Reconciliation: On the 50th Anniversary of The Confession of 1967
In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), our highest governing council is the General Assembly, which is presided by an elected Moderator. Since the reunion of two predecessor bodies in 1983, which gave birth to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), every elected Moderator is entrusted with and wears a Celtic cross necklace. The necklace consists of three crosses connected by a pin symbolizing the once divided two northern Presbyterian denominations – the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) and the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) – and the southern Presbyterian denomination, the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). The northern branches reunited in 1958 in Pittsburgh to form the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA). Preceding the 1958 reunion, a famed pastor from Chicago traveled to Iona to procure the three crosses, whereupon he gave the two crosses to the Moderators of the two northern churches. When the two northern branches united in 1958, the two crosses were welded together, and the first Moderator of the UPCUSA wore the two joined crosses; the third cross was given to his counterpart in the PCUS with the hope that one day the UPCUSA would reunite with the PCUS. It was not until a historic day in Atlanta that the first Moderator of the PC(USA) Dr. Randolph Taylor brought the three crosses together to mark the official reunion of UPCUSA and PCUS in 1983.
Today, there are nineteen of us living Moderators who have had the privilege and pleasure of wearing that Moderator’s cross and represent the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the United States and around the world. The Moderator’s cross represents generations of Presbyterians spanning more than a century who prayed and worked to heal the conflict and deep division of the 1860s; the division in the Presbyterian Church mirrored the Civil War that waged in the country. The Moderator’s cross shows the hopes and dreams of millions of people who did not know whether reunion would ever happen, who put hands to the plow to do the heavy lifting of preaching, teaching, and negotiating the terms of union and reunion, who had to attend to the slow process of pastoral diplomacy, who had to endure the criticisms of colleagues and friends asserting that the pursuit for ecumenical unity was a theological compromise. In fact, between 1860 and 1983, at least two other major Presbyterian denominations were birthed as a direct expression of opposition to the ecumenical spirit of reunion, the theological underpinnings that framed those conversations, and the ecclesial commitments of the reuniting churches. Two of those ecclesial commitments – a book of confessions, and the ordination of women – became essential charisms for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
In adopting a book of confessions to create a confessional standard versus a singular confessional statement, which at an earlier time was the Westminster Confession of Faith and its accompanying Shorter and Larger Catechisms, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its predecessor bodies sought to express the multidimensionality of the Reformed witness through the ages as Reformed communities articulated the Christian faith in their particular contexts and time.
In 1967, the 179th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) adopted The Confession of 1967 (C67). The Assembly discerned that the time was right and ripe to adopt a brief contemporary statement of faith at a time when the nation and world were on high alert because of the nuclear proliferation during the Cold War, the civil rights movement for racial and social justice in the United States, a decade of involvement in the Vietnam War appeared to have no end in sight, and the historic Second Vatican Council had just concluded two years prior resulting in hopeful prospects for improved ecumenical cooperation.
The Confession of 1967 is grounded in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.” It has three main chapters – God’s Work of Reconciliation (subdivided in three parts: the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit), The Ministry of Reconciliation (subdivided in two parts: the mission of the church, and the equipment of the church), and The Fulfillment of Reconciliation. C67’s trinitarian structure, following the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:13, affirms that God’s work of reconciliation in the world is what gives purpose, power, and promise to the acts and witness of the Church in the world.
Now, 50 years later, the confessional affirmation of C67 remains more urgent. As with the Moderator’s cross which continues to sacramentally exhibit the call and burden of reconciliation, C67 speaks to our 21st century church, nation, and world of rampant racism, economic and ecological injustice, political and religious violence, human trafficking, and global climate change. This is a time when the pursuit of peace seems elusive but a present-future generation of believers are called upon to undertake the difficult task of giving witness to God’s work of reconciliation.
The burden of reconciliation requires steadfast commitment. The present generation must lift patient prayers that may remain unanswered in its lifetime, fixating its eyes and hearts upon the cross as the hopeful and hope-filled embodiment that ours is not a solo work; we are partners of God, yoked with Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit. The church’s work looks like: daily prayer, constant worship, singing psalms and hymns, gathering in council to offer a conciliar statement, raising placards at legislative halls, proclaiming a prophetic word from pulpits and podiums, scholarship that moves minds and hearts to think critically about issues, nurturing and training a present-future generation through sustained discipleship of the ways of Jesus Christ, engaging in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and cooperation, breaking bread and lifting the cup.
C67 closes with these words, the final paragraph being the benediction of Ephesians 3:20-21:
With an urgency born of this hope, the church applies itself to pre-sent tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
