When Tim Tebow played football in The Swamp at the University of Florida he displayed verses of Scripture in eye-black.  

 

A CBS Denver sports writer commented after the Denver Broncos overtime defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers that "Only Tim Tebow could turn his passing yards into a Biblical passage."

 

You see, when you add it all up, Tebow, the Denver Broncos quarterback threw for 316 yards, setting a postseason record of averaging 31.6 yards per completion.

 

John 3:16 is one of Tebow's favorite verses. It reads, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Each week Tebow selects a game-day verse. You can read through them at www.tebowseyeblack.com.

 

Next week, as the Broncos advance in the NFL playoffs, I'm personally hoping for a game-day verse like Philippians 4:13. 

 

According to the site, Tebow's game-day prayer is one we could each echo: "No matter what happens, win or lose, give me the strength to honor you."

Amen.

Tis the season for resolutions. Most resolutions center on stopping some perceived negative behavior (like over eating, smoking, or spending beyond one's means) or starting some perceived positive behavior (like working out, living more simply or more intentionally).  No doubt you'll make some resolutions; I know I will.

 

For Presbyterians, some resolutions in 2012 will take the form of overtures to the General Assembly. These also tend to focus on the cessation of some perceived injustice (like abortion, war, or the inequitable distribution of wealth) or initiating or amplifying some perceived good (like bringing an end to human trafficking, or making a concerted effort toward evangelism, discipleship and church planting).  Presbyteries across the country have already called for the GA to make resolutions ranging from life to immigration to the Middle East.

 

I would like to propose some resolutions for each of us and all of us.

 

Whereas God has created us as His image bearers, redeemed us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His only Son, poured forth His Holy Spirit in and among us to bring us to maturity in Christ, conformity with His will and to equip us for His mission in the world,

and whereas God has revealed Himself generally in creation and specially through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and fully exegeted in the person and work of Jesus Christ,

therefore be it resolved that we

1. Prepare our minds for action; be self-controlled; set our hope fully on the grace to be given when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance. But just as He who called us is holy, so (let us) be holy in all we do. (I Peter 1:13-16)
2. Humble ourselves … under God's mighty hand that He may lift us up in due time. Cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us. Be self-controlled and alert. Our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, knowing that other Christians throughout the world are undergoing great suffering.  (I Peter 5:6-9)
3. Ask God to fill our fellow believers with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Let us pray for others in order that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. (Colossians 1:9-11)
4. Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts;
5. Let us be thankful;
6. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom … with gratitude in our hearts to God…doing all things, in word and deed, in the name of Christ, to the glory of God the Father. (Colossians 3:15-17)
7. Continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with other others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16)

 

I take this example of resolution making from the writers of the New Testament.

 

Colossians 2:6-7

Whereas "you received Christ Jesus as Lord,"

Therefore, be it resolved that you "continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

 

Hebrews 10:19-25

Whereas "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and"

whereas "we have a great high priest over the house of God,"

therefore, be it resolved that we 

1. "draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."
2. "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
3.  "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."
4. "not give up meeting together ... let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching."

 

Romans 6:1-13

Whereas "we died to sin,"

whereas "we were baptized into Christ's death,"

whereas "we were buried with Him…in order that we too may live a new life,"

whereas "we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with,"

whereas "we know that that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again and death has no mastery over Him,"

whereas "the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the live He lives, He lives to God."

 

Therefore, be it resolved that we

1. "count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
2. "not let sin reign in your mortal body…"
3. "not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life;"
4. "and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness."

 

You may resolve to stop, start, renew, amplify or fan the flame of many things in 2012. I encourage you to consider the "whereas" of your salvation and be resolved to live as Christ.

 

For my part, I resolve to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. I resolve to live as one who is already dead and already redeemed and already aware of the Kingdom realities that lie undiscovered by so many who wander this world lost in lies and darkness. I resolve to be as indefatigable as God might choose to supply.  I resolve to stand ready to do whatever God might command, even if that be to stand so close to the inferno that even one might be snatched out of the first. I resolve to be a demonstration of grace and truth. I resolve to be a tool, an instrument, a tool – recognizing with all sobriety that it is a fearful and awesome thing to fall into the hands of a living God, all the while resolved that there is nowhere else worth living.

 

What's your new year's resolution?

 

It’s an unenviable position: the challenge of leading a church body comprised of two groups in hardened opposition to one another. There is no middle ground. There is no room for compromise.

 

One group stands firmly on the letter of the law, describes "what if" scenarios and labels the opposition as liberal wackos. The other group advocates an unlimited grace, is dismissive of all potential negative consequences and labels its opposition as mean-spirited hate-mongers. No, I'm not describing the denomination.  I'm describing Middlesex Borough, New Jersey where Rev. Neal Presa, candidate for Moderator of the 220th General Assembly, serves as pastor and presently finds himself herding cats.

 

What may have initially been an internal matter regarding church property use, the preschool sandbox, providing sanctuary for undocumented residents and basic aesthetics, the situation in Middlesex has mushroomed into a national debate. The issue? A cat colony.

 

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that Middlesex Presbyterian Church is at the center of a controversy over a colony of cats that occupies an unauthorized structure on the church property.

 

Originally tenants at the Borough's recycling center which is adjacent to the church's property, the cats have found sanctuary on the church property for eight years. Sometimes they mistake the church's preschool sandbox for a litter box but in good Presbyterian fashion, several women have insured that the cats were all neutered, vaccinated and fed.  

 

One church member, without authorization, had a $3,500 structure built on church property to accommodate the cats. It is the government's intent to remove the animals from the settlement and relocate them to an animal shelter, but that has raised the alarm of capital punishment.

 

According to the article, "Volunteers and their supporters say sending these animals to a shelter would be a death sentence."

 

But the mayor and others see the cats' presence as a community health risk, and they raise concern about the children at the preschool also housed in the church.

 

Like all issues these days, the Middlesex Presbyterian cat colony has attracted vociferous input from outsiders and outliers. The felines have advocates from the Lawyers in Defense of Animals and the Animal Defense League. There's a social media campaign, and "Borough board of health president John Madden said he got e-mails from groups he never knew existed."

 

All of this provides excellent training ground for an aspiring moderator of PCUSA, the office for which Middlesex Presbyterian Church pastor, Neal Presa, is standing.

 

In the midst of trying to balance the competing interests of: 

• the church property trustees,
• the church session,
• the women who are personally involved in the feline outreach ministry,
• the disenfranchised cats,
• the Borough health department and the mayor,
• the preschool staffers and parents,
• the neighbors,
• the outside lobbyists and special interest groups,
• the media, bloggers and people like me …

Presa is getting real training for the position.

 

There are more than 250 signatures on a petition to save the cats but apparently not 10 of those people are willing to adopt the homeless felines. The church's board of trustees intends to comply with the board of health's decision and timeline for removing the cats, but that is not likely to mollify the Presbyterian women engaged in what they see as ministry. Yes, I think herding cats in Middlesex is rich preparation for serving as moderator indeed.

 

Disclaimer: This is not to be construed as an endorsement or rejection of any particular candidate, nor does it express the author's opinion of cat houses.

This is no nursery rhyme but rather the cast of characters lining up to appear at the 2012 Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly meeting in Pittsburgh.

ACT I: An assault on marriage

The chameleon:  This character will attempt to lead commissioners to see marriage differently than the Church has historically defined it. Separating marriage from the Biblical narrative of creation and the Biblical witness of Jesus' affirmation between one man and one woman, the assembly will be asked to see a "new normal" that is inclusive of gay marriage.

Presented plainly, the redefinition of marriage will arrive at the assembly through an overture seeking to amend the Book of Order. If any one of the overtures seeking to replace "man and woman" with "two people" passes at the General Assembly in July 2012, it would have to be ratified by a majority of the 173 presbyteries before taking effect in July 2013.  But the chameleon isn't counting on that.

The chameleon in camouflage:  This is the same character, but dressed down so as to more easily blend in with the relativistic culture of accommodation and sneak in the back door whilst no one is the wiser. The chameleon's tactic morphs from a direct engagement of the issue to a stealthy one, effecting the change in the church without achieving the votes in presbyteries necessary to change the actual constitutional standard.

It's called an authoritative interpretation (AI) and it can be achieved by a simple majority vote on the floor of the assembly. No ratification would be required. No one beyond the commissioners to the 2012 assembly would have a say in the matter. The effect of such an action by the GA takes effect immediately upon the adjournment of the GA in July 2012.

Presbyteries have already begun sending overtures to the GA down both paths. Overtures that seek to make changes to the Book of Order can be found here.  Overtures asking the GA to offer an Authoritative Interpretation of the constitution can be found here.

To help you see the camouflaged chameleon, here's the proposed language of the AI: "Teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders authorized to conduct services of Christian marriage may exercise pastoral discretion when asked to officiate at such a ceremony for two people who have obtained a civil marriage license, and sessions may permit the use of church property for such services. Teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders may refuse to conduct such services, and sessions may refuse to permit the use of church property for such purposes."

In 2010 a similar overture was defeated on the floor of the assembly by 24 votes. 

ACT II: Grin and ask others to bear it

The Cheshire cat:  Riding a wave of victories from the Peace, Unity and Purity report in 2006 to the stripping of sexual standards for ordained officers in 2010-2011, there will be those who perceive themselves as sitting in the cat-bird seat at this assembly.  We will hear invitations to mutual forbearance, gracious hospitality and full inclusion even as a claim is staked to the "new normal," which not insignificantly, is still considered an aberration if you take God at His Word.  

The "business" here is nuanced:

·         A retranslation of The Heidelberg Catechism that will be broadly supported but will face attempts in committee to strike all reference to Biblical passages that condemn homosexual behavior.   

·         A report with recommendations from the Board of Pensions (BOP) related to the extension of benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of church employees. No one knows exactly what the report will include (all meetings are being held behind closed doors with gag orders on participants). However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine that the BOP will fail to comply with the GA's directive, particularly in light of the reality that one BOP director and another BOP employee attended the board's fall meeting with their same-sex partners.

·         A report with recommendations from a GA committee on which historic AI's still apply under the new Form of Government and how some that have gone unenforced should be. (Watch this in relationship to sessions and presbyteries that have passed "supra-standards" related to ordination standards after the elimination of those standards from the Book of Order through Amendment 10A.)

·         The GA Nominating Committee's recommendations for people to serve on everything from the GA Permanent Judicial Commission, to advocacy committees, the GA Committee on Interreligious and Ecumenical Relations, the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation.

Canaries: There will be canaries as well. The kind that live in coal mines to alert miners when the quality of the environment has become toxic and for preservation of life, immediate exit is necessary.  The canaries will appear as:

·         An overture seeking to restore the "fidelity and chastity" requirement for ordained officers.

·         Overtures seeking a national approach to departing congregations and a national gracious dismissal policy.

·         Overtures seeking to amend or eliminate the property trust clause.

·         Overtures seeking to allow for non-geographic presbyteries or an altogether new Reformed body into which PCUSA congregations might easily migrate with their property, pensions and pastors intact.

Although the script is not written, recent GA trends do not bode well for the life-span of canaries in this particular drama. Watch for signs of satisfaction on the face of the Cheshire cat.

ACT III: Divestment

The Caterpillar: Cast by the GA's Mission Responsibility through Investment (MRTI) committee as the consummate villain, Caterpillar, Inc. will reappear on the chopping block at the 2012 GA, for allowing its products to be used in Israel for "non-peaceful" pursuits. But Cat won't be alone. The recommendation from MRTI to the General Assembly Mission Committee (GAMC) has been outlined by the chairman, Rev. Brian Ellison, at both the fall meeting of the GAMC and the BOP.  Along with divestment from Caterpillar stock, MRTI is also recommending that Presbyterians divest of Hewlett-Packard and Motorola stocks. Both companies have technologies that are used by the state of Israel in its attempts to protect its people and property from attacks and insurgency.

More drama expected to emerge

Other characters are certainly expected to appear in the drama which unfolds every time the GA meets. We're watching out for cowardly lions, red herrings, straw men and, since we'll be in Pittsburgh over the fourth of July, I feel confident in predicting the appearance of Pirates and plenty of fireworks.

The PCUSA General Assembly convenes on Saturday, June 30 and concludes on Saturday, July 7, 2012.

 

Timeline for submitting business to the 220^th General Assembly 

March 2: Book of Order amendments and reports

May 1: Financial implications 

May 16: All other overtures

May 31: Consultations

When God created, He spoke. Genesis tells us that "God said" and it was so.  The gospel of John confirms the nature and power of God's Word as from the beginning, delivered fully in the person of Jesus Christ, and preserved for all generations in the Bible.  What God has said matters and the fact that God chose  words as the means of communication, matters as well.

 

If language matters then words matter,  and if words matter then the definitions of words matter. Otherwise confusion replaces shared understanding and chaos reigns, as in the days of Babel.  As cultures rise and fall, the mutual understanding of words changes.  As the world has become more connected and information is multiplied and broadcast faster than we can comprehend, many are left wondering what is meant by words that used to mean one thing but seem now to mean something very different.

 

Many classical definitions have been exchanged for definitions that are in many cases an inversion and even a perversion of the original.  The classical definition of tolerance is that all people are equal but all ideas are not. Contrast that with the post-modern re-definition of tolerance that puts all ideas on a par and yet subjugates to a lower class any person who does not agree that all ideas have equal merit. A similar degradation has occurred with the word "truth."

 

Truth was once understood as that which was revealed by God and received by faith along with that which could be measured through the metrics of science, observation and reason.  Truth now means whatever an individual chooses to believe. Stripped of its supernatural and natural sources, truth has become a concept held captive by the imagination and feelings of each person. Whatever the individual holds to be "true" is true for them. Truth is rendered absolutely relative and loses all sense of shared meaning.  

 

Other words get co-opted and their meaning becomes identified within a particular context with a "cause." The word "welcoming" means different things to different people across the theological spectrum within the remainder of the mainline church. The word "renewal" had a sense of defining a position and effort in our common life for a generation, but that definition is now radically changing. The word "fellowship" has taken on new meaning for many recent months.

 

Then there are words that are simply out of vogue.  Words like apostasy, heresy and blasphemy. They all have negative connotations and we shy away from using them instead of seeking to use them properly.

 

Jesus was frequently charged with heresy by the religious leaders of His day. In Greek, the word translated heresy, αίρεση, means "choice" or "faction". Jesus was being charged with introducing new ideas that would have the effect of changing a long held system of beliefs (namely Judaism). What emerged from all that "heresy," coupled with the historical reality of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, was classical Christianity.

 

Heresy today could be understood among Christians today as ideas that diverge from the essentials of the Christian faith as described in the Apostles' or Nicene Creeds. A faith that denies the divinity of Jesus, the efficacious nature of His death, the reality of His bodily resurrection, the veracity of His witness in the Scriptures, the power of His Spirit, is a faith that is heretical, out of alignment with the faith once delivered to the saints.

 

Jesus was also charged with blasphemy. Blasphemy ranges from irreverence toward God and the things of God to statements or acts of open hostility toward God, His Word and His Spirit. For Jews, Jesus blasphemed when He equated Himself with God the Father. A charge of blasphemy today might arise for similar reasons should a person claim to be God or Jesus come again. However, denying the veracity of the Word of God or the powerful presence of the Spirit of God might also rise to the level of such a charge.

 

Throughout the ages, the institutional church has charged various people with various departures from the faith.  The charge of heresy may rightly be brought against an individual who denies any one of the essential tenets of the Christian faith. The charge of apostasy may rightly be brought against a council that departs from the faith of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And any among us can be charged with blasphemy should we fail to take the Word of God and the Spirit of God with sufficient sobriety.

 

Now, having said all that, would anyone like to take a "go" at the word "schism?"

 

Aggie lived in a part of town we never visited. It was just off of I-75 between the two exits in Tampa where riots broke out when I was a child. It was only 20 minutes from the safely guarded walled community in south Tampa, but it was worlds away.

I grew up in Culbreath Bayou, which was modest by comparison to the houses in the Isles or on the Bayshore, but it was certainly privileged.  Nearly everyone had “help.”

I don’t know how my parents found Aggie, but when we moved to Tampa and they both took professional jobs 30 minutes from our home, Aggie was the persistent presence from the time school got out until my mom arrived. She wasn’t really a babysitter and she wasn’t really a housekeeper. She was the godly and gracious and patient caring adult presence.  

Having grown up to that point in Indiana, I admittedly lived in a blissful ignorance of the “war” that still raged in the hearts of many people. I now know that war rages on in all parts of the country, but the South still bears the stigma.  I’m not sure I really “knew” that Aggie was black until the fifth grade.

Child, that’s just the way the world is

I loved the fifth grade. In those days it was the pinnacle of life at Dale Mabry Elementary School. Everyone that I knew rode their bikes to school. Sure, lots of kids arrived on the bus, but I didn’t honestly know any of them. Mrs. Mabry’s class was comprised of what were called in those days “Gifted and Talented children.” That means something entirely different today than it did then. We put on plays and went on field trips and read the Great Books series. Members of my class won all the school awards, served as the patrols, and I’m sure we were secretly hated by everyone else. At that time I did not possess the social awareness nor the compassion to care.

That all changed on awards day at the end of the year. There was no question in my mind that I would be awarded the Citizen of the Year award for girls. After all, I possessed every single Citizen of the Month award from September through May. So you can imagine my dismay and, I’m embarrassed to admit, rage, when another name was announced. It was a name I had never even heard. It was a face I had never consciously seen. It was a person I did not know. All I saw when she stepped proudly up to receive the Citizen of the Year award from the hands of our principle, Mrs. Weeks, was that she was black.  That’s the day I discovered a latent racism in my own heart. And that’s the day that Aggie held me as I sobbed with words that I suppose meant something different to her than they meant to me, “Child, that’s just the way the world is.”

The Help opens in theatres today.  I hope that the movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling book delivers the same

 message that people are people, no matter their differences. People are to be valued because they are people – made equally in the image of God – even if born into unequal realities in a fallen world.

 

Much progress has been made in a nation that only a generation ago had to be forced by the rule of law to racially integrate.  We have a President who is not Caucasian.  And for most Americans is it no longer socially acceptable to openly disparage another person because of their race. But we still don’t genuinely love our neighbors as we love our own. Tribalism persists and I am not naïve enough to think that our hearts have been purified on the matter.

One day every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. On that day there will be nothing more that divides us; only the glory of the Lord that ultimately offers real hope of unity. Today is not that day, but we have hope. Aggie knew it and gratefully, by grace, so do I.

When my dad died of a sudden heart attack when I was 15, Aggie was there. My mom had to fly to Jamaica to identify his body and Aggie came and stayed with us. Many hundreds of people descended upon our home. They came and went and ate and talked and grieved. Aggie stayed.

She helped us in the midst of her own grief over the death of the only man who had ever bought her a new car, the only man who had ever gone with her to the bank to co-sign a loan for a house, the only man who had ever esteemed her as an equal.  She was the help we needed. She was the help who walked with us through the valley of the shadow of death. She was the one who feared no evil because she was the one who knew the One who had conquered the world.

Aggie died some years ago and my mom flew back to Tampa to walk with her family through the valley Aggie had walked with us.

I thank God today for Aggie, who was my help in so many ways.

 

The Layman is frequently accused of reporting stories in a biased manner. Here are stories written largely by the Presbyterian New Service this past week.

High profile Presbyterians arrested at U.S. capitol

Oregon new church develop offers no worship services but does offer a full service bar

Presbyterian church gives away free copies of the Quran

San Francisco seminary names new president who doesn't have a PhD in anything related to Theology

Presbyterian minister publicly announces intent to defy the PCUSA constitution

First gay couple to marry in NY state are Presbyterian

Let them that have ears, hear.

 

As of 7/22/11,  IT IS NOW FREE!

 

This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue of equal accessibility to a document that now governs the common life of everyone in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

 

As of July 10, the PCUSA has an entirely new Form of Government. This requires that every currently ordained officer (minister, elder and deacon) read, learn and take renewed ordination vows to be governed by the new Book of Order. 

 

In its quest to raise revenues, the denomination is charging $10 – not for a printed copy, but for a digital copy, that you can download onto your computer. (If you want a printed copy that will cost you an additional $5.25 for shipping and handling.)

 

In a world of on-demand publishing, the pdf file is actually finalized in order for the book to go to print. So, there are no additional costs to the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) in simply posting for everyone the document they’re selling to those who want a hard copy. Further, your General Assembly per capita is paying for that work to be done.

 

If one were to look at the $11+ million 2012 per capita budget for the OGA, you might see places where dollars could have been allocated to cover whatever costs are associated with posting online a book whose contents have been in circulation in the form of nationwide amendments for a year.

 

Notably, a pdf file of the Book of Order has historically been available on the OGA website for free download. You can still download the Book of Confessions for free at http://oga.pcusa.org/constitution.htm. One wonders, “If the Confession of Belhar had received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the presbyteries, would an electronic amended Book of Confessions also be posted for sale instead of free?”

 

There are few ways to “look” at this other than pure recovery of slacking revenues.

 

This action seems insincere from a denomination which out of the other side of its mouth, (General Assembly Mission Council) denominational leaders advocate for an “open source” approach. I wonder how long it will take before someone uploads their downloaded copy to a platform everyone can use? Wikipedia, anyone?

 

For those who are concerned about economic justice issues, this should be a fire-starter.

 

For those who are concerned about smaller membership congregations with few financial resources, this should inflame outrage.

 

For those who are concerned about having an educated, informed and equipped laity, this should provoke activism.

 

Call the OGA and tell them what you think at 888-728-7228 x5750.

 

Email the OGA now by clicking here.

 

 UPDATE: The Presbyterian Coalition has posted the official version of the 2011-2013 Book of Order on its website for free download. Click here to download.

 

When the word “renewal” is fully co-opted by those who advocate a very different theology from the “Witness for Biblical Morality” that bound so-called Renewalists together in mainline denominations for the past 40 years, what do renewal groups do?

If renewal were now possible, how would it be necessarily re-defined?  As the Moderator of the Presbyterian Renewal Network, these are important questions for the ministry partners of the Lay Committee and they are important for those who have aligned themselves over time with the renewal movement. They have long cried, “don’t go there!” but their beloved denomination has gone there anyway. So, what now?  

When Charles Dicken’s Scrooge was shown his future by the ghost of Christmas future, he repented and genuinely changed his ways. I find myself wondering: If we could see the abyss on the horizon of our organizational reality, would we have the humility and the courage to change course?

The path down which our present course leads has already been trod by the United Church of Canada. It is a denomination that is now all but dead. 

Our international renewal partners in the United Church of Canada now organize themselves through the Church Alive network (www.churchalive.ca). Twice a year they publish an issue of the Theological Digest & Outlook. In the March 2010 issue, editor Paul Miller offered both a look back and a look forward in “The Road Ahead for Renewal.”  I have reprinted it here with permission and I have highlighted portions that I find particularly salient to our present reality in the PCUSA. Your reflection and comments are heartily encouraged.

Carmen

II Timothy 1:3-7 says, “³I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. ⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

Paul is writing here to a young emerging leader in the life of the church. By the end of this brief letter, we hear Paul admitting that for his part the fight is coming to an end, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He is here charging Timothy to take up the mantle of leadership that God has placed upon him: “I charge you: preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction…keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

How? Timothy, might have asked.  “Not you,” Paul answers in advance of the question, “but by God’s Spirit that fills you.”

Look at the words of these few verses:

“I thank God, … as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” These are the words of a man who is full of thanks and full of prayer.

By point of comparison, what are we full of? Are we grateful and prayerful like Paul?

Here is a man who is filled with longing to be with other disciples in anticipation of being filled with joy. “I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.”

Are we filled with that kind of longing to be with fellow believers, expecting that through them we will be mutually encouraged, edified and blessed?  Does it genuinely fill us with joy to be with the people of Christ in the world today?

Paul then acknowledges that Timothy is full of faith – a living, active faith that fills his family: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”

Are we full of the kind of faith that Paul talks about here? Are we full of a faith that lives and affects our families, our communities, the world?

And then we arrive at the statement about being filled with the Spirit of God. Paul reminds Timothy that God has not filled him with a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and a steadfast mind.

Do we acknowledge that we are in receipt of those gifts? Do we live as if we are full of fear or full of power? Do we demonstrate to others that we have received a spirit of love and a mind that is set, not on the things of this world, but on Christ and the advancement of His Kingdom?

Friends, today the question is this: Just what are we full of?

I heard one woman say in a stage whisper behind the back of another, “She’s so full of herself.” To which the accused wheeled around and venomously replied, “Well, at least I’m not full of what you’re full of!”

We laugh, -- but then we sober up to realize that the same condemnation could be made on occasion of us.

What are we full of?

Consider a simple sponge. A sponge absorbs whatever it is immersed in.

·         So, if you are immersed in truth, you will be truth full.

·         If you are immersed in prayer, you will become prayer full.

·         If you are immersed in grace you will become grace full.

·         Likewise, if you immerse yourself in profanity, you will be full of lies or hate.

·         If you immerse yourself in pornography, you will be full of lust or shame.

·         If you immerse yourself in possessions, you will be full of pride or greed. 

Indeed, where your mind is, wherever you invest yourself, there too your heart will be also.

“Well,” we shirk, “I’m a whole lot more truthful than most people, and a whole lot more generous and loving and thankful to God.”

Here’s the problem with that way of thinking, the standard of comparison is not “other people,” the standard of comparison is Jesus Christ. When measured against him, how faith full am I? When measured against Jesus, how truth full am I? How full of love? How full of myself?

Jesus was described by John as being full of grace and truth. And in Colossians we learn that God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus. Imagine that – that we would be full with the very fullness of God (Eph 3:19)! Friends, if we full with the very fullness of God there is no room in us left to be full of anything else!

That is precisely the hope that Paul sets before the Christians of Ephesus. Paul tells them that the church of Jesus Christ is to be the very fullness of him who fills everything in every way (Eph 1:22-23) and that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are actually given to the church for the purpose of bringing Christians to maturity – which is described as “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:12-14)

The fullness of Christ. How do we measure up to that?

Let’s just take one attribute of Christ and try it on for size. John said that Jesus was full of truth. So, are you truthful?  Really? Full of truth? Fully full or just partially full? Have you left any room in your life for half-truths?  Jesus was full to the brim with truth – being full of truth leaves no room for lies and therefore no room for the Father of Lies.

See how this works?

Let’s try faith. Are you faithful? Really? Full of faith? Fully full or just enough to get by? A believer who is genuinely full of faith has no room in their life for fear because faith in the One who is Love casts out fear – it is banished – gone – and it is replaced by the peace which passes understanding and a knowledge of the secret of being content in all circumstances. So, with that standard in mind, are you full of faith? Jesus was.

Each attribute is worth examining.  

Are you mindful and thoughtful or are you forgetful and doubtful of the mercies of God?

What are you really full of?

I made a little chart for you to use in reflecting on your own or with another believer following this sermon. I invite you to carefully consider the list and add to it!

Ask yourself honestly, “what am I full of?”

Don’t know? Let’s return to the sponge.

As we have already established, like a sponge, your life will become saturated with whatever you immerse it in. That is the inward reality. And just like a sponge, when it is squeezed, when pressure is applied, what’s on the inside, pours out.

So, what comes out of your mouth and out of our spirit and out of you when the pressure rises?  (pause) That, my friend, is what you’re really full of.

When you receive bad news, when things don’t go your way, when someone around you makes a mistake, when someone falls short of your expectations, when you are inconvenienced, pushed around, pushed aside or even physically pushed – how do you respond?

The command to show second mile love tells us that we should go the extra mile carrying a burden that is not our own, offer our coat to the thief who is already stealing the shirt off our back, and turn the other cheek to be slapped by the one who already degraded us. Ha!

I don’t know about you, but I do not always respond as Christ would respond. I continue to be at least partially full of myself and full of the ways of the world in which my life is immersed. I have to be intentional about immersing my life in the Word of God in order that I might be filled to the fullness of the measure of Christ. I must invite the Holy Spirit to empty me and then fill me anew in order that might life might pour forth in thanksgiving to God and bear reliable witness to Jesus Christ.

So, how do we get from where we are to the goal of being filled to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ?

First we have to be emptied. The influences of the world need to be squeezed out. We have immersed ourselves for so long in the ways of the world that the Way of Christ now seems foreign to us.

When Paul writes these words to Timothy he is being an encouragement but he is also calling Timothy out of the wings and onto center stage. No more hiding behind your grandmother’s apron, no more relying on the faith of your faithful mother, no more waiting for me to come to you – Timothy, now is your time. Paul is coming to the end of life and calling Timothy to live into the reality of his calling – a calling for which God has equipped him by His Spirit. God has given you His Spirit – His Spirit of dunamis – POWER; His Spirit of agape – LOVE; His Spirit of a sophronismu – RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS THINKING.

By the power of God’s Spirit the Church has been equipped to live out and live into and live up to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We can love the Lord our God with our heart, all our mind and all our strength, because God has given us a Spirit of love, a spirit of clear and sober thinking, and a spirit of power. If we are genuinely full of God’s Spirit, there is nothing in the world that stand in the way of the advancement of God’s Kingdom purposes through His empowered people.

Friends, if you recognize that you’ve been immersed in the world and you are living a life that is full of lies, full of worry, full of envy, full of fear, full of spite, full of blame, full of lust, full of remorse, full of wrong – then invite the Holy Spirit to squeeze you dry and then fill you with the living water offered by Jesus Christ. He will fill you with life and grace and truth and power and faith and hope and joy – and when you get pressed and pressured by the realities of this fallen world, you will pour forth in inexplicable peace, contentment and thanksgiving – and people will pause and wonder and watch and hope – just as they did with Jesus – who was filled with the very fullness of God and in him God was pleased to dwell.  May we be found so faith FULL. Amen.

More theologically conservative Presbyterians often ask of more theologically progressive Presbyterians, “What Bible are you reading?” Framed more fully, the question is “How can two people reading the same passages come to completely different conclusions about the veracity, meaning and applicability of the text to the realities of life today?”

 

One receives the Bible as the authentic and reliable revelation of a real God who is sovereign over all time and saw today before the world was ever made. He authored the Bible as a gift of grace so that people could know Him and His will. God has a pre-ordained redemptive plan for history and He is actively working it out even today. This reader desires to discern God's will in order to actively and submissively participate in it.

 

The other receives the Bible as one reference point to the Word of God, but not itself the Word of God. Other points of relevant reference include their life experiences, their perception of Jesus, their aspirations, the concerns of humanity and a progressive view of history. They desire to actively participate in a redemption of all things that is dependent upon human advancement, the cultivation of peace, the equalization of the marginalized and a genuinely pluralistic theology that accepts all religions that help advance that vision of history as equally valid. They also invalidate all religions that do not share their vision.

 

Do you see the difference? We're really talking here about the reality of people of two very different faiths both calling themselves "Presbyterian."

 

The first group regards the second as failing to uphold the most basic of Presbyterian and Reformed essentials, Sola Scriptura, and the second regards the first as “Biblio-idolaters,” worshiping the Bible as a “paper Pope.” If you think I’m exaggerating, read the letters to the editor that we posted on June 1 (especially the one titled “‘I consider much of what I read on The Layman to be Biblio-idolatry’).

 

On this point, there’s a particularly illuminating exchange on the denominational blog of the Vice Moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly. This particular exchange takes place in a comment thread following a post that castigates The Layman. That’s not what’s relevant. What is relevant is the vice moderator’s answer to this reader:

 

Mr. Whitsitt,

The Westminster Confession says this: "VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them."

 

Even granting your point about Scripture not "containing" the full mind of God, we do still believe that some things are knowable through the "clear preponderance" of Scripture, do we not?

 

I do agree that your more vocal critics are guilty of creating a "straw man argument," over your paraphrased views. Yet, I cannot help wondering whether your beliefs about Sola Scriptura being "dead," are based not on a dispassionate contemplation of Biblical discernment generally, but instead as a foundational point towards arguing very specifically on behalf of gay ordination, gay marriage, etc.

 

Some American judges are rightly faulted for reasoning after the fact – that is, for starting with a desired verdict they wish to reach and trying to contrive a legal opinion to justify that conclusion.

 

I daresay those traditionalists within the lay community of PCUSA who were alarmed by your comments believe this to be the real agenda here. Are they wrong to think so?

Posted by: Joe Duffus | 09/21/2010 at 03:56 PM

 

[Whitsitt’s reply to Duffus]

I must admit, your honesty about what you believe my position to be is both refreshing and shocking. Either way, it is helpful. Thank you for allowing us to cut to the chase, and in honor of your forthrightness I will address what I understand your main question to be first:

 

No, sir, I argue specifically for the full inclusion of our LGBT sisters and brothers *because* of what I find in the scriptures, not despite it. If you do believe me (and I hope that you do), what you are left with is the real reality that someone claiming to be a faithful follower of Christ understands that relationship very differently than you do. I do not have an ulterior motive that must be exposed.

 

To your secondary question:

 

I do not disagree that (as the Confession says) some things are clearly knowable. Where the Confession and I differ however is whether or not our relationship with God in Christ is dependent on us knowing, believing, or observing anything in scripture. I do not believe it is. To establish humanity knowing, believing or observing something as a requirement for entering a relationship with Christ is an affront to the sovereignty of God, in my opinion.

 

However, even that sort of discussion is secondary to the real point I've been trying (perhaps poorly) to make all along. You have asked me to either agree or disagree with a paragraph from a confession in the same way that I assume you would like me to agree or disagree with various portions of the Bible. And, while I understand that impulse, would you also ask me to agree to a few passages from the Scots and Secodn Helvetic Confessions which, in no uncertain terms, state that women are forbidden from ecclesiastical duties such as preaching and the administration of sacraments? I'm sure you would not. And so, we are left with a conundrum: What do we do when we are sure that we have misunderstood in the past?

 

I acknowledge that you do not think we have misunderstood on some specific points, but I hope that this gives you some insight into my argument with the Sola. In my opinion what we should be emphasizing is Solo Verbo Dei (The Word of the Lord alone), while using scripture as the first point on a journey (Prima Scriptura) through tradition and communal discernment to ascertain it.

grace and peace to you.

Posted by: Landon Whitsitt | 09/21/2010 at 05:27 PM

 

So, the real question is not what Bible are you reading, but “how” are you reading the Bible? And of much greater importance, how is the Bible “reading” and then transforming, you?

Carmen answers the questions she has been hearing frequently since the passage of Amendment 10A.

 

Q: As a conservative, what should I do and what should our church do as the PCUSA moves toward gay ordination?

 

A: First of all, let’s clarify: There are no genuine "conservatives" in the PCUSA if by conservative you mean radical-right or fundamentalist Christians. The very fact that the most conservative organization in the denomination, The Presbyterian Lay Committee, is led by an ordained woman speaks to that reality. Over the past 45 years the PCUSA has migrated so far to the left that we can no longer see the right from our current vantage point.

 

The vote to eliminate all standards of sexual practice is not a sudden dramatic departure from the historic faith. This is but one stride further along a path that diverted many years ago from the Westminster standards, the five Solas of the Reformation, genuine submission to the authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ and the revelation of the will of God in the Word of God. The PCUSA has been breaking itself apart over liberal and progressive agendas since 1925. We are simply now reaping the fruit of what has been sown.

 

And that fruit is not simply gay ordination. The new language adopted by the majority vote of PCUSA presbyteries allows for the ordination of non-celibate single heterosexuals, married people who commit adultery, people practicing open marriage, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

 

Now, to your question about "expected responses" among "conservatives." I will take the question in two parts: for congregations who can be so identified and for individuals, whose responses will be more immediate and potentially more radical than the congregations of which they are currently a member.

 

I foresee that congregations within the PCUSA who describe themselves variously as evangelical, conservative, orthodox or traditional in their beliefs and practice will choose one of four paths forward.

 

1. Some will avoid all sense of conflict by acting as if nothing has really changed. This will reinforce what many already experience as de facto congregationalism. They will say to their neighbors, "That's the national church. That's not us." One variation on this theme will be the acknowledgment that although the official rules have changed, "it doesn't apply to us." These people are hoping that the change will have no force or effect in their context. One wonders how such will fare when the time comes to call a new pastor or receive into their community those ordained elsewhere in the nation. One also wonders how these congregations will respond further down the road when the issue is not ordination but the wholesale redefinition of marriage and mandatory payments to the Board of Pensions to support benefits for the same-sex partners of church employees.

 

2. Some will leave to join other existing branches of the Presbyterian church. This path has already been trod by more than 100 churches in the past few years. Many have departed over the bridge built by the New Wineskins Association of Churches to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). But others have departed to the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and to independence. Where it is possible, these congregations will seek gracious dismissal from their current presbyteries. In more hostile settings, disaffiliation will be the path they cut. Real and financial property will be at issue as the denomination continues to assert an imposed trust over all local church property. (See the Second Edition, A Guide to Church Property Law, ed. Lloyd Lunceford, 2010.)

 

3. A group called Fellowship-PCUSA is working to lay the groundwork on a multi-faceted model that seeks to alleviate the conscience of those who do not necessarily want to stay but whose congregations are too hetero-genius to achieve a sufficient vote to leave or are located in states where current church property law favors the denomination's assertion of trust. They also universally want to get beyond the morality debates that have mired the PCUSA for decades. Their missional design includes creating as many shadow-presbyteries within existing presbyteries as is possible as well as a new (but still tangentially connected) denomination for those who must leave but don't want to go to the EPC, PCA, ECC or elsewhere. The model envisions subscription to a list of essentials, realignment into new presbyteries, a national association of like-hearted missionally-minded Presbyterians and a return to accountability that is based in Calvin's "company" of pastors and elders. Great hope is being placed in this group of tall steeple pastors by many smaller congregations across the country. They will meet August 25-27 in Minneapolis.

 

4. Finally, there are those uniquely called to remain within the PCUSA as a witness to the truth, no matter what. These missionaries have a very special anointing by the Holy Spirit. They will not be silenced and they cannot be driven out for fear of the rising tides of cultural accommodation. They have a Jeremiah like calling and spirit. They will ultimately recast what "renewal" will mean in the next generation and they will find easy fellowship with their counterparts in the Word Alone network in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA), the Good News movement in the United Methodist Church (UMC), and the Faithful and Welcoming churches of the United Church of Christ (UCC).

 

The larger question for a denomination that has lost more than half its members in a generation is "what will individual members do?" For some the line in the sand was the vote itself. They are already gone. For others, the line in the sand will be news of the first actual ordination of an openly gay candidate for ministry. That could occur as early as July 10 for elders and deacons and soon thereafter for ministers of the Word and sacrament. For others, the line in the sand will be a decision of the denomination's General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) that so subverts the truth that it can no longer be said that the PCUSA adheres in any way to the revealed Word of God in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The GAPJC has relevant cases pending before it. Those cases will be heard the last week of July.

 

Two other lines in the sand are already foreseeable. The first is the redefinition of marriage. Overtures will come again to the 2012 meeting of the General Assembly in July in Pittsburgh. As an amendment to the Book of Order's Directory for Worship, the voting cycle would take an additional year. However, to genuinely redefine marriage in the PCUSA, several changes would have to made to the Book of Confessions. That process requires majority votes by two successive General Assemblies (2012 and 2014) and a 2/3 majority vote of presbyteries. The more pressing line is the extension of benefits to same-sex domestic partners through the Presbyterian Board of Pensions plan (likely to occur January 2013). Participation in the plan is mandatory for all PCUSA churches and there is currently no way to opt out.

Q: There’s some talk that the vote on 10A is the fault of the New Wineskins’ churches that have left. Do you agree? What other factors contributed to the shift in the vote?

 

A: Actual departures certainly hurt the vote in a few presbyteries but it is blame-casting to point at those who left and say it’s their fault that we are where we are. In a denomination that claims to have more than 10,000 congregations, it is silly to say that the departure of just over 100 could swing the vote so far so fast. Too many presbyteries flipped in this voting cycle to blame the change on those who have left via New Wineskins.

 

In some presbyteries specialized and retired clergy outnumber the ministers who are actually serving viable congregations. We know by our own Presbyterian Panel surveys that the further removed a person is from the pews, the more liberal their theology. We also know that based on 2009 statistics, more than half of the PCUSA's congregations have less than 97 members, and the majority of those function without pastoral leadership. Who then is informing and equipping those congregations for votes on issues at presbytery meetings? Are they even showing up to vote? An additional problem is faced when larger churches, which tend to be more conservative, are under-represented at presbytery meetings. Working age lay people are also generally under-represented as many presbyteries meet on week-days. There is also the issue of fatigue. People are tired of saying "no," even though "no" is the right thing to say.

 

Q: It seems like there are fewer Renewal groups than there used to be. Who are the people that oppose gay ordination and what are they planning to do now?

 

A: Again, the issue is much larger than gay ordination. What we're facing is a departure from any explicit expectation of sexual behavior among the ordained leadership of Presbyterian churches. We're talking about non-celibate unmarried heterosexuals, married heterosexuals who do not restrict their sexual experiences to their spouse, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The key opponents and groups to all that? In reality, the majority of Presbyterians in the pews – who did not get to vote on the matter. It is yet to be seen how many of them will vote in the coming weeks, months and years by finding more fertile church soil in which to cultivate their lives in Christ and produce good fruit for His Kingdom.

 

A bevy of folks have posted responses to the action. It would be worth reading the statements by the Presbyterian Lay Committee, the Presbyterian Renewal Network, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, Presbyterians for Renewal and the Presbyterian Coalition.

 

Please submit your questions pertaining to the passing of Amendment 10-A to Carmen.

How do you live through a season of grief? How do you cope? Where do you turn?

 

The pain is not going away

The doctor asked, “on a scale of one to ten, what’s your pain level?” Good question. How acute does the pain have to get before you act? Many of us have lived with so much acute denominational pain for so long that we’ve simply learned to live with it. We’ve developed a host of unhealthy coping mechanisms including avoidance, fits of rage and threats of amputation. Like a patient avoiding a very dire diagnosis, we deny the root causes and deal exclusively with surface level presenting issues.  Many in our family have become exasperated with our inability to deal with truth and reality and have simply gone on with their own lives. One thing is certain, although changing the standards of ordination are viewed by some as “the” answer to the problem, Amendment 10A is not going to alleviate the pervasive pain of division in the body anymore than adding G-6.0106b has done. We cannot legislate the body back to health.

 

The bones are out of joint

It could be described as a cancer or as heart disease, but the analogy that seems most fitting is that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a body out of joint. If you’ve ever dislocated a finger, a shoulder or a knee, you know the agonizing pain that results. Left uncorrected, dislocation results in deformity, dysfunction, immobility and sometimes, paralysis.  In many ways, the PCUSA has become paralyzed. Notably, before doing what the friends of the paralytic desire (restoring him to physical health), Jesus deals with the underlying sin issue. The real question that paralyzes us is sin and a corporate unwillingness to submit to the revealed will of the one true God of the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to genuinely conform our deformed body to the perfection of Jesus Christ. Without Him, we remain cut off from the possibility of wholeness, healing and genuine life.

 

The grief is real

We tend to think of grief as being related to death, but grief is produced by loss of all kinds. As Presbyterians, even if you find yourself in a healthy, growing congregation, we have collectively experienced massive loss.

 

The obvious losses are: the loss of millions of members, hundreds of congregations, our generational effectiveness,  many national staff.  But there are other less obvious losses: the loss of a sense of who we are, the loss of standing and influence in the world, the loss of dignity and civility and respect, the loss of a sense of ability and purpose, usefulness, fruitfulness and blessing. Finally, there is the loss that comes by being left and the loss exacerbated by being disabled. All this loss produces genuine grief.

 

This grief is being experienced across the theological spectrum. We know well its myriad manifestations and we know the process: denial, anger, projecting blame, acceptance, healing.  Maybe what we need is a national effort of denominational “grief recovery” through which we could seek the life-giving, renewing, transforming power of the Great Physician to do for His body what we cannot do for ourselves: give us new life.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth ...” – Isaiah 42:1-4

 

This is that day.

 

This is what God the LORD says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

 

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” – Isaiah 42:5-9

 

This is that day.

 

“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed – I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am He. No one can deliver out of my hand.  When I act, who can reverse it?” – Isaiah 43:12-13

 

This is that day.

 

“... you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” – Isaiah 43:24-25

 

This is that day.

 

See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him – His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness – so He will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

 

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.

 

Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, Yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

 

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After he has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. – Isaiah 52:13-53:12

 

This is that day.

 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

 

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

 

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

 

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

 

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.

 

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

 

But you, LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

 

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him – may your hearts live forever!

 

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him – those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! – Psalm 22

 

This is that day.

 

Indeed, the gravity of this day is impossible to articulate. Let the Word of the Lord saturate your life, infect your thoughts, trouble your spirit, arouse your faith, deepen your devotion and attune your heart to just what happened in the life of Jesus Christ – and through Him, your life – on this day.

 

This is the day that Peter and John prepared the Upper Room.

 

This is the day that Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples and instituted the Lord’s Supper.

 

This is the day that Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and commanded them to do the same.

 

This is the day that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

 

This is the day that Jesus sang and prayed with and for His disciples.

 

This is the day that Jesus predicted Peter’s denials.

 

This is the day that Jesus comforted and instructed His disciples.

 

This is the day that Jesus promised His disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit and told them what the Spirit would do in and through them.

 

This is the day that Jesus prepared His disciples to be hated, maligned and martyred.

 

This is the day that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

This is the day that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested, bound and beaten.

 

This is the day that the Jews and the Romans tried Him.

 

This is the day that Peter denied Him, the guards flogged and mocked Him, and the crowds condemned Him to be crucified.

 

This is that day.

Yesterday was “that” day. I knew it was coming. I was in line waiting for the barista to make my latte at Starbucks and while the milk was steaming he beamed over the equipment and greeted me, “Good day, my lady.” His accent was unmistakably West African so, returning his greeting, I asked, “Where in Africa are you from?” His smile widened further as he announced with pride, “Togo.”

 

“I have a cousin serving as a missionary in Togo,” I shared. As he poured the milk into the espresso he said, “It is a beautiful place. I miss it very much.”

 

“You are here for work then?” I inquired. And he handed me my coffee he leaned toward me and whispered, “I’m here on a mission from God.”

 

“Really? What kind of mission?”

 

“The only kind that matters: Introducing people to Jesus. He is the Savior of the world and one day He is coming again. Most people are not ready for that because most people don’t even know who He really is. Especially here in America,” my brother-in-Christ shared with a heart filled with passion and compassion.

 

I have known for some time that we are experiencing the back-flow of mission as U.S. Christians continue to abandon the primary calling of the Church to proclaim the Gospel, making disciples and teaching people to obey everything that Christ commands.  I had not, until today, met such a foreign missionary on U.S. soil.

 

If Jacques is any indication, they are working as tentmakers in our midst. His humility and joy, calling and commitment to evangelize what he perceives as a pagan nation is irrepressible. The mainline expression of North American Christianity may be dying, but the Church of Jesus Christ is alive and moving.

 

Jacques perceives himself to be literally snatching people out of the fire. He has the spirit of Peter and Paul, the Spirit of the living God. He is more my brother than people with whom I share a denominational moniker but with whom there is no unity of the Spirit and no bond of peace in Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation.

 

Jacques and I are praying for each other and he is also praying for my cousin, Jenny, and her family whom God has sent as missionaries to his homeland of Togo. To that point he acknowledged, “As was true for Jesus, prophets are not as welcome in their hometown as they are far from home. I don’t understand that, but it is true. You have listened to me today because to your ears my voice is beautiful. My people will listen to your cousin because she has blond hair. What we share is Jesus. Nothing else matters. Only Jesus.”

 

Amen, my brother, amen.

If you read me often, you know that I am not actually a grammarian. I write for the ear. Ideally, you would read what I write out-loud in order to better hear what I’m saying. Alas, that’s not how it often works.

 

But even I have taken notice lately that people whom I consider to be experts on language and grammar have been putting an apostrophe “s” at the end of names that already end in an “s.” As an editor, I had to ask.

 

It was confirmed on Twitter by @HarperOne and by IVP’s Dave Zimmerman that the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, has changed the longstanding convention. 

The new Chicago standard reads:

 

7.17 Possessive of words and names ending in unpronounced “s”
In a return to Chicago’s earlier practice, words and names ending in an unpronounced s form the possessive in the usual way (with the addition of an apostrophe and an s). This practice not only recognizes that the additional s is often pronounced but adds to the appearance of consistency with the possessive forms of other types of proper nouns.

7.18 Possessive of names like “Euripides”
In a departure from earlier practice, Chicago no longer recommends the traditional exception for proper classical names of two or more syllables that end in an eez sound. Such names form the possessive in the usual way (though when these forms are spoken, the additional s is generally not pronounced).

Thus, if you follow Chicago, it’s now spelled Jesus’s.  Notably, that it’s still pronounced, jee-zus, even in the possessive.

 

For your information, the Presbyterian Lay Committee doesn’t follow Chicago. So, we will continue to render the possessive of Jesus as Jesus’ and Moses as Moses’.

 

Now you’re wondering, “What’s in the PLC’s stylebook?” All PLC publications follow The Associated Press stylebook.  But there are a few places where the PLC departs from what others might do.

 

Stylebook for Presbyterian Lay Committee

·         Church is only capitalized when referring to the Church universal, or when part of a church name

·         Gospel is only capitalized when referring to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

·         Biblical, Scripture and Scriptural are capitalized.

·         resurrection, heaven are not capitalized

·         He and His are capitalized when referring to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

·         Reformed is capitalized when referring to the Reformed faith

·         Items in a series – no comma before the conjunction.

 

How we represent the things of the Lord matter. Consider for yourself how careful you are with words when making reference to the One who is the Word made flesh.

 

Indeed, we belong to Him and not He to us. I am Jesus’.

 

(Of course I am now wondering if I got the period in the right place. Does it go inside the apostrophe?  Maybe I should just add the extra s....)

 

 

The conversation started something like this: “What am I going to tell my people?”

 

On the other end of the line was a young pastor who is heart-broken over the potential that his denomination is about to sever itself from the faith once delivered to the saints. As he put it, “With this level of departure from the Word of God, with this level of acceptance of sin, how can I continue in honesty and integrity?” 

 

He is not angry. He is wounded. He is not threatening to lead his congregation out, but he feels led to renounce his ordination in a denomination he does not want to be seen as representing. He has elders and deacons facing the same dilemma and they are looking to him for guidance, counsel and leadership.

 

“This is an old southern church, so the property issue is not an issue, if it comes to that,” he assured himself.

 

I hesitated through a long sigh before breaking it to him. “That is not necessarily the case. According to what the denomination’s lawyers are arguing in the Carrolton case, having voted for the exception in G-8.0701, which was designed to exempt former PCUS congregations from the denomination’s church property restrictions (G-8.0500), does not protect you from the ‘trust’ that the PCUSA has imposed on local church property (G-8.0200).”

 

“You’re kidding!” he protested.

 

“Sorry, but I’m not kidding. They argue that trust clause applies to all local church property, both real and personal, no matter how it is titled. They say that when former southern churches filed for the exception they only freed themselves from the requirement that local churches obtain written permission from the presbytery before they buy, sell or mortgage local church property. That in and of itself, they argue, doesn’t free your property from their asserted trust.”

 

In what I can characterize as barely more audible than a whimper, he pleaded, “O God.” I could almost see his shoulders slump and his forehead fall into his hand, bowed deeply over his cluttered pastor’s desk.

 

Pastoral ministry has never been easy. People have a myriad of expectations that often run far afield of what seminarians are academically prepared for. Most Presbyterian candidates come out of large congregations with robust ministry programs and staffs. They will in turn mostly serve very small congregations of older adults for whom the world is like a blurr, spinning and changing in ways they do not like and at a pace they cannot manage. They come to church to stand with other believers on the solid rock amidst all the shifting sands of post-modern life.

 

That is now changing too. How then are pastors and elders to shepherd the flock of God entrusted to their care from solid rock to shifting sands?

 

My counsel to this one young pastor was:

 

1. Get on your knees with the people in your congregation who you know are prepared to put their faces on the floor and plead with the Father.
2. Convene a joint meeting of your session and diaconate and lay out the realities.   
3. Have them convene a meeting of your entire college of officers: every ordained officer in your congregation.

 

“That’s nearly half the congregation!” he said. “That’s the point,” I replied. “The secular media is going to be all over this. Your people are going to wake up one morning and USA Today or CNN is going to run a story declaring that Presbyterians now openly ordain gay clergy. You don’t want your officers to be caught off guard and you want them to be prepared to respond to their neighbors and the local media with grace and truth. This may be for your church leaders an unprecedented opportunity to declare what your local congregation believes and where it stands. When was the last time the paper called to do a story on what Presbyterians believe? When they call this time, your entire college of officers need to be prepared to answer with one voice, affirming the Scriptures and acknowledging that by its action, the PCUSA has departed from them.”

 

“What else?” he asked.

 

“Steel yourselves for what may come,” was all I could think to add.

 

A long silence followed. Words were not necessary. We shared a sober understanding of the uncertain future we face as ordained officers in a denomination that stands on the verge of a precipice. Warnings of the harm such a step would cause have been issued time and time again. But ears are itchy and too many simply want to do what is right in their own eyes.

 

Finally, I suggested we pray. That suggestion stands – even as we move from solid rock to shifting sands.   

I just received a one sentence letter dated Feb. 11 which reads, “As a result of a vote of the session during the regular meeting on Jan. 12, 2011, it is the desire of the session that the name of ... Presbyterian Church of ... is removed from your list of Confessing Churches. Sincerely, Clerk of Session.”

 

If a church was once a confessing church, what kind of church is it now that it wants to be un-confessing?  Yes, that’s probably too strong, but maybe not.

 

To ask to be removed from the Confessing Church list is to say that something specific that was once confessed is confessed no longer. So, what of the three points of the Confessing Church Movement (CCM) that the session of this church voted to uphold 10 years ago are no longer truths that the current session can affirm?

 

You will recall that the three points affirmed were: (1) Jesus Christ is the world’s singular saving Lord. No one comes to the Father but through Him. (2) The Bible is God’s holy Word. (3) Christians are called to live a holy life, which includes the Biblical standard of chastity in singleness and fidelity in marriage.

 

There’s nothing new about these three statements. They’ve been confessed by God’s people since the inception of the Church. What is new is that some church leaders can no longer make that confession.

 

The Confessing Church list is a snapshot of a point in time and is not considered a dynamic list. At a point in time the session of this church voted to affirm the three statements that make it a Confessing Church. No future session can undo what that session did.  The Layman Online clearly articulates this in saying, “Listed in the document below are the names of churches whose sessions declared themselves Confessing Churches within the PCUSA during 2001 and for several years thereafter.

 

 Some of these churches are no longer PCUSA congregations, and all of the remaining PCUSA sessions have changed leadership, reflecting, in some rare cases, a change of theological conviction. We include the list, therefore, as a historical document, and not necessarily as a statement of a congregation’s current affiliation and/or affection.”

 

Which begs a new question: In a time when congregations within the PCUSA seem desirous to communicate where they stand in relationship to what appears to be the passage of Amendment 10-A and the removal of express standards of sexual practice for ordained leaders, might sessions consider affirming or reaffirming their confession?

 

In a 2009 letter to the editor, Presbyterian pastor Nick TeBordo encouraged a resurgence of the CCM. “We have been members of the Confessing Church since the year it began. At this point, I would love to see the movement revitalized for those PCUSA churches that wish to remain in the denomination while strongly supporting Biblical values.”

 

If the recent communication I received is any indication, we may need to also develop another list, indicating those congregations whose leaders will not confess the Church’s faith.  Once led by pastors and elders who affirmed the sole saving nature of Jesus Christ, sola Scriptura and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to holiness, these congregations have chosen leaders who believe something else.

 

The PLC is just the keeper of the list. Who will keep the faith once confessed?

 

Spiritual Maturity, by Ted Schroder

When I reflect upon the nature of spiritual leadership and my responsibilities to the congregation often I find myself conflicted between exposition and exhortation. How much of what I do needs to be to provide balanced spiritual nourishment for those who are hungry, and how much is it to create healthy appetites by warning people of the dangers of bad eating habits. …

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Many things are condemned by the social witness policies of the Presbyterian Church (USA). However, the public outrage expressed by denominational leadership is overtly selective. 

They have publicly threatened the Kentucky legislature with a statewide boycott if efforts to enforce federal laws related to illegal immigration are pursued. I find it strange that the same people who regard it as unseemly to withhold per-capita funds for reasons of conscience as a means of seeking to influence the denomination also regard it as appropriate to threaten the very state that grants the PCUSA economic exemptions for property taxes with an economic boycott. I imagine this puts our Moderator Cynthia Bolbach, who is an honorary Kentucky Colonel, in a difficult position.

 

The 2010 General Assembly took action to condemn the enforcement of federal laws by the state of Arizona to curb illegal immigration. Our denominational leaders are following through to advance that cause. However, they are not following through as vigorously on actions of the GA to condemn the defamatory use of the Lord’s name in broadcasting, nor earlier social witness policies related to child pornography or child sexual exploitation. 

 

No outrage has been voiced and no similar boycott threatened against Viacom, MTV and all those who advertise during their new show Skins.

 

Are we more outraged over what might happen to undocumented illegal immigrants than we are outraged over what is happening right now to our children? Does child pornography, the sexual exploitation of children and the taking of the Lord’s name in vain not raise our ire? All of these are condemned by the social witness policy of the PCUSA and yet denominational leadership, which is vociferous in its outrage over immigration, is deafeningly silent about the broadcasting of child sex acts.

 

MTV’s new graphic teen sex show, Skins, features sexual promiscuity, illicit drug use and rampant profanity. Three million people watched the first episode target marketed over the past several months to our children. The actors are also teens as young as 15. The script calls for them to engage in frequent sex acts with a variety of partners. The legal description of that is “child pornography.”

 

I find it strange that the same people who are outraged over the societal forces that perpetuate generational poverty

 

 

 

are not equally outraged over legalized gambling. Why are we as a denomination not boycotting the 43 states that have a lottery, which is the most common form of legal gambling and widely acknowledged to prey on the poor? So, Presbyterians would be left to meet in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Remove from that list the states that allow other forms of gambling and we’re left only with Utah and Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

 

  

While we’re boycotting states based on our moral outrage, let us not neglect the issues of capital punishment and abortion. I find it strange that the same people who are offended by capital punishment are not equally outraged by the murder of innocent millions through abortion. Our social witness policy recognizes abortion as a grave moral sin, so why are we not boycotting every state where it is legal? (By the way, the death penalty is legal in Pennsylvania – the site of the PCUSA’s 2012 General Assembly. That state, along with Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, also is considering immigration laws similar to the one proposed in Kentucky.)

 

Where does that leave us? Of the states where gambling, prostitution and the death penalty are not legal, and state lawmakers aren’t threatening to enforce existing federal immigration laws, we’re left only with Hawaii.

 

Better beef up those travel budgets and let the Presbytery of the Pacific know we’re coming.

 

Selective outrage on social issues is not a very compelling witness for Jesus Christ.