“What to Make of Us Now”

Last week, the 221^st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the Christian denomination in which I am an ordained Teaching Elder, was meeting in Detroit, Michigan.  If you weren’t napping during the evening news or snoozing through the Sunday papers, you probably know about the two decisions of our church’s highest council that hit all the headlines.  (To be sure, the General Assembly made decisions, took many actions, and approved scads of recommendations—and all but two or three failed to make headline news!  Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.)

The Assembly approved an authoritative interpretation that allows PCUSA Teaching Elders (ministers/pastors) and congregations—in states where it is legal—to celebrate same-gender marriages.  What you probably DID NOT READ OR HEAR was that the same authoritative interpretation also allows PCUSA Teaching Elders and congregations the right to decline participating in such celebrations for reasons of conscience and conviction.  In practice—this secondary, non-headline grabbing part, has always been true of any marriage—ministers and congregations could and still can decline any request if they believed the marriage was or is unwise. 

The Assembly also voted narrowly (310 in favor to 303 against) to redirect some of our financial investments with respect to three North American companies by “divesting” our financial holdings in our investment portfolios.  After years of corporate engagement, these companies have consistently refused to address changes in business practices or shift away from taking advantage of violence and occupation in the Middle East to make corporate profits—from which our church’s portfolio benefited, too.  And while there have been wide-ranging condemnations of this action from the Jewish community and others, (including churches and members who disagreed) I believe it’s important to keep in mind that this action DID NOT remove any money from the nation of Israel, nor did it withdraw our support from a two-state solution, nor does it presume to affect our nation’s historic alliance, support, or commitment to Israel’s statehood. 

So, for a week now, e-mails, telephone calls, and letters—both in support of these and other actions as well as to decry them—have been hot and heavy for many of my colleagues in local congregations, judicatories, and national offices.  And while I haven’t faced angry parishioners or distraught members of my Township, it’s been a hard week of fallout for me.  It’s been hard, because I’ve personally become aware of the acute pain that is being felt in real-life relationships—including some of my own—BECAUSE of a General Assembly. 

Let me be clear.  Most of us in the PCUSA have grown accustomed to taking each General Assembly with a grain of salt.  We almost never make headlines.  Consider that we’ve been arguing and debating over issues of homosexuality, sex, marriage, fidelity and chastity, and same-sex marriage for nearly 40 years.  This year I celebrated 19 years of ordained ministry.  In that time, I’ve had to vote at least once each year on an issue related to homosexuality in our church and I’ve never received an angry phone call or e-mail from a church member, or an inquiring phone call or e-mail from a news reporter—and I still haven’t! 

And if I had one reaction or one hope as a result of the General Assembly’s action this time it would be that maybe we can take this topic of the table—as in for good.  I don’t want to have to ever talk about it again!  I’m weary of it, worn down, and feel mostly beaten. 

But we can’t! 

In the week since General Assembly the news has invaded not the governing body but our constituent churches.  Those of us who “weren’t there” in the assembly hall to hear the arguments and give witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit and feel the breath of God and the winds of change on our faces have been left back at home to pick up the pieces.  And we’re definitely not used to the shock-waves of all the attention! 

This time, it’s different. 

This week, I listened to a colleague who had important personal friendships and ministerial relationships with Jewish friends and congregational leaders.  He’s not getting phone calls, e-mails and letters, either—they’re not even calling to say “goodbye”—because they disagree with what they’ve heard in the news reports about the actions of the General Assembly. 

This week, in my own family the General Assembly’s actions are a matter of contention, controversy, and pain.  My wife is Catholic.  Our churches and faiths are not of one voice on the issue of same-sex marriage.  And what many of my colleagues and friends can celebrate as a moment of joy and triumph has been for me a bitter knife plunged into my own marital relationship. 

This week, while some “hooray” the turning tide, others I know are left with open wounds.  In an almost, “Thank God the fighting is over” comment, one of my colleagues indicated relations are no longer about fighting the denomination—the evangelical cause has lost; “there’s only room now for sharing the truth in love,” he said, promising that’s what he intended to do. 

The new reality in my beloved PCUSA has come at a great PERSONAL cost for many of us.  Those who’ve been fighting for years would say, “of course,” even that their cost has been so great for so long.  But this isn’t because some people are mad or uncomfortable; it’s not that there will be painful votes by sessions and congregations to leave our denomination for another.  It’s not just the brokenness of a theological divide in the sanctuary when we gather for presbytery meetings. 

There’s actually very real pain and suffering.  So much so, that if we could have given witness to it at the General Assembly, maybe the Spirit would have blown another way. 

But it didn’t. 

Now, we face the real, authentic, genuine pain.  And if people out there think the hard work’s over—then our victory is just the pride of separation and division.  And on each of these issues, I believe the hope of the General Assembly was to in some measure OVERCOME the specter of separation and division. 

So now, what we’re going to be testing, isn’t how far we can press a fragile alliance toward one view or the other, but our commitment to loving one another, our agility at helping to bind up one another’s wounds, and our obligation to beat our swords into plowshares—both the literal and figurative. 

Now, all of us in the whole of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must face the old nemesis to any and every marriage—the challenges of brokenness and the search for reconciliation!  And that isn’t what happens when people just leave! 

The question for me is this: What will the world make of us now? 

If we plan on staking a claim to prophetic actions and hope-filled proclamation, what will the world say of us or make of us if all we’re interested in is conquer and divide.  If that’s all the hope we can demonstrate, we don’t deserve the headlines or the influence. 

But, if they can see that we are Christians by our LOVE—for one another—we may be given headline-worthy ministry at the 222^nd General Assembly in 2016.