January 5, 2010: Beginning the Process -- reading an overture.

If my first suggestion is going to be "read", then it might make some sense to know what to read, where to find it, and how to organize your thoughts about what it is you are supposed to understand.

What to read? Everything. Sort of.

Different things are read different ways.

For example, take an overture. If you go to PC-Biz (www.pc-biz.org), click on the "Explorer" tab, then click on "search" without putting anything in the "keywords" section, you will see a list of the business that has been reported thus far.

The first overture listed happens to be one I helped author. It is listed as OVT--001. It is the request of San Diego Presbytery for the 219th General Assembly (that's you) to restore "to full force and effect the interpretive statements concerning ordained service of homosexual members by the 190th General Assembly (1978) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and the 191st General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and all subsequent affirmations including the Bush v. Pittsburgh Presbytery (218-10) General Assembly Permanent Judicial Decision." The action language is in bold, the rest is in plain text. That should help you quickly read through to find what is being proposed.

So, what should you do now? Pay attention to the action requested. Mentally file it under "options for ordination standards."

Note: there is no rationale provided by San Diego in the original overture. I'll come back to this; so keep it in mind for a moment.

Then, there is a heading "concurrence", listing Presbytery of Central Florida and, as you scroll down, seven other presbyteries.This means that seven presbyteries (as of January 5, 2010) were made aware of the overture approved by San Diego Presbytery and acted to join in requesting the 219th General Assembly to take this action. Keep in mind: just because a presbytery (or several presbyteries) overtures the General Assembly, the Assembly is not obligated to do what it is asked. Here, as one of the authors, I think it would make sense...but that's a different discussion for a different day.

It is fair to assume that this is one of a number of items of business that will be before the Assembly related to ordination standards.

Now, about the concurrences with additional rationale:

A "rationale" for an overture is an explanation provided for the benefit of the commissioners and advisory delegates. It is not binding. If the overture is approved, only the action language is the action of the Assembly. The rationale has no further role.

How does it work? Look at the additional rationale from the Presbytery of Cherokee. If you were not aware of the action of the previous Assembly, there is nothing in San Diego Presbytery's overture that would tell you the historical significance of the language employed in the requested action. The additional rationale begins with that explanation, "The intent of this overture is to reverse the authoritative interpretation (AI) of the 218th General Assembly (2008) that declared these statements and their affirmations to have no further force and effect. The assembly erred and exceeded its authority when it nullified them while G-6.0106b is in the Book of Order." It goes on to give an historical description of the Constitutional role and previous actions of Assemblies.

If the Assembly adopts the action requested in the overture, only that language will be the action of the Assembly. I stress this because == in my experience -- many people get overly anxious about things that appear in a rationale. They disagree, think something is made-up or outright false, and get all upset. Don't fall into that trap. Read the rationale only to get background, history, or analysis.

So, to re-cap: read the action carefully. Mentally file it under "options for ordination standards." Read the rationale for historical awareness and background only. Do not get lost in trying to fix or argue against a rationale.

 

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