Bringing the Word to Life

Mean What You Say

1 Comment / PCUSA, Sermon on the Mount / By /

My weekly Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount continues. This week’s topic is found in Matthew 5:33-37, on the taking of oaths. To 21st century eyes, it is a strange passage, but with a little digging into Jewish context, its message is surprisingly challenging. First, the text: 33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by […]

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Claim to “Peace, Unity, and Purity” Is a Sham

3 Comments / PCUSA / By /

Thinking about the PCUSA ordination vows, Teaching Elders, Ruling Elders, and Deacons say yes to question number seven: “Do you promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church?” It is interesting that church officers do not promise to achieve peace, unity, and purity; but by their actions they promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church. These three characteristics are the three legs of a stool, upon which church life rests, or so I have taught incoming elders during orientation for Session. Furthering a cause can mean “making progress,” and then we have the

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Reflecting on My Ordination

2 Comments / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

Today, November 1, is the 24th anniversary of my ordination and installation. All Saints’ Day has carried special meaning for me during these years as a result. Alongside my own call to the pastoral ministry, each year I am made aware of the many who have gone before me in Christian ministry, among them Athanasius, Augustine of Hippo, Madame Guyon, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Evelyn Underhill, William Law, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and E. Stanley Jones. I have my own Hebrews 11 kind of roster of faithful servants cheering me on to this day; these are the ones who have

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Reformation as Discipline

Leave a Comment / PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

As Reformation Sunday approaches, thoughts turn to the question, “What sort of reformation is necessary for the PCUSA to get back on solid footing with God in order to fulfill its mission?” The great 16th century Protestant reformers addressed this question with renewed focus upon the unadorned and uncorrupted gospel of Jesus Christ: “The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God” (Luther, Thesis number 62). Aware of God’s awesome power and holiness, Luther, for instance, trembled in his own repentance and called the Church to its own. The particular presenting

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Another Reformation?

4 Comments / PCUSA / By /

We’re approaching Reformation Sunday, a highlight in worship and preaching for many PCUSA churches around the country. Great hymns, bagpipes, Geneva robes, and a walk down memory lane get us in touch with our roots. Recalling Luther’s bold debate-starter in Wittenberg and Calvin’s audacious experiment in Geneva, we celebrate being part of the Reformed Tradition. It is a great tradition, worthy of remembrance and respect, and compelling in its claims. My life was transformed by the gospel passed on to me in this tradition and I am grateful to God for the intervention. And yet, for some I suspect the

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Subscribing to Standards

1 Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA / By /

After reflecting on “Convenient Confessionalism” in yesterday’s post, I got curious about the meaning of the word “standards” as used in the PCUSA constitution. Here are all the occurrences of the word in the Book of Order: F-1.0302d:  The Church strives to be faithful to the good news it has received and accountable to the standards of the confessions. F-2.02 The Confessions as Subordinate Standards These confessional statements are subordinate standards in the church, subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him. While confessional standards are subordinate to the Scriptures,

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Convenient Confessionalism

8 Comments / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA / By /

The current progression of situations in presbyteries, leading to actions contrary to the Word of God and inconsistent with historic Christian doctrine, has caused a crisis of conscience requiring some congregations to look for a way to disassociate from this waywardness. They need a way to live according to their consciences, shaped by the Word of God. Some have opted for relief of conscience through the adoption of ordination requirements or essential tenets in their procedural manuals. What happens when a presbytery adopts a list of theological tenets it has agreed are essential to the faith?  What happens when a

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Convenient Constitutionalism

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

The mutually exclusive claims we know exist within the PCUSA have necessitated some creative thinking about how we can differentiate where we must, while collaborating where we can.  One of the creative options under consideration is the formation of presbyteries with porous boundaries. Three forms of this idea have surfaced: 1) the formation of new presbyteries from a composite of congregations in close geographic proximity; 2) the transfer of congregations from one presbytery to a neighboring one; or 3) the delineation of a new presbytery within the bounds of an existing presbytery. I realize that for some, even these solutions

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Don’t Ask Me to Cross the Line

8 Comments / PCUSA / By /

Conservative congregations around the country, and certainly within my own presbytery, are researching possibilities for some kind of creative and equitable way out of the crisis of conscience they are facing in the PCUSA. We are in an unprecedented moment of change in this denomination, wrought by a stream of decisions now trickling down to the local level. Before the new Form of Government was incorporated into the Book of Order and Amendment 10-A was inserted (removing the ordination standard of “fidelity & chastity” in the process), arguments made in debate assured theological conservatives that it was all about Christ’s

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The Pastor-Teacher’s Task

6 Comments / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

Yesterday, I made a case for reclaiming teaching ministry in the PCUSA. Our focus is on current church members who need equipping, and on not-yet-disciples who need basic information about the faith. But what do people need to know? What sort of learning experience, from our vantage point, should we be providing? Members of the congregation may have some idea of what they want to learn, but their input is only one data point when deciding what to teach. There is a body of information from which to choose, passed on from generation to generation, and now in our hands.

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