There has been yet another trial in yet another presbytery on the same old questions of human sexuality. A pastor was tried in Southern New England presbytery for allegedly violating his ordination vows and the constitution of the church by marrying his partner. He was found not guilty on all charges by the presbytery PJC.
The decision was, by what information is available, made based on binding GAPJC and GA authoritative interpretations and on the present constitution of the church. Still, that has not stopped the outrage wing of the PC(USA) from crying foul and declaring the presbytery PJC members everything from heretics to Baal worshipers. (Props for that last name-caller not just going with the usual pagan worshiper label.)
I refer to these particular critics of the decision as the outrage wing of the church rather than the conservative wing because as tempting as it is for some people to lump them together, they are not the same thing.
Despite recent changes to the constitution of the church and the growing consensus that human sexuality is not the single defining issue of all things faith-related, there are many members of the PC(USA) (clergy and laity alike) who remain unconvinced that the church is headed in the right direction. They hold deep convictions that the church should return to the former position that homosexuality is contrary to scripture and the life of faith.
Part of what I love about being a Presbyterian is that there is room in the church for people who hold that more traditionalist view and room for those of us who are convinced of the faithfulness of the church's current direction. I love being a part of a church that can embrace the truth that we all see through the glass dimly and none of us has a full comprehension of the mind and perspective of God. Many of my more conservative friends in the church share that feeling about our church.
Unfortunately, there are still those in the PC(USA) for whom the present direction of the church is anathema to faithfulness and who are determined 24/7 to root out those who disagree with them and rid the church of any opinion that does not fit their own perspective. This outrage wing of the church is constantly going on about how the church has abandoned scripture, the confessions and the Book of Order. We have, in their opinion, become "post-constitutional" and "post-confessional." One comment on a letter posted on the Presbyterian Layman website went on and on about how we have abandoned the constitution and are no longer bound by the words of those books. Another writer declared that Jesus (who had NOTHING to say about same-gender relationships) would be appalled by our abandoning of the constitution.
What, I have begun to wonder, matters more to these members of the outrage wing of the Presbyterian Church (USA)...that we worship Christ or that we kneel before books? It seems from their level of vitriol and outrage against those with whom they disagree that what is most important is that we root our faith in the bible, confessions and Book of Order as books rather than in the Christ they seek to proclaim.
When the single most important thing in your lived life of faith is rooting out those who do not share your own personal devotion to words on a page, it might be time to look in the mirror and do some self-evaluation before throwing those stones.
For my part, I will continue to worship and proclaim the Christ who time and time again demonstrates that he will not and cannot be contained by the words or pages of any book.
