A – Introduction – Stuart Ritter

Good afternoon, Moderator, Commissioners and Delegates. I am

Stuart Ritter, a pastor from the Presbytery of Des Moines.

21 Overture Advocates representing presbyteries around the

country are collaborating, urging you to delete or amend
G-6.0106b.

The overtures we’re asking you to consider arise from our prayerful
discernment of God’s will for the church and its people. We begin
where the church is grounded — in the Word of God.

From Creation in Genesis to the prophetic vision of Revelation, we

see God at work in the world making all things new. The God whose
will created light and stars and life itself is the same God revealed to
us in Jesus Christ, who said, “I give you a new commandment, that
you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love
one another.” (JOHN 13.34)

The Church of Jesus Christ is constantly being reformed by God’s

creative activity in the world, and by our shared desire to follow
Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

In calling followers and proclaiming the Gospel, Jesus reinterpreted

many Old Testament prohibitions and established the standard of
love and faith. We look to Jesus as our Savior, teacher and guide.

The Book of Order reminds us:

“The Church is called to be a sign in and for the world of the new
reality which God has made available to people in Jesus Christ. The
new reality revealed in Jesus Christ is the new humanity, a new
creation, a new beginning for human life in the world: Sin is
forgiven; reconciliation is accomplished; the dividing walls of
hostility are torn down. The Church is the body of Christ, both in its
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corporate life and in the lives of its individual members, and is
called to give shape and substance to this truth.”

Yet one paragraph in the Book of Order contradicts this call:

Denying the new reality revealed in Christ, G-6.0106b is a stumbling
block in the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, shoring up the
very walls of hostility that we are called to tear down.

The Presbyterian Church began its struggle with sexuality and

ordination in the 1970s — a time when far fewer people were out-of-
the-closet, and our experience of openly gay friends and family was
more limited. It was easier then to close ourselves away from reality
and tell ourselves that gay people were not in our churches, our
families, our lives.

By the late 90’s, anti-gay prejudice was beginning to ease. The

AIDS crisis had challenged us. The murder of Matthew Shepard
had shaken our national conscience. By 1996, more closet doors
were opening, and attitudes were changing. But our struggles
continued. In an anxious moment we adopted G-6.0106b, hoping to
set ourselves apart from a permissive world. Instead, we’ve stood
apart from each other, and apart from the Spirit’s widening circle
of grace. It is time to undo our unfortunate mistake, as the Body of
Christ becomes a new creation once again.

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B – Libby Davis

I am Libby Davis, an Elder from the Presbytery of the Redwoods –

in San Anselmo, California.

An effect of this mistake in our or Book of Order is to create two

classes of Baptized members. There is nothing in Scripture or in
Presbyterian polity to support the establishment of “first” and
“second class” Christians. As Paul wrote, “There is no longer Jew or
Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and
female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (GALATIANS 3:28) Yet
our Constitution bars some Christians from ordained leadership in
the church because they are different.

I speak from personal experience. We are fourth generation

Presbyterians and yet our daughter, a child of the Covenant, a
believer in Jesus Christ, belongs to another denomination because
she is Lesbian and doesn’t feel welcome in this, the church of her
birth and baptism! She is just one of thousands of our baptized sons
and daughters who stand outside the wall that we have created.

And baptism goes to the heart of the issue. When we baptize our
children, do we not celebrate God’s claim on their lives?

Most of my extended family read the Bible and, perhaps like some of
you, believe it is sinful to be gay. But for me, I still read the same
Bible that I’ve been reading all my life, but I hear a different word.

We have told our gay sons and daughters in the church, just as
women and African-Americans were told for so long, “We love you,
and you can come in, if you stay in your place and behave
yourselves. Yes, we really love you, but we can’t fully embrace you.”
They have been SHUT OUT and we, the Presbyterian Church, have
LOST OUT.

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For over 20 years as a faculty spouse in one of our Seminaries, I
walked in confidentiality with gifted students who were gay and
lesbian. They came to Seminary because they felt called by God to
serve the Presbyterian Church. For some, the call could be
answered only by holding that deep secret, rather than ministering
in full strength. For others the wait seemed too long and they went
to other denominations where they have been embraced. This is a
tragic loss.

If we really believe that God’s love is deep enough and wide enough
to embrace us, then it is deep enough and wide enough to embrace
my daughter and all those who walk on the edge of exclusion.

G-6.0106b must be deleted or replaced to return the entire church to

the ministry we were called to in Baptism, and to the Reformed
understanding that we can read the same Scripture and come to
different conclusions.

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C – Ray Bagnuolo

I’m Ray Bagnuolo, Minister Member of the Presbytery of New York

City.

In every way I know God, God is Love. Since the beginning of time,
this Love has moved nations and peoples through struggles and
trials, and has carried us through to this moment.

In the presence of this Love, once again, our church is called to rise
and demonstrate its fairness and equality, its commitment to
reforming and leading the way in an expanded, welcoming witness
of Love, faith, and the power and grace of God in our lives.

I did not choose to be called to ministry. I did not choose to be gay.

I did choose to respond as faithfully as I could to God’s call. But I
did not expect that the call to serve others as a Minister of Word
and Sacrament would be this hard, this painful, this agonizing.

All I knew then, and what I still believe so fervently today, is that as
Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, I needed to join with others who had
set their face toward God’s will, regardless of the personal cost.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Presbyterians – indeed, all

Presbyterians – have been terribly hurt by G-6.0106b. But many of
us are still here. I am still here.

And I am here asking that, together as a faith community, we lead

the way toward love and understanding.

Before you is a momentous decision: “Will we welcome all our

sisters and brothers equally, with no special clauses or language,
using the same historic standards of ordination for all?”

I pray the answer to that question is “Yes!” and that you will
recommend deletion of G-6.0106b. In so doing you will return us to
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our historic ordination standards, fulfilling the promise we make to
each other at baptism, at membership, and at ordination.

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D – Peggy Howland

I’m Peggy Howland, minister member of the Presbytery of Hudson

River.

I was the 12th woman ordained a Minister in the Presbyterian

Church 52 years ago, only two years after women’s ordination was
approved.

When I was taken under care of Philadelphia Presbytery, the entire

Candidates Committee was opposed to the ordination of women,
and you can bet they put me through my paces!

But there was something that I knew that gave me the confidence to
go on with a positive attitude and faith in God’s leading: I KNEW
THAT IT WAS GOD’S CALL AND NOT MY OWN IDEA.

Pursuing ordination was a very difficult decision. I wasn’t even sure

women OUGHT to be ministers. I had no role models.

But I was in love with the Bible, I believed passionately in the

overwhelming love of God for me and for all people, and I had a
desire to share that love with others, even though some still did not
believe God would call a woman to preach.

It was the Presbytery’s job to determine if they saw in me a call to

ministry and gifts for it. They voted YES. It was a congregation’s
job to recognize my gifts and call me to serve. A church in Brooklyn
called me. It became another Presbytery’s job to discern whether I,
as a candidate now with a call pending, was to be approved for
ordination. They voted YES.

This is what we are now asking for Gay and Lesbian candidates,
who have the gifts, who believe that God has called them, and who
have fulfilled their requirements. We are asking that congregations

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and Presbyteries may make the decision to vote YES or NO for that
candidate. Those are our historic principles of ordination. We are
asking you to LET GOD DECIDE WHOM TO CALL, and for the
church to discern whether that person is truly called and ready.

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E – Jay McKell

I’m Jay McKell from the Heartland Presbytery in Overland Park,

Kansas. I’m a pastor, but we who stand before you are elders and
pastors, church school teachers and choir members. We are old and
young, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, children and
friends, straight and gay. We come from all across the country,
believing that God is creating a church in which all whom God calls
may be ordained to serve.

Like you, we have struggled, prayed, and trusted in God to lead us.
Like you, we have come out of our desire to be faithful to God’s
unlimited grace. We have come out of concern for our sisters and
brothers, mothers and fathers and children. We need to listen as
they hear God calling them but G-6.0106b blocks us from
confirming the call they hear, and in turn frustrates God’s call.

We recognize and respect the reality that faithful sisters and

brothers stand on both sides of this debate. In fact, as advocates of
diversity within the church, we celebrate our differences, even on
the matter of ordination.

However, some of the overtures before you today would turn back
the tide of living waters, rejecting the faithful work of folks just like
you, the commissioners of the 218th General Assembly. These
overtures wrongfully insist that the Church enforce as truth matters
on which we are not of one mind. In fact, we are deeply divided.

Let’s be honest with each other. AS Christians, we are not about

forcing our will on one another. Instead, we are about giving space
for God’s Spirit to blow where it will. None of us possesses absolute
truth. We come to you bound together by a vision of a church in
which all who are called by God to ordained service and who meet
the historic standards of the church may be allowed to serve. Those

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standards, expressed in Scripture and echoed in G-6.0106a, have
served the church well throughout its history.

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F – Tricia Dykers Koenig

I’m Tricia Dykers Koenig from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Minister

Member of the Presbytery of Western Reserve.

Let’s talk about Scripture. We acknowledge that some “traditional”

readings of Scripture hold that same-sex expression is sinful; but we
know that Jesus told his disciples to expect new insights through the
Spirit (John 16:12ff).

And we’ve come to understand what Jesus meant. Time and again,
the church has experienced a “new openness” (G-3.0401) as groups
of persons once considered less worthy have been brought into full
acceptance. We can see that happening in Scripture itself. Even the
early church was challenged to welcome Gentiles, traditionally
considered “unclean,” as full members of the community. This
meant setting aside the age old Laws that the first disciples had
grown up learning. (Acts 10-11)

Over the last several decades, whatever consensus there was about
same sex expression has broken down. More people have come to
know gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in our families,
churches, and communities; and more of our preconceived notions
have been challenged by the faithful lives and abundant gifts we are
observing in these, our sisters and brothers.

Further, many seminary professors and other faithful lovers of

Scripture have been hearing a different message in God’s Word,
calling us away from the former things — a message that we are
convinced is from the Holy Spirit. On careful reading, we discover
that biblical prohibitions, such as in Leviticus and Romans, are
aimed at concerns that have nothing to do with the committed,
loving relationships we see today.

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For years now, the majority of Biblical scholars in our seminaries
have not believed that Scripture prohibits same-sex relationships.
Consider the interpretations advanced by the Rev. Dr. Jack Rogers,
Moderator of the 213th General Assembly who taught at Fuller and
San Francisco Seminaries. You have all received his book Jesus, the
Bible, and Homosexuality. In it Jack applies the Presbyterian
Church’s long-standing Reformed principles of Scripture
interpretation to examine all of the texts traditionally used to justify
the exclusion of our gay sisters and brothers from ordained service.
His conclusion is clear: these texts do not justify our history of
exclusion. He goes on to demonstrate that, taken as a whole,
scripture “proclaims God’s radical welcome for all who have faith.”

Our conclusions are grounded in Scripture. We listen for its voice

by reading in literary and historical context; by applying the rule of
Christ that interprets all Scripture through what we know about
Jesus’ life and teaching; and by adhering the rule of Love that
insists: “Any interpretation of Scripture is wrong that separates or
sets in opposition love for God and love for fellow human beings.”

We are not alone in hearing this word from the Lord. The PC(USA)
could join a growing number of ecumenical partners, including the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting a year ago in this
very building, who decided to begin putting this conflict behind
them by honoring the consciences of all who seek God’s will, even
when we come to differing conclusions.

Of course, we’d like everyone to share our interpretation, but it’s

not necessary for all of us to agree in order for the church to move
on from this conflict. What is necessary is for the PCUSA to return
to our historic principles — freedom of conscience in the
interpretation of Scripture, and mutual forbearance as we all live by
our Biblically-informed convictions.

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H – Ralph Jones

I’m Elder Ralph Jones from the Presbytery of Southern New

England. Those who are barred from ordination are not the only
Presbyterians affected by G-6.0106b. Along with the congregations
they might have been serving, the whole church has struggled and
suffered loss.

My presbytery is a diverse body, at least theologically. While two-

thirds of our commissioners voted for our overture, the third who
voted against it spoke with eloquence and passion.

I have served six years on the Committee on Preparation for

Ministry, and all of us — both those who would retain the current
G-6.0106b and those who are impatient for it to change — have
spent endless hours wrestling with its implications.

Despite our differences, we agreed that G-6.0106b has not helped us

or our inquirers and candidates to discern God’s calling. It has only
added anxiety and alienation to the work of preparation — work
that requires an environment of trust and love.

G-6.0106b has not helped us with any of the real problems we’ve
faced.

We need to focus on preparing ourselves and one another for the

church that God is calling us to become. Anything that diverts us
from this sacred work is both unhelpful and counterproductive.

Committees on Preparation for Ministry are responsible for

equipping faithful, gifted candidates to serve the church of today,
and the church of coming decades. Help us focus on that, rather
than continuing to distract the church with a standard on which we
clearly do not agree.

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I – Mary Speers

I’m Mary Speers, a Minister Member of the Presbytery of New

York City. You’ve heard from us now about biblical interpretation,
the Constitution of the PCUSA, the practical issues of applying G-
6.0106b, and personal stories… Now I want to talk to you about
evangelism.

Our congregation is a family church.

In our everyday conversations, we discuss our husbands, our wives,

our parents and children. Together we celebrate baptisms,
weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, anniversaries…

We are happy and excited for our people when they’ve met
somebody new, and we weep with them when something sad
happens in their family life.

But here’s the thing: Our church is like a growing number of others
nowadays in the Presbyterian Church (USA). We talk about all
families.

I came to this congregation almost nine years ago as an “out of the

closet” Lesbian. They welcomed my life partner so completely that
within a year she had “minister’s wife syndrome”!

Young, straight couples with children, and interracial couples too,

began to join our church. Ours is no longer an aging congregation.

The new members said they came because the pastor was gay, so
they knew the church was a safe place for their children to go to
Sunday school. That’s evangelism.

We celebrate with a new Lesbian member who is about to become a

foster mother for a gay teenager rejected by his birth family.

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We celebrate with a young straight couple who, having grown up
and married at our church, chose a Presbyterian Church in their
new town because it had a rainbow symbol out in front.

Churches that affirm all families, gay and straight, are safe places
for all the families out there with no church at all — the very people
we are trying to reach. That’s evangelism.

Thank you: God bless all our families.

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J – Daniel Bahls

I’m Daniel Bahls, an Elder from the Presbytery of Detroit.

Removing the current language of G-6.0106b would be good for the

whole church. It might enable more congregations to attract young
families the way Mary’s church has, but that’s not the only way it
could benefit the church. It could also bring us peace, and help us to
be better Presbyterians.

For thirteen years, our church’s Constitution has been at odds...

with itself. The Book of Confessions reflects the heritage of our faith
and helps us understand the Church’s reading of Scripture through
the centuries. The Book of Confessions was never intended to be a
laundry list of prohibitions, and G-6.0106b reduces it to exactly that.

Listen to the Westminster Confession challenge this very notion:

“All synods or councils since the apostles’ times, whether general or
particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to
be made the rule of faith and practice, but to be used as a help in
both.”

In its “Historic Principles of Church Order” (G-1.0305) the Book of

Order exhorts us to ensure that our leaders are sound in the faith.
And yet, it goes on to say that there are truths and forms with
respect to which people of good characters and principles may
differ. And in all these it is our duty to exercise mutual forbearance
toward each other.

This is not the first rift we Presbyterians have faced. We have

fought. We have fractured. We have sat in uncomfortable chairs at
presbytery meetings until long after we planned to go home.

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Our Presbyterian ancestors did the same things with different
isssues. The same meetings. The same uncomfortable chairs.
Different hair styles.

It is our sincere belief that someday, perhaps decades from now,

God’s will on this issue will be abundantly clear to all of us.
Wherever we stand, we share that hope. We’re now faced with the
question of what to do until that day.

Let us do what Presbyterians of past centuries have done. Let us

hold tight to our founding principles – that God alone is Lord of the
conscience – that many things while important do not justify a
rupture in our communion; [and] that we owe each other the duty of
mutual forbearance in such matters.

This is who we are. Allowing room for disagreement is not caving in

to compromise. We discern, and we struggle – but when we can’t
agree, we trust the Spirit to continue working, even through our
differences.

We are the church Reformed, always being Reformed according to

the Word of God and the calling of the Spirit – it is what makes us
Presbyterians in the first place.

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K – Chris Shelton

I’m Chris Shelton, Associate General Presbyter of the Hudson River

Presbytery.

In this room are sisters and brothers, all seeking passionately after
the will of God.

On one side, people of good faith seem to hear Jesus setting a

standard, drawing a line. They have heard the Spirit saying that
sanctified sexual relationships come in only one design, and they try
to extend the love of Christ by calling people away from what they
see as sinful.

On the other side, people of good faith seem to hear Jesus calling
everyone, inviting us all into ministry. They have heard the Spirit
speaking a resounding “whosoever” through the voice of Scripture –
and these people take that to mean everyone – even those whose
sexual identities are crafted differently by the hand of God.

My own family lives across these lines. People of deep faith —

reading the same Bible — singing the same hymns — praying for
the same daily bread from the same gracious God.

My human brain says someone must be wrong. My Reformed heart

nudges back reminding me that no one is wrong, everyone falls
short of the Glory of God. And yet, God’s purpose is being worked
out in the midst of all things, even this period of conflict and
consternation, to get us to pay attention.

Surely we can see that the more tightly we have gripped the reins of
the Church, the more anxious we have become, the more we have
fallen in numbers and in spirit. We have, all of us in various ways,
failed to demonstrate our faith in God through these years of
division.
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At the foundation of our Reformed Faith is the simple, yet profound
notion that God alone is God. It is God who first chose us, who first
loved us, and it is God alone to whom we belong in life and in death.

God will call as God will call – calling David who had been
overlooked, calling Sarah who laughed right back, calling Jeremiah
who thought he was only a boy, calling Ruth who came from
another country, calling Paul on the road of persecution, calling
Mary, a unwed girl.

G-6.0106b gets in God’s way. It has not drawn us closer to God;

indeed, it tempts us to think we can be like God, made pure by our
own repentance and not by God’s grace. Let’s be clear…none of us
standing here believes that being gay or living fully into a committed
same-sex relationship is sinful. We understand that well-intentioned
people of faith disagree about that.

But G-6.0106b gets in God’s way for us all, regardless of where we

stand in those disagreements. This paragraph mistakenly casts the
church in the role of judge of who is a sinner and who is not…and
who has adequately repented and who has not. Our spiritual
ancestors, the Apostle Paul and John Calvin call to us across time
reminding us that we are all sinners. If we could make ourselves
holy, then why would we need the grace of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ?

Reflecting on our calling as fallen but forgiven children of God,

Calvin wrote, “We ought to embrace the whole human race without
exception in a single feeling of love; here there is no distinction
between barbarian and Greek, worthy and unworthy, friend and
enemy, since all should be contemplated in God, not in themselves.
When we turn aside from such contemplation, it is no wonder we
become entangled in many errors.” (Institutes, II, viii, 55)

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God longs to untangle us, and the Spirit has something better for the
Church.

Something better than our arguing, our wrangling, our endless back
and forth.

Something better than our decline in energy, to say nothing of our

decline in numbers.

The Spirit has something better for us — a gift that we’ve been
offered time and again.

The Spirit offers us the startling and wonderful gift of grace. And
like our Lord Jesus, it is sure to surprise us at every turn.

Our invitation to the Church today is simply to let God be God, and
to allow God to call whom God is calling.

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L – Conclusion – Stuart Ritter

In this presentation, we have cited only a few of the reasons for

changing G-6.0106b. You have read the various overtures and
rationales and the comments from the Advisory Committees.

Our presbyteries have presented a variety of possibilities for your

faithful discernment.

In the end, it is all about faithfulness: faithfulness to God,

faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the faithfulness of
those who seek to serve his church.
May rivers of living water bring new life to this church we all love.
And may God’s will be done.
Thank you.

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