 General Assembly Bible study has pro-gay ordination script By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Perspectives, the online publication of the Office of the General Assembly, highlights the study that was written by Dr. Grace C. Yeuell, assistant professor of Christian education at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C.: "We feature in this issue the introduction to the Bible study. In it, Dr. Yeuell writes, 'An in-depth look at these verses will also encourage you to begin listening for the voices of those who may currently be excluded from your love. What persons within the larger church, within your community, or even within your own congregation, do you not welcome wholeheartedly as brothers or sisters in Christ?'" In the final session, Yeuell draws the parallel between her Bible study and the pro-gay ordination movement in the PCUSA. "… Isaiah 56:1-8 is also a text about religious politics and who within the religious community would set the course of Israel's future. … Though religious leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) do not oppose each other over issues such as who is the true, blood descendent of the first High Priest Aaron, they do oppose each other over issues such as the standards to be set for those seeking ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament." "… Yes, God's intended company is the world, the whole created order," she declares. Session One: Longing for the Heights "These I will bring to my holy mountain." (Isa. 56:7)
In Yeuell's opinion, the author of Isaiah 56 is not Isaiah, but is a contemporary of the Jews exiled to Babylon who were returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. But there were struggles, including resistance to their return. "Now, God was ready to act," she says. "The time had come for a word from the prophet. Through the words of the prophet, God was going to lay a divine foundation for the Temple, a foundation that would allow for a much larger membership than the current leaders were anticipating." "God was on the move yet again, preparing to deliver, to bring righteousness and justice to 'these.' God was going to remove 'these' from their current troubles and bring them to the holy mountain of God." And who were "these?" – or in the words of Yeuell, "Who does God deliver?" "… A look back at verse 56:1 indicates that salvation was coming soon; and it was coming for an interesting list of people: (1) those who maintain justice, (2) those who refrain from evil, (3) the foreigner, and (4) the eunuch. "This list makes no mention of designated leaders or priests or prophets. …" Yeuell contends that the last two categories on the prophet's list "would have caused great consternation among the religious leaders of the day. Foreigners and eunuchs were two classes of people that were excluded by Deuteronomic law from participation in the ritual life of the community." "… 'These I will bring ...' The act of opening our hearts to 'these,' these others that may be different from us, is at the heart of the Christian practice of hospitality. Fortunately for us, the act of hospitality always begins with God. We see this idea in our text that highlights God's initiative in bringing and including others. God will do this. Our task, then, is to respond to God and those God cares for in a like manner." Under the heading "Questions for Reflection" Yeuell asks:
"And make them joyful in my house of prayer." (Isa. 56:7)
"This session continues our prophet's emphasis on a more inclusive community and, in particular, more inclusive Temple worship with the proclamation that God will 'make them joyful in my house of prayer.' With these words the theme shifts from God's deliverance to the people's responding joy. God will deliver God's people. God will bring about a more inclusive community, but that is not all. God will also make the people joyful in their deliverance. The good news here is that the struggles over inclusive worship mentioned above will not just wind to an exhausted and resigned end, but that this end will be marked by joy." Yeuell says the joy and celebration occurred when, in the second year of their return from exile, the Jews gathered to glorify God. But some, she said, wept, while others remained silenced. Those were the "foreigners and the eunuchs who were excluded from the experience." Yeuell said that "both groups were excluded by Deuteronomic law from participation in the worship life of the Israelite community." "Our prophet assures these foreigners, possibly foreigners like the Samaritans, and eunuchs, that they will no longer be separated from or without a place in the worshiping community. A look at Isaiah 56:3-4 indicates that their fear of rejection will be turned into joy. … The Lord will do all these things for those 'who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant' (56:4b). These remarkable declarations by our prophet indicate a change in the criteria for inclusion. While many around him were expressing a deep concern for ritual purity, he challenged them with the criteria of living justly and refraining from evil. These criteria are in keeping with our prophet's reliance on Isaiah of Jerusalem who described doing justice as responding to the call to '… rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow' (1:17). According to our prophet, those who meet the criteria of justice and righteousness will be included in the joys of living in holy community." Session Three: Making Offerings and Sacrifices "Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar." (Isa. 56:7)
Yeuell says the prophet has some "surprising words about who will be accepted at the sacrificial altars. Yes, even foreigners and eunuchs will make acceptable sacrifices. Access to positions of holiness and power will be made available to even these." And what are the standards for the foreigners and eunuchs to be accepted into the worshiping community? According to Yeuell, "This prophet of third Isaiah states that foreigners and eunuchs will be accepted into the worshiping community in as much as they keep the Sabbath and keep God's covenant. Here are standards for acceptance beyond being born in a particular place or into a particular community of people. These two standards, keeping Sabbath and keeping covenant, were general standards of conduct rather than a specific list of behaviors or requirements. It is important to note that they were also standards expected of all good Jews. There was no double standard set with one list of expectations for good Jews and another, more or less stringent, list of behaviors required for those seeking acceptance into the community. The point is that the list of those who would be invited to make offerings and sacrifices was going to be expanded; and the criteria for making it onto the list was going to be changed." While Yeuell admits that "many scholars" believe the prophet was making reference to God's law, in particular, the Ten Commandments, she asserts that "our prophet seems to be calling for obedience to an altered Torah. Yes, foreigners and eunuchs must hold fast to God's covenant, but our prophet is also proclaiming that God's covenantal law is in the process of being amended. Our prophet's announcement that foreigners and eunuchs are potential members in the worshiping community would have been a violation of Torah law as it is described in the book of Deuteronomy. What 3rd Isaiah was proposing was in direct opposition to laws clearly established in Deuteronomy 23. Opposition to God's clearly stated law is always disturbing to God's people." What makes an offering or sacrifice acceptable? According to Yeuell, "First and foremost, in order to be pleasing to God, offerings and sacrifices must be accompanied by acts of justice. … then in order for a sacrifice to show a love for the name of the Lord, it must be made from the heart. "… Therefore, in order to be acceptable, any ritual sacrifice made at God's holy altar must be accompanied by acts of justice and all made as an offering of the believer's whole heart, whole being, to God. God, through the prophets, set a high standard, but not one that excluded believers on the basis of birth or physical circumstance." Yeuell asks readers to imagine the frustration, anger and powerlessness at being barred from Sunday worship, or making financial contributions, or even sharing the good news with neighbors. "We can imagine these things, but we can barely imagine the plight of those whom our prophet was hoping to defend. What good news it must have been that though being a foreigner or eunuch might have kept them out for some time, keeping the Sabbath and holding fast to God's covenant would now allow them in." Session Four: Praying without Ceasing "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isa. 56:7)
Yeuell provides her assessment of the words of God's proclamation through the prophet:
"The corporate life of prayer for Christian believers is guided and enriched by a vital relationship, an abiding relationship, with Jesus Christ, the vine. In as much as our corporate prayers are offered in Christ they are granted and bear positive fruit. How do we know our prayers are offered in Christ? Jesus tells his disciples in the Gospel, 'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love' (John 15:9-10). And what are Christ's commandments for those who would abide in him? There is only one commandment according to the Gospel of John, that we love one another as he has loved us (15:12). As Christian believers, we are inextricably bound to each other in love and in prayer." Session Five: Welcoming Outcasts and Others "Thus says the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel." (Isa. 56:7)
"This session's key text begins, 'Thus says the Lord God.' These words mark the end of a divine oracle, a message from God. The message was an invitation for all people to take their place as a part of the household of God, a household dedicated, like their God, to a ministry of justice and compassion. These words also identify the sender of the message as 'the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel.'" Foreigners and eunuchs, said Yeuell, were identified by the prophet as having received an invitation to join God's company. She reasons that "at the time of our prophet these two groups of people must have been under attack or suffering from discrimination of one sort or another for our prophet to be particularly concerned about them." God's invitation in Isaiah 56 is "best read as an act of hospitality requiring reciprocity from the foreigner. The foreigner must be joined to the Lord in order to receive the benefits of full participation in community life." In regards to the eunuch, the invitation is also regarded as an act of hospitality requiring "complete dedication to the Lord in return." The good news of the prophet, said Yeuell, is that "God's invitation to join the ingathering of God's people is an open invitation to all who desire to be a part of God's company. Our prophet's unspoken challenge is the need for reconciliation among the members of the company. In order for our prophet's proclamation of a renewed worshiping community to be realized, reconciliation must occur between those who consider themselves to be the chosen, those despised and rejected, and those outcast but hoping to return home. … In our day that same invitation to reconciliation and participation comes clearly to us in the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ." Yeuell continues, "A particular problem through which God may be calling us to act today is our growing awareness of 'others' in our midst. Whether those 'others' are people of other nationalities, other faiths, or other lifestyles, we can no longer assume that our communities are made up of 'people like us.' We can no longer make this assumption and we may no longer want to make this assumption. If we desire to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, we may want to attend to Jesus' words found in John's Gospel, 'I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice' (10:16)." Session Six: Gathering in God's House of Prayer "I will gather others to them besides those already gathered." (Isa. 56:8)
"Jerusalem's days of political power and influence were in the past. The people's day to reclaim their unique religious identity was very much in the present. God's day for deliverance, for bringing righteousness and justice, was at hand," says Yeuell. "Possible parallels with our time include the Christian community's waning influence within the broader society and a growing awareness that the Christian community must reclaim its identity apart from, and possible over and against, prevailing societal norms. Who and what will provide a focus point and rallying cry for that movement is yet to be determined." Yeuell said that while the prophet's vision challenged the prevailing wisdom of the day, it was rooted in a prophetic tradition. "By God's grace this vision was recorded and is now being offered to us through the words of Scripture and this study. Today it is our vision to struggle with, claim, and share. The good news according to our prophet is that all who seek to live justly, according to God's covenant, already are a part of God's intention. One of the significant steps in claiming this reality is taken when we decide to join our voices with the prophet's voice. Determined to follow in God's company we can share God's invitation with outcasts and others to come home and share the feast. To do this, however, requires that we be ready to open some of the doors that we have closed in order to protect ourselves from each other and the seemingly impure. It also requires that we prepare our meeting rooms and our hearts to welcome those we consider outcast and other." |
|||||||||
Respond to this article |
|||||||||
| Home
· Archives
· The
Layman ·
PLC
Publications Presbyterian Lay Committee · Feedback · Links |
|||||||||
