An overture has been passed by the
Presbytery of New York City, seeking to reverse our denomination's
prohibition on ordained service by gay and lesbian persons. It was
passed without debate, by a voice vote of roughly 100 to 5. One person
who has been following this observes that "the overture goes well
beyond a number of the other proposals that have been put forward for
reconsideration of Amendment B and, I believe, offers the promise of
real and durable denominational peace on this issue."
Do you have comments, suggestions?
Overture from Presbytery of New
York City
On Reforming Application of our
Ordination Standards to Homosexual Persons
The Presbytery of New York City respectfully overtures
the 213th General Assembly (2001) of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) through its Stated Clerk to take the following actions:
(1) to send the following proposed amendment to the
presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes:
Section G-6.0106(b) of the Form of Government shall be
stricken from the Book of Order;
and
(2) to issue the following Authoritative
Interpretation, that:
The interpretive statements concerning ordained service by homosexual
persons by the 190th General Assembly of The United Presbyterian Church
in the United States of America and the 119th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States, and all subsequent
denominational affirmations thereof, shall be given no further force or
effect; and Section G-6.0106(a) of the Form of Government, together with
the other prerequisites for ordination expressly stated in our Book of
Order, hereby are affirmed as the sole and exclusive standards for
ordination by ordaining bodies acting in prayerful discernment of the
leading of Almighty God.
Rationale
We have reflected prayerfully over these past four
years, in a spirit of inquiry and openness, striving to be faithful both
to our beloved family of seekers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and
to the gospel message.
We have observed with sadness the judicial trials
ripping the fabric of our communities; with anger the unintended
hypocrisy that, albeit in good faith, has allowed us to conclude that
some are more worthy than others; and with alarm the increasing desire
in our fellowship to debate supposed heretics rather than to nurture
sincere believers.
Our journey of faith with homosexual persons of deep
conviction, sincere love of Christ, and valued service to our
congregations has caused us to take to heart anew the apostolic
revelation that the Church may call no person unworthy, even though
their beliefs and practices may differ from our own, if they profess our
common faith in the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 10-11).
We affirm the possibilities of revelation and reform,
that Scripture may deliver a fresh word of hope and challenge to every
generation that faithfully searches its pages for the truth; that synods
and councils may err; that our confessions speak often of sins as
matters of context and degree, rather than as absolute rights and
wrongs; and that our understandings of the natural world and human
sexuality are incomplete.
We affirm the founding principle of our denomination,
that God alone is Lord of the conscience (G-1.0301) in matters not
essential to the Reformed faith.
We believe that the deep differences of opinion among
our own members and past amendment of our confessional standards
regarding conjugal relationships, no less our own inner sense of
conviction, demonstrate that the matters addressed by G-6.0106(b) are
not "essentials" of the Reformed faith.
We would honor Christ's last prayer with his disciples
that all may be one (Jn. 17.11), and would heed the admonitions of the
New Testament writers that we avoid needless controversies lest the body
of Christ be divided.
We would be faithful to our brothers and sisters in
Christ, valuing reconciliation rather than repudiation, walking
alongside rather than placing stumbling blocks in front of those who
search for the Christian path in their lives as, indeed, we all do.
We would be faithful to our church, shepherding its
resources for outreach to the world, enabling service by all in whom we
discern a call to serve, aware that factionalism demeans our fellowship,
detracts from our witness, denies the gospel, and defeats our purpose.
We would be faithful to our Form of Government,
affirming that our presbyterian system cannot be allowed to disintegrate
into political maneuvering, that we must speak from the authority of
consensus rather than from the power of narrow majorities.
We would be faithful to our Lord God, striving
constantly to honor and express in our corporate life the reality of the
amazing and unfathomable grace on which we all depend.
Therefore, we have concluded that our denomination's
pronouncements upon the ordination of homosexual persons and subsequent
adoption of G-6.0106(b), understood in light of the foregoing, were in
error.
Do you have comments, suggestions?
