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Stories along the river: Meeting God in conversation at General Assembly

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Every morning at the 223rd General Assembly in St. Louis last week, I jogged to the silvery arch perched on the banks of the Mississippi River. From a distance, it looks like half of the McDonald’s arch, a city’s marketing ploy to reel in tourists. But when you stand under it to touch its steel skin, your eyes cannot take in the whole arch. Your neck arches back to its farthest point to take in its summit. It’s a massive parabola — 630 feet in both height and length. The arch casts its gleam on everything around it: the river, the sky, the city line. The arch becomes your perspective, not so much by framing your view as much as bending everything towards it. At the feet of the arch, you feel small and insignificant. And so it becomes a holy moment because a holy experience, after all, is when you remember how small you are. If aliens come and the steel arch is still standing, but no humans or Wikipedia pages exist to explain the history and function of the arch, I think they will … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

Commissioners, BE the church

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TWO YEARS AGO, I had the privilege to serve as a commissioner for the 222nd General Assembly. Though feeling inadequate to make decisions on behalf of 1.5 million Presbyterians, I returned with great pride in being useful. I would’ve campaigned for another commissioner appointment, but others should be offered the experience. So to all the commissioners, here is my list of tips. Remember, the General Assembly is a congregation. Our word for ecclesiology comes from a Greek word meaning an assembly of citizens of city-states to vote. You will gather as the church of St. Louis, a reality as substantive as the Corinthian church. The Hands and Feet initiative is a physical remembrance of that truth. Vote well and take time to serve. Don’t think of your work as business for the church, but being the church. The process is more important than the result. It’s more about how we can be the church that loves in our differences than getting one’s agenda accomplished. Eat at local … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

The kiss

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Listen to the author read his poem. So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss. Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.” —Matthew 26:50 Come friend, The air is warming with spring, and the stars are pregnant with Abrahamic promise. The cicadas are humming new hymns and the moon is dressed in bridal splendor. This is a perfect evening, wouldn't you agree, for a long walk through the woods with friends? My friend? Now, why do you come slithering with a long procession? Why do you lead a march of flaming suns? Are not the stars enough to light our way? Why have you come with a river rushing with the drowning sound of human feet stomping in military weight and precision? I can't hear the praises of cicadas. Why did you not come alone, my friend? I have so much to tell you, so much yet to whisper. Are they all witnesses? To make public your devotion? Under the moonlight, and the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Holy Week

“Black Panther” and the church’s origin story

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Guest commentary by Samuel Son The film “Black Panther” opened to record-breaking presales, new-iPhone-release lengthed queues and packed theaters thick with an air of excitement any moviegoer could run her fingers through. A romping Marvel superhero flick through and through — there is an armored rhino that comes to a complete halt to give a doggy-lick, which also serves as a political and social statement by shattering the racially-biased Hollywood myth that an all-black-cast movie cannot be a global blockbuster. Whites, it seems, are not the only stand-ins for the universal human drama. The success of “Black Panter” serves notice to Hollywood's execs and their default stance of making movies catering to racial prejudices. The game has changed. But the notice has also been served to all industries and institutions, including the church. In a post-Black Panther movie era, white churches and white denominations appear quaint and increasingly irrelevant. American churches are … [Read more...]

Hope, the noun

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Hope as a verb is anemic, a flimsy little cobweb. “I hope it doesn’t rain today,” we say. Hope-as-a-verb doesn’t even have the earnestness of a wish, as when my 6-year-old son closes his eyes, furrowing his brows, before blowing out his birthday candles, imagining what he is wishing for because it’s a real possibility (a Thomas train set). Hope-as-a-verb doesn’t demand any commitment. It carries little risk. When spring coaxed blossoms from stems this year, I was hopeful my New York Mets were going to win the World Series. Even as late as June, I was hoping for a turnaround as amazing as the Mets of ‘69. But I didn’t purchase play-off tickets for October to prove my hopefulness. My wife was glad I was sane enough not to make financial decisions on the flimsiness of hope-as-a-verb. Hope-as-a-noun, on the other hand, is adamant. It stands right there with faith and love as the three paramount Christian virtues. Hope is deep within the marrow of our bones. Paul says, “Suffering … [Read more...]

Practicing reformation

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It’s almost October 31. And this year, Reformation Day is taking the spotlight from Halloween as it is the 500th anniversary of Luther’s famous “blog” post on the door of the Wittenberg church. He had 95 points, which (by today’s standards) is not a blog-friendly number (10 seems to be the sweet spot). Yet it went viral and caused a seismic shift in Europe. The tremors are still felt today. With the giddiness the number “500” creates, I’ve heard many call for a reformation for our generation. Timing is everything (almost), so it isn’t opportunistic but wise to rouse the church to a reformation on such a grand anniversary. Lot of movements, after all, piggybacked on such historical resonance (Good Friday on Passover, Christian Pentecost on Jewish Pentecost). But much of the rousing has been ephemeral simply because there wasn't much content. Yes, we are due for reformation – anything 500 years old is bound to have deleterious accretion – but what are we being reformed from and … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Reformation

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