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Editorials

Communal discernment — demanding, rooted, graced

Several years ago a small incident occurred that has been much in my mind since I received the Final Report of the Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church. The incident took place as a pastor and I drove home from a meeting. We had joined ten others in what was called a "discernment exercise," exploring future directions for the presbytery where we both served. Rather than just brainstorm and then debate ideas, the group had attended on Scripture, entered silence, listened deeply to one another's yearnings, even where those yearnings lay far apart. The group prayed. On the way home, for better than an hour, my friend talked about the "fresh bond in Christ" (his exact words) he was discovering with a person whose views differed dramatically from his own.          

Editorials

Why I oppose the proposed Authoritative Interpretation of G-6.0108

The Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity is recommending the General Assembly approve an authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108 that claims merely to clarify what has long been the historical position of the Presbyterian Church: that ordaining governing bodies have the final say on decisions of ordination. It once was common that presbyteries would allow candidates for ordination to declare their disagreements ("scruples") with the confessional standards of the church, and then determine if they would ordain the candidate nonetheless (lines 724-726). The recommended authoritative interpretation would revive this historic tradition (lines 1138-1179), encouraging governing bodies to hear the scruples of candidates and decide whether the stated scruples were sufficiently beyond the pale of our tradition to prohibit ordination.

I oppose it for two reasons: If it is approved, it will further erode the level of trust in our church; and it will be a top-down decision of a matter that the presbyteries have refused to allow.

Voices

World news, a child worries

When our daughter was five she began to have more than the usual difficulty going to sleep at night. She cried when we put her to bed, used all of the "tricks" we'd learned to ignore for staying awake, and frequently woke up during the night calling out to us or weeping. After several days of this behavior that was exhausting all of us, I decided it was time to talk. We walked home from kindergarten and stopped at the park.

"Do you know why you're afraid at night?" I asked.

"Yes," she said softly.

"Can you tell me about it?"

"I can tell you what I wish," was her answer.

"What do you wish?"

"You won't get mad?" she asked, turning her tear-filled eyes toward my face.

"I won't get mad. I promise."

"Mommy, could we please not watch the news at breakfast any more?"

It took my brain a few seconds to process this request, but I managed to say, "Well, of course! We don't even have to have the TV on in the mornings. Would that help?"

"I think so," she said with the most incredible look of relief on her face.

I'm a news junkie. Many of us are, and the media encourages us to believe that the most significant thing we can do in a crisis is to know everything there is to know. But the news has been scary for a long time: terrorists, plane crashes, war, a tsunami, hurricanes are just pieces of what children have learned about in the last five years. As families and as church we have a responsibility for offering help and hope for our children in frightening times. All of us, our children included, need to be reminded regularly of our certainty that God is present comforting us, loving us, suffering with us, and that God can be trusted never to leave us, even, perhaps especially, when things we cannot explain happen.

Voices

Educational experiences for children: A model for a new generation

The Sunday School bulletin board quietly announces "Joseph: A Life of Changes" but down the hall there is nothing quiet about what the elementary children are doing!

In the Drama Room, three kindergarteners are dressed like Egyptian royalty while others, dressed like nomads, stand waiting for their bags to be filled with grain (or is that sand?). In the Art Room, excited first graders stare intently as oil-based paint, in a variety of colors, is swirled by a teacher who is telling the story of Joseph and how, like the paint, Joseph's life was constantly changing -- all under the direction of God's hand! Occasionally the teacher pauses to invite a child to lay a piece of paper on the paint and lift it gently so that everyone can marvel at the unique artwork with "oohs and ahhs." In the Theater Room, third graders settle into their seats, popcorn in hand, to view a popular video that follows the life of Joseph. In the Game Room, a group of eager fourth graders are wildly ringing their buzzers as they "chime in" with their answers in a rousing game of "Jeopardy" where the questions (in the form of answers of course) all come from the biblical account of Joseph's life. In another corner of the room stands a "Wheel of Fortune" board with this unit's memory verse waiting to be revealed. In the Kitchen, creative fifth grade "cooks" are stirring together their "Twelve Tribe Trail Mix" as they begin to learn about Joseph's family tree and the lineage it would foster. And in the Computer Room, sixth graders are navigating their way to Egypt using a computer game designed by one of the youth of the church.

Voices

At “Decade of the Child” midpoint, decline; new worship resources

The story of Jesus and the children is the passage often cited as one key biblical foundation for child advocacy. This is a story beloved by curriculum developers and by artists who illustrate Bible stories for children. There are many winsome paintings that depict beautiful laughing children, hair shining with cleanliness and spotless clothing. Such illustrations are attractive, but I've often wondered if we don't do an injustice to the power behind the narrative when we show the children in this way.

So I was struck with the way Joyce Ann Mercer explores that story in Mark's gospel. In her book, Welcoming the Children: A Theology of Childhood1, Mercer examines specific stories from Mark's gospel to address the question of how children appear in Mark's telling of the story. Child advocates most often use the story of Jesus welcoming the children from Matthew or Luke. But in focusing on Mark's account instead (Mark 10:13-16), Mercer helps us to examine the place of children in the context of a culture dominated by the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. The farming peasant population of that time was crushed under the weight of economic privation. Family structures, and in particular women and children, were under enormous economic pressure. So it's likely that the children in Mark's account were street children who may have straggled after Jesus from place to place, children that Mercer calls "other people's children."

Uncategorized

Auburn Seminary launches the Auburn Coaching Institute

 

Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City introduces a new program bringing the best of business and professional coaching into the sphere of theological education and ministerial support. 

The Auburn Coaching Institute is designed by and for people dedicated to furthering the mission of the church through effective leadership and ministries. Church leaders from across a spectrum of backgrounds and locations have experienced coaching through classes at Auburn and through the New York Sabbatical Institute, a program funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and administered by Auburn in partnership with Union and New York Theological Seminaries. 

Voices

Addressing the “youth problem” in Presbyterian churches

The lack of youth in churches is a common lament. Many in our congregations complain that today's families don't emphasize church attendance, and they point to the 1960s as the beginning of the age of youth disinterest in church life. Clergy struggle to explain why the youth population has fled, pointing to parental laxness and competing cultural events. How many of you have heard -- or even expressed -- the following sentiment voiced by F. E. Clark, Pastor of the Williston Congregational Church in Portland, Maine:

We in this generation are just beginning to feel the evil effects of this loose family government and home training in regard to church-going. The generation immediately preceding ours slackened the reins, and the empty pews in many churches show that the young colts have run away. What shall we expect in the generation which is to follow ours, when, as in many cases, the reins have been thrown entirely away and the colts allowed to roam at their own sweet will? This, I say, ... is the great cause of the lack of attendance at our churches; and this cause, unless the evil is checked, will decimate our churches in the future.

Uncategorized

Communicators should challenge ‘false religion’

 

CLEVELAND -- President Michael Livingston of the National Council of Churches (NCC) has urged church communicators to "tell our story -- by any means necessary."

Livingston, a Presbyterian minister who also serves as executive director of the International Council of Community Churches, said: "Mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches have been pounded into irrelevancy by the media machine of a false religion."

He described what passes as religion to be "a political philosophy masquerading as gospel; an economic principle wrapped in religious rhetoric and painted red, white and blue."

Voices

Worshipping with children: More than a chore

Many congregations, pastors, and families struggle with decisions about children in worship. The questions, and sometimes the arguments, are fairly predictable:

Aren't they too young to get anything out of worship?

I'm on duty all day everyday. I want this time for me. 

We have to make it easy for young parents or they won't come to church at all.

Our pastor isn't very good with kids.

 

Nurturing the worship life of children is more than a chore; it is a holy responsibility and a joy!

Voices

Curriculum Resources

The following publishers provide a variety of age-appropriate curricula for use in churches:

 

Hands-On Bible Curriculum®

Hands-On Bible Curriculum uses everyday objects to help teach as Jesus taught. It's multi-sensory teaching tools and leader resources make preparation easier so teachers can focus on what really matters--the children. It was voted number one in a poll of children's education directors and Sunday school teachers for being: easiest to use, keeping children's attention, easiest to recruit, and most age-appropriate. Hands-On Bible Curriculum provides Teacher Guides and Learning Labs® for Toddlers - 2s through Grades 5 - 6 each quarter. They offer a free Hands-On Bible Sampler Kit that includes six lessons (toddlers - 6th grade); fun gizmos; six interactive teaching tools; a CD with eight songs and more. Their goal is to offer easy-to-use, impossible-to-forget lessons that last a lifetime.

 

Uncategorized

Bill would ban protests at soldier funerals

(RNS) Legislation that would slap protesters at funerals of U.S. soldiers with hefty fines and federal jail time is on the fast track in Congress.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the bill's main sponsor, said he hopes the House and Senate will approve the bill by May so President Bush can sign it into law before Memorial Day.

In the last month, protests at military funerals around the country have angered state and federal officials. The protests were led by the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which argues that the war in Iraq is God's way of punishing the United States for tolerating homosexuality. The church is led by its controversial pastor, Fred Phelps.

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.

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