Deferring To Each Other

I wish to thank those who stayed after worship on July 6 for the General Assembly recap. We had about 25 people for an hour-long discussion. We covered highlights of the entire assembly. For example did you know that the final approval of the new Heidelberg Catechism translation means our Book of Confessions are now out of date? Did you know the assembly approved a two-year study on a simplified and revised Directory for Worship (the middle section of our Book of Order)?

We spent most of our time discussing the facts and our feelings about same-gender marriage and divestment Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. As I suspected, there were people on both sides of both issues, showing that this church is a “big tent” allowing for diversity of opinion. I wanted people to be able to express their opinions in a loving way and for voices to be heard. I wanted people to know the actual facts of the decisions. I handed out Frequently Asked Questions on both issues which contain the actual verbiage with explanations on what they mean (and what they don’t mean).

I hope that you were able to walk away feeling like we’re all going to be okay even if you don’t like what has happened. Presbyterian polity has never enforced a top-down approach which enforces a litmus test on certain issues. And we have historically asked that we gracefully defer to each other out of our love for Christ (Eph. 5.21). These are some of the historic principles of Presbyterian polity--freedom of conscience within certain bounds and mutual forbearance.

Conformity in all things has never been a principle of “mainline” churches or Presbyterianism. Of course this is what makes it messy as well. Ambiguity, not knowing, makes us feel uncomfortable. It is anxiety-producing. Yet our not-knowing about some things forces us to trust in God more completely in all things. We are not called to feel settled because we have it all figured out. We are called to feel secure in Christ because of God’s providential care for all of creation.

Thank you for being a faithful congregation. Thank you for agreeing to disagree. Thank you for staying clear on our mission to worship God, prepare disciples and serve the world. We are at our best when we worship, pray, learn, serve and grow together. God will complete whatever we leave undone. So be it.

David