My thanks to the Rev. Ian Watson of Kirkmuirhill and his blog Kirkmuirhillrev which has been a great source of information in this controversy.  Also, my apologies for not realizing that two of the blog entries I cited in my first post were essentially identical, and the second was copied from Rev. Watson’s original.  I have added a clarification to that post.

Rev. Watson has a second post with some more information on the matter, pointing us to an article in The Sun.  In that article there is a quote from an unnamed worshiper who says [italics in the original]:

“What he does outside the church should be his business and nobody else’s.”

Now, I want to set aside the fact that this controversy is about sexual orientation and speak generally about this quote.  I also realize that I am taking this quote out of context, not that there was much in the original article.

What condition is the church in if we don’t care about people’s lives outside of church?  The quote seems to convey the modern attitude that religion is a private affair and how it interacts with our lives the other 6.75 days of the week is no business of anyone else.  I find this particularly ironic coming from a member of the Church of Scotland.  While the CofS has since adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith as a principle standard, regular readers of this blog know my affection for the notes of the Kirk (Church) in Chapter 18 of the Scots Confession (emphasis mine):

The notes of the true Kirk, therefore, we believe, confess, and avow to
be: first, the true preaching of the word of God, in which God has
revealed himself to us, as the writings of the prophets and apostles
declare; secondly, the right administration of the sacraments of Christ
Jesus, to which must be joined the word and promise of God to seal and
confirm them in our hearts; and lastly, ecclesiastical discipline
uprightly ministered, as God’s word prescribes, whereby vice is
repressed and virtue nourished.

The church is not about an hour on the Lord’s Day but it lays claim to our whole lives.  And the church is not just the kirk session keeping watch on us, although they have primary responsibility for ecclesiastical discipline, but the whole covenant community caring for each other.

OK, down off soap box.

Back to the specifics of this particular controversy:  The article in The Sun quotes the locum preacher at Queen’s Cross Church, The Rev. Mike Mair, as saying: “Queen’s Cross elected [The Rev.] Scott [Rennie],
with a trivial number — like ten out of 200 — voting against him.”

In addition, an article in The Courier provides a bit more background on Rev. Rennie (interesting to see the ties back to U.S. seminaries):

Mr Rennie was born and raised in Bucksburn in Aberdeen.

He served as assistant at Queen’s Cross church before winning the Scots Fellowship to study for a masters in sacred theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

He returned to the UK in 1999 when he was called to be minister at the [Brechin] cathedral.

He is on the Church of Scotland’s taskforce on human sexuality and is treasurer of OneKirk—a network of ministers and members of the Church of Scotland working for an inclusive, progressive church.

He is working towards a doctor of ministry degree at Aberdeen University and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.

The information from Rev. Watson is that this call is being protested so we will see how it develops.  In addition, he adds that Forward Together, the evangelical network in the CofS, has not commented yet.

Update:  First, Forward Together has now issued a statement expressing their concern about the call of Rev. Rennie.  Second, thanks to Reformed Catholic for his comment below with information about the cooperative D.Min. program Mr. Rennie is in.