Bringing the Word to Life

Do Evangelicals Have a Voice in the PC(USA)?

Leave a Comment / Marriage Definition, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

I have lost my singing/speaking voice only once in my life. I had just completed a Palm Sunday performance of the Brahms Requiem, in which I was the soprano soloist. Some time during the reception to follow, my voice suddenly closed down. And so it remained for a full six days. I was advised to drink a lot of water, rest as much as a church worker can during Holy Week, and stop trying to talk. My greatest anxiety came with the awareness that I was scheduled to lead the musical worship at a large Easter sunrise service the following […]

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UFOs and Close Encounters

Leave a Comment / It All Started in the Garden, Quilting, Spiritual Disciplines, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

Quilters refer to UFOs, unfinished objects, to describe the projects tucked away in mid-course. The QT (Quilt Therapy) group I belong to ’fessed up to UFOs on Tuesday, making commitments to complete said projects within the year. For me, the list includes the famous “Ahwahnee Quilt,” inspired by Yosemite’s oldest and most famous hotel. This quilt has been stashed for at least five years, but 2013 is the year to get it done. In the same way, I have some UFOs in the writing realm, outlined but unfinished, that await my attention and effort. Here is the list of working

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Downward Mobility Gets Personal

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, Lent, PCUSA, Personal, Theological Reflection, Women in Ministry / By /

Ash Wednesday is as good a day as any to reflect on what God is doing in one’s life, and anything that tends toward “examination of conscience” is particularly fitting during Lent. Lent for some is seen as a period of self-imposed “downward mobility” during which one denies oneself in order to follow Christ. This concept is taking on new meaning for me, as I examine the contours of my life and Christian service with an eye to reshaping my ministry life.  Since it has been awhile since my last blog, and inertia must be overcome, today I am going

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Are We Relying on Mere Props?

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A link in yesterday’s Presbyweb got me thinking about conditions within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), particularly as experienced by the various parties involved in church dismissals. In “Army Removes Crosses, Steeple from Chapel”, it is noted that a U.S. Army chapel in Afghanistan has been required to remove permanent Christian symbols from the site, following a complaint of an atheist. The Army regulation enforced is quoted as follows: The chapel environment will be religiously neutral when the facility is not being used for scheduled worship. Portable religious symbols, icons, or statues may be used within a chapel during times of

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Living in Obedience

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

We are on the home stretch now, in our tour of the essential tenets of the Reformed faith. It is the natural outflow of God’s grace, our election to salvation and service, and covenant community to consider how we shall live together to reflect God’s glory and enjoy him forever. We take some early cues from God’s chosen people, who in the exodus were walking through a great doorway into a new life defined by God’s gracious care. In their period of formation, the Hebrews counted themselves very fortunate indeed, compared to the neighboring peoples of the ancient Near East

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An Expanded View of Stewardship

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, It All Started in the Garden, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

Stewardship seems to be a particularly Presbyterian emphasis. Your personal experience of this word may be annual, during your congregation’s fall “stewardship campaign” designed to invite your financial pledge for the coming year. You may be familiar with the idea that Christians are called to steward “time, talent, and treasure,” which in common usage refers to the giving or sharing of all three with the church. But the concept of stewardship is far richer and more encompassing than these interpretations. There are at least two catalysts for a broader view of stewardship: The first scenario goes back to the Garden

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Covenant Life: Living as Family

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

We continue today on the topic of The Fellowship of Presbyterians Theology Project on the essential tenets of the Reformed faith. The seventh major theme under consideration is “Covenant Life in the Church.” God’s election of us in Christ draws us not only into a right relationship with God but also to a new relationship with other believers. We might think of the Church as a place for worship or a meeting we attend. However the doctrine of covenant refers to the people to whom we belong and to which we are bound because of our common ties to Jesus

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Election: No Contest between God’s Sovereignty and Human Free Will

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, It All Started in the Garden, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

We come now in our discussion to a doctrinal area particularly associated with the Presbyterian tribe within the Reformed tradition, even though Martin Luther in The Bondage of the Will covered this territory thoroughly himself. But here it is: the topic of election and its cousin predestination, what Kirk Bottomly called “the skeleton in the Reformed closet.”[1]  The doctrine as debated in historical theology is a wide-ranging topic, often focusing on the tension between God’s sovereignty and human free will. The Fellowship Theology Project focuses on the sad consequence of the fall: human beings actually lost their freedom of will

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Our Only Hope Is God’s Grace

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

As we continue our consideration of the great doctrines of the church and essentials of the Reformed faith, we now broaden our exploration of Incarnation to ask, “For what purpose would God become a man?” One of the mysteries of the Incarnation revolves around the question of why God would go to such lengths to identify with his creation. It is a legitimate question and its answer must be consistent with God’s nature, which includes love, hope, holiness, and purposefulness. God created human beings to receive God’s gracious love, to bask in his glory, and to represent God as stewards

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The Incarnation: God Bridges the Gap

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Fellowship of Presbyterians, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

The next essential tenet, affirmed by all Christians, is the Incarnation: the act by which God became a human being in order to position himself to redeem humanity. For Jews of Jesus’ day, “Our God is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4) was the banner cry of faith. For the Greco-Roman culture, many gods populated the heavens and earth, as illustrated by Paul’s observation of their monuments in Athens (Acts 17). So you can imagine how Jesus’ claims recorded in the gospel of John would be controversial: “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58) “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30); and

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