Blog Entries

Blog: Building a firewall against misconduct

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:55:30 +0100

“Let whoever thinks that they stand, take heed lest they fall.” – 1 Corinthians 10:12

“Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, in all purity.” – 1 Timothy 5:1b-2

We hear countless tragic stories of church leaders who fall into sin, including the stories of how relationships proceeded to where they crossed the line into sin [...]

Blog: What is justice?

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:54:33 +0100

Last month twenty-six victims were gunned down at the Sandy Hook elementary school. That next Sunday I stood in the pulpit and preached about the coming birth of a Savior, who would be raised up as a “righteous branch” from the house of David, and who would “execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (Jeremiah 23:5) The juxtaposition of the senseless slaying and the message of justice has weighed heavily on my mind. The social media are awash with people demanding that we “do s [...]

Gun control

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:10:20 +0100

“Whoever has no sword, let them sell their coat and buy one.” (Luke 22:36)

“Do not resist one who is evil. But whoever would strike you on the right cheek, turn to them also the other.” (Matthew 5:39)

“But if you do evil, be afraid, for the ruler does not bear the sword in vain; the ruler is the servant of God to execute God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4)

I am no friend of guns or other deadly weapons. I choose not to own or posse [...]

Our good non-Christian neighbor

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:50:31 +0100

What about those who have never heard the Good News of Christ because of geographical, social, or linguistic isolation, and/or hostile government? And what about our truly good non-Christian neighbors, who lack only a belief in Christ? Would God ever send such persons to hell, or allow them to go there?

Let’s put this up front: No one will ever go to hell for what they did not know. The problem is that just about all of us already know too much to plead ignorance befo [...]

Seeking respect and reconciliation within the Presbyterian Church

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:36:39 +0100

Growing up, I can remember being raised in the Presbyterian Church USA. While my parents were non-practicing Catholics, it was my mother's friend who took me to worship services at her local PCUSA congregation in our small rural town in Western Pennsylvania. And it was the activities of Sunday school, after school programs, and various church camps that not only shaped my early relationship with God, but also helped me discern my call into ministry.

Today as a 28-year [...]

Session takes a stand on guns, mental health, advocacy

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:08:12 +0100

My Friends in ministry

I am glad tonight for the ruling elders of our congregation. The session did the following:

1. Approved a letter to all our elected officials that confesses our own repentance from the sin of silence on gun violence, committing ourselves to acts of repentance that will contribute to efforts to stop gun violence, calling upon them to take specific actions, and committing ourselves to support them and pray for them in this effort. (The final [...]

Blog: Leaving and Fence-Building

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 03:41:20 +0100

For the first time in my 50 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church I am feeling a sense of rejection from some of my friends and colleagues in the ministry – both clergy and lay. My sense of rejection isn’t simply a matter of recent positions taken by our denomination. It is much more personal than that. It is the fact that some members of my Presbyterian family are either leaving the denomination entirely or staying [...]

How Might Unreconciled Churches Leave Their Presbyteries: A Biblical/theological Framework

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:34:02 +0100

A Presbyterian Outlook guest blog

Prepared by David B. Batchelder, Teaching Elder (West Plano Presbyterian Church; Grace Presbytery)

From the news summary of the September 14,2012, stated meeting of the Presbytery of Grace, (the region surrounding Dallas-Ft. Worth):

The presbytery approved the Presbytery Council’s proposed gracious dismissal policy with one change. The commissioners agreed with the Rev. Dr. David Batcheld [...]

Narratives that mislead

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:32:30 +0100

A Presbyterian Outlook guest blog by Thomas Hobson

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’…See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them.” – Jeremiah 23:25, 32 (NRSV)

“But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have s [...]

Guest blog: Muslims in Detroit

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:01:10 +0100

My wife and I have lived in the Detroit area for 33 years. It is considered to be the largest Eastern Mediterranean (Middle East) group outside the Middle East. It includes Christians of most of the churches in the Arab world as well as the variety of Islamic groups. We are fortunate to have such a religious mix (including Jews, Sikhs, Bahai, Buddhists, and Hindus) since it forces us to take seriously the God-created diversity of the real world in which we live. Those of us who live here, in [...]

Is Affirming Traditional Marriage an Act of Injustice?

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:19:37 +0100

Currently I co-pastor a multi-racial inner city congregation whose mission is “to seek the joy and justice of the city out of love for Christ.” We started a tutoring program that now serves over 200 at-risk kids. We initiated an affordable housing ministry that seeks to combat the gentrification process that drives up housing and rental values for long term residents of our community. My co-pastor is African American, and our congregation is engaged in a year-long study on [...]

A reflection to and for pastors in these troubled times

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:46:09 +0100

Editor’s note: Both before and after standing as a candidate for moderator of the 2012 General Assembly, Susan Krummel, has been serving as teaching elder and general presbyter/stated clerk for the Presbytery of Great Rivers. In a Facebook page dedicated to committees on ministry around the denomination she has shared reflections about the extra stresses impacting Midwest pastors, and cited a letter she recently sent to the pastors in her presbytery. We share this with you on the Outlook bl [...]

TRUST: The Lost Element

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:44:43 +0100

Having closely monitored proceedings at the just concluded General Assembly meeting in Pittsburgh, followed up through reading reports and in conversation with participants I have perceived it to have been a most divisive and questionably productive conclave.

In this process two things really stood out for me which without question were major stumbling blocks to a productive, positive, progressive denominational outlook for realistic functionality... and frankly future. [...]

MORE THAN A FEELING

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:24:04 +0100

Recently while I was in a cynical mood, I was struck profoundly by a message I saw on a T-shirt that reads, “I used to care. I take a pill for that now.” It was a message that resonated with my cynicism at that moment. It was an ominous thought.

Imagine. Could it be true that our urge to care, our instincts to love and to hate, our constant inclination to wage war, even our hunger for justice, are all nothing more than biological impulses that are amenable to “tre [...]

Your father’s Presbyterian church

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:24:59 +0100

In the last few years one of the hot contemporary phrases that has been used to express the need for change in our congregations has been, “This is no longer your grandfather’s church.” No doubt this is meant to express the rapid changes happening in our world and in our church. And I know that it is a way of saying that things are different now than they were back then. And indeed this is true. But I’m not sure that saying, “This is no longer your grandfathe [...]

Prices paid by the rapid decline of mid councils in the PC(USA)

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:08:14 +0100

The reality that presbytery, synod and General Assembly budgets are declining at increasingly rapid rates poses a conundrum: Should they have collapsed on their own infrastructures long ago or shall the PC(USA) become an even closer reflection of current American culture and politics? History will tell the story, and since history repeats its failures and sins at an alarming rate, the PC(USA) will likely become one more story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ trumped by the idols of the church’ [...]

Effects of Amendment 10-A

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:25:22 +0100

Dear Friend:

The adoption of Amendment 10-A does not allow persons in a same gender relationship to be considered for ordination and/or installation as deacons, elders, and ministers within the church, for the following reasons:

1. Logical Fallacy.

Section G-6.0106b, as amended, reaffirms the binding authority of Scripture and the doctrines set forth in The Book of Confessions, and otherwise contains nothing that suggests, sup [...]

Presbyterians Fix Carpets?

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:27:20 +0100

I know, I know. This seems like another fixation on that worn-out spot in

the church carpet called "debate on human sexuality." I promise this

isn't the same old hash (well you get to judge I guess). And comparing it

to a carpet issue may be trivializing it a bit but calling it fixation is

pretty accurate most everyone will tell you.

So, a colleague who differs with me on how to fix the carpet in this spot said the following after last ye [...]

Special offerings

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:04:00 +0100

Little has appeared in the Outlook to date about the recommendations of the Special Offerings Advisory Task Force which were approved by the General Assembly Mission Council at its meeting in February. While the Task Force report does an excellent analysis of the present situation regarding the four churchwide special offerings and has a number of excellent recommendations, its recommendations regarding the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is a cause of great concern to many. As one comment [...]

Keep the peacemaking offering

webmaster@pres-outlook.org — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:02:00 +0100

On February 16, 2012 the General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) announced that it has approved the recommendations of a Special Advisory Task Force, led by the Rev. Karl Travis, to eliminate the Peacemaking Offering and restructure the other three seasonal offerings. Peacemaking will be assumed under One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) and will be replaced in October by a new World Communion Sunday Offering. Congregations and presbyteries will continue to retain 25% each of the new offering, th [...]