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Voices

The Word as a whole, a meditation

Newsflash!

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe. i

Isn't it amazing what powers of perception humans have? Even when mortal expressions are limited and imperfect, humans have been gifted with the ability to discern much more meaning from a written text than a surface review might reveal.

Think how often a word or two -- spoken or written -- is misconstrued because we fail to open our minds to the whole of what is intended by the one desiring to communicate with us.

Voices

Born Still

Being one, I like to defend ministers whenever and wherever possible.  Our "too too solid flesh" is subject to considerable frailty, but in a Presbyterian pulpit there is little excuse for blatant and pompous stupidity.  Listening to a Christmas sermon our family learned a painful lesson in the hermeneutics of suspicion.  The text was "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God" (Isaiah 40:1). 

Voices

Precious Blood

Blood everywhere!

            So recently The DaVinci Code argues in exciting and so Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" demonstrates in excruciating detail.  In the hot flash of a mini-pause the issue of blood becomes a fascinating subject.  The Israelites regarded blood with holy awe because they understood blood to be the life of the flesh.  Under the old covenant, the offering of blood was central to the sacrificial system. 

Uncategorized

Coalition encourages rejecting TF report; prepares booklet on church’s future

ORLANDO -- The Presbyterian Coalition, not content to wait, started months before a major task force report was due out to prepare its own statement of where it thinks the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ought to be going -- a paper that is not shy of proclaiming theological truth.

The paper -- "Given and Sent in One Love: The True Church of Jesus Christ" -- concludes in an afterward that the church should reject the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Two pastors wrote "Given and Sent in One Love" -- Gerrit S. Dawson of Baton Rouge, La. and Mark R. Patterson of Ventura, Calif. -- and it was published as a book with help from the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Dawson said.

The Coalition released the paper, based on the prayer that Jesus prays in the 17th chapter of John, on Nov. 7 at the start of its national gathering at First Church in Orlando.

Uncategorized

TF report draws fire, possible competing document as Coalition reacts to TF

ORLANDO -- How much do many evangelicals dislike the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)?

Listen to some of what's been said at the national gathering of the Presbyterian Coalition, held Nov. 7-9 at First Church in Orlando.

Jim Berkley, interim director of Presbyterian Action for Faith and Freedom, the Presbyterian arm of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, called the task force report "an indigestible sausage" that "would permit behavior that would have scandalized Jesus himself."

Michael Walker, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, has praised some sections of the task force report. But he described the task force's fifth recommendation as 'damaging to the church,' and said it could with one General Assembly vote 'effectively do an end run around three decades of discernment by the whole church.'

John "Mike" Loudon, an evangelical pastor from Lakeland, Fla., who's one of the 20 task force members, was invited to answer questions about the report. But Berkley, not Loudon, got to describe and analyze what the task force had done -- and the first question Loudon was asked was about what tradeoffs the task force had made to achieve a unanimous vote.

Loudon was gracious, saying he sees the report as a way for the PC(USA) to stay together, keeping its national ordination standards but allowing them to be applied locally. "Nowhere does it say to remove those national standards," Loudon said. "In fact, I fought long and hard to maintain those national standards."

Uncategorized

Coalition reviews options; TF report OK could trigger further action;
Wineskins sets meeting right after GA

ORLANDO -- The preachers talked a lot about trust in a sovereign God, even in difficult times, even when surrounded by "slippery theology," as pastor David Swanson put it. Don't lose hope. Don't give up. Don't lose sight of the truth.

But the political discussions at the Presbyterian Coalition's national meeting Nov. 7-9 were mostly about how to keep bad things from happening at next summer's General Assembly -- and what to do if something terrible does happen, such as (from the Coalition's point of view) the assembly approving the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

If that does happen, some contended, certain evangelical churches will be ready to leave the PC(USA).

There was also another theme subtly drifting through the conversations at the Coalition meeting, held at First Church in Orlando. Don't just look at what's wrong with the other side, evangelicals were told -- take a look at yourselves too.

Andrew Purves, professor of pastoral theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, preached during closing worship about the need for both truth and love -- saying that a church with "shining orthodoxy" but without love "is no longer the church."

Swanson, senior pastor of  First Presbyterian in Orlando, did not stint on criticism of the PC(USA)'s misguided directions during his opening sermon, citing examples such as a declining number of missionaries, a Washington office that supports political causes, sessions or presbyteries that ordain lesbians and gays.

Book Reviews

Journeys of Courage: Remarkable Stories of the Healing Power of Community

Journeys of Courage:  Remarkable Stories of the Healing Power of Community, by Joy Carol.  Notre Dame:  Sorin Books, 2004.  ISBN 1-893732-79-7.  Pb., 256 pp.  $14.95.


If you have ever put the newspaper down after reading an account of some recent horror, and said aloud or to yourself, "How will these people carry on after this?  What will they do with all the anger and pain from this atrocity?" then here is a book for you.

If you ever despair for this sin-saturated world and wonder if, in fact, evil does not often have the last word, then here is a book for you.

Or, more practically speaking, you face the weekly task of mounting the steps to the pulpit and you need some fresh material to illustrate your sermon, then here is book for you.

Joy Carol, spiritual director, author and counselor, gathers story after story from world communities that have endured the traumatic impact of "man's inhumanity to man."  These communities "responded to their dilemmas by courageously facing them or changing their reactions to them." Through these "journeys of courage" the communities "underwent some kind of transformation, some kind of healing power."

This is storytelling, pure and simple. Carol does not reach for extended theological reflection; she does not seek to offer biblical connections. In fact, she does not profess that this is a Christian book, per se, though many of the stories come from Christian communities of faith.

Carol gathers these stories because she knows that "telling and hearing stories can be powerful medicine." The stories of moral, spiritual, emotional courage are mined and shared to en-courage others. And they do.

Uncategorized

Songs of Joy

My big brother Chris is 47 years old. His best friend Fritz died of cancer when they were both 43. When our family moved to Minnesota, Chris and Fritz met in school, and they stayed friends through high school, college, and beyond. They played basketball in high school together, and they wrote a sports column for our school newspaper with one other friend each week entitled "The Blonde Bombers." Fritz hung out at our house a lot, and by the time he and Chris were in senior high, my junior high friends and I started to develop crushes on their group of friends; I, of course, developed a crush on Fritz, who was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed. Unfortunately, the crush was never mutual. I was too much like a "little sister."

Though he was over six feet tall, everyone in our small town called Fritz "little Fritz" because his dad was "big Fritz," the large-bellied owner of the German bakery in town. My mom was always glad to see Fritz at our house at night because he would bring some of the day's leftover bakery goods, all of which we readily consumed. Fritz's mom was a dear soul and still spoke like the true German she was.

When Fritz was first diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago, my brother kept us all connected with him through weekly and sometimes daily e-mails. He sent updates of Fritz's treatment, from the first radiation to the last experimental chemotherapy, and then to his worsening physical condition at home. But there was a wonderful side to these e-mails. Chris told of the strong faith in God and deep love for each other Fritz and his wife, Lynn, had; of what I would call Fritz's deep joy in life. It sounds odd, of course, to speak of joy in the midst of the situation. But joy it is what I heard through these e-mails, even joy amid pain, suffering, sadness, and questions.

Editorials

Advent expectations

Deck the halls with expectation. 'Tis the season for anticipation.


The original lyrics better fit the tune, but these words do fit the season. Children dream sugarplum dreams. Soldiers count down the days to a holiday leave. Shoppers look forward to a smiling friend unwrapping that perfect gift. Worshipers sing of the arrival of the Savior.

Why such December expectations, Advent anticipations?

The answer--God places them in the hearts of believers. They prompted landlocked Noah to build a boat, and elderly Sarai to decorate a nursery. They moved Ruth to leave the green fields of Moab and David to sing songs. They spoke to Mary treasured words of shepherds and angels. They emboldened Peter and John to command, "Rise up and walk."

Sadly, in post-Watergate America and in the post-reunion Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), cynicism--anticipation's dread enemy--seems to be out-shouting the more hopeful voice. Alongside impatience, apathy, certitude, and self-importance, cynicism has been waging war on the more hopeful Christian virtues of faith and trust. Of course, sinning ways of sinful people continually pump more helium into the balloons of disappointment in the church, but the resulting pessimism misses the point of Christian faith.

Throughout the biblical record and pervasive through church history the refrain is sung, "Have faith in God!" Bold faith animates the stories told of the first century Christians. Deep trust radiates from the lives of millions of faithful through the centuries, and for good reason. God has come through for them. The one who promised to build a church against which the gates of Hades would not prevail has overcome time and again. 

In this season of Advent, in a time when many Presbyterians are warning of the demise of the church, how can we recover the vibrant faith of our forebears? Might we dare believe again that the best is yet to come?

Uncategorized

Rocking the cradle

Scripture text: Psalm 89

 

Finding Psalm 89 among the texts for Advent 4 begs this question: Should Advent be a season of emotional de-crescendo and rest, as the church approaches with certainty the time of God with us; and/or should it be a time of emotional crescendo and dismay as we fly through yet another year of "how long, O Lord" (Psalm 89:46) with no certainty of the Messiah's imminent return?

Appearing elsewhere in the lectionary cycle at the end of Lent, on Maundy Thursday, Psalm 89 speaks to a time of crisis, as hope in the Lord appears betrayed and headed toward certain death. Therefore, the appearance of Psalm 89 again, here, leads me to this conclusion: Although the church tends to advocate emotional de-crescendo as Advent progresses, "but now" (v. 38), the church should be entertaining an emotional crescendo of lament that the Lord has NOT come as promised; that the disconnect between promise and reality is almost unbearable yet again. Only then is the joy of Christmas a true expression of God's in-breaking hope in the midst of seeming impossibility and dismay.

Concluding Book III of the Psalter, Psalm 89 is a royal psalm, swinging the faith of Israel between assertive confidence in God's steadfast love, faithfulness, and promise to all generations (v. 1-4), and at the other extreme, Israel's protest and disappointment in God's apparent breach of covenant in abandoning the anointed one during the exile (v. 38-51).  

Uncategorized

“Four presbyters and a church”

Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of stories entitled: "What is a Presbyterian Elder?"  (link to 'For Church Officers' articles)

The word "elder" in the Greek New Testament is presbuteros (for the biblical background see Part 1 in the April 25, 2005 issue). And the question is this: How many different kinds of presbyters are there in the PC(USA)?

The answer "one" is correct from an initial perspective. All elders are called by Jesus Christ and are united in one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. They serve one worldwide church. What is more, anyone who is ordained an elder remains so for life unless he or she requests release from office by the session (G-14.0211), joins another denomination, or is temporarily or permanently removed from office for an offense (D-12.0000).

In another sense there are two different kinds because there are elders in every congregation who serve various functions. Elders who are currently on the session are what used to be called "ruling" elders, but all other ordained elders in the congregation are still able to serve the Lord's Supper, and be commissioners, committee members, or officers of higher governing bodies (G-10.0102 p; 14.0203).

Voices

Haberer begins tenure as Outlook editor

Welcoming Jack Haberer

Editorial note: This issue is the inaugural for Jack Haberer's tenure as editor-in-chief of The Presbyterian Outlook. Several Presbyterian leaders, some of whom have worked with Jack in denominational efforts, give their thoughts on his coming to this new ministry:

Voices

On the Beret

Pulpit nominating committees need a lot more help than they are getting.  For example, when I left my first pastorate, the pulpit nominating committee met and quickly agreed that whatever else, they did not want another minister who wore a beret and made pastoral calls riding a bicycle.  They thought these practices were not only eccentric but weird then, in fact, one was thrifty and the other was theological.

Voices

Telling the Tooth

Even though she and her husband lived in a single-room studio apartment during their two years in Ethiopia, our daughter-in-law found it necessary, and quite against her inclination, to employ domestic help.  Without the laborsaving devices for cooking, cleaning and washing that American women take for granted, Sara had no other option if she wanted to continue to teach at the seminary in Addis Ababa.

Voices

The Last Role of Twilight Paper

On prospective board members my institution desires to make a good impression.  This is not easy because the standard campus tour includes classroom time, and I seem to be the only instructor teaching at the hour guests are free to attend a lecture.  Over the years these classy people regularly show up at my classy room five minutes before the lecture begins.

Voices

Pronouncing Touareg

Among the obscure items I collect to amaze my students and annoy my colleagues is the by-now-long-useless fact that in 1869 Alexandrine Tinne was hacked to death by the Touaregs.  Alexine was an incredibly rich, incredibly beautiful, incredibly brave woman who, at enormous expense, attempted to explore the White Nile and its tributaries. 

Voices

The Porpoise-Driven Life

Obligatory summer visits to our family requires a road trip from Pittsburgh to Nashville to Albuquerque to Denver to Milwaukee.  This duty is rendered pleasant by minor league baseball games all across the country.  In my secret heart I still believe if I had not gone to the seminary I might have gone to the baseball hall of fame.

Voices

The Flying Chaucer

Every body, or to be precise – every mind, needs three reading lists.  The first will contain the essential books of your field.  The second list will offer solid insights into and felicitous expressions of one's individual and community interests.  The third is just plain fun to read.

Uncategorized

“Graceful Practices” focus opens Covenant Network meeting

MEMPHIS -- Spiritual practices -- such things as showing hospitality and forgiveness, giving and receiving, reading Scripture, praying, healing, discernment of God's will -- often are messy, full of ambiguity and even conflict.

They aren't spiritual merit badges -- do this as a sign of how good or godly you are.

They aren't private, transcendent spiritual experiences that no one else can share.

They are instead "an attempt to catch up with and respond to God's merciful and transforming presence in the world," said Amy Plantinga Pauw during the opening session of the 2005 national meeting of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.

She said such practices "are like holding out our hand to receive the bread of life at communion," an act of faith and at the same time "a concrete acknowledgement that we are not whole, that we are not at peace, that we need healing and nourishment that we cannot provide for ourselves."

Pauw, the Henry P. Mobley professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, was speaking on "Graceful Practices." And the theme of this Covenant Network gathering, held Nov. 3-5 at Idlewild Church in Memphis, is "Disciples in Community," an exploration in part of how to be faithful in a church with so many opinions of what is right and what is sinful.

Uncategorized

Covenant Network discusses TF report, future options at recent annual meeting

MEMPHIS -- Where do moderate evangelicals stand?

That's a question Jon Walton, a pastor from New York and co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, slipped into his remarks when talking about one of the biggest issues facing the General Assembly next summer in Birmingham: the long-awaited report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Covenant Network -- a progressive group in the PC(USA) -- would love to know what moderate evangelicals think of the report, and whether they're willing to take a public stand on it. Such information would help the progressives know how solid their own footing is and what the prospects may be that the assembly will approve the task force report.

But there are other questions to ask as well -- including what Covenant Network supporters privately think of the task force report, whether there might be more support from them than seems apparent, and whether the church as a whole cares much about the positions all these special interest groups take.

Uncategorized

Draft dodgers no more

Scripture lesson: Mark 1: 1-8

Without sounding as melodramatic as Daniel did about his inner life, I recently had a dream. It went like this: We came home, opened the front door of the house, and discovered to our surprise that it was as empty as a gourd.

I do not mean just somewhat empty. When you are preparing to move and you are packing everything up you can say that it is empty when it is still half full of stuff. But this time I mean spic and span--astonishingly clean. If Hemingway had been there he would have said that it was the original clean well lighted place. It was apocalyptically bare.

Dreams are big these days. There is open season on them by both novelists and psychotherapists. Nevertheless, I am not so sure that the experts would do much with this one. It could be beyond the grasp of even that newly evolved profession, life coach/mentor. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung could have met at Seattle's Best over it, flipped for paying the bill, and left shaking their heads.

Editorials

On being shown the door

As I listened to John Bell's sermon (link) I thought I was being ushered back into the remembered richness of the Presbyterian/Reformed tradition that nourished my beginnings as a pastor, a tradition that the Outlook has maintained fearlessly over many decades. That emerging tradition was patiently replacing a spurious ecclesiology that supported social injustice. The Outlook was courageous in that enterprise, and was willing, for the gospel and the church's sake, to "be shown the door" if necessary, to speak the truth about church and society.

Ernest Trice Thompson and Aubrey Brown, the first two editors of this paper, in teaching, preaching, and writing, helped to establish in the warp and woof of the church the overturning of the noxious doctrine of the "spirituality of the church" that had become the confessional stance of the PCUS (Southern Church) when we broke away from the national body. As we formed the new denomination in 1861 at Augusta, Ga., we declared that the church's vocation was not to be concerned with the outward condition of human beings, but with their souls only -- which were destined for salvation or damnation. That "faith statement" set the church on a course separating not only charity from justice, but even of separating charity from evangelism. And it was a long, hard road on which to return to the whole gospel for the whole church, and officially to repudiate (in the 1930s) that separation.

Voices

Sing to the Lord

This sermon on Luke 4, Jesus' inaugural address in the synagogue at Nazareth, was preached at the Worship and Music Conference in Montreat, North Carolina, in the summer of 2005 by John L. Bell. 

I must remember to talk slowly and clearly because you have an accent. Oh, some people don't believe that, but I can testify to that being true, particularly in this place and at this conference to which I first came over 10 years ago.

I was teaching an afternoon elective on a song from the New Testament. It was a setting of the beatitudes in St Luke. It began:

Blessed are the poor,
the kingdom of God is theirs.

I was hardly into the first line when a woman interrupted me and said, "Excuse me, but in our church we talk about -- "and then she said something which sounded like "the pooah in speerit."

So I asked her to repeat herself. And again I heard, "the pooah in speerit."

I was totally puzzled. My mind went to Exodus chapter 1 where there is mention of two Hebrew midwives one of whom is Puah, but the other is Shiphrah not Speerit. As the lady noticed my consternation, she did what my grandfather once advised when dealing with foreigners: speak more loudly. "POOAH IN SPEERIT."

And then the penny dropped, and I realised that the dear lady was saying: "poor in spirit." At first I wondered whether she was denying that our Lord blessed the poor. But then I realised that she was in fact pointing to the alternative versions of the beatitudes. In Luke, Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor," while in Matthew, he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

The stories we are reflecting on today, however, have no alternative. They speak of the raw physical realities with which God is involved: issues of life and death, oppression and liberation which cannot be spiritualised away.

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