Bringing the Word to Life

Still Waiting? Me, too.

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My heart, mind, soul, and strength have been focused on waiting for some news I think will come today. You know what it feels like to be on tippy-toes in anticipation—thoughts of Christmas Eve come to mind. Anyway, in light of that distraction, I do not have a new blog post today . . . but I am writing to alert you to the rather impressive thread of comments and dialogue generated by my last two blogs. Very helpful information is offered to shed light on the thinking of those desiring to leave the PC(USA). We also gain terrific insight […]

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Still Waiting? Try “Waiting on the Lord”

Leave a Comment / PCUSA, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines, The Missional Church / By /

Yesterday I suggested that “waiting for” sets the church up for spiritual temptation, either to divert from The Main Thing or to give up altogether. I suppose congregations that are in an interim period between pastors face these temptations, and that is why it is a good thing to be led by a skilled interim pastor during such a phase. But churches waiting for the wheels of Presbytery Process to grind are also challenged to keep going in the meantime, but how? We often ask the question, “What are we waiting for?” but perhaps the better query would be “What

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Assigned to the Waiting Room

Leave a Comment / ECO (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians), PCUSA, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

A Personal Note: Today is All Saints’ Day, and the 26th anniversary of my ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA). Woo-hoo!! At its September meeting, San Francisco Presbytery authorized the congregation of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church to meet this Sunday, November 3, to discern its readiness for dismissal. However, last week, the Presbytery Engagement Team (PET) called off the congregational meeting while issues related to the terms of dismissal are re-opened and resolved. The congregation must wait for something else to develop before they can move on in their process of dismissal to ECO. I

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How Much Money Is Enough for Fruitful Ministry?

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, PCUSA, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

 In our American economy and within our church tradition, money in support of Christ’s mission is typically disbursed for personnel, facilities, program, and mission. A new church plant starts commonly with a designated pastor whose financial support is provided to give him or her time to invest in gathering people. There is usually some investment in facilities, a place the church can call home (although this is changing out here in the West, where many church plants rent commercial or educational space and keep their “stuff” in trailers during the week). Program costs typically start with what happens on Sunday

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Toddler Property Laws and the PC(USA) Trust Clause

Leave a Comment / PCUSA, The Property Clause / By /

Amended on Wednesday, October 23, after comments from Menlo Park readers, to set the record straight . . . One of the fascinating features of child development is the growing sense of self and ownership. What lesson do moms and dads try to teach their two-year-old children? “Share your toys!” But it is a learning process occurring in a phase during which a child is egocentric and unable to differentiate between self and environment. As a parent I discovered that the concept of sharing fell on deaf ears until my child was able to grasp the concept of ownership. Only

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Tell Me This Isn’t About the Money

Leave a Comment / GAPJC Decisions, PCUSA, The Property Clause / By /

Amended Wednesday, October 23, after comments from Menlo Park readers, to set the record straight: Most of the “gracious dismissal policies” I have read from around the country go to great lengths to describe the chief concern of the church, that of the integrity and continuity of the mission of Jesus Christ.  Putting aside the false notion that there is no “church presence” in a community if there is no PCUSA congregation there, it is laudable and achievable in some parts of the country that a departing congregation and its dismissing presbytery can see the larger work of the Kingdom

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Taking the Long View on Church Dismissal

Leave a Comment / 221st General Assembly (2014), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, History, Marriage Definition, Naegeli's Laws, PCUSA, Personal / By /

The study of history was never my strong suit in high school, and though I had a couple of world-renowned history professors at Stanford, the discipline did not capture my imagination. I was at the time much better suited as a mathematical sciences major (first) and ultimately music major. Problem sets and musical analyses were more my forte in these formative years. I’ve been on a remedial course ever since. What turned me around was Church History in seminary. I took three courses: Early Church, Reformation History, and American Church History to fulfill my requirements. For the first time (with

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Following and Leading

Leave a Comment / 221st General Assembly (2014), Leadership and Spirituality, Marriage Definition, New Form of Government (nFOG), PCUSA, Sermon on the Mount, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

San Francisco Presbytery passed two of three overtures related to Israel/Palestine last night. Its decisions (by fairly close margins) reflected a particular view of the PCUSA’s place in the world and the realms in which it is called to lead. That whole Middle East issue is incendiary and difficult and not my area of expertise, so I defer to friends Viola Larson and Alan Wisdom for any detailed discussion. But the question of whether the PCUSA has standing to insert its political solutions into the international mix is a real one, and germane to my current topic: the church and

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The Church and Culture

Leave a Comment / Moral Authority, PCUSA, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

The question of whether the PCUSA is leading our culture or following it with regards to views on same-sex marriage needs some careful consideration. How the church is to relate to the culture (“the world” in contrast to God’s Kingdom) is best addressed by some biblical data collection: The culture is characterized by what people want, what they prefer, what they invest in, and what they think makes them happy. Eve’s little speech in Genesis 3 outlines the worldly point of view completely. The Kingdom of God is characterized by what God wants and how we invest our lives in

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What Makes It Difficult to Buck Societal Trends

Leave a Comment / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), 221st General Assembly (2014), GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, Naegeli's Laws, PCUSA, Teaching, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

Yesterday’s blog post gave rise to some interesting comments on Facebook (not here, regrettably), suggesting that a nerve was hit on this question of just what the church is supposed to be and do in relation to “the culture.” I am aware that many books have been written on the subject of the church and culture (or Christ and Culture by Niebuhr and D. A. Carson’s Christ & Culture Revisited). I closed my reflection yesterday with the statement that, despite the fact we possess true freedom and righteousness in Christ, believing and acting on this truth is a sticking point

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