Category Archives: Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland GA: Notes on Day 1

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The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland convened yesterday with all the flair and formality the meeting brings.  The meeting began with a ceremonial start including the election of the new moderator (a formality as this point since the tradition is to have a committee select a designate in the fall), and the letter from the Queen and the address by the Lord High Commissioner.  After a brief adjournment the Assembly continued with business, much of it related to the administration of the Kirk.

One of the major reports of the morning was a Joint Report of the Legal Questions Committee and Ministries Council dealing with workplace standards in the church and the “equivalence of protection offered by the Church to its ministers and others, in comparison with the rights of employees and others in civil law.”  The full report is available from the reports page.  Here is a link to the MS Word version.  One of the concerns of the report is Ministers in the church being bullied by “office-bearers” in a congregation, particularly session members.  The measure adopted would provide that the civil law would apply to church workplace situations including bullying, harassment, and victimization.  (As a note, the primary responsibility of the Legal Questions Committee is how the church’s rules and laws interface with the civil laws.  This is were last year’s debate on blessing same-sex partnerships came out of.)  The Assembly amended the adopted document by a vote of 214 to 138 to include in the “protected grounds” sexual orientation.  The assembly debate did not follow the report numbering exactly but I believe that this would be a change to the report Appendix B, Section 1a.  Beyond this, the report is extensive on expected behaviour and the procedures if a claim is filed.

In the collection of administrative reports there were also reports on budgets and communications which led to discussion but were approved.  One Presbyterian polity issue in the communication report was a discussion on why there was no designated “spokes person” and how no one person can speak for the church or a body of the church.

One of the external controversies to come out of the GA so far is the choice of HRH Prince Andrew as Lord High Commissioner.  For an Assembly which will be calling on the world to take action on global warming, including the number of airplane flights, people are saying it is hypocritical to have a representative of the Queen who is known for his jet-setting habits.  In addition, Andrew will be traveling by helicopter the next three days to church projects around Scotland.  Several news outlets have picked up this story but here is one from Scotsman.com.

Today is a quieter day with a business session this evening that will involve no council reports or votes.  It will mainly be speeches including that of the outgoing moderator.

Church of Scotland GA begins tomorrow

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With the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland beginning in roughly 12 hours, the Scottish news media has had a variety of articles this week.  Here are a few:

A tribute to the outgoing Moderator Alan McDonald and an introduction to the Moderator Designate Sheilagh Kesting are both written by Ron Ferguson and appear in his column in The Herald.  In “The Ministry of a very Modern Moderator” Mr. Ferguson writes about Presbyterian Polity saying:

The Church of Scotland deliberately elects a moderator for one year only. This arises out of a Presbyterian distrust of entrenched ecclesiastical power. The ghost of John Knox still walks the land. The system has some obvious weaknesses, but among its strengths is the elevation of a variety of voices from within the Kirk. In his moderatorial year, McDonald has exemplified the highest traditions of ministry.

Mr. Ferguson introduces the Rev. Kester in “Breaking the Mould:  Meet the Kirk’s quiet rebel.”  He writes how she will be only the second woman to serve as Moderator of the General Assembly and the first clergy.  And as Rev. McDonald was high-profile about his combating sectarianism (My comments from December and March) Rev Kester has made it known that with her work and background in ecumenism, she will be proactive in that area as well.  This is one of the longer and most informative articles I have read about Ms. Kester.

Probably the most closely watched issue this year will be the Report on Same-sex Relationships, especially after the motion to allow ministers to bless same-sex partnerships was defeated by the Presbyteries.  An editorial in The Herald calls for compromise.  They write:

It is hoped that the Church will debate this
sensitive area with maturity and restraint and not precipitate any
rupture or stand-off between evangelicals and liberals, which would
only serve further to entrench their positions and weaken significantly
the Church’s authority in the eyes of the public. Instead, it must
surely be in everyone’s best interests to reach a conclusion advocating
tolerance towards those who choose to make these blessings, while
wholeheartedly accepting the stance of those for whom this ministerial
act is inconceivable.

However, an earlier article about this issue, also in The Herald, talks about the possibility of this issue leading to a split in the church.  I must note that while I found the article reasonable, it was interesting to see that all the quotes were from those who support the blessing of the partnerships, and most of them said they would defy the church if it passed a prohibition.  Related to this issue, the progressive group OneKirk is putting together a panel discussion on Monday evening that is not part of the official program.  However, the panel includes Rev. Ian M. Watson, a leader of the conservative group Forward Together, as well as Dr. Barbara Wheeler, President of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York and the PC(USA) official representative to the GA.  More details and the full panel can be found in a flier from OneKirk.

In other items, the Free Church of Scotland will be meeting at the same time and the ecumenical relations committees of each church will address the other’s General Assembly and they will be issuing a joint statement (The Herald article).  In addition, the Church and Society Council report will challenge church members to make changes in their lifestyles to reduce global warming (Christian Today article).

Finally, The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly, that is the Queen’s representative, will be the Duke of York, HRH Prince Andrew, the second son of the Queen.  In my limited experience with Church of Scotland General Assemblies this is the first time that a member of the Queen’s immediate family has been the Commissioner, although vidio clips on the church web site show HRH Prince Charles serving in that capacity.  The best of the articles I have seen about Andrew’s service is from the Berwickshire News.

The beginning of GA season is coming: Five days to the GA of the Church of Scotland

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The first major General Assembly of this calendar year is coming up fast.  The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland begins this Saturday, May 19.  Today the General Assembly Web Site was updated with information and the agenda.  In particular, I liked the Order of Proceedings booklet which not only has the daily agenda but a lot of other interesting information that is available as a PDF file.  The various reports have been appearing on the web site over the last month.

Taking a quick look, it appears that the controversial report on Same-Sex Relationships to be delivered by the Mission and Discipleship Council (my previous post on this) will be the last item of business for the morning session next Wednesday, May 23.  They appear to be docketing a substantial amount of time, although there are other supplemental reports on other topics from this council as well.

Five days and counting until this GA Junkie gets a real fix.

Sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down

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The quote in the title is from British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s announcement today that he has set a date for his resignation.  But it got me thinking and reflecting on the pull of power, especially in a Presbyterian system.

As a Reformed church we believe that power should not be concentrated in an individual person but held by the commissioners to that governing body.  Even then, in the Presbyterian Church (USA), an elder may only serve on session for a maximum of six years before they must take at least one year off.  The same is true in my Presbytery for committees, although many people just move on to another committee.  My Presbytery has no restrictions on elder commissioners to Presbytery.  I’ve lost track of the number of years I have been an elder commissioner, but not always from my church.  My status as a voting elder in Presbytery has also included my time as a committee chair and as moderator and vice-moderator.  And minister members are always voting members for as long as they are members of Presbytery.  But, our Synod commissioners only serve a maximum of four years and an individual is usually only a General Assembly commissioner once.

There are places in our system where there is usually no limit on time of service.  Clerks are one of these places.  There is no requirement that the elder serving as clerk of session be an elected member of session so there is no limit on how long someone can serve.  As an example, when my six years as a member of session were up, I continued on for an extra two years serving as clerk.  No vote, but an opportunity to participate.  And at my parents’ church there is a vintage plaque memorializing a gentleman who a number of years ago served for decades as the clerk of session.

Our presbytery recently reelected our stated clerk for another three year term which will get them to near two decades of service.  Having worked closely with the clerk this individual is wonderful at the job, never injecting them selves unless I was about to do something contrary to the Book of Order or if I asked them for advice.  Now, the theory is that these positions have only limited power, but many of us are aware that even in setting dockets or providing constitutional guidance to committees there is the substantial opportunity for influence.  So, on principle, in a Presbyterian system, should there be term limits on any position just to avoid the “pull of power?”

Just some thoughts for today after hearing the quote from Mr. Blair.  In a related note, his presumed successor as PM is Mr. Gordon Brown, a Scot.  I have heard and read of him described a number of ways, but almost all of the profiles (like this one from Earthtimes.org) mention his father’s service as a minister in the Church of Scotland.  In one of the interviews this morning with an opposition commentator I heard him described as “presbyterian,” with the adjective used not in a spiritual sense but as being stern and reserved, much like another article I commented on here a while ago.

GA of the Church of Scotland: Same-sex relationships report

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With the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland coming up in less than a month the reports are becoming available and the press releases are flowing.  If you want to check out the reports they are available on the General Assembly Reports page and the Online Newsroom is dominated by releases for each of the major reports.

However, the highest profile report appears to be coming from the Mission and Discipleship Council and is titled “A challenge to unity: same-sex relationships as an issue in theology and human sexuality.”  The report is available in MS Word, RTF and Text formats.  You can find all three formats under Mission and Discipleship Council on the Reports web page or if you want you can jump straight to the MS Word format.  The report is 37 pages long and I have barely had a chance to skim through it yet.  I’ll try to read it in more detail tomorrow.  However, looking at the reactions that have come out about it there are a wide variety of reactions and opinions on it.  More on that in a minute.

First, a brief note on the history of this issue and this report.  It is important to remember that the major controversy at last year’s GA came not from this report but what was supposed to be a more routine report from the Legal Questions Committee.  That began not as a theological question as much as a civil legal question in response to the government passing the Civil Partnerships law permitting civil unions.  This year’s report is much more involved in the theology.  There was an earlier report adopted in 1994 and in 2004 the process began to update that report with the 2005 General Assembly commissioning this present two year study.

I have not had a chance to read the report in detail but in scanning it a few things stand out.  One of these is section 4.8 – The Church and Power.  In that section the report says:

But while churches participate in sexuality debates, there is a newer emphasis within the churches that power is exercised through service, according to which the churches align themselves not least with the poor, weak, marginalised and alienated in society and in the world as a whole.  In other words, the church increasingly identifies with people conventionally excluded from power.  Part of this emphasis includes listening to the voices of gays and lesbians, especially gay and lesbian Christians.  Hitherto it has been very difficult for people to speak openly in the church of homosexual desire or orientation, fearing judgment and punishment.  This report plays a small part in developing this process of listening to voices from previously unheard quarters.

Beyond this the study seems to cover the usual ground:  The differing approaches to interpreting scripture, the current scientific and psychological understandings, and how should homosexual persons live in the context of a Christian life.  And maybe the most significant thing about this report, is that it really comes to no conclusion about the issue in the section marked “Conclusion.”  The working group basically says “Here are the issues, we need to be talking about these questions and circumspect about answering them.”  To quote the final part of the conclusion:

Therefore the Mission and Discipleship Council presents this report, prepared by a Group of Christians who shared in debate their own unique perspectives and
convictions, and in so doing represented the wider Church. The report
endeavours to present different approaches to issues in homosexuality
generously and charitably, trying always to avoid caricature.  The unity within the Group – and Christians’ unity more generally – does
not however come simply from courteous debate, listening to all points of view, and attempting to understand the other more deeply, although these are virtues which the Group members tried to exhibit… The Council hopes then that readers of the report will be aided by it as they read it, reflect on it and discuss it together, worship and break bread together and journey on in faith.

I have found no specific recommendations for the church or theological affirmations being put forward in this report.

Now, for the press coverage. 

The one that intrigued me the most was the press release from the Church of Scotland itself.  It is titled “Kirk admits to ‘historic intolerance’ toward gay people.”  That headline is sure to grab interest and raise a few people’s tempers.  Reading through the article the basis for the headline is a line in the article which is taken from a very similarly worded line in the Process section (4.5) of the report: “…and the working group has listened to testimonies which have led members to recognise pastorally insensitive – indeed, sinful – attitudes on the part of the Church towards gay people.”  From a polity standpoint there is a problem here in that this is a report of a committee and it is not until GA adopts it does it speak for the Kirk as the headline suggests.  (Any Church of Scotland polity wonks out there who want to correct this point please let me know.)  However, I am further surprised that a point in the process section of a report that has no real action points would be singled out for the headline.  Finally, there is also the implication in the line that it was some, but not necessarily all, members of the council who were led to recognize the insensitive and sinful attitudes.

The web site Christian Today has an article titled “Kirk Report on Homosexuality a ‘Major Disappointment.'”  The article reports that the liberal group OneKirk welcomes the report as a step to “greater openness” while the evangelical group Forward Together finds the report a “major disappointment” because it says nothing new.

Finally, among some other news articles, is an article in the The Guardian titled “‘Sinful’ Church of Scotland told it must accept gays in its ranks.”  Now, I must admit that I’m not sure where that headline comes from because the article covers the same territory the others do.  Again there seems to be an emphasis on that one line in the process section.  I highlight this article because in the last paragraph there is a comment from Callum Phillips of the gay rights pressure group Stonewall Scotland that the report was a “cop-out”  because it was a theological document and did nothing practical.

This promises to be an interesting item on the docket.

Baptismal Standards — or — The advantages of celebrity?

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While a bit afield of the usual focus of this blog, this news item caught my attention and does have some relevance to Presbyterian polity and theology:

The Scotsman has a news article on a Stewart family in Leith who asked to have their son baptized at North Leith Parish Church and they were declined since the parents were not married but had been living together for six years.  While it appears that this couple does not regularly attend the church there is a family connection to the parish.  This situation is in contrast to South Leith Parish Church across town where the pastor last summer baptized the son of celebrity musician Rod Stewart who likewise was not married (but engaged) to the child’s mother.  It is not clear that Rod and his family have a connection to South Leith.

The Church of Scotland, according to the article, leaves the question of baptisms up to the pastor.  The pastor at North Leith appropriately spoke generally for the article about baptisms, but would not comment on specific individuals.  The pastor at South Leith could not be reached for comment for the article.  While there is much more behind this that we do not know, on the surface it leaves the impression that celebrity has it’s privileges.

How do we view baptism within our polity?  How seriously do we take this sacrament, the parent’s vows and the congregation’s vows?  Not an idle question at the moment since the theology of baptism is central to the Federal Vision controversy.

If you want an interesting, and very Presbyterian, view of this I would recommend the chapter “Christmas Baptism” in the book The Good News from North Haven by Michael Lindvall.  While holding the importance of the community very high, it exposes the ways that our sessions sometimes work.

Celtic 0 – Rangers 1

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Well, the Rangers won the football (soccer) match one goal to nil over Celtic.  And the Scottish religious leaders were in attendance with the first minister.  They finally arranged their schedules and security for Church of Scotland Moderator Alan McDonald to attend a Celtic-Rangers football game with Cardinal Keith O’Brien as a show of support for the Scottish initiative to stop sectarian violence.  They were joined by the First Minister and religious leaders from other faiths.  The attendance by the dignitaries is covered by BBC News, but you can get a rundown on the game itself from Soccernet.

In a related development, former Church of Scotland Moderator John Cairns will be one of the protestant participants in an April 17 golf tournament.  The event, featuring both protestant and catholic clergy, is also related to the campaign to eliminate sectarian violence.

Scottish Religious Leaders to Attend Celtics/Rangers Football Match

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Last December, as part of a series of efforts to halt sectarian violence in Scotland, there were discussions about the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Right Rev. Alan McDonald,  and the Scottish Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien attending a Rangers/Celtics football (soccer) match.  Due to security and then scheduling issues the idea was put on hold.  It was announced over the weekend that Rev. McDonald and Cardinal O’Brien would be joining First Minister Jack McConnell at the Celtics/Rangers match at Old Firm in Glasgow this coming Sunday.  They will also be joined by religious leaders from other faiths.

Scottish Pastor to Bless Same-Sex Civil Partnerships

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An article in Scotland on Sunday posted on Scotsman.com says that the Rev. Kim Cran of Aberdeenshire will bless same-sex civil partnerships.  The 2006 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland did pass a policy permitting this but it passed by a narrow margin and the Assembly, over the objections of the reporting committee, did send it to the presbyteries where it failed by a large margin.  As the article points out the status of blessing these unions is in a bit of a legal limbo since the approval was not approved, but a prohibition is not explicit.  So, disciplinary action will be up to the presbytery and the urban presbyteries voted in favor of blessings civil partnerships. If the PC(USA) experience is any guide disciplinary action will not result.

Church of Scotland News: Part 2 – Ecumenical efforts to halt sectarian violence in Scotland

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This news story has been reported very widely in Scotland.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland spoke yesterday at a summit on sectarianism convened by the Scottish Executive.  While the Rt. Rev. Alan McDonald’s remarks were brief and straight-forward, one aspect of them was picked up and much more widely publicized than the rest of the speech.  Rev. McDonald had suggested to the Scottish Roman Catholic Cardinal O’Brien that in a show of ecumenical unity they should attend a Rangers Football Club (soccer for the Americans) game together.  It turned out that while the cardinal and the football club were up for it, stadium security and the local police were afraid that it would raise tempers in the stadium.  So the idea was scrapped until Rev. McDonald mentioned it yesterday in the speech and now there seems to be a change of opinion and police now say the two religious leaders could do it and it would not incite the crowd.

The Church of Scotland has posted Rev. McDonald’s comments at the summit and the remarks by Cardinal O’Brien a couple of weeks ago after the release of a report on sectarian incidents.

Selected press coverage of the football controversy from the icLanarkshire and The Herald.