2011. Good, bad or otherwise? For Presbyterians, 2011 was either the year of the breakthrough or the year of the collapse, either the year of clarifying or the year of confusing, either the year of ending the war or declaring war. It all depends on your perspective.
Here I will confess, if that’s the appropriate word, I myself am a lapsed Presbyterian. It’s the diction that did it, finally, the worn-thin, shabby, church-poor words, so overused they connote to me a poverty of spirit, not the richness of it.
On New Year’s Day people often write annual resolutions and promise to make positive changes in their lives. Obviously it is impossible to be productive as individuals or a church in the months ahead without careful planning.
A Presbyterian pastor seeking to work alone on sermons outside the office she kept in the church building was parked in a corner of an outdoor Starbucks courtyard in the Washington, D.C., area.
I’m going to miss Tom Gillespie. Now I’m going to resist getting sentimental, ‘cause sentimental wasn’t Tom’s style. I want to wax substantial, ‘cause that WAS Tom’s style.
The Presbyterian Fellowship recently released “Draft Theology Proposals” prepared by a “Theology Task Force” in which I participated together with two friends and colleagues. My participation in the task force has led a number of people to infer that I am affiliated with the Fellowship and that I support the formation of a “New Reformed Body.”
The Covenant Network (CN) long has pursued the daunting agenda both “to work for the removal of ordination barriers to the full participation of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] Presbyterians, and to support the mission and unity of the denomination.”
No college is right for everyone. But anyone planning to go to college can, with a little research, find schools that are a good match for his or her interests, abilities and personality.
I’ll never forget the day Dr. Tom Gillespie, then president of Princeton Theological Seminary, restored my academic pursuit and pastoral training such..
“One shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” ‘Tis a truism for the ages. But does that dictum actually say, “every” word? If so, then how might the humble teaching elder possibly serve one’s spiritually hungry table guests every word of the Lord?
It’s no secret that in the Presbyterian world money is scarce at every level, from the denomination to the individual church. Folks hear of congregations without pastors, buildings locked and sold, yet another round of layoffs.
When the Outlook’s full-time associate editor Martha Skelton retired last January, we hired Mike Jennings to a half-time position, tasking him to take over most, but not all, of her duties.
In the 25th chapter of Matthew, we hear of the master who left his holdings to three servants in varying numbers of talents, an ancient denomination of money. One received five talents, one received two and one got a single talent.
