To congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
\nGrace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
\nEarlier today, the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved a recommendation from its Assembly Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues allowing for pastoral discretion to perform \u201cany such marriage they believe the Holy Spirit calls them to perform,\u201d where legal by state law.
\nThey also approved a recommendation to change language in the Book of Order to indicate that \u201cmarriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman.\u201d
\nBoth decisions came with much thought, discussion, and prayer, and clearly the entire body that is the PC(USA) will be interpreting these actions for some time.
\nPlease know that the same triune God in whom we place our hope, faith, and trust in is still in control, and that the assembly\u2019s action today is the result of deep discernment to hear God\u2019s voice and discern God\u2019s will.
\nWe concur with the feelings expressed by Teaching Elder Commissioner Jeffrey Bridgeman, moderator of the Assembly Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues, during his presentation to the assembly.
\n\u201cThe apostle Paul tells us that ours is, in fact, \u2018the ministry of reconciliation\u2019 as \u2018ambassadors of Christ,\u2019 and he died for us so that we might be reconciled, that we might become reconcilers,\u201d Bridgeman said.
\nIn this season of both happiness and sadness over the assembly\u2019s decisions, we call on you to remember the overflowing grace and love God gifts us with, and to take seriously our charge to bestow the same grace and love on one another.
\nIn the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,<\/p>\n
Ruling Elder Heath K. Rada
\nModerator, 221st General Assembly (2014)<\/p>\n
The Reverend Gradye Parsons<\/p>\n
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly<\/p>\n
Ruling Elder Linda Bryant Valentine<\/p>\n
Executive Director, Presbyterian Mission Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Earlier today, the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved a recommendation from its Assembly Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues allowing for pastoral discretion to perform \u201cany such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-assembly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/presbyleroy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}