Peace Unity & Purity

Colossians 3:15: “Peace! Peace!” But Is There Peace?

3 Comments / Church, Colossians, Current Events, Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity / By /

Spring training has started! The Giants are warming up their pitchers and catchers in Scottsdale, AZ, this week. Assessments are being made, recovery from injuries celebrated, starting lineups tried on for size. Next week the full team checks in. As of today, Major League Baseball has exactly forty-five days until opening day, April 6. What we do not hear much about, however, are the umpires. The roster of 68 umpires qualified for “the Majors” is a traveling band of baseball experts. Their calls are sacred—even with official reviews, also made by umpires—and they bear an authority that elicits respect from […]

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Colossians 1:21-23: If Thinking Leads to Doing, Where Are We Headed?

6 Comments / Church, Colossians, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, The Church in Exile / By /

As we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we are struck with the contrasts he so vividly paints. In today’s passage, Paul connects the dots between the glorious accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ and us (all) who were alienated and hostile to God’s intents and purposes. 21And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— 23provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the

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The Misdirection of Worship: A Case in Point

8 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), 221st General Assembly (2014), Leadership and Spirituality, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, Personal / By /

Lest one thinks that idolatrous worship was a problem only eons ago, as illustrated in yesterday’s post, even today within the PC(USA) it is possible to find events promoted as worship experiences that are anything but. A case in point: the after-dinner “worship” on the agenda of San Francisco Presbytery’s regular meeting of September 9. The “Order of Worship” handed out to us as we entered the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Oakland consisted of the following elements: a call to worship, opening song, Scripture exploration, Communion & Community Prayer, Announcements, Closing Song, and Benediction. The experience unfolded in

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Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part III

4 Comments / 221st General Assembly (2014), Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, The Missional Church / By /

The third mandate Jesus issued regarding the witness of his followers is found in John 13, right after Jesus washes the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. His humble and socially shocking demonstration apparently got a conversation going among the men. Jesus said to them (among other things): I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34f) Jesus knew human nature pretty well to put his finger

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Serendipity

Leave a Comment / Lung Cancer, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, Personal, Theological Reflection / By /

Yesterday, I contemplated the collateral damage that accompanies treatment for cancer, those negative consequences of an action meant to do good. Today, to look on the bright side, we are invited to think about serendipity: the finding of valuable or agreeable things not sought for. A very famous case of serendipity was when the 3M Company, formulating a new adhesive and encountering one failure after another, discovered the compound that became the temporary glue behind the Post-It Note. That discovery was a serendipity! Chemotherapy has had some surprising side-benefits: the steroid given to amp up the anti-nausea medicine has relieved

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The Supportive Community

Leave a Comment / ECO (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians), Lung Cancer, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, Personal, The Missional Church / By /

The days getting ready for my cancer treatments have been amazingly busy. Because I will be undergoing both radiation and chemotherapy, I am engaged in two tracks of testing and preparation. Today, for instance, I will go in for a dress rehearsal of my custom-designed radiation treatment. During this procedure the technicians, the physicist, and the doctor all sign off on the mapping of high-energy x-rays that will converge on the Beast. Yesterday it was a bone-marrow biopsy to set a baseline for measuring side effects of chemotherapy. Another kind of preparation is happening at home. Because the disease itself

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Are You Ready to Offer Some Hope?

Leave a Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, Leadership and Spirituality, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, Teaching / By /

Yesterday, I suggested that denominational life is likely to become more difficult for evangelicals as we move through 2013. My predictions of trends are discouraging, I know, but today I want to give a word of encouragement. A difficult life, in and of itself, is not a sign that Jesus has left us orphans, nor is it an excuse to give up and give in to the worldly influences surrounding us. Rather, a difficult life calls us to depend on our Savior all the more and to hold fast to what we have been given. We have our testimony of

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Are You Ready for What Can Happen in 2013?

Leave a Comment / Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity / By /

Looking ahead to the coming year, my sense is that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will see an accelerated decline in “the measurables,” and the spiritual gains will be harder and harder to discern. It is customary in some circles to predict the trends of the coming year, so I will take a stab at a list for the PC(USA). By mentioning these things I am not saying I want them to happen, or that I am certain they will, but I feel confident asserting that the trends are a real threat to Presbyterian covenant life. I believe that we will

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What Can a New “Season of Serious Study” Accomplish?

13 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, Teaching / By /

In answer to all the Committee 13 items of business regarding civil unions and marriage, the PCUSA General Assembly passed the following resolution:  “In a desire to promote the peace, unity, and purity of the church, we move the whole Presbyterian Church U.S.A. enter into a season of serious study and discernment concerning its meaning of Christian marriage in the two-year period between the 220th General Assembly (2012) and the 221st General Assembly (2014). We would further move the Office of Theology and Worship prepare and distribute educational materials to all presbyteries and congregations. These materials should include the relevant

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We Are Not at Liberty . . .

9 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity / By /

On this Fourth of July, while Americans consider the implications of Liberty, Presbyterians were in their plenary session of the General Assembly in Pittsburgh, PA.  The Assembly was surprised by the announcement of the Vice-Moderator Tara McCabe, that she was resigning that office immediately. After a tearful statement infused with anger and defensiveness, she was released from duty and replaced by Tom Trinidad of Faith Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs. What Tara learned was that with church office comes a limit to one’s freedom. As office holders in the PCUSA, elders agree to bind their consciences captive to the Word

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