PCUSA

Is “The Right to Marry” the Real Question?

Leave a Comment / Marriage Definition, PCUSA / By /

Thesis promoted by the President of the United States: Same-sex couples should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples, and therefore, should be given the constitutional right to marry. What follows sounds like boiler-plate language shared with Presbyterians who have engaged in this debate for several years. The president himself said, in his 2nd Inaugural Address of all occasions, that everyone should have the right to marry the person they love. This argument, if it can be called that, is as wrong for the American people as it is for Presbyterians who believe the Scripture is the only rule of […]

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Can the PC(USA) Really Change?

Leave a Comment / Leadership and Spirituality, Lent, PCUSA, Personal, Theological Reflection / By /

Last Sunday night, my husband and I hosted a black-tie five-course dinner for eleven other friends in our home. The occasion was the finale of Season Three of Downton Abbey, giving us the opportunity to live a brief fantasy of British aristocracy. The purpose of the evening was to enjoy the company of friends, have a luscious meal served to us (the thirteenth person, by prior arrangement, was our footman—and a fine one he was indeed), and discuss the characters and plot lines of the British television series. [May I just say, in a moment of personal privilege, that the

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The Skeleton in the PC(USA) Closet Is a Woman

Leave a Comment / ECO (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians), PCUSA, Personal, Women in Ministry / By /

The WQ (“women’s question”) remains one of the most elusive and baffling aspects of ministry, even within a mainline denomination such as the PC(USA). The WQ has been a part of my life-long learning process since the 1970’s, when I felt a strong call to the ministry but believed the Bible prevented me from aspiring to pastoral leadership. Since then, and with the help of marvelous evangelical scholars, I’ve explored the WQ biblically, theologically, organizationally, and personally. And now, as a PC(USA) teaching elder ordained for over 25 years, I face the WQ from a different angle. The current question

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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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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?

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

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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