 Court briefs affirm and attack Confessing Church resolution By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, September 2, 2002 No it's not, answers a brief on behalf of Norman F. Blessing, the Sebastian elder who has accused the other elders and Sebastian pastor Eleanor Lea of violating the rules of the Book of Order by making him subscribe to a "new confession." Instead of a renewal of wedding vows, the Blessing brief contends that the Sebastian resolution sets conditions that go beyond the original vows. The briefs and other arguments will be reviewed by the synod court during an appellate hearing in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 12. Both sides provided copies of their briefs to The Layman Online upon request. J. Christy Wilson III of Orlando, Fla., and Rick L. Franzen of Minneapolis, Minn., represent Sebastian Church. David C. Smith of Winston-Salem, N.C., his father, John Coventry Smith of Largo, Fla., and the Rev. Alan J. Pickering, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, represent Blessing. The case is on appeal from the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Central, Fla., which ruled in February that the Sebastian resolution violated the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The presbytery court ordered the Sebastian session to recant its resolution, including the assertion that the Bible is the "infallible Word of God" – as is stated in the Westminster Confession. The case has national implications for the denomination and the 1,276 congregations whose sessions have adopted similar or identical Confessing Church resolutions. The decision of the presbytery court was announced in February at the meeting of a national celebration of the Confessing Churches, a movement that had spread rapidly across the nation and in Puerto Rico. Many pastors and elders attending that celebration were shocked and angered that the presbytery court declared that sessions could not adopt a resolution saying that 1) Jesus alone is Lord and Savior, 2) the Scripture is the infallible rule for faith and practice, and 3) that God's standards of holiness have not changed to accommodate modern culture. They continue to find it untenable that a presbytery court could rule that the Sebastian resolution was unlawful while not a single court in the denomination has ruled in favor of enforcing the constitution's "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard. Dozens of ministers and church sessions have publicly announced that they will defy the standard or that they already are doing so. In the aftermath of that presbytery court's ruling in the Sebastian case, which was made when there were 1,220 Confessing Churches, the growth of the movement has slowed as many sessions wait to see what the outcome will be. A handful of church sessions, whose elders and pastors are skittish about repercussions from being a part of the movement, have withdrawn their affiliation with the Confessing Church Movement. But more than 99.5 percent have held fast. Whatever the verdict, the synod court's ruling is not expected to be the last word. Both sides have indicated a commitment to carry the case to the highest court in the denomination, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly. |
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