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Voices

The church’s tears

For several years I have had some unforgettable acquaintances. Of course, I have not known them personally. We never hung out together. After all, they did live in Egypt some sixteen centuries ago.

They could also have been a little hard to understand. They seemed to have been a peculiarly solemn lot. Completely clueless when it came to small talk, off the chart introverts, they nevertheless had something we often lack. As I read through their interactions with one another again and again, I can sense a deeper stillness than we normally know. They had a very low, unprovokable center of gravity.

I have spent so much time reading through The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (London: Mowbrays, 1975) that I feel that I actually do know them in some mysterious way. In fact, as odd as it sounds, I know them so well that in their most personal moments I can feel their tears falling through their prayers.

Voices

The unity we seek

We Presbyterians are searching frantically to preserve the unity of our denomination, anything to keep the church from splitting. Let's try this way, that way, a third way. There must be some way we can find! But maybe what we need is to give up our ways and concentrate on what God in Christ has done. We Reformed souls are not very big on liturgy, but that's where our unity lodges and is celebrated -- in our liturgy.

Voices

Confessing a radical catholicity

Our utopian visions of harmonious love for each other quickly dissipate when we are confronted with the gritty everydayness of our life together in Christ, whether we are talking about the church down the street, our own Presbyterian denomination, or the larger church. Left to ourselves, our attempts at loving each other fall apart quickly and spectacularly. We try this love thing Jesus was talking about, but when we inevitably fail, which is bound to happen in the hands of sinners, we retreat into more familiar communities of the like-minded. 

Perhaps that is the ultimate question hanging over our intramural disagreements and divisions in the Presbyterian church. Deep down, will our American Protestant proclivity for separation and schism continue to lead us into smaller and smaller enclaves of the like-minded, or can we move in a different direction? Can we be led to recover our catholic roots? Is the church, with all its faults and blemishes, still the church we have been given that summons us to live with our enemies and to share a common faith and life with them, even bearing with them in love and forbearance around the Lord's table? 

Voices

Loving chaos

The report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church is a winner. I support it enthusiastically. Then again, my enthusiasm is influenced by the fact that -- as one mystified parishioner asserted months ago -- I have a high tolerance for chaos.

Years ago I played college basketball, although not well. When our team fell behind by 20 points, with little hope of recovery except some drastic measures be taken, the coach would look long and hard down the bench. I knew his meditation: Should I put Massey in the game and hope that the resulting confusion will lead to new scoring opportunities? Early in my playing career my teammates hated to see me enter the game; I couldn't remember the plays or I would follow them slavishly. At best my personal style could be described as unorthodox. More than once a teammate hit me in the back of the head with a passed ball, or I would return the favor. But over time these same teammates--as much anxiety as I caused them--began to appreciate the chaos I created. It proved even more disadvantageous to our opponents, who could not anticipate what they were about to experience. Out of chaos came creative play, and sometimes surprising victory.

Uncategorized

Ben Lacy Rose, retired pastor, professor, dies at 91

Ben Lacy Rose, professor emeritus of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. (now Union-PSCE), died November 13 at his home in Westminster-Canterbury Richmond Retirement Community.

Born Dec. 12, 1914, in Fayetteville, N.C., he was moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.) from 1971 -- 1972, and was a Presbyterian pastor for nearly 70 years. He served the Chinquapin, Bethel, and Beulaville churches in Duplin County, N.C.; Central Church in Bristol, Va.; First Church in Wilmington, N.C.; and Chapel on the Boardwalk in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Dr. Rose served as professor of pastoral leadership and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1956-1973 and was named professor emeritus following his retirement. He held three degrees from Union Seminary: He earned the bachelor of divinity (B.D.) in 1938; a master of theology (Th.M.) in 1950; and the doctor of theology (Th.D.) in 1955.

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GA PJC reverses synod, presbytery courts in Heartland case

(PNS) The highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has reversed two lower-court rulings in favor of a Kansas City, Mo., congregation that challenged a neighboring church in its ordaining as an elder a woman thought to be a lesbian.

The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) overturned decisions by both the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Mid-America (SPJC) and the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Heartland (PPJC) in the case of Session of Colonial Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Missouri v. Session of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church [GCPC], Overland Park, Kansas.

"At this stage of the proceeding, this Commission is compelled to accept as true the allegation in the Complaint that the (Grace Covenant) session may have had cause for further inquiry based on its professed knowledge of the life and character of the elders-elect," the GAPJC said in its ruling released in mid-October.

The case originated after the session of Colonial Church questioned whether the session of Grace Covenant Church violated the Book of Order when it ordained four elders in July 2004.

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Renewal leaders, divided over staying or leaving PC(USA), release solidarity statement

Editor's Note: The following statement has been issued by various renewal leaders after their meeting in Chicago Nov. 7-8. "The intent is to state publicly the charitable nature of the relationships between those who are wishing to leave the PC(USA) and those who are committed to staying in the PC(USA), and to highlight a few previously released statements as worthy of consideration by the whole church," according to spokesman Michael Walker. Here is the full statement:


Nothing Can Separate Us

At all times and in all places, Christians are called to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ with our lips and our lives and to do so without equivocation. The Church is called to "the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world." We confess that we have not fulfilled these "Great Ends" of the Church. Longing to be a more faithful people, we acknowledge our complete dependence upon the grace of God.

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Constitutional Presbyterians urge separation from PC(USA) if it ceases to be a ‘true church’

GREENVILLE, SC -- Speakers at a Nov. 3-4 gathering here of the "Constitutional Presbyterians" urged participants to separate from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) if the denomination ceases to be "a true church."

Some here believe it already has, citing an "authoritative interpretation" of the PC(USA) Constitution adopted by this summer's 217th General Assembly as part of its approval of its Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (PUP).

The authoritative interpretation would allow a candidate for ordination to declare a principled objection to any provision of the Constitution. If the ordaining body determined that the objection did not constitute a departure from the essential tenets of the Reformed faith and practice, the person could be ordained.

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Small churches and their presbyteries face decisions

 

Bob Browning, a lawyer from Pineville, W.Va., could write a book on pastoral leadership in small Presbyterian churches.

He's trying to help figure out how four congregations in his part of the state will get along when their ordained pastor leaves at the end of this year. For the past several years, the four congregations -- with fewer than 50 members apiece -- have been sharing the services of one minister and two commissioned lay pastors, working together formally as the Presbyterian Parish of Southern West Virginia, "which we just call the parish," Browning said.

But now the pastor is leaving, and the congregations are revisiting the question of what arrangement could work best and what's financially viable.

Book Reviews

Update or upstart? Biblical scholars debate language usage of TNIV

It may seem unlikely that Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson and Rolling Stone Magazine would have much of anything in common. Sure, both are seeking to make an impact upon American culture by communicating particular messages and beliefs. But that is like saying that Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush are similar because they both desire to motivate and persuade a particular group of people.

Granted, it has been for very different reasons, but James Dobson and Rolling Stone have found at least a bit of common ground in that both recently have been at odds with the relatively new and somewhat controversial TNIV. "The TNI...what?" was the response I received most when attempting to gather thoughts and opinions from Presbyterian friends. I have to admit, upon first hearing of it, I thought the T stood for "Teen." It doesn't.

Book Reviews

In review: Today’s New International Version

The Bible: Today's New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005).

 

Since the appearance of the English Revised Version in 1870, considered by many the beginning of modern English translations of the Bible, more than 150 translations (often of only the New Testament) have appeared. Many of these are forgotten private translations, although some of the "giants" are still remembered (e.g., James Moffat, E. J. Goodspeed, J. B. Phillips).

The major advance in translation by a committee was made with the appearance of the Revised Standard Version (New Testament 1946; complete Bible, 1952). The next two major moments were the publication of the New English Bible (1961; 2d ed., 1970), a British production with a very interpretive flair, and the New International Version (1973), done in part to have a "conservative" alternative to the RSV.i

Book Reviews

How I use the TNIV

After a year with the TNIV ... I have found it illuminating to do my daily readings in new Bible translations. Often I see familiar passages in fresh light because of new turns of phrase or word choices. Not long after its initial publication, I found the NIV a wonderful new rendering of our beloved Book. But over the years it has come to feel dated on several accounts -- something unavoidable when the goal is to translate into language as current as possible.

Book Reviews

Stories as Nourishment

 Â©2004 by John R. Erickson. Used by permission.

 

I was surprised the first time an elementary school librarian invited me to read my Hank the Cowdog stories to her children.  

I knew nothing about children's literature and never dreamed that children could understand the subtle humor in a story whose main character might be summed up in a paraphrase of St. Paul: "That which I do, I should not, and that which I should not, I do--all the time." Hank, who narrates the stories, exaggerates, often tells little lies to cover his mistakes, has no self-knowledge, and ... well, isn't very smart. That's pretty subtle, and I wrote the first Hank book for adults, not children.  

Six million books later--most of them purchased by or for children--it is clear that I was not a marketing genius.

Book Reviews

Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

 

by Frederick Buechner. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006. ISBN: 0-06-084248-2. Hb., 320 pp., $24.95.

 

Here is a noteworthy collection of sermons by one of our most celebrated Christian apologists, Frederick Buechner. Ranging from sermons delivered in the 1950s to the late 1990s, this anthology lives up to its subtitle, presenting a half-century's worth of thinking aloud about the Christian way. Buechner, who has described himself as a part-time Christian and a part-time novelist, offers the reader many windows into the oftentimes hidden world of Christian truth.

The collection begins with a sermon called "The Magnificent Defeat," concentrating upon the all-night wrestling match between Jacob and God at the ford of the Jabbok. The encounter leaves Jacob crippled and helpless but, as Buechner describes it, in the end Jacob sees "something more terrible than the face of death--the face of love." (p. 7). Thanks to Buechner's vantage point, one can share a sense of authentic surprise the original Phillips Exeter Academy student-congregation must have felt at hearing the news that out of defeat can come blessing.

Book Reviews

Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America

by Randall Balmer. New York: Basic Books, 2006.  ISBN 0465005195. Hb., 242 pp., $24.95. 

 

This book will anger, frighten and give hope.

Balmer is professor of American Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, and visiting professor at Yale Divinity School. He is also a Baptist whose evangelical credentials are impeccable. He calls his book "An Evangelical's Lament," lament because the religious right has hijacked traditional evangelicalism, and, in its lust for political clout and legitimacy, has sold its soul to the ultraconservative wing of the Republican Party. To be perfectly fair, religious liberals in the sixties and seventies did likewise, often identifying Democratic Party platforms with the promise of the kingdom of God. But that was then; this is now. Have we learned nothing?

Book Reviews

Whispering the Word: Hearing Women’s Stories in the Old Testament

by Jacqueline Lapsley. Louisville: WJKP, 2005. ISBN 0-664-22435-0. Pb., 154 pp. $19.95.

 

This exploration of four Old Testament narratives about women begins by recounting two different experiences that reflect well the difficult relationship between feminist scholarship and the church.

The first story is of Lapsley's conversation with a clergyperson who bemoans yet another book on women in the Bible! This experience speaks of a certain tiredness with respect to the topic, its redundancy given the many treatments that already exist. But it also might hint at impatience with the task of feminist scholarship and its hermeneutics of suspicion, an interpretive position that often denies the Bible's ability to speak a word of God for women's lives.

The second experience is a story about a student who admitted to throwing her Bible across the room in disgust and outrage over the sexist worldview that inhabits the Scriptures. This story reveals the importance of the feminist task but asks how God's word can be heard when the dominant voices in Scripture undermine and often harm the well being of women

Editorials

We’ve come a long way, so far

100. 75. 50. Three great numbers. Three great celebrations of the ordination of women: as deacons, as elders, and as ministers of Word and Sacrament.

At 100 years, we would love to claim to have been the first, but the Cumberland Presbyterians ordained Louisa Woosley in 1889. Then again, we don't need to claim originality to celebrate our role in promoting gender equality. John Calvin didn't launch the Reformation, he just organized and systematized it. Similarly, we Presbyterians have contributed critical leadership that has theologically validated and organizationally formulated the practice of women's ordination. Hearing of the three anniversaries, 100, 75, 50, might we imagine that something important could have happened 25 years ago, too? Well, as a matter of fact, one big thing did happen. One of our ecumenical organizations, the National Council of Churches, directed its Bible translation team, led by Bruce Metzger, to update the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, with an eye toward making it more gender inclusive. Soon after publication in 1989, the New RSV was being read in most Presbyterian pulpits every Sunday.

Voices

Forgotten treasure, hidden pearl

Her smile filled her face and your heart. She grinned and everyone felt the need to sing. Small in stature with straight black hair, Lorna was born with the genetic disability known as Down Syndrome, which causes developmental disabilities and mental retardation. Though she was not a quiet person--jabbering, laughing and giggling--Lorna was the type of person you could lose in an emaciated minute.  

Not that Lorna wandered away or was mischievously hiding, she simply seemed to evaporate into the walls. Lorna was a member of The Special Gathering choir and I was the fledgling director. Special Gathering is a ministry within the mentally challenged community. It is a community-based program involved in classic ministry: discipleship and evangelism. We have nine programs dotting the eastern coast of Florida and South Carolina.

 

Uncategorized

In the mirror at the Episcopal Convention

The 75th Episcopal Convention and Triennial Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, was held the same week in June as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly in Birmingham. Since our usual representative to ecumenical bodies, Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick, could not attend. I gladly accepted the role as the Presbyterian ecumenical partner representative.

Amidst all the other issues coming before the Episcopalian delegates at their bicameral bodies, the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, were two larger issues: The election of a new presiding bishop, and their response to the Windsor Report from the wider Anglican Communion. 

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Edgar to leave NCC in 2007

(RNS) The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said Oct. 2 that he will not seek a third four-year term as the top administrator of the ecumenical organization.

His current term ends Dec. 31, 2007, and a third term would have been unprecedented in the NCC's history.

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Mejía family adjusting to new life, ministry outside Colombia

© 2006. Used by permission.

 

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Adelaida Jiménez is keeping secrets from her two pre-teen sons. It is a habit that she has learned: Tell them only what they need to know and save the rest for later.

When they are bigger. Or, when the threat has passed.

After all, how do you explain terror? How do you justify exile as the only way to keep hired killers or armed paramilitary soldiers from blowing your father, or his children, to Kingdom Come? How do you tell your children that staying safe means leaving home, maybe for good, or, at least until the political climate cools down? How do you say that and not scare your child out of his mind, especially when you are trying to tend to your own trauma and not fall prey to your own worst fears?

So Jiménez is parceling out information on a "need-to-know-basis."

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BYU, Reed at opposite ends of College Religiosity Poll

 

c. 2006 Religion News Service

 

Considering that 98 percent of the students are Mormon, some classrooms are converted into worship spaces on Sundays, and alcohol and drugs are banned from campus, perhaps it's not surprising that Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, received the sacred No. 1 spot on the list of schools where "Students Pray on a Regular Basis" in the Princeton Review's 2007 college rankings.

Meanwhile, the liberal arts Reed College in Portland, Ore., where the Christian student group is called "Oh, for Christ's Sake," ranked atop the "Students Ignore God on a Regular Basis" category, according to the same rankings, which were released in August.

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Campus religious groups try to hook students early

c. 2006 Religion News Service

   

Mark Schaefer knows how to throw a good party, and offering free food to hungry college freshmen is a sure-fire way to satisfy guests.

Making the rounds, Schaefer talks to the students and thanks them for attending the recent Friday-night event at American University, aptly named S'mores with S'Methodists.

"That's one thing I've learned," said Schaefer, the chaplain for the United Methodist Student Association. "You have to thank people for coming. We actually appreciate that they show up."

Leaders of campus religious groups find that an early commitment is often a lasting one. That makes this time of year prime recruitment season for campus religious groups before freshmen get swept up in college life and other activities. Some campus leaders say if they don't catch students early, they may never get their attention.

"People are creatures of habit," Schaefer said later. "The relationships you make during the first few weeks at school are often the lasting ones."

Senior Aaron Bregman, president of AU's Jewish Student Association, understands the time crunch. "Freshman year," he said, "basically you have a small window to get involved in things."

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