Some notes about the March 14th Pittsburgh Presbytery meeting and proposed amendment 08B

At the March 14th Pittsburgh Presbytery meeting, a motion was made to extend the time for those who wished to speak on behalf of or against passing amendment 08B beyond the 20 minutes allocated. The motion was voted down, and I did not get the chance to present what I had prepared to say that day. Below is what I would have said:

My name is Fred O’Leary, and I worship and serve at Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill.

I’ve had the good fortune over the past few years to study with folks who have researched much about the history of the Presbyterian Church. I’ve learned about the past 150 years, and our Church’s struggles to move beyond prior literal interpretation of the bible that excluded women and people of color from serving God in a meaningful way. I look around this sanctuary with pride and I see the very clear and wonderful results of having moved beyond those forms of discrimination that tarnished our denomination. One day my hope is that we’ll be able to look back on this issue with that same pride.

It’s been my observation that it’s very rare when someone actually hears the sometimes quiet whisper that is a call to serve God, and often even rarer when one responds to that call. We in this room can probably each remember the first time we recognized that call.

That call sometimes goes out to God’s followers who are excluded from serving by our current Book of Order.

That call sometimes goes out to beloved children of God like our own Reverend Brent Dugan of Ben Avon, who was so loved by his congregation there when his life was tragically cut short in November 2006. In my opinion, this sort of tragedy is precisely the sort of thing we all need to be seeking to eliminate by bringing dialog on these difficult issues forward, and working to end the exclusion of some from a call to serve. Never again should anyone have to feel so torn between their belief in and desire to serve God, and the person that God created them to be, that he or she should desire to end their own life.

I’d like to close by reading two short poems to you.

The first one is some words that may be familiar to many of you: ‘Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation, pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church.’ I share these poetic words with you today, and ask you to think of them on their own, and not with regard to what the words they are intended to
replace.

The second comes from the 40th Psalm. I’ve found it helpful in my contemplations in preparation for today’s meeting: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.’

May God’s grace be with all of us today.

Pittsburgh Presbytery Votes on Amendment 08b

Just got back from the special meeting of Presbytery, where the final vote was against affirmation of Amendment 08B to the Presbyterian Book of Order. The proposed amendment, which focused on a person's hearing of a call rather than a person's sexuality, was defeated by a vote of 206 to 105.

All in God's time.....

Share Your Time & Talents

Interested in some hands-on mission opportunities? Please check the working draft of this opportunities chart: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9bxh2j_1784w6qzhs .

Here you'll find opportunities to....

• renovate houses (through Open Hands Ministry), or
  
  
• prepare and serve lunch to school students and staff (Neighbhorhood Academy), or
  
  
• interview community members in need of emergency funding (Lazarus Fund, or
  
  
• package medical supplies for people in underserved countries (Global Links), or
  
  
• write grants for a vibrant urban congregation (Bethesda Presbyterian)
  

.... or serve with joy in many other ways!

If you see errors in the chart or if you have suggestions for additions to the chart, please let me know.

Issues of Concern: Single Payer Health Care; Environmental Justice

Health care and the environment are central concerns of the Church and Community Committee. See below for information shared by the Pittsburgh Presbytery on opportunities to get involved and learn more about these issues.

Single Payer Health Care for All
Single payer health care is an issue that has been in the forefront of Pittsburgh Presbytery. In fact the General Assembly 2008 passed a resolution on single payer health care that was initiated by Pittsburgh Presbytery.

Join others at the Single Payer Health Care for All-Citizen Call to Action! meeting to be held on March 28 from 9:00 AM-4:00PM in 2210 Doherty Hall at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The aim of this event is to make the case for passage of publicly funded, privately delivered health care (via HR 676 and Pennsylvania bills SB 300 and HB 1660), including fair and comprehensive benefits for all. RSVP to Mary Pat Donegan at drdoneagain@yahoo.com.

Statewide Environmental Justice Conference
"Building Healthy & Improved Communities for All" is the focus of the first Statewide Environmental Justice Conference to be held on April 26-28 in Harrisburg, PA. You will learn how to keep your community healthy, hear from experts and gain resources and tools. Registration deadline is March 13. For registration and additional information go to
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/environadvocate/cwp/view.asp?a=1538&q=542615

Data Geek Treat

If you like to see things tallied and organized, and you're curious how the votes are coming in regard to General Assembly's 08-B amendment, see http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz4ZcEBLpqZuM9uHsVdKKWw.

This is a spreadsheet showing the current running tally of presbytery votes on Amendment 08-B (see blog post below for more on that Amendment) AND a tally of the shift in presbyteries from earlier votes on similar measures.

Amendments to the Book of Order Proposed

The Presbyterian Church USA’s 218th General Assembly sent ten amendments and four ecumenical statements to all 173 Presbyteries for prayerful consideration and yes/no votes. The changes include a proposed amendment that would delete the current paragraph G-6.0106b in the Book of Order — which requires church officers to live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness”—and replace it with a new G-6.0106b (see below). The proposed new G-6.0106b ties ordination decisions more closely to assent to the ordination vows currently in the church’s Book of Order without singling out a sexual conduct standard.

The Pittsburgh Presbytery will hold its vote on these amendments and statements on Saturday, March 14th at Northmont Presbyterian. Please keep the Presbytery and Sixth’s voting elders and ministers in your prayers.

Proposed New Language in Amendment 08-B:

Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.

The full text of all of the amendments and statements is available at www.pcusa.org/generalassembly/amend/proposed-amendments-2008.pdf . The current vote tally for the amendments is also available online at www.pcusa.org/generalassembly/vote08.htm .

Lazarus Fund Accepting Applications

Good news! Thanks to many who contributed so generously, the Lazarus Fund has raised enough money to again accept applications for emergency-need grants of up to $200.

For more information, see Presbytery's Lazarus Fund site:
http://www.pghpresbyteryorg/justice/lazarus_fund.htm.