October 2011

Please Pass the Salt

Leave a Comment / Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Sermon on the Mount, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

In this week’s Sermon on the Mount Bible class on Matthew 5:13-16, the discussion revolved around the uses of salt and the Christian calling Jesus was talking about when he said, “You are the salt of the earth.”  It came down to two categories: salt is good as a flavor-enhancer, and salt is good as a decay inhibitor. One class participant is a fire fighter who cooks for his company and at home for his wife. He delighted us with a description of how salt makes another food taste more like itself. The point of salting, he said, was not […]

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Market-Driven Mission (Jobs, Spahr, and the PCUSA)

7 Comments / Current Events, PCUSA, The Missional Church / By /

Three topics converge today in a swirl of reflections brought on by the day’s news: 1) The death of Steve Jobs, founder and innovator of Apple, 2) the announcement that Janie Spahr has again officiated at a wedding of a gay couple, and both in light of 3) the missional calling of the PCUSA. First, a disclosure:  I am an “Apple person.” I have owned an Apple computer since 1990 and introduced two church staffs to its wonders. Something about the right-brain utility of Apple products, the intuitive user interface, has worked for me all these years. Perhaps because I

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Back Tomorrow

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The post I was hoping to publish today turned out to be a bunny trail . . . it happens sometimes: you think you’ve got an idea and then it takes longer to develop or doesn’t end up being helpful. My Tuesday night/Wednesday morning teaching schedule limits the time I have to backtrack and try another angle. So, in honor of my dear readers and their precious time, no post today!

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A Corrupt Signal Has Been Broadcast

3 Comments / Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA / By /

My husband and I are having a recurring problem with our digital cable. While watching television, the broadcast will be interrupted by “tiling” and freezing: little squares appear over portions of the picture, obscuring faces and blipping out the sound. We’ve had baseball games freeze at critical moments, which have passed by the time the cable signal catches up with itself. The technician explained that tiling is the result of a corrupt signal that literally loses binary 1s and 0s into cyber-heaven, never to be seen again. This is caused by “noise on the line,” and past that memorable image

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A Perfect Waste of Time

2 Comments / Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

Before and after last week’s decision to appeal the Synod PJC decision in the matter of Parnell et al v. San Francisco Presbytery, some very interesting opinions have been expressed in comments here and offline. One was particularly thought provoking because it reminded me that we had heard this remark several times at the beginning of the process in early 2008. It is the idea that pursuing ecclesiastical legal action against an offending presbytery is a waste of time, energy, and resources. There is no argument that the legal process is time consuming, trying emotionally, and expensive financially. The undergirding

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An Appeal Will Be Filed

9 Comments / Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA / By /

The Complainants’ Counsel in the matter of Parnell et al v. San Francisco Presbytery will appeal the Synod of the Pacific Permanent Judicial Commission (SPJC) Ruling rendered on September 17. They have until the end of October to file the Notice of Appeal with the General Assembly PJC. The GAPJC in August remanded two specifications of error to the Synod, which wrote a new ruling to respond to the biblical, theological, and historical evidence presented to it. Rather than judge the claims made by either complainants or the presbytery according to the Scripture and confessions, the Synod PJC came to

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