As most of you know I have begun studies toward earning a Doctor of Ministry degree through McCormick Theological Seminary. In a little over one week I will be flying to Chicago for my first class (Nov. 11-16) called, “Where Three or More Gather.” The focus of the class is how we live in community: … Continue reading “…On Gratitude as a Way of Life”
Category: Christian witness
Hope for Redemption?
One of the books I’ve been reading for my D.Min. program is by Mary McClintock Fulkerson called Places of Redemption: Theology for a Worldly Church. She follows a southern multiracial congregation through its trials and triumphs as they seek to be multicultural. Her book starts with this small United Methodist congregation as a dying white … Continue reading “Hope for Redemption?”
Identity Crisis in the PC(USA)
We are a little more than a week away from the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)., our biennial gathering of teaching and ruling elders to discern, discuss, and debate the will of God for our Church (go to PCBiz to see what’s on the agenda). Among the issues to be discussed: broadening … Continue reading “Identity Crisis in the PC(USA)”
Schismata in the Body of Christ
As many are aware, my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), is embroiled in an ongoing division over ordination standards and biblical interpretation as it pertains to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered) people and their place (or lack of) in the life of the Church. With the recent passage of Amendment 10-A, which amended our denomination’s … Continue reading “Schismata in the Body of Christ”
There is Hope…
This just in from the Covenant Network, reporting on a case that reached the highest commission in my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, or GAPJC), involving the ordination of an openly gay woman who, in keeping with our tradition, declared a scruple (conscientious objection) to several parts of the … Continue reading “There is Hope…”