Monthly Archives: January 2008

I Might Need to Declare a Departure

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It is time for my annual introspection and reflection on my law-keeping and whether my actions cause others to sin.  No, I’m not preparing for Ash Wednesday and Lent, although that would be a good guess since that is important to me as well.  I’m considering my regular reflection on the Westminster Confession of Faith, Section 21-8:

8. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

No, somehow this passage comes to mind every year about this time as I consider the spectacle of “Superbowl Sunday.” In the past I have rationalized it:  I’m sort of resting, we are not under the law any more, I did go to worship in the morning and to the evening service afterward, it is really only one Sunday a year that I watch American Football, and I watch it with others from my Bible study group.  But in the end, I have still vowed to “sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will be instructed and led by those confessions as I lead the people of God.”  So, I should not be distracted from God on the Sabbath by some silly football game.

Well now, thanks to the PUP report, I can declare a departure from the Westminster Confession.  I can refer to Paul’s words “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1-2) so that, at least for this one Sabbath day, we don’t have to worry about our “recreations.”

Well, satire aside, I still remain conflicted over this particular day.  I know that some churches use this as an outreach event.  And I know that I am probably one of the few, if only, elder in my church that would worry about this.  And other Sunday afternoons I get work done around the house so that could be a violation too. But it is impossible to deny that this section in the Westminster Standards derives from one of the “big ten,” “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” 

But the bottom line with any of this is Jesus’s words that “The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)  The Law and the Confessions are there to guide us for we are indeed free from the legalism of them.   They guide us towards a deeper relationship with God.  And as we do approach Lent, I am reminded that there is a bunch of other stuff in my life that does more to separate me from God than sitting down with friends one Sunday afternoon a year and watching a media circus that might have a football game attached.

Presbyterian News Service Article on The “School of the Americas”

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There was an interesting news article this week from the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) about the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.  This is a Spanish language school at Fort Benning, Georgia, where military, police, and a few civilians from Central and South American countries are trained by the U.S. Army.  This Institute, formerly known as the “School of the Americas,” has been the focus of condemnation for decades for allegedly training its students in torture and other questionable techniques which they then took back and applied in their own countries.  The concern has been that the U.S. Army was training foreign operatives in methods that violated human rights. 

This article is interesting because it is about two Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PC(USA)) chaplains who either work at or work with the Institute and their perspective and inside knowledge of the school.  As Chaplain John W. Kiser, who teaches ethics at the school says:

“Here’s the problem that I see,” Kiser told the Presbyterian News Service, recently. “Bits and pieces of different things have been glued together and false conclusions drawn. It’s the old line that
two-plus-two does not equal five.”

While they do not deal with the school twenty years ago, they do make a point that graduates of any school are not going to be completely perfect, but out of 60,000 graduates of the Institute in the last 60 years, only 600 have been implicated of a crime and about 100 have been convicted in their home countries.  That is 99% of their graduates who have not had a problem.  As Rev. Kiser says:

“A school should not be held accountable for the moral failings of a few of its graduates.”

The thought is echoed by Chaplain James S. Boelens, also interviewed for the article:

(Boelens) said doing so would be the same as suggesting that Harvard University be held accountable for the murderous acts of convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski — the Harvard graduate who between 1978 and 1995 sent letter bombs that killed three people and injured 29. “The inductive fallacy would be to say that everybody that graduates from Harvard is a criminal.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been prominent in the protests against the school, including the 206th General Assembly (1994) passing a motion calling for its closure and being represented and having media coverage at the annual protest and civil disobedience action.  This past November two PC(USA) protesters, one a pastor, were arrested for trespassing as part of the protest.  Fifteen to twenty years ago closing down the School of the Americas was a major issue for the PC(USA) Washington Office.

I bring up this article because one of the criticism’s I have had in this blog was what I, and those around me in the pews, perceived as a “progressive bias” by the Presbyterian News Service.  ( December 2007 post, November 2007 post, August 2007 post)  I now consider it incumbent upon me to recognize their news coverage of an issue that is in balance with a previous article.  So thank you to the PNS, and particularly Evan Silverstein who wrote both of these articles, for covering both sides of the issue and providing a balance many of us are looking for.  Well done!

PCA Overture about Diaconal Ministry and the Participation of Women

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Teaching Elder D. Marion Clark, the Executive Minister at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, has posted on his blog DMC News a summary of one business item at last weekend’s presbytery meeting.  At this meeting the Presbytery of Philadelphia approved an overture to the Presbyterian Church in America‘s upcoming June General Assembly that would ask for a study committee to clarify the office and practice of deacon and the participation of women in that ministry.

First, it is useful to look at the “official” status of the office of deacon in the PCA.  The PCA understands scripture to teach that the office of deacon, like the office of elder, is open only to men. [ Book of Church Order (BCO) 9-3 and elsewhere]  The deacons of a church, in addition to the ministry of “sympathy and service,” also have oversight of the church property although approval by the session may be required of certain actions. [BCO 9-2]  In addition to those called to the office of deacon “It is often expedient that the Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in any distress or need.” [BCO 9-7]

This overture revolves around that last phrase and how it is implemented and individuals recognized in a congregation.  For example, at Tenth Presbyterian Church their web site lists, in addition Deacons, a group of Deaconesses.  From my understanding of PCA polity, and from checking over the BCO, I am aware of nothing that prohibits this position, it is just not an ordained office of the church.

Turning to the text of the overture that TE Clark has posted, it asks for “an ad interim study committee whose members are representative of various positions within the PCA with respect to women’s involvement in Diaconal ministry, to study and report back to the 37th General Assembly.”  The first task of the study committee would be to study scripture concerning women’s eligibility for election and ordination to the office of deacon and recommend any changes to the BCO.

If no changes are recommended the overture then asks for clarification of a number of issues.  These include: Must there be male deacons?  Could deacons, male and female, be commissioned instead of being ordained?  If you commission, what questions may be used?  May ordained men and commissioned women serve together on the Board of Deacons?  And can Teaching Elders be licensed to serve if they believe women should be ordained as deacons, but agree to abide by the BCO?

Interesting overture, interesting questions for clarification.  This could be a significant discussion at the GA.  Or it might be quickly dispensed with one way or another since it only calls for the study committee and not an actual BCO change yet.  I have been reading a lot between the lines from this overture and the Tenth web site, but it pretty much amounts to speculation, so I’ll save any of that for another time.  In light of what else is happening in Presbyterian branches right now this could say a lot about the PCA.

Moderator Election for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

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The upcoming selection of the Moderator of this year’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) is attracting attention for a couple of reasons.

The first is that one of the nominated candidates on the list is the Rev. Ruth Patterson.  Rev. Patterson has received votes before, but in the wake of the gender controversy at Christmas her nomination this year takes on additional significance.  As a quick reminder, two churches in Portadown join together for a Christmas service, but this year the minister of the host church declined to let the pastor of the guest church preach, as is the tradition, because the pastor is a woman.  As I mentioned in my post at the time and as discussed in a current Belfast Telegraph article, this is within the polity of the PCI under the 1989 “liberty of conscience” clause.  The PCI has never had a female Moderator of the General Assembly.

Within this debate it is interesting to note that the Rev. Patterson was the first woman to be ordained as a Presbyterian minister in Ireland, in 1976, following the 1973 change opening the ministry to women.  Rev. Patterson serves as the Director of Restoration Ministries, has been the Moderator of the Belfast Synod, and is the daughter of the late Very Rev. Dr. Tom Patterson, the Moderator of the General Assembly in 1977.  There is another Belfast Telegraph article about Rev. Patterson and the Moderator selection process.

But there is a second point of interest in the current news, a point discussed in the second article and that I have subtly hinted at in my wording above.  The Moderator selection process has changed this year.  In the past, all the presbyteries have met on the same evening and each presbytery voted on their choice for Moderator with the individual receiving the most votes being elected.  Previously this was done without an advance list so each presbytery was free to chose as the Spirit led them.  This year there is a nomination process to create a list which the presbyteries will vote from and the Rev. Patterson is one of the seven names on the list.

Federal Vision Controversy News — Report that Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church Has Voted to Leave the PCA

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Rev. Doug Wilson, a prominent proponent of the Federal Vision Theology, in his blog “ Blog and Mablog,” reports today that the congregation of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church of Monroe, Louisiana, yesterday voted unanimously to leave the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and affiliate with the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC).  There is no confirmation of this on the Auburn Avenue web site.  This comes in the wake of Louisiana Presbytery being indicted and choosing to plead guilty over their improper examination of Auburn Avenue’s Teaching Elder Steve Wilkins.  They also voted to turn over the trial of TE Wilkins to the denomination’s Standing Judicial Commission (SJC).  (For more on this see my post yesterday on this topic.)

While we are waiting for confirmation and more details, there has been reaction, particularly about whether TE Wilkins would be released to CREC and if this would stop a trial before the SJC.  David Booth, in a post on his blog post tenebras lux, raises these questions and argues in favor of the trial saying: “Trials are painful, but I believe that it would be healthier for the PCA to actually have held a trial of Pastor Wilkins in an actual church court rather than on the Internet and through administrative
maneuvering.”  And the blog Green Baggins has confirmed an e-mail from Doug Wilson with this information as well as the announcement by the blog’s owner, the Rev. Lane Keister, of his resignation from the PCA prosecuting team since his services there will no longer be needed due to these developments.  Stay tuned to Green Baggins both for its spirited discussion of this topic and, I am hopeful, that Rev. Keister will provide some insight into the process and proceedings he helped with.

UPDATE January 29, 2008: As of today the front page of the web site of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church has been updated to reflect, both in the body and in the headlines side bar, the move from the PCA to the CREC.

UPDATE January 31, 2008:  Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church has now posted a letter from TE Steve Wilkins explaining the rationale for leaving the PCA.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — Late January Update

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Things are beginning to pick up as we approach the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in June.  Here is an update of new developments since my last post about this a couple of weeks ago:

The number of candidates for moderator have now increased to three.  Back in November National Capital Presbytery endorsed the Rev. Bill Teng as a moderator candidate. ( Presbyterian News Service Article) At the time of my last post San Francisco Presbytery had just endorsed the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow as a candidate on January 15.  Rev. Reyes-Chow quickly announced the news by starting his moderatorial campaign blog and the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) caught up with Web 2.0 with their news story last Thursday.  Rev. Reyes-Chow is the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church that the news story describes as a “multi-cultural, multi-generational New Church Development of San Francisco Presbytery that makes extensive use of cyberspace to communicate and conduct its ministry.”  The news story also describes Bruce as “a highly sought-after speaker.”  The fact that the news story makes significant use of his blog as a source is noteworthy.

On January 18, shortly after that endorsement, New Castle Presbytery endorsed the Rev. Carl Mazza as the third candidate for moderator.  According to Friday’s Presbyterian News Service article, Rev. Mazza is the founder and leader of the organization Meeting Ground, described in the article as “a community-based ministry with the homeless and other marginalized people.”  The extent of the organization’s ministry is impressive, running two shelters, a transitional house, and a residential facility, as well as a winter homeless shelter ministry that combined provided over 21,000 bednights and 30,000 meals in 2007 according to the news story that cited the groups annual report.  In the web page about his endorsement on the Meeting Ground web site Rev. Mazza describes his ministry with this opening sentence: “The call of my life, and my reason for entering the ministry, is with and among persons who are experiencing homelessness or otherwise struggling to survive at the margins of our society.”  And in a Web 2.0 touch, there is an page about him and his moderatorial campaign on the New Castle Presbytery wiki.  This appears to be the same content as is on the Meeting Ground site.

In looking over these PNS articles again, I would note an interesting style difference in the news story about the Rev. Reyes-Chow.  While the other two contain embedded links to at least the endorsing presbytery, Rev. Reyes-Chow’s contains no embedded links at all.  A simple omission I am sure since I know from my writing this blog it is difficult to chase every possible link.

I would also note that we now have three Ministers of Word and Sacrament but no Elders endorsed for Moderator.  I have to wonder if the new biannual format of General Assembly has made it more difficult for an elder to take the time to serve as Moderator, but that is a topic I will delve into more in an upcoming Commentary.  Stay tuned.

Turning our attention to the business before the GA, the Business page is now up to thirty overtures, counting Overture 3 which was withdrawn.  Three of the seven new overtures address social witness policy.  Overture 24 is from Heartland Presbytery and is titled “On Reinstating the Office of Environmental Justice as an Integral Part of the Mission of the Church.”  Unfortunately, the link from the official business page is broken and the minutes from the presbytery meeting where it was passed no longer seem to be posted, but there appears to be a copy in Word format on the web site of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. (Isn’t Google wonderful.)  The title of the overture is pretty much the action item in the overture and the rest of the text is reference to past GA statements and actions.

Overture 25, from the Presbytery of Lake Huron, calls for the PC(USA) to encourage and advocate for assistance to, and resettlement of, Iraqi refugees, and particularly for action from the U.S. government towards those ends.  And the Presbytery of Chicago has overtured GA ( Overture 26) “On Pursuing a Culture of a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.”  This overture calls for internationally recognized human rights in Israel and Palestine, denominational advocacy with the U.S. government to work towards that goal in the Middle East, and for PC(USA) groups to study the situation there.

Along other lines, Overture 27, from the Presbytery of Central Nebraska, would have the Board of Pensions of the PC(USA) “Expand the Definition of Medical Necessity to Include Habilitative Services for Children with Congenital Developmental Disabilities.”  This expanded definition would then have the Board of Pensions medical plan covering speech, physical and occupational therapy for children with conditions such as Downs Syndrome and Autism.  At the present time the medical plan only covers “restorative” therapy to recover from accident or illness and the overture rational cites studies to show that the additional cost would be very minimal.

Reading through Overture 30, this sounds like a “ Blood on Every Page” development where the overture was occasioned by specific financial irregularities in a church in the Presbytery of the Pacific, the originating presbytery.  The overture requests changes to the Form of Government and the Rules of Discipline to tighten up financial practices in churches.  These new rules include not having any pastors serve as a corporate officer, making sure the annual financial review is done by two unrelated persons, and making changes to accounts an act of the session and recorded in the minutes.  Reading through the proposed changes it is possible to put together a specific scenario that led to this overture.  F
inally, the Discipline change would make the three-year limit on disciplinary action for financial misconduct start at the time the misconduct was discovered.

And the “Reverse the PUP” overture in this batch is Overture 28 from the Presbytery of Central Washington which basically does what the title says: “On Requesting That All Actions of the 217th General Assembly (2006) Related to the Report of the Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity Be Fully Rescinded.”

I have saved Overture 29 for last because it hinges on a polity subtlety that a GA Junkie would appreciate.  This overture, titled “On Amending G-5.0200 to Add the Vows of Membership to the Book of Order,” from the Presbytery of Mission, is motivated by the fact that members of a congregation are received by the Session unlike elders and deacons who are elected by the congregation and ordained and installed in public worship.  At the present time the membership “vows,” actually statements from which worship books have provided specific vows, are contained in the Directory for Worship (W-4.2003) right along with the ordination vows (W-4.4003).  But this sets up an interesting paradox – the session receives the new members but they declare their faith, take their vows if you will, before the full congregation.  This overture would add the specific vow language to the Form of Government section of the Book of Order (G-5.0200) so that the vows are taken before the Session at the time of reception into membership.  There appears to be nothing in the overture to remove it from the Directory for Worship so it would seem that new members would declare their faith twice in the membership process.

Finally, I wanted to mention that there is at least one name floating around as an applicant for the position of Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.  Toby Brown on his blog Classical Presbyterian mentions in one of his posts that the Rev. Ed Koster, currently the Stated Clerk of Detroit Presbytery, has his name in the pot.  Toby gives no source so it may be personal contact, and I have found no other mention of his name, or any other names, elsewhere in connection with the Clerk job.

Louisiana Presbytery Enters Mixed Plea in SJC Case

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The Louisiana Presbytery decided, after four hours of debate, to enter a mixed plea to the indictment by the Presbyterian Church in America Standing Judicial Commission according to HaigLaw in his blog entry of January 19.  This one seems to have really been under the radar and my thanks to JHG for bringing it to our attention in an entry on his blog In Light of the Gospel.

Specifically, the presbytery voted to plead “not guilty” to the charge that they failed to properly handle the differences that Teaching Elder Steve Wilkins declared with the “Confessional Standards.”  On the other hand, the presbytery voted to plead “guilty” to the charge that the failed to find a strong presumption of guilt in TE Wilkins’ views being out of conformity and with that vote are forwarding the case of TE Wilkins to the SJC.

It is important to note that count 1 was a technical charge (see my previous post on the subject for more details) so pleading not guilty to that one seems to be more about the precise wording than the intent.

HaigLaw reports that several proposals were floated during the meeting but other approaches, including having the LA Presbytery conduct the trial of TE Wilkins and a vote of confidence for TE Wilkins, could not garner a majority.

I would quote HaigLaw about the meeting: “…I was impressed with the charity with which these
elders debated their divergent views on these issues, and the courtesy and fairness extended to Pastor Wilkins. “

Needless to say, there is also analysis over on Green Bagginses.  I will let that (mostly) speak for itself, but read through the comments if you care about this stuff because HaigLaw contributes to the discussion comments and provides more detail than he did in his original post.  Thanks HaigLaw, or “Grandpa David,” for all of this info. I just added you to my regular reading list.

From that discussion I would state here one point made by HaigLaw, that it was conveyed to them that the SJC would likely drop charge #1 if there were a guilty plea on charge #2.  Also, the discussion touched on the point that TE Wilkins might not be able to avoid trial by resigning from the PCA since the resignation must be accepted.  I have been involved in two cases in the PC(USA) were the pastor resigned, or in polity language “renounced jurisdiction,” to immediately avoid trial.

Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area Approves a Non-essential Departure

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First it was San Francisco Presbytery almost two weeks ago, yesterday it was the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area that approved a non-essential departure from the PC(USA) reformed standards.  This was in the case of Mr. Paul Capetz who in May 2000 requested and was granted release from the exercise of ordained office as Minister of Word and Sacrament since he could not in good faith affirm the PC(USA) “fidelity and chastity” amendment, G-6.0106b.  This was a postponed meeting that I wrote about the details back in November.

The web site of More Light Presbyterians is reporting that yesterday the presbytery accepted the departure by a vote of 197-84-2, that Mr. Capetz be restored to ordained office by a vote of 196-79-3, and that his position at United Theological Seminary was validated as ministry on a voice vote.

I would note that the vote was not as close as it was in the San Francisco case.  Because of that, and the fact that there does not seem to be a minority report, I am not as sure this will go to the PJC, although it could get consolidated into a PJC case, or a GA PJC decision could influence it, as could action by the GA in June.

Recent Developments in Churches Breaking with the PC(USA)

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I made a decision a while back to not worry about posting the updates and details of the several and on-going cases where churches are leaving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PC(USA)), particularly those associated with the New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC) and particularly those moving to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).  The reasons for my not covering them in detail are many:  Others, particularly the blog PresbyLaw and the Layman Online, are already doing a good job keeping all of us up-to-date on the details.  Also, while each case is different, many can be grouped in the different categories of “leaving with property,” “leaving with property after a settlement with the presbytery,” “leaving without property,” and those that are still in the process tied up in either church processes or civil litigation.  So, not to deny the significance of any individual church, from a process point of view I was afraid that blogging the individual cases would start to sound repetitive.  Finally, it looked like posting updates on the 60-100 churches that are going through this would consume a good portion of my blogging time that I would rather target to a broader range of polity issues.

Having said that, I do want to comment on the current high-profile case since it has a number of interesting distinctives.

At a congregational meeting yesterday the members of Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in Allison Park, PA, voted by a margin of 664-25 to leave the PC(USA).  Among the distinctives of Memorial Park are that it is the largest church in Pittsburgh Presbytery with over 1650 members and the senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. D. Dean Weaver, is the co-moderator of the New Wineskins Association of Churches.  But the most distinctive thing that brought them to the vote yesterday was the way in which this journey unfolded.

The first vote was on June 3, 2007, when the congregation voted 951-93 to request dismissal from the PC(USA) to the EPC. ( church press release)  Memorial Park then began negotiating with the Pittsburgh Presbytery to be dismissed.  It should surprise none of us that the negotiations were basically about money, at least if the latest information is accurate.  According to a letter the church sent out on January 3, 2008, the church and the presbytery were far apart on offers and request, and no progress had been made in several months.  The church then initiated legal action to secure the property (“quiet title claim”) in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. ( Pittsburgh Post-Gazett Article)  Following the court filing the Presbytery’s Administrative Commission appears to have tried to invoke “original jurisdiction” and take control of the church, including the instruction that the congregational meeting yesterday be canceled.  The church requested from the Common Pleas Court, and got, an injunction against the presbytery so that the meeting could procede.  The Presbytery agreed not to further contest the injunction as long as the church did not transfer the property yet.  At the meeting the congregation voted 664-25 to dissolve all ties to the PC(USA) and affiliate with the EPC.  ( Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article about the new developments)  Following the court filing the Presbytery also sent a letter out to members of the Presbytery.

That is where the case sits at this moment, but this is far from over.  Because the congregation now considers itself a member of the EPC, or at least not a member of the PC(USA), the Administrative Commission should have no further power or authority.  The Presbytery emphasizes that the church did not follow the process for departure and was never released, therefore it is still a PC(USA) congregation.  As you can probably guess, Judge Judith L. Friedman of the Court of Common Pleas will probably have the next, but certainly not the last, say on this.  Court arguments will resume tomorrow.

Are We Presbyterians Really All That Joyless?

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This topic surfaces regularly and the last time I posted on it was back in October, 2006.  However, this past week two new items appeared that brought this into focus again.

Specifically, it is usually the Scottish Presbyterians that get typed as too serious and joyless.  This past week press coverage brought my attention to an article in the September issue of the regular publication of the Free Church of Scotland, the Monthly Record.  The press coverage brought other people’s attention to it as well since the church set up a special page for it on their web site.  The issue of the magazine is about “Enjoying God” and the editor, David Robertson, wrote the lead article is titled “ The Joy of Calvinism” and begins with this sentence:

The definition of a Calvinist as being a person who is miserable at the thought that someone somewhere is actually enjoying themselves’ is sadly all too typical of the popular misconception of the Free Church (and other forms of Reformed Christianity) in Scotland today.

The writer goes on to say how the culture sees religion, particularly the Scottish Presbyterian kind, as “doom, gloom, blackness, depression and joyless,” how everything that is wrong with Scottish society and even the weather get blamed on Knox and Calvin, and how the Prime Minister of the UK, Gordon Brown, is always labeled by the media as a “dour Presbyterian Scot (the three words always going together).”

The article then reminds us that if we are miserable at our human condition, if we “complain, moan, and have a spirit of bitterness” it is “not because of [our] Christianity — it is in defiance of it.” (emphases in the original)  The author is not denying the true pains and challenges of our human lives.

His point in the article is that Christians should enjoy life more than non-believers because we know the source of our blessings, God the giver of all good gifts.  In so doing, we should enjoy the good things in life as gifts from the one we worship, not worship the good things as idols unto themselves as those who do not know the ultimate source was God.  “The ultimate joy is to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And if we cannot thank the triune God for what we are doing, eating, drinking or watching then we should not be involved with them.”  He goes on to talk about worship and say “Every service should be a celebration.”  It is not an argument for a particular “style” of worship, but our attitude towards worship and how we approach such things as the content of prayers and the tempo of hymns.

While not a current article, I and others discovered it this week and it stands in contrast to some comments from a politician about Scotland that reinforces this stereotype.  Interestingly the comments are also old, five years old to be exact, but were brought to light this past week by a Freedom of Information request.  The comments were made in an e-mail by Mr. John McTernan, now serving as a top aide to the Scottish Secretary.  In that old e-mail he tells a colleague that they will enjoy their trip to Sweden, “It’s the country Scotland would be if it was not narrow, Presbyterian, racist, etc, etc. Social democracy in action.”  At the time Mr. McTernan worked for the Scottish Arts Council.  Mr. McTernan is claiming that the comments were taken out of context and are old.  The ruling Scottish National Party is using this as evidence of what Mr. McTernan’s Labour Party really thinks of Scotland.  I won’t go any further into the national politics of this, for that you can see the news on-line, including a story from Scotsman.com.

The point here is that the church can be joyful about the proper things and that would help to not only reverse the perception of Reformed Christians, but attract people to Christ.