FAQ Regarding Yesterday's Vote in the PCUSA

Here is a FAQ sheet distributed by the Presbytery of New Covenant regarding the change to our denomination's constitution:

Frequently Asked Questions
The Change in Ordination Standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

1. How is the change in ordination standards happening?
It appears likely that during the week of May 8 a majority of the 173 presbyteries will have approved a change in language for ordination standards recommended by The General Assembly in 2010. In all, since the General Assembly meeting, 55% of the total number of commissioners voting in presbyteries is approving the amendment.

2. Specifically, what language is being changed?
The following old language will be replaced by new language:
Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W‐4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self‐acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.
The new language (Amendment 10-A):
Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G‐1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G‐ 14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W‐4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.

3. What does the change in ordination standards mean?
The ordination standards have changed from “living in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” to “joyfully submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” This removes a national standard categorically prohibiting the ordination of persons in sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

4. What does the change in ordination standards represent?
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has shifted the authority for applying its ordination standards from the national level to the local presbytery and session level. This represents a de-centralization of the church and puts more discernment in the hands of people at the local level.

5. May congregations now ordain people who are openly gay?
The previous standards were never based on a person’s orientation, but on their behavior. The new standards do not list specific behaviors that automatically exclude someone for consideration for ordination. Each examining body is responsible to look at all possible factors to determine if someone is being called into ordained ministry.

6. Specifically, what was changed?
The primary change is the removal of language requiring those ordained “to live either in fidelity in the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” It also adds language referring to obedience to Christ, and indicates that fidelity to church standards is judged case by case by the examining body.

7. What practical changes will we see?
If pastors, elders, and deacons who are ordained in one area move to another location, they shall be examined by that ordaining body before being able to take up their office. That body may choose to apply ordination standards differently from the officer’s previous body.

8. Is the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians mandated?
No, it is not required, but it is no longer prohibited by specific Constitutional language.

9. Will a congregation be required to change anything?
A congregation cannot be forced to ordain or receive pastors or elders or deacons of whom they do not approve. The congregation retains the right to determine who will serve as officers.

10. May a congregation continue to consider sexual activity outside marriage between a man and a woman as impermissible for its officers?
Yes, as long as the application is on a case by case basis. The authority for ordaining elders and deacons is fully vested in the local congregation. The new language calls the ordaining body to be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying ordination standards to individual candidates.

11. May a congregation or presbytery now ordain or install a sexually active homosexual?
Yes, if after a thorough examination, the congregation or presbytery believes the person to be called by God to serve as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament, elder or deacon and not to be living in violation of the church’s ordination standard, its Confessions, or Scripture.

12. Does the new language give candidates who are sexually active outside the covenant of marriage between a woman and a man the “right” to be ordained?
Nobody has a “right” to be ordained. Ordination is based on a sense of God’s call as confirmed by the ordaining body.

13. May a presbytery continue to function with the standard of “fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” when examining candidates for ordination?
Yes, as long as the application is on a case by case basis. The new language calls the ordaining body to be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying ordination standards to each candidate.

14. Is a presbytery required to receive, by transfer of membership, an ordained sexually active gay or lesbian minister?
No, each presbytery determines which ministers to receive into its membership.

15. May questions about a candidate’s sexuality be asked or are such questions forbidden?
All questions are allowed during an examination. The acknowledgment of being sexually active outside the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman does not automatically disqualify a person from being ordained.

16. Is a congregation required to call a pastor who is openly gay or lesbian?
No.

Changes in the PCUSA

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.

End of Lent

Well, Lenten experiment of ironing my own shirts and praying for the countries on the tags has ended. Next week I'll start taking my shirts to the cleaners... whew!

The experiment has been interesting. I had no idea that my clothing came from so many places around the world. And I couldn't help but think about what a luxury it is for me to even have the option of having someone else wash and iron my shirts. I would sort of grouse to myself every time the stack of clean un-ironed shirts started piling up. It felt like such an inconvenience to have to break out the iron and ironing board... Until I remembered that surely most of the people making the shirts I whining about would not have that option.

As you'll recall, part of my commitment was to save up the money I would have normally spent on laundering and give it away. I had imagined giving it to some particular ministry in one of the countries of my shirts. I haven't exactly decided where to send my meager contribution (I'm open to suggestions!) but I am intrigued by Kelsey Timmerman's blog. Kelsey is the author of a book entitled "Where Am I Wearing" in which he chronicles his travels to the countries where his clothes were made.

Thanks to all of you who are following my blog. I really am trying to do a better job of keeping it up! Stay tuned for some posts about the upcoming change to the PCUSA's Book of Order regarding ordination standards.

Join the "Rat Race"

Our North American culture is a "context of persistent denial of grace" (Peterson) and sadly the church is often the biggest culprit. As I was driving this morning I passed a large electronic marquee in front of a church that read: "Hard work brings prosperity and success." This is the North American gospel, isn't it? "Join the rat race!" Is that the best we can offer? Never mind the implication that if you are poor or homeless you are basically lazy. How about Jesus followers offering some alternative definition for what constitutes "prosperity and success?" Anyone care for a cross instead?

Swimming by Grace

In his recent work Practice Resurrection, Eugene Peterson captures a wonderful analogy about the relationship between the believer in Christ and grace. He borrows the analogy from William Stafford's book on creative writing (William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl [Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1978], pp. 23-25).

Stafford observed that any reasonable person who looks at water [grace], and passes a hand through it, can see that it would not hold a person up.... But swimmers [followers of Jesus] know that if they relax on the water [grace] it will prove to be miraculously buoyant; and writers [followers of Jesus] know that a succession of little strokes on the material nearest them - without any prejudgments about the specific gravity of the topic or the reasonableness of their expectations -will result in creative progress [growing up in Christ: maturity]. Writers are persons who write; swimmers [believers] are ... persons who relax in the water, let their heads go down, and reach out with ease and confidence.... Just as the swimmer [believer] does not have a succession of handholds hidden in the water, but instead simply sweeps that yielding medium and finds it hurrying him along, so the swimmer and writer [follower of Jesus] passes his attention through what is at hand, and is propelled by a medium [grace] too thin and all-pervasive for the perceptions of nonbelievers who try to stay on the bank and fathom his accomplishment. (Kindle loc. 1070)

This is helpful because most of us tend to treat grace as something of a commodity dispensed by God to the believer through faith, rather than a realm in which we live (abide) through faith. Peterson calls for a "willed passivity" in order to embrace grace. "Faith in Christ is an act of abandoning the shores of self, where we think we know where we stand and where if we just try hard enough we can be in control. Faith in Christ is a plunge into grace." (Kindle loc. 1081).

Lenten Ironing #2

Sorry, guys, this isn't too exciting so far. I ironed Honduras, two Egypts and then a shirt I didn't iron on the first go-round. This one is from a country called "Maubitius." Never heard of it. A Google search turned up "Mauritius" which makes me wonder if the tag on the shirt is misspelled. I need to do some more research.

As I was ironing this morning and thinking about how *inconvenient* this is, I found myself wondering about the lives of the people who make the shirts that I wear. I wonder what inconvenience looks like for them?

Lenten Ironing - Session #1

If my shirts look a little wrinkled over the next several weeks, here's why. I decided after Pastor Rachel's sermon series on Amos to iron my own shirts during Lent. (Usually I just drop my shirts off at the dry-cleaners and a few days later, voilà! - they're washed and neatly pressed.) I'm combining my desire to slow down during Lent with the hope of learning more about the "vulnerable" in our world. So as I iron each shirt I'll take a peek at the tag and see what country it was made in. I'll make my ironing time prayer time for each of those countries.

I decided to get started last night after the Ash Wednesday service. (If I didn't start right away I could easily let this one slide.) So here's what I discovered.

The eight shirts I ironed were made in six different countries. The green dress shirt was from Egypt. (Egypt was easy to pray for since it was in the news recently... at least until the titillating street fighting subsided.) But then came the brown shirt from Indonesia, the green striped one from Sri Lanka and the orange checkered shirt from Malaysia. I'm embarrassed to say I only know vaguely where these country are on the map. The last two countries, Korea and China, were obviously more familiar. But, I had no idea my meager wardrobe was so international!

As I pray my way through Lent, ironing and asking God for more of his heart for the world, I'll keep you posted on my blog. Perhaps you'll want to also share how God is leading you this Lenten season.