Betty Iwan is from Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY - Genesee Valley Presbytery
Below is the statement I delivered to the Church Orders Committee on
Monday evening. It was only 1 of 10 statements delivered by the Overture
Advocates all advocating for deleting B or replacing B. The 10 of us
coordinated our presentations and practiced delivering them in front of each
other. We held 3 conference calls in the month preceding GA and 2 meetings
once we arrived in San Jose. We critiqued each others presentations and we
coordinated what we would say so we covered all bases. It was a wonderful
process and now I have new friends from all over the country.
As you have no doubt already read, the overtures that did pass committee
on ordination were the John Knox and the Boston ones. The Knox proposes to
adopt an AI of G-6.0108 to ensure proper application of ordination
standards. This should counter the Bush vs Pittsburgh PJC decision. The
Boston one replaces B rather than simply deleting it. Both are excellent
overtures. When the Orders committee caucused right before dinner last
night, they agreed to go with the Boston oveture. The discussion and vote
came after dinner. What an excellent choice!
The committee process was pretty amazing. The delegates in the Church
Orders committee discussed, prayed, listened and spoke to one another in
trust. I have confidence that many of them will be
excellent advocates for the Boston overture once it hits the floor of GA.
It is currently scheduled for Friday morning. There will still be many
dissenting voices. Who knows what will happen.
Here is my presentation.
Cheers, Betty
Betty Iwan's Presentation of Ordination Overture 05-08
to the 218 General Assembly's Committee on Church Orders (San Jose 2008)
I am Betty Iwan, an elder from Rochester, NY, Genesee Valley Presbytery. I
am speaking in favor of item 05-08. I too am asking that you vote to delete
G-6.0106(b).
I am passionate about removing this discrimination from the Book of Order.
You may wonder why. As a child, I was raised in a different denomination
that did not include women or African Americans in ordained service or in
any leadership roles. I knew from a young age that discrimination was not
right. In 1976 when my husband, 2 daughters and I moved to Rochester, I
wanted to join a church that honored the gifts of women and people of color, in fact the gifts of all
people. I found the Presbyterian Church - open, fair and focused on Jesus,
the Bible and justice issues. Then came the "definitive guidance" of '78 and the "authoritative interpretation" of '79, both rulings that excluded gay, lesbian, bisexual people from ordained service in my church . I was crestfallen! The church I had so carefully chosen because it was open to all was closing the door on a segment of our population. What should I do? I decided to stay in the church and work from within to eliminate the injustice being done by the 1978 and 1979 rulings and subsequently by G-6.0106 (b).
I never dreamed that 30 years later I would still be working on eliminating
blatant discrimination from my church. We must get rid of G-6.0106 (b) and
the authoritative interpretations now. They do not
reflect the kind of church I believe we are and want to be.
1. I believe we want to be an open door church, a welcoming church.
2. I believe we want to follow Christ's example of love, compassion and
inclusiveness.
3. I believe we want to be a church where we are all called to live into
our baptism, united with Christ and each other by faith.
4. I believe we want to be a church that takes seriously its commitment to
social justice.
5. I believe we want to be a place where all who are called by God to serve
the church are given the possibility of fulfilling that calling.
6. AND I believe we want to be a church that can confidently affirm, with
no restrictions, the standards of ordination set forth in G-6.0106(a) which
provide that candidates should be persons of strong faith, dedicated discipleship and love of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord."
If this is the type of church you want to be as well, then vote now to end
the overture from Genesee Valley, or one similar in intent, onto the
delegate body of General Assembly. Then advocate enthusiastically for its
passage on the floor of GA and in the Presbyteries across the nation.
Ref: http://www.mlp.org/article.php/20080627135349445