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| Response from Roberta Hestenes to Layman questions about "A Call to Sabbatical" | |
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In your appeal to Presbyterians to "Honor and respect our
Constitution," what was the signatories' rationale for omitting the
word, "obey?" We were writing a statement "from scratch" looking for words to stress the importance of the Constitution in our life together. "Honor and respect" were the words we came up with. I read nothing sinister in this choice. I take them as weighty and serious words. 2. In your appeal to Presbyterians to "Resist the inclination to provoke or initiate judicial confrontation" do you mean to imply that Presbyterians who witness a violation of the Constitution, e.g., a session's ordination of a self-affirming, practicing homosexual, are hereby constrained by the language of the appeal not to file a judicial complaint against that violation? If people are ordained in deliberate violation of G.-6.0106b, I believe that any judicial actions should follow, not precede, all possible personal and pastoral efforts at resolution. Love is still the highest commandment. I believe Jesus' pattern for handling sin in Matthew 18 is the right one. First you go. Then you go with godly companions and leaders. Then, and only then, do you take it to the larger church. I expect to see cases in our courts and appropriate constitutional process followed especially if provocative challenge to our existing standards is made. I expect the courts to uphold the standards of the Constitution. I do hope, however, for no vengeful spirit or triumphalistic bombast as people continue to wrestle with these issues. Galatians 6:1 definitely applies. "If anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted." There are sins in addition to sexual sins, such as greed, bitterness, wrath, anger and slandering, which are part of what needs to be put away as we seek to imitate God as beloved children (Eph. 4:30-31). 3. If one were to interpret this appeal as calling for a "stay of enforcement" regarding Book of Order G-6.0106b, do you believe that this would constitute a fair interpretation? The appeal is in no way a call for a "stay of enforcement" of our constitutional standards in regard to ordination and human sexuality. I would never agree to such a thing. I remain committed to both a confessional and connectional church, as I believe the other signators do also. 4. If this "sabbatical" becomes the standard for the PCUSA, what is the remaining significance of G-6.0106b? The beliefs and convictions of the Church have been tested and the decision has been made through due process not to change our present sexual standards. This is unlikely to change substantially any time soon. We have learned a great deal in this discussion, but five more years of repeated overtures and bitter (or exhausted) debates are unlikely to bring major change. Such actions are more likely to drive us further apart rather than help us to come together. Editor's note: Roberta Hestenes responded to our four questions in the form of a letter. We have arranged paragraphs from her letter into the question categories where they seemed most appropriate. In order to ensure that no paragraph be considered out of context, we have attached the full text of Dr. Hestenes' letter to the end of this document. Dr. Hestenes also suggested that we draw from the text of an article that she has written for the Presbyterian Outlook. We have applied a portion of that article to our question # 4. Readers may examine the entire article on the Presbyterian Outlook web site . Dear Parker: I have just returned from a teaching and preaching mission in Alaska to find your inquiry of May 21. The best help I can give you in understanding my perspective can be found in a brief article I wrote for the June 8 issue of Presbyterian Outlook. This was written before the meeting which resulted in the "Call for Sabbatical" statement and gives my general thinking on a "time out." Because it is now supposed to be on the Outlook's web site, I enclose a copy for your information. Feel free to quote but please don't take anything out of context. Note that it both overlaps the "Call for Sabbatical" and differs from it in specific ways which are more personal to me. The full article makes as clear as I can be what I think is called for at this time. I sincerely believe that refocusing much more of our attention on critical matters of Christology, Scriptural interpretation and application, as well as on the evangelistic and compassionate mission of the Church worldwide is very much needed at this time. The debate over sexuality is not unimportant, but we are leaving even more important work undone. We successfully passed "B" and defeated "A." We need to keep faith with those actions while broadening and deepening a call to biblical faith and passionate mission in our Church. Specifically, as to your questions 2-5: The appeal is in no way a call for a "stay of enforcement" of our constitutional standards in regard to ordination and human sexuality. I would never agree to such a thing. I remain committed to both a confessional and connectional church, as I believe the other signators do also. If people are ordained in deliberate violation of G.-6.0106b, I believe that any judicial actions should follow, not precede, all possible personal and pastoral efforts at resolution. Love is still the highest commandment. I believe Jesus' pattern for handling sin in Matthew 18 is the right one. First you go. Then you go with godly companions and leaders. Then, and only then, do you take it to the larger church. I expect to see cases in our courts and appropriate constitutional process followed especially if provocative challenge to our existing standards is made. I expect the courts to uphold the standards of the Constitution. I do hope, however, for no vengeful spirit or triumphalistic bombast as people continue to wrestle with these issues. Galatians 6:1 definitely applies. "If anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted." There are sins in addition to sexual sins, such as greed, bitterness, wrath, anger and slandering, which are part of what needs to be put away as we seek to imitate God as beloved children (Eph. 4:30-31). The heart of the appeal is to attempt to refocus and concentrate on our denomination's ministry in an atmosphere of respect with orderly discussion and decision instead of intensifying an environment of sharply hostile and intensely polarized debate. I did graduate work in the area of communication. One of the things I learned was that attacks provoke defensiveness. Defensiveness reduces the ability to communicate effectively. This makes it difficult to "speak the truth in love." I long for both truth and love. On question 1: We were writing a statement "from scratch" looking for words to stress the importance of the Constitution in our life together. "Honor and respect" were the words we came up with. I read nothing sinister in this choice. I take them as weighty and serious words. I hope this is helpful. I appreciate your willingness to put our unedited comments on your Web site. Cordially, Roberta Hestenes Senior Pastor Solana Beach Presbyterian Church |
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| Responses from signers of 'A Call to Sabbatical' to Layman's questions | |
| Press release from the Office of the General Assembly | |
| A brief analysis of 'A Call to Sabbatical'by Robert P. Mills | |
| Breaking News contents | |
