Affirmation of Marriage

When I first joined this congregation, as a part of the new member class, former pastor Ron Scates told us about the constitution of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). It is comprised of three documents, each one resting on the foundation of the one before: Holy Scripture, our Book of Confessions, and our Book of Order. Ron demonstrated this relationship visually with a copy of each stacked vertically: the Book of Order on top, not in an exalted or dominant position, but relying on the foundation and support provided by the other two. The Bible, which we accept as the infallible word of God, supports our Confessions, which represent the proclamations of our Reformed faith over the generations, which further support our denomination’s rules of conduct.  In other words, the Book of Order is to reflect obedience to Scripture and the witness of the saints before us.

As a congregation of the PCUSA, we are a member of the Baltimore Presbytery, a body of sister PCUSA congregations joined by geographic proximity, mostly located in the central Maryland area.

At its last meeting, on September 24^th, the Baltimore Presbytery received for a first reading an overture for presentation to the 2010 General Assembly (GA), the PCUSA’s biennial national meeting. The overture proposes a change to our Book of Order, specifically in the section on worship, wherein all references to marriage constituting a bond between a man and a woman would be stricken, replaced with language describing marriage as a bond between “two people.” Were this overture to be passed by our Presbytery, then passed by the GA, and then ratified by a majority of presbyteries, the resulting changes to our Book of Order would allow the performing of same-sex “marriages” in PCUSA churches.

In response, Pastor George has circulated a document, an Affirmation of Marriage, to pastors and Sessions of the Baltimore Presbytery, calling for support of the present language in the Book of Order regarding the definition of marriage, in obedience to Scripture and our Confessions. At its meeting on October 26, 2009, the Session of Central Presbyterian Church voted unanimously to join in the Affirmation. The result of our vote has been forwarded to the Presbytery.

At the next meeting of the Baltimore Presbytery, on November 19^th, the overture will be brought to a vote. If it passes there, it will be forwarded for consideration to the 2010 GA. (The identical overture was defeated at the 2008 GA.)

The Session asks for your prayers. Please pray that our Presbytery will act in obedience to Scripture, and in harmony with our Confessions. Should the overture be passed and sent to the July 2010 meeting of the General Assembly please pray that it would once again be rejected.  Please pray for the peace, unity, and purity of the church.

Respectfully,
Elder Dick Wallace

The overture can be viewed on pages 11 and 12 of the document available at this site:
http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/documents/Presbytery%20Meeting%20Papers%20836.pdf

The text of the Affirmation of Marriage, passed unanimously by the Session, follows:

AN AFFIRMATION

We, the sessions of congregations in the Presbytery of Baltimore, recognize ourselves to be bound by sacred vows related to Scripture and the Book of Confessions.  We assert the following with respect to the institution of marriage:

Marriage is ordained by God and we are not free to alter its nature or definition.  (Genesis 1 and 2 set forth humanity’s male/female complement, with chapter 2 concluding that “a man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”)

God has ordained marriage to reflect the unity of the human race which God created as male and female.  No other combination of persons fulfills the purpose of God that is implicit in marriage.  (Jesus cites the Genesis text to assert that “from the beginning” God created male and female for a union not to be dissolved. Mt. 19:4-6)

Holy Scripture speaks of marriage only in terms of husbands and wives.  No other model for marriage is spoken of as being blessed by God. 

The church should be exceedingly careful about declaring the mind of God on matters that cannot be established by an appeal to Scripture.  Altering the definition of marriage would be one such dangerous initiative.

The Confessions of our church uniformly and explicitly affirm that marriage is the union of one woman and one man.  (Second Helvetic Confession; Westminster standards; Confession of 1967)

In the light of these affirmations, we categorically reject the overture promoting same-sex marriage and any change to the Book of Order regarding the Scriptural definition of marriage.