Theological Reflection

My Life Under Scrutiny

Leave a Comment / Lung Cancer, PCUSA, Personal, Romans 8, Theological Reflection / By /

Today every inch of my body will be scanned; a PET scan first (neck downward), then a brain MRI (head only)…checking to see if the beast has gotten out of its cage. I welcome the scrutiny, because my cure is heavily invested in finding what ails me. Without that specific diagnosis and knowledge of the stage of the disease, it cannot be slain. Gone are any pretenses of privacy or the sovereignty of my own opinion. I mean, really, what good would it do for me to say, “Y’all, my insides are none of your business. There’s nothing wrong with […]

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Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies

Leave a Comment / Lung Cancer, Personal, Romans 8, Theological Reflection / By /

Ever since I arrived home from Africa on August 18, I have been coughing. You might have noticed that my blogging was sporadic this fall; it was because I have not been feeling well. Ten days ago I found out that a 6cm mass had formed in my left lung, and a surgical biopsy was conducted last Thursday to determine its makeup. Yesterday afternoon, the thoracic surgeon strode into the examining room with the pathology report in her hand. Andy and I wondered how this conversation was going to start, but she who has delivered this news many times before

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Assigned to the Waiting Room

Leave a Comment / ECO (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians), PCUSA, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

A Personal Note: Today is All Saints’ Day, and the 26th anniversary of my ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA). Woo-hoo!! At its September meeting, San Francisco Presbytery authorized the congregation of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church to meet this Sunday, November 3, to discern its readiness for dismissal. However, last week, the Presbytery Engagement Team (PET) called off the congregational meeting while issues related to the terms of dismissal are re-opened and resolved. The congregation must wait for something else to develop before they can move on in their process of dismissal to ECO. I

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How Much Money Is Enough for Fruitful Ministry?

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, PCUSA, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

 In our American economy and within our church tradition, money in support of Christ’s mission is typically disbursed for personnel, facilities, program, and mission. A new church plant starts commonly with a designated pastor whose financial support is provided to give him or her time to invest in gathering people. There is usually some investment in facilities, a place the church can call home (although this is changing out here in the West, where many church plants rent commercial or educational space and keep their “stuff” in trailers during the week). Program costs typically start with what happens on Sunday

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Following and Leading

Leave a Comment / 221st General Assembly (2014), Leadership and Spirituality, Marriage Definition, New Form of Government (nFOG), PCUSA, Sermon on the Mount, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

San Francisco Presbytery passed two of three overtures related to Israel/Palestine last night. Its decisions (by fairly close margins) reflected a particular view of the PCUSA’s place in the world and the realms in which it is called to lead. That whole Middle East issue is incendiary and difficult and not my area of expertise, so I defer to friends Viola Larson and Alan Wisdom for any detailed discussion. But the question of whether the PCUSA has standing to insert its political solutions into the international mix is a real one, and germane to my current topic: the church and

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The Church and Culture

Leave a Comment / Moral Authority, PCUSA, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

The question of whether the PCUSA is leading our culture or following it with regards to views on same-sex marriage needs some careful consideration. How the church is to relate to the culture (“the world” in contrast to God’s Kingdom) is best addressed by some biblical data collection: The culture is characterized by what people want, what they prefer, what they invest in, and what they think makes them happy. Eve’s little speech in Genesis 3 outlines the worldly point of view completely. The Kingdom of God is characterized by what God wants and how we invest our lives in

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What Makes It Difficult to Buck Societal Trends

Leave a Comment / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), 221st General Assembly (2014), GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, Naegeli's Laws, PCUSA, Teaching, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

Yesterday’s blog post gave rise to some interesting comments on Facebook (not here, regrettably), suggesting that a nerve was hit on this question of just what the church is supposed to be and do in relation to “the culture.” I am aware that many books have been written on the subject of the church and culture (or Christ and Culture by Niebuhr and D. A. Carson’s Christ & Culture Revisited). I closed my reflection yesterday with the statement that, despite the fact we possess true freedom and righteousness in Christ, believing and acting on this truth is a sticking point

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Naegeli’s Law: Legality Does Not Equal Morality

Leave a Comment / 221st General Assembly (2014), Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, Naegeli's Laws, PCUSA, Theological Reflection / By /

Naegeli’s Law: Making something legal does not necessarily make it moral. I am energized by the latest “The Edwards Epistle”—sent out to friends of Dr. Jim Edwards of Whitworth University—which focuses on the topic “The Difference between Legal and Moral.” Every quarter or so, Jim (with the help of Rev. Phil Olson and team) sends out a two- to four-page essay on a particular topic. This missive is always worth reading, pondering, appreciating, and passing along. Yes, it is the snail-mail equivalent of a blog; I have a big fat file folder collected, treasured, and consulted over the years. So

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Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Two Musings

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, Leadership and Spirituality, People, Personal, Sermon Illustrations, Theological Reflection / By /

Two unrelated observations today . . . Lots of Children. One thing that strikes you as you drive the countryside of both Kenya and Uganda is that there sure are a lot of children around. Schools both public and private, day schools and boarding schools, dot the landscape. You can’t help but notice the kids in their school uniforms walking along the highways and byways, acting as young people do everywhere. After making this observation, when I got home, I looked up the statistics provided by the Central Intelligence Agency, of all places:  Uganda’s median age is 15.5 years (birthrate

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Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Raise the Roof!

Leave a Comment / Food, Kenya & Uganda, Leadership and Spirituality, People, Personal, Theological Reflection / By /

Our second full day in Uganda was dedicated to exploring ministries to children at risk in both Makindye (a district of Kampala) and a rural village. Surprises awaited us, all of them delightful and encouraging! First stop was to visit St. Mbuga Primary School adjacent to Gospel Messengers Church in Kampala at 8 a.m. Six hundred twenty-five students and about twenty faculty were gathered in the central patio of the school, arranged by class and therefore by age and size, from the teeny-tinys to the right all the way to the upper grades to the left. They greeted Andy and

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