Saturday, September 03, 2005

A Modest Proposal. . .

. . . That in lieu of overturing General Assembly one way or another on Ordination Standards, Covenant Network and Confessing Churches spend 2006 sponsoring joint service teams to New Orleans and Coastal Mississippi.

13 comments:

Jody Harrington said...

This is an inspired, brilliant suggestion. How can we make that happen?

reverendmother said...

Seconded.

reverendmother said...

Sent message before I could add:

We could write a joint letter to the Outlook, Presbyterians Today, Kirkpatrick, Ufford-Chase, and the heads of those various organizations proposing it. And get Marj Carpenter to be honorary chair of such an effort.

Jody Harrington said...

That's a great idea, reverendmother. We should also send it to presbyweb.org (Hans Cornelder, editor) as a letter--they would post it, I'm sure.

If one of you has time to draft it I will be happy to sign on. It doesn't have to be lengthy. Shorter is better.

Jules said...

Add my "Amen, sisterfriend!" to the chorus.

Apostle John said...

Yikes -- you really are a rebel :)

Karen Sapio said...

Okay--draft #1: Let me know what you think:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The first recommendation in the recently published report on The Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church is for, "every member of the Presbyterian Church, USA to witness to the church's visibile oneness."

The recent catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina has presented us dramatically and immediately with an opportunity to do exactly that. Our embodiment of the love and mercy of Christ in this disaster will be strengthened immesurably if members and congregations who have found themselves on opposing sides of the controversies that have divided us come together to address this crisis.

Over the next twelve months, let Confessing Churches and Covenant Movement Churches, More Light Churches and Presbyterian Coalitian Churches sponsor joint service teams to greater New Orleans and Coastal Mississippi. Such an effort would bear witness to the Body of Christ and help us know it more truly ourselves.

Sincerely,

Jody Harrington said...

I think we should add "and pledge not to initiate or support overtures respecting ordination standards at the 2006 General Assembly" at the end of the first sentence of the last paragraph of the letter. The idea is to deliberately set aside this controversy while we work together on something we agree on, isn't it?

With that addition, I like the draft very much. After we get reverendmother's comments and agree on a final version I say let's send it out. I'd put my name on it.

reverendmother said...

Sounds good (although there were a couple of typos--just run it thru, I mean through, the spell check beforehand!

Thanks for doing this!

Karen Sapio said...

I'm not quite sure how to work with the 'no overtures' aspect. I know that several Presbyteries have already approved overtures and it is hard to reverse that process--it would require Presbytery action, motions to reconsider,etc. Not impossible, but difficult--and perhaps likely to engender just the kind of debate we are encouraging folks to set aside for a season.

How about adding after the first sentence in the last paragraph: "For the next year, let these efforts take precedent over any further efforts to pursue debate or legislation regarding ordination standards at the congregational, presbytery or General Assembly level."

Also--for folks who want to sign on to this letter, I need to know your real names :). If you are willing, email me at kcsapio@hotmail.com. (Another blogger's annonymity bites the dust for a good cause.)

Jody Harrington said...

I'm happy with your suggested language on the ordination standards issue.

I'm a member of presbyweb and will be glad to forward the letter to them if you need me to once you have your signatures.

I'll email separately my info.

Thanks!

Becky Ardell Downs said...

I'm in, and I like your language about the ordination overtures too. Let's be the body of Christ.

Anonymous said...

I think the idea is a good one. I can't support backing down on the proposals and overtures, but that's just because I've been working on this cause for 24 years and many of us can wait no more.

HOWEVER, whatever happens in the Presbyterian Church, I think it would be amazing if we sponsored joint work teams....especially joint ADULT work teams. Great idea.