Congratulations to More Light Presbyterians and Alex McNeill!
The Covenant Network celebrates with our friends at More Light Presbyterians the appointment of their new executive director, Alex McNeill. It is a historic moment in the life of their organization, and we congratulate them. Read the statement by Covenant Network executive director Brian Ellison.
Explore Marriage Liturgies at the 2013 Covenant Pre-Conference
The 2013 Covenant Conference, “Marriage Matters,” will take place at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago October 31-November 2. Before the conference on marriage equality, join us for a theological conversation about marriage. What does “Christian marriage” mean? What do we believe happens during a wedding? And what should a marriage service look like? Kimberly Bracken Long will lead the pre-conference workshop focused on liturgy.
"Crossing Over"
A Sermon on 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14, by the Rev. Brian D. Ellison, The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, Sunday, June 30, 2013: "You see, the dividing line—the Jordan River we all must cross—is not running on this Pride Sunday between LGBTQ on one side and straight on the other. Or between one group with problems and another. And it certainly isn’t between sinner and saint, for all would surely be on the same bank of the river then. The crossing over we are called to do—all of us—is from in here together to out there together. The Jordan of our lives is the threshold that so persistently separates us from Fifth Avenue and from the world. It is a line of demarcation between celebration and action, between faithful gratitude and trusting obedience. We carry with us all that happens in here, but then we cross over into the out there."
Covenant Network Celebrates Supreme Court Decisions
The Covenant Network celebrates—together with justice-minded Presbyterians across America—today’s decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. We rejoice in today’s rulings striking down the Defense of Marriage Act and ensuring that same-gender couples in California are now able to enjoy the legal rights and privileges of marriage. With state and federal benefits now available to couples in a total of 13 states (and the District of Columbia), the country has taken a significant step toward marriage equality. We also eagerly await guarantees that teaching elders and congregations can, without fear of discipline, provide the same pastoral care to same-gender and opposite-gender couples by extending the opportunity to have their marriages celebrated and recognized in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
2013 Covenant Conference - October 31-November 2
Keynote speakers will be Macky Alston, Stacy Johnson, and Amy Plantinga Pauw. Preachers will be Brian Ellison, Frank Yamada, and Sharon Youngs. Kimberly Bracken Long will lead the pre-conference workshop. October 31-November 2 at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago.
Presbyteries vote for better translation, clearer standards
The Covenant Network rejoices in the approval of a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism for the Book of Confessions. It also is thankful for the defeat of Amendment 12-B, which would have added unnecessary language to the ordination standards newly approved in 2011.
A Confessional Affirmation on Christian Marriage
The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Cuthbertson is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a scholar of church history and historical theology, and a spiritual director. He is a native of Kansas and a graduate of Sterling College, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and the School of Religion at the University of Iowa. His new book, The Last Presbyterian?, is a historical-theological-spiritual memoir about the "psalm-singing, Sabbath-keeping" strain of old-time Scots-American Presbyterianism from which his family came, and includes reflections on how we might carry key elements of that faith heritage forward into an inclusive, emergent, and missional church for the 21st century. Ken and his spouse, Doug, live in New Mexico.Ken offers a draft of a confessionally-based statement about marriage for our day and time.
"A Man and a Woman": A Look at the Presbyterian Confessions in Context
Ken Cuthbertson explores the historical contexts of the usage in the PCUSA’s Book of Confessions where marriage is specifically spoken of as being between “a man and a woman” -- particularly relevant since that phrase has become the focus in so much of the rhetoric in the current debates concerning same-sex marriage in the church, and in society in general.
"The Reign of God We Get"
A Sermon on Luke 7:1-10 by Brian Ellison, at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, ID, June 2, 2013: "But this is the world. And this is where God is. When Jesus shows up we might like every story to be like a magic wand being waved. The leper is touched and the healing occurs. The mud is put on the eyes and sight is restored. But the world we live in is a Luke Chapter 7 world, and healing rarely happens that way. Justice is rarely a matter of a single spoken word. Every problem is not healed by each just action. The day you or I offer a cold cup of water to an overheated stranger, he will be better and a thousand more will still thirst. But the witness of the scriptures and the promise of the gospel is that it still matters. That, in fact, it couldn’t possibly matter any more. That this is the kingdom of God."
At the Table: A Witness to the Resurrection and in Celebration of the Life of K.C. Ptomey
The Rev. Dr. K.C. Ptomey, Jr., a former member of the Covenant Network Board, joined the Church Triumphant on May 9, 2013. K.C. was Zbinden Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Leadership at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, having retired as Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville.A Service of Witness to the Resurrection was held at Westminster Church on Saturday, May 18. The preachers, Ted Wardlaw and Jon Walton, have graciously granted permission to share their sermons here.
Blest Be the Ties?
Keynote Address by Doug Nave at the Covenant Network of Presbyterians Regional Conference, First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, May 11, 2013: "So the church should care about same-sex marriage – and not simply in a censorious, exclusionary way, but in a supportive and celebratory one – because in marriage a couple can seek the guidance of the church and find the resources needed to model their lives around the covenantal fidelity that is so central to all of Christian faith. What could be more worthwhile than that? What could be more gracious and generous and loving? What, indeed, could be more Christ-like?"
2013 Covenant Conference in Chicago - save the date!
“Marriage Matters” is the theme of the 2013 national Covenant Conference, to be held at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago October 31-November 2. Keynote speakers will include Amy Plantinga Pauw and William Stacy Johnson. A special pre-conference event on marriage liturgies and worship will be led by Kimberly Bracken Long. Registration information will be available soon, but for now – mark your calendar!
Supplemental Resources for the Marriage Study
In response to the mandate of the 220th General Assembly (2012), the Office of Theology and Worship has published a study of "Christian Marriage in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." The Covenant Network offers some additional resources and discussion questions for those who wish to explore what embodies the essence of marriage in scripture and the confessions, asking how same-gender marriage—the presenting issue in today’s church and society—may (or may not) express the truth of God.
Conference in NYC May 11: "Marriage Equality for Presbyterians and Everyone Else"
The last in the Covenant Network's series of ten regional conferences is coming up Saturday, May 11. Featuring two accomplished attorneys who have been active in working for equality for the LGBTQ community, "What Now: Marriage Equality for Presbyterians and Everyone Else" will take place at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, with the support of Presbyterian Welcome. Follow this link to register.
"Kiss Me Like You Mean It"
A Sermon on Song of Solomon 2:8-13 by Sarah Segal McCaslin: "And while many would say, by way of conclusion or assessment, that way too much time is spent in our denomination talking about what other people do in the bedroom, I think now, truly, that not enough time is spent talking about what goes on in the bedroom. If what goes on behind closed doors has the capacity to be the most faithful and exuberant worship of God that we can imagine, and also one of the places where our bodies are celebrated as God intended, then the church needs to protect against the threat that this beautiful aspect of our God-given humanity might be forced into hiding and become inaccessible to those who might be most in need of a positive word and a grace-filled moment."
"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?"