A sermon by J. Stuart Taylor III
On the 217 General Assembly PCUSA in Birmingham, Alabama.
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church
July 2, 2006
I want to thank St. Mark’s and one generous anonymous donor who made it possible for me to represent you at the 217th General Assembly of the PCUSA in Birmingham, Alabama. The theme of this years assembly was “cloud of witnesses” taken from Hebrews chapter 12:1: “ Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight of sin that clings so closely; and let us run the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith”. It was not difficult to feel surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in Birmingham, Alabama as Presbyterians gathered in that historic city where the power of nonviolence turned the tide of the civil rights movement in the early sixties. What meaning would the cloud of witnesses have for us as the PCUSA gathered to debate the civil and human rights of gay and lesbian folk in our midst? I would like to explore this and other questions in my reflections with you on our General Assembly in Birmingham.
On the last leg of my plane trip to Birmingham the passenger beside me was a man who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent . When I saw him reading a briefing paper on Divestment from Israel, I knew that he was a Presbyterian headed for General Assembly. We began to talk and I learned that he was an Iranian Presbyterian who was working as a lay minister in Seattle when he decided to pursue a masters of divinity at Princeton Seminary. Just as our plane was about to land in Birmingham, I learned that he had been in prison in Iran and had immigrated with his family as refugees to the US. I thought to myself that I hoped I would bump into him somewhere in GA so that I could hear the rest of the story of this very warm intelligent man. Southern hospitality was in evidence as a Presbyterian mother & daughter met me at the airport and whisked me to my hotel. Our host Presbytery shepherd and Lapsley with some 15,000 Presbyterians provided enormous logistical support for the Assembly. The Presbytery of Shepherd and Lapsley is named for two missionaries sent to the Congo from the Southern Presbyterian Church in Alabama in the late 19th century. Shepherd was a black man and Lapsley white. Shortly after their arrival lapsley the white missionary died and Shepherd began a life long work of defending the indigenous people of the Congo from the genocidal policies of the Belgian colonial govt. I have preached on the life and witness of shepherd the voice crying in the wilderness who helped to create the forerunner of what would become the international human rights movement of today. The Presbytery continues the work of Shepherd by partnering with the Presbyterian Church in the Congo to combat the aids epidemic.
The first evening, I went to the More Light Presbyterian dinner and joined Mike and Sylvia and a hundred or so other Presbyterians who care about the inclusion of glBT folks in church and society. We heard Michael adee the national organizer of More Light speak to the group. Michael closed his talk and sent us back into the assembly with the question: “ How long will the Presbyterian Church continue to be a church for heterosexuals only?” The next day, I went with a group of Presbyterians to the 16th street Baptist church a few blocks away in downtown Birmingham. 16th street Baptist was a leading black congregation in the civil rights movement in Birmingham and became a national, international symbol of the civil rights movement when it was bombed by the Kkk and four young girls going to Sunday school on Sunday morning were killed. Many of the martyrs of the civil rights movement have become household names in American history a great cloud of witnesses whose faith and courage are invoked for our current freedom struggles. But these 4 girls remain largely unnamed and unknown. Lest we forget them, I would name them here: Denise McNair, 11, Addy Mae Collins 14, carol Robertson 14, and Cynthia Wesley 14. Across the street from 16th St. Baptist is Kelly Ingrahm Park the scene of that moment that changed American history when Sheriff Bull Conner ordered his troops to attack with tear gas, billy clubs and firehoses a group non-violent marchers led by Rev. MLK. After 2 days of marching, every available and willing adult in the black community had already been arrested and jailed. King with the movement around him was wavering. The Kennedy admin urged King and offered him money to withdraw. Then teenagers began to volunteer. Do we let them march? Was the question before the SCLC. Can you imagine the conversations around dinner tables of black families discussing whether any youth would be allowed to face such brutality by being allowed to march? Moderate black leaders went to king and urged him in the strongest terms not to allow the youth to participate. “Back off “they said, “ the jails are filled. The white community is outraged. Violence and chaos reigns in the city”. We know what the ultimate decision would be. 600 teenagers and even children marched and again, Bull Connor unleashed his dogs and his hoses. The next day newspapers around the world ran headlines about Birmingham and photos of black youth being attacked by dogs or literally blown across the street by water. The demonstrations in Birmingham and the media coverage of them turned the tide of the civil rights movement and created the momentum for the first comprehensive civil rights legislation. Later in the week I heard a lecture from Dr. Taylor Branch the Presbyterian elder and Pulitzer Prize winning author of a trilogy of books on MLK and the civil rights movement. Taylor branch said that Birmingham was a case study in how God can bring good out of evil. Branch said that the witness of non-violence in Birmingham rippled around the world unleashing miracles of freedom and hope.
When I got back to the Assembly from 16 ST baptist and kelly ingrahm park I sat down for a quick bite of supper before evening worship. When a Presbyterian pastor from seattle sat down beside me, I remembered that the Iranian Presbyterian that I had met on the plane was from seattle and so asked about him. “His is a remarkable story”. And he went on to tell me that in Iran Manseur is his name was a militant Jihadist who was casing a Presbyterian church in order to bomb it. And in the time that he interacted with this congregation gathering information he was converted by their witness, renounced his intent to harm them and became a christian. And today he is studying to be a Presbyterian minister. His story was no less dramatic than the Damascus road experience that transformed Saul of Tarsus from the persecutor to the Apostle. And an eloquent testimony to the power of non-violence. From there I went to Worship. Anyone who has ever attended GA can tell you that the worship is simply outstanding: the liturgy, the collective voice of a thousand plus Presbyterians singing together and of course the preaching. Rick Ufford Chase preached that night as the outgoing Moderator of the Pcusa. His text from Mk 9 was the story of a father pleading with Jesus to heal his son, saying I believe. Help my unbelief. As Rick challenged us to embrace the dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit in our world today even in a moment that seems to give evidence of the decline of the mainline denominations. He led us in a rousing call and response. “I believe, help my unbelief.” From what I heard in chance encounters you can be very proud of how Rick has served the larger church as moderator these past two years. Even folk who disagreed with him said he has brought dynamic, energetic leadership to the pcuSA. IN worship, we also commissioned new mission personnel including the new young adult volunteers coming to the Borderlands project and St. Mark’s.
From worship I went to the committee hearing dealing with ordination standards. You recall that because of an overture from our session De Cristo presbytery joined 21 other presbyteries in calling on the larger church to delete the exclusionary language in our book of order that prohibits gays and lesbians from ordination. I huddled with a couple of my fellow overture advocates who were going to speak. One of these colleagues was a Presbyterian minister from NY state an openly gay man who was going to take the risky action of giving his own testimony. I was to be the first advocate to speak. I have never been more eloquent. I read the testimony of Becky cook who was our official overture advocate but who had to cancel her trip to GA because of health reasons. Then Ray this openly gay minister followed me from NY State. I was sobered by the questions that followed. One person rose and asked if he were in compliance with B, meaning tell us if you are in a sexual relationship. The moderator of the committee ruled that question out of order. Ray said, Madame Moder. The question has been asked and I will answer it. But do you think that a heterosexual would ever be asked this question? Let me tell you the same thing that I told my presbytery when I was examined for ordination. I am not currently in a relationship but do not be deceived by that. For I will never promise to comply with this exclusive language that denies whom I am as God created me to be. Other overture advocates followed Ray, with arguments based on Scripture, church polity and the confessions, but none had the power of Ray’s personal testimony as a gay minister. Later in the week, when we learned that our overture on inclusion had been defeated by 2 votes in committee about 75 of us went and participated in a very upbeat vigil prior to evening worship. As hundreds of Presbyterians filed in, we sang songs bearing witness to our hope for an inclusive church.
Getting to bed late Friday night I was up early to join a busload of Presbyterians on a 100 mile pilgrimage to Selma Alabama. During this long rich day, we visited Brown Chapel that was one of the historic black churches that embraced the civil rights movement. We heard the testimony of Delores an African-American woman who was an 11th grader in that church in 1963 when “Black Sunday” occurred. Between poll taxes and written examinations, and of course the threat of violence, very few African Americans were registered to vote in Alabama. And to bring attention to this, MLK and the SCLC decided to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. They left from Brown Chapel, marched through town and as they approached the Edmund Pettus bridge spanning the Alabama river they were attacked by Ala. State patrol on horseback who plowed into women and men on foot, billy clubs swinging wantonly. Back at Brown Chapel, Delores and her mother heard the noise and began to see the wounded and bleeding marchers streaming back. She said that as long as she lives she would never forget the sight of A. State troopers on horseback riding up the steps of her church. 3 weeks later 20,000 marchers joined King on a triumphant march to Montgomery that became the catalyst for new voting rights legislation signed into Law by President Johnson. Delores shared with us that her older sister was arrested that day on Bloody Sunday and spent the night in jail and witnessed how many of the prisoners where tortured with a cattle prod. It takes a long time for the trauma of that kind of violence to be healed but thank God that healing does happen. Delores said to us: “I love Selma. This is my home. My community, black and white has come a long way”. We closed our day by walking on foot across the Edmund Pettus bridge and underneath a shade tree on the edge of Selma, a Presbyterian minister led us in prayer an older man who as a young man had supplied food for thousands of marchers a few weeks later who completed the march to Montgomery. This minister asked that God continue to challenge the PCUSA to practice non-violence by standing beside the victims of prejudice and injustice.
Of course there were multiple agendas going on in the General Assembly. There was a compromise motion on Divestment from Israel very similar to the overture that came from our presbytery. In essence the PCUSA will continue to explore how we can engage corporations about their participation in violence on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On Tuesday perhaps the most controversial item on the agenda came before the Assembly- the report and recommendations of the Peace, Purity and Unity task force. This task force was created at the last assembly I attended in Louisville 5 years ago. Its mission was to seek to find a way to reunify the church torn apart by theological differences on Scripture, Christology and sexuality and ordination. The task force faced a nearly impossible mandate. For those of us who are committed to an inclusive church their recommendation that there be no more overtures on gay and lesbian ordination until the GA in 2008 was very hard to swallow. But as the vote came and the recommendations of the task force were overwhelmingly approved, I realized that this was a very significant step for the larger church and for St. Mark’s. What the task force report reaffirmed is the freedom of conscience of the local session and presbytery to determine what are the essentials of the faith by which we ordain. For conservative wing of the church this appears to be license, which they find unacceptable and over which they are threatening to leave. For a church like St. mark’s, it means that the larger church has strongly reaffirmed our constitutional right as a congregation to define the essentials of faith by which we ordain officers. The larger church has reaffirmed the freedom of conscience that led us years ago to adopt our inclusion statement.
Throughout the The 217th assembly of the PCUSA, I was painfully aware of the historical irony in that it was here that Rev. MLK wrote the famous letter from a birmingham jail. In jail King was responding to a letter published in the paper by a group of moderate southern clergy who were saying that it was not the right moment to push for the civil rights of black americans. King responded by saying that it is easy for others to say to the oppressed be patient, wait. And so we have that same tension in the civil rights movements of today and in the struggle to include gay and lesbian people in church and society. At General Assembly, More Light Presbyterians have said right now is the time for justice. And the PCUSA has decided that this is not the right time. The exclusive language in our constitution excluding gays and lesbians still stands. I wonder when our church will understand that the struggle for the dignity and freedom of African Americans in the 60’s is no different from the struggle of gay and lesbian people today. I do take great heart from the cloud of witnesses. This GA in Alabama gave me the opportunity to drink deeply at the well of the civil rights movement. And it is my strong conviction, that the Spirit of God that animated the women and men and even children who led the freedom struggle for African Americans is the same Holy Spirit that is leading us to that day when gay and lesbian will be honored fully as brothers and sisters in the family of God. “ Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight of sin that clings so closely; and let us run the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith”