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The Presbyterian Outlook

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.

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Book Reviews

Presbyterians Being Reformed: Reflections on What the Church Needs Today

edited by Robert H. Bullock Jr.  Louisville: Geneva Press, 2006.  ISBN 0664502792.  Pb., 133 pp., $17.95.

 

While I understand the logic of doing so, I rarely seek a second opinion on a medical matter. When I find a doctor whose insights I trust, I typically embrace his or her observations and insights.  

Truth be told, I often do the same in other areas of my life. When drawing conclusions about issues before the church, I tend to listen to persons whose opinions I trust (since they generally mirror my own), and having had my own point of view affirmed, I enjoy the sweet satisfaction reserved for those who are confident of being right.

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GA seeks further study on Colombia situation

BIRMINGHAM -- Study vs. action -- that was the question.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) struggled on June 19 with the question of how fiercely to speak up against oppression in Colombia -- and how strongly to advocate for particular changes in U.S. policies in the region.

The shadow of the divestment debate -- in which the assembly in 2004 took a controversial position in favor of phased, selective investment in some companies doing business in Israel -- hung a little over this discussion, although not spoken of explicitly.

Movie Reviews

Preaching, Teaching, Saving & Dunking

"An Inconvenient Truth" is an hour and a half of preaching. That is, it is Al Gore preaching to us about the impending crisis of global warming. Mr. Gore has all the current statistics displayed by all the latest technologies, and he's shown speaking before packed-to-overflowing houses of attentive and empathetic listeners, appealingly designed to emphasize youth and include several minorities. (This is the kind of congregation we would all love to have on Sunday mornings.) There's no hymn singing, though, and no praying, just clear-eyed, somber warnings about the impending disasters, complete with dire predictions of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, and other natural disasters (see Matthew 24:7).  

Voices

Pro choices: Young Presbyterians seek abortion dialogue

Editor's Note: Outlook editors recently interviewed two young Presbyterian members of "Pro-Seed", named after the biblical mustard seed and aimed at spreading the Kingdom of God and creating a new culture within the church. Each represents a different perspective on the issue of abortion. Fairlight Collins Jones is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament and co-pastor, with her husband, Scott, of Woodland Church in West Philadelphia, Pa. She graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2002. Nancy Neal is an elder ordained at Lafayette Avenue Church in Brooklyn, N. Y. She has an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in New York and is a candidate for ministry. She works at The Crossroad Publishing Company in New York. The questions and answers have been edited for length.

Editorials

Leaders lead

Another leader taking leave? In recent weeks we have said sad farewells to church giants who have joined the church triumphant. This time we bid farewell to one who heads to a blissful retirement at 7,000 feet in New Mexico's mountains. As he comes to the end of his second four-year term as executive director of the General Assembly Council, John Detterick took a few moments to reflect on his tenure.

Voices

The rites and relationships of baptism, the Lord’s Supper

Among the theological questions before the 217th General Assembly will be those in the draft Pastoral letter and list of five sacramental practices recommended by the Sacraments Study Group for a two-year period of discernment in congregations. 

This group was convened by the General Assembly Office of Theology and Worship to address several referrals from previous assemblies having to do with the formula of invitation to the Lord's Supper. Most of these overtures suggested ways of altering the language used in the invitation so that explicit mention of baptism as a requirement for admission to the table would be removed. Apparently, in many congregations, such references to the requirement of prior baptism were seen as barriers to outreach and the welcoming of newcomers to the church. 

 

Voices

Finding a theology of ordination and vocation in baptism

This coming June, the 217th General Assembly will be considering the long-awaited report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church (PUP). Some left-of-center and right-of-center groups in the church view the report as inadequate in addressing the hot issues before the church, particularly the question of ordination. To be sure, the PUP report affirms some key themes in the Reformed understanding of ordination and vocation, such as mutual self-giving and service, as well as the communal and covenantal nature of God's call upon the Church and those called to serve in ordained leadership (pp. 19-20, Final Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church). Even so, the PUP Task Force expresses a great disappointment:

... Scripture does not provide a thoroughly developed theology of ordination, and a theology of ordination has not been clearly and consistently articulated in the development of Reformed and Presbyterian doctrine. (lines 565-567, Final Report)

Voices

Never say “Never”… or “Always”:Continuing the conversation on “The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing”

When I attended a gathering in Pasadena five years ago to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Charles Wiley and others from the Office of Theology and Worship were holding a series of forums around the country in response to an action of the 2000 General Assembly that a group be constituted to study the doctrine of the Trinity in the theology, life and worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I was intrigued by the idea that the Assembly had called for a theological discussion. Before the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity and before "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," the Trinity Task Force (now a "Work Group") was the first time a theological committee had been formed at the GA level since reunion in 1983.

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Abortion-related resource funding overture disapproved by Health Comm.

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.

The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.

Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers.  Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.

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Peace, Unity, Purity Report adopted in committee as opponents try to delay implementation

BIRMINGHAM -- Here's a question the General Assembly will very likely be asked to consider: Should the presbyteries be given more time -- basically a "season of discernment" -- to consider the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA)? Should the vote be put off for two years, until the next assembly meets in 2008?

Or should this General Assembly vote June 20 on the task force report -- deciding now whether the task force has recommended a better way for a divided PC(USA) to handle its disagreements?

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Abortion-related resource funding overture disapproved by Health Comm.

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.

The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.

Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers.  Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.

Uncategorized

Abortion-related resource funding overture disapproved by Health Comm.

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.

The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.

Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers.  Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.

Uncategorized

Abortion-related resource funding overture disapproved by Health Comm.

BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.

The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.

Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers.  Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.

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Ecumenical Committee urges study of WARC papers Nyomi calls for renewal and unity

BIRMINGHAM -- Setri Nyomi repeated several themes in his remarks to the Assembly's Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee during its deliberations here.

Economic justice. Engagement with the world. Spiritual renewal.

Nyomi, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), was drawing from a list of concerns raised by that body during its 24th conference two years ago in Accra, Ghana, where delegates from its 218-member churches committed to challenge the economic order that is further dividing the world's rich and poor and squelches "fullness of life" as proclaimed in the gospels.

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Polity committee recommends streamlined BOO Chapter 14, creation of new Task Force

The Committee on Church Polity recommended Saturday that the Assembly approve a streamlined, more flexible version of the Book of Order's Chapter 14 -- the provisions about Ordination, Certification and Commissioning -- and begin work toward a far more sweeping revision of Presbyterian government.

The Chapter 14 changes would give presbyteries the authority to fill local clergy positions more quickly and remove some barriers about who can do which jobs. The larger revisions, to be developed over the next several years by a task force the Assembly would approve, likely would vastly simplify the Book of Order and give even more flexibility to presbyteries.

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Church Polity committee rejects church property retention after split with PCUSA

The Committee on Church Polity voted on Saturday to disapprove an overture (05-08) that would have allowed churches that leave the denomination to take their property with them.

Committee members voted 35 to 5 against the overture, with four abstaining, and added a comment that affirms the current policy, that churches' property is considered to be held in trust for the use and benefit of the PC(USA):  

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Rick Ufford-Chase appointed executive director of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

BIRMINGHAM -- At an early morning breakfast here, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) announced that it is launching a $2 million endowment campaign to fund peace activism and that the denomination's former moderator, Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, will serve as its first executive director.

"We can't predict what the future holds," the Rev. Jim Atwood of Washington, D.C. and the head of the endowment campaign, told a packed ballroom audience. "But we can be confident that PPF members will be there -- after all of us here are dead and gone -- to witness to the power of non-violence, as seen in the life of Jesus.

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Committee recommends approval of Trinity paper, sacramental study

BIRMINGHAM -- Two highly visible study documents -- one on the nature of the Trinity and the other on sacramental practices -- will go to the floor of the General Assembly after prolonged debate in the Assembly Committee on Theological Issues and Institutions

The report on the nature of the Trinity -- called "The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing" -- was approved by a huge margin (42-16-3) after a strong Christological statement was inserted into a much-debated section of the document that offers a plenitude of images of the Trinity.

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Polity committee rejects overtures curbing frivolous lawsuit complaints; requests study

BIRMINGHAM -- The Committee on Church Polity on Saturday disapproved four overtures stemming from what several speakers and committee members described as an untenable number of frivolous accusations against leaders in the church.

But it requested that the Office of the General Assembly study the inappropriate use of the judicial process and report back to the 218Th General Assembly in 2008, and it urged individuals and governing bodies to pursue actions against church members filing such accusations falsely or in bad faith.

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Ecclesiology Committee considers recommendation to approve PUP report

BIRMINGHAM -- Although the committee still needs to take a few parliamentary twirls, the General Assembly's Ecclesiology Committee seems on the cusp of recommending that the General Assembly approve the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The committee ran out of time June 17 -- the assembly's shuttle buses taking commissioners back to their hotels were about to stop running.

But earlier, the task force's controversial Recommendation 5 survived an attempt to delete it from the report -- by a vote of 40-22. A series of other proposed amendments to the report failed by similar margins.

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Task Force report presented to GA Committee; unity the key

BIRMINGHAM -- What the General Assembly does with the controversial report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be a witness to the world of whether Presbyterians can find unity in Jesus Christ.

That was an argument that task force members made June 16 when they formally presented their report to the assembly's Ecclesiology Committee -- which will be deciding soon whether to recommend approval of the report or to propose changes.

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Widely different views in TF Report heard by committee

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Former moderator, Marj Carpenter, appeals
to Ecclesiology Committee on behalf of TTF report

 

 

BIRMINGHAM -- They lined up 60 strong to have two minutes apiece to speak their minds.

And my, what they think about the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It's a miracle, an act of grace, a polarizing force. It's a fresh breeze, a mirage, a "five pound rock going through the windshield of this church."

The task force members are saints. The task force members are flat wrong.

"God love you. Aren't you lucky the computer picked you to be on this committee?" former General Assembly Moderator Marj Carpenter asked the members of the assembly's Ecclesiology Committee, who will be voting on the task force report.

For more than two hours June 16, the committee listened -- hitting the mother lode of passion the report has aroused among some folks in the PC(USA).

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