The Layman

Standing firm

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The Layman Volume 35, Number 5, Posted October 2002

Williamson
Parker T. Williamson
Editor-in-chief
The Rev. Eleanor Lea and her session have done a very fine thing. To a culture of disbelief, they confessed the faith, clearly and without a whiff of compromise. And when presbytery bullies tried to make them eat their words, they stood on the Word of God, believing a higher court would vindicate them.

Thank God they were affirmed one step higher. But if it hadn’t happened there, it would have happened elsewhere up the line. Because this church spoke the truth, it couldn’t lose. Ultimately, God is the judge. And it is in God’s Word that the Sebastian church found its confession:
  • Jesus Christ alone is Lord of the Church and the way to salvation for all who will receive him.
  • Holy Scripture is the revealed Word of the triune God, and the Church’s only infallible rule of faith and life.
  • God’s people are called to holiness in all areas of life, including the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.
The 1,278 Confessing Presbyterian churches owe a lot to Ellie Lea and her congregation. Weaker witnesses might have caved in when confronted by a presbytery court and attorneys who came at the bidding of the complainant. But Sebastian knew that what it dared publicly to proclaim is precisely what other Confessing Churches have declared. If this church had forfeited the fight, we all would have been the losers.

The Sebastian case suggests several reflections. We can’t help but wonder, for example, what moved elder Norman Blessing to file charges against his church. He says he acted on his own, but we note that an executive from another presbytery joined him in the complaint. We also note that his legal counsel, an attorney whose family has long been associated with the National Council of Churches and causes dear to the Louisville establishment, traveled almost a thousand miles to represent him. That’s a lot of firepower for one lonely elder who says he has a beef with his session.

Sebastian also tells us something about “diversity, inclusiveness and tolerance,” the worldview that is touted by our national church leaders. Persons who purport to love “tolerance” did their best to muzzle this little Florida church, just as they now seek to handcuff the Rev. Carmen Fowler’s ministry as executive of the Presbyterian Coalition. We cannot help but note these inconsistencies with the principle that they profess.

Sebastian also poses a challenge to proponents of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, who find themselves embarrassed by the gospel. Sebastian reminds us that Jesus Christ has always disturbed the oily waters of cultural accommodation, and that truth trumps peace as the pre-eminent Christian virtue.

We thank God for the faithfulness of First Presbyterian Church in Sebastian, Florida.

Parker T. Williamson is editor-in-chief of The Layman.
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