March 3, 1991
8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Worship Services
John M. Buchanan

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

ON THE REPORT ON HUMAN SEXUALITY...

"Keeping Body and Soul Together:
Sexuality, Spirituality, and Social Justice" ~-

A Document Prepared for the 203rd General Assembly (1991)

by The General Assembly Special Committee on Human Sexuality,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1991.

Last Thursday the Chicago Tribune carried on page three an article
about the Presbyterian Church and a new report on Human Sexuality.

Isn't it ironical that the anly time in memory the Presbyterians made
it into the first section of the newspaper the topic was sex?

Some of you asked about the article and some have said your friends
have asked you about it. ,

The article referred to the publication, last week, of a report
prepared by a Task Force appointed by the General Assembly two years ago.

The title of the report is: "Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality,
Spirituality and Social Justice."

The report will come to the General Assembly this June. ‘The Task
Force has already said that it will ask the Assembly to receive the report
to be studied by the churches for two years before any of its recom-
mendations are acted on.

That is, the report is not a position or policy of the Presbyterian
Church. ,

It is a report of a Task Force of seventeen Presbyterians. Ten voted
for it. Six were opposed to it. One abstained.

When asked about it recently, the current Moderator of the General
Assembly, Price Gwynn, said, "There are three million Presbyterians in the
United States. This report reveals what ten of them think about human
sexuality. Now let's find out what the rest of us think."

The subject the report addresses is a critical one.

The Presbyterian Church is, and always has been, committed to open
and honest discussion of all the issues of life with which Christians are
confronted, believing that as Christians discuss, debate, argue, something
of the truth - which is always God's will - becomes available.

So when a friend asks, "What are you Presbyterians up to naw?” please
remember that all we have done is ask seventeen people to produce a study
document, which they have done; and, we are up to what we have always been
up to — reconciling inquiry about God's love and God's creative will in our
complex world,

ON THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES AND PEACE IN THE GULF...

It was not easy to be away from the pulpit for the past several
Sundays.

I was privileged to be appointed an official observer at the Seventh
General Assembly of the World Council of Churches for the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.4.). The Assembly met in Canberra, Australia.

The World Council is an organization of Protestant and Orthodox
Churches from all over the world whose constitution numbers more than 350
million.

The Presbyterian Church {U.S.A.) is a member. So is the Russian
Orthodox, the Presbyterian Church of Korea and the Iraqi Orthodox Church.
The General Assembly meets every seven years.

The experience was inspiring:

- to worship daily in a huge tent with 3,000
Christians and at the end, to pray the Lord's
Prayer, each-in his/her native tongue.

~ to listen to presentations by Aboriginal Christians
on land rights and South ‘Pacific Christians about
nuclear waste and Armenian women about gender rights.

It was good to know that the Church of Jesus Christ around the world
is taken very seriously, particularly by people who are Marginalized in
their own societies, .

It was also good to know, in a very particular way, that much of the
Christian world, particularly the Third World, does not view the United
Stated with much kindness.

; The Gulf War dominated. Here, a record percentage of people
supported American and Allied artion. There, in Canberra, there Was almost
no support, almost universal condemnation and anger and fear of American
intentions. .

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That was not easy, either to hear or to understand.

It was most difficult to be away during the crisis. And now, ina
matter of days, thankfully, an end to the fear, concern; an end to the
shooting and the dying; and a reason this morning for a sigh of relief and
deep gratitude to God -

~ for peace,

- for the bravery and sacrifice of the
men and women of our armed forces,

- for our political system,
and
- for our leaders.

But, without diminishing in any way our joy and gratitude, may I
submit that it is also an occasion for reflection and new commitment? -

- a day to recall that every human life is
precious, created in the image of God, and
while our casualties were light, the Iraqis
were not.

- a day for Christians to recall in the midst of
some pain, that war is always a result of human
failure, regardless of how enjoyable it is to
watch on television and celebrate in the aftermath.
- a day for Christians, who claim the name of one
called Prince of Peace, to recall] and pray for and
recommit themselves to those things which make for peace,
We know what they are. They are distressingly common and mundane -
- like our use of energy...
~ like our sale of weapons...
~ like our inconsistency with tyranny elsewhere...
~ like the fact that much of the world does
not believe, because it has not always seen

American concern for justice.

fhe New York Times said this morning:

"The burden of sustaining peace is endless, mundane
and ultimately far more challenging."

Precisely.

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And Christians, who on more than one oceasion in history, have been
criticized for their perceptions and faith, are today, I believe, called to
give thanks, but also to grieve for those Americans and other coalition
partners and Iraqis wha died, to celebrate, but also to.recommit our faith
and our hearts and our political decisions to the establishing and
maintaining of peace.

We have, in this congregation and in this sanctuary, prayed and stood
together during this crisis. We will continue.

Our prayers far peace will continue daily at five thirty o'clock p.m.
And adult education programs will continue after worship:

March 10, On The Role of the.U.N.; March 17, Israeli Concerns;
March 24, The Future of Palestine - each led by a distinguished expert.

And now will you join hearts and voices in a prayer for peace.
We will sing it:

"QO day of God, draw nigh

In beauty and in power,

Come with your timeless judgment now
To match our present hour.
Bring to our world of strife

Your sovereign word of peace,

That war may haunt the earth no more
And desolation cease.

QO day of God, draw nigh

As at creation's birth;

Let there be light again, and set
Your judgments in the earth."

(Hymn 452, "0 Day of God, Draw Nigh,"
Robert B. Y. Scott, Stanzas 1, 4, 5,
The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990)

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