Pastoral Care
This is your chaplain speaking:
Statement read to the General Assembly meeting of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, Monday, May 23, 2011
Thank you, Mister
Moderator,
I’m Lindsay Biddle, #774,
representing the Presbyterian Church (USA).
I stay in Glasgow,
where I enjoy being the Minister Locum
of Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church
(who are going to be upset with me
if I don’t mention they want me
to represent them as well).
I gladly serve locums
at the invitation of
the Presbytery of Glasgow
with permission of my home
presbytery – the Presbytery of
the Twin Cities Area, in Minnesota –
who, just 2 weeks ago,
cast the deciding vote in
the Presbyterian Church (USA)
to remove from our church law
one paragraph inserted
just fifteen years ago,
thus allowing
church sessions and presbyteries
to ordain and install faithful and
capable lesbian women,
talented gay men,
gifted persons who are transgender, and
pastoral and prophetic bisexual people.
The Hebrew scriptures
and
the Greek New Testament
do not address homosexuality,
much less condemn it.
This great nation of
Scotland – whose
King James VI gave the whole world
a still very good translation of scripture –
this great nation can
be proud of
its anti-discrimination legislation,
its one-year-old law recognizing
homophobic and transphobic hate crimes,
and it schools working to reduce bullying.
The
United Kingdom can be proud of
providing civil partnerships
for one man and one man,
or one woman and one woman, and
including them in
its family and adoption policies.
The Church of Scotland
does not have to
roll away the stone –
the stone is
already removed.
God has always created gay people;
God will continue to create gay people.
God has blessed
the holy unions of gay couples;
God will continue to bless
the holy unions of gay couples.
God has since-forever been
calling
transgender and bisexual and
lesbian and gay people into ministry;
God will keep on calling
transgender and
bisexual and lesbian and gay people
into ministry.
Yourall’s decision is simply this:
Do you wish to know,
really get to know;
the people you sit with
at the Lord’s Table,
at tables of tea,
at your kitchen tables?
Do you want to get
the full story to your questions,
“Are you married?”
“Do you have family?”
Would you
let Jesus
introduce you?
Know that I and others in Affirmation
Scotland are here for you.
We are holding you in prayer and trust
that God's love will sustain you through whatever this turns
out to be, and that God's justice will prevail.
As the Chaplain for Affirmation Scotland,
I promise to be non-judgmental,
listen in confidence,
ask appropriate questions,
and work with you from your perspective
about whatever it is you are facing.
As a Protestant minister, I pledge to be non-sectarian.
Every faith tradition has a liberal-conservative spectrum,
and there are more differences within each faith
tradition
than there are among faith traditions,
especially when it comes to reflecting God's inclusive love.
The Rev Lindsay Louise
Biddle
chaplain(at)affirmationscotland.org.uk
please
replace
"(at)" with "@"
PROFESSIONAL STATUS
Minister Locum in the Presbytery of Glasgow of the Church of
Scotland
Minister Member of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area
(Minnesota)
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
ACADEMIC TRAINING
-
Master of Divinity cum laude
-
Master of Theological Studies cum laude
both from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, USA -
Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy, Ethics and Moral Development)
from Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, USA
ADDITIONAL TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
-
Child Protection Training by the Church of Scotland
-
Sexual Misconduct Prevention Training by the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area
-
Sexual Attitudes Reassessment Seminar by the University of Minnesota's Program in Human Sexuality
-
Co-leader of sexuality retreats for church youth groups using the Presbyterian Church (USA) curriculum "God's Gift of Sexuality" which covers all the bases from a Reformed faith perspective