|
When I was a child growing up in the Presbyterian Church, we
had what were called ruling elders and teaching elders. And then in 1983,
the Northern Church and the Southern Church reunited and we began using the
terms elder and Minister of Word and Sacrament. But today, I want to try to
take on that mantle of teaching elder again. And I am going to try my
hardest not to be boring. But just in case, you might want to wiggle around
a little in your seats, get your blood flowing, so you won’t fall asleep.
C’mon, you can do it… just move a little bit. There you go… okay!
I’m often amazed at the ability of scripture to speak to us in any situation
in which we find ourselves. I like to reflect back on the time that I had to
do one of my exams for ordination, the Exegesis Exam. That’s a hard word to
say… hard to do too. We had to write a paper and we had to choose from
either the Old Testament or New Testament text. When I took that particular
ordination exam, it was about a week and a half after September 11 happened.
The Old Testament text was the story of Cain and Abel. It was just amazing
to me how the people who chose the text for the exam had chosen a text that
was so fitting for those of us who were preparing ourselves to go into
professional ministry to sit and struggle with that text in light of what
had just happened. I think today our
scripture from Samuel also does that.
In a round-about way, it deals with some of what we are currently dealing
with in our denomination. I mentioned earlier about our General Assembly and
I will talk more about that later. But first, I want to some background to
today’s scripture. Saul has seen David as a threat and does all he can to
eliminate him. David even had to go and hide in some caves so that Saul
wouldn’t find him and kill him. And Jonathan, the son of Saul, should have
seen David as a threat since Jonathan was heir apparent to become king as
Saul’s son.
But Jonathan understands, as Saul does not, that David is God’s choice as
Israel’s next king. Jonathan could have been jealous; he could have pursued
his own desires anyway rather than listening to God. But he didn’t.
Jonathan’s commitment to God allowed him to put aside his own aspirations
and put his loyalty and support behind the person God had chosen as Israel’s
next king. That kind of love is rare, but ever so needed in today’s church
and in this church.
Over this past week, I have received calls from some of you in the
congregation regarding decisions at recent General Assembly in Birmingham.
That Assembly convened two weeks ago this past Thursday. Many, many items
are considered at that Assembly, but the secular press decided that they
needed to hone in on just a few topics. And those are the things that I
assume some or most of you know about. This year those topics were
divestment in Israel, ordination of self-affirming homosexuals and new
language for the trinity.
Some or many of you may not even know what the PC(USA) General Assembly is,
so here comes some of the teaching part. The Presbyterian Church is divided
into locals courts that govern our lives together as a church. On the local
church is the Session comprised of elders and the ministers of that
particular congregation. The churches in a particular geographic area
comprise the Presbytery. And then the next court level is the Synod, which
is comprised of Presbyteries in a particular geographic area. And then all
combined comprise the General Assembly.
Every two years, Presbyteries send commissioners, equal numbers of Elders
and Ministers of Word & Sacrament, to the General Assembly to discern
together how God would have us live our lives together and model for the
world the love, justice, and grace of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
They consider what to do with overtures, motions so to speak, that are sent
from the Presbyteries regarding a multitude of items.
The work is, of course, done in committees. Each committee considers
overtures in a particular area. For instance, the Evangelism Committee would
consider any overture that deals with mission and outreach.
It’s a wonderful process; Bible study, prayer, discussion among commissioner
members of the committee and open hearings. The committees then prepare a
report to go to a meeting of all the commissioners, making recommendations
regarding overtures and minority reports. The entire body of commissioners
then deals with each committee report. It is a wonderful process indeed…
moments of silence, prayer and singing.
My experience at General Assembly in 1994 was incredible. I was an elder
commissioner from Cherokee Presbytery. I served as chair of Evangelism
Committee and saw and experienced up close and personal the process. There
were contentious issues. For those of you who were members of PC(USA) then,
I will say one word: Sophia. At the final vote, all of the commissioners
stood together and we held hands and prayed together and then sang the
Doxology. My arms get goose bumps now remembering this.
The same thing happened at this General Assembly. I spoke with one of the
commissioners from the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta and his experiences
were similar to mine.
What in the world does this have to do with
scripture from 2 Samuel? It has to do with being willing to put our
own desires and preferences aside for the sake of the Kingdom. David never
tried to retaliate against Saul even though Saul tried to kill David
numerous times. David realized Saul was God’s chosen one to lead Israel at
that time and David honored God’s choice. Likewise, Jonathan pledged
unfailing friendship to the man who would ultimately take the place that
he, as Saul’s son, should have taken: the kingship of Israel. Both Jonathan
and David model for us how our relationships with one other another should
be lived out as Christian brothers and sisters.
Yes, there are people who went to General Assembly with their own agendas.
People go there sometimes with their minds already made up about how they
are going to vote on particular issues. And yes, there are special interest
groups who go to the General Assembly in order to lobby the commissioners
about their particular issue that they feel is so important and that they
want the commissioners to vote their way… sort of like what happens in
Washington. But, there is a difference.
Commissioners are called, just as our elders here are called, to vote their
conscience as they feel led by the Spirit of God. Only each commissioner
knows if they are truly striving to do that or if they are allowing their
own opinions or the influence of the special interest groups to decide how
they will vote. It is a very difficult job. And you need to pray for your
Session here at Northminster as they work together to discern what God would
have us do here in this place at this time. And as they serve as
commissioners to Presbytery meetings.
Now I hope that all, or at least most of you, are still with me because I
want us all to understand that it is possible to live together although we
don’t see eye to eye on every issue. Just as there are differences of
opinion about the topics with which the commissioners at the General
Assembly in Birmingham dealt, so there are differences of opinion about
things here at Northminster Presbyterian Church.
What I hope we can all learn from the General Assembly is that we can
continue to live with one another in spite of our differences. Is it easy?
No. Is it worth it?
Yes!
How can we do it? How can we live together as a church when we see things
differently and when we don’t agree? I think we can do it because, like
David and Jonathan in their best moments (and we know they weren’t always on
their best behavior, especially David as the scripture from Samuel in the
coming weeks will testify), in our best moments we too can put our desires
and preferences aside for the sake of the Kingdom. In the first chapter of
Isaiah,
verse 18, God says,
“Come let us reason
together, though your sins are as scarlet…”
If our holy, loving, and grace-filled God cares enough to invite us into
conversation, to reason together with God, would not we be wise to do the
same with each other? Rather than drawing our spears, so to speak, at the
first hint that someone disagrees with a particular stance or opinion we
have, would we and our church, and God, be better served if we put on our
“God ears” and respectfully listen to one another?
The Rev. Joan Gray, a member of Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, was elected
moderator of 217th General Assembly. She will travel over the next two
years, representing the PC(USA) and working with church leaders in the
on-going effort to put on “God ears” for the sake of the Kingdom. Prior to
her election as moderator, Joan had this to say, “I don’t have all the
answers, but I have a passionate faith in the God who, through us, is able
to do more than we could ever imagine.”
May our faith be overwhelmingly passionate… indeed trusting that God,
through us,
will do more than we can
ever imagine! Amen. |
