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On returning to our places of worship

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“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.” Oddly, perhaps, in the church of my youth I heard those words from Psalm 137 more often than any other Scripture. More than John 3:16, more than the Beatitudes, more than the Great Commission. We were Associate Reformed Presbyterians, a southern splinter of the Presbyterian family, stubbornly Scottish in heritage and resolutely psalm-singers in worship. Our craggy Calvinist forebears had insisted that God wanted us to sing only from the Psalter, the Bible’s own songbook, so, while other Presbyterians embraced hymns and spiritual songs, we ARPs clung to exclusive psalmody until the middle of the 20th century. We sang all 150 psalms, but our cherished favorite was a melancholy choral arrangement of Psalm 137, a psalm of the Babylonian captivity. As the choir intoned dolefully, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” our best soprano would raise her voice in a beautiful and at once … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19

The inherent problem of whiteness in our polity

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I left the 224th General Assembly questioning if our polity works in our fast-paced world. I wondered if assuming commissioners’ knowledge about the terms of a stated clerk’s service or the role of the various Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s agencies and their work was fair even for the most dedicated and diligent among them. I know the young adults in my household would not sign up for hours and hours of meetings consumed with strategic parliamentary procedures, amendments and substitute motions that feel like an affront to the urgency and immediacy of their friends’ suffering. They and their peers are marching in the streets, updated in real time as to who is gathering and to what end. I struggled with fatigue at caring about reports faithful people have invested much time and effort in creating while knowing too many of them end up unimplemented even if well intended, packed with nuance and detail. A few days and a little sleep later I concluded that the problem undergirding … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224

A vital congregation —  A system centered on Christ

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Pastors typically experience tensions between what they see as their biblical role and the role imposed on them as leader of a church organization. Biblical notions of church often appear to be in conflict with institutional conceptions. This apparent conflict comes to the fore in considering how to foster what has come to be called in our circles the “marks of a vital congregation”: lifelong discipleship formation, intentional authentic evangelism and outward incarnational-focused living. While there may appear to be a tension between seeking these biblically-rooted and spirit-inspired ideals and promoting them in an institutional church, authentic understanding of the nature of the real dynamics within organizations will greatly diminish this tension. These dynamics within an organization are understood here in the language of systems, but a possible source of confusion in using this language needs to be addressed upfront. The word systems, as used here to describe organizations … [Read more...]

What are you reading?

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We’ve asked several people to give us their plans for reading during the summer of 2020. Our hope was to give Outlook readers some suggestions to add to their reading lists as they considered the insights of others. The requests went out prior to the global pandemic and the social uprising around systemic racism. Rather than change the list, we have let it stand because it still seems to hold up. We would love to hear from you. What are you reading these days? Grace from the Rubble: Two Fathers’ Road to Reconciliation after the Oklahoma City Bombing by Jeanne Bishop Jeanne Bishop is a member of Fourth Presbyterian Church and a district attorney who has life experience with the challenge and gift of forgiveness after an act of violence. Her sister and sister’s family were murdered decades ago and Bishop did the hard work of learning how to see the person who committed the offense as another child of God. In this book, Jeanne explores another relationship defined by repentance and … [Read more...]

Tagged With: reading

Board of Pensions adds new minister’s package and more choices to plan

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The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a vision for the future. While COVID-19 has made the near future uncertain in so many ways, this vision is for the long term: Every minister and employee of the church and everyone working for a PC(USA)-affiliated employer has access to benefits and programs that support their well-being. The Board of Pensions moved closer to this ideal in early March, when its board of directors approved the 2021 Benefits Plan of the PC(USA). The plan, effective January 1, 2021, introduces the most substantial changes since the plan redesign of 2017. These changes extend support to more ministers, add benefits that close gaps and make the plan more marketable to affiliated employers. Affiliated organizations – including educational institutions, camps and conference centers, retirement and senior housing communities and human services organizations – are driving growth in the Benefits Plan. The expanding selection of plan benefits has … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Board of Pensions

General Assembly committee asks: What are the lessons of the 2020 GA?

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What are some of the lessons of the 2020 General Assembly? In a debriefing held June 30 following the just-concluded 2020 General Assembly, members of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) shared their thoughts — including favorite moments (for many of them: worship and the election of Elona Street-Stewart and Gregory Bentley as co-moderators), frustrations and suggestions for improvement. Some of the lessons they raised: In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is 90% white, that “white supremacy is baked into our denomination.” That the assembly rules and procedures are complex — and those time-honored patterns of doing business may not align well with today’s fast-changing world or the way younger people communicate and get things done. One measure of that: Every successive plenary session at this assembly saw decreasing involvement of Young Adult Advisory Delegates (YAADs), and 40 presbyteries did not send YAADs to the assembly at all. That the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COGA • GA224

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