Presbytery Minutes-Feb. 23, 2010-Called Meeting
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Minutes 2-23-10 Called Presbytery Meeting (33.5 KiB, 279 hits)
PRESBYTERY OF MISSOURI UNION
CALLED MEETING – 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Trinity Presbyterian Church
1600 W. Rollins Rd.
Columbia, MO. 65203
The Presbytery of Missouri Union met at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Columbia, MO on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 9:30 a. m. in a called meeting.
Moderator Elder Julie Leverenz opened the meeting with prayer. The purpose of the called meeting is to act upon the request of the Session of Big Creek Presbyterian Church, Hannibal, MO to consider an Overture to the 219th General Assembly “On Baptism and God’s Adoption of Us”.
The Moderator moved the approval of the Docket. Motion passed.
Quorum:
The Stated Clerk, Don Bay indicated that a quorum was present (G-11.0202).
Roll:
Pastors present: Robert Bailey, Rudy Beard, John Becker, Kathryn Bell, Cecil Culverhouse, Dave Henry, Kathie Jackson, Wally Landrum, John Lersch, Raymond I. Massey II, Murray Phillips, Richard Ramsey, Ron Roberts, Pat Roller, P. J. Southam, Mary Ellen Waychoff, and Lou Wollenberg.
CLP present: Jim Cruickshank, Dianna Marcum, Randy Marcum.
Elder Commissioners present: Kathryn Barden (Fulton-First), H. Kelson Cook (Jefferson City), Lon Cooksey (Moberly), Charles Hoffman (Trenton),Susie Jones (Jefferson City), Rylan Mann (Williamsburg-OANM), John Marrs (Osage Beach), Donna Reich (Bowling Green-First), Matt Ver Meer (Hannibal-First), Danny Yochum (Hannibal-Big Creek),
Elders serving on Council: Don Bay, Ann Bouchard, Nancy Caverly, Bess Gamm, Rob Hoell, Patti Laffoon, Julie Leverenz, Steve Matthews, Rebecca McElroy, Bruce Oliver and Georgia Reid.
Visitors present: Ann Foreman (Hannibal-Big Creek), John Foreman (Hannibal-Big Creek), David Harrison (Jefferson City), David Meerse (Interim General Presbyter), Vicki Schildmeyer (Presbytery Administrative Assistant).
Stated Clerk: Elder Don Bay moved that the Presbytery seat the Rev. Nancy Kahaian (Presbytery of Northern Kansas) as a corresponding member. Motion passed.
Bills and Overtures Committee: Rev. Ron Roberts presented the overture adopted by the Session of Big Creek Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Roberts moved that the Presbytery approve the following Overture to the 219th General Assembly on “Baptism and God’s Adoption of Us” from the Session of Big Creek Presbyterian Church with minor modifications recommended by the Bills and Overtures Committee which the Big Creek Session support.
Overture to the 219th General Assembly
Presbytery of Missouri Union
Resolved, that the Presbytery of Missouri Union overtures the 219th General Assembly (2010) to direct the Stated Clerk to send the following amendment to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes: Shall Book of Order W-2.3008b be amended to add the following language (addition in italics), so that the section reads as follows:
The Baptism of children witnesses to the truth that God’s love claims people before they are able to respond in faith and God pronounces that he adopts our infants as his children, before they are born[i].
RATIONALE
Scripture tells us that the promise of God’s grace was given before we were born. “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:39 NRSV). “All who are far away” includes those far away in time (the future) as well as in place. John Calvin understood unborn children to be part of the covenant community and an example of God’s grace. The unborn child illustrates that we do nothing to become a chosen child of God; God does everything. “just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4,5a NRSV). The particularly reformed idea of grace is more fully expressed by the addition of the proposed line from the Institutes. The line strengthens the understanding of grace.
Our confessions teach that when infants are baptized, “the congregation, as well as the parents, has a special obligation to nurture them in the Christian life, leading them to make, by a public profession, a personal response to the love of God shown forth in their baptism.” (The Confession of 1967, 9.51). And, “Q. 74. Are infants also to be baptized? A. Yes, because they, as well as their parents, are included in the covenant and belong to the people of God.” (The Heidelberg Catechism, 4.074). The line to be added is an aid to parents as they anticipate the arrival of their children, knowing that they already, before their births and before their baptisms, are part of the covenant community.
This sentence to be added is consistent with Scripture’s recognition of God’s relationship with us before we are born:
Psalm 139:13-16 (NRSV):
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
Jeremiah 1:5 (NRSV):
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Galatians 1:15-16 (NRSV):
But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being.
This sentence by Calvin “God pronounces that he adopts our infants as his children, before they are born” to be added also reinforces the reformed teaching that “elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth. (The Westminster Confession of Faith, 6.066) The sentence offers comfort and reassurance to parents whose children die before or shortly after birth.
[1] (John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV:15:20)
Rev. P. J. Southam presented the rationale for the Session of Big Creek Presbyterian Church suggesting the adopting of this Overture. Several speakers in favor and opposed to the Overture alternated in presenting their viewpoint.
Elder John Marrs called the previous question which was approved by voice vote.
Moderator Leverenz asked for a voice vote by commissioners on approving the proposed Overture. Results of the voice vote were inconclusive so written ballots were distributed to commissioners and the Overture was adopted by a vote of 21 to 19.
Rev. Ron Roberts closed the meeting with prayer at 10:05 a.m.
Don Bay, Stated Clerk