Monthly Archives: September 2010

General Assembly 2010 Of The Presbyterian Church Of Aotearoa New Zealand

Spring is in the air and it is time for another General Assembly…

Of course, if it is Spring the Assembly would be in the Southern Hemisphere, and so we look forward to the convening of General Assembly 2010 of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand at St. Andrew’s College in Christchurch in just a few hours.  It will conclude this Sunday October 3.

The theme of the Assembly is “Making Disciple-Making Disciples,” a topic chosen by the incoming Moderator, the Rev. Peter Cheyne.  As Rev. Cheyne says in the press release announcing the theme “It is about making disciples who become sufficiently mature to then make another generation of disciples.”  There is a booklet available on-line that will be used at the Assembly for six small-group Bible study discussion sessions on the topic.  Rev. Cheyne has started blogging, including a reflection on this topic.  (From a technical perspective it appears that the RSS feed is for the whole church web site and there is not one specific to his blog.)

So, for those GA Junkies playing along at home here is what you need to know:

Two important items I have not found yet are the docket and an on-line news page.  I will update here when I do find them. But this is a note that there will be audio files available of certain events so keep an eye out for that. UPDATE: The News and Audio Page is now being updated.

Similarly, I have been searching but have not found anyone tweeting the GA, officially or unofficially, and no hashtag.  Again, will update if I find anything.

The back story to this GA is the September 4 magnitude 7 earthquake near Christchurch.  For those not familiar with earthquake behavior the aftershocks behaviour is very typical (GNS calls it “textbook“) and they continue with five in the magnitude 3 range in the last day reported by the GeoNet official agency information.

Since the earthquake there have been a number of information reports and updates from church-related sources.  Linked to the GA web page is an update related to the Assembly.  And thanks to notes from the Rev. Geoff King of Knox Church, Christchurch, as well as the Presbyterian Research blog for posting the accounts, we have Pastor King’s three updates about the situation after the earthquake with one that day, another the next day, and the last a week on.  (That is the ecclesiastical perspective, for the geological angle I really appreciated the great photos of faulting that GNS has up on their scientific response page.)

So in the same way that prophet Amos marks time with an earthquake in his day this GA will probably be remembered for its temporal and geographical proximity to the Darfield earthquake.

Stay tuned in the coming week and let us see what God does among his people as they meet on the South Island.  Prayers for the meeting.

Reorganization Of The National Office Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada

In these challenging economic times Presbyterian branches are wrestling with what it means to be connectional and then how do we pay for it.  Last Saturday I was part of a discussion at our Synod Council meeting where we weighed a number of financial issues with how we relate to each other and tried to discern what we should be doing.  Over the last couple of years many branches have been dealing with the cutting of costs and/or enhancing revenue.

Well, along these lines the Presbyterian Church in Canada yesterday released a plan to reorganize their national office. It calls for a combining of their congregational ministries resource unit, The Vine, with their national ministries unit Canada Ministries.  The reorganization will also have financial management for the Life and Mission Agency centrally administered.  The former will result in a reduction in workforce of one executive and one support staff position while the latter will not affect staffing levels but will free up staff for other work.  The press release also notes the reorganization of duties in other units that will result in a reduction of three full-time equivalent positions.  Of the total of five positions eliminated two will be through retirements.

UPDATE: Reaction from the Emmaus Project which is part of the combined ministries. Update to the Update: Not part of those agencies, see the note in the comments.

The press release closes with this –

The management team expresses its appreciation of all staff who have lived with the knowledge that a reorganization is underway at the national office. These changes have not been without pain and stress and we regret that several good colleagues will be leaving the national office. The ongoing dedication and commitment of the national office staff to serving our church is acknowledged with gratitude.

Presbyterians And The Pope — The Reactions Vary

Well, the Pope begins his four day visit to the United Kingdom tomorrow and the news related to Presbyterian reaction continues to build up.  I have already commented on Head of the Church issues and the idea of having an actor portraying John Knox being in the group greeting the Pontiff.  But why stop there — the historic rejection of the papacy by the Presbyterians as well as concerns over the handling of the Irish child abuse allegations have arisen as issues that are also making news in advance of the visit.

Let me begin with the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.  The Rev. Norman Hamilton was initially quoted by the BBC as saying “Her Majesty will welcome the Pope and I am very content to go along with her welcome to the Pope to Scotland and England.”  In the same interview he is also said to have allowed that he would have no problem meeting the Pope in a “non-religious context.”

The recent news is that the Rev. Hamilton will attend an ecumenical worship service in Westminster Abbey but has declined an invitation to attend a reception afterward and shake hands with the Pontiff.  His announced issue is not the historical differences but the handling of the Irish abuse scandal.  A BBC article makes it clear that Mr. Hamilton wants to join his Catholic countrymen in showing respect for the Pope while still acknowledging that the issues related to the Catholic Church still require “substantive discussion back in Ireland”.  The individual in charge of overseeing the Pope’s visit from the British Government’s side, Lord Patten, has criticized the Moderator for his proposed action suggesting that he is living in the 16th and not the 21st century.

On the other hand we have the reaction of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster which is quite vocal in their opposition to the Pope’s visit on theological and historical grounds.  A while back they published a pamphlet titled Roman Catholicism Examined in the Light of Scripture.  On their web site they have a statement which begins “The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster views the state visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom with dismay and abhorrence.”  The statement goes on to say:

In light of this [the reception by the Queen] his visit can not be construed as simply pastoral. We therefore publicly disassociate ourselves from any welcome given to him and repudiate those protestant churchmen who will welcome the Pope, meet with him or refuse to publicly condemn his teaching or remainindifferent. By their actions they not only give credence to his spurious claims but are betraying the very creeds they once professed to believe teach and defend. Those historic creeds of the Protestant Churches have recognised that the Pope by his claims has placed himself in the place of Christ and therefore have termed him -‘The antichrist in the Church’ (‘anti’ means in place of).

and follows with the statement in the Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.VI, about Christ as the head of the Church.

Following along with this statement, in a BBC article the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church criticises the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland for even attending the service.  The Rev. Ron Johnstone is quoted as saying:

I think it is very sad that he [Rev. Hamilton] would go to such a thing. The Pope claims that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a false church. He claims that we should recognise him as the head of all Christians. And surely the Westminster Confession that Mr Hamilton signed is totally opposed to the teachings of Rome. Both can’t be right: either Romanism is right or the New Testament is right.

In addition, statement on the web site announces a “solemn service” in Edinburgh on the day of the Pope’s arrival followed by a public protest.  This protest has received press coverage and it is interesting that in the BBC article the Rev. Ian Paisley, former Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, indicates that protest is connected with both the present abuse concerns in Ireland as well as the historical aspects.

Among other Presbyterian branches, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has their own pamphlet, Pope Benedict XVI and the United Kingdom.  And an article from Slugger O’toole has excerpts from a resolution passed by their Synod critical of the visit.  These churches in association with many others have posted a Papal Visit Protest Site to help publicise and coordinate the different protests.

The visit begins a few hours from now with all this pomp and ceremony.  Stay turned to see how it all unfolds.

47th Session Of The General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Australia

The 47th Session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia began this evening at the Chinese Presbyterian Church in the Surry Hills area of Sydney, N.S.W.  The GAA meets on a triennial basis with much of the governance of the church happening in the General Assemblies of the state churches (e.g. Presbyterian Church of Australia in the state of New South Wales ).

The incoming Moderator of the General Assembly is the Rev. David Jones of Hobart.  In honor of the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation a special service will be held on Tuesday night with the message brought by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.

That is pretty much the extent of the official information I can find.  For the unofficial I recommend the Rev. Gary Ware.  His writing can be found on his blog mgpcpastor’s blog where he has already posted a GAA 101 with a great overview that will satisfy both the GA Junkies as well as the more casual observer.  He has also posted a two part entry about the opening session and worship service.  His writing includes nice details as well as pictures of the Assembly.  I should also say that the Rev. Ware is on Twitter at @gjware but it looks like his tweets are generated automatically when he updates his blog.  I’ll keep watching for other Twitter users or a hashtag and update if I find anything.

So my best wishes for a productive meeting from the PCA and I look forward to the news that will come out of it.

Sunday Worship At The PC(USA) 219th General Assembly Catalyzes Global Discussion

To say that the Sunday worship service at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not really follow the Regulative Principle of Worship is probably an understatement.  It is always a major production with the message from the outgoing Moderator, the Lord’s Supper, liturgical dance, massed choirs, commissioning of missionaries, remembrance of those Teaching Elders who have joined the Church Triumphant, and lots of music.

I intentionally use the word “production” in the preceding paragraph because this worship service is one:  It is planned a year in advance, is held in a custom decorated worship space, is carefully choreographed and planned, involves hundreds of people, communion is served to thousands of attendees, and is expected to be culturally sensitive or politically correct, depending on your point of view.  Those years that I have attended GA I have always gone to the worship service but I have friends who, for a variety of reasons, have avoided it and found alternate worship services.

Well this year, in addition to the usual worship elements, at the 219th General Assembly there was an additional element that I don’t remember from any previous year: giant puppets.

Now, before I get into this specific case it is probably helpful to point out that the use of giant puppets in worship has become a hot topic in worship circles recently so the use of puppets by the PC(USA) just fed into this controversy.  This YouTube video set off a round of discussion a couple of years ago that included comments from First Things and Insight Scoop among others.

Well this summer, a couple of videos from the opening Sunday worship went viral with corresponding discussion.  I heard about the puppets from the press release but looking back it was probably Viola Larson’s posting of the video and a second video where I first saw them.  It was then picked up by Bad Vestments with their “Giant Papier-mâché Calvinist Puppets of Doom.”  (And Bad Vestments quickly followed with two more examples from other churches.)  At this point the blogosphere weighed in, most with critical comments, including Ad Dominum, Stand Firm, and Gairney Bridge.  Jody at Quotidian Grace ran a poll and of the 43 readers  that responded, 2/3 answered the question “Are giant puppets appropriate in worship?” with “Hell No!”

I’ll say that considering the discussion about this topic that has been going on none of this current controversy seemed out of the ordinary to me.  But then it crossed the Atlantic…

On August 28th the immediate past Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland weighted in on his personal blog, and he too was critical:

It all looks a bit pagan to me, and certainly out of place in a denomination that claims to be Christian and reformed.

Given the other decisions and proposals of the General Assembly with regard to Christian marriage and the place of practising homosexuals in leadership, it seems that PCUSA has drifted away from its biblical and reformed roots. But some people have been pointing that out for many years.

At the present time there are 16 comments to this post — check them out, there is some good material in there.  Today Will Crawley of the BBC Northern Ireland on his blog Will & Testament highlights Dr. Carson’s blog post and the responses in the comments section.  It turns out that that the commenters are mixed in their opinion and include a brief one saying “Not nearly as silly looking as an Orange or Black parade,” and another that observes “There are children and young people present at the opening of their general assembly. Maybe they do some things better than us.”

One long comment, and most reasoned response in my opinion, comes from the noted Belfast blogger Alan in Belfast.  In the comments he says in part:

Stafford, some might say that the opening procession has a bit more life and colour about it than PCI’s stately procession of ex-moderators! But surely it is difficult – perhaps dangerous – to pick a 5 minute excerpt out of an opening event that took a couple of hours and criticise it. Cherry-picking lacks context, lacks any verbal or written explanation of the significance of what was happening. Surely General Assembly Opening hermeneutics requires a bit more context and material before jumping to conclusions.

Later he continues:

The second video – the puppets – has no connection with PCUSA as far as I can tell. It might have helped in the post if you’d made that clear. Maybe it’s because I spent a very pleasant half hour recently talking to Oscar the Grouch, but I do note that puppets seem to have a place in NI Christian teaching. My daughter attended a holiday Bible club a few weeks ago which featured a pair of camels that could be accused of helping spread the Gospel. And the same puppets (or is the puppeteers) have taught children from PCI at more than one Kid’s Praise Party.

And Alan concludes with:

Is there no light to be had at all in either of these situations? As the “standards of the church” that get read out at PCI ordinations and installations say:

“In exercising the inalienable right of private judgement the Christian is not to set his reason above the Word of God, or to refuse light from any quarter.”

Dr. Carson responded:

Alan, you are absolutely right about the importance of context, and nowhere is this more important than in your last statement. “Not refusing light from any quarter” does not mean that anything goes or that all opinions are equally valid for reformed Christians. The statement comes in the context of affirming the authority and sufficiency of Scripture and the inadequacy of human reason. The statement goes on to say that conscience is free from “the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to His Word or beside it, in matters of faith and worship.” It is for that reason that traditionally reformed churches have opted for only those elements in worship which are commanded or recognised in the Bible. No one’s conscience should be bound by being required to participate in worship which includes other elements not prescribed by Scripture.

Peter, another commenter, also has a long and thoughtful response to Alan where he talks about children wanting to know “what is real.”  He concludes with “Real sins, like exclusion, are dealt with by participating in real dramas, real dramas like eating and drinking with people, real dramas like words, words of kindness and grace, real dramas like offering, again, the hand of friendship even after it has been spurned. Real dramas like the Cross.  And that, to my mind, is what is pagan about such events in the church, it is the replacing of the real drama with a made up one of our own, one behind which we hide… and the really disturbing thing is that we can hide behind the most orthodox of doctrine.”

But the real zinger in this discussion, and thanks to Will Crowley for pointing this one out, is from a “Bemused Parent” who was at Dr. Carson’s church, First Portadown.

Truth is stranger than fiction ! ! !

At First Presby’ Portadown, on Sunday, our children’s address consisted of one man dressed all in black, he was the Dark Destroyer(Satan) and the other, dressed in white, was Jesus. They had a tug of war! Go(o)d v’s evil. First time evil won then Jesus with the help of his “friends”, won.

We were all encouraged to cheer and boo the appropriate “hero”.

Stafford, your children’s address was different, are you taking your led from PCUSA? You obviously do not reject light from any quarter. What are you planning next week?

Maybe the best summary of all this is a phrase that Peter and Alan have been discussing back and forth in the comments — “Where do you draw the line?”

“To Boldly Go…” The 2010 National Youth Assembly Of The Church Of Scotland

The 2010 National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland got underway yesterday at Stirling University .  Before I add my comments, I encourage you to check out the nine-minute video about the Assembly that can be found embedded in the official blog.

……

OK, back with me now?

I don’t know if you were struck the same way as I was by some of those comments:  “I don’t have many youth in my own church,” “Clear a place for young people… to put their finger prints on the church’s story — to talk about things that are important to them and things they think should be important to the church,” “have input into the decision making process of the church.”

If you are not familiar with the unique format of the NYA it includes not only the customary worship, study, fellowship, and recreation opportunities, but each year the Assembly discusses, debates and produces a deliverance on a few topics of current interest and relevance.  So when the next General Assembly rolls around in May 2011 the opinions of the NYA are part of the input the GA commissioners will receive.

There are additional written comments about the NYA from the outgoing and incoming NYA Moderators (yes, they have their own Moderator for the debates and yes, the Moderator has a gadget-filled podium from which to Moderate the Assembly). 

The immediate past Moderator, Iain McLarty talks about having the opportunity to represent the NYA to the wider church and says “Some of the central councils of the church are really starting to take notice of what young people say and make that an integral part of their work and again I hope that can continue and that young people won’t accept it when people say that they don’t have enough experience to make a difference.”

The incoming Moderator, Kim Wood, writes:

The thing I’m most looking forward to this year is – well, all of it. Youth Assembly is all about us having the opportunity to tell the Church what we think. And it’s a very exciting time at the moment, because the Church has serious money issues – so change is going to have to happen. We can’t keep doing things the same way, so we have to think differently. And the Church is now waking up and inviting young people to join in the conversation of how we can be the Church of Scotland in the 21st century. So I am hoping and praying that this weekend will allow every single delegate to see ways in which they can add to that conversation.

It’s going to be an amazing weekend. Bring it on!

In another blog post one of the experienced delegates, Nicola, adds her thoughts.  She says that, among other things, at NYA she has “…been challenged to reflect upon my role in the church.”  She goes on with this advice to delegates: “So don’t be afraid to take risks, ask questions and speak your mind- this is, in my experience, one of the best places to do those things- it’s a very challenging, yet incredibly safe space.”  She also shares with us something she wrote about NYA 2008 –

“I was seen this weekend. I was seen and heard and loved and held. I met God in the hustle and bustle, in the debates, in the people who held me while I cried, who laughed with me, who laughed AT me. In the people with whom I sat up all night, napped, argued, planned, ate, sang, prayed, danced, geek-chatted and pondered. In the broken, imperfect lives which were brought together this weekend I had a glimpse of the Kingdom.”

Discernment of call, a glimpse of the Kingdom?  These are never a bad thing.  And to top it off she says in her post “I’ve also discovered what some would call an unhealthy love for all things General Assembly…” to which all I can say is “Welcome to the club Nicola — On behalf of all the other GA Junkies it is a pleasure to have you.”

Along these same lines I would add a comment that appeared on Twitter this morning from one of this year’s delegates: “#nya2010 being listened to is an odd experience…”

So, what about the official details?  The NYA will be meeting from 3 – 6 September with the theme “To Boldly Go…”

(And completely off topic but regarding split infinitives, Justin Taylor recently posted a great quote from George Bernard Shaw.)

Information about the NYA can be found on the official cosy blog, the official twitter handle is @cosy_nya, and the hashtag is #nya2010.  A couple of years ago they were a trending topic on Twitter and had to shut down the screen showing the Twitter conversation because it had gotten too far off topic.  (And yes, there is some standing joke going around this weekend about the Pope visiting NYA.)

Topics for discussion and debate this year are:

  • Fashion – looks wide ranging but sustainability, fairtrade, and labour relations are part of it.  Their official link for more information – Labour Behind The Label
  • Politics – need I say more…  Their official link for more information – Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office
  • Violence – it will be interesting to see where this discussion goes.  Their official link for more information – Violence Reduction Unit

I’m keeping an eye out for other bloggers and so far the Twitter has been fairly quiet.  There is also a flickr feed for pictures.  And on Facebook there is an event page and groups for Youth Assembly and COSY.

I look forward to seeing the deliverances that the NYA puts together this year.

A final word about a face that will be missing from the NYA this year and was not in her usual spot at the 2010 Assembly.  The Rev. Marjory MacLean has been serving as the Deputy Clerk of Assembly and is now serving as a chaplain with the Royal Navy.  If you have ever watched the webcast of the Assembly you know that she could make a polity or parliamentary point with a dry wit that was second to none.  As the Deputy Clerk she helped guide COSY and the youth reps to Assembly and COSY has posted some parting words from her:

I just think that the reform and improvement of the General Assembly over the last ten years has been massively influenced by the Youth Reps. They bring a knowledge, understanding and diligence, as well as character, fun and energy, to the larger Assembly. I have a feeling the contribution of the youth is possibly underestimated, but it’s one of those things that history will no doubt realise in years to come.

Magnitude 7.2 Earthquake Near Christchurch, New Zealand

In an interesting intersection of my seismological work and my GA work about an hour ago a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch , New Zealand.  There are initial reports of peak ground accelerations above 0.4%g and very strong intensities so significant damage can be expected.  While the mainstream media is trying to get information on this the twitterverse is indicating sections of the city with major damage.  Confirmation will await 1) the light of day and 2) the ability to get news out of the epicentral region.

I mention the intersection with Presbyterianism because the 2010 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is scheduled to convene in Christchurch on the 30th of this month.

Prayers for all affected and we will have to wait and see how this will impact the GA.

Technical note:  The South Island of New Zealand has a geologic and tectonic setting similar to California with a plate-bounding strike-slip fault running through it.  While this was not on the Alpine fault, having an earthquake like this on a near-by fault is not a geologic surprise.  Again, we are working with the scientific information we have and it will take a while to fully characterize this event.

UPDATE: Presbyterian Research passes along a description and message from a pastor in the area