Our Associate Pastor challenged the session (board of elders) to condense our personal testimony into the five-minute format she used while she was with Campus Crusade for Christ. This is mine: I was an indifferent high school student and flunked out of college three times. I went from there to being a hippie and borderline Read the rest
Among Don Imus’ critics was a relatively subdued Jesse Jackson. I was surprised he had the nerve to speak up at all. In their feeding frenzy, the news outlets I’ve seen and heard have been strangely silent about Jackson’s anti-Semitic remarks in 1984. I was taught that character is what you do when you think Read the rest
The authors of the FOG Foundations Draft 5 have some work to do on their “Core Theological Commitments”. The triune God of the Bible is MIA. Not surprisingly (this being the PCUSA), they couldn’t seem to bring themselves to mention “God the Father”. Indeed, the word “father” appears only twice in this theological “core”, both Read the rest
These chains that bind me I can’t lose, I can’t lose these chains and things These lyrics by blues great B.B. King and Dave Clark popped into my mind as I thought about what might bind a congregation to the PCUSA. Despite all the huffing and puffing by the TTF, I can find nothing biblical Read the rest
I’ve been a Cardinal fan since I first started listening to Harry Caray broadcast their games on radio. Yes, Harry Caray – before he went to the Cubs, before he went to the White Sox, before he went to the Oakland A’s. Harry broadcast games for the Cardinals. Actually I started out as a Yankee Read the rest
Is the Stated Clerk secretly studying for his real estate brokerage license? In a story on the ACSWP meeting, James Berkley of the IRD mentioned seeing an advance copy of the Stated Clerk’s annual questionnaire to clerks of session: The questionnaire probes extensively into financial matters, such as detailed questions about loans, investments, plans to Read the rest
I (and many others) believe that recent General Assemblies have been out of touch with a sizeable segment of PCUSA members (not to mention the Bible and orthodoxy). This story convinced me the gulf is wider – and the depth of smug self-satisfaction greater – than I in my most cynical moments ever conceived it Read the rest