Parker T. Williamson
Executive Editor
LONG BEACH, Calif. – They were poles apart, and
a police squad made sure they stayed that way. On one side was
Soulforce, Mel White’s cadre of gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and their supporters. On the other, a platoon of gay bashers,
led by Fred Phelps. Presbyterians on their way to worship were
forced to walk a gauntlet between them. “This
denomination has blood on its hands,” shouted Grayson
Tucker, a Presbyterian minister who has decided to turn
Unitarian. “You’re a fag church,” Fred Phelps
shouted back.
I looked at the two groups, each purporting to be Christian,
and I wondered, “Where in the midst of all this is the
Church?” Surely it was not to be found in bigotry that
demeans children of God with repulsive slogans like, “God
hates homos.” Did Phelps not know that for these targets
of his vitriol, embracing under a rainbow of multicolor
balloons, the Lord Jesus gave his life?
Nor did the Church reveal itself among demonstrators who had
come to revile the sanctity of marriage. Their demeanor
trumped that of Phelps, a Primitive Baptist and disbarred
lawyer, yet their message was no less lethal. The Church is
certainly not killing gay and lesbian young people by telling
them that their sexual behavior is wrong. To the contrary,
that message can save their lives.
This was a media event, luring the secular press into a
feeding frenzy. Alert to the opportunity, a Presbyterian News
Service employee shepherded reporters toward Rev. Douglas
Oldenburg for an “official” interpretation.
Oldenburg is a former moderator who, during his term of
office, permitted some of these same demonstrators to disrupt
his General Assembly.
Thompson
speaks at Soulforce rally
This cacophony of cat calls interpreted by one-sided
interviews made hot copy for the local news, but it left me
cold. My questions remained, “Where is the Church? Who
speaks for the Church?” The gauntlet that stretched
before me suggested only two options, hate-church or the cult
of the autonomous self. Which one shall we choose?
Soulforce powered up its loud speakers, and Phelps, his bull
horn. “It is past time that we equalized the rights and
privileges of our people” said former General Assembly
Moderator William P. Thompson.
“Thank God for AIDS,” shouted Phelps antiphonally.
“These are marriages. These are weddings,” lesbian “evangelist”
Jane Spahr said of Presbyterian “holy union ceremonies.”
“Let’s call them what they are.”
Member
of Phelps’ group protests Soulforce
“You’ll burn in Hell,” replied the
bullhorn.
“Isn’t this fabulous?” shouted Spahr. “By
God, this is fabulous!”
I walked the gauntlet, the depths of my soul grieving that it
had finally come to this.
“Is this valley of dry bones all there is? Is this all
that is left of the Presbyterian Church?”
I entered the arena, and as the cacophony began to fade, a
new sound surfaced. First timpani, then a trumpet, an organ …
and then a chorus of voices, some 9,000 strong:
- “The Church’s one foundation
- is Jesus Christ her Lord.
- She is His new creation by water and the Word.”
Here was the Church that I longed for. Here were the
people of God, singing with all their hearts, praising our
Lord Jesus Christ whose body is, in fact, the Church. The
lyrics couldn’t have been more appropriate:
Thousands
of Presbyterians join in singing great hymns of faith
- “Though with a scornful wonder
- this world sees her oppressed.
- By schisms rent asunder,
- By heresies distressed.
- Yet saints their watch are keeping,
- Their cry goes up, ‘How long?’
- And soon the night of weeping
- shall be the morn of song.”
That is the reality that I cling to when dark forces
drive us into the long night. This is God’s Church, and
the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.