of Atlanta, a gay activist who has long been a leader in the movement to allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals and adulterers in the Presbyterian Church (USA), will be one of the preachers during the denomination’s official worship services at the 216th General Assembly.
General Assembly Moderator Susan R. Andrews selected Glaser and the other preachers for the June 27-July 4 meeting in Richmond, Va. Like Glaser, Andrews has been a long-time activist against the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement.
In an apparent balancing of the ticket, she also chose the Rev. Jin S. Kim of the Korean Presbyterian Church in Minnesota to preach at one of the services. Kim is president of Presbyterians For Renewal, an organization that has supported the denomination’s ordination standard in the past.
Andrews will preach at the opening worship service on Sunday, June 27, an event full of pomp and circumstance. It usually attracts thousands of worshipers, including many from Presbyterian congregations that cancel their services to attend the General Assembly service.
The other preachers will speak at morning services Monday, June 28, through Saturday, July 3. Besides Glaser and Kim, they are:
- Nancy Ballentine of Tallahassee, Fla., and Patricia Massey of Davison, N.C., co-moderators of the Presbyterian Youth Connection. They will share the pulpit.
- Thomas Hoyt Jr., bishop of the fourth Episcopal diocese of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. His appearance is billed as an ecumenical service.
- The Rev. J. Barrie Shepherd of New York City, a poet and a retired Presbyterian minister.
- The Rev. Teri Thomas of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.
Glaser is probably the best known. A prolific writer, his works include Coming Out as Sacrament, a book that compares a person’s disclosure of his homosexuality with a sacrament of the church.
Because of the denomination’s historic Biblical position – even before it became constitutional law in 1997 – Glaser, a self-acknowledged, practicing homosexual, failed to gain ordination as a minister of Word and Sacrament.
But denominational leaders have used him as a “resource” person and the PCUSA’s news service has written several glowing reports about him.
He was spotlighted twice in 1998 General Assembly News reports. In a story titled PLGC Celebrate Years of Concern, Presbyterian News Service writer Joanne Hines said, “While understanding that in many ways he has been identified as a professional victim, he spoke eloquently that neither his life nor his ministry ended with the denial of his ordination. He is now a successful author and the founder of the Lazarus Project. While determined to work within the Presbyterian Church for change, he has proclaimed a ‘Eucharistic fast,’ refusing communion until change comes about. He applauded the sacrificial effort of understanding parents and friends and churches whose open hands and arms embrace an open and inviting membership.”
PLGC is the acronym for Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns, which Glaser formerly headed. The organization later merged to become part of More Light Presbyterians, which also works for homosexual ordination and has promoted defiance of church law.
On June 17, 1998, another PCUSA News Service writer, Nancy Rodman, wrote a glowing review of Unleashed: The Wit and Wisdom of Calvin the Dog, one of Glaser’s books. Calvin is the name of Glaser’s pet dog.
Another denominational story – written by Alexa Smith – quoted Glaser with making a statement about withholding mission money from the denomination. The story, published on June 4, 1997, was titled “More Light Churches Network Supports Local Dissent Instead of a National Strategy on Gay and Lesbian Ordination.”
Smith wrote: “On the fringes of the conference and in panel presentations, MLCN [More Light Church Network] and PLGC members tossed around other dissent possibilities, with longtime activist Chris Glaser pushing for gay Presbyterians to withhold mission dollars and to invest them in MLCN/PLGC projects, as well as joining him in a Eucharist fast until the amendment is rescinded. Clergy activist the Rev. Howard Warren proposed looking at the creation of a nongeographic gay/lesbian presbytery.”
There was never any public criticism by the denomination’s leaders of Glaser’s suggestion that gay Presbyterians should withhold mission money. But when evangelicals suggested that Presbyterians should consider redirecting their denominational gifts to ministries faithful to Christ and Scripture, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick warned them that they were violating their ordination vows – an offense that can lead to expulsion from the church.
Glaser was the only openly gay member of the Presbyterian Task Force to Study Homosexuality. The 1978 General Assembly rejected that report and adopted an authoritative interpretation that declares that homosexual behavior is sinful.
Continuing attacks against the 1978 interpretation later led to the decision of the 1996 General Assembly to propose that the prohibition against ordaining homosexuals be included in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Fifty-five percent of the presbyteries voted in favor of the proposal, which became G-6.0106b in the Book of Order.
Attempts to dilute or repeal the ordination requirement were defeated by 65 percent of the presbyteries in 1998 and by nearly 75 percent in 2001.