Dear Friends,
When I was in high school I listened to oldies. Magic 96.1 in Charlotte, NC. I hear the weather reports and the
song “Heat Wave” wafts warmly across my mind. Do you ever feel like you are in a cooker? Pressed on all
sides by one issue or another. General Assembly is once again meeting and will chart the next few years of
Presbyterian Church life. The Stated Clerk of the PCUSA, Rev. Gradye Parsons released 2011 statistics for the
denomination. The Presbyterian Church has at the end of 2011 1,952,287 members; having lost 63,804. By
January 2012, we had 96 fewer congregations, even with eighteen new churches organized. The denomination is pressed—we are
in a heat wave. And heat waves may lead to droughts. Where is our living water? Two years ago, the denomination faced a similar
situation. The answer then: change the form of government, broaden standards, and consider divestment. We've missed the
root of the problem. We continue to focus on preservation, getting things “back like they were.” Things have changed. A few
weeks ago, as I shared some statistics from recent denominational studies, it isn't just Ashland that has a missing generation,
those from 18-24 or 24-36. We need their voices and we need to hear them. Most every Presbyterian congregation is missing a
generation from its pews, and some are missing more than one. Perhaps we have lost the balance of social justice and the good
news of Jesus Christ.
Yet this Goliath of change in the denomination will not have the best of us. You heard of David and Goliath. David, the worthless
young son of Jesse, not even worth being invited to the sacrifice; David, the chosen of God, whom Samuel anoints King of Israel
even as Saul continues to reign; David, who boldly steps forward through a crowd of cowering Israelite warriors to face Goliath;
David, who tries on and then removes the king's armor, favoring movement over security; David; who Goliath taunts as scrawny
and small; David, who proclaims the living God and gives purpose to his fighting Goliath with these words: “that all the earth may
know there is a God in Israel. . . that the Lord does not save by sword or spear; for the battle is the Lord's.” This David, who slung
a stone in Goliath's forehead, who defeated the undefeatable giant, representing the worst the Philistines could offer, and representing
the fear of the Israelite nation.
General Assembly. Missing Generations. Budget difficulties. All are real issues. All are addressable. Remember then as you consider
these things, the national election, the economy, and the future, remember David and Goliath, and pray for
those on the front lines. “That all the earth may know there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know
that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's. . .”
The Reverend Garrett Bugg
Setting the Tone
by
The Reverend Jennifer A. Johnson
The Community Kitchen invites area
churches to send
a representative
to come each day
to lunch to pray
and bless the
food. Recently I
took my daughter with me, rang the
bell,
and prayed aloud, then we sat down to
eat. After we left, I asked my daughter
what she thought about
eating at the community kitchen.
“It
was different,” she said.
“How?”
“Because I didn’t know anyone.”
“Did it make you uncomfortable
eating with people you didn’t know?”
“No. We went there so you could pray.
Jesus ate with people and healed people
he didn’t know, so if he was okay
with it, we should be okay with it too.”
Her answer humbled me.
I knew I was
going there to pray, but I liked that she
reminded me that Jesus sets the tone
for whatever I do whether it is praying,
eating, or meeting.
On Friday I will be heading to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a
commissioner at General Assembly,
our church’s national conference. I
have been told that people have been
assigned to pray for me and the rest of
the commissioners.
What a cool job
that is-to pray for a person by name in
her calling. It moves me very much. I
remember that Jesus sets the tone for
my presence there and for the gathering
itself. It is by Jesus’ good pleasure
that the church exists.
We are the body
of Christ, the church. With all of our
working and various parts, we are the
church. And Jesus Christ is the head of
the church.
I love that tone setting.
