Over 230 commissioners, observers, and friends attended the Covenant Network Commissioner Dinner on Wednesday, the night before the start of the 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama. The four candidates for moderator, Deborah Block, Kerry Carson, Joan S. Gray, and Tim Halverson briefly addressed the gathered community.
Susan Andrews, Moderator of the 215th General Assembly, delivered the keynote address, The Purity of Unity. Andrews spoke in support of the report from the Peace, Unity, Purity Task Force which is under consideration at this assembly. Drawing on her experiences as a moderator, Andrews said, “One of the blessings of the past few contentious years in our beloved church is the difficult conversations many of us have had with those with whom we disagree. I am a better person and a stronger Christian because of those difficult dialogue moments. “ Andrews called upon all to remember to be humble about their own shortcomings even as they seek purity in others.
Covenant Network Board Member, Timothy Hart-Andersen, also spoke to the Report from the Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force. Hart-Andersen spoke of his experience as a commissioner to the 207th General Assembly that passed the amendment to the constitution now known as G-6.0106(b). Stunned, Hart-Andersen committed himself to turning around that action and joined with other Presbyterians working for the same goal. The following year, an informal group came together at the 208th General Assembly to work in support of the amendment that reversed the action of the 207th General Assembly. While that amendment was not ratified by presbyteries, the informal coalition organized itself as the Covenant Network of Presbyterians with the single purpose of removing G-6.0106(b) from the Book of Order. Hart-Andersen reminded the audience that this remains the goal of the Covenant Network to this day.
Hart-Andersen praised the work of 22 Presbyteries who sent overtures that call for the immediate removal of G-6.0106(b). He noted that the Covenant Network joined other Presbyterians in working to pass those overtures. Hart-Andersen called for the General Assembly Church Orders Committee to pass all twenty-two overtures and send them to the Plenary of General Assembly. “We want the church to know that there is a large percent of this body that will not rest until the day the doors are open to all,” Hart-Andersen said emphatically.
While praising the work of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity, Timothy Hart-Andersen also declared the Covenant Network Board’s disappointment with the report that did not call for the immediate removal of all categorical barriers to ordination for gay, lesbian, and bisexual Presbyterians. “This is not what we would have written if we had been in charge,” Hart-Andersen said. “However, we were not in charge, and this is what we have.”
Hart-Andersen outlined the Covenant Network Board’s process of reaction to the PUP report. He spoke of a long period of reflection before reacting. The Board carefully and prayerfully considered the document over an extended period of time. In the process, the Board recognized their own complicity in the polarization that now stresses the denomination. As a result, Hart-Andersen said, the Board made a deliberate decision to stand down from the practice of the last several years and not take a position on the PUP Task Force Report, trusting instead “…that the voice of the Holy Spirit may be heard more clearly if the voices of partisan advocacy are still.”
Hart-Andersen then invited guests to join in discussion with each other on the question of the task force report and their hopes and prayers for the General Assembly. Discussion at table was lively for the half-hour remaining in the time together.
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