Davidson College’s Board of Trustees recently decided that people who are not active members of a Christian church may serve on that board. Some have criticized this as a move away from our Christian heritage. I would like to offer a different interpretation, as I see the change as a forward-looking expression of how we want our particular understanding of Christian faith to be embodied.
Saturday night, the night before Easter, about 45 of us gathered in the dusk in the narthex outside the sanctuary doors. We settled ourselves and began to gather our hearts for worship - a new service - a kind of modified Easter Vigil for us to try. The sanctuary doors opened to reveal a path of light - tiny votive candles perched on the side of each pew - making a pathway of light through the dim and dark sanctuary.
“Do you not know?” Paul asks the Romans, and then twice firmly announces, “we know,” “we know.” The language hints that something has been misplaced.
We know—unless we have forgotten. We know—unless we assume it didn’t apply in this case or under these particular circumstances. We know—unless we haven’t calculated the fullest consequences of what we have come to know. We know—unless, of course, we don’t know at all.
I am a Presbyterian Jedi. At least that is what some seem to think. Last year I was elected to the Presbyterian Jedi Council (aka General Assembly Council.) I am now “in the know” and the fate of the denomination is in my hands. Depending on whom you ask, I could be either Obi-Wan Kenobi or Darth Vader. Either way, I get the same questions. Membership is declining and there is financial difficulty. What am I going to do to save the denomination?
“I am newly ordained yet already pessimistic about the future of this denomination. I am 30 years old and already tired by the same old arguments and voting trends. I am a Presbyterian who is ashamed that outsiders best know our denomination because of intense bickering rather than our proclamation of the gospel.
“I am not naïve enough to believe that simply talking to one another will smooth the splinters of our denomination. Yet I have confidence that the church of Jesus Christ still belongs to God—and not to a “group” or a “side” or a “network.” And I believe it is our job as leaders in the church to take the time to listen to where God might be leading us.”
"We hope to keep discovering who Jesus is calling us to be as we meet together in the same denomination – and we intend to keep learning, and growing in faith by God’s grace. We will meet again next year and continue our dialogue. We encourage you to do the same."
As the PCUSA Theological Task Force (TTF) on Peace, Unity, and Purity prepares its final report (to be distributed in September), we in the Presbytery of the James have made concerted efforts to be in conversation with each other regarding their work. We formed four theological reflection groups (and are in the process of starting four more), each of which represented a broad theological spectrum.
AUGSBURG
We are pleased to share the news of a new Bible study – No Experience Necessary. This study is accessible for people new to Bible study yet full of fresh insights for those more experienced. The author is Kelly Fryer, author of the bestselling Reclaiming the “L” Word. Kelly has a passion—and a gift—for empowering people to pick up the Bible and read it for themselves.
When we ask who has the final authority to direct the Christian Education program in a Presbyterian church the answer is straightforward and simple. The session, as the ruling body of the congregation, has the responsibility to develop the church school and the educational program in each congregation (G-10.0102 f; W-6.2005).
Across the country Presbyterians are seeking out new ways for adults to study the Bible. Small groups are meeting on weekdays so they have more time for study than is available during the Sunday school hour. Interest is high in deep study of Scriptures that leads to increased understanding and faith formation. Adults are willing to find time in their busy schedules to participate in such small group experiences.
In an era when there are more than 150 different publishers and distributors of children’s curricula alone, finding the resources that are best for your congregation can be challenging. The following four-step process, however, will help you make an informed decision and provide your teachers with good materials to support their ministries of faith formation.
Like other areas of the church’s life in the post-modern era, Adult Education faces a number of challenges and opportunities. Gone are the days when the majority of adults attended highly organized Sunday morning Church Schools centered on denominationally produced curriculum.
When Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 39, quietly strode toward Nazi prison gallows as the Second World War neared its end, he could hardly have known that 60 years later, his life, memory and legacy would remain the subject of keen debate and fascination — not to mention outright reverence.
Pentecost Meditation on Joel 2:23-39
Frequently in the morning, after I’ve walked the dog, I’ll come in, get a cup of coffee and sit down on the kitchen floor; and then, when my wife joins me, I’ll ask her what she dreamed about. Most of the time, Ann says she can’t remember. But I remember what I dream about; and I enjoy relating the vivid things that come to me in my sleep. (Well, some of them, at any rate. A few I keep to myself.)
Editor’s Note: This challenge was issued on the blog of Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase as part of a focus on the ministry of accompaniment in tense situations. The blog address can be accessed through the PC(USA) website (www.pcusa.org) or directly at www.what-I-see.blogspot.com.
I get it wrong about as often as I get it right. But I have learned, partly through my own mistakes, that healthy leadership will generally contain these three elements: thoughtful assessment, shared and transparent process, and seeking the good of the whole. Not only will better decisions be made, but the led will follow with confidence and trust.
Roman Catholic bishops, meeting at the Second Vatican Council in October 1965, overwhelmingly adopted a declaration that repudiated anti-Semitism and called for “mutual understanding and respect” between Catholics and Jews. The document, Nostra Aetate in Latin or “In Our Time” was adopted by a vote of 2,221-88.
“I believe that today God invites us to change our old practices,” said Pope John Paul II, speaking to some 80,000 Muslim youth in a stadium in Morocco in 1985. “We must respect each other, and we must also stimulate each other in good works on the path of God.” Christians and Muslims have “badly understood each other, opposed and exhausted each other in polemics and wars. Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is today more necessary than ever.”
For years, a church’s declining membership concerned its leaders. Their solution— a youth ministry. After several years, the church pastor acknowledged that the effort invested to attract young families was not working. The pastor’s conclusion was simple and refreshing: “I have been telling the session that perhaps it’s time to be who we are, a church for older adults.”
A journey as long as the way from Eden to Babel and back, as painful as Abraham’s knifebearing sojourn with Isaac,
History intrudes on the Church’s liturgical pilgrimage through Holy Week and Easter. The face of death this year, at least in the U.S., is the face of Terri Schiavo. The Schiavo case has dominated the news media, exacerbated political divisions, and played heavy on the sympathies of the public.
Editor’s Note: Clay J. Brown, Associate Pastor for Christian Formation and Discipleship at Grace Church in Houston, Texas, has written the following response to two recent essays in The Presbyterian Outlook: “The Significance of the Resurrection” by Cynthia L. Rigby and “Easter Faith, Easter Church”, by George Stroup (issue 187-11, March 21, 2005). One of the essayists, Cynthia Rigby, who is W. C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, has replied to Mr. Brown. Her response follows his essay.
I am grateful that my colleague and friend, Ben Sparks, has broached the sometimes sensitive subject of Christian education, especially what is happening in the local church. I suspect, like so many pastors and educators at this time of the year, Ben has faced another confirmation class unfamiliar with the stories of the faith!
The World Alliance Church News recently reported that the Reformed world has lost one of its courageous prophets with the death of antiapartheid activist Beyers Naudé.
From the 1960s, Beyers was among the few whites in southern Africa who was brave enough to speak boldly at great personal risk.
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