Presby-Musings

Imagine... It's the first century, and you are gathered with your family and some of your close friends in a grotto below the street of the town where you live.  You are a Christian, a follower of the Way of Jesus.  And you are about to be baptized. The place you are gathered is a cistern to catch rain water.  Everyone seems nervous and solemn.  A man standing near the cistern, beckons each of you forward.  You take off the robe you are wearing and step naked into the water.  The man proclaims that you are "buried with Christ in his death," and that "you are raised to new life in his resurrection."  And he does this "In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit ." As you emerge you are given a white robe and the man anoints you liberally with oil.  Above you on the street, you can hear the sounds of your town waking up.  A rooster crows and a cart rumbles past.  If anyone on that street above knew you were here, the...

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...