Presby-Musings

This is the third entry in a series of daily devotions that I am writing to support my church's October sermon series: "Red: Understanding The Hard Sayings of Jesus."  This week we are reflecting on the Lord's Supper as we respond to the "hard" saying of Jesus: Eat my flesh, drink my blood."   One question that sort of hovers over every conversation about the Lord's Supper is: How often should we celebrate it?   Catholics celebrate essentially every day, as do many Orthodox Christians. Most Lutheran and Episcopal congregations celebrate each week.  While a growing number of Reformed, and non-denominational churches have begun celebrating the meal every week, there are still many churches both denominationally affiliated and otherwise that exercise their freedom to celebrate the Lord's Supper  once a month, once a quarter, and even once a year. In my own tradition (Presbyterian) there is a long history of annual celebrations of the Lor...

Recovering the Sermon Part 1 This past week I facilitated a preaching workshop that was hosted at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Ocoee.  We had about 15 participants from my local presbytery--representing the roughly 70-plus Presbyterian Church (USA) churches in the Central Florida area. The impetus behind this workshop was two-fold: 1) I've been attending creative preaching, communication and leadership workshops with Rob Bell for the past few years and thought I would share what I learned, and 2) My recent doctoral project revealed that one of the many issues that pastors of growing churches had in common was the amount of time and energy they devoted to preparing sermons and improving their preaching. I am hoping that this kind of workshop will serve as a prototype for some exciting things I'd like to see our presbytery do in the future.  I currently serve on the Church Transformation Committee for the Central Florida Presbytery, and I believe that one of ...

I was reading some minister's sunny blog post the other day about how the Presbyterian Church (USA) wasn't really  dying, and that all of the other mainline denominations like the Episcopals , Methodists , Lutherans , etc. weren't really dying either. The gist of the post essentially came down to this: it depends on what you mean  when you say that mainline denominations are dying.  If by dying you mean that they are dwindling in number, closing churches , losing congregations to other denominations, not attracting young people/families/younger ministers, and becoming increasingly political and divisive---that's not really dying.  But if you mean dying to orthodoxy, creeds, biblical authority, Christocentric theology and the like---then yes, they are dying.  Which, in this sunny author's view, was not really  dying, but living. Huh? Here's what I would like to offer as a rebuttal: Hogwash. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if there are...

In a recent blog post, Dr. Albert Mohler , President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary , used the Presbyterian Church (USA) as an example of how " liberal Protestantism " continues it's long slow amble toward suicide not because it's hemorrhaging members at an alarming rate, but because it has lost it's way. After citing a number of surveys that were recently completed by The Presbyterian Panel (surveys that indicate a growing lack of orthodoxy among both the clergy and laity of the PCUSA) Mohler makes a bold assertion. He writes, that the PCUSA is "a church that has lost its confidence in the Gospel in terms of the clear biblical claim that salvation comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ." Mohler cites the prophetic work of Thomas C. Reeves from his book, The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Protestantism within which Reeves makes this prescient statement: Liberal Protestantism — institutionalized in the old Protest...

One of the great tools that the Fellowship of Presbyterians is providing to churches and pastors is the Narrative On The Health Of Mission And Ministry . The foundation of this document was used by the Presbyterian Church in various settings until the 1920's to evaluate members, and fell into disuse because of various questions that were culturally bound. If a church is an official member of the Fellowship of Presbyterians it's part of the covenant it has with the Fellowship to complete the Narrative  each year for peer-to-peer review with the congregations they are together with in a mission affinity group. I think it's a good tool that could be adopted by any church in any denomination.  I commend the questions to you: 1. How has the Holy Spirit been evident in your congregation in the past year; through conversions, growth in the fruit of the Spirit, or other transformational experiences that make disciples of Jesus Christ?  2. How has your c...

The Summer Gathering of the Fellowship of Presbyterians and the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians officially began in Atlanta this evening at Peachtree Presbyterian Church . First, I have to say that Peachtree is probably the biggest Presbyterian church I have ever seen in my life.  The main campus takes up almost a full city block, with a gymnasium, family life center, offices, main sanctuary and a chapel that dwarfs my own church.  The main campus is connected by a tunnel that goes underneath the street to a second campus with a parking garage and a huge worship center and full service cafe.  There are an unbelievable number of  community activities, missions, ministries and events happening through this massive, vibrant church It's also one of the many congregations  leaving the Presbyterian Church USA , a number that is growing rapidly by the moment. I met a pastor tonight who told me that his large church is shrinking rapidly, and that th...

The recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA just ended, mercifully.  All that was accomplished during this 220th meeting of the national organization of the denomination within which I am ordained was... not much.  Some might call it a stalemate.  Other would call it an impasse.  I would call it an exercise in futility, a flailing about by an entity that is drowning, in death throes, or something of some such. Have you ever had a friend who had a really huge zit, and the zit appeared right before they were about to get married, have their portrait painted or go to prom?  And they put makeup on the zit, and tried to hide the zit with a veil or a mask? And then they asked you how it looked? And you lied to them through your teeth? So right now the question that you are about to ask me is, "What chance does the national organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA) really have to live, thrive, find relevance and do something cool?" ...

Today I attended a presbytery meeting. For many of you that statement is meaningless--except for the "meeting" part, of course, and maybe the vague idea that it sounds sort of boring and compulsory. I used to think that both of those things were true regarding presbytery meetings, but lately I've been undergoing a change of heart. For those who are wondering, the "presbytery" is one of the middle governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church (USA) , of which I am a member and a minister of the Word and Sacrament . There are a little more than 70 member churches in the presbytery of which I am a member, and we gather to meet four times a year. Enough about that, though...  about this whole "change of heart" thing... This is a truth that all Christians should affirm: the existence of denominations, the division of the Church, the separation of members of the Body of Christ from one another---these are actions that defy Jesus' prayer of u...

It seems that at least once a week the leadership of my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA)  seems to find itself in the middle of controversy. The latest is a continuation of a long line of what have been characterized as "anti-Israel" stances that at least one wing of the General Assembly Council has chosen to take. Here is the story reported from an Israeli point of view: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152904#.T1S_k3LOy_Y Listen, I know that there is plenty of blame to go around in the Middle East .   But I've been to Israel.  I've talked to Israelis and Palestinians.  I've seen first hand the close proximity of neighboring Muslim countries there who would like nothing more than to see Israel overrun.  I've also seen the Israeli settlements that are being built as fast as possible in areas where the "ownership" of the land is disputed.  I know that even among many Israeli's these are unpopular. But I've ...

Image via Wikipedia I have been reading and re-reading An Open Letter to the Presbyterian Church (USA) that was recently released by an as-yet-unnamed "Fellowship" of PC(USA) pastors.   It begins thusly: To say the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is deathly ill is not editorializing but acknowledging reality.  Over the past year, a group of PC(USA) pastors has become convinced that to remain locked in unending controversy will only continue a slow demise, dishonor our calling, and offer a poor legacy to those we hope will follow us.  First, I have to say that I agree with that statement wholeheartedly--as much as it pains me to say it.  I have been a Presbyterian for nearly twenty years, served on staff at three different PC(USA) churches and have been an ordained minister of the Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA) for the past six years.  In those twenty years, I have seen our denomination continue to decline, continue to splinter and continue to stumb...

For the next two weeks I will be preaching on Aging. The median age of my congregation is in the high 60's or early 70's--depending on how inclusive you tend to be in calculating it.  Like most mainline Protestant denominations, my denomination--the Presbyterian Church (USA) --has long been identified as a "gray-ing" denomination. Most churches in my denomination are doing everything they can to try to "attract" younger people.  Mine is no different.  There's a good reason for doing so, quite frankly.  At some point if our churches don't begin to add younger members, they will have to face a serious crisis due to membership loss through attrition. But there's an unintended result from this necessary action--one that I think is rooted firmly in the way our society thinks and speaks about age.  Our focus on drawing younger people into the church (which we need to do to survive) unintentionally reinforces the our culture's view that newer and...