MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

Gender Inclusive Worship Could Be Coming to a PCUSA Church Near You

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Mon, June 19, 2006
Viewed 98
(23) comments so far

Delegates to the meeting voted to “receive” a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won’t be required to use them.

“This does not alter the church’s theological position, but provides an educational resource to enhance the spiritual life of our membership,” legislative committee chair Nancy Olthoff, an Iowa laywoman, said during Monday’s debate on the Trinity.

The assembly narrowly defeated a conservative bid to refer the paper back for further study.

A panel that worked on the issue since 2000 said the classical language for the Trinity should still be used, but added that Presbyterians also should seek “fresh ways to speak of the mystery of the triune God” to “expand the church’s vocabulary of praise and wonder.”

One reason is that language limited to the Father and Son “has been used to support the idea that God is male and that men are superior to women,” the panel said.

Conservatives responded that the church should stick close to the way God is named in the Bible and noted that Jesus’ most famous prayer was addressed to “Our Father.”

Besides “Mother, Child and Womb” and “Rock, Redeemer, Friend,” proposed Trinity options drawn from biblical material include:

— “Lover, Beloved, Love”

— “Creator, Savior, Sanctifier”

— “King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love.”

Early in Monday’s business session, the Presbyterian assembly sang a revised version of a familiar doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” that avoided male nouns and pronouns for God.

Youth delegate Dorothy Hill, a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, was uncomfortable with changing the Trinity wording. She said the paper “suggests viewpoints that seem to be in tension with what our church has always held to be true about our Trinitarian God.”

Hill reminded delegates that the Ten Commandments say “the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

The Rev. Deborah Funke of Montana warned that the paper would be “theologically confusing and divisive” at a time when the denomination of 2.3 million members faces other troublesome issues.

On Tuesday, the assembly will vote on a proposal to give local congregations and regional “presbyteries” some leeway on ordaining clergy and lay officers living in gay relationships.

Ten conservative Presbyterian groups have warned jointly that approval of what they call “local option” would “promote schism by permitting the disregard of clear standards of Scripture.”

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FOR DISCUSSION: I know we’re probably not strong in our PCUSA consituency here at MMI, but are there any out there who would like to give their response and ideas on this ‘inclusive worship’ idea?

The divine Trinity — "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" — could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb" or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend" at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly, according to FoxNews.com...

Comments

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Daniel on Wed, June 21, 2006

But Jesus didn’t refer to God as “the first person of the Godhead”, either. I know a number of theologians who do, and nobody puts up a stink about that. Clearly then, there is more going on here than just using new titles for God. I don’t think PCUSA is saying that “Father” is bad, but rather that God is both “Father” and “Mother”—maybe that’s where some of the confusion is coming from. So then we’re not taking away from what Christ said, we’re adding to it (much like theologians add to it with their formulations of the Trinity).

Any other ideas?
Andy McAdams on Wed, June 21, 2006

Daniel,

I’ll pass on your challenge to prove you wrong. Sometimes these things are endless debates which I stopped doing long ago. No offense, just don’t want to go there. There is to much in this world to focus on otherwise and to much need in the church at large I want to put my energies.

I would like to mention however that in regards to the PCUSA not thinking that saying “Father” is bad but that saying that God is both Father and Mother”...well believe me I doubt very much that is the intention of those involved with this. I could be wrong, but from my experience and my past membership in the denomination, that’s not their motivation.

I admire David for his stand within the denomination and if you go back to his post and see the other issues also being discussed at the General Assembly, (homosexual ordination) you will get more of the condition of the church. I find it sad and pray for those still inside that wish to stand for biblical Christianity. OK…enough said from me.
nora on Wed, June 21, 2006

“I don’t think PCUSA is saying that “Father” is bad, but rather that God is both “Father” and “Mother”—maybe that’s where some of the confusion is coming from. So then we’re not taking away from what Christ said, we’re adding to it (much like theologians add to it with their formulations of the Trinity). “ While I agree that the word “Trinity” is not in the scriptures, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are most certainly delineated in the scriptures, so that “Trinity” is a simple recognition of those entities, for lack of a better term. So I don’t think that theologians are adding anything not specifically mentioned. The term “Mother” applied to God, however, is, as you said, most certainly an addition, and that’s where I’m very uncomfortable. Also, you say that PCUSA is not saying that Father is bad, but when the article mentions that they changed their doxology to delete male pronouns, I’m not so sure that they don’t think that it’s bad. Well, I’ve probably reached my quota here Daniel, so I’ll have to close with that. Thanks for a very interesing discussion!
Daniel on Wed, June 21, 2006

Thanks to both of you, Nora and Andy, for being willing to revisit this issue. I certainly want to stand by both of you against those who would “delete male pronouns” (we can all agree that that’s just silly). I too have undoubtedly reached (gone over!) my quota for this thread.

Cheers!

-Daniel-
David Wantz on Tue, July 04, 2006

As a newbie to your site and discussion, let me commend you on a very enlightening discourse.

I believe that Daniel really has expressed the essence of the situation at PCUSA. I do not know if some of the more liberal factions of the denomination have an agenda with this policy paper, but it really does not matter. After study, prayer, and discourse, the General Assembly decided to receive the document but it did not approve it. Basically they said that you are not seen as being wrong if you use these alternate gender or gender neutral analogies, but no one is forced to accept them or use them in Worship or teaching. Of course, the leadership and planners at PCUSA always attempt to make a point or show solidarity when none exists; and, they did the Doxology in gender neutral terms. It most likely did not help anyone feel differently about their position, but it probably made quite many on both sides of the debate uneasy.

I am a life long Presbyterian, starting life in the United Presbyterian Church and now in PCUSA. I may be one of a small percentage of the Presbyterian laity that has actually read the Book of Confessions, which outlines the underpinning of our denomination’s belief system. I have even read sections the Book of Order, which constitutes the rules and regulations under which our denomination is governed. Presbyterians are a complex denomination with many contradictory terms that can describe us.

To get a real sense of Presbyterianism, you only have to remember that a great number of the Founding Fathers of the USA were Presbyterian. The local churches, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assembly are just like the towns, states and federal government. We are a representative democracy that believes the Spirit will work through the debate to reveal a greater understanding of God, His Grace, and the response we are to have to Him and It. That upsets many of Presbyterians (especially the Pharisees among us) and makes it hard for outsiders to understand us.

Presbyterians believe deeply in the Bible, but we know it was written by human beings with their own agendas. We believe deeply in God as revealed by the Bible and the Trinity, but we know that this is just like looking in a bad mirror or through a clouded telescope lens. God is bigger than our limited concepts and certainly bigger than our limited abilities to use language to describe Him. We use certain conventions in our language as it pertains to God, but they are human creations. The true test of these new alternate gender or gender neutral analogies will be in how they help believers and non-believers understand the hard concepts of God. Do they help us be better Christians?

It is silly to discuss and debate this issue? Yes, but what is the alternative. The alternative is to blindly follow convention; to perhaps be less clear; and to perhaps miss Christ’s Gospel.

We are called to the best examples of Christ that we can be. We are called to break down barriers that separate people from the love that God freely gives. We are called to be the love of Christ in action. If alternate gender or gender neutral analogies of the Trinity assist us in these tasks, then let us use them freely.
John on Wed, July 05, 2006

This is a sad day for the Christian Church. It is time to consider the scriptures, not the culture at the moment. How wonderful when we can say, “The Lord says…” not “The popular culture, society, or the national convention says…” Those will be words worth listening to!
Joe of the Mountain on Wed, July 05, 2006

This is a real easy problem for you Presbyterians to solve: those who wish to call Jesus “mother” etc. ought simply to tranfer to the “Epsicopagans” whose new Presiding Bishops has already stated her belief—in a prayer, no less—that Jesus is “our Mother who birthed us”.

I mean, why reinvent the wheel???

lol

Joe of the Mountain

Visiting Anglican
Thea A. McKee on Thu, August 03, 2006

I have posted a couple of times, this will be my third post total.

I am an ordained PCUSA minister and I was in attendance of this and all meetings of the GA. What was not reported anywhere, (including my beloved Fox news) was that the policy report first and foremost upheld the “Foundation of our understanding of the Trinity, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

All this policy paper did was allow pastors and pastoral counselors to be more creative in expressing ways to help people understand the concept of the Trinity. There is truly no difference between this and St. Patrick using the clover to teach the Irish the concept of the Trinity.

Moreover, as a minister and pastoral counselor I can assure you that when a woman comes to my office and has been abused by a man—husband, father, brother, etc.—praying a prayer of comfort to an all male God, often causes more harm than good.

Initially following abuse a victim is not ready to hear that wonderful truth that The Father loves her. We work to that point. I begin with getting a victim to hear words of Creator, Etc. I, as do most PCUSA pastors and members, believe the Trinity is indeed the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, just as Christ met the woman at the well in the reality of her life—with all of its sin and sufferring—this affords us the Spirit guided freedom to do likewise.

Also, one of the CONSERVATIVE members of the GA did indeed use the phrase, “Mother, Child & Womb,’ to make the point. It backfired. The entire assembly groaned at how grating and painful it sounded. Yes, there will always be those who want to push an agenda. But this policy paper affirmed anew our understanding of the Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It also gave us the freedom to meet people where they are in their lives, so that as their faith grows, they can understand the mystery and the majesty of the Triune God—Father, Son & Holy Spirit!