The Presbyterian Outlook, Author at The Presbyterian Outlook - Page 353 of 424

The Presbyterian Outlook

Creating and curating trustworthy resources for the church, the Presbyterian Outlook connects disciples of Jesus Christ through compelling and committed conversation for the proclamation of the Gospel.

More Stories from this Author

Salt of the earth

We voted. Congress changed hands. Some of us crowed over the victory. Some of us grieved the loss. Let's think twice about that.

It wasn't too long ago that mainline Protestants dominated American politics. Our churches were expanding with the baby boom. A nation recovering from war was finding our message reassuring. Our children's Sunday school classes were informing. Our fellowship was welcoming. What's more, the Hitler-Stalin legacy reinforced our determination to be a church-transforming-culture, or as Jesus put it, the salt of the earth.

It wasn't too long ago that the Anabaptist vision of church--a city set apart--shaped the culture of the non-mainline Protestant churches. Worshiping mostly in tiny sanctuaries on the edge of town, they followed a pietistic approach to ministry, aimed at saving souls, not cultures.

“Women’s Ordination: Past, Present & Future” DVD

How important are the stories we carry in our hearts! They guide our lives and nurture our growth. Evelyn Fulton, a lifelong advocate for women and the first woman to graduate from Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary in 1949, recalled: "My mother, and my father, too, always said 'You can do anything you want in this world.'"

For the past two years--2005 and 2006--we women have been telling our stories. We have laughed, cried, and been amazed again at what God has called us to do. In our stories is the history of the Presbyterian Church opening its ministries to women.

On the DVD, "Women's Ordination: Past, Present & Future," thirteen of these wonderful women tell their stories. They all eventually became successful as pastors, executives, community leaders, moderators, and theologians, but it was not easy. The DVD was produced by the Women's Ordination Mission Team of Chicago Presbytery to be sure these women's stories can be an inspiration to a new generation of women and men.

In Christ

Editor's Note: The following essay is the fifth in a series dealing with topics of interest and importance to Presbyterians. Author Johnson explains: "The report from the General Assembly Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church provides us both the occasion and the urgency for theological dialogue within the PC(USA). This and succeeding essays are offered as a constructive effort in that direction."

Like the preceding essays, this one aims to break open a conversation between two adversaries locked onto one another. I am respectfully looking for fresh--and faithful--avenues through the current impasse of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) while giving voice to the center in the current theological discussion.

The focus for this essay is the difference between two primary ways to articulate the Gospel, one using the phrase Christ in me/us and the other using the phrase me/us in Christ. Both phrases belong to the Bible, especially Paul and John, but Western Christianity over the last 350 years has stressed Christ in me/us almost to the exclusion of the other phrase. With this emphasis Christianity grew in huge numbers during the 18th-19th centuries.

Singing in the Reign

Advent 2: Luke 1:68-79

Behind this text is a life-long struggle with infertility, and then the announcement comes: "Your prayers have been answered!" What? Zechariah is not quite speechless; doubt escapes his lips: Are you sure? We're getting up there in years, you know ... I guess the angelic messenger hoped for better from the priest: "Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things come to pass..." He's speechless now.

Nine months later Elizabeth gives birth to a bouncing baby boy, and only when a still-mute Zechariah scribbles down the instructions, "Name him John," does he go from silence to sound. But the proud father doesn't merely sing the praises of his own newborn son. In this passage Zechariah is singing in the reign.

Amendment B and an irony of Southern Presbyterian history

Recently, a church in Appomattox, Virginia, advanced an overture to the Presbytery of the Peaks with the intent of ensuring uniformity as to the interpretation of ordination standards, particularly as they relate to Amendment B. Amendment B is the only (for now) specification of what it means that those ordained are to live "a life in obedience to scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the Church." Among all the things that biblical and theological obedience could mean, Amendment B and the Appomattox church want it clear that it means "fidelity within the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman or chastity in singleness."

The overture will not be considered until the March 2007 presbytery meeting. Still, that a church in Appomattox, Va., would champion such an overture is a symbolic indication that the north truly has won the ideological debate in the Presbyterian Church. I offer as explanation the following story of democracy in America and in the American Presbyterian Church.

Glimpses of the Emerging Center

c. 2006 Religion News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- 'Your generation will have to die before we can move on,' a 20-something told a 60-something at a national church convention last summer.

'He could be right,' the 60-something said last week, but maybe not.

Veterans of religious wars are highly invested in seeking control of the Titanic, rather than rethinking the Christian enterprise for challenging, post-modern times.

While the same old warriors fight the same old battles over sexuality, church property, denominational leadership, control of seminaries, doctrine, and who's to blame for shrinking membership, more and more believers gravitate to the margins.

Thousands attend Houston revival planned by Presbyterians

Presbyterians in Houston, Texas, were instrumental in staging one of the largest faith celebrations ever in the Lone Star state, where the gospel of Jesus Christ came in the form of BMX bikers, skateboarders and concerts.

Luis Palau's CityFest Houston mixed evangelism with elements of a music festival, extreme sports and celebrity appearances to draw in a total of some 225,000 people to the modern-day open-air Christian revival, which was held Oct. 7-8.

Memorial Drive Church (see stories in pages 3 and 4) took the lead in organizing the $3.7 million multimedia outreach that was supported with volunteers and donations from about 600 Houston-area churches, including a throng of Presbyterian congregations.

The family-friendly event was also backed by scores of high-profile city leaders, businesses and professional sports franchises like the Houston Astros baseball team and the Houston Texans NFL football team.

A Reformed Thanksgiving

The editor's rhythm meanders at a different pace than that of the preacher. Publishing cycles being as they are, I get to write a Thanksgiving meditation on Reformation Day. There's a connection there.

Thank you, God, for the Reformation of the church.

Sola Scriptura. Thanks spring from the seeds of renewal that predated the Reformation. Those sacrificial pioneers, Jan Hus and John Wyclif, were convinced that God's living Word is best understood through the written words of the Apostles. In her dark days, the church cordoned off those words, so the people could hear only what was mediated to them through the clergy. Hus, Wyclif, and their Reforming successors released into the people's hands those dangerous words for all to read and hear. Their gift opened not only eyes, but voices of praise and thanks.

In Appreciation

Editor's Note: These tributes to pastors arrived at the OUTLOOK too

late to be included in the recent Pastor's Appreciation issue (October

23).

Delaware

Lewes Presbyterian Church honors pastor Buz Hughes for his loving

leadership in believing, growing, and sharing the love of Christ.

Appreciation with REAL impact

It's noon on Wednesday. In fifteen minutes you are meeting a colleague for lunch to discuss a conflicted situation in the presbytery. The phone rings, and you discover that your daughter has a fever and you need to take her home from school. You wonder if she will be able to go to school tomorrow. Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock there is a memorial service. Your spouse is out of town on business for two more days. Should you call the pediatrician? What if your son gets sick, too? Whose turn is it to drive school carpool? The session meeting went late last night and with several interruptions this morning, you are behind on final sermon preparation for Sunday. The bulletin has to be completed before day's end, and the hymns you chose weeks ago just don't seem to fit now. You didn't sleep well after the session meeting last night, as you mulled over how to respond to budget issues. You're pulled in three directions by three very influential elders, all of whom are pressuring you to advocate their proposal, and two of whom think of themselves as special friends of yours. As you hurry out of the office, the administrative assistant hands you a note. Oh no, the dentist appointment at three o'clock!

Grieving families, worship preparation, presbytery obligations, meetings, colleagues, your own family's needs, session responsibilities, disagreements, self care--a day in the life of a congregational pastor.

Praying to be an evangelist: Dave Peterson in Houston

Here is a prayer that Dave Peterson, pastor of a 4,500-member Presbyterian church, has taught himself to pray: Lord, make me an evangelist!

"When I started out in ministry, evangelism was literally No. 13 on the list," said Peterson, who leads Memorial Drive Church in Houston. Peterson is also co-chair of the steering committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s major fundraising drive, the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, which is raising money for new church development and international mission work.

But as a young pastor, Peterson said, evangelism "was the last thing I was interested in."

Hearts & Hands “most important thing the denomination is doing”

Dave Peterson, the Houston pastor who's co-chair of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands fundraising campaign, is as curious as anyone about what will happen next.

The Hearts & Hands campaign doesn't have enough money in unrestricted donations to pay its operating costs for 2007 -- and the campaign's leaders hope the General Assembly Council can find a way to come up with enough funding soon to keep the $40 million campaign afloat.

talk to me about the waiting…

mostly I crouch, head bowed, eyes closed

against the soft black, safe in liquid suspense.

but even in the nothing there are constant somethings:

a fluid symphony, simmering, rolling, rushing past;

a metronome beating out the time,

world without end--and a voice:

hushed murmur, burbling laugh,

distant yet irresistible.

“Lullaby on the loudspeakers”

Advent is a busy time in the life of anyone, let alone a pastor. A hospital was the last place I ever planned to be during the weeks leading up to Christmas, with the exception of visiting other people. But one year, my body decided otherwise. And so, in mid-December, I lay under the surgeon's knife for the second time in a year.

A hospital is not a haven of quiet and rest. It is anything but a peaceful place. I had a roommate who smoked in the bathroom and turned the lights and TV on in the middle of the night with no regard to my feeble attempts to sleep. Across the hall, an elderly woman with no idea where she was howled with pain and cried for help at least once every three minutes, day and night, day and night, day and night.

Memorial Service for William P. Thompson scheduled for Louisville center chapel

A Service of Remembrance for William P. Thompson, former Co-Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., will be held in the Chapel on November 28 at 11:00am. Mr. Thompson died on April 27. This service, to be led by former colleagues of Mr. Thompson, had been envisioned for a time before the General Assembly in June, but now follows the service earlier in the year for James Andrews and the Centennial remembrances of Eugene Carson Blake. Mr. Andrews was Mr. Thompson's successor in the reunited Church; Mr. Blake his predecessor. The current Stated Clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick, will participate in this service, as he did in the Thompson funeral back in May.

Statement of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

November 8, 2006

Comments on David Ray Griffin's Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11

Louisville, KY--The Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) has reviewed the decision to publish David Ray Griffin's Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11. The book was published by Westminster John Knox Press (WJK), a PPC imprint, earlier this year. "David Ray Griffin is a distinguished theologian who has published a number of books with PPC," said Kenneth Godshall, chair of the PPC Board of Directors. "This particular volume is not up to WJK editorial standards and not representative of the PPC publishing program."

The book makes the extraordinary claim that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were orchestrated by the federal government and made to appear to be the work of al-Qaeda. The book also challenges Christians to wrestle with questions raised by American foreign policy. "Griffin's theological reflections are helpful and timely," Godshall commented. "The Board believes, however, the conspiracy theory is spurious and based on questionable research." For more than 160 years the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation has published works that contribute to worldwide scholarship in the areas of biblical studies, theology, religion, and ethical issues of importance to the larger society. Under its WJK imprint, PPC publishes a theologically and religiously diverse selection of books that often extend beyond the Reformed tradition and the official policies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Scott Anderson enrolled as inquirer

Scott Anderson, the only openly gay member of the former Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, has been enrolled as an Inquirer under the care of the John Knox Presbytery after a unanimous vote of the presbytery on Nov. 14.

Ben Lacy Rose, retired pastor, professor, dies at 91

Ben Lacy Rose, professor emeritus of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. (now Union-PSCE), died November 13 at his home in Westminster-Canterbury Richmond Retirement Community.

Born Dec. 12, 1914, in Fayetteville, N.C., he was moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.) from 1971 -- 1972, and was a Presbyterian pastor for nearly 70 years. He served the Chinquapin, Bethel, and Beulaville churches in Duplin County, N.C.; Central Church in Bristol, Va.; First Church in Wilmington, N.C.; and Chapel on the Boardwalk in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Dr. Rose served as professor of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1956-1973 and was named professor emeritus following his retirement. He held three degrees from Union Seminary: He earned the bachelor of divinity (B.D.) in 1938; a master of theology (Th.M.) in 1950; and the doctor of theology (Th.D.) in 1955.

Benefits, drawbacks of visiting members

Most church officers would agree that personal contact with new people who are visiting the church and with members who have special needs is a good thing. Religious institutions are unique in that regard. Not too many organizations have ready access to people in the privacy of their own homes, and service providers and businesses are not expected to suggest that they have an obligation or a right to pay customers or clients a private visit.

In the church the desire to call on people in their homes comes from sincere Christian motives. Most church members know that this is one of the responsibilities of the pastors as they provide prayers for the people [W- 1.4005 a. (3)], offer pastoral counseling (W-6.3003), meet with prospective new members, visit those who are in the hospital, call on shut-ins in their homes or in senior care facilities, console those who have lost loved ones, and assist those with special health, mental, or spiritual needs (G-6.0202).

$250,000 MIJHH gift funds Forman Christian College posts

PNS) Two southern California congregations and Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands (MIJHH) steering committee member Chuck Ford have combined to fund two mission workers at Forman Christian College.

GA PJC reverses synod, presbytery courts in Heartland case

(PNS) The highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has reversed two lower-court rulings in favor of a Kansas City, Mo., congregation that challenged a neighboring church in its ordaining as an elder a woman thought to be a lesbian.

The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) overturned decisions by both the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Mid-America (SPJC) and the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Heartland (PPJC) in the case of Session of Colonial Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Missouri v. Session of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church [GCPC], Overland Park, Kansas.

"At this stage of the proceeding, this Commission is compelled to accept as true the allegation in the Complaint that the (Grace Covenant) session may have had cause for further inquiry based on its professed knowledge of the life and character of the elders-elect," the GAPJC said in its ruling released in mid-October.

The case originated after the session of Colonial Church questioned whether the session of Grace Covenant Church violated the Book of Order when it ordained four elders in July 2004.

Facing PC(USA) brokenness, healing needed to build trust

It seems there's not much everyone in our denomination can agree on these days, but one opinion I have heard voiced a good bit is that the trust level is low across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

If this assessment is correct, it is little wonder that we are struggling. Trust is the lifeblood of voluntary organizations. Our system of polity is based on the idea that we trust each other to make decisions in the best interest of the whole church. If that trust is missing, the system becomes a bunch of rules signifying nothing. Without the generous assumption that we can trust each other to do what is right, things fall apart.

Broadening, but also deepening

As a newly converted atheist, my study of Christianity began at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. Westminster was an outgrowth of J. Gresham Machen's separation from mainline Presbyterianism. It was, and still is, a bastion of Reformed orthodoxy.

Westminster's great strength was its stress on the authority of Scripture as the ultimate norm of faith and practice. Classes on the Old and New Testament were invigorating and faith-inspiring, carefully, though often critically, related to current scholarship. Theology courses had a polemic flavor, but immersed students in the worldview of the Westminster Confession. Historian Paul Wooley -- the only Democrat on the faculty -- exposed us to important primary sources, including Soren Kierkegaard and Jonathan Edwards.

Form of Government Task Force begins work on Book of Order;
Seek to show trust, transparency

LOUISVILLE -- Say "Form of Government" or "Hey, there's a new task force working to revise the Book of Order," and watch people's eyes roll right back into their heads. It's not exactly "Deal or No Deal."

But "people are hungry for a simpler way to shape our life," Joan Gray, the moderator of the 217^th General Assembly, told the Form of Government Task Force recently. Presbyterians from the South remember when the Book of Order was a third of the size it is now, Gray said.

"If you come up with something that is useful and slim and flexible, it will be greeted with great rejoicing in the church," she said. "I don't think it will be a hard sell."

A field for the future

Editor's Note: This sermon was preached at the recent General Assembly Council-Middle Governing Bodies Conference in Louisville, Ky.

Scripture: Jeremiah 32:6-15

In 1931, Karen Blixen lost her farm.

She had come to East Africa in 1914 from her home in Denmark, just as the Great War was breaking out in Europe. She had come to meet her husband and her future, far away from Europe's decay. Together, the Baron and Baroness von Blixen purchased some land in the mountains of Kenya to build a coffee plantation.

Their European friends told them it was a mistake; that the land was too high to grow coffee, that the market was too unstable, and that the enterprise would consume them. They were right. Coffee trees and marriages make for hard work, and offer few rewards, and the Baron grew impatient with his investment in both. In the end, he left both farm and wife and lived the life of the idle rich until his money ran out and he died penniless, of syphilis.

PREV
1
…
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
…
424
NEXT >