"The Gifts of God for the People of God"
A Sermon on Acts 11:1-18 by Drew M. Henry, La Placitas Presbyterian Church, NM, April 28, 2013: "My home church, the First Presbyterian Church of Selma, Alabama, has been on my heart and mind over recent months. That is the congregation that raised me in the faith and profoundly shaped who I am today. I would like to share with you a letter that I have written to them, and I ask you to join with me in holding them in prayer... I understand that much of the current conflict in the church there is focused on our denomination’s growing acceptance and support of people who are homosexual and their families in the life of the church. Please allow me to share a bit of my story..."
"Needing One Another"
A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 and Isaiah 43:16-21 by David Bartlett, for the Atlanta Regional Conference, April 19, 2013: "... there may be just a little danger as you in your church and I in mine face the possibility of schism and the fights over property and budgets and pensions – there may be just a little danger that we will move beyond what we have every right to say: “I disagree with you entirely” – to what we have no place in Christ’s body to say: “Good riddance; we have no need of you.”Is there some way that we can stand fast for justice and still work toward reconciliation?"
So Now, What…? And : So, Now What?
A sermon on Deuteronomy 10:12-22 by Tricia Dykers Koenig for the Northwest Regional Conference: "The question for us is Deuteronomy’s “So now, what does the Lord your God require of you?” And: “So… now what?” Now that “our side” has “won” on ordination standards and, everyone knows, will win on marriage, but while the day-to-day struggle still rages and the justice God has promised is not fully realized, how do we help along the transitions that all can see coming, but some are grieving? How do we speed change, care for those who have suffered exclusion and indignity, and hold out a hand to those feeling run over by the train of progress, those who may be feeling more and more like strangers in a world and a church that are changing in uncomfortable ways? How do we make it easier for the eventual evolvers?"
"Groovy, Sick, and Epic: Speaking Languages of Justice Across Generations"
Of course, it's always better to be there, but if you missed the Northwest Regional Conference at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church on Saturday, April 13, you can get a taste by checking out the slides from Bruce Reyes-Chow's presentation.
“Something Yet to Learn: Thinking from Behind the Lectern”
Robert Hoch, Dubuque Theological Seminary: "It happened before I knew it was happening. She stood up before the class, preparing to recite the words of the Lord’s Supper, behind a desk upon which we had set the cup, flagon, and bread. She centered herself and then she began to speak. And before we knew it, she and the class were swept up in the rite she was expressing.... As a community being formed by Christ, wherever we stand on the question of human sexuality, our openness to learning from one another should be a priority. Not because we all agree, but because we all have something yet to learn."
"On Second Thought"
A Sermon on I Samuel 1:4-20 by Randy Bush: "I pray that people stop walking past the doorposts of the Church of Eli. I pray that our faith may be modeled after the example of Hannah so that we will belong to a church of justice, a church of inclusion, a church of love, and thereby a church of Jesus Christ. That may require some second and third thoughts on our part; that’s alright - God is patient. Like the father waiting for the prodigal to turn around and come home, God is anxious for our return to the fullness of God’s word and love. What is required of us? It requires listening skills..."
"Covenant and Marriage: What Do We Say When a Gay Christian Couple Ask to be Married?"
A Sermon on Genesis 9:8-17 and I Corinthians 13 by Bill Hathaway, First Presbyterian Church, Annapolis, Maryland, February 3, 2013: "When couples meet with me, I say that they can write their own vows and look at different prayers, but to be married in the Presbyterian Church means that we assume the equal status, rights and respect of both men and women in the church, in society and in the language of the wedding service. What does the Bible and our faith have to say about marriage given the radical changes in marriage over the decades? The core values are covenant and kindness or, using other words, promise and love."
The Church's Future in a Gay-Supportive Age
Writing before last November’s Election Day and the stunning progress at the ballot box, Hope College Professor of Psychology David Myers has reflected on the rapid and inevitable shift toward marriage equality, and the dangers for the church in opposing it.
"Wedding Games"
A Sermon on John 8:2-11 and I Corinthians 13 by the Rev. Dr. Robert J. Campbell. Text: “Where you go I will go, your people shall be my people and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16) "... given today’s rhetoric and national debates, with laws being enacted one way or the other, just as with any other issue of justice down through history it is the job of the pulpit to speak the word of an accepting God so that you can speak that word to one person and then to another. And like those twelve ordinary individuals who witnessed what happened that day with Jesus and that woman you too can then begin to change the world that surrounds you. That is how this faith of ours works..."
"Just as Christ Has Welcomed You"
A Sermon on Romans 15:1-13 and Revelation 7:9-17 by Tricia Dykers Koenig, at the Baltimore/DC Regional Conference, March 9, 2013: "We have, all of us, been welcomed by Christ, utterly and unconditionally, not because we deserve it but because God is Love and, in God’s will, nothing 'in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Despite the accumulated grime in our lives. Even if we haven’t done the requisite dusting. Even if we are sloppy, lazy, misguided, or stubbornly wrong. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you – totally and unconditionally – for the glory of God."
“The Call to Christian Hospitality: Living Into a Truly Welcoming Church”
Keynote Address by Henry Brinton at the Baltimore/DC Regional Conference, March 9, 2013: "I believe that all of you want to be part of a truly welcoming congregation, one that embraces all people with God’s love and grace. But if you are like me, you haven’t mastered the practices of Christian hospitality. You probably set up some barriers to inclusion without even knowing it."
Joining the religious voices urging SCOTUS toward marriage equality
The Board of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians has signed on as an Amicus curiae in briefs supportive of same-gender civil marriage from a religious perspective, as the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Perry and Windsor cases.
“Beyond Welcome and into God’s Freedom”
A Sermon on Isaiah 61:1-4 and Galatians 3:26-29 by Deborah Krause, for the Regional Conference at Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, MO, February 16, 2013: '...What does it mean to say “We Invite All?” Just who do “we” think we are? Who are these all we think we invite? Do they really want to come? If so, where the heck are they? And more seriously, just where do “we” imagine we are – to do this inviting of these “all” we welcome?...'
Thoughts on Officiating at Same-Gender Blessing Services
May Presbyterian ministers officiate at weddings of same-gender couples? May Sessions give permission for such ceremonies to be held on their premises? The Board of the Covenant Network has analyzed the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission’s decisions in cases where teaching elders have been involved in same-gender marriages, and offers thoughts for those who are concerned with providing pastoral care that is consistent with the GAPJC’s authoritative interpretation of the PCUSA Constitution.
Marriage Equality in the PCUSA
At the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, Dan Saperstein's presentation included both background information - biblical, theological, and constitutional - and a new approach to moving toward marriage equality in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Read his address, with accompanying slides.
My Big Fat Gay Wedding
By David Maxwell ~ Covenant Network week on ecclesio.com concludes as David shares the joy of his wedding: "...Marriage, flawed as the institution may be, is still somehow sacred. Two people agree to an ancient covenant before God and friends. I was converted; perhaps civil unions and domestic partnerships are fine for people who prefer to omit all the God talk or all the institutional religion. Certainly, civil rights should be granted to all couples regardless of the exact title of their contract. But I realized that what we wanted was marriage—nothing less. It more accurately reflects how we have understood this strange, wonderful union. How it works is a holy mystery and it has only survived with God’s blessing. Society and the church need to catch up."
Discipline in Faith, Discipline of Self, Discipline with Church
How a pastor learned from a same-sex marriage and what came after: Day 4 of Covenant Network week on ecclesio.com features Tara Spuhler McCabe's reflection: "...I offer that any one of us can never know when we will have to stand at the intersection of our disciplines and then need to step forward into the next moment engaging all three, even with tension and conflict. When the moment came to me, officiating a wedding for a same-sex couple, as a pastor, I could not turn away. My conviction of faith, of my humble place before the mystery of it all, was deeper than I have known before. I acted with full integrity in that faith and true to the self I am called to be. This is why I can accept the discipline of the church with whom I have committed to be in relationship. I could not deny the call as a pastor to a gap where two people, seeking to have their love explained and professed through the ordering of worship, would celebrate and praise God’s work in bringing them together as no civil union or priest of their own tradition would do..."
A Pastoral Emergency
By Tricia Dykers Koenig: A more comprehensive version of the article first posted at ecclesio.com: "...With the spread of marriage equality, more and more Presbyterian ministers are being asked to perform for their LGBTQ congregants the same ministry that they provide with joy to their heterosexual congregants – to officiate at the services of worship in which couples commit their lives to one another in marriage. And yet, Presbyterian ministers are not free to exercise their own judgment in deciding whether or not to conduct such services..."
The Plan-B God for ecclesio.com
Covenant Network week, with its focus on same-sex marriage, continues at ecclesio.com with an excerpt of Mark Achtemeier's "The Plan-B God," an address delivered to the Twin Cities Area Regional Conference in October 2012.
A Pastoral Emergency: The polity crisis that engulfs teaching elders, sessions and couples around same-sex marriage
Tricia Dykers Koenig discusses the pastoral crisis for Presbyterians in jurisdictions with marriage equality, with a brief history of the development of constitutional interpretation. It's Day 2 of Covenant Network week on ecclesio.com.