 The Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards, Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a minister-member and former Moderator, Pittsburgh Presbytery, and a member of the National Board of Directors for MLP, has received a second round of judicial charges after the Pittsburgh Presbytery PJC dismissed the first charges on November 15, 2006.
Whoever said that "lightning could not strike a second time" was not thinking of a handful of anti-gay Presbyterians not willing to accept the decision of the first PJC. Instead of accepting the decision of the PJC, the response is to judge a fellow Presbyterian minister a second time for simply following her call to ministry by extending God's love and care to a loving and faithful lesbian couple. Considering stewardship, imagine the money and resources being used up once again because of this anti-gay attack through a second round of charges that could have been spent on mission?
The last time I saw Janet she was doing hurricane Katrina relief work as part of our RainbowCorps mission service initiative with First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans. She was singing hymns as she was pulling down a ruined ceiling. This is kind of Christian and minister who merits judicial charges within her own Church? God save us from ourselves.
What is the substance of this case? What is the purpose of the Church if not to reflect the love and justice of Jesus Christ? What does our Constitution say or not say about marriage, and the blessing of same-sex love and couples in addition to opposite-sex love and couples?
For news and updates on the case against the Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards, the trial, etc. go to www.mlp.org If you are not yet a subscriber to the periodic MLPNews service you can sign up for this electronic news service at www.mlp.org
A statement from the accused follows. Please join us in care, support and prayer for the Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards, her family and church family. Please join us in prayer for those who brought these judicial charges and are troubled by God's creation of LGBT persons and same-sex love. And, join More Light Presbyterians in prayer for understanding, for God's Spirit to open us and our Church to recognizing that love is not limited to opposite sex persons only, nor is God's creative palate limited to creating only one kind of person. Thank God.
with hope and grace,
Michael
Presiding at the Marriage of Two Women:
Contrary to the Presbyterian Church Constitution or Not?
By the Rev. Janet McCune Edwards
For more than thirty years, there has been no agreement on the place of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") people in the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). After the June 28, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Celebrations announcement included that I had officiated at the wedding of Nancy McConn and Brenda Cole, I was not surprised when colleagues in Pittsburgh Presbytery initiated a disciplinary proceeding to determine whether my action was an offense against the Constitution of the PC(USA) or was part of the on-going process of discerning God's will concerning the place of God's LGBT children in the church. The complaint was later dropped for technical reasons, but I am certain that I was, by presiding at this ceremony, fulfilling the promises I made in my answers to the Constitutional Questions posed to me upon my ordination to the office of minister of Word and Sacrament on September 25, 1977.
Biblical and Theological Understanding
Scripture: The only passage in Scripture dedicated to rules for human marriage is "You shall not commit adultery" in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14). Fidelity is the central feature in marriage, which reflects the relationships of God with the chosen people of Israel, God with the Christian church, and God with all creation. Clearly, marriage between two men or two women can have all the qualities of marriage envisioned in Scripture, mirroring God's relationship with us: fidelity, love, progeny, family, creativity, community, delight, companionship, mutual aid, etc.
The Book of Confessions: The Book of Confessions is a compendium of Christian exposition of Scripture meant to guide us in our relationship with God and with our neighbor. The only specific reference to homosexuality in this book is found in The Heidelberg Catechism, which also interprets the commandment against adultery as a rule to "live chaste and disciplined lives, whether in holy wedlock or in single life." Chastity is clearly possible in holy wedlock between two men or two women.
Conclusion: I have engaged in serious, prayerful exploration of Scripture and the Confessions in order to reach my position on same-gender marriage. While my conclusion may not agree with others in the PC(USA), it deserves the mutual forbearance to be accorded when persons of character and principle differ. My position of conscience contributes to the process of discernment necessary to discover God's will over time on this non-essential matter with respect to which there is no agreement.
Church Polity
What Is Essential and Non-essential to Reformed Faith and Polity: That God is sovereign over all is essential to Reformed faith; “reformed, always reforming” is essential to Reformed governance. The act of worship in marriage is not an essential of Reformed faith and polity: it is not a Sacrament. Historically, the Presbyterian tradition has recognized the place of the civil magistrate in the administration of marriage and there are now an increasing number of states which certify marriage of two men or two women. To humbly accept that God can bless the wedding of two women is to accept that God is sovereign over all. To preside at the wedding of two women is a living out of the commitment to being reformed, always reforming.
The Book of Order: In the Directory for Worship of the Book of Order, the section on marriage does include the prepositional phrase "between a man and a woman." However, the related noun phrases ("a gift God has given," "a civil contract," "a covenant," "a lifelong commitment") are more important than the prepositional, qualifying phrases, especially when we know that there are same-gender couples whose relationships reflect precisely these principal attributes of marriage. With regard to the general approach to Christian worship, the relevant section is this: "In ordering worship the church is to seek openness to the creativity of the Holy Spirit, who guides the church toward worship which is orderly yet spontaneous, consistent with God's Word and open to the newness of God's future." Same-gender marriage, a new thing in our time, can be an inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The principles of the Form of Government are especially helpful in situations in which there continues after many years to be no agreement. It is exactly for such controversies that Reformed historical principles were written, viz.: "That truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to promote holiness, according to our Savior's rule, 'By their fruits ye shall know them.'" We cannot know whether such marriages are "true" or not until we give them a chance to reveal their goodness.
Judicial Precedents: Understanding of the General Assembly Authoritative Interpretation of 1991 and the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission ruling in Benton (2000) must be instructed by two recent decisions. First, Van Kuiken (2004) was acquitted by the Synod of the Covenant PJC because “would not be sanctioned” and “would not be proper” do not suggest mandatory compliance. “Shall” and “Is to be/are to be” were available and were not used. Second, the presbytery PJC in Spahr (2006) determined that the paragraph on marriage in the Directory for Worship is definitional, not directive. These judicial rulings offer exactly the space necessary in a time of disagreement for the Holy Spirit to blow where the Spirit wills so that the Truth may be tested according to its tendency to promote holiness.
Conclusion: When the church cannot agree on the place of LGBT people among us, the best way for a minister of Word and Sacrament to further the peace, unity and purity of the church is to engage in ministry which explores a non-essential, in this case marriage, by means of applying essentials of Reformed faith and polity and the principles of worship and governance found in the Book of Order as interpreted by the church. The Book of Order recognizes that, where there are "truths and forms with respect to which men [people] of good characters and principles may differ," the practice should be the exercise of mutual forbearance. Thus, the response which this book calls for in the absence of agreement is a process of discernment and searching for God's will rather than judicial proceedings to punish those who disagree.
Serving and Caring, Showing the Love of Jesus
Specific Provisions Adhered to: At the time she engaged in this act of pastoral care, I was a member-at-large of Pittsburgh Presbytery due to "family responsibilities . . . presbytery recognizes as important." (G-11.0405b). Through the work of the Taskforce on Ministry with Sexual Minorities of the presbytery, I had become "responsible for a quality of life and relationships that commend the gospel to all persons and that communicate its joy and its justice" (G-6.0202b) within the GLBT community in Pittsburgh. Also, Nancy McConn is a life long member of the Dallas Presbyterian Church, Tridelphia, WV, and her way of life reflects all the responsibilities of ministry listed in Membership as Ministry (G-5.0102). Her request for the pastoral service of officiating at her wedding with Brenda Cole was a faithful effort to live "responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life," (G-5.0102h) and to work "in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment." (G-5.0102g). As I attest to the Committee on Ministry each year concerning my ministry in general, this pastoral service to Nancy McConn and Brenda Cole conformed to all of the Criteria for Ministry of Continuing Members listed in G-11.0403.
Energy, Intelligence, Imagination and Love: The Form of Government recognizes that there are a variety of forms for ministry, including the “primarily prophetic.” Today the Church is called to an awesome "new openness," both "to its own membership, by affirming itself as a community of diversity, becoming in fact as well as in faith a community of women and men of all ages, races, and conditions, and by providing for inclusiveness as a visible sign of the new humanity." It may be prophetic to claim that sexual orientation and gender identification fall under the diversity of "conditions" in human experience, rather than among the sins condemned by Scripture and tradition. And it may be prophetic to expand the institutional form of the marriage ritual to include marriage vows between two women. Such prophetic ministry complies with the large promise "to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination and love," which was my intention.
Conclusion: The most basic purpose of the Church, its members and its ministers is "to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ." Facing trial and death, Jesus said, "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men [humankind] to myself" (John 12:32). We cannot embrace all and still develop rules to set apart those whom we might not want to be part of all. To engage in the ministry of Jesus we must be witnesses to the unqualified love of Jesus for all and bring the blessings of the church to those who seek them.
Summary
I have been in the minority of the PC(USA) on the question of the nature of LGBT people since it was raised in 1978. While the historical principles of the church admit that the majority shall govern by necessity, the Preliminary Principles do not look to the majority, nor even to interpretation of Scripture, for God's truth to be revealed. We cannot know the fruits, their tendency toward holiness, of our LGBT brothers and sisters in the church as long as we resist knowing them as fully themselves. But now we know Nancy McConn and Brenda Cole, two women whom God has blessed in marriage. We can see clearly their contribution to the church and to the world, their tendency toward holiness.
Thank God, then, that the Constitution of the PC(USA) nowhere prohibits marriage of two men or two women. Simply put, what is not prohibited is allowed, so that the Spirit may blow where it will to do a new thing in God's chosen time and place. God, give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear Your Truth. Amen.
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