By William J. Weston
Geneva. 2003. 116 pp. Pb.
— Review by Louis Weeks, Richmond, Va.
How can the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) end its fixation on the issue of whether to ordain self-avowed, practicing homosexuals? How can it become a healthy denomination, focusing on evangelism, service and mission?
In recent days, I have heard affirmed, with great seriousness and fervor by a rather discouraging number of Christians in this country, that the freedom we Americans have to worship God is due to the efforts of men and women prevailing over their enemies on the battlefield. This assumption reflects at minimum a very simplistic concept of freedom; at worst, a misplaced, and therefore, sinful, attitude toward the relation of human effort and God’s gracious work on our behalf in Jesus Christ.
According to our Constitution, the office of deacon is primarily involved with giving since it is defined as one of "sympathy, witness and service after the example of Jesus Christ." "It is the duty of deacons, first of all, to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress both within and without the community of faith" (G-6.0401-0402).
In late October the Presbyterian Lay Committee issued what it called "A Declaration of Conscience." It takes that group’s traditional "you can’t trust Louisville" stand a bit further. I understand they say it's not a call to withhold funds altogether, but when they say that GA mission and per capita budgets are not "worthy of support," and ask sessions to prayerfully consider redirecting contributions elsewhere, it sure sounds like "Don’t give your money to the PC(USA)."
The 215th General Assembly (2003) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) sent 12 proposed amendments to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes. Presbyteries must vote on each proposed amendment, though they may place some or all in a consent agenda or omnibus motion that identifies each amendment separately. A vote must be reported for each one, even if taken in omnibus fashion.
A splash has occurred on the pages of religious publications about a new Presbyterian church being established near Philadelphia called Avodat Yisrael. It is a new-church development supported by the presbytery, synod and new church development funds of the denomination. A Jewish Presbyterian, Andrew Sparks, is pastor. and is designed to appeal to the Jewish people in the area who have become Christian and who, Sparks feels, need their own culturally sensitive forms and symbols of worship.
It takes a Thanksgiving meal to remind us of what happens when we sit down at the table and enjoy a meal that is carefully prepared and attractively served. It takes a Thanksgiving meal to remind us that those with whom we eat define as much about who we are and what we believe as does anything we do.
Sometimes, the idea of evangelism — going out and talking to people about Jesus — is more than some Presbyterians can bear.
But Rob Eyman pastor of Whitworth Community church in Spokane, Wash., preached recently three sermons on the Great Commission, giving some simple ideas of what Christians who want to share their faith can do.
When it hit the news that Philadelphia presbytery was starting a new messianic congregation, some people were surprised that Presbyterians would do such a thing. Southern Baptists, maybe. But Presbyterians?
Some argued that Congregation Avodat Yisrael is using "deceptive tactics," as the Jewish Week newspaper put it, and may be trying to unfairly target Jews for conversion to Christianity.
By Margie Little Jenkins
Integrity. 227 pp. Pb. $12.99.
ISBN 1-59145-013-6
— Review by — Judy Haas Smith, Bedford, Pa.
Margie Jenkins, a Presbyterian elder, has written an important book. It ranks somewhere between the first-aid manual and the phone book, and should well be in every home. With a master's degree in social work, she has specialized in grief counseling and therapy for nearly 30 years.
The "gracious separation" outline which came to me should be reduced to six letters: SCHISM. That's right, "gracious schism." Is there such an animal in God's economy?
I was in seminary 1961-64 in the PCUS. I don't know how I knew, but I'd have bet the farm the denomination would split. I just did not know when.
What is the function of doctrinal truth in the church?
One view of the church defines it as a group of Christians gathered out of the body of professing Christians, under the confessional flag of a fully developed orthodoxy. This was the view of J. Gresham Machen and those who seceded from mainline Presbyterianism to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church in America followed a similar pattern.
WASHINGTON, D. C. — The plan is this. In 2006, the Covenant Network of Presbyterians will push again for another vote on the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — hoping to open the door fully to ordaining gays and lesbians.
That will be shortly after the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA) will have made its report, whatever that might turn out to be.
A decade ago, Craig Dykstra and James Hudnut-Beumler asked whether the nature of the Presbyterian General Assembly was in the midst of changing. It had been a resource for congregational life through the first half of the 20th century. Was it becoming more like a "regulatory agency," providing little resource but lots of rules for Presbyterians?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — They both walked to the microphone with some apprehension, needing to say uncomfortable things but also wanting to make a compelling case about the future — to say that Presbyterians who hammer each other over homosexuality would be doing themselves and even the world a favor by sticking it out together.
By Charles C. Brown
Trinity Press International. 2002. 333 pp. Pb. $20. ISBN 1-56338-375-6
— Review by Robert Dunham, Chapel Hill, N.C.
A decade after publishing the acclaimed hardback edition of Charles Brown's appreciative intellectual biography of Reinhold Niebuhr, Trinity Press International has made this important work more widely available in a paperback edition, updated by the author. The timing could not have been more auspicious (nor, perhaps, intentional), given the turn of world events in recent years.
Andrea Catherine Stokes, 20, is committed to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is planning to go to seminary — she wants good things for her church. But here’s what she’s found, from personal experience, that college students can expect from the PC(USA). "I have never been in a congregation that has extended a hand to college students or young adults, I’ve never had that luxury," Stokes said. "I don’t want to go bowling and eat pizza, I’m past that. But I don’t want to knit. There’s nothing in between."
The name of William Ames (1576-1633) is never mentioned among Presbyterians today. He’s long dead, was a Puritan of the Reformed persuasion (though a Congregationalist in polity), and he wrote theology in a way many today would call "dry and dusty."
No longer facing the prospect of a hearing on charges of heresy and violating his ordination vows, W. Robert "Rob" Martin III was installed last month as pastor of First church in Palo Alto, Calif.
An investigating committee of Western North Carolina Presbytery declined to bring charges against Martin, whose move to California was put on hold over the summer while the charges — made by attorney Paul Rolf Jensen — were investigated. In the middle of the process, Martin asked the presbytery for vindication.
From 43 retired Presbyterian pastors, mission workers, educators
and church executives now residing in Santa Fe, N.M.
We are deeply troubled. We are alarmed about problems in the life of our nation, issues illuminated by the Bible. For several reasons, Santa Fe, N.M., is the home of a large number of retired Presbyterian church workers, including pastors, missionaries, Christian educators and executives. And right now we find ourselves united in concern and anger about issues in our national life.
See if this scenario sounds familiar.
A small handful of angry detractors mount a "whisper campaign" against a recently installed pastor. For a year the congregation and the pastor engage in a process designed to bring healing and resolution to the situation.
Historically, Presbyterians value higher education. In the best traditions of our Reformed faith, this commitment is always being challenged, examined and restated. Prospective students and their parents, along with professors, alumni/ae and governing bodies frequently ask, "What does it mean for a college to be related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church?" The question deserves a thoughtful response.
DALLAS — In 1869, after an excruciating 30 years of separation and spiritual division, the reconciled Presbyterians marched into the church in Pittsburgh two by two, arms locked, the Old School faithful holding onto their former opponents in the New School, with "welcomes, thanksgiving and tears."
It was the formal reunion after the bitter division in 1837.
By J. Bradley Wigger
Jossey-Bass. 2003. 224 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-7879-5588-4
— Review by Joyce MacKichan Walker, Princeton, N.J.
"The large conviction and concern of this book is that faith empowers family life and parenting" (p. 19). So states Brad Wigger in the first chapter of The Power of God at Home, and just so does he clearly summarize the purpose and usefulness of this book for ministry to, for and with families. Who, as a Christian parent, has not struggled with how to bring into our daily conversations and living our belief that God is the ground of who we are and why we exist; that this trust is one we want our children to witness in our homes and experience for themselves?
DALLAS — Gary Demarest calls it an Abrahamic journey. God told Abraham and Sarah to leave their home; they didn’t know where they were going, but they had faith that God would go with them. Demarest is not too comfortable with that — he is a tall, deep-voiced, take-charge kind of guy. When he tells people he’s not sure where the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is going or what it will accomplish, "I hear people muttering, ‘What the hell kind of leader is that,’ " Demarest said.
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