Marriage.
The
big thing today was the approval of two measures intended to allow teaching
elders serving in States where it is legal to celebrate same-sex
marriages. The first was an
Authoritative Interpretation (AI).
Some close friends of mine whom I deeply respect and admire worked on
this, and I understand the reasoning.
However, I do get a little nervous when an “interpretation” seems to go
so far beyond the thing it is interpreting. Now, when the current Directory for Worship was framed, the
notion of same-sex marriage was nowhere near being on the radar. And some earlier versions of the
Directory simply referred to the two “parties” in marriage. It is therefore not so far afield to imagine
this interpretive language clarifying the actual words in the Directory. In any case, the Assembly thought so,
and it is their call.
The
other frustration some expressed with this approach was that it changed the
practice of the church without the consultation with the local presbyteries
that an actual Constitutional Amendment would require. I get this as well… however, it was
made moot when the Assembly proceeded to approve just such an amendment. So the AI makes room for teaching elders
to perform same-sex marriages now, and the amendment, if it passes the next
hurdle, will take effect in 2015.
While
many are worried that this will accelerate the exodus of conservative
congregations from the denomination, others are hopeful that it will aid us in
welcoming new groups of people who were previously excluded. Certainly any move away from the
anti-Gay stance that characterizes so many churches will enhance the church’s
credibility with most younger people, for whom this is all simply not an issue.
Personally,
I was pretty sure these initiatives would pass. Not only has the culture shifted tectonically in favor of
same-sex marriage – which is now permitted in many States – but with the
departure of many conservative churches the center of gravity in the church has
shifted to the left. This is
evident in the fact that votes on controversial issues that were once pretty
even, now come down around 70/30.
After
the vote, some suggested that the AI would certainly be “appealed”. I understand the sentiment behind this
view, however, there is no body to whom an appeal might go. This is a General Assembly. Appeals always go from a lower council
to a higher; there is no higher council than a GA. The Assembly therefore has awesome and nearly absolute power
to interpret the Constitutions. In
principle, an Assembly could issue an AI saying that “even though the Book of Order says green, we interpret
that to mean orange.”
I
know a lot of people are not comfortable with this. It was controversial last time in Pittsburgh, over an issue
regarding the Book of Confessions,
which is, after all, part of, not higher than, the Constitution. Due to decisions made then, some
bitterly concluded that the confessions were no longer authoritative for us,
and thus we are not a “confessional” church.
Some
erroneously believe that the Permanent Judicial Commission functions like some
kind of “Supreme Court,” and may overrule a General Assembly. But the PJC is a commission of the General Assembly, not above it. We have no “separation of powers” as in
the secular government. The
General Assembly itself has all ecclesiastical legislative, judicial, and
executive powers.
Guns in Church.
Seriously?
The
Assembly decided it was necessary to recommend to churches that they declare
themselves “Gun Free Zones.” For a
person like me, who is uncomfortable with even water-pistols in church, it glaringly
obvious that if anything doesn’t belong in a gathering of disciples of Jesus
Christ it is firearms. I realize
that this initiative is intended to make a statement, especially against these
“open carry” idiots, but also commenting on the plague of gun violence now
throttling our society. I pray
that all our churches have always been gun free zones; now we are simply
finding a reason to say so publicly.
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