- I've relayed the information. Rather than hoping no one finds out, I've been taking a pro-active approach to educate.
- I've reminded the congregation that a variety of opinions exist across the spectrum. This church, like most I have been involved in, is a big tent with almost as many opinions as they are people. We do not need to think alike in order to worship together.
- I've invited people to share with me and/or the session regarding their concerns. It is important that voices be heard.
- I've reminded everyone that it is okay to disagree AND that we disagree with love and respect. Just because someone disagrees doesn't mean that they are not Christian or they do not take the Bible seriously. As Moderator Heath Rada said, "We must disagree, for that is what Presbyterians do, but we must never stop loving each other."
- I've reminded everyone that we must not let this distract us from our mission. While issues are important, our call to worship, to disciple and to serve is more important. God is bigger than our opinions, and we have good news to share and good work to do.
I've been particularly heartened by going back and re-reading the papers which the PCUS and the UPCUSA adopted in 1983 and 1982, "Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture" and "Biblical Authority and Interpretation." Included in these wonderful documents are "Guidelines Concerning How the Text is Rightly Used." Among these guidelines found in the PCUS' "Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture" is "The Fallibility of All Interpretation."
"no doctrinal or ethical interpretation of Scripture, whether long established or new, is to be accepted as a final word, but is always subject to possible revision and correction as a result of further study of Scripture."
"this humility regarding the results of all our interpretive activity is an abiding feature of the Reformed tradition."
I hear many say that homosexuality is the final straw, in essence suggesting that if the church goes "so far" as to accept GLBTQ people in ordination and in marriage that the church is no longer really a church but has accommodated too much to society. But these words from the resource documents mentioned above remind me that it is not part of our tradition to "draw a line in the sand" and therefore suggest that there is a litmus test for true faith unless it is dealing with basics such as the Trinity, the incarnation, the Lordship of the Risen Christ. Everything else, Calvin said, is "a diaphora" meaning "things indifferent." Let us not be divided by non essentials but united in the essential quality of the new life we have in Christ, for he is our peace.
.JPG)