Bringing the Word to Life

A Skewed Bell Curve

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This week I am articulating six reasons for my sense of urgency about equipping individual presbyters for stand-alone discipleship. Yesterday I suggested—as I have been demonstrating for weeks—that there are increasing challenges to orthodox faith and practice in PCUSA circles. The second reason has to do with the political impact of congregational departures. A few weeks back I used an asymptote graph to illustrate my point. (A reader has since corrected my equation for that post. It would have been more elegant to define the function as f(x) = 1/x2). Today I will draw a bell curve to show what […]

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Equipped to Stand Alone

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This week, I would like to describe a ministry vision that reflects my passion for ministry and a sense of urgency because of emerging realities. The basic idea behind “Bringing the Word to Life” is to enlighten, encourage, and equip presbyters for engagement in faith issues locally. It is apparent to me that the need for stand-alone Christians is more acute than ever. By “standing alone” I do not mean obstinately refusing to work with others for a common purpose, nor living in isolation from other presbyters. Stand-alone in my usage refers to the type of Christian who does not

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Another Model of Theological Reflection

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Ministry in general is fraught with interesting situations that beg for theological reflection. Add to that the intricacies and confusions accompanying Presbyterian ministry these days, and an elder must give priority to thoughtful engagement with the issues in order to decide what to do. Yesterday I shared an educational tool for interpreting and applying content one has come across. Today I share a model specifically for theological reflection on case studies (or events as they unfold). The hope is that with these tools, presbyters can define the issues, categorize them, expand their awareness of options, and then narrow the choices

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One Method of Theological Reflection

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This post is my 100th for “Bringing the Word to Life.” I was not sure when I started this project in late July that it would be a discipline I could sustain. It has turned out to be a discipline that has sustained me, and I am grateful to have had the time and venue for writing. Today I would like to reflect on how such a discipline can make a person a better Presbyterian and more thoughtful Christian. Whether the mode is blogging or journaling or jotting notes in one’s calendar, the act of reflecting on a daily basis

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Bad Acoustics and Singing Off the Same Page

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Yesterday afternoon was the first opportunity for our 20-voice chorus to perform this season, and the occasion was the lighting of the Christmas tree in the big new lobby of John Muir Medical Center. We sang several pieces for an appreciative crowd, wearing our black outfits and Christmas red scarves for the occasion. But for us singers, it was a less than satisfactory experience because we could not hear each other. The acoustics of the room were dead. I for one felt like I was singing alone and could barely hear the piano, much less the altos. There were a

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Check Your Pitch with This Hearing Test

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In your sound-proof room, with earphones on, listen to these tones and tell me what you hear: “ . . . mindful of its commitment to tend to the unity of the denomination. . . the [Covenant Network] Board has decided not to support or encourage overtures to the 2012 General Assembly to change the constitutional language regarding marriage.  The Covenant Network will, however, encourage overtures seeking Authoritative Interpretation to protect pastoral discretion to celebrate same-gender marriages where they are sanctioned by the civil authorities,” (from the Board’s letter of October 28). Evangelical ears pick up some good news here:

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Ear Training

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Yesterday, I strongly suggested that Presbyterians desiring to stay on pitch spiritually and ecclesially should keep their ears attune to God’s Word. This obviously involves study and contemplation of the Scriptures, so that one is familiar both with the tone and harmony of the gospel through the Old and New Testaments. In musical terms, we call this “ear training,” when one is exercised to discern the subtle shifts of pitch, music intervals, and chords. One of my favorite choral teachers put his chorale students through an exhausting exercise during a rehearsal I will never forget. We started with a pitch,

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When Not to Listen

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For the first time in decades, my husband and I are singing in the same choir, he in the bass section, me with the sopranos. It’s a small group, twenty in number, comprising staff and volunteers of the local hospital. This week we begin a series of thirty-minute concerts for the hospital’s seasonal events, corporate dinners, and convalescent facilities. Our director is getting very picky now, which is to be expected, demanding blend. The challenge is particularly acute for the sopranos, who make up almost half of the whole chorus. The exhortation is to “listen to one another and stay

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Wrestling and Parting Ways

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When one writes a daily blog, one participates in an aerobic rhythm of listening and speaking, pondering and reflecting, thinking and writing. This essay takes me at least an hour, sometimes two a day. That time is spent struggling with a Scripture, understanding its original context, and then bringing it to life for today. My main question is, Does this Word have anything to say to me as a Presbyterian clergywoman or to the Presbyterian elder somewhere struggling with the way things are in our denomination?  Sometimes a blog is sparked by an event that begs for a biblical response.

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Love My Enemies?

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Completely unique among world religions, Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-48). I’m pretty sure I have my share of those who, as Dallas Willard says, “would not be sorry to learn [I] have died” (Divine Conspiracy, p. 181). I have found the following prayer to be an earnest and challenging expression of humility and gratitude for enemies. It was written by St. Nikolai Velimirovic (1881-1956), a Serbian Orthodox bishop of the last century, who is well-known to American orthodox people for his

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