Reflections on SCOTUS

The Supreme Court has ruled and social media is ablaze. Did your pastor discuss the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality or did s/he talk about something else, anything else, “Please don’t make me talk about it again from the pulpit”? Each pastor and each congregation must choose its own way forward in the cultural conversation toward the goal of making it a Christian conversation for those of us who call upon the name of Jesus.

            As I pondered what to write this week, I realized that I lean into the latter camp described above: Please…! Confessing this sentiment, and confessing, too, my tendency to seek cooperation and collaboration as sacred values within the Body of Christ, I have prayerfully considered how I would respond. There is already a flood of information out there – how many posts, links to stories and rainbow colored photos did you see on Facebook? – andI do not presume to speak the definitive word but would like to share the following as resources for conversation.

            Resource #1: Our Challenging Way  This is a theological reflection produced by the Theology and Worship Unit of General Assembly and is co-authored by a well-known evangelical (Charles Wiley) and well-known progressive (Barry Ensign-George). In their paper, Wiley and Ensign-George discuss the unique challenge we have set ourselves upon as a denomination by allowing for a radical freedom of conscience regarding marriage equality. These two theologians write in understandable language to address such questions as “Is [this way] Reformed,” “Can a denomination do this,” and “Why accept the challenge”? They also get a bit wonky, for a brief time, and address the concern about the “Kenyonization” of marriage equality (ask your pastor). The pdf can serve as a good conversation starter and is found here: http://www.presbyterianmission.org/site_media/media/uploads/theologyandworship/pdfs/our_challenging_way_6_november_2014.pdf

            Resource #2: A Thought Exercise on Gracious Inclusion–  This thought exercise comes from two pastors in National Capitol Presbytery, Don (an Inter-Varsity evangelical) and Jim (a Sanctuary Movement progressive). These two colleagues observed the dysfunctional “dialogues” with their presbytery, their own contributions to the dysfunction, and wondered if there was not a better way. Over a meal at a presbytery meeting, they shared an idea: what would happen if we pitted the worst of “my” argument against the best of “your” argument? Such conjecture reverses the usual course of things in which we argue against “the straw man/woman” by trumpeting our strengths while heckling our opponents’ weaknesses. Don and Jim made a covenant with each other: they each committed to listening for the very best in one another, the most faithful, cogent, biblically-grounded, Spirit-inspired arguments, while being honest about the fragile nature of some of their own convictions. Hmmm. This is another good conversation starter.

            Resource #3: The Convergence of American and Presbyterian Freedom  It is not lost on me that this letter will be published the week of July 4^th, and I am cognizant that our American democracy is patterned in much of its political form and thought culture on our own Presbyterian faith, of which a central conviction is that “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and faithful, intelligent Christians will sometimes disagree. Therefore, mutual forbearance and respect in matters of conscience should be adhered to.” Many are the instances in which great American leaders diverged in their opinion: Hamilton vs. Jefferson, Lincoln vs. Douglas, Kennedy vs. Nixon, and now Roberts vs. (a different) Kennedy. As our nation has endured, so shall we: by God’s grace. May we heed the words attributed to St. Augustine, who wrote: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Grace to you today and always,

Brad Munroe