Optimism, 'hearing once-silent voices' themes of Covenant Network luncheon By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Saturday, June 17, 2006 217th General Assembly Birmingham, Ala. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Optimism for the future and hearing once-silent voices were the twin themes of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians luncheon Friday. Various people were introduced to the more than 400 people who filled a ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel, including the Rev. Joan S. Gray, moderator of the 217th General Assembly; Linda Bryant Valentine, who has been nominated to succeed the retiring John Detterick as executive director of the General Assembly Council; and some members of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, including Barbara Wheeler, Jack Haberer, Mark Achtemaier and Stacy Johnson. Valentine was introduced by her pastor, the Rev. John Buchanan. Buchanan is pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and a co-founder of the Covenant Network. She said Buchanan had "baptized my children" and has "advised me on the challenges and the future of our church. I am optimistic about the future." The featured speaker was Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Seminary, who quoted from a section of "A Brief Statement of Faith:" In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. "I was a member of the Committee of 15 that brought the 'Brief Statement of Faith' to the General Assembly," Campbell said. "The statement asserts that not only individuals, but people, groups, have been silenced. Not only have they been silenced, not permitted to speak, but they've also been silent, not able to speak. "Here we are in Birmingham, where the voices of children and adults once were silenced by hatred," she said. Making the transition from racial segregation to the present, Campbell said that "voices from the Tradition and even the Bible itself have been silenced." She then praised the final report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, saying that "one of the most important contributions of the report is the grid between lines 699-700." That grid includes the following: to honor communal discernment of God's will and the Spirit's leading while also recognizing that God alone is Lord of the conscience under the authority of Scripture. to adhere to essential and necessary beliefs and practices that bind the faithful into the body of Christ while also respecting freedom in nonessential matters of belief, worship, piety, witness, and service. to maintain a distinctive Presbyterian and Reformed witness to the world while also engaging in mission with Christians of other traditions. to uphold the rights and responsibilities of governing bodies that have original jurisdiction in church governance while also sustaining the rights and responsibilities of governing bodies that have the power of oversight and review. "Presbyterian life is held together by maintaining a tension, points of balance," she said. "The genius of Presbyterian life is that truth lies in different places at different times. We respect the belief in life and practice in non-essential matters." Campbell then criticized what she called "either/or" approaches to the problems facing the Presbyterian Church (USA), using the Israelis and Palestinians as an example. "Does either side believe they have received justice," she asked? "Either/or thinking is dangerous," Campbell said. "It does not lead to either unity or peace" because one group will seek to establish its will over another. "You can't have unity and peace without balancing various truths. It will lead to theological disaster." In a reference to the ordination of women, she said that, "In order for the church to change its mind, it had to listen, not only to women, but also to the Tradition." In order for the church to changes its mind, the church had to listen to the whole Tradition." Campbell said there are no particular doctrines "that are essential to our Tradition, but how we do theology and how we do church. There is only one essential -- the Christian faith. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's it." The Tradition, she said, "is open to hearing the voices of those long silenced. Doctrine and practice cannot be determined by majority vote, but by the leading of the Spirit. We are committed to having the voices of gays and lesbians heard by opening Scripture and the Spirit in new ways."

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