The Layman – December 2002 Volume 35, Number 6 – Posted December 6, 2002

Stated clerk could head off train wreck Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick tells a true story about a trip to Mexico, using it as a metaphor for the Presbyterian Church (USA). It goes something like this: Kirkpatrick was aboard a train headed toward Mexico City when the engineer discovered that another train was approaching on the same track. Both trains stopped, and their engineers got out and met between the two trains to argue about which one had the right-of-way. That didn’t settle the matter, so they retrieved their operation manuals to continue the argument. Nothing was settled then, either, and the engineers resorted to a fistfight. Finally, railroad officers arrived and settled the issue – ordering one train to back up while the other proceeded toward its destination. The clerk’s interpretation of the story was that the operation manuals failed to resolve the stalemate – just as, he contends, the Book of Order has failed to bring peace, purity and unity to the denomination. To avoid the train wreck in the PCUSA, Kirkpatrick suggests, simplify the Book of Order by eliminating the rules. But he misses the point altogether. Clearly, the train wreck was averted because of leadership – because officers of the railroad company made an on-site decision. They didn’t abandon their operations manual. They enforced it with authority. The clerk is right on one score. The PCUSA is like those two trains racing toward a head-on collision. Someone has to back up to allow the denomination to move forward. The Book of Order spells out who that “someone” is. There are church laws that have been repeatedly affirmed by the votes of Presbyterians. They are grounded in Scripture and our confessions. They promote peace, purity and unity. Yet hundreds of Presbyterians are publicly declaring that they will not obey the constitution. Kirkpatrick has reacted like one of the railroad engineers, not the officers. He has given lip service to the constitution, saying no officer has the right to defy its requirements, but he has not stood firm and said, “Back off.” He claims his job assignment does not include badgering presbyteries and sessions into obeying the constitution. What that assignment does require is that he “preserve and defend” the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), not disassemble it into an abbreviated version we might call Cliff’s Notes and not ignore it while the decisions of Presbyterians are being lampooned by a small minority. The clerk has all the authority he needs. He has the bully pulpit. He has the constitution. He has the Scriptures. He has three national referendums that have given growing affirmation to the constitutional standards that are being trashed. If the stated clerk will not lead, who will?

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