Covenant Dilemma is a novel centering on a young, married clergywoman, Reverend Katie Tulen, serving a small semi-rural Christian church in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The surfacing of a homosexual couple in the congregation begins a story that introspectively focuses on the people involved and not the issue alone. The dichotomy of opinions regarding homosexuality represented within the congregation present several situations and events that complicate Reverend Tulen's difficult responsibility of attempting to provide a faithful response. To deal with the multiple situations and personal dilemmas that arise, Katie considers physiological, sociological and general denominational factors, with scriptural references interspersed, concerning homosexuality. The church's receipt of a large benevolence encourages a successful building program while an investigation seeks to identify the perpetrator of a violent attack. Working to reconcile and maintain the covenant aspect of her congregation, Katie struggles with her pastoral responsibilities, her call to ministry and even her marriage. As the young woman pastor prayerfully strives to serve her Lord, her growing congregation and the burgeoning and diverse community that has begun to surround her church, an epiphany offers an unexpected stimulus for thought.
About the Author: Born Carol Edre Sayenga, she graduated from South Hills High School in southern Pittsburgh, PA in 1954, and then attended Bethany College, WV for one semester before health issues forced her to return to Pittsburgh. She was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a life long auto-immune neurological condition that, at the time, was considered fatal. She and her father, George A. Sayenga, worked over the next three decades to organize and empower The Myasthenia Gravis Association of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. as a center for diagnosis, education and extended care. In 1958 she married her high school sweetheart, James C. Lynn Jr, and with his support she returned to school at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with her BA in English while pregnant with her oldest son, Curt. Her son, Scott, was born several years later and when both sons were teenagers, Carol entered divinity school in the early 1980's. She pursued a Master's of Divinity at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and received the Larry S. Nagle Pastoral Care Award upon graduation and ordination in 1989. Her studies specialized in pastoral care and laity for which she authored a complete training manual used for organizing and training teams in 18 different churches. She became certified as a chaplain and volunteered as a night chaplain at Allegheny General Hospital and then later worked as a counselor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She chaired the Disabilities Awareness Committee for The Western PA Conference of The United Methodist Church, organized retreats to empower disabled people and established grants for church accessibility. Reverend Lynn has been writing all of her adult life: poetry; children's bible programs; presentations; a complete manual for pastoral care by the laity, but this is her first published work. The issues that now confront the Christian church intrigues her and in this novel she brings some of those issues to the forefront, transforming them into actual personal dilemmas. The theology and dictates of the Church affect real people and Reverend Lynn's novel conveys that message powerfully, influencing people on both sides of the issue. As a consequence of learning to live with Myasthenia Gravis and other health ailments, Reverend Lynn has developed a technique of not shying away from controversy by discussing difficult issues openly in order to put them into a concrete, meaningful and personal context.