Happy holidays. Yes, the Christmas season is behind us. Easter, too. So, without all the Advent energy swirling around, let's talk about the "Merry Christmas controversy." Should we Christians be wishing strangers a merry Christmas next December? Should we be urging store clerks to say, "Merry Christmas" and not the maligned "Happy holidays"? Should we be expecting others to honor our Savior's birth as we do?
Of course, the underlying issue here is the matter of faith and culture. Is our culture basically a Christian one? Was our nation founded by believers like us and for believers like us?
It stands to reason that a denomination named after its older members would have a lot of older members. Given that the word presbyter means "elder" we ought not be surprised to hear that the median age of Presbyterians is 58 and that 39% of our members are retired [according to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Research Services.]
For all the talk about our failure to reach and mobilize young adults -- a hobbyhorse I ride with regularity -- many of our congregations have directed their efforts to make older adult ministry a specialty.
Thank God that Easter comes around every year.
Thank God that Good Friday comes around every year.
Thank God that Maundy Thursday comes around every year.
Thank God.
The liturgical cycle provokes Christians to remember and re-engage the defining events from Jesus' days on earth, which in turn invites us to remember and re-engage the transforming power of the gospel.
We need that liturgy cycle to overcome the effective efforts of a massive conspiracy against remembering.
The idea seemed logical enough: find a third way. It was proposed initially in November 2000 by a gathering of presbytery executives. Like members of Congress, the executives speak into the life of the national church. Unlike the elected representatives, the executives spend 95% of their time back home, in one of 173 congressional districts, er uh, presbyteries.
Their primary task is to care for, keep connected with, and build up the local churches, pastors, officers, and members.
Reunions. What a waste of time.
If you served on the reunion planning committee for the class of '97, or '87, or '77, or any other seven, you spent countless hours tracking addresses for former classmates, struggling to set a date, arranging accommodations, negotiating the price of the banquet, booking the entertainment, and harrumphing over the sluggish responses.
The Presbyterian Outlook has a long history of advocating unity among Christians. In the April 7, 1947 issue (vol. 129, no. 14, page 7 the co-editors, Aubrey N. Brown and Ernest Trice Thompson, share an editorial that strongly supports reunion between the branches of Presbyterianism. It is reprinted in its entirety below.
Atlanta. The city's soul still aches from the carnage suffered generations ago when the nation was divided against itself. In recent years, the city has become a healing place, a hub of reconciliation.
Forty years ago, the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church gave impetus to a movement of racial reconciliation. Twenty-five years ago, the streets filled with celebrating Presbyterians as they reunited after 120 years apart.* And, just a few weeks ago, 15,000 Baptists gathered there, and began to forge another reconciliation, a New Baptist Covenant. We Americans, and especially Presbyterians, might do well to study and emulate it.
As a teenager in the 1970s, I was committed to following Jesus wherever he would lead. My spiritual mentors -- Christian businessmen -- directed me to follow the narrow way. They organized Bible study groups, taught spiritual disciplines, promoted moral purity, and championed absolutes. I followed their lead.
But, I also found their promotion of absolutes somewhat confusing. For example, as my parents' marriage unraveled, the mentors equated divorce with the unforgivable sin. Then our pastor separated from his wife. They not only fired him, they excommunicated him -- condemning him to eternal torment. The absolutes had to be maintained.
No, not the E.T. or the J.P. that first come to mind. That's E.T. as in Thompson, and J.P. as in Price.
'Tis no small thing to try to fill the shoes of E.T. Thompson. Ernest Trice Thompson and his partner, Aubrey Brown, took over the Presbyterians of the South newspaper and turned it into The Presbyterian Outlook in April 1954. In the years that followed Thompson collected articles, edited them, wrote editorials, and wrote Sunday School lessons -- and did all that every week.
To hear 800 Presbyterian college students singing out songs of praise is encouraging/discouraging.
To see those 800 wear t-shirts that boldly proclaim their faith -- many unabashedly announcing their affiliation with our denomination -- is really encouraging/discouraging.
To listen as those 800 talk about following Jesus intently, serving God sacrificially, and listening to the Spirit attentively gets downright, overwhelmingly encouraging/discouraging.
Whew. They're back, and none too soon. The caucus-goers of Iowa and citizens of New Hampshire got back their late night voting guides just in time to decide who the national parties' candidates should be. After months of missing the daily counsel of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Maher, and Conan O'Brien, not to mention the earlier evening advice of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and their peers, at least a few of these wise guides found their way back to TV just before those key votes were cast. The world is saved.
One thing you can say about Pope Benedict XVI: he really believes this stuff! The paper, "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," proclaimed last June that all the world needs to hear, believe, and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.
Have you set your hopes, your resolutions, your plans for 2008?
My hopes are much as they were each year I served in the pastorate. I hope for our church that in this new year ...
"¢ we will shout from housetops the gospel for the salvation of the world God so loves;
"¢ we will love God earnestly and love neighbors sacrificially;
"¢ we will promote justice and ethics near and far;
"¢ we will minister locally and internationally to and with young and old, friends and strangers, citizens and immigrants, red, yellow, black, brown, and white; and
"¢ we will find the ties that bind us together to be stronger than the force fields that would pull us apart.
If ever there were a year about which we might say, "Nothing's changed," 2007 at least comes close.
Kevin Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service, has provided us a great lead story regarding the religious news of the year (p. 6). He says that 2007 may well be remembered as the year that set the stage for big news to follow. The powerful Religious Right grew ragged around the edges this year, although the big headlines await the election year to follow. Stay tuned.
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
This classic Christmas carol, written 140 years ago by one of America's greatest preachers, Phillips Brooks, captures so much thought in such few words.
When Brook visited there, Bethlehem nights did quiet as its agrarian residents slept off the day's hard work.
Stay away from the foreign mission field if you're not ready to face the unexpected. My recent trip to Peru -- arranged to explore mission work being done by fellow Presbyterians there -- packed the regular surprises: children whose effervescence belies their poverty, spotless homes set in the midst of barrios, mission programs being led by visionary and strategic-thinking Peruvian leaders. Those and many other joyous discoveries humbled this American Presbyterian, exposing his shallow sophistication and hollow materialism.
Are you in the holiday spirit yet? Have you enjoyed/ will you enjoy gatherings of family and friends?
Intent as we Christians are at keeping Christ at the center of the holidays, we also pour a lot of effort into making it a season for reunions with our loved ones. Whether that entails toting a warm pumpkin pie to the neighbors' or flying home from the eastern hemisphere, we love to gather together to enjoy the Lord's blessing.
As adopted daughters and sons of God, we count one another as our extended Christian family. For some that spreads icing on an already tasty cake. For others, it provides the only family they know. Hence, part of our mission as believers is to build up and promote authentic koinonia throughout the body of Christ in both its immediate expression, the local church community, and its catholic expression, the universal Church.
The board of directors at the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation, Inc., at its September 2006 meeting, stumbled upon a big "aha" regarding our role in the church family. Like so many fellowships and organizations, we were discussing our mission and vision. In the midst of stating the obvious -- reporting accurate news of the church, presenting insightful commentary on the news, and providing helpful resources for ministry -- board chair, Stacy Johnson, said, "I don't think that's the essence of the Outlook's mission."
He caught our attention.
The recent resignation of the director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Washington Office begs us to consider how that office should operate.
Some say it ought to close. Wrong answer. Many feel disgruntled over the kinds of efforts exerted there. However, to pull out of the nation's capital would send a signal about church-state relations that does not match our longstanding convictions. God calls us to provide a conscience to the nation, to utter the oft-unpopular prophetic word, to "speak truth to power." God calls us to lead leaders.
Some say we ought to proceed ahead as we have before. Wrong answer, too. Many applaud the office's efforts to broadcast faithful positions to the nation. But, we must ask some hard questions.
Have we been effective at promoting real change? Or, has predictability and a narrow focus diminished our clout?
Have we adapted our modi operandi to the rapidly-changing context -- where the political climate changes like the barometric pressure?
Are we utilizing 21st century communications media or are we stuck in the 1960s?
At least a few things do need to change in order to help our nation promote justice, morality, and mercy in the 21st century.
The world has changed. The old rules are out.
It was bad enough when the World Wide Web made it possible for the voices of peoples long silenced to broadcast their ideas -- crazy and eccentric as many of them are -- without having to raise thousands of dollars to self-publish or to convince an editor-publisher to invest the capital to do so. Standards of grammar and communication ethics went out the window.
Now it's worse. Web 2.0, the second generation of Web development, has turned every computer into a publishing house, an editorial department, a photography studio, and a movement rabble-rouser.
The world really is flat, as Thomas Friedman proclaimed in his book by that title.
For those of us who have held the privileged role of "editor" (the person who decides what news is "fit to print"), that privilege has disappeared.
For those of us who have held the privileged role of "preacher," (the person who tells the people what God's Word says and means), that privilege has disappeared, too.
Believers behaving badly. How many news items must we read to get the point that believers can behave really badly? From ministers' deviancies to treasurers' embezzlements; from denominations' internecine skirmishes to nations' religious persecutions; from cult groups' mass suicides for God to zealots' suicide bombings for Allah; the portrayal of faith on screen and in print has become ugly.
No wonder "Christianity's image [is] taking a turn for the worse," according to the Barna Group and a story in the Los Angeles Times (Oct. 13, 2007). "A decade ago, an overwhelming majority of non-Christians, including people between the ages 16 and 29, were 'favorably' disposed toward Christianity's role in society. But today, just 16% of non-Christians in that age group had a 'good impression' of the religion ... "
No wonder that outspoken atheism is growing in popularity again.
We hear complaints these days decrying much that is wrong with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): ministers with questionable theology, regrettable statements from denominational officials, and misguided decisions by judicatories at all levels. One effect of these recitations surely is to leave under a cloud Presbyterians who profess continuing loyalty to the denomination. We who remain affiliated with the denomination are often portrayed by separation-minded colleagues as sell-outs, as compromisers, as "lukewarm Laodiceans" who have sacrificed theological and biblical integrity for the sake of unity-at-any-price.
We reject these portrayals and intend now to declare the biblical and confessional faith that leads us to keep faith with our brothers and sisters within the PC(USA). We contend that the decision to remain within the fellowship involves neither a softening of confessional commitments nor a sentimental minimizing of the problems afflicting the denomination. Rather, our commitment to hold firm in common life with our fellow Presbyterians is grounded in the recognition that the hope of the church lies nowhere else than in the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ its Head.
Speakers at scholar lecture events on many college campuses often are greeted by a sea of empty seats. Not so at Roberts Wesleyan College in 1976. Chapel attendance was mandatory four days each week, so guest scholar Arthur Holmes got to play to a packed house each day.
Then again, packed doesn't necessarily equal enthusiastic. Holmes was introduced as a philosophy professor from a rival college. Two strikes against him.
The dean introducing him also mentioned that he was a Presbyterian. Third strike. This bastion of hearts-strangely-warmed Wesleyans had honed their anti-Calvinism argumentation skills. We religion-and-philosophy majors specialized in crafting such debates. We listened with polite skepticism, at least at the beginning.
Consider, if you will, the following scenario:
During Faith Presbyterian Church's stated monthly Session meeting, the clerk notes that a letter has been received from Trinity Community Church, requesting that Tom and June Wilson's membership be transferred to Trinity. Session members anxiously eye one another without saying a word.
Finally one elder speaks: "I deeply regret that Tom and June have left the faith. You all know what we must do. I move that we deny this request and that we write a letter to Trinity, informing it of this decision and inquiring as to why it is so busy proselytizing Presbyterians."
The motion passes unanimously.
Before you start throwing your Outlook or shooting at your computer monitor a la Elvis, I know just how ridiculous this scenario is.
Rendition. What have we come to?
Ours is a nation long proud of its freedoms, its democratic values, its rule of law, its human rights. And now, in the post 9-11 era, we are being accused around the world of the very opposite.
Many say we have been imprisoning citizens without trial -- arresting people for conversations they may have had -- exporting such suspects to prisons run by foreign totalitarian regimes for interrogation (hence the euphemism, "rendition") -- of using torture to force confessions -- all being done in ways that diminish our most fundamental values.
Are they crazy? This is America. We would never countenance such actions. Or would we? Might we? Are we?
Who's pulling in the young adults? Which churches are bucking the trends by actually attracting the absent generation to church? What are their secrets of success?
On a recent visit to the Big Apple, I determined to visit a Presbyterian church widely known for bucking the trends. As a part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), it is affiliated with a denomination that bucks us. That's unfortunate. But so many New York friends have raved incessantly about the very un-PCA Redeemer Church that I had to visit.
They did not meet my expectations.
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