Presbyterians Bending Toward Justice
Posted Monday, April 27 2009 @ 03:35 PM by MLP Admin
On Faith.By Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards
Co-Moderator of the More Light Presbyterians
"Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke those prophetic words at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1967. From a different time and a different movement, his words resonate with me today as I absorb the news from my church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), that ordination of our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) sisters and brothers in Christ will not happen this year. The national governing body of our church passed an amendment last summer that opened that door, but a majority of local church bodies across the country have failed to ratify it.
And yet, from west Texas to West Virginia -- even in the heart of King's own state of Alabama -- his spirit lives on. Even in these more conservative corners of the country, Presbyterian leaders voted in a spirit of inclusion that would have made King proud. As our church moves ever closer to acceptance of GLBT ministers, I find we are living in the shadow not only of King's words, but his example. After all, King himself is an example of those God has called to ministry throughout the ages despite marginalization by society at the time.
Scripture tells us over and over again that God calls to service those whom society has named undesirable or less than. One who comes to mind is Matthew, the tax collector, whose labor for the Romans made him unclean and an abomination by the norms of society in Biblical times (Mt. 9.9-13, Mk. 2.13-17, Lk. 5.27-32). When the Pharisees, the religious leaders and power brokers of the times, objected to Jesus calling Matthew to dine with him, Jesus replied that he came to be with people like Matthew, the outcasts. Matthew went on to become one of the twelve disciples and wrote the first book of the New Testament.
Another example is the women who found the tomb empty after Jesus' crucifixion and ran to tell the disciples (Mt. 28.1, Mk. 16.1, Lk. 24.10, Jn. 20.1). Women in Biblical times were the very last people anyone would have expected to deliver the news upon which our whole faith rests! And yet this story provided the Scriptural evidence that helped the Presbyterian Church (USA) affirm God's call to women to ordained leadership 50 years ago.
Each of these leaders gives me hope - King, Matthew and the women at the tomb. As history has proven time and again, when God calls the faithful to ministry, eventually our society and our church respond.
This year, a record number of local church bodies voted for inclusion of our GLBT brothers and sisters in the ordained leadership of the Presbyterian Church. And although the amendment did not pass, the conversation has changed forever.
The arc of the moral universe is truly bending closer to justice as the church grows ever nearer to extending the Gospel message of God's love to all of God's children. Jesus said, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself."(John 12.32). The day when the church shows Jesus' true spirit of love and inclusion is near.
Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards is a Presbyterian Minister in Pittsburgh, Penn., and Co-Moderator of the More Light Presbyterians, a national Presbyterian organization working towards full inclusion of GLBT people within the Presbyterian Church (USA).