In a recent conversation about same-sex marriage with a pro-LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) advocate who is an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) she disclosed that she persisted in performing gay marriage ceremonies even though she understands the denomination’s clear prohibition of the act. It is legal in the state where she resides, and it is right in her own eyes. That trumps the denomination’s constitutional definition and the many rulings by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission on the matter.
When I asked if she understood herself to be a person under authority she answered “yes.” She says that she sees herself as under the authority of Christ and as a pastor under the authority of the PCUSA. If that does not make sense to you, you are not alone. However, my conversation partner is not alone in her self-perception. There is a growing anarchy in the ranks.
Patrick Evans, the interim executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a pro-LGBTQ movement of PCUSA churches, wrote in a May 18 post, “We urge sessions and clergy to have conversations now about whether or not officiating at and/or hosting same gender marriages will be part of their ministry and if so, to be clear in that proclamation and witness.”
MLP maintains a list of pastors who have publicly proclaimed their dis-allegiance on this point to the mutually agreed upon standards in the PCUSA constitution which they have vowed in ordination vows to uphold. These church officers, who are in clear violation of the constitution, expect to be brought up on ecclesiastical discipline charges. However, that seems unlikely in the current environment of the PCUSA. There has been more than ample time for such charges to have been brought against any of a number of pastors who have made their disregard for the rules very public in the past year.
Charges have been filed against a pastor in the United Methodist Church. MLP recently shared the news that an ecclesiastical trial is scheduled in that denomination for a minister who performed the same-sex marriage of his son. The article features the comments of another UMC minister, the Rev. Kathryn Johnson, who wrote, “Let this serve as my notice that I intend to totally ignore the unjust laws of the church related to sexual orientation and same-gender weddings from here on out.”
“It’s time to clean the UMC closet. It’s embarrassing every time we wear one of those things out in public. Should someone file a complaint against me I think I’ll just ignore it. Should my bishop call me in to account for my actions (in so far as it relates to performing same-gender weddings) I have a hunch I just won’t go. Should a trial be scheduled, I’ll be hard pressed to participate and would ask my clergy colleagues to refuse to serve on a jury to convict me for breaking a law which is so clearly unjust to begin with. In fact, let’s have a pot luck clergy party. I’ll bring the chocolate chip cookies. Anyone else in? …”
The gathering storm of anarchy is upon us. We now face the reality of a self-elevated class of clergy who do not submit to the mutually agreed upon standards of the church’s constitution. Indeed, they have become an authority unto themselves, openly mocking the very institution that gives them credentials and paychecks, pulpits and voice.
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Hi Carmen,
I’m grateful for your accuracy of fact in this article, but I’d like to be clear about what we are and are not advocating.
We have been posting the reports of the potential UMC trial of my former YDS colleague Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree, a man of deep Christian faith, who was passionately involved in the civil rights movement in the South, and who presided at the same gender wedding of his son. Several other UMC clergy have declared that they too have offered pastoral care to LGBTQ people by officiating at their weddings. The article from Rev. Johnson was part of that coverage. Of course, UMC polity is very different from ours, and we would never encourage PC(USA) officers to ignore charges brought against them, or boycott a trial, as Rev. Johnson imagines herself doing (rhetorically, at least).
As you know, in the Newark v. McNeill case, the GAPJC specifically named the muddled situation Teaching Elders are currently in: “In light of the number of cases coming before this Commission and the convoluted grounds upon which cases are brought and decided, it would be beneficial for the church to provide a definitive position regarding participation of officers in same-gender ceremonies whether civil or religious.”
More and more Teaching Elders are in jurisdictions in which same gender civil marriage is available, and their parishioners are approaching them for this essential pastoral care. Until the GA, or the presbyteries, or the GAPJC clarifies the current tortuous situation regarding officers and same gender blessings/marriages, we are simply asking clergy and sessions to have the conversation about Christian marriage called for by the 220th GA, and determine whether or not they will host and officiate at same gender weddings or blessings. We are asking them to pray together and clarify the ministry to which they have been called, counting the cost in the current PCUSA climate, which is muddled and unclear.
Many thanks,
Patrick Evans
Interim Executive Director
More Light Presbyterians
Patrick:
Thank you for your important work on behalf of the Presbyterian congregations around the nation, and your group’s tireless efforts to ensure that the loving light of God is available to everyone.
Each and every one of us was created by God, in God’s own image. Sadly, it seems there will always be people who want to deny our full humanity, slam the door in our face and deny us our rightful place at Christ’s table. Jesus himself was made unwelcome by the religious authorities of his day.
Luckily, there will also always be people like you bringing light into the darkness, and facilitating the work of good Christian communities that minister to all who answer God’s call. And Amen to THAT.
Jack Murray
Church transformation experts cite one of the markers of a declining institution is an overly restrictive structure. Such churches have been around the block programmatically, and have been at the work of professionalizing their rules and regulations for so long, that they usually don’t realize when their structure gets in the way of meeting their earlier goals. Our Presbyterian form of government has been edited so much over the last few years that we recognized that there were parts of the Book of Order that were contradictory. If the goal of the church is to expande the sharing of good news to all people, how does insisting on the convoluted interpretations that have come out of the last few GAPJC’s on a portion of the section on worship that speaks out of both sides of its mouth increase our ability to share good news with all people, especially Lesbian, Gay, Bixexual, Transgender and Gender Queer people in our congregations? Denominations shouldn’t be about restricting ministry, but should be permission giving to expand the welcome of a loving God.
Early in my ministry I received a phone call from a hesitant young woman who was reaching out to the church for her wedding to her partner. Not knowing where my congregation stood on the issue, I offered the standard Presbyterian line at the time. I still remember hanging up the phone feeling horrible, that this was not why I went into ministry. I vowed never to feel that way again. If it’s not good news for everyone, it’s not good news for anyone. Until the PC (USA) get’s its policies right I’ll continue to follow the example of Jesus and not withold my ministry from anyone.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ….For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ….
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
~St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 1:18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25
“My commandment to you is this: Love one another.”
–Jesus Christ
I wonder where the outrage is for those ministers who, “openly mocking the very institution that gives them credentials and paychecks, pulpits and voice”, break their ordination vows by leading their congregations out of the PCUSA.
You made ordination vows. I’m not sure about trusting a pastor who is so comfortable breaking them.
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Gods-Sin-List-Today/dp/1610972791
If you sincerely receive the essential tenets of the Reformed faith – there is no way to keep that vow in the PC(USA). What should faithful clergy do when their denomination leaves the Church?
I learned a long time ago that many pasors in the PCUSA who vowed to uphold the peace, purity and unity of the church also supported homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage. They ministered with fingers crossed behind their backs. They no more intended to uphold the Constitution of the PCUSA than OJ Simpson declaring to a national audience that he would spend the rest of his life looking for the killer of his ex-wife. Most progressives have spoken with forked tongue. Someday they will hopefully recognize that they helped bring down a denominaiton that used to make difference in our culture. An unchurched person can’t tell the difference between a progressive and a non-believer who affirms the sexual values of our fallen culture. .
Patrick, as a one-time pastor in MA I would have two or three same-sex couples a summer asking me to marry them on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. I would tell these couples that the denominaiton in which I took my ordination vows doesn’t permit me to marry them. I was glad that my denomination stood behind my convictions to not marry same-sex persons. My concern if I remained a pastor in MA was this. If a same-sex couple asked me to marry them and I said no, they could possibly sue me. If the PCUSA votes to affirm same-sex marriage and I am sued, then I don’t have a denomination that will protect my back. Patrick, this issue of same-sex marriage has two sides to it. I trust as you continue to work toward the approval of same-sex marriage that you you are jeopardizing the ministry of those who don’t affirm these marriages.
I hope those advocating their own officiating of same-gender wedding ceremonies despite the current illegality under PCUSA polity will remember what they’ve said and done. Because if current trends continue, there soon will be ordinations, installations, and wedding ceremonies not merely permitted but mandated by PCUSA polity. I will be conscience-bound to refuse to participate in or to conduct them. Will they be as lenient and tolerant of me as they are requesting for themselves? I’m doubtful to say the least. Probably I will be brought up on charges for violations of civil and criminal law, accused of homophobia and schism, and be drummed out of the corps. More than a little unfair and unjust, don’t you think?
I attended the commencement exercises at Union Seminary in NYC a year ago. The students and the faculty pledged themselves to radicalize and revolutionize every institution they joined. Their entire vision was to conform the churches and institutions to the values which they were bringing into the institution, not to conform the church or institution to its own founding values. This pledge was affirmed with a glee and a hurrah and an abandon. Union Seminary, as it sinks (It sold its library and cannot pay the bill for badly needed repairs to fix crumbling walls.) into inconsequentiality, insists upon being in the vanguard of change. The PC(USA) is being “Unionized.” The Scriptures are being edited and ignored and denied and betrayed by a process touted as “interpretation.” It is no wonder that evangelicals want to leave a denomination that is “mutant and always mutating.” It is small wonder that the progressives insist that we stay. If the strong leave, there is no great institution left to take into battle with the perceived injustices of the culture nor is there this audience of fundies who would thank the progressives for being right all along.
I thank God for the sanity that yet remains in North Puget Sound Presbytery. Yet if you want a crystal ball to look into the future of the progressive PC(USA) look into the life of Union Seminary. In the chapel service two weeks before commencement, the Lord was worshipped by a liturgy “in drag.” This was reported by the student newspaper. Creative worshippers at Union Seminary dressed in the clothing of the opposite gender to praise the God of Knox and Bullinger and Rutherford by celebrating their indeterminate sexuality.
“It is not the shouts of victory, it is not the shouts of defeat; it is the shouts of partying that I hear.”
Jack appear to be using John 15:17 as a sort of trump card in a game of Scriptural bridge. Furthermore, I gather that he feels the verse establishes tolerance and inclusiveness as values that supersede all others. Perhaps he’s right, but i don’t think so.
The M.L.P. + appear to be taking a page from the F.O.P. play book and making it their own.
I think that is called integrity. They have worked within the system and chosen to leave, more often than not, their higher payed and better funded health benefits, provided through the PC(USA), as a matter of conscience. What they haven’t chosen to do is stay attached to the breast of mother church while thumbing their nose at the Book of Order.
Judges 17:6 would be an appropriate verse for what Carmen Fowler wrote, the difference being that the PC(USA) is supposed to have a “king” but nobody is certain if there really is a “king” or not ’cause rebellion against authority is so rampant
jeff, the “crossed fingers” has been going on for decades now, perhaps a century. that is why a certain author, whom I disagree with, used the title “Crossed Fingers” for his book on Presbyterian history.
more than, Jeff. An Orthodox Presbyterian Church pastor had criminal charges filed against him for preaching against homosexuality during the misrule of Jim Florio, my former (and unlamented) Congressman. They were dropped, but it’s still a warning of what is going to come.
also, Ocean Grove, a somewhat conservative U.M. campground, has a lovely gazebo with a view of the ocean that’s popular for weddings. they’re under pressure by same sex couples to use it for their ceremonies. they, too, might see the day of criminal proceedings against them.
The presbytery is not God! Polity that is not in line with Scripture is not polity!