Moderator figures (right or wrong?) task force will focus on unity
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 20, 2004
DALLAS – General Assembly Moderator Susan R. Andrews gave the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity a pat on the back Thursday night for making unity the principal goal of its work, with less emphasis on peace and purity.
Say what?
Even though some of its presentations have raised unity – and not necessarily peace and purity – as the denomination’s ultimate concern, a few members of the task force were surprised to hear Andrews say that even the panel’s letterhead left that impression.
On the letterhead, the “‘unity’ letters are much bigger than ‘peace’ and ‘purity,'” Andrews told the task force’s members. “As I read Paul’s letters, there are many, many, many places where Paul talks about unity. That’s the heart of the Pauline letters.”
But several task force members, including Jack Haberer, the pastor of Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, said they were unaware that the task force had created a letterhead emphasizing unity.
“I don’t recall it,” Haberer said.
Stacy Johnson, an associate professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, told Andrews that he interpreted her comment to mean that the task force had decided to place unity first. He said he agreed with her in one sense, but that both of them needed to allow their bias toward unity to be challenged.
“Why on your letterhead is unity in large type and peace and purity in small type?” Andrews asked. “As I read it, unity rises above peace and purity. Unity does not mean uniformity.”
Noticing that she surprised some task force members with her interpretation drawn from the letterhead, Andrews said, “I apologize for being so direct.”
Later, The Layman Online asked Gary Demarest, the co-chairman of the task force, whether the task force intended to send a unity-above-all message through its letterhead. “I’ve never had to stop to think about it,” Demarest said, noting that a committee of the task force, and not the full panel, had approved the letterhead with the help of a graphic artist. He said he couldn’t remember what the letterhead looked like. He and a reporter went to fetch a copy.
On the way, Demarest said he didn’t believe unity was possible unless the church has corresponding commitment to peace and purity.
Indeed, Andrews was right about the letterhead. It is the same as the logo on the task force’s Web site. This is how it appears on the Web:
But the issue Andrews was promoting was more serious than three words on a letterhead. She is an advocate of “unity in diversity,” the view that there is room for people to hold widely divergent views – even about some cornerstone doctrines of the Christian faith – if they’ll just learn to “dialogue” and “understand” each other.
A former member of the board of directors of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, an organization committed to repealing the church law that prohibits the ordination of practicing homosexuals, Andrews says she intentionally raises that issue in her travels.
“If the issue is not raised, I raise it,” she said. But she added that she points to the task force as the model for discussing ordination and other controversial issues. She commended the task force for:
1. Thoroughly studying ordination and other controversial issues.
2. Building community.
3. Adopting a consensus model for making decisions.
The meeting in Dallas on Feb. 19-20 was the eighth for the task force. It has had numerous studies – Christology, church history (focusing on church breakups and reunions), confessions and demographics. It has not decided a single issue – for instance, what it might say about the seemingly endless debate over ordination standards.
Andrews gave the task force high grades for the work it has done, and expressed high hopes for what it will eventually conclude. Even so, she tried to lighten the load.
“The future of the Presbyterian Church is not up to you,” she said. “It is up to our Reformed and always reforming God who is our channel of healing and hope.”
At a recent conference, she said she heard a report by Demarest and co-chair Jenny Stone, an elder in Craftsbury, Vt., and that she was surprised to hear how much the task force has done. “What I heard from Jenny and Gary was the most hopeful news I have heard for years,” she said.
She recited a list of what she described as positive signs in the denomination – including “multicultural faith communities,” creative leadership, the spread of consensus as a decision-making tool instead of the parliamentary procedure mandated by the Book of Order for legislative bodies, and creative worship experiences with “most within good Reformed theology.”
On the other hand, Andrews said, there are deep divisions in the denomination, including “fear and an avoidance to deal lovingly and happily with issues that divide us.”
She cited a number of instances:
- In Southern California, she met with a group of gay and lesbian activists and sympathizers and listened to their stories. She mentioned a homosexual couple – Don and Ron – who had adopted two children, a black cocaine baby and a Hispanic. The four wound up in a Presbyterian church, which the children loved.
- “I met a couple in their 60s, Reagan Republicans. Their son came to them five years ago and shared with them that he was gay. They were not completely comfortable.”
- In the Presbytery of the Trinity in South Carolina, she said she heard two people speak about how they would react if the Presbyterian Church (USA) begins ordaining practicing homosexuals. “A Confessing Church pastor spoke carefully, lovingly. But he made it crystal clear: His church would leave” if the denomination begins ordaining homosexuals. The other speaker was angrily opposed to the ordination of homosexuals.
- She spoke of an African American, the pastor of a large church, whose brother had told him that he was gay. The pastor changed his mind about the homosexual issue, Andrews said, but was afraid to say anything to his congregation.
- And she mentioned a Presbyterian affiliated with one of the evangelical renewal efforts in the denomination, who said he would favor a constitutional change that allowed the ordination of people in “monogamous” relationships – whether homosexual or heterosexual. But, Andrews said, the man was reluctant to publicly support the idea for fear that his evangelical friends would turn against him.
Andrews said there are people in the denomination who think purity is the paramount issue. She quoted one as saying, “This is purity: Romans 1:26 … if you don’t like it, leave.”
“I’m always trying to think ‘What would Jesus do?” which became a popular slogan among youth movements as “WWJD.”
“Somehow, he had to do something different,” she said, noting that Jesus came to fulfill the law – sometimes by shunning some of its lesser claims – to show the love of God.
She issued two requests to the task force:
1. “I think the dialogue we all hope for is not happening across the church. If they are, they are usually talking with people they agree with. … I hope in your interim report [to the 216th General Assembly in June] there will be a strongly urged process” of getting people together to talk about their differences. Because of its “high credibility,” Andrews said, the task force could serve as a model for bringing people together.
2. “I hope in 2006 [when the task force will present its final report to the General Assembly] you will figure out a way to take us beyond this impasse.”