Commentary

An Open Letter to Our Next Moderator and Stated Clerk

By way of disclosure, I am well into my 74th year, and have been a Presbyterian all of my life, first in the old Northern church, then the United Church in the North, then the old Southern Church, then the Northern Church (in the South), the Southern Church (in the almost North), and finally our present Presbyterian denomination. I have served as a deacon in two of those denominations, and a pastor in three of them. I was raised in a congregation with history that stretched back to the early 1700s, and in my teenage years I was

Differentism

"Women Blaze an Interfaith Trail: Two teachers become first Jewish female and first Muslim female to receive advanced degrees from Catholic Theological Union," and "She's First Jewish Graduate of Catholic Theological Union" were headlines in The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times on May 15.

Guest viewpoint: Can I get a witness to love?

On May 15 the California Supreme Court affirmed the rights of same gender couples to the legal protections and responsibilities of marriage. Not coincidentally, in 1948 it was the California Supreme Court that first extended equal protections to interracial couples — a full sixty years ago, twenty years before Loving v. Virginia declared all miscegenation laws unconstitutional. The ruling will go into effect thirty days after the decision.

Pope makes pitch at Yankee Stadium

Baseball is often rhapsodized as a religion in America. It makes sense then that Yankee Stadium is a stomping ground for popes.

The only two who have set foot on U.S. soil have celebrated Mass in the Bronx, in the most famous sports arena this side of the Colosseum.

On April 20, Pope Benedict XVI was set to become the third.

A diamond in the dirt: Playing baseball in Nicaragua

The crisp, hot, late afternoon sunshine in Nicaragua is perfect for playing baseball. Who might want to play?

We notice that the construction crews seemed to finish up the day's work with a bit more energy and gusto; several of them asked me as the work for the day wound down, "Baseball?" Just that one word, with their deep Spanish language accent, and the interrogative lilt rolling up at the end, turned a word into a question. "Si," I would readily reply, wondering what I was getting myself into.

“Amnesty April”

One colleague calls it "Amnesty April." Others call it "data cleanup" and "data scrubbing."

Whatever the name, this month at the church I serve we will initiate a thorough cleanup of our membership data. That may seem a small and mechanical matter, but I think it cuts to the heart of what we do.

How our Reformed faith informs our teaching with children and youth

Recent studies indicate that only about half of our church members grew up Presbyterian, and many of these left our Presbyterian congregations during their teen years only to return later as they begin to establish families. As a result, an understanding of our Presbyterian heritage and the tenets/themes of our Reformed faith is not part of the background or memory of most of our members.

As folks make a commitment to the ministry of teaching children or youth, they often come to the task with a sense of call, a love for young people, a desire to pass along the stories of our faith, and an earnestness to teach with creativity and age appropriateness. However, many are unaware that being Reformed implies particular things about the ways that we teach the children and youth in our care. To that end, we look to the major tenets our tradition to consider how they inform our teaching.

Transparency matters more than ever

As corruption clouds politics, as public figures deny and then confess, as people become increasingly suspicious of basic institutions like their banks, schools and, yes, their churches, the need for transparency becomes critical.

People don't expect perfection from their churches. They know that clergy are overworked and underpaid. They know that lay leaders are overworked and not paid at all. They know that people renege on commitments and don't give what they should. They know that weather, basketball tournaments, and human orneriness can undo the best-laid plans.

Approaching adult education in a post-modern context

Much hand wringing and pessimism -- maybe fatigue? -- is evident as we seek to engage our congregations in vital, faithful, effective Adult Christian Education. Also evident are the attempts to understand how and why things are different. Contributions from those versed in demographics and sociological realities have been useful. People who study leadership and systems theories have provided keen insights into our current situation and challenges. Generational theory has been a powerful lens through which to evaluate our context and relationships. Examining postmodernity and its effects on educational ministry can be helpful as well.

APCE workshop linked brain research and teaching

This article offers some of the ideas presented at my workshop, "Brain Research Comes to Sunday School," at the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators conference in February. The good attendance at this workshop is an indication that Christian educators want to learn about brain research and ways it might help them be better teachers. In Our Spiritual Brain, Barbara Bruce wrote that religious educators need to know how the brain functions and how to translate that information into better, more usable lessons to help students continue their journey of faith.

Children connecting with God

"There you go, God, here is some Play-Doh for you," a four-year-old announced, placing a blob of yellow Play-Doh on the table and then scooting an empty chair next to her own so that both touched. She continued to roll and mash the Play-Doh, every so often adding a bit more to the handful for God until her mom arrived. As she said goodbye to one of the adult leaders, she held up her hands closed tightly together and whispered, "All you have to do is hold your hands like this and God is with you. God likes coming to Sunday school with me and he's holding my hand now to go to church with me." Although resembling the imaginary friend of a young child, God truly existed in the heart and mind of this young child. A few years later in a kindergarten through fifth grade Sunday school group talking with the leader about fears, her connection with God gave her the confidence, despite being one of the youngest in the group, to share with the others, "I know God is always with me even if I can't see him and when I am afraid at night I just talk to God."  

Be the Colleague

Consider the following familiar scenario. A pastor takes a new call in youth ministry. He begins enthusiastically, on fire to gather young people into Christ's fold. Youth ministry begins to flourish over the course of the next two years, and then suddenly he resigns. The youth are devastated. The congregation is at first bemused, then shrugs its collective shoulders, and re-gathers itself for another mission study, another search committee, and hopefully a better match. Perhaps the next associate pastor will last a little longer.