The great Baptist theologian Carlyle Marney used the phrase “a priest at every elbow.” Marney was emphasizing a key theological insight in the theology of Martin Luther and the 16th-century Protestant Reformation: the priesthood of all believers. This was a crucial perception for Luther. It is the vision that all Christians are priests. We are priests to each other. All Christians are priests The phrase may sound strange to Presbyterian ears. We are used to knowing Roman Catholic priests and Episcopal priests — and they are clergy. Priests hold a revered place in these traditions. They often wear clerical garb that visibly distinguishes them from lay members of the church. Like all clergy, priests are recognized by their “callings” to become church leaders. They have pursued a “vocation” or calling. This has set them apart for their special work in ministry. So it may jar us a bit to hear that we are all – all Christians – priests! It was jarring in the 16th century when Luther … [Read more...]
PC(USA) joins with Salvadoran church to combat plague of gang violence
ST. LOUIS — Families who have suffered detention and separation from their children upon reaching the southern U.S. border have typically left behind a different, often deadly sort of trauma in their home countries in Central America. The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is partnering with a Salvadoran church to help reduce levels of gang-related violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that have led families to flee those countries in fear for their own and their children’s lives. On June 21, the assembly passed an overture from the Presbytery of the Pacific that makes the PC(USA) a partner in working for region-wide and country-specific changes in policy sought by the Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES). The vote to approve was 463-45. Changes called for by the assembly would include: assignment of a mission partner to help develop a refugee and immigration advocacy network; ensuring that leaders from the region get heard by the … [Read more...]
Discerning our way through General Assembly
Did you know that, but for the commissioners’ vote on the floor of a plenary session at General Assembly, our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) headquarters would be in Kansas City, Missouri, today instead of Louisville? It happened at the 1987 GA in Biloxi, Mississippi. A task force charged with researching a post-reunion location had been hard at work for over two years, narrowing down finalists and eventually presenting their choice of Kansas City with great fanfare. It was a site where the cost of living was reasonable, near a major airline hub and it was closer to the country’s center than the Eastern time zone. The responsible GA committee endorsed their choice and the whole team made a grand presentation: Kansas City dignitaries gave glowing welcomes, a video illustrated all that Kansas City had to offer and many balloons awaited overhead for dramatic release in the assembly hall. But then something happened. A surprise substitute motion was offered from the floor to move … [Read more...]
Building the kin-dom one prayer at a time: An invitation to prayer practices for the General Assembly
Motel 6 famously advertises, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” A clever slogan that embodies a sense of hospitality and home, and in St. Louis the lights are already on in anticipation of the arrival of family for the General Assembly. It is a homecoming of sorts as denominational “relatives” from north and south, east and west, gather for a time of discussion, decision-making, reflection and worship. The connections between churches and leaders who otherwise would not cross paths is renewed or established, and we recognize one another as kinfolk. Although others stay back to tend the home fires, still we are one family, sheltering under the promise of the kingdom and kin-dom of Christ. The theme for this year’s assembly – “Renewing the vision: Kindom building for the 21st century” – strives to emphasize this connectivity. Warmly captured by Isaac Villegas in “The Kin-dom of mi abuelita” (published in The Mennonite), he describes it this way: “God’s kin-dom looks like my … [Read more...]
Compelled to respond: The 223rd General Assembly and climate change
To work for the transformation of society The two of us have spent the last two years (and longer) working in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on overtures about climate change, with proposed actions including both divestment from the fossil fuel industry and a variety of other efforts to change individual and institutional behaviors. abby mohaupt (she prefers not to have her name capitalized) is the moderator of Fossil Free PCUSA (a grassroots movement focused on adding divestment to the other things being done to respond to climate change). Jim Allison has been active in the group trying to define alternatives and additions to divestment. It is not unimportant that Jim is an economist and former employee of a fossil fuel company, and abby is a Presbyterian pastor and activist, as well as a Ph.D. student in religion and climate change. With those kinds of credentials, it is perhaps not surprising that we do not agree on the particular question of divestment. However, we do agree … [Read more...]
More than church as usual in St. Louis: General Assembly to address community issues
The 223rd General Assembly will address issues of racial justice in the convention hall and on the streets. Look for it, weaving in and out of the 2018 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): a persistent, intentional focus on issues related to systemic racism and injustice. Look for it, both in the work of the assembly and on the streets. When white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, people took to the streets night after night in protest. St. Louis activists have remained mobilized and engaged ever since on issues involving poverty, racism and systemic injustice — and Presbyterian leaders want that commitment to inform the work of this assembly. “It really inspires me to see what God is doing in this city through people of passion and people of justice who are ready to say ‘this is wrong,’ and are willing to do the work to make things right,” said Erin Counihan, who’s pastor of Oak … [Read more...]
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