The GA Junkie

Next Moderator of the Church of Scotland -- The Process

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:49:12 GMT

While I regularly blog the nominating process of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, we have a different insight this year because another blogger, the Rev. Louis Kinsey, is on the nominating committee for the Moderator of the 2009 GA and Louis is sharing his experience of serving on that committee on his blog Coffee with Louis. The committee has had its first of two meetings and he shares with us his experience (but no names) from that meeting.

I look forward to hearing further from him.

Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly 2008

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:54:36 GMT

If you have not picked up on the buzz, the excitement level is rising for the annual National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland which begins on Friday in Dundee. Among the blogs that I follow, Stewart Cutler and Margaret McLarty seem particularly excited and I kind of wish I could be there too. I look forward to what they have to say after the event, and they are both presenters in workshops.

This annual youth event has its own blog, wiki, and its Twitter keyword is NYA2008. No traditional web site that I can find so it sounds like a very Web 2.0 event. Lots of Twitter. Pictures on flickr?

The four day event includes Debates (sounds like discussion sessions) on Sustainable Living, Social Media ("If you're not online you don't exist"), Healthy Relationships, Future Church (including a discussion topic of "The Rights and Rites of the Church"). And the featured speakers and seminars strike me as a great mix of typical church-related topics (Mission, Bible Society, The Book of Revelation) and realities of life (parenthood, mental health). A good looking event that seems to know their target audience.

So have fun and be sure to write. (Based on the Twitter search that won't be a problem.)

The Changes in the PC(USA) Ordination Exam on Biblical Exegesis -- Brief Observations and Comments

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:24:29 GMT

Last week the news broke, just in time for the latest round of ordination exams, that there would be changes to the grading of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Ordination Exam on Biblical Exegesis. The Presbyteries Cooperative Committee on Examinations announced two changes: 1) "The demonstration of a working knowledge of Greek and/or Hebrew will no longer be a requirement in order to complete the examination successfully." 2) The inquirers and candidates will be asked to offer a "faithful interpretation" rather than "a principle meaning" of the text.

According to a document from the PCCEC these changes come from input received during a self-study. The committee has implemented the changes as a response to those concerns.

This one came in below my radar screen and I must thank the other bloggers I will reference below for alerting me to it. They have all made their own comments about it, and most in more detail and focus than I will. I simply wish to highlight a few issues in this discussion.

1. The Future Is Now
Maybe the most important thing to come out of this, from my polity wonk viewpoint, is that this is the first highly visible change resulting from our new polity model. While we may have been focused on the Form of Government revision (nFOG) from the Task Force and the 218th General Assembly that the Assembly referred to the presbyteries for further review, we need to remember that the revision to Chapter 14 of the current Form of Government, sent to the presbyteries by the 217th GA and approved by them, was in the same spirit as the nFOG. This is a model that removes procedural details from the Book of Order and shifts it out to "manuals" to be written and approved by other agencies and governing bodies. So now Chapter 14 simply says that there will be ordination exams and one of the topics that will be covered is "Biblical Exegesis" rather than giving specifics about the Exegesis exam and what particular details it will cover.

If the nFOG gets adopted expect a lot more of this. Depending on how you look at it this is not necessarily a negative thing. In this case, while the Cooperative Committee may have changed the grading of the exam, the door is now open for a presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry to adopt grading and interpretation of the exam that are stricter than previously specified in the Book of Order.

So, if the church as a whole does not like this change what do they do? (I would note that between the many blogs I read and a Google search I have found only negative comments about this change by bloggers, but it is usually those objecting that shout loudest. However, reading through the comments on the blog posts I reference there are positive comments about the change like this one from Adam Copeland.) It is not clear to me that there is an established method for input and adjustment to these new manuals from the wider church other than expressing concern to the committee and supervising agency or council. There are of course always Book of Order amendments.

For more on the change in polity regarding this I refer you to Pastor Bob.

2. This Discussion Has Been Going On Throughout Global Presbyterian History
I won't go into great detail here, but while Presbyterians have historically held higher education requirements than almost any other denomination, the exact nature of those requirements has been a topic of discussion from the very beginning and continues today. Whether pastors can be trained at small specialized institutions instead of full-fledged universities was a topic of discussion in 18th century American Presbyterianism regarding the Log College and today in the Church of Scotland regarding Highland Theological College.

One of the issues that has been mentioned related to this level of theological training is the high failure rate, possibly related to uneven grading, for any of the more "subjective" or "interpretative" ordination exams. (The polity exam also regularly comes up in this category.) Again, read through the comments on some of the referenced blog posts for individual stories regarding conflicting graders' comments.

3. This Shifts But Does Not Necessarily Weaken The Standards
If the Cooperative Committee and their exam graders were the final word than a good case can be made that the standard is weakened. There is a great series of posts by Mark D. Roberts (First, Second, Third, Fourth, Postscript) on the change and what the weakening of the original language requirement and the different meanings of "a principle meaning" versus "faithful interpretation" imply. (There is more great discussion in the comments to these posts and Jim Berkley has a follow-up.) I think we will have to wait a little bit to see how this change is actually implemented in the grading.

What this change has effectively done has highlighted the responsibility of the graders for interpreting that standard, and shifted the responsibility for judging the candidates ability with the original language to their Committee on Preparation for Ministry. While the proficiency with the original languages will not be graded it will be commented on for the benefit of the CPM's. What will the CPM's do with that?

In essence this change has moved some of the authority and responsibility from the central structure of the denomination back out to the presbyteries. It is now up to the CPM's to take this new responsibility seriously, but you can bet that through differing levels of oversight and differing philosophies there will be a less uniform standard for candidates certified ready to receive a call.

A personal reaction: First, I am a ruling elder and never had to suffer through ordination exams. (Want to trade for my doctoral exams?) However, having had formal Latin training and a few "kitchen table" classes on Greek, I have a rudimentary knowledge of that original language. (Sorry, no functionality for Hebrew.) I do sometimes follow sermons in my Greek text and have done my best to work with both the Greek and transliterated Hebrew on the few times I have preached. From this background I am sorry to see original language ability disappear as an explicit requirement for the exam and if the exam grading remains like this I hope the CPM's will still seriously evaluate a candidate's functionality with the original languages when deciding if they are certified ready to receive a call.

Women in Ordained Ministry in the Church -- Current Discussion and Some Thoughts

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:48:00 GMT

The first item, or actually two items, of news relates to the ongoing discussion in the Presbyterian Church in America about the role of women in the diaconate. You may remember that at their General Assembly back in June there was a significant discussion about establishing a study committee to look at this issue and the various aspects of ordination versus commissioning versus participation. In the end the Assembly decided not to establish the study committee but to continue the discussion in the denomination, including through the process of records review.

As part of that continuing discussion the PCA publication byFaith has just published on-line a pair of articles that do a great job of presenting two of the aspects of this issue:

The Case for our Current Policy on Female Deacons by Ligon Duncan

The Case for Commissioning (Not Ordaining) Deaconesses by Tim Keller

Each of the articles is well written for a knowledgeable but not scholarly audience. For instance, they presuppose that you know a bit about the issue and are familiar with the concepts of complementarianism and egalitarianism. But they do a good job of discussing relevant points in the history of the debate as well as theological and scriptural issues without your eyes glazing over when presented with the Greek vocabulary.

It is also important to point out that the articles are written by two high-profile and respected teaching elders in the PCA with somewhat different views, but who both acknowledge, if not affirm, the present constitutional standard of the PCA that only men may hold any ordained office. They also affirm the constitutional standard that women are to be involved in the diaconate ministry. The articles discuss two different approaches to that involvement.

For those of us not in the PCA this is not an unrelated issue. Between the PCA, with no ordination of women, and the PC(USA), with full ordination of women, there is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with "local option" ordination.

As the movement of churches disaffiliating from the PC(USA) began and these churches generally realigned with the EPC, there were concerns raised about the status of women's ordinations in the realigned churches. In particular, Presbyterians for Renewal had an article in their 12 reasons to stay in the PC(USA) on "The PC(USA) Affirms and Encourages Women." (All of my links to that original article are now broken but there is a post at Renewing.NewCastleFPC.org that has the original list of 12 reasons to stay in the PC(USA).) There was also a series of articles by the Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership titled "Has anyone asked the women?"

In thinking about this I wondered "How much of an issue is this at the present time?"

So in my morning coffee break and over lunch today I did a quick survey. I took the EPC list of churches in the New Wineskins/EPC Transitional Presbytery and did a quick, and probably unscientific, look at all listed web sites to see how many had women on staff who were ordained as ministers. I would first note that of the 30 churches on the list, there is only one with a woman as the solo/senior/head pastor. In total I found about six women in what appeared to be ordained pastoral positions at these 30 churches. (I gave one or two ambiguous names the benefit of the doubt as being women and on some church web sites technical titles that a GA Junkie would want were absent, so again I had to make my best judgment if the individual was ordained. I also included one commissioned lay pastor. Like I said, it was quick, "back of the envelope," and unscientific.) My best count from the web sites is that there are at least 66 total ordained ministers at these churches. At six out of 66 there are about 9% ordained women serving in these churches. So in reality, while six individuals may have an issue when the transitional presbytery dissolves (depends on the status of women in the presbyteries these churches will be transferred into), 91% will have no problem. (Interestingly, I just called up the PC(USA) 2007 statistics, and while they break out male/female elders and deacons, they don't for ministers. But I would bet that the percentage of ministers in the PC(USA) who are women, while less than 50% is more than 9%. I did a count of my presbytery membership and it is 15%. For ministers serving churches it is 22% in my presbytery.)

It is interesting to consider the reasons for this low percentage of women in ordained ministry in these churches. I am not aware of a departure of women from the church as the church departs for the EPC. Maybe there is already a "corporate culture" at these churches that gives them an affinity for the EPC including the lower likelyhood of women in ordained office. Or you could play thought games with the cause and effect: "Because they have few women in leadership they have an affinity for the EPC" or "Because they have an affinity for the EPC they have few women in leadership." While not losing sight of the fact that these churches are realigning with the EPC for other reasons, the issue of women in ordained leadership, or not in leadership as the case may be, appears to be an associated factor.

But at another level it is an issue. Over the last couple of months I've had conversations with two women attending my church about their sense of call to ordained ministry. For both, because of "where they are," ordained ministry in their present situation is not an option, whether it be denominational membership or seminary attendance. They are still talking to God about whether the call is authentic and if so should they make a change in their situation.

And given time, maybe this will not be an issue with the EPC. I have speculated that with a continued or increased realignment of churches from the PC(USA) to the EPC there can't but help being a certain "PC(USA)-isation" of the EPC which I expect will include the spreading of women's ordination under local option, if not the approval of the ordination of women across the denomination. As I frequently say, time will tell.

8th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:10:12 GMT

At this time there is less coverage of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana than the General Synod of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana. It is currently meeting so maybe there will be more news later in the week when it concludes.

One article from Ghana Web focuses on the comments of the Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso in his Moderatorial sermon yesterday. He encouraged the PCG churches "to pray for peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections." He also commented on the political process saying "As we work towards Election 2008, let us pray for presidential and parliamentary candidates who seek office because they see themselves as a call to serve God and his people and not themselves first."

I have noted previously that the Rev. Frimpong-Manso is forthright and outspoken when commenting on the moral state of society. According to this article he also addressed that in his sermon:

Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso said Satan had re-packaged immorality, bribery and corruption, ethnicity, alcoholism, among others, "so that they are now called weaknesses worth tolerating". He appealed to Christians to be watchful and lead upright lives and said "today we encounter forces of division and rancour, sexual promiscuity, murder and crimes as well as forces of family breakdown and breakdown in cherished values of society".

The Assembly also heard the call for churches to work for peaceful elections in a statement from Ghana's President Kufuor that was read to the Commissioners, according to another story from Ghana Web.

In addition, Rev. Frimpong-Manso reported on the project to construct a new conference center and he reported on the church's television ministry. For both projects he appealed for the church's continued financial support of these ministries.

As the week goes on we will see if additional news stories give us more information about the Assembly.

The 67th, and last, General Synod of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:51:27 GMT

As the "General Assembly Season" winds down we come to the meetings of the two Presbyterian Churches in Ghana. First, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.

The title of my post does not imply that the church is going away, rather that one of the actions of the EPCG was to reorganize their highest governing body to be the General Assembly instead of the General Synod. In an interesting move, the EPCG is also "upgrading" their presbyteries to synods, apparently leaving the church without presbyteries at this time. It is not clear if the church structure is intended to stay this way or if this paves the way for the creation of new presbyteries within the synods. It was announced that this change is being made to bring the EPCG in line with "international practice."

The theme of the General Synod, which concluded today, was "Called to Serve" and it was attended by 133 delegates. The new moderator of the EPCG is the Rev. Francis Amenu who succeeds the Rev. Dr. Livingstone Buama who has reached the eight year limit on his service in that position. In addition the Rev. Godwin K. Osiakwa was elected the new clerk. The Rev. Amenu is a second-career minister, having been originally trained as a mining engineer. Both Rev. Amenu and Rev. Osiakwa received their theological training abroad, Rev. Amenu in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the US and Rev. Osiakwa in Cambridge in the UK.

In line with the theme of the Synod, the Rev. Buama, in his sermon marking his conclusion as Moderator, said:

"Called to serve" was meant to be a wake-up call that can remind us and challenge us to change our posture and disposition towards our vocation and calling.

My key submission is that, if things are not changing as they should, it is because we are not serving as we should.

The kind of service that move things forward or effect a change for the better in the church, the nation and the world at large is not lip-service, but visible, tangible purposeful and sustained service.

We are to excel in serving and not in power struggle and self-aggrandisements.

The Synod also heard from Mr. Kofi Dzamesi, the Volta Regional Minister, who urged the church, with its influence on the people of Ghana, to encourage and work for a peaceful election in December. He urged the church's nutrality in the elections to enhance its position as a steadying influence. He also promised to work with the District Assemblies to help with financial support for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church University College.

For more coverage of this General Synod there are articles on Joy Online and Ghana News.

Closely Watched Judicial Cases Affecting the PC(USA) Scheduled For October

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:34:40 GMT

We got news this week that two closely watched judicial cases with implications for the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be heard by their appropriate judicial bodies this coming October.

The first of these will be the trial of the Rev. Janet Edwards by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh on October 1.

This hit the news last week with a news release by the Presbyterian News Service about the case. I am at a bit of a loss to explain the release of this news item at this time unless a) it was a slow news day or b) the trial date was announced. I've been looking for documents related to the trial on line and not finding any so all I can say is that I suspect, but can not confirm, option b.

A quick recap of this case: The Rev. Janet Edwards preformed a same-sex ceremony for a lesbian couple back in June, 2005, and everyone involved with the ceremony is describing it as a "wedding." A complaint was made, an investigating committee formed, and the investigating committee filed charges. One little problem... The charges were filed four days past the deadline that investigating committee had to meet so the Presbytery PJC dismissed the charges. A new complaint was made, a new investigating commission went to work and filed five charges, in a timely manner, and back in June the PJC reviewed the charges and dismissed three of the five. Among the new charges was the accusation that parts of the ceremony were not Christian, but contained Buddhist elements related to the beliefs of one of the partners. That was part of what was dismissed on the theory that if a ceremony is prohibited in the first place you can't specify how it should be done properly and what is improper. (If that theory sounds familiar hold the thought, I'll get back to it in a minute.) (Story on the dismissal from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

A few notes and comments on the story so far: In researching this I have seen several references (like this article) to the original dismissal as being for "statute of limitations." While I am not a lawyer I understand the statute of limitations to relate to the offending action not to the judicial process itself. Since the investigating committee missed a deadline this would be an administrative problem. And since the charges were brought up again clearly it is still within the time limit on the alleged infraction. Related to the charges being brought up again, this new hearing has also been referred to as "double-jeopardy." Again, the first case did not actually go to a "guilty/not guilty" decision, therefore it is not double jeopardy in my understanding of the process.

It is interesting to consider the outcome of this case. It would have been within the realm of possibility, based on the current legal precedent, that all the charges against the Rev. Edwards were dismissed back in June since that hearing was after the Spahr v. Redwoods Decision in April. That decision said "By the definition in W-4.9001, a same sex ceremony can never be a marriage." It went on to conclude that since it can't be a marriage the minister can not be guilty of preforming a same-sex marriage. All the Presbytery PJC had to do was cite this precedent and "game over." But this result would have been about as unsatisfying as the GAPJC decision. And the dismissal of three of the charges does have that similar ring of legal reasoning. (I am not a church lawyer so if I missed a critical point in our polity here related to the hearing or dismissing the case please let me know.)

So it appears that the PJC sees a point in hearing this case. It could be that Edwards will be acquitted based on the Spahr decision. It could be that she will be acquitted or found guilty on the merits, rather than the definitions, of this case alone. If it is decided on its own merits I would expect this to make its way up the judicial ladder and it could be the case for a more satisfying decision by the GAPJC. The GAPJC has eight new members elected at the last GA so the balance or dynamics of the body may change. We will have to see.

In the latest Presbyterian News Service article Rev. Edwards is quoted as saying "I’m sure that we will press the parts of the Spahr decision that supports my presiding at the wedding and calling Brenda and Nancy’s relationship a marriage. We see a lot of positive things in the Spahr decision." I would say to be careful what you ask for because by the Spahr decision says that by definition the relationship can not be a marriage. The Rev. Edwards has a web site with information about the case called "A Time To Embrace" on which she has posted a statement in her defense. The brief makes specific reference to W-4.9001. After the GAPJC made clear in the Spahr decision that this is the definition of marriage and anything that deviates from this is not a marriage, Rev. Edwards now argues (p. 31) "[W-4.9001] is definitional in nature only, and contains none of the language that the Book of Order instructs must be present to set forth a mandate or a prohibition." The brief goes on to argue that there is no prohibition on same-gender marriage ceremonies, seeming to ignore that the fact that one of the decisions they cite says there are no such thing as same-gender marriage ceremonies based upon the Book of Order passage Edwards' cites. While Edwards' brief does briefly mention the definition in the Spahr, it puts much more emphasis that an acquittal is in order because the charges are vague and not defensible.

There is one additional point in the brief that I find interesting. It makes note of the action by the 218th General Assembly to vacate previous Authoritative Interpretations regarding the ordination of self-acknowledged practicing homosexuals, and it discusses the GAPJC's divided interpretation of W-4.9001 as to its applicibility as a prohibition against future same-gender marriage ceremonies. The brief does not mention that the 218th General Assembly, by a wide margin (I got it right that time), voted not to propose changes to W-4.9001.

Well, that was more of a point-by-point analysis than I had planned. OK, on to the second case...

Regarding the second judicial case, I was notified two days ago that trial is now set to begin on the "Episcopal Church Cases" before the California Supreme Court on October 8. Don't let the "Episcopal" distract you; there are amicus curiae briefs for this case filed by Clifton Kirkpatrick and the national office, the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, and the Presbyterian Lay Committee.

This case is a test case on church property in California and comes from three linked cases out of Los Angeles and Orange Counties where three Episcopal Churches tried to realign with other Anglican communions outside the US and the Dioceses went to court to keep the property. The case is highlighted by the fact that in this particular case the Appellate Court decision used the "highest government" legal theory, which favored the hierarchical church and ruled against the particular churches in their bid to hold onto property, while other Appellate Court decisions have used the "neutral-principles analysis" which would favor the particular congregation. With both on the books the Supreme Court took the case and will decide on the proper legal theory for our state.

I probably don't need to remind any regular readers that there is a lot riding on this state Supreme Court decision. Along the length of the State of California there are Presbyterian, as well as Episcopal, churches trying to get out with their property and there are rumblings of more waiting in the wings for this decision. I don't know how the decision in this case could influence other places in the country, but it could have a major influence on the denominational map in California. Then again, we could go with the "Graceful Seperation" that General Assembly endorsed. Again, time will tell.

72nd General Synod (2008) of the Bible Presbyterian Church

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:20:34 GMT

The 72nd General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from July 31 to August 5. This is the highest governing body of the BPC which is the smallest of the Presbyterian Branches that I try to follow. It has only five presbyteries and lists 25 churches on it's church directory web page. The theme of the General Synod was "Beholding God, Pursuing Godliness, Proclaiming Christ."

I have seen no official news about the General Synod yet, but in response to a specific question posted on PuritanBoard the new Stated Clerk of the Synod, the Rev. John T. Dyck, posted a brief summary and an answer to the question.

Rev. Dyck summarizes the meeting saying "Overall, we had a very good synod. There is a renewed resolve amongst our men to focus on evangelism and church planting as we seek to rebuild our federation."

What seems to be the major item of the meeting, and what prompted the question, was the vote by the South Atlantic Presbytery (SAP) to disassociate from the BPC. (No future association was specified.) Now, under BPC polity it is clear that congregations and ministers may freely leave the denomination "no questions asked," or at least without any resistance. The action by SAP brings up the polity question of whether the same holds for presbyteries, to which the General Synod made it clear that it does not. First, "the presbytery is a creation of the synod and subject to its oversight; it does not exist independently." Second, "we do not believe that [the members of presbytery] had authority to speak for their individual churches without congregational meetings." Finally, some members of presbytery voted against the action and by doing so chose to remain associated with the BPC.

Rev. Dyck also notes that a protest was filed with the denomination's Judicial Appeals Commission and as an administrative action (as clarified in a second post) the Commission has declared them the continuing presbytery and minister members and sessions of the previous SAP are being asked to clarify their status with the denomination.

I noted in my comments on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church General Assembly that the fraternal representative from the BPC to the OPC GA explicitly mentioned the differences of opinion in the BPC over the continuing correspondence with the OPC. Rev. Dyck hints at that when he says "The BPC continues to have Corresponding Relations with the OPC. Rev Tom Tyson was their representative to our synod." (It is helpful to understand that the BPC broke with the OPC shortly after the OPC broke with the mainline Presbyterians back in the late 1930's.)

I'll post a follow-up if there is new and interesting information in either an official report on the General Synod, or actions appear on the BPC's Resolutions Passed page.

PresbyLimpic Events over at QG

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:39:46 GMT

I suspect that most of you already read Quotidian Grace, but if you don't and you don't mind some humor at the expense of our polity, read and contribute to the new post on PresbyLimpic Events.

Wonderful thread Jody!

Sprint or Marathon

steve@gajunkie.com (Steve Salyards) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:14:35 GMT

Watching the Olympics this evening it was interesting the juxtaposition of the pre-recorded men's 100 m sprint (dash) interspersed with the live women's marathon. Then later in the evening again the live swimming coverage began with the women's 50 m and was followed by the men's 1500 m. It both categories was the shortest event paired with the longest event.

In each case the strategy for running (or swimming) the race is different: all-out for the sprint, pace yourself for the distance. The start is incredibly important for the sprint, not as much for the distance. When the sprint starts the eyes are on the finish line, when the marathon started every one of the competitors looked down at their watch as they started it so they would know their pace. For me, the latter image of starting the watch so you have a "standard" or "measure" to guide you is one of the strongest object lessons I have seen in these games.

Now you could come up with all sorts of object lessons from both the sprints or the distance events: Pacing yourself versus keeping your eyes on the goal; having the endurance for the long race versus the importance of all aspects, start, sprint, and finish for the short distance. One of the interesting lessons from the Romanian woman who won the marathon (who lives and trains in the US) is the commentators' comment that she figures out her strategy for the race and then runs it regardless of what is happening around her. Another interesting and related object lesson is that after she made her move (she was about a minute ahead of her closest competitor for the last 10 miles of the race) she did not look back until she got close to the finish.

[Other inspirations this evening: The marathon winner, Constantina Tomescu, and U.S. Swimmer Dara Torres, with an individual silver in the 50 m freestyle, were second oldest and oldest competitors in the events at 38 and 41 years old. As Dara said later "You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." And the 1500 m swimming event was won by Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia, the first swimming medal ever for Tunisia (although he also lives and trains in the US).]

So, if our Christian life is a marathon, set your pace, run your race, don't let the pack throw you off your plan to reach the goal.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. - Hebrews 12:1