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.
When do churches need a new hymnal -- not just new volumes, but new selections? Who decides how many hymns to include, which ones are "in" and which ones are "out"? Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter, recently talked with David Eicher, the new hymnal editor for the Presbyterian Publishing Corp. to get more information on the new Presbyterian Hymnal now in the planning stages.
L.S.: Let's start with your background. Why don't you introduce yourself to the church a little bit?
D.E.: I've been involved in music in the Presbyterian Church for almost 30 years. My background was not Presbyterian; I was raised the son of a Church of the Brethren and grew up in a real hymn-singing tradition. My parents both sang. And my sister and I, when we got old enough -- the great excitement was when finally my voice changed and I could sing tenor, and then we had a soprano, alto, tenor and bass. The whole family would sing. One of our games in the car when we were traveling was to see how many stanzas of hymns we could sing through, without any books.
In 2003, Robert Jenson and Carl Braaten edited a little book entitled, In One Body Through the Cross, challenging churches in North America to discover their unity in Christ. In that book, Jenson and Braaten note that congregational life in the United States "often proceeds with little sense of contradiction between division from others and life as a realization of one church of Christ."1 We are no longer offended by denominational differences and indeed regard such variations as normal, i.e., as "the natural expression of a Christian marketplace with churches representing different options for a variety of spiritual tastes."
As one fascinated by the future and its possibilities, I find scenario planning -- creating stories of possible futures, and watching for signs as to how the future is unfolding -- to be a stimulating framework for observation. Peter Schwartz, in The Art of the Long View, and his consulting firm, GBN Global Business Network, popularized this planning technique that is used in for-profit as well as non-profit and governmental organizations. I like to think that my passion for scenario planning both honors and invokes the tradition of the Bible's visionaries and dreamers, whose own scenarios of what God's future would hold were awakened by the touch of the Spirit in their respective contexts and cultures.
Cleopas asks Jesus, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? (v.18). But Cleopas himself appears to be uninformed about the transformation that took place among the multitude at the Cross.
The popular mind thinks that there was a murderous mob around the Cross crying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" But such was not the case. The city of Jerusalem was and is relatively small with limited public space. Pilate's judgment hall could not have held more than a few dozen people. The High Priest and his supporters were naturally present for the political trial of Jesus. There is no hint that the supporters of Jesus were allowed into the room. On that occasion the High Priest's men (in the hall) responded to Pilate with the cry, "Crucify him." But on the street it was a different matter.
To worship is to be open to mystery,
The unexpected,
The soul before unknown,
The darkness of the light, and
The lightness of the dark
To receive what can only be given,
never taken, never controlled,
For good or ill.
If ministers have the fortitude to greet arriving and departing worshipers on Sunday, they will find themselves whipsawed between conflicting needs.
Longtime members want the pastor's attention and believe, quite justifiably, that they deserve it. Visitors, new members and those not yet incorporated into church life need the pastor's attention, too.
On a recent Sunday, I talked with a needy member at the front door and watched helplessly as a dozen newcomers left church without any connection. We didn't get their names or e-mail addresses, or say a word of welcome, or convey a desire to embrace.
If I had focused on the newcomers, of course, it would have been the member who left feeling ignored.
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.
As an advocate for overcoming disciple-making mediocrity by adapting the purpose-driven approach to ministry, I recognize that some leaders question whether this innovative strategy can indeed reflect non-negotiable Presbyterian beliefs and values. And some leaders wonder whether the Missional and Emerging Church movements have supplanted the purpose-driven approach as the best way to re-tool a congregation for life-changing ministry.
To some observers, the phrase "purpose-driven Presbyterian" is simply an oxymoron, since the concept was developed by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation! Yet the six Great Ends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) i.e. (G-1.0200) mirror Warren's premise that Christ's church exists in order to cultivate worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. (Two of the six "Great Ends" concern "mission," expressing our Reformed conviction that salvation is holistic, involving both the "proclamation of the Gospel" and the "promotion of social righteousness.")
It is clear that Jesus carefully planned the first part of the Triumphal Entry. He chose a village where he had friends. One of those friends was alerted to ready a colt and tie it in front of the house at a specified time. Its owner was waiting and watching. The disciples were told where to find the colt and both parties memorized passwords.
It is also clear that Jesus engaged in similar planning for the Last Supper. A man who could recognize the disciples was waiting with a water pot to lead them to a house where the owner had already offered his large, furnished upper room to Jesus. Those involved used passwords again. Meticulous planning clearly surfaces in both of these occasions during holy week. I would suggest a third: the Triumphal Entry itself.
Congregations should offer regular instruction on each spiritual discipline (prayer, study, fasting, service, giving, worship, confession, and silence), to show possible outlets for practice and examples from life.
In addition, congregations should offer opportunities to act, such as mission work and prayer vigils. Doing and learning need to go hand in hand. Otherwise, the doing loses its foundation, or the learning becomes sterile and precious.
The point isn't to promote a single way, but several ways that work together to promote spiritual well-being.
LOUISVILLE -- In just two short months, the General Assembly Council will be asked to vote upon a proposed budget for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for the next two years. And one difficult decision the council will have to make at its meeting April 23-25 is how much to spend on international missionaries.
The bottom line: because the denomination does not have enough money, the number of mission co-workers serving the denomination overseas is dropping at what's been described as a "precipitous pace."
Cleopas asks Jesus, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? (v.18). But Cleopas himself appears to be uninformed about the transformation that took place among the multitude at the Cross.
The popular mind thinks that there was a murderous mob around the Cross crying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" But such was not the case. The city of Jerusalem was and is relatively small with limited public space. Pilate's judgment hall could not have held more than a few dozen people. The High Priest and his supporters were naturally present for the political trial of Jesus. There is no hint that the supporters of Jesus were allowed into the room. On that occasion the High Priest's men (in the hall) responded to Pilate with the cry, "Crucify him." But on the street it was a different matter.
Was there a Weary Wednesday led into Maundy Thursday? A day when all that went before the palm branches and plotting, all..
I propose that the Presbyterian Church designate that a Good Friday service from noon until 3 p.m. be included in all Good Friday worship services.
I am a regular church member who believes that the Bible is the word of God. I start with the fact that the foundations of the Christian Church are the birth of Christ, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. The Bible tells us the place where these events took place and the days of the week of the crucifixion and resurrection. The Bible tells us Christ was born in Bethlehem and was crucified in Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha.
It can't be 25 years since we voted in reunion of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) after being split for 122 years. But it is. And in remembering the year we voted and the year we reunited, there are a lot of laughs and tears.
In Columbus, Ga., the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. was getting ready for the call to vote on reunion. The result of the vote would go to the presbyteries, where at least 3/4 of them had to approve reunion. The United Presbyterian Church U.S.A. had already approved.
I was there! In Atlanta in 1983, at the confluence of the Nostalgia and the Lethe, where recollection and forgetfulness merge to form memory, I was one of the thousands (whose numbers have swollen in the retelling) to see it happen.
I had long said it would be one of the happiest days of my life, and it was. Its most memorable image was grand and terrible: the final sessions of both Assemblies had been choreographed and scripted to end at precisely the same time, and two great denominations were gaveled into oblivion; their churchless people walked out of the adjoining halls in single file, to meet the column from the other group.
I had been a member of the southern Presbyterian church for ten years when, in 1954, two great issues confronted its General Assembly: (1) After our separation of 1860, should we unite with the "northern" Presbyterians? (2) Should we resolve to support the desegregation of this country's public schools?
In that spring an official "yes" to the second question was on its way to Assembly vote from its Church and Society Committee. Ironically, just before the GA came the Brown decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. Ever after, southern Presbyterians were given little credit for that "yes."
Just twenty-five years ago, the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) and the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) reunited at a meeting of their General Assemblies in Atlanta, Ga. -- to the joy of many! We should remember and celebrate this occasion. We should use it also to recall our Presbyterian past of divisions and unions over the centuries.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of that June 1983 day in Atlanta when the northern UPCUSA and southern PCUS became the reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a time, not of nostalgic indulgence in a past that once was, but a time to engage in honest reflection on how far we have come in fulfilling the dream that brought us together and see how far we have yet to go in becoming a new Church.
First, denominational reunion would never have taken place in 1983 had it not been for the creation and existence of eighteen union presbyteries between 1970-1983, once called "the most unique phenomenon in North American Presbyterianism." The constitutional changes that made their creation possible were achieved under the win-lose polity of majority rule with close majority votes.
I was born into the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA), went to one of its six colleges, and was ordained after graduating from its only seminary, Pittsburgh-Xenia. In a sense, the uniting of the Presbyterian family in the United States became one of the hallmarks of my 50 years in the ministry.
In May 1950, our stated clerk received from the Presbyterian Church U.S. (PCUS) and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) "an invitation to unite with them in their program of acquaintance and cooperation and in the plan of union which they were jointly developing."
I begin this story with an apologia. If I write as though my associates and I played the starring role in the drama of reunion, be assured that I know better! Thousands of people were involved, many of them in important ways. But my friend, the editor of The Presbyterian Outlook, asked me to tell my story, and I have done my best.
My involvement began in 1971 when, at the urging of my longtime Mississippi friend, Andrew A. Jumper, then pastor of Central Church in Clayton, Mo., I became a member of the Board of the Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians (CFP).
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.
On October 31, 1986, then D.Min. candidate Mary Naegeli interviewed J. Randolph Taylor regarding his journey through the reunion of 1983. Taylor was president of San Francisco Theological Seminary at the time. The Outlook publishes never-before-excerpts of their conversation as part of this 25th anniversary look back. The Outlook is grateful to Mary Naegeli, now member at large of San Francisco presbytery, for sharing this transcript with our readers.
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.
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