Sometime this month the newspapers will be reporting on an important change to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Amendment 10-A replaces language that to this point expressly excluded from ordination those sexually active outside the covenant of marriage. Whereas the previous constitutional standard for ordination was “living faithfully within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” the new language calls for “joyfully submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.” The amendment seeks to broaden the call for obedience beyond the arena of sexuality and to allow individual ordaining bodies greater freedom in interpreting specific standards.
As for Clear Lake Presbyterian Church, nothing much will change in our life and ministry because of this. We’ll continue to reach out into our community with the good news of Jesus Christ, inviting others into personal relationship with him, seeking corporately and individually to grow in Christ’s grace and Lordship as we visibly demonstrate the Kingdom of God.
In my own preaching and teaching, I will continue to affirm God’s design for human sexual intimacy within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. And, even more important, I will continue to preach and teach God’s amazing forgiveness and life-changing grace which free us from all kinds of sexual anarchy.
Undoubtedly, some sessions and Presbyteries will welcome this constitutional change as opportunity to ordain practicing gays and lesbians. However, it is important to understand that the new wording actually underscores the right and responsibility of each ordaining body to thoughtfully and prayerfully examine every candidate for ordination. This means CLPC has autonomy to define and maintain our particular standards according to Scripture for ordained pastors, elders, and deacons.
I welcome your comments and questions here and for others to join in on the conversation. In subsequent posts I will offer some more thoughts and resources on the topic.
4 comments:
Well said, Pastor Steve. Yet another reason we're glad we joined CLPC.
Steve,
I've been following this closely; consequently, I've decided to take a wait & see approach. My desire is for CLPC to adopt a "bylaw" for lack of a better term. The bylaw would prevent the ordination / hiring of practicing homosexuals. Furthermore, it's a matter of time before Texas will recognize same sex civil unions. It's my further desire that CLPC will not sanction such an occurrence (i.e. perform "ceremony"). Personally I have no problem what people do in their personal lives; however, I have to draw the line when it comes to my / our church. I also have problems with whatever percentage of my tithe going to the Presbytery - an organization who now promotes a lifestyle I'm not in concert with. I realize the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a reformed church, but they've gone too far. I truly enjoy our church, and hate the thought of going elsewhere, but I am at a crossroads. Again, I reiterate, I’m taking a wait & see approach.
Peace,
Rich Baumgartner
I have read various facts such as 45% of marriages continue to end in divorce, 38% of college and high school kids admit to smoking weed on regular basis (which directly leads to 50,000 deaths in Mexico since 2008), and over 900 people died from cancer in the last hour alone. Also read where about 1.4% of the population is gay or lesbian (USA Today this week). My hot opinion is that no matter what side of the debate you are on, we have a lot of issues in society to be concerned with and pray about and we need to keep this issue in perspective. I appreciate you addressing it!
Steve, this is very troubling to me. I feel that our denomination has made yet another step away from scripture and towards moral relativism. I have the utmost respect for and confidence in you and our CLPC leadership, but we're a part of PCUSA too, and I have little confidence in our denominational leadership. It'll be interesting to see if this decision sparks a mass exodus of evangelical churches from our denomination. If it does, we'll have to be very thoughtful and prayerful about how we, as a church, respond.
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