 Petition campaign is 'breathtakingly' close to goal for called General Assembly By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, November 4, 2002 In a letter to the commissioners, Metherell says 44 commissioners have signed the petition – just six shy of the required 50. The list includes commissioners from 36 presbyteries and 15 of the denomination's 16 synods – "far surpassing the 15 presbyteries and 5 synods that are required," he said. Metherell said he also has heard from institutional agencies and the special-interest groups that oppose the called meeting. "Some have told us that we have no constitutional crisis," he said. "While admitting that instances of blatant, public defiance are springing up in many places, they counsel us to do nothing, assuring us that the system will heal itself. But we know that there is a crisis, and we have painfully seen the evidence that our system is not healing itself." Hundreds of Presbyterians and dozens of church sessions have declared publicly that they will defy – or have been defying – the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) by violating the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard, "marrying" same-sex couples, admitting non-Christians to membership and the communion table and allowing their ministers to teach that Jesus Christ is only one of many paths to God. Presbyterian leaders, including the denomination's stated clerk and presbytery executives and stated clerks, have taken no direct action to enforce the constitution. Metherell says the purpose of the called meeting would be for commissioners to propose, debate and vote on methods by which defiance movements could be terminated. "We can no more walk away from this crisis than I as a physician can abandon a patient who is writhing in pain," said Metherell, a physician and an engineer. "Our church pleads for healing. We must come together, turn away from those who counsel institutional intransigence and ecclesiastical politics, and offer ourselves as instruments of the Divine Physician." Metherell's latest letter was the third communication he has had with commissioners to the 214th General Assembly. He initially sent electronic mail to 68 commissioners whose e-mail addresses he had. Later, he sent all commissioners a letter, question-and-answer document and a reply form. He has conducted the campaign on his own time and at his own expense, with, as he said, "some trepidation, knowing that it would unleash opposition from our denomination's institutional managers and those who have a vested interest in the status quo. Frankly, I dreaded the exposure that this would mean for my family and me." "But when I considered the Scriptures, I knew that I must lay this before you, asking my fellow commissioners for confirmation in what I believe God is calling us to do. So two weeks ago, Pam and I stuffed and stamped envelopes at our dining room table and placed them in the mail, praying that God would bless each recipient with the wisdom, discernment and courage to step forward in these tumultuous times." He urged commissioners to pray and to act. "Many of you have told me that you are open to a called meeting but want to pray fervently about the matter before signing the petition. You are on the cusp of that decision. I implore you now to move from your knees to your feet. Be one of the final six needed to call the Assembly. Then, together, let us all get on our knees. It is only through prayer, not politics, that we will find healing for our deeply wounded church." |
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