 Ordination overture scuttled; minority report to be submitted By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Only one of the overtures, 02-50 from the Presbytery of San Francisco, showed signs of possible appeal to the committee, but it was defeated 40-18 late Monday night after a protracted debate. The Rev. Nancy Gillard of the Presbytery of Giddings Lovejoy said she and a team of people who favored the overture would write and submit a minority report. Overture 02-50 addressed a contentious issue in the Presbyterian Church (USA) – exactly what do Presbyterians mean when they are asked to "acknowledge him [Jesus] Lord of all" in the first ordination vow for ministers, elders and deacons? The overture provided an elaboration, saying "the first ordination vow shall be interpreted to signify God is revealed in and through Jesus Christ as the triune God of grace - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and Jesus Christ, fully human and fully divine, is the one and only Lord and the only way to salvation, as revealed through Scripture, understood in our confessions, and affirmed in the Book of Order." But opponents of the overture said that interpretation would require further interpretation, and Presbyterians ought to trust that everybody means about the same thing. Some members of the committee were adamant that 02-50 should not be approved. "What this says to me is that you don't trust me," said the Rev. Anna Taylor Sweringer of New York City. "I feel right now that I'm back at the turn of the 19th century. Oaths like this that want some kind of proof say I don't trust you, and I think that is wrong." Another commissioner, who had voted previously in favor of "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," bristled because the overture focused exclusively on Jesus as the "only way to salvation." "Jesus is a way, yes, but what about my friends in the Jewish ministry; what about my friends in the Islamic ministry?" The Rev. Jeff Ebert of New York City, who made the motion to affirm 02-50, said people who have taken ordination vows have some strange beliefs. He mentioned a Harvard-trained theology professor whose class he took. "He taught that Jesus was an advanced paranormal because he could walk on water. That astounded me. We have to, at some point, bring our barriers in and say what our boundaries are in the Reformed faith." Ebert added, "We live in such a time of diversity that we have to have a clearness, a clear Christian message." Paul Stephens, a youth advisory delegate from Central Washington, agreed. "Nothing here is in conflict with the Bible," he said. "When it comes right down to it, that is the chief document we should be looking at." But another youth advisory delegate, Jill Wason, 21, of the Presbytery of Hudson River, said she plans to attend seminary to study for the ministry and "I do not want someone telling what it [an ordination vow] means. It's a very personal process." Catherine Burkholder of San Francisco said it was important to note what the overture was not saying. "One, it avoids trying to give an authoritative interpretation; two, it does not create a new law; and, three, it's not a statement about who's in and who's out." But she did express hope that Overture 02-50 "will stop the train wreck about which our stated clerk spoke so wisely." The Rev. David Kegley of the Presbytery of Boise said the overture was unnecessary – as would be any overture beyond affirming "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ." "That would be reducing our faith to formulas and words." Tom Murphy of the Presbytery of New Hope urged the committee to vote against 02-50. "Do we all mean the same thing when we take that first ordination vow? I expect so, with different interpretations along a spectrum." He said there was a better way to ensure faithfulness to the ordination questions – through presbyteries' committees on ministry and examination. (Those committees deal only with candidates for the ministry of word and sacrament and not with deacons and elders, who are ordained by local church sessions.) |
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