What's the Question?

Yet another response article to the GA suggests that PC(USA) seminaries will be hurt because of the decisions made by the General Assembly. The focus is different, but the question is the same as all the other articles: "How many will leave?" How many congregations will leave? How many individuals will leave? How many will leave?

And we wring our hands and fret because we don't know "how many will leave." We think we know that it will be bad.

"How many will leave?" is certainly a question. It is not the question. It is a question that walks us down a path of futility and despair even when nothing has happened yet. It is "borrowing trouble" to use my grandmother's phrase. Not only do we borrow, but we pay interest on trouble that is already happening, may not happen, or cannot be stopped at any price. We have fretted over this question for the last 30 years. Our worry has not stopped people leaving our churches.

The question is "How many will come?" How many of the displaced, the unloved, the outcasts in religion or society will hear in this new action, God's invitation to inclusion. How many will come in? Once the gentile population understood that God's love and transforming work was for them and not just for the Jews, the world changed. Ironically, we who are deciding whether to leave or not would not be here had God not flung the doors of inclusiveness wide open for all people, all nations.

I am saddened by those leaving, those who have already gone, and those who will depart. But the question I ask, what I am really interested in, what I eagerly await to see is who will come in. Who will be included? Who will bring new insight into the practice of faith in 2014 and beyond? What understanding will be gained in new conversations and new relationships? What grace will become evident that we couldn't see before?

I'm not spending much time thinking about the question everyone is asking, just long enough to think it's a bad question. I'm spending much time thinking about how to invite those not involved, those who think they are not welcome, those who assume there's a secret code of behavior that they have to know before they enter our doors, those who need to know that I have experienced grace beyond measure and that grace is theirs as well.

I've been taught that one way we evaluate our decisions and behavior is by seeing if we produce the fruit of the Spirit, peace, love, joy, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To see if we achieve that, the only question is, "Who is coming in?"

A Vote for Change and Trust in the Sovereign God...

Many Presbyterians considered yesterday a momentous occasion when the General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted on an Authoritative Interpretation that allows clergy to marry same gender couples in states where that is legal. They also voted to change the definition of marriage in the Book of Order from between "a man and woman" to "between two people." That will go to presbyteries for a necessary two-thirds ratification vote before it "sticks."

Many, many folks celebrated yesterday. Many did not. My discernment on this issue began some 30 years ago when my sister came out. Life was extraordinarily difficult for her. The question I remember her asking was, "Why would I choose to live this way?" Reading the gospels and studying the life of Christ, I decided if I was going to make a mistake, I was going to err on the side of inclusion and acceptance. Mark Achtemeier's speech to the Covenant Network beautifully articulates more of my journey as well.

Honestly, I am excited that we as a denomination have discerned a move toward full acceptance and inclusion. I also recognize the anguish on the other side because I have been on the "losing side" for the last 30 years. 

Where we still are together is centered in the providence of God, trusting in the sovereignty of God. That is a central part of our Presbyterian heritage. Again and again, when my children would ask why I didn't leave the church, I replied that I would forever work for what I saw as God's will, but that I would trust that God was working harder than I was, and I would be patient for God's time.

I still trust that sovereignty with my whole heart, with my whole life. Today I celebrate with the sure knowledge that if we are wrong God will correct us. Perhaps this is the correction. I know what I think, but my sure hope is not the decision of the PC(USA) or the even the "win" as "proof" of right thinking. 

My sure hope is in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit. My hope is in the Triune God who creates, rules, sustains, redeems, reconciles, and transforms all things and all people.  Thanks be to our God who constantly works on us and in us so that we might understand what God wants us to be and do.