Category Archives: Personal Note

Passings — Tom Gillespie

Leave a reply

Over the weekend the Rev. Thomas Gillespie Ph.D., immediate past-President, of Princeton Theological Seminary passed away. If you want the formal notices and full biography you can read ones from Princeton and the Presbyterian News Service.  I knew President Gillespie only through the good fortune of meeting and working with him on two different, and very Presbyterian, occassions. I found him to be a most gracious and humble individual, full of life and good humor, and truly a pleasure to work with.  As you will see, both of these were formal occassions so he may have been on his best behavior. None the less, I came away from each with a very high regard for the gentleman.

In reading the Princeton news piece I did have to chuckle. Our Presbytery has a good-hearted standing joke about which is the best seminary – one of the two in our Presbytery, Fuller or Claremont, or Princeton. Well, Tom got his M.Div. from Princeton, his Ph.D. from Claremont, and then returned to Princeton as president.  He covered the bases.

The first time I met and worked with Rev. Gillespie was when I was a commissioner to the 209th General Assembly (1997) and on the Theological Institutions Committee. One afternoon our committee broke up into a number of groups to meet with the presidents and students from the PC(USA) seminaries.  It was a good discussion, lively and open, and a great chance to hear this informal reporting from our schools.  I have to admit that I don’t remember who the other seminary president in our group was but I do clearly remember Rev. Gillespie and his participation.

The presidents met with us for much of the committee time, particularly since we were dealing with the tricky question of denominational doctrine in tension with academic freedom. In no small part it was Tom Gillespie who helped us navigate that issue and use the presbytery overture as a starting point for compromise action by the Assembly.

The second time I worked with Rev. Gillespie was almost a decade later when I was the Moderator of Presbytery and he was the preacher for an installation. In my time as Moderator he was probably the best known pastor that I shared the pulpit with at an ordination or installation. As we were preparing for the worship service he and I had a brief but wonderful conversation about the presbytery, our mission programs and what else what happening.  He was not an “ivy tower” academic but showed a genuine concern for what was happening in the churches around the country. But the most enduring thing to me was his positive affirmation of my leadership position in the presbytery and his comments about the nature of shared leadership between teaching and ruling elders. It was clear from working with him that day that ruling elders are just as important in the Presbyterian system as the teaching elders and his affirmation of my work in the church is something I have carried with me since.

I give thanks for his life and the brief times that we have worked together in the life of the church.  My deepest sympathies to his family and prayers in this time of loss. If others have had the same experience as I have the PC(USA) is a better denomination because of how he has encouraged and contributed to it. Godspeed.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Leave a reply

Well, it is not exactly Scylla and Charybdis, but the Mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. found themselves in the shaking of a moderate earthquake Tuesday while keeping a watchful eye on Hurricane Irene.

I want to talk about the relative risks later in this post, but first a little bit on the earthquake itself.

As you can probably imagine Tuesday was an interesting day at work for me.  The day began with hearing about the other significant earthquake in Colorado. When I heard about it on the radio I was expecting it to be a bit further west in the more active seismic belt where I have worked (fifth from top and third from bottom if you really care).  But I found it was to the east along the front of the Rocky Mountains.  An interesting location but not completely unexpected.

Then about 11 AM PDT my computer ground to a halt.  Checking around I found that my Twitter feed for earthquakes had gone crazy and that a 5.8 had occurred back on the east coast.  At about the same time my email sprung alive with notes from college friends with questions or comments.  Now here was an interesting event. And it was the largest earthquake globally on Tuesday.

For a comparison of this earthquake to previous eastern US events you can have a look at the USGS Historic Earthquake list.  The largest east coast earthquake is the 1886 Charleston, SC, earthquake at 7.3 and there are no other east coast earthquakes over 7 on the list. There are no earthquakes on the list in the magnitude 6 range. The next earthquake is an 1897 event in western Virginia which appears to still hold the record as the largest earthquake in the state. In total there are thirteen earthquakes in the magnitude 5 range in the coastal states.  Then there are seven more earthquakes for which there is not complete enough information to accurately estimate a magnitude, but we know that the intensity of shaking was strong enough that we can safely consider them to also be in the magnitude 5 or larger range.

So, for the eastern seaboard that are 21 earthquakes in about 300 years or an average of one earthquake about every 14 years. The previous one? Nine years ago in northern New York.

It is interesting to look at the seismic hazard map for the contiguous United States.  An experienced Presbyterian will appreciate the seismic hazard zones for the central and eastern US.  With only a few exceptions we don’t know where major deep faults are and which of the myriad of faults are inactive and which might be reactivated. Therefore, where there is higher seismic hazard is where something has happened in the past, just like some sections of the Book of [Church] Order are there because something happened. In that part of the world seismic hazard analysis is reactive.

The western US is a different story.  We think we know where active faults are, can measure their activity and put hazard estimates on specific geologic features and not just broad areas. Hazard zones are more narrowly defined and we believe have better known values.

So with that quick intro to seismic hazard estimation, lets consider how it compares to other natural hazards.  The bottom line for much of the country is that earthquakes are the least of your worries.

A good comparison comes from an analysis by Barton and Nishenko for the USGS. They find that for the United States the probability of having 10 fatalities for an event in a given year is 11% for an earthquake, 39% for a hurricane, 86% for floods, and 96% for tornadoes. For a graphical representation of where you would expect these consider this map from Insurance Center Associates. There is a similar one from the New York Times. (And it is worth pointing you to Robert Simmon’s critique of how this map represents the data.)

Now, let me make what will seem at first to be a quantum leap…

One of the thing’s I appreciate about our Reformed heritage is the concept of Vocation. What this means in my field is that when I talk to people about earthquakes I recognize that there are usually emotional issues underlying many of the questions they ask me.  In a sense, I am not just an earthquake geologist but I become a counselor or therapist as well.  In other words, I am doing ministry in a particular and unique way.

What I have found in doing this is that to a given individual the type of natural disaster is just as important as the risk of a disaster itself.  It is clear to me from talking with dozens of people that the different numbers only matter to a point and that people have different personal comfort levels with different types of risks. This is brought home nicely in a split-panel cartoon that ran right after the Northridge Earthquake — in one panel a guy is up to his eye balls in snow reading a newspaper headline saying “Earthquake hits California” and in the other panel a Californian, with debris behind him, is reading the headline “Record Cold Grips Northeast.” And each of them is thinking “Why would anyone live there?”

Why would anyone live in earthquake country? Because they don’t like tornadoes, hurricanes or blizzards.  Likewise, I know people who have left California for the Midwest because they are more comfortable with tornadoes than earthquakes.  Some people like predictability. Some hate waiting for the unknown in a tornado warning and would rather not have the suspense and have an earthquake hit out of the blue.  Some have a sense of security knowing that hurricanes have a season when they hit and you get two days notice.  Some would rather have an earthquake and get it over with.  I think that I have heard it all.

Likewise I sometimes wonder if different Presbyterians have preferences for different risks in the church. I will leave the development of that idea as an exercise for the reader.

So to those between the rocking of the earthquake and the hard place of the hurricane, may you know God’s solid presence in the midst of earth’s uncertainty. To all of those who are in the path of Irene, whether it has already gone through you or is still headed your way, we lift our prayers.  To those in the epicentral region of the earthquake we pray that your damage is not substantial and is easily repaired and give thanks that there was no loss of life and no serious injuries. To those currently meeting in Minneapolis we pray that no tornadoes will go through town. And to all affected by the many different types of natural disasters we pray for God’s comfort and peace for you in the midst of it.

Another Comic Strip Mentioning Presbyterians

3 Replies

Well, Bruce Tinsley and his Mallard Fillmore comic strip are at it again with the reference to Presbyterians.  You may remember his previous reference a little over a year ago where he referred to “radical Presbyterians.”  Rev. Ed has preserved that comic and he and I riffed on it a bit.

The comic strip from today and the reference to “rogue Presbyterians” is not so amenable to the discussion of Presbyterian polity so I only note it for the reference.  (Then again, maybe it does fit the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria post I just finished — I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine if one side or the other is “rogue.”) In fact, it appears that the use of Presbyterian is simply to make the rhyme work in the limerick.

But I will also note the… what shall I call it?  coincidence, irony, providence?… of being at work over my lunch hour on my previous post about Nigeria and Presbyterians only to have a phone call from my family alerting me to the fact that the comic strip had also made reference to both of those.  Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

TRADITION!

Leave a reply

Q. What is the difference between in-laws and outlaws?

A. Outlaws are wanted.

Now, for the record I married into a great family and have always felt included.  But part of the deal with marriage is all the rest of the family, and just as importantly all of the Traditions, are part of the package as well.  I may be included but not always comfortable and at times I have to work at it to participate in the Traditions and customs that are part of the culture of my wife’s family, and probably never more so than at Christmas.  (And again, for the record, my wife has to handle the strange and different Traditions on my side.)

In the movie Fiddler on the Roof the main character Tevya introduces the song “Tradition! ” with the line “And how do we keep our balance?  That I can tell you in one word: tradition.”  And the rest of the movie deals with how Tevya, the family and the village copes with changes in tradition.

The traditions are important in families – It is not simply “this is how we do it,” but in doing it that way the consistency and shared experience of past celebrations provide the familiarity that many people cherish about holidays. 

On the one hand, whether it be our family celebrations, our circle of friends, or our faith communities, we have to first acknowledge that tradition helps us, like Tevya says, to keep our balance.  It provides a foundation and comfort zone to those who are familiar with the tradition.  On the other hand, just like a spouse integrating into a new family, we also need to acknowledge that to those entering the group often these traditions can be confusing or uncomfortable at best, and possibly come across as legalism and perceived exclusion at worst.  What is a balancing or stabilizing effect for some is a barrier or deterrent for others.

The challenge of course is that there is no simple solution to this tension.  Each community, be it family or congregation, must figure out the balance and give-and-take for itself.  How much does it value and find rootedness in the tradition and how things are supposed to be done.  And how much does the community want to make newcomers feel welcome, comfortable, and integrate easily.  Tradition is important for many reasons – but what traditions define the community and what limit it?  How can we step back and determine what is important and what is not?

So I wish you a wonderful Christmas Day and the blessings of this season.  And may you find comfort in your traditions while providing a welcome to those who are being brought into it.

One Day Of Giving Thanks?

1 Reply

I don’t do Thanksgiving well.

Don’t get me wrong.  On this day the American society sets aside to give thanks I can “do up” the day.  I spent much of it joyfully cooking up the feast for my family.  It is a day I can relax and do something I enjoy that I don’t normally have time to do.  (And Saturday I will defend my Dutch Oven cobbler championship, but that’s another story.)

But in the grand scheme of things I think I have problems with the complexity of the day.  I know it’s not supposed to be complex, its supposed to be simple – a day set aside to give thanks to God for His grace, mercy, provision and blessings. But every year it seems that some new layer of complexity is added to the day – usually in the form of something that has to do with the next season starting earlier and earlier.

So, among the complexities that I personally struggle with are:

  • Thanksgiving has become one of the high-holy days of American culture. (The good part here is that while commercialization for the next holiday season encroaches on, or even infringes on, the day, Thanksgiving has still mostly escaped commercial influences.)
  • By virtue of being part of our cultural narrative the holiday has been shaped by the culture.  With schools avoiding religion who do students think the Pilgrims were thankful to?  Only the indigenous people – the context of divine provision has been eliminated.
  • While one particular narrative is the one American culture celebrates today, my time living in New Mexico raised my awareness of other narratives, including earlier events.
  • Modern American culture has standardized on the one narrative, but earlier in American history a day of thanksgiving could be declared by civil governments at various times in response to some important event, including military victories.  (And likewise, days of prayer and fasting were declared in times of need.) While there was the tradition of Thanksgiving in the fall as a harvest festival, there was still a sense of cause and effect, or call and response rather than a date that could be placed on the calendar a decade in advance. (That is of course still acknowledging the Biblical parallel Feast of Sukkot which was part harvest festival which was also tied to a specific day on the calendar, Tishri 15.)
  • And finally, I probably dread and fear the sharp transition from a day of giving thanks to the mass celebration of materialism that the day following Thanksgiving has become.

So, since I don’t do Thanksgiving well I want to give you stories from two people who do.  These are both about thanksgiving when that seems like the last thing a person would be inclined to do.

The first is from pastor Mark D. Roberts who has a couple of very good Thanksgiving reflections on his blog.  But I want to highlight the story of pastor Martin Rinkart.  Rinkart ministered in Germany during the very difficult and devastating period of the Thirty Years War, but also wrote the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God,” a hymn that is now almost exclusively associated with Thanksgiving in our worship.

The second one if from elder Jody Harrington and her wonderful blog Quotidian Grace .  (And I take the time to plug hers since she has the job at Presbyterians Today of plugging everyone else’s blogs and should get some recognition as a blogger in her own right.)  As a nice antidote to Black Friday she has a post today about Bless Friday, but I wanted to highlight her previous post about “Thankfulness with a Heavy Heart.”

So I hope all my American readers had a good day of giving thanks and to all of you, wherever you may be, may we remember daily to whom we owe the greatest thanks.

Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Eph 5:18b-20]

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’
[Job 1:21]

How Bright These Glorious Spirits Shine! — Reflection On All Saints Day

Leave a reply
How bright these glorious spirits shine!
Whence all their bright array?
How came they to the blissful seats
of everlasting day?
Lo! these are they, from sufferings great
who came to realms of light,
and in the blood of Christ have washed
those robes which shine so bright.

Once again I observe the Commemoration of All Saints.  In my reflections last year it struck me that the year was an “easy” one, if there is such a thing when remembering those that have gone to join the Church Triumphant.  That was not the case this year as there were more friends than past years that went on to their heavenly reward, and more close friends than any previous year. 

Now, with triumphal palms they stand
before the throne on high,
and serve the God they love, amidst
the glories of the sky.
His presence fills each heart with joy,
tunes every mouth to sing:
by day, by night, the sacred courts
with glad hosannas ring.

So this year I remember the following saints who left their mark upon my life and for whom I give thanks that I could share the spiritual journey with them.

  • Jim – A gentleman, in the true sense of the word, who well into his 90’s was in worship on the Lord’s Day almost every week and who had a smile on his face that reflected Psalm 122, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the House of the LORD'” He loved to be with the community in worship and it showed.
  • Melissa – A childhood friend. I did not know the quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the time, but in retrospect I recognize that she was the first of my peers to reflect what he writes in Life Together: “Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s word to him… The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother(/sister); his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s(/sister’s) is sure.”
  • Sally – Who struggled with trials for several years but kept the joy of the LORD in her life.
  • Randy – A faithful servant of God who worked hard to spread the Kingdom.
  • Irwin – Another faithful servant, elder and leader who showed many of us the great wisdom in a simple word well and timely spoken.
  • Scott – A friend who loved music, and loved to play music to God’s glory.
  • Myrna – A people person who loved those in her care deeply and was deeply loved by them.  She left a very big hole in many lives.
  • Lillian – One of the quiet, faithful members who doesn’t attract attention but when they are gone their absence is felt.
  • Fred and Leonard – Two gentleman who were both members of “the Greatest Generation” and who both spent an incredible amount of time working with young people.  Although they lived a continent apart they both had the same big hearts, unselfish giving of their time, were an inspiration to many that they worked with, and passed away with a week of each other.

I add to that list a friend of many of us, the Rev. Howard Rice.  I had the great pleasure of getting to know Howard when he joined our presbytery, saw him regularly and in getting to know him had several stimulating discussion with him. We agreed on many points of Reformed theology and worship and we disagreed on a bunch as well.  But I will always treasure Howard’s smile and the deep respect he showed for every individual.

Finally, in an unusual step for me I would also add someone I did not know personally, I only met him once, but even at a distance his life radiated so much of the gospel.  When UCLA basketball coach John Wooden died a bit short of his 100th birthday we lost not just a great philosopher but a great role model, especially when it came to his marriage to Nellie and how he worked at it.  While much of his life was inspirational, the effort he put into his marriage impresses me the most.

So a word of thanks to all these saints who in big ways and little, for a short time or an extended period, whether known or unknown to them, have touched my life and shaped my faith and life in positive ways.  As you have gone on to your heavenly reward this past year we are the poorer for your absence.  Thank you and I look forward to the great reunion before the Throne someday.

Hunger and thirst are felt no more,
nor suns with scorching ray;
God is their sun, whose cheering beams
diffuse eternal day.
The Lamb who dwells amidst the throne
shall o’er them still preside,
feed them with nourishment divine,
and all their footsteps guide.

‘Mong pastures green he’ll lead his flock,
where living streams appear;
and God the Lord from every eye
shall wipe off every tear.

How Bright These Glorious Spirits Shine!
Words by Isaac Watts, 1707
Versified from Scottish Paraphrases 1781
As used at the Church of Scotland 2010 General Assembly Closing Worship

Reflections On My Summer Stroll

2 Replies
Have you gazed on naked grandeur
   where there’s nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Big mountains heaved to heaven,
    which the blinding sunsets blazon,
Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?
Have you swept the visioned valley
    with the green stream streaking through it,
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?
Have you strung your soul to silence?
    Then for God’s sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.
[from Call of the Wild, by Robert W. Service, 1916]

I don’t know if the picture above does anything for you — maybe the picture is too small, maybe you have to be there, or maybe alpine scenery doesn’t stir your soul — but I will tell you that this landscape deeply moved me last week on my summer vacation.  It was my favorite vista of a great trip that included so many wonderful landscapes.

My time away was a week-long backpacking trip from near June Lake, California, going over 50 miles across the Sierra Nevada to Yosemite Valley, mostly on the John Muir Trail .  This picture was taken just after crossing Donohue Pass, which at 11,056 ft. was the highest elevation we attained on the hike.

While I am personally careful not to confuse the Creation with the Creator, I none-the-less am surprised whenever I do a trip like this how much the Creation stirs my soul.  And some of these quotes do a great job of putting into words those emotions, whether it be from Robert Service poems or a well known quote from John Muir:

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

Something about these trips work deep inside me, give me an appreciation for the Creator, allow me time and space to think, and return me home with renewed energy.

This was a trip with family and friends and the camaraderie and companionship were as much a part of experience as the scenery and tired feet.

The emotional “high-point” of the trip was on the last day when we ascended Half Dome.  Here is my younger son and I on top with Yosemite Valley behind us.

One of the constant balancing acts of the trip was the competing interests of taking in the vistas and keeping moving so we could get to our stopping point for the night and set up camp.  The picture at the bottom of this post is a small part of my second-favorite vista of the trip.  We had just crested a ridge and now had an unobstructed view of all of Little Yosemite Valley and the south side of Half Dome.  I was asked “Ready to go?” to which I responded “No! I could easily spend another hour looking at this.  But I guess we better get going and get to the camp site.”

Whether it be our own spiritual journey or our Presbyterian way of doing things, in those areas we also hold in tension the reaching of a goal and the value of the journey along the way.  The end result is important, but how we get there can be valuable and rewarding as well.

(And I do realize that while on this trip both the journey and the destination were positive parts, there are times in both daily life and ecclesiastical government when the journey is not as enjoyable and edifying and there is an urge to get through it and reach the goal.)

Looking ahead, on the trip I did a bit of reading and a lot of thinking, but this year the reading and thinking raised far more questions than they answered so I’m not sure when, or even if, any of it will find its way into this blog.  Time will tell.

However, in whatever way works for you and at whatever time your schedule permits may you too find rest, refreshment and renewal in whatever ways God works through the Holy Spirit to provide it in your life.  May God’s blessings be upon you and those close to you.

Let us probe the silent places,
   let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
    there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling. . .let us go.
[Call of the Wild]

A Little Levity — Humor Delivered Via Twitter

Leave a reply

In celebration of my transition point in the Summer from part-time teaching back to my regular gig, and because I can use it, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite places to have Twitter bring you some humor.  To the twitter-intelligentsia out there these are probably already familiar to you, but maybe someone out there will find these new and entertaining.

The first is simply an acknowledgement of some very sharp and refined Presbyterian humor from PCAPresbyter during GA season.  While he does have amusing tweets during the off-season, how can you match such great lines as he had during the PCA GA.

The PCA has a strong theology of penal substitutionary amendments.

GA: God’s plan for cultivating perseverance in Presbyterians.

OK, so maybe only the other polity wonks are ROTFL with stuff like that but I always enjoy when we can take a moment to step back and not take ourselves too seriously.  Well done PCAPresbyter!

Now, for religious humor that is not quite as refined, but that can also be a very funny insight into our foibles and idiosyncracies, I would point to the well know religious humor outlet XIANITY.  While this source puts out several satirical posts a day, a few of my favorites aimed at the Reformed folks include:

ROME: Reformer gored during the Running of the Papal Bulls.

MIRACLES: Report of entire Presbyterian congregation being raised from dead turns out to be everyone standing to sing hymn #78

FOOD: Calvinists pressure General Mills to change name of popular cereal to Providential Charms®

And of a more general theme:

CHURCH: Shabbat riot ensues as Messianic Jew replaces shofar with vuvuzela. #worldcup

LOCAL: Sunday service delayed after Pastor loses keys to “Church of the Open Door”

BREAKING NEWS: Bizarre kindergartner responds with something other than “Jesus” to Sunday School teacher’s questions.

Moving on to the refined, but secular, the writers and journalists out there probably already know about FakeAPStylebook, a twitter feed that satirizes that bastion of journalistic and literary advice, the venerable AP Stylebook.  Recent gems include:

there/their/they’re – What,seriously? This confuses you?

Sprinkle the word “quantum” throughout science articles, particularly if you have no idea what you’re talking about.

Never say anything about a colleague in a private e-mail that you wouldn’t put in print, since it’s going to end up there anyway.

Real estate listings should not describe a building as a “murder house.” Be specific: ax murder house, chainsaw murder house.

And finally, moving from twitter accounts to hashtags and the satirical to the ridiculous, in a play on the Wikileaks drama, there is now a Star Wars send-up called #wookieleaks:

DiscordianStooj: Empire covering up evidence that bombing of asteroids damages the habitat of endangered space slugs. #wookieleaks

FireLifeSafety #Wookieleaks Investigators claim sprinkler systems would have prevented Death Star explosions.

peterhau RT @KendalCole: Skywalker rumored to have spoiled Christmas for Vader, “I felt his presents.” #wookieleaks <- now that’s a good twitter joke!

Some Twitter humor that I follow that I pass along for your reading enjoyment.  Your mileage may vary.

So, having gotten that little bit of ardor out of my system we return to our regularly scheduled order here on this blog. Have fun!

A Little Fun With The General Assembly

6 Replies

While the whole idea of using “fun” and “General Assembly” in the same sentence is probably foreign to many Presbyterians, we have a whole genre of humor that revolves around the gatherings of our governing bodies and poking fun at our fascination with parliamentary procedure.

As evidence of that the representative of a group of Presbyterians who are not afraid to have some fun at the expense of our polity recently sent me a drinking game they came up with during one of the Assembly meetings this Spring.  With their permission I will share that in a minute, but it got me thinking about this.  Considering that a game of this nature would probably not work in the observer galleries of our Assemblies and that the near-by hotel lounges are not likely to live stream the meeting I have borrowed from their idea with the inspiration of a cartoon which has become a classic in academic circles.  Just in time for the resumption of plenary sessions at the PC(USA) Assembly, I bring you

General Assembly Bingo

So here is a bingo card for you to play along with your favorite meeting of the highest governing body of a Presbyterian branch.  I have tried to make it as generic as possible so it can be used at all the different meetings.

GA_bingo
(I have also made a downloadable PDF copy.)

So let me know of other things that might be included or if any of these are too rare an occurrence to be worthy of the bingo card.

Now, as I said at the onset, this was inspired by a drinking game that others proposed.  These drinking games are their own genre as well — for example there is a Star Trek game.

But for General Assemblies, here are their suggested rules:

  • Point of Order — 1 drink
  • Moderator takes a drink — 1 drink
  • Moderator reminds someone to identify themselves at the microphone — 1 drink
  • Moderator makes a joke — 1 drink
  • One of the “polity police” rises to speak — 1 shot of stronger stuff
  • Call for Division — stand on one foot and drink
  • A substitute motion is offered — switch to a different drink
  • Substitute motion is defeated — switch back
  • Somebody from the back complains that they can’t hear or haven’t gotten the distributions yet — buy a round for everyone else
  • Reminder of being inside the voting area — trade drinks with your neighbor
  • Move to recess — bathroom break

Of course, this is presented for entertainment purposes only and I must emphasize the responsible consumption of whatever beverage.  As for me, after a enough drinks of coffee and a couple shots of espresso I’ll probably have a hard time standing on one foot to down the next cup of java during a division of the house.  However, the switch to decaf during the substitute motion will help.  🙂

But however you do it enjoy a bit of irreverence and ardor with your order.  Force yourself to not take the parliamentary procedure too seriously.

We now return to our regular being decent and in order.

Presbyterian Government And American Government — The Same Only Different

2 Replies

It is common among American Presbyterians, when trying to explain our system of Presbyterian Government, to appeal to the structure of our Federal government to help explain how we do things.  This is for good reason because the two governmental systems have strong similarities in their elected representative forms, the presence of checks and balances, and the appearance of different branches of government.  The parallels are not coincidental — while it is often said that the U.S. Government was patterned on the Presbyterian system, several authorities I have consulted prefer to say that the two systems developed at the same time in the same cultural and philosophical climate.

It can not be denied that there is a strong tie between the two.  James Madison was one of the most influential members of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, possibly the individual having the greatest single influence on the government structure in the Constitution.  He was also a graduate of the Presbyterian College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, and following his graduation in 1771 he remained there for another year or two as he studied with the college president, the Rev. John Witherspoon, who had recently arrived from Scotland to serve as the college’s sixth president.  While Madison himself seems to have affiliated with the Episcopal Church, his education clearly included heavy influence by Presbyterians.  (For reference regarding timing, the Presbyterians instituted multiple synods and brought them together in the first General Assembly in 1789 in Philadelphia.)

However, while I have used the analogy between the Presbyterian and American systems of government in the past I have moved away from that because the differences between them are just as important to our polity as the similarities.

One of the big differences is that Presbyterianism is a different sort of representative government.  When a teaching or ruling elder participates in the deliberations of a governing body they may be there as the representatives of the members that elected them to that position, but they are not there to represent the views of those people.  The Presbyterian church is not a democracy or a republic, it is a theocracy.  The very first thing the PC(USA) Book of Order says is:

All power in heaven and earth is given to Jesus Christ by Almighty God, who raised Christ from the dead and set him above all rule and authority, all power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. God has put all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has made Christ Head of the Church, which is his body. [G-1.0100a]

And lest you think they are alone the PCA Book of Church Order begins in a very similar way.  Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church and those in governing bodies are there to seek God’s will and do it, not to follow the opinion of the people.  I would first note that this Book of Order section is a constant reminder to me of what the purpose of church government is and this probably explains why I really don’t like that the new revised PC(USA) Form of Government has moved this away from the opening lines of the Foundations section.  My second note here is to clarify that I am not saying that the opinions and views of those we represent are not important — they are very important.  But they need to be considered as part of the discernment process and possibly held in tension with the leading of the Holy Spirit.  As the Book of Order says “Presbyters are not simply to reflect the will of the people, but rather to seek together to find and represent the will of Christ.” [G-4.0301d]

Maybe the most serious error frequently made in trying to explain Presbyterian government is to describe it as having three branches like the Federal system.  It is tempting to equate the full Assembly as a legislative branch, the judicial commission as the judicial branch, and an executive as the executive branch.  The truth is that a Presbyterian governing body has only one branch and that is the body itself.  We have single bodies which are mostly legislative, or deliberative, and the executive or judicial functions exist not to be branches in their own right but as parts of the governing body to assist the body in carrying out its mission.  Not to put too fine a point on this, but remember that judicial commissions are just that – commissions.  They are empowered or commissioned to act on behalf of the governing body with the full authority of the governing body, within the limits specificed by the governing body.  A commission is an extension of the body to do a particular job, not a separate body.

And this brings me to a third difference, the system of checks and balances.  In the Federal system the primary system of checks and balances is between the three coequal branches of the U.S. government.  Another system of checks and balances exists between the Federal government and the state governments but how strong a system of checks that should be is a matter of discussion by constitutional scholars.  In the connectional Presbyterian system the checks and balances are in “governing bodies (traditionally called judicatories or courts) in regular gradation.” [G-4.0301c]  Our governing bodies are not independent but each sends representatives to the higher one and each higher one has the responsibility of review on the lower ones.  Governing bodies are not independent and autonomous but have come together to be the Body of Christ together in this time and place.

And so, on this 234th anniversary of the Rev. Witherspoon and his fellow delegates to the Continental Congress affixing their signatures to the Declaration of Independence, with a Presbyterian General Assembly underway, we acknowledge the deep connections in history and philosophy the two systems of government share. But we also recognize that these two governments have two different purposes and serve two different ends and so there are also structural and philosophical differences between the two reflecting how their purposes diverge.

So where every American Presbyterians find themselves today, be it in Minneapolis or somewhere else, have a very good Fourth of July.