The Belhar Confession sees the unity of the church as “both a gift and obligation for the church of Jesus Christ; ….a reality which must be earnestly pursued and sought.” The confession recognizes that “this unity can be established only in freedom and not under constraint.” The confession does not confuse unity with agreement but instead recognizes “that the variety of spiritual gifts, opportunities, backgrounds, convictions….are by virtue of the reconciliation in Christ, opportunities for mutual service and enrichment within the one visible people of God.”
For better or worse, the context in which the church has elected to deal with the issue of the place of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church is in the Book of Order provisions dealing with ordination standards for church office. The method by which the church has elected to deal with the issue is by voting on amendments to the Book of Order, a method that guarantees winners and losers, those on the inside and those on the outside. The ordination issue has provoked a much wider and deeper inquiry than the narrow question of whether gay and lesbian persons should be eligible for ordination for church office. For many on both sides of the issue, Amendment 10-A (and its predecessors) involve questions about the use, interpretation and authority of scripture, as well as the nature of the Good News offered to us in Jesus Christ. How do the PC(USA) and its individual congregations maintain the unity of which the Belhar Confession speaks in the context of yes/no, win/lose votes on issues that, for many within the church, involve foundational understandings of what it means to be a disciple of Christ? Where are the boundaries/what are the limits of diversity in the church? What that you love about the church is most at risk in the current controversies? Why do we need each other? Whose church is it?
I have been thinking about how we live in unity when we have deeply held beliefs that may be opposition. It is easy to say (and harder to live) that we are all united in God’s love. To me that means we have to empty ourselves of our fears and our pride. And then equally as important is to refill ourselves with hope and recognition that God’s sovereignity means that I as individual don’t have all of the answers about the way the world should be. This is a daunting task… A place to start for me is to recognize my fears. One of my fears is that if we view this as a win/lose scenario than those who feel that they lost will not feel welcome at the table. But this is not the case. All are not only invited but welcomed with open arms.
Lisa,
This is a rather long excerpt from a 1982 paper from the old northern church on Biblical Authority and Interpretation that gets at some of the things you mentioned, particularly the fears that we all have for individuals who may be hurt or alienated from the church by the current controversies and the fears we may have for the integrity of the church itself.
“The equilibrium of the church is always dynamic, never static….Interpretations of Scripture are never once and for all, but must be continually renewed in the context of changing circumstances. The dynamic nature of faith thus requires a regular and continuing study of the written word and an openness to finding in that word new meanings in response to the new questions that life presents.
Such a dynamic process is not without pain, however. One grows accustomed to viewing the meaning of the word in one way, becoming familiar with its content and its demands. Faithfulness to God is bound up with an individual’s faithfulness to what is understood to be God’s word….
In times such as these, when revolutionary changes are occurring in both the theological and practical life of the church, there is need for an abiding trust in the biblical God who sovereignly acts through individual lives as well as through historical events. Only when such trust permeates the church and its members can one be released from the fear that paralyzes dynamic interactions and from the despair that makes one give up the attempt to work toward a fresh unity in the Spirit. There is need to hear from God as well as from each other and from the world at large. Personally and corporately, there is the need to allow God to confront and correct distortions and incomplete views of the Scripture, the church, and its mission.”
I think this passage picks up on what I understand you to be saying. Change is inevitable and painful, especially when it challenges long held understandings of scripture and what it means to be faithful. Like you said, the way forward involves naming our fears while placing our trust in a sovereign God,thereby allowing us to undertake the “difficult process of coming to a renewed understanding of what God is saying.”
To those who feel abandoned by the positions the church has taken, remember that it is not the church’s Table but the Lord’s Table, and it is he that invites you. Beyond that, I expect it sounds foolish to say that everyone is welcome and encouraged to join their lives with the church in its work, worship and ministry. But it’s true.
I have been thinking a lot about foundations lately as the gaps in the floors in our house attest to a foundation that needs some shoring up. In fact as I write this, there are a crew of men digging and restoring and strengthening the foundation under part of our house.
I think one of the fears of a dynamic faith and a dynamic church is that the foundation is not solid enough to support the shifts that inevitably happen as life happens – that the church will come crumbling down. But I think that is a fear that can be overcome by recognizing that the foundation of the church is Jesus, not flawed humans. As they are digging deeper holes in my back yard, I can see a need for the church to dig deeper – deeper into scripture, deeper into relationship, deeper into embracing the unknown, trusting that ground underneath will support this deeper probing.
But the work doesn’t stop at digging, it is also strengthening the beams that are already in place and adding more beams to support the weight of the “stuff” that has been added to the house since it was built over 60 years ago. And the new beams are not exactly the same as the old ones that are there. It is the same for the church. And we are the beams. The people of the church need to support each other as we figure out how to live in community. We need to recognize the value in adding new beams. They are not for show – they are to strengthen.
It seems kind obvious, yet if we are not in relationship with each other, don’t value each other, we won’t be able to integrate the new beams with the ones already there. The quote above is correct – trust releases us from fear. I trust that the foundation is strong enough to support a diversity of views because I know who the foundation of the church is.