LOUISVILLE -- Exploring new visions of security in homes, neighborhoods, and the world will be the focus of the sixth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference.
Scheduled for March 7-10 in Washington, D.C., the gathering will bring together religious advocates from around the world to learn about key issues and then lobby for them in the United States capital.
A gathering called "A Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" brought together about 15,000 persons from 30 Baptist groups to Atlanta January 30 -- February 1. Church members, pastors, denominational leaders, and Baptists with names prominent in American life came together to find a new way forward after more than a decade of factional infighting and after racial and cultural divides dating from pre-Civil War times. The attendees represented 20 million Baptists in their respective unions and conventions.
It was organized by a group of church members led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Mercer University President Bill Underwood.
LOUISVILLE -- Stony Point Center (SPC) was given the green light by the General Assembly Council (GAC) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to continue on its careful path toward financial stability after conference center officials outlined a more detailed plan for its future to the council last week.
It didn't take long for the next bit of strategy to emerge.
John Knox Presbytery, with offices in Richland Center, Wis. responding to a recent decision of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, has passed an overture which, if approved, could allow candidates to state objections based on conscience to the sexual behavior standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
It didn't take long for the next bit of strategy to emerge.
John Knox presbytery, responding to a recent decision of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, has passed an overture which, if approved, could allow candidates to state objections based on conscience to the sexual behavior standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
On Feb. 11, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) -- the highest court in the PC(USA) system -- issued a decision which said, in effect, that candidates for ordination must comply with those sexual behavior standards, even if they disagree in conscience with them. The PC(USA) requires that candidates for ordination or installation as minister, elder or deacon practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) unanimously rendered three court decisions on Feb. 11, 2008 (released Feb. 13) that initial commentators on all sides of the theological divide believe make it impossible to ordain candidates who refuse to comply with the requirement in G-6.0106b to limit sexual relations to "the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman ... or chastity in singleness."[i] The main GAPJC decision is Remedial Case 218-10, Bush, et al. vs. the Presbytery of Pittsburgh. [ii]
In my first half dozen or so readings of these decisions I was much less certain that the GAPJC had prohibited absolutely the ordination of those found to be in noncompliance with the "fidelity and chastity" requirement in G-6.0106b. I wrote an article that I showed around to renewal leaders that argued strongly that we should not "jump the gun" by assuming this to be the case. I had come to the conclusion that the GAPJC had very possibly prohibited only a "permission to depart" from the specific sexuality standard in G-6.0106b but not the actual ordination of those who so departed. I had begun to think it possible that the GAPJC had arrived at this splitting of hairs by making the tired and misleading distinction between (1) "standards" that remain "binding" and from which departures are not "permitted" on the one hand and (2) "essentials of Reformed faith and polity" from which alone departures would constitute a necessary "bar to ordination and/or installation."
On February 11, the General Assembly Presbyterian Judicial Commission issued a pair of decisions addressing questions about the Authoritative Interpretation of G-6.0108 that was adopted by the 217th General Assembly in 2006. These decisions have important implications in the life of the church, and have already generated many questions.
The case of Buescher v. Presbytery of Olympia (Remedial Case 218-09) arose when Olympia Presbytery adopted a policy that "any violation of a mandate of the Book of Order (2005-2007) constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of reformed polity and thus presents a bar to ordination and installation."
The GAPJC held that this policy was unconstitutional. In doing so, it strongly affirmed several core principles of G-6.0108 and the 2006 Authoritative Interpretation:
Dr. Donald Macleod served as a mentor and friend when I began studies at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1969. This Scottish Presbyterian revered Psalm 100 as an international anthem of God's gracious friendship towards humankind. Its crescendo rises at the grand finale of praise: For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to the end of the ages.
When Donald Macleod stood by you, a student in his class knew this professor seldom fell away as a fair-weather friend. . We saw ourselves as "Macleod's Men," though the language may be sexist, it's how we described ourselves on campus when few women studied for ministry. He received telephone contacts from a myriad of Search Committees looking to fill their pulpits. When "Dr. Mac" extolled the strengths of one of his "men," Pastoral Search Committees seemingly treated Macleod's inventory of candidates as the very voice of the Lord.
As a teenager in the 1970s, I was committed to following Jesus wherever he would lead. My spiritual mentors -- Christian businessmen -- directed me to follow the narrow way. They organized Bible study groups, taught spiritual disciplines, promoted moral purity, and championed absolutes. I followed their lead.
But, I also found their promotion of absolutes somewhat confusing. For example, as my parents' marriage unraveled, the mentors equated divorce with the unforgivable sin. Then our pastor separated from his wife. They not only fired him, they excommunicated him -- condemning him to eternal torment. The absolutes had to be maintained.
LOUISVILLE -- Carl Mazza, the founder and leader of "Meeting Ground," a community-based ministry with the homeless and other marginalized people in Elkton, Md., is the third announced candidate to stand for moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), next summer in San Jose, Calif.
Mazza was endorsed on Jan. 18 by New Castle Presbytery, based in Newark, Del.
Mazza, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, founded Meeting Ground in 1981. It now encompasses two shelters, one for women and one for men; a transitional house; and a rural residential facility for men, women and children. Meeting Ground also operates a care program for children and youth and a church-based winter shelter program that rotates among area churches.
Princeton, N.J. -- The family of theologian and professor Thomas F. Torrance (1913--2007) has donated his books, personal papers, and manuscripts to the special collections of the Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries.
He was a frequent visitor to the seminary campus and also acted as an informal advisor and confidant to several of its presidents. His younger son, Iain R. Torrance, became Princeton Seminary's sixth president in 2004.
On January 7, Charles F. "Chuck" Burge began service as executive director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, which publishes The Layman newspaper, the Layman Online, and Reformation Press books.
He succeeds Parker Williamson, who retired as chief executive officer on Dec. 31, 2005.
Burge worked with D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries for the past ten years, including serving as interim executive vice president. Coral Ridge ministries is based at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. CRPC is in the Presbyterian Church in America, a denomination that split off the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in 1973. Prior to his move to Lenoir, N.C., to assume his new post, Burge served on the session of the CRPC and was a certified trainer in the church's Evangelism Explosion program.
Something was different. It might have been that this service was happening on a Friday night instead of a Sunday morning, but that was not quite it. The church was uncharacteristically packed, but that was not it, either. That about 99 percent of its occupants were women might have been part of what seemed so unusual in that sanctuary. But more than anything what was palpably, noticeably different in this northeastern mainline United Church of Christ cathedral was the sense of anticipation, of expectancy and maybe even downright excitement at what was about to transpire.
So I showed them things.
Not much that was spectacular, in fact,
more the usual, ordinary stuff
like wild flowers, birds and seeds,
The Psalms contain a collection of metaphors for God that focuses on protection. These include: shield, high tower, fortress, high place, refuge, rock, and stronghold. These images use "homeland security" language. But in the Psalms there is also a minority point of view that describes God as "the good shepherd" (Psalm 23), the good woman (Psalm 131:1-2), and the good father (Psalm 68:5-6).
This book is certain both to challenge and to enrich our preaching. J. Barrie Shepherd is both a poet and a preacher and so it is not surprising that his writing is more intuitive than analytic and more metaphorical than argumentative.
In the "flat" world of Internet-centric communications, churches are a major beneficiary.
Powerful tools once reserved for well-heeled organizations are available at little or no cost to everyone, including churches struggling to control costs. All it takes is the imagination to see possibilities, the humility to try new ways, and the will to overcome resistance from those who distrust technology or fight any change.
Part I of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution, the Book of Confessions, is of particular interest to me. So I noted with attentiveness Pittsburgh Presbytery's overture to the 218th General Assembly to amend Part I of the Constitution of the PC(USA), the Book of Confessions, to, in the words of the overture, "restore The Heidelberg Catechism to an authentic and reliable English version of the historic document by replacing the 1962 translation, The Heidelberg Catechism, 1563-1963, 400th Anniversary Edition. Copyright 1962. United Church Press, with a translation that more faithfully renders the original text." In its rationale, the overture gives five examples of mistranslations of the original Heidelberg Catechism in the current PC(USA) Constitution. While each of these examples is interesting, many PC(USA) readers will be most interested in the fifth and last example, which concerns Q & A 87 in the Heidelberg Catechism having to do with "homosexual perversion."
LOUISVILLE -- Joan Gray, https://www.pcusa.org/gamoderator/bio.htm moderator of the 217th General Assembly, offered a word to a troubled church in the light of the recent decisions of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) https://www.pcusa.org/gapjc/.
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick's Preliminary Top 10 issues before the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
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 in April is how much to spend on international missionaries.
The bottom line is: 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."
LOUISVILLE -- Rick Ufford-Chase, a former General Assembly moderator, has said it before. "There is, I believe, a Pentecost wind that is sweeping across the church today."
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- with new leadership and a new structure -- is recognizing that "we're in a time that requires collaboration, not centralization and control," Ufford-Chase told the General Assembly Council during the opening session of its meeting Feb. 13. He now leads the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship,
Ufford-Chase was discussing the gathering several weeks ago in Dallas of the Mission Consultation, which brought together more than 60 people representing a diversity of views. In the past, some had mistrusted each other's positions, but signed a covenant to work together in Presbyterian mission.
In the light of landmark rulings handed down Feb. 12 by the PC(USA)'s General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the Office of Constitutional Services has published an advisory opinion explaining and summarizing the implications of those rulings. An advisory opinion does not exercise binding authority, but it does attempt to bring clarity.
The opinion can be found at the Office of Constitutional Services Web site: https://www.pcusa.org/constitutionalservices/ad-op/note21.htm
LOUISVILLE -- When the General Assembly Council meets again in April, it will be asked to consider a budget for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for the next two years.
Here are some hard questions the council must answer.
How many overseas missionaries should the PC(USA) have? And where is the money going to come from to pay for them?
Here are the painful statistics.
Reflecting on this passage in its entirety is beyond the scope of this brief article. Two high points will be our focus. The first is the Christological confession of Martha and the second is the surprising anger of Jesus and its aftermath.
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