Changes Are Afoot!

Perhaps you've noticed some differences around here lately . . .

First, the email link under "Send Your Ideas for Topics of Discussion" is functional and already receiving some good suggestions. Keep 'em coming!

Second, we have a larger stable of regular bloggers, and some new weekly and monthly features. The schedule is listed in the sidebar, and nifty little bios of all of our authors should appear there soon. New content is added every day, so check back here often or subscribe to our feed!

Third, we're updating the blogroll! To start out, I've listed all the current members of the PC(USA) web ring. Check the list (Members of Our Community - in Development) near the bottom of this page, on the right. To join the ring, follow the link on the right or at the bottom of the page, and I'll add you to the blog roll as well as the web ring.

Since we started revamping the blog in the middle of July, several bloggers have joined our ring. Going forward, I'll highlight a blog every week. Today, I'd like to introduce our newest members:

• Pastorjayban’s Weblog: the one where jay ban blogs… Jay is the associate pastor of Clemmons Presbyterian Church in Clemmons, North Carolina, and the proud youth director of a group of youth who named themselves GOOTH…which stands for, believe it or not, “group of youth.”
  
• Rev. Dave's Raves. Dave is a dad, husband and pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Petaluma (CA). He is also co-directing Tents of Hope Petaluma, a grass-roots organization that paints refugee-style tents to raise awareness of the needs of those who are displaced from their homes in Darfur, Sudan.
  
• Called To Be: The Pastor's Wife & The Pastor. Rev. Kim is a wife and a pastor in the wilds of Wyoming.
  
• Transforming Seminarian: Reflections on the Christian life and Transformers toys. Mark Baker-Wright is an Assistant to the Faculty and Dean's Office at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
  
• Junction Barkers: Jim and Laurie Barker are Co-Pastors for two wonderful communities of faith in the Hill Country of Texas.
  
• Madame Future Moderator. Talitha says, "Some day I'm going to grow up to be moderator of the PC(USA), or at least of an immensely important committee. Alternately, I might give up on the establishment and go live with Jesus in a tree." And she has a lot of great things to say about mission. I'm delighted that she's going to share some of her thoughts with us here on Friday!
  
• Time Loves a Hero. Reverend Paul A. Andresen of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas posts his sermons here.
  
• A Reformed Catholic in the PCUSA: Reformed Catholic grew up Italian R.C., fell away from the church, then married his wife, who brought him back into the church as a Presbyterian. He's now an Elder. And a Computer Geek.
  
• She Rev Writes. She Rev is first a child of God. Then she is a wife, a mother of 2, a daughter, and sister. She is also a Presbyterian pastor.
  
• He Wakens My Ear to Listen as Those Who are Taught. Dorontheos23, M.Div writes hauntingly beautiful devotions.
  
• Reverend Mike’s House of Homiletic Hash. Rev. Mike is an ordained minister and also an engineer. He's not currently pastoring a congregation, but is working full-time and finishing up his Doctorate of Ministry.
  
• More Presbyterians Blogging.

More changes are coming, including links to additional sites of interest, and an ever-growing blog roll of Presbyterian bloggers and our friends.

If you'd like to contribute to the blog, please drop us a line (email link in sidebar). In particular, we're especially looking for a minister who's been around for a while to host our "Ask the Experienced Pastor" monthly Q&A session, and an experienced member of session to host the monthly "Ask the Elder Elder" Q&A session.

Whatever your role in the church, welcome to the blog, and we'd love to hear from you!

Sunday Devotions: Falling

One of today's lectionary psalms is Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

Psalm 145:14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

One of the most memorable scenes in the brutal movie, "The Passion of Christ," occurs when Jesus is carrying His Cross through the streets of Jerusalem. His mother Mary is looking at Him and, as He falls under the weight of the timbers, the scene suddenly changes and we go back in time to when Jesus is a child. Mary has just kissed Him and sends Him out to play with his friends. As Jesus runs, He falls and scrapes His knee. Mary rushes to help Him, to do the mother thing of saying, "There, there, there. It's alright." Once again, the scene suddenly shifts back to the streets of Jerusalem and Jesus is forced to stand up and carrying the Cross. Mary's eyes are full of painful tears, for this time, she cannot run to help Him, nor embrace Him.

As we go through life, we each fall from time to time. Circumstances, tragedy, or accidents may prevail against us and we find it difficult to lift up our spirits and begin again. But the promises of God are still with us, so that when we fall, Christ, who fulfilled all of God's promises, stands beside us, upholds us in the midst of our trials, and lifts us up from despair.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, whenever I fail or fall, be there beside me, ready, able and willing to support me. When my spirit is low and a shadow looms over me, be my brightness and strength, my Hope Bringer and True Savior. In Your Holy Name, I pray. Amen.

Stushie is the writer of the daily devotional blog, Heaven's Highway

Introducing Chewing on the Word: Lectionary Ruminations

Within months of being ordained, I toddled off to a monastery for a few days of reflection. While there, my sommelier of all things Benedictine introduced me to lectio divina ~ a way of reading for spiritual insight and soul nourishment rather than information.  My favorite aspect of the classic practice was ruminatio, chewing on the text–allowing the text and Spirit to roll around inside of you until something tickles your imagination or feeds your soul.  Our weekly morsels will come from tomorrow's lectionary Bible texts.

Alone, wrestling all night, being injured, wanting to be blessed, prevailing... the story of Jacob in Genesis 32:23-31 is so familiar.  How many nights have been spent in agonizing prayer - struggling with God–worrying, waiting, wrestling.  It is here, in the midst of the night of anguish that we come face to face with God.  We are changed.  No longer the sure, confident, striding one; we limp.  And yet, the blessing of a new identity and a new purpose irrupts at daybreak.  We, like Jacob, are transformed, renamed 'Israel,' God's people, and our prevailing comes at a cost; we have been humbled.  No longer can we run ahead, chasing our dreams, arrogant and encouraged in our prevailing through the dark night; we (blessedly) limp ahead.

The theme of blessing and brokenness continues in Matthew 14:13-21.  Jesus invites the disciples to bring to him whatever they have in order to feed the crowd.  They have only five loaves and two fish.  The disciples insufficiency is enough. Jesus blesses the disciples insufficiency, breaks it apart, and feeds the crowd.  How many miracles have been denied by people who were sure they didn't have enough_______ to _______: education to teach, money to give, time to share, courage to visit the prison, etc.  Jesus says, 'Bring me whatever you have.  I will bless it.  I will break it apart.  I will feed the people who follow me with what you have. What you have is more than enough!'

Like the woman who goes to the Children's Hospital Cancer Camp every summer once told me, "I know what it's like to lose a son to cancer. Out of my heartache flows joy for these sick kids." 

Feel free to share what stirs you by posting a comment. Peace!

Tomorrow is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A.

Photo by Juergen Kurlvink

Introducing 1st Friday "Ask the Moderator"

Greetings all and welcome to the introductory post for my contribution to this eclectic and complex group of bloggers here at Presbyterian Bloggers. My role in helping to build this community is to answer a question a month from my perspective as Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Basically, what I'll be doing is taking questions that are posed on this post and try to answer them as best I can.

WHAT I PROMISE TO DO:
I Bruce Reyes-Chow, member of the Presbyterian Bloggers team of blogging bloggers do solemnly swear . . .

• to be transparent and real;
• to actually answer the question/s asked;
• to be trenchant and concise;
• to honor my office as moderator and be excruciatingly fair;
• to confess mistakes, seek forgiveness and change my ways if need be;
• to live in between the silliness and importance of all of this;

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please post questions here. If they care time-constrained, I reserve the right to respond on my Moderator Blog, but otherwise, I will only draw from questions that are left here.

This is a pretty exciting time in the life of Presbyterian Bloggers as this seems to be the most complete blogroll of PC(USA) and PC(USA) related bloggers. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of it!

Game on!

Church of Scotland Moderator is also a Blogger

It seems as though the Church of Scotland is following Bruce Reyes-Chow's blogging capabilities. David Lunan, the Cof S Moderator, has his own weekly blog. Here's a recent story from the Scotsman newspaper...

Kirk's Moderator goes online

THE Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev David Lunan, is set to break new ground for the Kirk by making his own contribution to the information superhighway.
David, and his wife Maggie, are set to start a "Moderator's blog" where they will keep the world updated as to their latest activities, as well as their thoughts on issues large and small. The blog, which will be updated once a week, went live yesterday. The Moderator's blog is available at http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/.

David's blog is at http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news/newsmodblog.htm Maybe we should add it to our blogroll????

Introducing Read and Learn Thursdays!

Welcome to Presbyterian Bloggers' new Thursday feature Read and Learn!

Plans for the feature include the formation of book club for the webring, as well as book, movie, television and magazine article reviews plus suggestions for your church adult study groups. Your hosts for this feature are Quotidian Grace (Jody Harrington) and Justice Seeker (Elaine Dowling).

Here's the monthly schedule of topics we have planned:

First Thursdays-- Book Club
Second Thursdays -- Book, Movie, TV and Article Reviews
Third Thursdays-- Adult Study Group Ideas
Fourth Thursdays-- Book, Movie, TV and Article Reviews

We would love to have our fellow PresbyBloggers send us book, movie, TV and article reviews for the feature as well. If you'd like to submit a review for Thursday's Read and Learn feature leave a comment here and give us a contact email for you or email PCUSABlog@gmail.com. Your suggestions for books for the book club or reviews or for movie/tv show/article reviews are also appreciated.

Joyful News on Ministry

I get to do the happy stuff on Presbyterian Bloggers. The Wednesday feature is about highlighting ministries of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations.

Here's the deal. I am going to be scouting out web pages of churches looking for joyful Presbyterians doing ministry. Your church could be next!

You don't have to wait until I find you. Tell me about your congregation. Send me stuff. Make a YouTube video. Send some pics. Presbyterian Bloggers wants to feature your congregation, campus ministry, youth group, Presbyterian Women, you name it, having a good time and maybe even doing some good while having it!





E-mail me at johnashuck (at) embarqmail (dot) com and let's give Jesus something to dance about!





John Shuck is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, Tennessee and he blogs at Shuck and Jive. Contact him with your joyful news at this E-mail.

Moderator Reflects Upon Knoxville Church Shooting

Bruce Reyes-Chow has just written some worthy reflections about the tragic Knoxville Church shootings. You can read them here

http://www.reyes-chow.com/2008/07/tn-shooting-ref.html

Conversion

I work for a Catholic (capital C) health care provider organization, and we open all of our significant team meetings with prayer. I'm a Presbyterian, IT person, introvert, and find that particularly uncomfortable, but today was my turn to lead the prayer. I considered leading my management team in a round of Johnny Appleseed. Luckily for everyone involved, this Sunday's church service had provided me with the perfect answer in our prayer of confession:

God of hopes and dreams, we confess that at times our hopes and dreams are too confined. We want to create Us and Them, and so all too often we build ourselves up by putting others down. Help us to remember that all are welcome, that each one of us is a child of God. By the power of your Spirit help us to open up our hearts ato serve you and celebrate the gifts of all your people that together, we might plant and grow your kingdom with love, hope, and peace.

It was a very appropriate prayer for our team, as we have a pretty serious internal Them and Us complex on top of the usual IT versus business contention. My wife thought it very subversive of me to use a Prayer of Confession for my Catholic employer, whose doctrine suggests that we can only confess to God through a priest.

It surprised me, but it turns out that I really value my ability to be able to confess directly to God.


Nearly eight years ago, my then-fiancee and I were planning our wedding ceremony and I was adamant (though ultimately overruled) that we not include a Prayer of Confession. I sometimes skipped it in the service. Even as recently as three years ago, I can very distinctly remember thinking that the Prayer of Confession was only for people who didn't realize that they did things wrong sometimes. I knew that I made mistakes, but there wasn't any reason to admit that out loud to everyone around me! And I knew what I should do to be a better person. Why did we have to talk about it?

In retrospect, I can't believe that I felt I was above that.

Now when we get to the Prayer of Confession, I feel refreshed and energized to continue to do better works and be a better person. I was converted. There are probably several reasons why my perspective has changed, but I'm glad I have... I feel forgiven... I feel blessed. I didn't used to.

Sunday Devotions: Gone Fishin'

Matthew 4:19-20 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. (NIV)

I love to go fishing on the man-made lakes of Tennessee. Sometimes, early in the morning, you’ll find me down at Concord trying to catch a big fish. I’ve seen lots of fishing programs with professional anglers, who make the whole process look easy. They just seem to cast out into the water and effortlessly hook those big fish. I am envious of them and want to emulate that. I want to catch a big bass so badly, so that I can call myself a bass fisherman.

So, I go to the fishing store and buy different lures, crankbait, artificial worms, crickets, spinners, and meps. I read books about tying fancy knots, showing me the right size of hook to put on the line. I gaze at local maps and try to work out where those bass actually are. I come totally prepared and feel as though the fish had better watch out – Stushie, Ace Fisherman is in the area – resistance is futile, bass, when I get you on my hook.

But then reality sets in. I snag the crankbait on a log and lose it. My line fankles around my reel and I have to cut it. I cast my spinners into the trees and they end up looking like Christmas decorations on the branches. The worms are the wrong color and I go home with no fish, half my lures lost, and a painful shoulder. The fish in the lake bubble their laughter at me and I leave disconsolate. Yet, when I’m driving home, all I can think about is getting down on to the water again, in order to catch the big one. I’m hooked on fishing.

I love the fact that Jesus chose fishermen to be His first disciples. They were the perfect guys to build a ministry. They never seem to give up and even in bad times, they put their boat out again and again, looking for that big catch of the season. I guess Jesus thought that if He could encourage them to think that way about God’s Kingdom, they would always go out looking for more converts and disciples, more followers for Christ and servants for God.

He chose the right people because Christ’s ministry, which began with 12 followers, has blossomed all over the earth into 2 billion souls. It’s amazing to see what has been accomplished in 2000 years. Perhaps 2000 years from now, the whole planet will be Christian.

And that’s where we all come in at the PCUSA. We continue this fishing ministry of Christ that Jesus gave to our Presbyterian predecessors 450 years ago. Throughout that time, millions of people have come to Presbyterian churches to know the Lord. We are in the catching business and that kind of work is never over until the Kingdom comes.

So, here’s the challenge. The church year is about to begin in September. Let’s all make an effort of inviting and bringing one other person to worship at our churches this Fall. In doing this, we will all be fulfilling Christ’s ministry and showing Him that we honestly care about the people we love and the community that we live in.

May God bless us as we carry on Christ’s ministry.

Stushie is the writer of the Daily Devotions blog Heaven's Highway

Friday Review . . . Inklings

Ok, in the midst of change, I thought I would pop my head up once more with something I thought too good to pass up. Christopher W. Mitchell from Wheaton College has published a list of his top 5 books written by an Inkling (the literary and social group to which both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien belonged).

Obviously, any such list will include a book by Lewis and one by Tolkien; and most of us are familiar with their complete works at least in passing. What I found interesting were the other three: The Wise Woman by George MacDonald, Orthodoxy; the Romance of Faith, by G.K. Chesterton; and The Descent of the Dove; a Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church; by Charles Williams.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Blogger's Reformed and It's About Time for a New Reformating

My Fellow Presby Bloggers,

It is have been over a year since my last post (I think) and I have been putting this off for to long. I need to hand over the responsibility of maintaining our little web site to someone else. I think that our community has a place on the web and in our denomination but I am no longer able to take part in it as I once was. If no one steps forward I will have to seriously consider the future of this site. I would really like for Presby Bloggers to continue without me. So I ask all of you who regularly contribute our community to prayerfully consider stepping up to the keyboard and helping this web site become everything I think that it could be. If you think that you might be willing to take on this responsibility please send me an email and Presby Bloggers can get about reforming the web.

Thank You,
Miranda

Double Standards

People think that the PCUSA is full of hypocrites...



...we are nothing compared to the IOC...

Weekend Screensaver: Psalm 20

Continuing my Book of Psalms art project



This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible: Psalm 20 v 4 - May God give you the desire of your heart and make all of your plans succeed."

Weekend Devotional : Dr. Who

Ever since I started watching Doctor Who as a boy, I have loved the notion of Time Travel. Nowadays, as a Christian, I am confident of placing my future in Christ's hands.

Podcast version here

I love the idea of Time Travel. I’ve watched practically every episode of Doctor Who and I think that the new series is absolutely terrific. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Doctor Who is a science fiction television series that began in Britain in 1963. I remember, as a six year old, watching the very first episode on a grainy black and white TV, whilst eating Heinz spaghetti and chips (French fries). I was absolutely captivated by the hero, Doctor Who, a Time Lord, who travels throughout space and time in his amazing vehicle called the Tardis. The series introduced me to my love of science fiction, as well as teaching me about British and World history.

Ecclesiastes 8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?

I’ve always wanted to travel into the future and see the wonders of the world hundreds of years from now. I know that the environmentalists are predicting gloom and doom for all of us, but I still believe that human beings have the intellect and innovative capacity to reduce greenhouse gases and invent new ways of creating energy. I’d love to see how the earth will look in five hundred, five thousand, or even five hundred thousand years, and see how humankind fares. I guess I’ll have to build my own Tardis if I ever want to see it happen.

None of us know what each day will bring. We can make plenty of plans and be anxious about the future, but as Jesus once said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

We do not know what the future holds for any one of us, and perhaps we’re better off not knowing anyway. As Christians, we have faith in Christ and the assurance that He holds our future in His Hands. No matter what we experience or endure, Jesus will travel through Time with us. And if we trust Him completely, He will lead us beyond the shores of Time and into the realm of Eternity.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are glad that You are with us throughout each day of our lives. Your guidance and presence reassure our faith and hopes. As we journey through Life and travel through Time, grant us Your mercy and grace, love and leadership. In Your Holy Name, we follow and pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Other Presbytbloggers: Carl & His Cancer

Carl Wilton is a pastor in New Jersey. He has cancer and has been blogging his experiences with it for a number of years. Carl’s insight into dealing with cancer gives all of us specialized information that can personally and pastorally help us. If you truly want to know what goes on in the heart, mind, body, and soul of a person with cancer, take time to read Carl’s postings.

Carl’s blog is called A Pastor’s Cancer Diary and can be found at http://cewilton.blogspot.com/

Certainty Lost, Wisdom Gained?



There are many losses associated with cancer, but among the most slippery to deal with is the loss of certainty. Such is the observation of Glenna Halvorson-Boyd and Lisa K. Hunter in Dancing in Limbo: Making Sense of Life After Cancer (Jossey-Bass, 1995). It’s a book I half-finished reading some months ago (see my April 18 blog entry), and have only recently picked up again. Here’s what these two cancer survivors say:

“We assumed that we had a future; now we don’t know. We assumed that we were safe in our own bodies; now we can’t be sure. We assumed that we had more control over our own lives. If we did the right things, we would be all right. In general, we believed in a more certain world.” (p. 88).

Most of us, in our younger years and well into middle age, live our lives based on certain assumptions. They’re irrational assumptions, but still we hold them dear. We know, intellectually, we’re going to die one day, but we really don’t believe it in our heart of hearts. By the same token, we may know that a certain percentage of the population will fall ill with life-threatening diseases, but we really don’t believe we’ll be numbered among them. We believe that if we do the right thing – or try to do the right thing – a beneficent Providence will reward us with life, liberty and a happiness we scarcely have to pursue.

Read the rest of this article here…

Puppy Love

This is the feel good video of the summer...



...and perhaps explains why some people fall asleep in church...

Other Presbybloggers

If you haven't visited Whitney's Glimpses of Grace blog, you should make a cyber call. Whitney's postings are often charming and delightful, meditative and insightful. She takes such beautiful photographs and manages to pair them perfectly with scripture, prayers and her own thoughts.

Each time Whitney posts, she lists three things where she recognizes God’s Grace in her life. Whitney is a Celtic mystic in the real sense of the word. For grumpy, old curmudgeons like me, Whitney's blog is a fresh breath of renewal from the Holy Spirit.

Pre-Ordained Meetings

-The session of my home church approving the decision to call me as a mission worker (technically a "supply pastor") for my work in Northern Ireland. This means that, pending a couple of examinations, I will be able to be ordained before I leave in September! Wow! The way it all happened was also very much a "God thing": I was leading worship at Mo Ranch for their Youth Celebration a couple of weeks ago, and a member of my Presbytery's Committee on Ministry was there and heard me preach. We got to talking about my call situation and my position in Belfast, and he took it upon himself to contact all of the necessary parties at Presbytery to figure out how I might be ordained into this ministry. They even held a special meeting just to discuss my call process, and now it's all happening. I can't believe how it's all seemed to fall into place.

-Hearing my Nana describe seeing her great-granddaughter for the first time: "Her hair is so soft, it's like silk. And she's sooo good. Her eyes are blue, just like your Grandmother's, and your Mother's and Aubrey's. She's starting to get chubby too!"

-Finding a perfect stole for my niece's baptism (and most likely also for my ordination service).

You can visit Whitney's blog at http://glimpses-of-grace.blogspot.com/

Viva! La Reformation!

A current news article from the denomination’s own press service refers to Bruce Reyes-Chow, Gradye Parsons, and Linda Valentine as our top three leaders.

And all the while, I thought that our top three leaders in the Reformed tradition were the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You may think that I’m nit-picking, but the Reformation mainly occurred because of a rejection of hierarchy in the church. As Presbyterians, we need to be constantly vigilant about this.

BR-C,GP & LV are our top three office-bearers, not leaders. That mantel belongs to the Trinity.

Other Presbyterian Bloggers

Jim, aka the Church Geek, has an interesting post today. Check it out at http://www.thechurchgeek.com/

Wednesday Roundup
by Jim ~ July 16th, 2008

1.) I love some of the stuff that new faith communities are doing…they are bold challenges and proclamations to existing congregations. Internet Monk singles out one new congregation that is committed to giving 60% of their budget to mission!!…If they can do it, why can’t we?

2.) As always Jan raises good observations and questions about the nature of staffing in the established church today. I’d love for her to be a colleague in this presbytery, as we need to hear more of her voice…

3.) Tony Campolo presents what seems like a reasonable, faithful response to the problem of abortion in our country.

4.) How many of the 100 NEA Recommended books of fiction have you read? I’ve read book #6, but I’m not really sure why it’s considered a “work of fiction.”

5.) Today I’ve decided to point to a few of my recent favorite photos from my flickr contacts. I particularly love the lighting in this one and the depth of field in this one.

Read the rest of Jim's innovative posts at www.thechurchgeek.com