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Voices

Israel/Palestine issues loom large at GA

(PNS) Nearly 20 overtures about how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should deal with the conflict in Israel and Palestine will be considered by this summer's 217th General Assembly.

The majority call for the GA to rescind the process of phased, selective divestment of PC(USA) stock in multinational corporations whose business practices contribute to violence in Israel and Palestine -- a process launched by a decision of the 216th GA (2004).

Those measures would suspend the process now under way in which the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) is "engaging" such companies in an effort to get them to change their business practices.

The PC(USA) Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation oversee a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of investments on the denomination's behalf; only a very small fraction is at play in Israel/Palestine.

The portfolio includes stock in five corporations -- Caterpillar Inc., Citigroup, ITT Industries, Motorola and United Technologies -- now being "engaged" by MRTI in the phased, selective divestment process.

The GA deadline for overtures with financial implications was April 17; for those with no financial implications it is May 1.

Uncategorized

Women of Faith Award recipients announced

LOUISVILLE - Two deacons, two elders and two ministers have been named recipients of the 2006 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Women of Faith Awards.

 

They are:

 

Deacon Betty L. Grunstra, of Brookville (PA) Presbyterian Church in

Kiskiminetas Presbytery, who gives much of her time to a visitation

program, primarily in nursing homes, and who has established an annual

Thanksgiving dinner for those who have no one with whom to celebrate the

holiday;

 

Deacon Dawn Harvin, who as chair of the board of deacons at Grace

Memorial Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Presbytery) has

led her congregation into increasing community service ministries;

 

Elder Evelyn Bonner, of First Presbyterian Church, West Point, MS (St.

Andrew Presbytery), who has served as a volunteer leader at Sheldon

Jackson College in Sitka, AK, and at Mary Holmes College in West Point,

among others;

 

Elder Grace S. Kim, of Davis (CA) Community Church (Sacramento

Presbytery) who, because she has also lived in China and Korea, has been

a leading advocate for overseas and multicultural mission;

 

The Rev. Betty Meadows of Louisville (Mid-Kentucky Presbytery), who

first as an associate executive of Greater Atlanta Presbytery and now as

executive presbyter of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery has inspired growth in

evangelism, new-church development and spiritual renewal for pastors,

educators and church members; and

 

The Rev. Carmen Rosario-Reyes, parish associate at Jamesburg (NJ)

Presbyterian Church (Monmouth Presbytery), whose passion for including

Hispanic women and men into the life of the PC(USA) led her to found the

Hispanic Leadership Development and Enhancement Program at Princeton

Theological Seminary.

Outlook Reporting

LPTS women’s ordination anniversary celebration

LOUISVILLE -- In some ways, the anniversaries of women's ordination that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the midst of celebrating this year -- 100 years for deacons, 75 years for elders, 50 years for ministers -- are momentous, historic events.

And in other ways they are like a panorama of smaller stories -- layers of personal remembrances, snippets of impressions, allegories laden with history and meaning and politics.

Some are funny stories -- such as when a class of five women arrived at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1980 and found urinals in the women's restrooms and potted plants in the urinals.

Some are painful -- the stories of women who felt called by God to serve at a time when the church said, "Absolutely not."

And some tell folks that as far as the church has come, there are still young women, and women of color, and lesbians who want to be ordained, and mature women scarred by the fighting, who would say the Presbyterian church hasn't come nearly far enough.

Uncategorized

Princeton professor honored at YWCA banquet

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Princeton Seminary's William Albright Eisenberger Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis and the director of Ph.D. studies, was honored March 8, at the Princeton YWCA Tribute to Women 2006 Awards Dinner.

The YWCA honored sixteen women and the organizations that have stood behind them for the women's contributions to their professions, communities, educational institutions, or organizations.

Editorials

Eastertide, Presbyterian style

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah (2 Samuel 11:1a-TNIV).

Welcome to Eastertide, a season to enjoy Easter's afterglow, to anticipate Pentecost's empowerment, and to go off to war.  

'Tis the season to prepare for General Assembly.

The spring of 2005--the first GA off year--afforded Presbyterians the luxury of focusing their attention on Jesus' resurrection and the Holy Spirit's outpouring. This year such reflections could be drowned out by saber rattling and megaphone shouting. The 217th war, er, uh, meeting of the GA looms on the Alabama horizon--just three months away.

Voices

Our common life seen through two life verses

Almost thirty years ago when I was a seminary student, I preached at chapel services at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. I remember those beginner sermons, because in preparing them I wrestled with two Scriptures that have subsequently become life verses for me. Maybe these Scriptures also speak to you, and perhaps they even speak to our denomination.

Uncategorized

The changing face of American Presbyterianism (1706-2006), Part 2

Editor's note: Three hundred years ago this year, the first presbytery was organized in what became the United States of America. This article is the second in a series exploring the historical overview of the Presbyterian presence in our country. The first installment ran in the Outlook issue of Feb. 20, 2006 (Click here to read the first installment).

IV

Americans moved on after the Civil War, and so did Presbyterians, to face the challenges and changes of industrialization, urbanization, and globalization. We were heavy hitters in dealing with these challenges. After Lincoln, several other Presbyterian Presidents helped shape these years. Grover Cleveland, for example, presided over the Spanish-American War, and we extended our presence to places around the globe, for example, in Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines. He was a Democrat. Benjamin Harrison was a Republican, while Woodrow Wilson was another Democrat. William Jennings Bryan, an "also ran," was known as the "Great Commoner" with a "golden tongue."  

Movie Reviews

Tsotsi

"Tsotsi" means "thug" in South African dialect. Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae, in a remarkable debut) is a thug, all right, from the slums of Johannesburg. He glares constantly, as if always boiling with rage. He is cruel, violent, and humorless. He surrounds himself with other thugs, and together they go to the central train terminal, where they find their victims. They rob people who are unguarded enough to flash a wad of bills when they are paying for a newspaper. When they return to their slums, they spend their stolen money gambling at dice, and when it runs out, they go steal again. Tsotsi seems to be practically unredeemable. And then something unexpected happens.

Voices

Elders on the loose

Both ministers and elders are, in our polity, presbyters and have taken solemn vows that differ only as to function. In governing bodies, we proclaim the parity of presbyters, and make this a main feature of our church's life.

When the idea of limited terms became a reality in the church, two situations arose. Some elders served with distinction and had no desire to be placed on a ready list. A congregation I served made the decision that one particularly long-term and honored elder would be placed in a special category and made an elder for life.

The other situation is that many elders are elected, serve, and then cease to serve while retaining ordination without any relationship to a governing body.

The rotary system is good in intent. Its adoption may have created a situation not expected.

Let's look at the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament. First, and foremost, he or she is a presbyter who must be a member of a presbytery. If a minister ceases to be related to a presbytery, he or she may be allowed to lay aside the office.

Uncategorized

Atlanta pastor is 4th candidate for moderator of General Assembly

The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta has unanimously endorsed Joan S. Gray as a candidate for moderator of the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Gray is the fourth candidate for moderator. She joins Kerry Carson, pastor of First Church in Conrad, Iowa; Tim Halverson of Faith Church in Cape Coral, Fla.; and Deborah Block, pastor of Immanuel Church in Milwaukee, Wisc.

The election will be held at the start of the Assembly on June 15, in Birmingham, Ala.

Gray is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary (1976) who has served as an adjunct faculty member there and also has taught as adjunct faculty at Johnson C. Smith Seminary. She has taught at Princeton Theological Seminary in the continuing education department. She was ordained by Atlanta Presbytery of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1978.

Uncategorized

The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Controversial Social Activist, Dies at 81

c. 2006 Religion News Service


The Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., a fiery and controversial social activist, Presbyterian minister and author who saw social justice 'at the heart of the Gospel,' died Wednesday (April 12). He was 81.

Coffin, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure, died at his home in rural Strafford, Vt.

He rose to prominence in the 1960s as Yale University's chaplain, a position he used to great effect to campaign against the Vietnam War and fight for civil rights for blacks.

A natural leader for the protesting students of the 1960s, Coffin took his first 'Freedom Ride' to Montgomery, Ala., in 1961 to challenge the segregation of Southern buses. In 1968, Coffin was indicted on charges of conspiring to counsel draft resistance.

Book Reviews

Easter Week reading

With Easter Week, spring break and other incentives to use our time to read something inspiring, we recommend the following:

 

For adults

Were You There?  Finding Ourselves at the Foot of the Cross, by Erik Kolbell.  Louisville: WJKP, 2005.  ISBN 0-664-22778-3.  Hb., 163 pp., $14.95.

What would you have done were you there during Jesus' passion? Would you have provided comfort, as did Mary? Would you have betrayed him, as did Judas? Would you have abused the power entrusted to you, as did Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate? Kolbell skillfully puts us into the story of Jesus' passion and death in such a way that we are there--and that then is somehow now, too.  Retelling Jesus' passion from the perspective of multiple characters, he offers rich insight into Jesus' story, and into our stories, as well.

Voices

See, follow, believe

O Lamb of God! O Lamb of God! O Lamb of God!

With the slaying of the paschal lambs,

you died upon a tree.

Your sheep scattered

and hid in darkness

weeping.

It was over.

 

Three days those who loved him

 huddled,

their hearts trembling,

their faces swollen from tears.

They would no longer see Jesus.

He himself had said from the cross,

It is finished.

They felt finished, too.

Voices

Hope Weed

Our Christian symbols seem, at times, not quite appropriate to the meaning that they bear. For instance, take the Easter lily, white..

Uncategorized

What is a megachurch? Characteristics identified

Say "megachurch" and "small country church" and just think of the comparisons those words conjure up. Let the "Six Flags over Jesus" jokes start now.

But new research has found that many of the ideas folks have about megachurches don't match the realities. Among the misconceptions: that most megachurches are nondenominational; that they're too "seeker-friendly" and not serious enough about theology; that they're all huge and all alike.

The stereotypes are easy to slide into. But both the megachurch researchers and people involved with some of the largest Presbyterian churches say there is much that congregations of all sizes can learn from the megachurch experience.

That's not a one-way street. Other studies have found that small congregations have real strengths too and much to offer -- for example, in terms of helping people grow spiritually and involving people in congregational life. The Research Services office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) says about six in 10 Presbyterian churches have an average worship attendance of fewer than 100 people.

But for those willing to put aside their preconceptions and pay attention, the growth of the nation's largest churches can say a lot about the role of church in today's culture. And growth is evident. The number of congregations of more than 2,000 members increased by nearly 50 percent between 2000 and 2005.

Uncategorized

Presbyterian churches minister by megachurch principles

While relatively few American megachurches come from mainline denominations, some do -- and that includes Presbyterian congregations from Florida to Washington state.

Leaders from some of those congregations say people do tote around a wheelbarrow of misconceptions about big churches. They also say some of what works for them could work for congregations of any size -- and that they can learn valuable lessons from smaller, more intimate churches too.

Here's a glimpse inside a few Presbyterian megachurches -- all big, but all different.

Uncategorized

Weeks announces retirement plans

Louis B. Weeks, president of Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, has announced plans to retire from the seminary June 30, 2007.

Weeks was named the sixth president of Union in May 1994.

Editorials

A new Outlook: Now all the more

In the March 29, 1944 edition of The Presbyterian of the South, editors E.T. Thompson and Aubrey Brown announced that the magazine was changing its name to The Presbyterian Outlook. They explained:  

We choose this name because it describes our purpose and hope--to give the Presbyterian outlook on evangelism, stewardship, missions (at home and abroad), education, worship, morals and life; the Presbyterian outlook on the problems of the individual, the home, the Church, the nation (especially our problems here in the South), and the world; the Presbyterian outlook on things past, things present, and on the things which are still to come.

We have been and we shall remain Presbyterian.

We shall endeavor, with God's help, to present a helpful, constructive, Presbyterian, thoroughly Christian outlook on all matters which properly concern us--as Christians and as Presbyterians.

Voices

In life and in death we belong to God

Editor's Note: This sermon was preached at the memorial service for James E. Andrews, former stated clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at Oakhurst Church, in Decatur, Ga., on March 12 by current PC(USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.

 

Scripture: Romans 8: 28-39

 

Jim Andrews was always at his best at General Assemblies. He could do amazing things there.

I will never forget the Phoenix Assembly in 1984 when Jim was elected stated clerk of the newly reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Jim was masterful in the way he reached out and connected with the commissioners and advisory delegates. What convinced me that he was a master at this was when the Youth Advisory delegates gave Jim teddy bears because they thought he was "so cuddly!" I had thought of Jim as many things: a statesperson for the church, an architect of Presbyterian reunion, an ecumenist, a "drum major" for social justice, an able Constitutional interpreter -- but never "cuddly!"  He had an amazing ability to connect with people when critical issues of the church were at stake -- and I knew that he had done that with the youth at that Assembly -- even if it did lead them to what seemed a strange conclusion to me.

Voices

A vision for the GAC

Thank you for your recent editorial about the General Assembly Council recommendation to restructure its internal organization. Through this effort we seek to create a flexible, responsive system for discerning the guidance of the Spirit as we coordinate the mission activities of the General Assembly.

You have correctly sensed several of the shortcomings of the current model: unfunded program initiatives, trying to be all things to all people, and an internal structure that encourages Council members to become specialists rather than to envision the broad scope of ministries we enable. These issues were among those that led the Council over the past several years to focus energies on self-assessment, conversations with middle governing bodies, and ultimately to clarify the basic function of the Council, along with the role of staff.

Book Reviews

Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace

Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, by Miroslav Volf.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.  ISBN: 0-310-26574-6.  Pb., 247 pages, $12.99.

Read this book; it will strengthen your Lenten preaching. Free of Charge is the Archbishop of Canterbury's "Official 2006 Lent Book." In the Forward, Archbishop Rowan Williams says, "This is a book about worshipping the true God and letting the true God act in us." Volf captures the essence of his book in a more engaging way in the Postlude, a conversation with a skeptic who questions all Volf's assumptions, even his view of God. Volf responds, "I don't mean to insult you, but I wrote this book mainly for myself and maybe for folks like me, not for you. Most books I write, I write for myself as a spiritual exercise almost. And to tell the truth, my biggest problem is not with the arguments that may pull the rug from beneath the whole Christian way of life. In a sense my biggest problem is not an argument at all." (p.229)

Volf and the skeptic continue the dialogue. Volf says, "I am what we Christians used to call a 'sinner,' though we are now a bit embarrassed by the term." (p.230) "In the book, I argue, among other things, that we should embrace our enemies as Christ has embraced us. Well, an 'enemy'- a small one -- arose in my life after I wrote the book, and I sensed in myself the propensity to return in kind and exclude rather than forgive and embrace. And then I heard myself saying, 'But you argued in your book ...' It was like an academic version of the still small voice my wonderful and godly mother so often speaks about."

"Did that help?" the skeptic asked.

"It did! It reminded me that I was failing, that I wasn't true to God and to myself. It helped me resolve to act differently, to love my 'enemy.'" (p. 232)

Editorials

The Wheels of Justice …

One need watch only a few episodes of "Law & Order" or "CSI" to know that the wheels of justice roll on bumpy roads. Many an omniscient viewer has shouted the right answers at celluloid investigators, detectives, and prosecutors while the actors have painstakingly dragged through the evidence to build a case that can hold up in court. In TV World, justice usually does get served--about three minutes before the end of the show.

In the real world, those wheels roll on even bumpier roads. Many a crime victim discovers that the local gendarmes don't have the time or the will to pursue the evidence. Or, if they do, the prosecutor responds with a shrug, "We have no case." Screaming at those officers of the law can be even more counter productive than shouting at a TV.  

Judging by this editor's e-mail inbox, many Presbyterians are shouting at their ecclesiastical TVs these days. Some are lifting up their voices in jubilation, others in anger. They all have been watching the same program, the recent ruling of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Redwoods in response to the presbytery's case against the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr. Charged with performing same-sex marriages in violation of the Constitution, she acknowledged before the court that she had indeed officiated such services. However, the PJC acquitted her, stating that the constitutional definition of marriage between a man and woman need not bind the conscience of a minister. Only constitutional prohibitions need be obeyed, they said. Definitions need not be.

Voices

Just as we do

The sound of Hosannas still sings in our ears!

The laughter of the crowd,

so excited,

so filled with passion,

so uncommonly joyous,

for it is the Messiah who rides the donkey

 just as Zechariah had said:

        "Shout loud, O daughter Jerusalem!

         Lo, your king comes to you;

         triumphant and victorious is he,

         humble and riding on a donkey ...

         and he shall command peace to the nations!"

Palm branches waving,

coats thrown on the ground in front of him,

this One who comes in the name of God,

this Jesus who comes to save.

Oh, how we love a parade!

Oh, how we love this Jesus!

What then happened?

What did he do?

What did he say

to cause such wrath?

 

What strange stories:

a hungry Jesus curses a fig tree

because it bears no fruit.

Where, O Israel, is the fruit of your faith?

Where are those who have kept covenant?

Where are those who have walked with God

in justice and mercy and humility?

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