Calvin Synod Herald, 2001 (102. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2001-07-01 / 7-8. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

3

Gay Ordination - Abortion on Demand Hot Topics Calvin Synod Stands Opposed at General Synod

The General Synod of the United Church of Christ, defeated two resolutions on July 16, that would have “disavowed” a 1999 interfaith statement on human sexuality signed by at least 270 UCC members, including General Minister and President John H. Thomas. The resolutions would have reversed years of repeated support by General Synods for the right of women to make their own choices about abortion and the ministries of gay and lesbian members of the church.

At issue was a “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing,” published in 1999 by SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. Signed by more than 2,000 Christian, Jewish and other religious leaders, the declaration called human sexuality “God’s life-giving and life-fulfilling gift.” It advocated respect for “reproductive rights,” the ordination of women and sexual minorities, and support for lifelong unions formed by homosexual partners. It acknowledged that sexual abuse and exploitation are sinful and said the same moral standards should apply to all, regardless of sexual orientation.

The resolution urged Synod to “disavow” the declaration and Thomas to “retract” his signature. A committee of some 60 delegates that debated the two resolutions on Sunday recommended the “no” vote to the full Synod today, after hearing much testimony favoring the Synod’s historical support for openness and choice. “The committee affirms decisions of past General Synods, which these resolutions seek to reverse, and the right of General Minister and President John Thomas to speak his convictions,” said the Rev. Suzi Townsley of Norwalk, CT, the committee’s chair. In the floor vote, nearly all of the 750 delegates concurred, with only about a dozen raising their voting cards in favor of each resolution.

The resolutions were proposed by three Pennsylvania UCC congregations that oppose the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of homosexuals and abortion except in limited circumstances. They asked the Synod to take “a pro-life position where abortion is outlawed except for rape and incest, abnormalities of the unborn, and extreme health risks to the mother.” The brief floor debate brought forth two conservative groups in the UCC which view homosexuality as sin. “In the loving spirit of God, we are concerned for the welfare of the United Church of Christ and for the eternal soul of everyone in this denomination,” said the Rt. Rev. Louis Medgyesi of Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Likewise, the Rev. David Runnion- Bareford, a UCC pastor in Candia, NH, and leader of the Biblical Witness Fellowship, quoted a New Testament passage warning that Christians should not “walk in darkness” and “claim to be without sin” and at the same time “claim to have fellowship” with Jesus.

Despite the delegates’ overwhelming disagreement with those conservative voices, many also regretted the “win-lose” character of controversy in the church. “ I affirm the action of the committee and reaffirm the right and responsibility of pastors and teachers, clergy and lay, in any setting of the

Comment - Rt. Rev. Louis Medgyesi

“Once again the Calvin Synod must raise its prophetic voice, this time in opposition to the SIECUS DECLARATION signed by the President of the United Church of Christ. We state emphatically that the President does not speak for us.

We say this not with malice nor with judgmentalism but as loving witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ who saved us from our sins, reconciled us with God, and sanctified us by His Holy Spirit to walk on the path of righteousness.

In the loving Spirit of God we are concerned for the welfare of UCC and for the eternal soul of every person in the denomination. We remind you, that this same loving God is also a God of judgment. Ephesians 3:5-6 states that we are ‘to consider the members of our earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passions, evil desire, and greed, which amount to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come.’ (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

The Calvin Synod believes that the SIECUS DECLARATION not only promotes unrighteousness but also justifies sinful behavior. Therefore, we shall not compromise our faith in the infallible Word of God, His absolute standards of truth, nor sell our birthright as the redeemed of Jesus Christ for the slop of tolerating sin. It is the insidious nature of sin to seek self-justification and to transfer blame for its failures onto the innocent elect of God. For your information, the Calvin Synod is not ‘homophobic,’ rather we are Theo-phobic, i.e. we fear God with reverence, love, hope, and trust. (And we fear for your lives and our own in the hour of God’s wrath in the last judgment.)

There is one item missing from our (UCC) Welcome Table of accomplishments, and that is a broken, repentant, and contrite heart.” (Our hearts are broken for all of us.)

(Note: Portions of comments in parentheses omitted during debate due to floor time limitations. - Ed.)

church, to exercise leadership and to speak to the church and society,” said the Rev. F. Russell Mitman of Collegeville, PA., conference minister of the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference. “Yet I also grieve over a process that continues to create winners and losers and that continues to polarize the church. Whenever we vote on issues that divide, the winners go home justified and the losers alienated, and all the rich dialogue that can be a mode for learning and discernment ceases. The tyranny of the majority, regardless of which side wins, sends a message that God ‘hath not more truth and light to break forth.’ I yearn for the day when we can find a better way of discernment and dialogue than the modes, borrowed from politics and commerce, that have held us captives and continue to foster a breaking of the covenantal bonds that keep us together in the body of Christ.”