Last week in this space we began the New Year with a reflection on the biblical and theological concept of the time between the times, that is, between the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and his second coming, as promised in Scripture. The question raised was whether there will be a Presbyterian Church as we know it 30, 40, 50 years from now, and in connection with that question, what God's will for this church in terms of its life and mission might be.
The church has just celebrated Advent and Christmas and now looks toward Easter and Pentecost.
In terms of the triune God's grand plan of salvation, we who belong to Christ are living in the time between the times, between the already and the not yet. We know, by faith, that Christ stands at the beginning and ending of all that is, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In the meantime God's glorious plans for the creation are unfolding inexorably in human history.
More specifically, God's raising of Jesus from the dead is the center of history, and the beginning of the end of history. As we speak of the time between the times, more properly we are speaking of the time between God's self-revelation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the inauguration of the kingdom of God (coupled with the extension of the Incarnation, the birth of the church at Pentecost) and Christ's second coming, which will bring to conclusion God's plans for the whole creation.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), like all parts of the universal church of Jesus Christ on Earth, lives in this time between the times, as historically understood. And yet there are an infinite number of far more limited times between the times in the life of the Christian Church down through the ages.
The first decade of the 21st century is just such a time for the Presbyterian Church, a critical time in which life-and-death decisions will need to be made.
This more limited understanding of the time between the times, in the first decade of the 21st century, has at least two facets:
(1) the time between old age and death for the denomination if current trends continue; and
(2) the time between the situation of theological/confessional uncertainty in which we find ourselves today, and a clear affirmation — by most of the Presbyterian Church's ordained leadership — of the foundational convictions of the historic Christian movement.
The latter includes reaffirmation by the ordained leadership of the church of biblically and theologically rooted views of human sexuality, which are the norms according to which the community lives its life together in the world. Widely divergent views on this topic have been the occasion of enormous internal turmoil for several years.
To address the first issue: the time between now and the prospective death of the Presbyterian Church, the question must be raised as to whether this be inevitable, 30, 40, 50 years from now, as suggested by some?
We’ve been examining the concept of real presence in this column, and its significance to our understanding of the nature and work of the triune God. God is really present, truly present, in every place all the time. And if that be true, as Christians profess it to be true, then life cannot be lived as if it were not true.
Is the triune God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — truly present in the world God made and for which Christ died on the cross? That is the question being raised in this space during this season of Advent leading toward Christmas.
The point made in the previous column was that much of what we observe about the life of today's church — modern, acculturated, well-to-do, self-satisfied — would lead the impartial observer to question whether we modern Christians truly believe that God is really present.
The ultimate result of the Presbyterian Church opening itself to its Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit in the matter of building community will be what a recent General Assembly paper called "Building Community Among Strangers."
The paper eventually approved by the General Assembly in 1999 had a long and conflicted history, but what was produced was finally affirmed by most.
We’ve been discussing at some length in this column the need at this time for Presbyterians and the Presbyterian Church to recover the wellsprings of faith and to experience the rebuilding of community under Jesus Christ its Head, and by means of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
If the primary task of the Presbyterian Church today is the task of rebuilding community under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit — as has been suggested in recent weeks — then the primary locus of that building effort must be in the congregation. For the congregation is where the people of God have their spiritual home.
Forty years ago, the Presbyterian Church — in both its principal branches, the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church, U.S. — was busy marshaling its accumulated spiritual and material resources in addressing major structural issues of justice in American society which had been long neglected.
It is time for Presbyterians to remember and to recover the wellsprings of their faith, the fountainhead of God’s grace which suffuses the life of each Christian, of the church and even the world, though the world knows it not.
Those wellsprings are a constant source of faith, hope and love, and they are always there, but it is easy to forget that they are there; easy to ignore them; easy to turn from them in the struggles of everyday life.
As stated in this column last week, the 10 theological seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) collectively are arguably the most important set of institutions beyond the congregation, with which they have a symbiotic relationship. To the extent that the Presbyterian tradition depends on learned ministers and educated lay people, derived from a deeply ingrained commitment to serving God with the mind, the seminaries are indispensable.
The Presbyterian Outlook is pleased once again to present the list of those Presbyterian graduates from theological institutions across the country, and to honor them as many begin careers in ministry. And all of us join General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel in best wishes to each of our graduates.
As suggested in this column last week, we have an obligation to reach out to those Christian brothers and sisters in our own fold who for whatever reason have become distant or estranged — either by our action, or theirs, or by both — before we go to the Table of our Lord.
The claim has recently been made in this space that God has given the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a moment of grace, following years of intense warfare, in which we have an opportunity to rethink who we are called to be and what God is calling us Presbyterians to do in the new century — to rekindle our commitment to Jesus Christ and to reinvigorate our mission to the world for which he died.
September is here: the beginning of a new school year for many (both religious and secular); the celebration of Labor Day, honoring laborers of every kind and their labor; and, for the first time, the remembering of the awful events that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, a day of infamy which the people of this nation will long remember.
God has given the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a moment of grace to dream new dreams, to see new visions, to lay aside the weapons of warfare, and to rethink mission and strategy on a truly grand scale.
At the end of a quarter century of nearly continuous contentiousness, it is as if a boil has been lanced, followed by an experience of relief, a weary contingent of God’s people wanting to move beyond the trenches that divided and to move forward into a future of obedience and service.
In advance of the meeting of the 214th General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, conventional wisdom held that there would be very little real work to be done since virtually all matters relating to human sexuality were off the table this time around.
As it turned out, though, commissioners not only did real and important work, they even dealt effectively with a few sexuality related issues.
For weeks The Presbyterian Outlook has expressed editorial hopes that the 214th General Assembly would be a Pentecost Assembly — one in..
If something new and wonderful is to happen at the 214th General Assembly it will certainly involve repentance — lots of it — a commodity that has been in very short supply for a very long time in our church.
Repentance involves sincere confession and a turning around — a turning from ourselves and our own interests to God and God’s interests.
This space has been devoted in recent weeks to the shape of a new church which is arising in our midst as a consequence of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the active agent in everything that happens in the church — indeed, in the world.
Our eyes are accustomed to seeing things as they have always been — or, at least, have been within our span of memory — and it is so difficult to perceive and to understand new shapes and forms of divine activity that are right in front of our face.
If we as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are to become what God wants us to be, then we will have to alter radically our way of thinking about ourselves as a denomination and the way we conduct our business.
First, we will focus on our own particular congregation, and pour tremendous energy into its mission and, even more important, the mission of each member in the world.
Two things define us as Presbyterians, beyond the fact that we are a church governed by elders, gathered in an ascending series of governing bodies: we are a confessional (or at least aspire to be!) church and a connectional church.
Two weeks ago this column was devoted to discussing the perplexities of being a confessional church in a time of widespread biblical and theological illiteracy.
Following up last week’s editorial suggesting that forces in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that have devoted themselves in the last quarter-century to either holding on to or taking over control of the denomination need to move toward demobilization, the first question that must be asked is: How much theological cohesion does a Presbyterian body need to hold together?
Demobilization, the reduction in armed forces following a war, is a model that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may find useful.
We’ve been involved in a war about human sexuality for the past 25 years that seems to be over; while discussion will continue, the terms of engagement have changed. It’s fairly inconceivable that the church will entertain a constitutional change of any magnitude in ordination standards in the foreseeable future.
Following the recent defeat of Amendment A in the presbyteries, a number of groups across the spectrum released statements announcing their official reactions. The statements, given their source, were entirely predictable, each group trying to put the best spin on the outcome.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has just completed a 25-year theological-legal debate over ordination standards with a resounding reaffirmation of the “fidelity-chastity” requirement for ordination of ministers and church officers. Presbyteries have voted to disapprove an amendment that would have undone the legislative work of the whole church in recent years.
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