What Presbyterians NEED to read

For the past few months, I have been conducting a very unscientific survey among PWPAs  (Persons With a Pres­byterian Affiliation). I think I’ve talked with around a hundred folks. I asked: “What does it mean to be a Presbyter­ian today?” The most frequent re­sponse is a glazing over of the eyes, a couple of mumbles, followed by, “Gee, I wish I knew.” I often have followed this up by asking, “Then why do you stay?” The most frequent response? “I don’t know. (Sigh) I just don’t know.” 

Lately, I’ve been asking a third ques­tion of people who seem receptive: “How would you describe being a Christian these days?” Puzzled looks and slow, rueful headshakes are very common. “You got me. I don’t know how to describe that. (Pause.) Y’know, I don’t think about it all that much.”

Admittedly it is an unscientific sam­ple, but thinking back over the years it rings way too true. Folks like this are not simply missing a denominational identity, they are missing a core Christ­ian identity as well. For these folks, “faith” is a series of very blurry, abstract concepts that have nothing to do with “real life.” Church is strictly an “if con­venient” proposition that has to do with social contacts and “feeling good” more than anything else.

For a denomination that has been losing members for years now, what to do? More and more I believe that we need a root change. Recent comments by two different speakers to two different groups in my community come to mind, again and again, in relation to our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten;” and “If you don’t know where you are going, any map will get you there.” 

So here’s a proposal for all my broth­er and sister PWPAs to move us toward authentic recovery. Warning: this will not, and cannot, happen overnight! But I believe that unless something very like this proposal happens, we are going to be “tasteless salt” and of little use to the ongoing realm and rule of God.

Christianity 101

Over my years as an Army chaplain, one thing I learned was this: leaders lead. The leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are our pastors, and our elders, and our deacons. It is for us to take the first steps in our recovery process. Across our whole church, we need either an initial or a “refresher” course in basic Christianity. I would recommend that the ordained leader­ship in every congregation begin by reading and discussing together one of two books: A Birds­Eye View Of The Bible: From Genesis to Revelation, written by Betty Sharp Harold, published by Bridge Resources, Louisville, Ken­tucky, ^©1996 by Fred G. Harold; or, The Mighty Acts of God, Revised Edition, writ­ten by Arnold B. Rhodes, revised by W. Eugene March, ^©2000 by both authors, published by Geneva Press, Louisville, Kentucky. When one of these two books is completed — using an up­to­date study Bible every step of the way — then one of these next two should be completed, using the same read­and­discuss process: The Original Jesus: The Life and Vision of a Revolutionary, by

N.T. (Tom) Wright, ^©1996 by the au­thor, published (paper) in 1997 in the United States, by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. This very good, engag­ingly­written book not only is a top­notch biblical/theological introduction to Jesus; it also urges readers into a growing relationship with the “real Je­sus” of the New Testament. An alterna­tive possibility would be Luke Timothy Johnson’s Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel, ^©1999 by the author, published by Harper SanFrancisco. Johnson is concerned that too many of us are willing to learn about Jesus rather than engage in a real encounter with the living Lord. His book is a pow­erful corrective to that “arms­length” pattern that seems to have plagued many Presbyterians.

One of the serious problems that stems directly from this “disconnect” is that many of us Presbyterians have nev­er developed a set of faith practices that support us in our Christian and in our Presbyterian identity. I believe that’s why so many of the people with whom I have spoken over these last few months have been unable to articulate anything substantive about their own faith. A few years ago, Michael Warren wrote in The Christian Century an article he enti­tled “Christian Skill Set.” (September 7, 2004). Here is his central thought:

The idea that a religion requires a

discrete set of practices that forges a dis­tinct way of being in the world — that religious practices, like an athlete’s training, are more geared toward de­veloping abilities than a set of thoughts — such an idea is something many have never considered …”

To be able to identify a discrete set of practices that forges a distinct way of being in the world requires that we first be able to understand, appropriate, and then articulate the core characteristics of the Christian faith that we share, and then be able to recognize and tease out those particular emphases that are the pecu­liar contribution of the portion of the Christian experience with which we are affiliated. I think we need to do Chris­tianity 101 first all across our particular denomination. Following are some suggestions for how to approach the second.

Presbyterian/Reformed 101

Who are we as “Presbyterian­type” Christians? Until we can discern, and offer in common, some credible re­sponses to that question, we will remain “stuck” as a denomination. Donald K. McKim has written an excellent book,

Introducing The Reformed Faith: Biblical Revelation, Christian Tradition, Contem­porary Significance, ^©2001 by the author, published (paper) by Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky. This book is well written, well organized, and easily lends itself to discussion and dialogue. As pastors, elders, and dea­cons develop some common grounding in these basics, here are additional pos­sibilities for further exploration, study, shared dialogue: Reformed Worship, ^©2001 by Howard L. Rice and James C. Huffstutler, paper, published by Gene­va Press; Reformed Spirituality: An Intro­duction for Believers, ^©1991 by Howard

L. Rice, paper, published by Westmin­ster/John Knox Press; Always Being Re­formed: Faith for a Fragmented World, ^©1996 by Shirley C. Guthrie, paper, published by Westminster/John Knox Press; and the Study Edition of our own Book of Confessions, ^©1996 by the Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), paper, published by Geneva Press. (“Appendix A” of this Study Edition, entitled “The Confes­sional Nature of the Church,” would be an outstanding place to begin a study and review of the range of faith confes­sions that specifically identify the Pres­byterian/Reformed community.) 

Skill Sets 101

To quote Michael Warren one more time: “religion requires a discrete set of practices that forges a distinct way of being in the world …”

Once we, the ordained leadership of the PC(USA), have established or re­established a vital relationship with the essentials of core Christianity, and have done the same with the essentials of our own particular Presbyterian/Reformed heritage, then we must move on to the equally critical issue of applying our faith to our life. Clearly this is where there will be differences between some of the major streams and strands of the overall Christian tradition. We ought to be able to identify strands that are peculiarly appropriate to our own her­itage. Here are some suggestions for beginning the process of identifying and living into some discrete faith prac­tices for our own theological back­ground.

The book edited by Dorothy C. Bass, Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People, ^©1997 by Jossey­Bass Publishers, San Francisco, and her follow­on book, Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time, ^©2000 by Jossey­Bass Publishers, are excellent resources for discerning how to make faith real in everyday life. Along with these two books I would also recommend the following: The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, by Diana Butler Bass, ^©2004 by The Alban Institute (paper); John M. Buchanan’s Being Church: Be­coming Community, ^©1996 by the author, published by Westminster/John Knox Press (paper); The Church Confident: Christianity Can Repent, but It Must Not Whimper, by Leander E. Keck, ^©1993 by Abingdon Press (paper); and Gath­ered Before God: Worship­Centered Church Renewal, by Jane Rogers Vann, ^©2004 by the author, published by Westminster/John Knox Press. There are no “cookie cutter” patterns to be found in these extremely helpful books. Pastors, elders, and deacons in each congregation, and pastors and elders in each presbytery, will have to engage in the hard work of discernment, reflec­tion, and prayer to uncover or discover the patterns that are appropriate for their authentic expressions of the rich­ness of the Christian faith that is God’s gift to us.