The issue now is whether we will have the conviction to confess what we believe and confess the name of Jesus alone as Savior and Lord. The New Testament brims with the joy and the wonder of plain folks who have encountered the living Lord. They know who he is, what he has done for them, and are compelled -- not by force but by joy -- to go out and tell everyone they can find about him. Jesus Christ -- who he is and what he has done -- consumes them. The church has gotten a bit timid about using the name of Jesus. Some believe it is offensive to people of other faiths. Others may have internal doubts about its universal truth, the result of the vast deconstruction effort that has gone on inside and outside of the church for decades. Yet others are frankly embarrassed by how some Christians have acted "in the name of Jesus." We must get over this timidity. If we do not bear witness to the gospel in every situation that we find ourselves, who will? Honesty demands that Christians, … [Read more...]

Related discussions had to do with the authority and use of Scripture in the Christian community and the proclamation of the gospel in word and deed. If Jesus Christ is the critical factor in the life of the world -- as the Bible and the church have proclaimed down through the ages -- then it matters how we live our lives and how the world is ordered in light of his Lordship of the whole creation. God has elevated the risen Lord to his own right hand. The Holy Spirit, God's active and powerful presence in the lives of believers, is an instrument of Christ's rule. Those who have in faith committed their lives and destinies to the living God who made, sustains and rules the world will approach life differently from those who have not so committed themselves. Quite simply, the church and Christians do not live for themselves, but for Christ and the neighbor. If the church exists to proclaim Christ -- crucified and risen -- if its primary message is the gospel, the good news of what God … [Read more...]

If the premise upon which this series rests is true: that Jesus Christ discloses all we need and can know about who God is, who we are, and what God intends for us and the whole creation, then the way we answer this central question will shed light on the answer to the matters with which we are currently preoccupied -- primarily the church and homosexuality but, more broadly, human sexuality. There is no intention here to debate the issue head on, or to do so in the terms usually employed in the discussions. Rather, the purpose here is to lift up some questions that must be raised if Jesus Christ is the central focus of all of life, the object of our faith and devotion, the Lord of the world whom we are called to serve in every dimension of life, including the sexual. The two presenting issues are ordination of self-affirming, sexually active homosexuals and whether or not the church should acknowledge, bless, formalize monogamous relationships between same-sex persons. They are … [Read more...]

This discussion comes at the end of three centuries of "Enlightenment" in the Western world. The church has had to grapple with the implications of all aspects of the new discoveries about the world and ourselves since the dawn of the scientific revolution and the advent of highly critical attitudes toward received traditions and authorities. The result has been decades of deconstruction of the Bible, the sacred authoritative text; of the church's history; of the church's faith; of the church itself. The main currents of Western culture have not been kind to the Christian church, especially in the last century. Many worthwhile accommodations and concessions have been made: the Earth is not flat; the Earth is not at the center of the universe; the cosmos was not created literally in seven days; Scripture bears the imprint of the human social contexts of its authors; the final form of the biblical books is the end result of long and complex processes of historical development that we are … [Read more...]

The decisive question put to all humans is, "Who do you say that the Son of Man is? (Matthew 16:13) We Christians cannot speak with a forked tongue and answer out of both sides of our mouths in order to please everyone. Obviously, the Presbyterian church cannot long survive with confusion or deception about its basic witness to the Lordship of Christ. Even allowing for legitimate diversity of opinion, there must be a basic clarity and unity concerning the central affirmation of faith. Traditionally, Presbyterians look for theological answers first in Holy Scripture which is the unique and authoritative witness to the One whose call and mission were completely vindicated by his resurrection from the dead on the third day. His declaration, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6) should settle the matter, but for some interpreters it does not. The four gospels do indeed offer a somewhat different witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ, as four persons observing the same … [Read more...]

Moderator Syngman Rhee, once pilloried by The Presbyterian Layman as a Communist sympathizer, was nominated by a member of the board of the Presbyterian Lay Committee. This action affirmed that there is no chasm in today's church that cannot be healed by Jesus Christ to those open to the work of the Holy Spirit. Rhee's nominator, Rebecca McElroy, whom he named vice moderator, disagrees with Rhee about many issues but nothing can separate the two of them from the love of God in Christ Jesus, their common Lord -- and ours. Furthermore, the announcement that individuals associated with the groups involved on both sides of the ongoing discussions that threaten to divide us plan to have a retreat together is an encouraging step. The re-election of Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick by an overwhelming majority was a strong vote of confidence in our national church leadership. Kirkpatrick and John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, together are modeling the way a … [Read more...]