Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the PC(USA).

Can We Give Thanks?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. 

Here’s my question to the PC (USA): can each of us – and I mean EACH of us, every single person who is affiliated with the PC (USA) – remember, as we give thanks tomorrow,  our denomination in that thanksgiving?

It’s easy to criticize the PC (USA). You and I have both done it. Here are just a few of the criticisms that I’ve heard: We go too far on social issues. We don’t go far enough on social issues. We don’t act quickly enough. We take action too precipitously. We don’t listen to each other. We spend too much time  listening to each other. Presbytery meetings are too business-oriented. Presbytery meetings are overly focused on fellowship and worship.

Does that sound familiar?

Let’s be honest: all of us are failed, fallible individuals who are seeking to live out the Gospel message. It’s a wonder we don’t screw up more than we do. To me, the value of the Presbyterian connectional system is that it brings all of us, as those failed, fallible individuals,  with our different backgrounds, our different perceptions,  our different thought processes, our different talents, together, so that, hopefully, together we can  have a better hope of  doing what Jesus has asked of us.

Here are a few things that we can ALL be thankful for:

For teaching and ruling elders who, in every nook and cranny of this country, are living out what it means to be Christian and Presbyterian, sometimes at significant personal cost.

For volunteers in mission and mission workers who are spreading the Word on behalf of the PC (USA) across the world, even if that sometimes places them in harm’s way.

For our Presbyterian serminaries who are nurturing, instructing, and guiding those who will lead us into the coming generations.

For our more than 10,000 congregations faithfully proclaiming  the Word, not just on Sundays, but on every day of the week, changing lives as they do so.

For our Reformed  heritage that guides us, in this time and in this place, to be “the church reformed, always to be reformed according to the Word of God” in the power of the Spirit.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Can we – all of us-- give thanks for the heritage, mission, and ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA)?  Can we – all of us – remember the denomination in our prayers?

Moderators

Presbytery and synod moderators gathered together this past weekend at the Moderators' Conference in Louisville. Here is what I told them about the importance of being a moderator in today's PC (USA):

    We have come together, as current or incoming moderators of presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly, to spend the next couple of days learning about the role of Moderator, discussing the issues and concerns that will come before our councils, listening to each other, getting to know each other, all in the goal of having us leave here on Sunday better equipped to carry out the role of Moderator and better equipped to serve our church.

     What does it mean to be a Moderator at this time in the life of our church? Well, what springs to mind initially is the reputed Chinese proverb, or, perhaps more realistically, the reputed Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times.”

    It is undisputed that the PC (USA) is living through interesting times.

• A new Form of Government
• A new ordination standard, G-2.0104(b)
• The emergence of the group called the Fellowship, and the possible departure, in response to that ordination standard, of congregations to a potential “new reformed body”
• The prospect of significant change in the structure of our denomination – as reflected by the theme of this conference, “Shifting Sands: A Changing Church in a Changing Time” 
• Continued anxiety over the future of a denomination in an age that has been called not just post-denominational but post-Christian, and, finally,
• A difficult, even catastrophic, economic climate that is affecting many of our congregations and many of our fellow Presbyterians.

 Interesting times, indeed.

But to me there is no better time than right now to be a Moderator in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Now, lest you think that I have perhaps lost my senses by living in Washington, DC a little too long, let me explain.

There is no better time than now to be a Moderator because there is no more important time than right now to be a Moderator.

You have all been called by God to serve the particular corner of Christ’s Kingdom called the Presbyterian Church (USA), and, more important, to serve this corner of Christ’s kingdom at a critical time,  a time when the sands beneath our feet are indeed shifting, a time when the church is changing, a time when the culture is changing.

Now more than ever, the church needs you to provide leadership, stability, insight – or, in the more familiar words we all know, energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

Let me be clear:  we are not being called as leaders just to preserve and maintain the PC (USA).

God, in God’s infinite wisdom, may have scoped out a future for us that does not include an entity called the Presbyterian Church (USA). And, if that is where God is calling us, then that is where we must go.

But I believe that the PC (USA) still has life left within it – but only if we accept that the sands are shifting and that change must happen.  

Your leadership --  your energy, intelligence, imagination, and love – are  needed, now more than ever,  to help the PC(USA) as we transform ourselves into a connectional church that can speak effectively to a diverse 21^st century culture.

I don’t know what it was like to be a church leader during the 1950s, when church men – and, yes, they were all church men then – church men like Eugene Carson Blake appeared on the cover of Time magazine. When the president, Dwight Eisenhower, was baptized at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington. When George Docherty, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, could preach a sermon about adding “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and Congress promptly did just that.

Imagine that -- Congress not just responding to a sermon, but Congress actually AGREEING on something and then DOING something.

Times have certainly changed since then. And I’m pretty sure that being a Moderator then was vastly different than being a Moderator now.

 But I wouldn’t change places with those 1950s moderators for any amount of money  -- and I’m not saying that just because in the 1950s someone of my gender wouldn’t have been elected Moderator in the first place.

The Moderators of the 1950s led a church that may have been flush with members and with resources, but whose leadership was almost exclusively white males.  They lived during a time when Dr. King correctly called Sunday at 11 am the most segregated hour in America.

We are no longer that church, and thanks be to God for that – although we still have a long ways to go towards real diversity and real inclusiveness. 

We are also no longer a church that is flush with members or flush with resources.

We all might wish for more members and more resources. But the point of the church is not to post membership numbers, or to accumulate wealth. The point of the church is to proclaim the Gospel, and to proclaim it authentically, in this time and in this place.

And it is our privilege, as Moderators, to help our councils, and our congregations, figure out how to proclaim the Gospel authentically and effectively in a culturally diverse society that  needs, more than ever, to hear the Word proclaimed and to see the Word lived out.

Being a Moderator today is not a sinecure. It’s not an honorific bestowed because you’ve managed to sit through more Presbytery meetings than anybody else.

Being a Moderator today is an awesome, and awe-filled responsibility. A responsibility to help our church, to help the PC (USA), live through the anxieties and stresses that are naturally occurring as we as a church move through shifting sands into a new time, a time that some are calling a new reformation.

We, as the PC (USA),  are in the process of shedding the corporate bureaucracy and mindset that was established in the 1950s – and that was effective in the 1950s but doesn’t work so well 60 years later.

Over the next two days we’re going to hear from Tod Bolsinger and Carol Howard Merritt, who are leading two of the groups looking into how the church can become more effective in the 21^st century. We’re also going to be hearing from the Vice Moderator, Landon Whitsitt, about what it means to be an “open source” church.  

What can we as Moderators do to help the church process these ideas, and help make change – real, effective change – happen?

I see at least three things that we can all do.

First, provide a non-anxious presence

The church is not going to hell in a handbasket – it’s transforming itself into something new, a new way of being church. The problem is that we don’t yet know what that way looks like. To many Presbyterians, that creates anxiety – not knowing exactly what’s going to happen, exactly what we ought to do. We proudly label ourselves as doing things “decently and in order,” and that generally means we know what’s next on the agenda, what’s next on the “to do” list.

The reality is that we don’t know what’s next on the agenda, what’s the next bullet on the “to do” list.

Even if  we don’t know exactly what’s next on the agenda, even if we don’t know exactly where we are going to end up –  that’s OK. Martin Luther certainly didn’t know where he was going to end up when he posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. John Calvin didn’t know where he was going to end up when he was unceremoniously booted out of Geneva. 

 Calvin’s security was based not on knowing what was next on his agenda, but on an abiding sense of God’s providence.

 As Calvin wrote, and as we sang this morning,

Our hope is in no other save in thee,

Our faith is built upon thy promise free,

Lord, give us peace, and make us calm and sure

That in thy strength we evermore endure.

Our task as Moderators is to live out that message – to show our that we are calm and sure, even if we don’t quite know today where we, where the church,  will finally end up. We are calm and sure because our strength rests in God.

That is what I mean by providing a non-anxious presence.

Second, both support and challenge our council staffs.

If it’s a difficult and anxious time for us, imagine how difficult and anxious it is for those whose livelihoods could be affected by changes to the structures of the denomination.  Council execs spend a lot of time reassuring congregations and teaching elders; spend some time reassuring them.

But also challenge them to think seriously about how their council should be organized, how it could work most effectively. Challenge them to recognize that the sands are shifting, that change is happening, that doing things the way we’ve always done things does work anymore.

 Finally, take the lead in building relationships within your presbytery or synod.

Somehow we have lost that important part of the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity that said we need to engage with each other, especially with those with whom we might not agree on certain theological issues.

As the church debated whether to approve the new Form of Government, one question kept coming up: how can we discard the rules that were the focus of the old Form of Government without trust? We need rules because we don’t trust each other.

My response was always, “trust isn’t built through rules. It’s built through relationships.” Creating those relationships takes a long time, it’s not done over the course of one or two lunches.

Creating those relationships probably can’t even be achieved during the course of your moderatorial term. But they can be started. And you can set the tone by showing the importance of conversation and dialogue among all in your presbytery or synod.

Some of you spent yesterday learning about parliamentary procedures and Robert’s Rules. That’s a necessary part of being Moderator. But it is not the most important part of being a Moderator.

A gavel isn’t much help if it is being pounded into shifting sand.

The PC (USA) needs you to lead us into our reformation – to lead us where God is calling us. Doing that may be the most important thing you do as a Presbyterian.

Thanks be to God for your leadership. Thanks be to God for your ministry.

One Sunday

One Sunday -- Oct. 23, 2011. Four congregations.

The Opequon Presbyterian Church, Winchester, Va., celebrates its 275th anniversary.

The New Providence Presbyterian Church, Maryville, Tenn., marks its 225th.

The St. James Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC, rejoices in 145 years of ministry.

And Brambleton Presbyterian Church, Brambleton, Va., is chartered as a new congregation in the PC(USA).

These are just four congregations out of the more than 10,000 that make up the denomination. Yet, as we approach Reformation Sunday, they are the living embodiment of our affirmation, "The church reformed, always to be reformed according to the Word of God" in the power of the Spirit.

Opequon, New Providence, and St. James give witness to congregational ministry that has continued even as the larger church has struggled over issues like slavery, women's ordination, divorce, essential tenets, and sexuality. There are many metaphorical battlefields in our denominational history; in Opequon's case, there's an actual battlefield -- Union and Confederate troops fought the battles of First and Second Kernstown on church land. These three congregations, despite either actual or metaphorical battlefields that surrounding them, continue to carry out, in the words of the Form of Government, "the mission of God in its particular context." (G-1.01)

Brambleton gives witness to our ongoing proclamation of the Gospel into the 21st century. Many have labeled our culture and society as "post-Christian." Don't tell that to those who are now part of the faith community called Brambleton -- including three babies baptized on Sunday.

One Sunday. Four congregations. What else happened in our congregations last Sunday?

The PC (USA) Rummage Sale

  

    Change is happening in every nook and cranny of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), from the General Assembly, to presbyteries and synods, to local congregations. We're re-tooling the way we do ministry -- because we're realizing that the styles of doing ministry that worked 50 years ago don't work so well in the 21st century. In Phyllis Tickle's terms, we're having a rummage sale and clearing out our attic.

     Change can be both exciting and anxiety-producing.  It's exciting to try new ways of being the church. It's invigorating to throw out all that old, shop-worn clutter in the attic. But it's always hard to figure out what's clutter and what's a revered treasure that needs to be saved.

     And what happens if the weeding out of the clutter in the attic is done only by one person in the family, without consulting anybody else? Probably something gets saved that shouldn't be; and something else gets thrown out that's valuable and necessary. Everybody is upset. Somebody goes away mad.

     One reason why I hate to see those who are involved with the Fellowship start talking about creating a new reformed body is that  we can effectively weed out our attic only if everybody  -- everyone in the big tent that makes up the PC (USA) -- helps in the weeding process. If only a segment of the church decides what gets thrown out, and what gets retained, then our attic will remain cluttered, our retooling will not work, and we will not be able to effectively proclaim the Gospel. And the Fellowship, it seems to me, will have the same problem -- it too will let go of things it shouldn't, and retain things that should be discarded, because the entire family didn't participate in the weeding out process. We'll end up with two attics, each filled with clutter that shouldn't be there -- clutter that will impede how we do ministry.

     We all helped create the clutter in the PC (USA) attic. Let's all help as we clean out that attic and find new ways of being the church in the 21st century.  

Teaching Elders -- You Rule!

I learned, from the encylopedia of knowledge that is Facebook, that today is Clergy Appreciation Day.

Of course, in the PC(USA), that means it's Teaching Elder Appreciation Day.

I emphasize often how important is our denomination's emphasis on the parity between ruling and teaching elders in both our governance and our spiritual leadership. But I also know that I, as a ruling elder, wouldn't be who I am today as a Christian and Presbyterian without the teaching, support, encouragement, and sometimes prophetic butt-kicking from teaching elders.

It's not an easy time to be a teaching elder: calls are scarce, the pay isn't great, society is moving further and further away from Christianity, and the church we've grown used to is changing, morphing into a new being whose shape and structure we don't yet know.

But it's my hope and prayer that each of you recognize that you possess something beyond what the world measures as success: you have the priceless opportunity to transform people's lives. You have the priceless opportunity to proclaim the Gospel, to preach Christ crucified and risen, whether it's from the pulpit, or in a coffeeshop, or beside a hospital bed.

I don't think you teaching elders alone are sufficient to lead a congregation, a presbytery, or a denomination. But without you, the rest of us would be lost, in every sense of the word (and Word). So, to all teaching elders, thank you. Blessings on your continued ministry.

A Dilemma

One of the things I cherish most about the Presbyterian Church is its insistence that leadership in the church is not solely the domain of those who are paid by the church.

 Leadership in our church is shared between ruling elders and teaching elders. Each of those ordered ministries brings with it unique challenges.

The challenge for a ruling elder is how to strike a balance among church responsibilities, work responsibilities, and family responsibilities.

[Note to teaching elders: I realize it's equally hard to strike a balance between your work responsibilities -- which are also your church responsibilities -- and your family responsibilities, but that's another post. This one's about ruling elders.]

When I was elected Moderator, I went to part-time status at my "day" job at legal publisher BNA, Inc. I realized that the travel schedule of the Moderator simply wouldn't allow me to remain full-time at BNA while serving as Moderator. Yet BNA is where I've spent my entire career. I'm an Executive Vice President there, and a member of the Board of Directors.  It's a big part of who I am, and I wasn't ready to give that up. AndI believe that my work experience makes me a better ruling elder.

For my first year as Moderator, I was able to juggle church and work responsibilities pretty effectively (at least I think so -- maybe folks in the church or at BNA would disagree). But things changed at the end of August, when the BNA Board announced that we were recommending that stockholders accept an offer from Bloomberg Inc. to acquire BNA.

 I believe Bloomberg’s offer is good both for BNA and for its stockholders – who are BNA employees and retirees. But BNA has been employee-owned for our entire history, so this tender offer represents a significant change for us as a company. I feel that it’s necessary for me to be at BNA as much as possible during the next few weeks, as I and other members of management spend time meeting with stockholders and talking with them about the Bloomberg offer.

 During this time, I’m having to cancel some trips that I had planned to make as Moderator – among them a visit to Lake Michigan Presbytery this week, and attending the General Assembly Mission Council meeting next week.

 I hate having to renege on engagements – and I hope folks understand why I’m doing this. The dilemma I’m facing now in trying to balance work and church is faced by every ruling elder at some point – can you be at a Presbytery meeting at 10 am on Tuesday when there’s an important meeting at the office? Can you afford to be away from the office for a full week in order to attend General Assembly?

 I don’t have any easy answers as to how we resolve these dilemmas. I do know, though, that we need to acknowledge that these dilemmas exist, and we need to help ruling elders figure out how to best maintain the balance between their church lives and their work lives. Simply put, we cannot transform the P.C. (USA) into an effective tool for ministry in the 21^st century without the input, commitment, and knowledge of ruling elders.

 

Like-Minded

Last Friday I was at the Fellowship Gathering in Minneapolis. This coming Friday I will be at the More Light National Conference in Rochester, NY.

My guess is that the number of people attending both of those events is fairly low. In fact, maybe just me.

Nevertheless, both events have one very important, hugely important, thing in common: people who are committed to following Jesus. People who are seeking to live out the Gospel message authentically and prophetically to a 21st century world that sorely needs to hear that message. People who are eager to talk and brainstorm about how the P.C. (USA) can be an effective agent of proclaiming the Gospel. 

To be sure, there's lots that we don't agree on. When has there ever been total unanimity among us?

As we continue to talk together about how we live into both a new ordination standard and a new Form of Government, we need to always remember that people who have differing points of view about either or both of those are still committed, faithful Presbyterians. There were committed, faithful Presbyterian at the Gathering. There will be committed, faithful Presbyterians at the More Light conference.  

We seek to follow Jesus. We seek to proclaim Christ, crucified and risen. In that sense, we are all like-minded.

Let's Hear It for the Synod!

Bet that title got your attention! We don’t hear much these days about synods, unless it's to ask what  the future holds for them.

What I’m discovering, however, is that there’s lots of places where synod-driven ministries are thriving. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be at the renowned synod school last month sponsored by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, but, judging by the Facebook comments I saw, lots of Presbyterians were enlightened, educated, and entertained.

And last week I saw in action the Mobile Health Fair ministry of the Synod of the Covenant. Every summer, the synod hires a team of young adult volunteers who travel throughout Ohio and Michigan providing health screenings to children and adults who otherwise wouldn’t have any access to medical care. This summer, 44 health fairs were held, and over 1,900 children and adults were screened. Many of those screened are the children of migrant workers who come to Ohio and Michigan during the summer.

The screenings provide real benefits. Over 600 glucose tests were administered to persons over 18, and 84 persons who had no prior diagnosis of diabetes were found to have abnormally high levels. They will be given educational information about diabetes and the opportunity to follow up with more intensive medical care. Vision and dental screenings are also provided, along with follow-up referral care.

This ministry requires an enormous amount of organization and planning, not to mention volunteers above and beyond the core team who set up and help at each of the fairs. More than 350 volunteers from congregations across the synod helped at the health fairs this summer.

Most of us who are not in the Synod of the Covenant probably haven’t heard about the Mobile Health Fair Ministry. But it’s an important and effective ministry that all of us as Presbyterians should be thankful for. Kudos to the Synod of the Covenant!

Hands of Christ

There's a lot of discussion across the denomination about new ways of "doing presbytery."

This past weekend, I saw a terrific way of doing presbytery -- the Hands of Christ ministry in Charleston, SC. More than 20 congregations in Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery participate in this program, which distributes clothing and school supplies to needy children. In 2010, more than 4,000 kids each received one new pair of pants, one slightly used pair, two new shirts, two pairs of underwear and socks, and needed school supplies.

When Tammy Gregory Brown, the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charleston, where the program began, and I pulled up at the Aimwell Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning around 8:30, a line of people had already formed, even though the doors wouldn't open and the distribution  wouldn't start until 9:30.

The volunteers that morning came not just from Aimwell and from Westminster, but from congregations all across the presbytery. What I heard again and again from the volunteers there on Saturday was how effective the Hands of Christ has been, not just in carrying out its intended mission, but also in bringing together Presbyterians of different races, different perspectives, different worship styles -- bringing them together while doing ministry together. Every distribution, which is held at participating churches across the presbytery, ends with a meal together.

Hands of Christ fills two needs: first, getting the basics that so many of us take for granted into the hands of kids who would otherwise do without; and, second, engaging Presbyterians in mission and ministry that doesn't involve debating or voting.

The most fascinating part of Saturday was watching the volunteers set-up and operate a "conveyor belt" by which clothes and supplies left over were loaded onto a trailer, ready to be taken to the next distribution site. Here's a photo -- but you can see an actual video clip at the Hands of Christ Facebook page.

 

 

 

Women Ruling Elders -- They Rock!

When I was in law school, I occasionally was asked, “So – you want to be a lady lawyer?”

I never really knew how to answer that question.  I wanted to say, “I wasn’t aware that a sex change was necessary in order to be a lawyer.”

But in fact I encountered very little discrimination as I in fact became an attorney,  perhaps aided by the fact that I was lucky enough to get a job right out of law school with BNA, Inc. – still my employer – which is a remarkably diverse and inclusive place to work.

And I haven’t encountered much discrimination in my work within the PC (USA). I think in part that’s because I’m a ruling elder, not a teaching elder.  Women teaching elders still, in my opinion,  have a higher bar than male teaching elders in seeking out and obtaining calls.  How many tall steeple congregations have a woman teaching elder as head of staff?

All of that is to say that I was humbled last week to meet with five women ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church in Guatemala. These women have had to struggle and fight every step of the way to be accepted within the church. One told of persons refusing to accept the bread and wine from her when she was helping to serve the Lord’s Supper. Another talked of her continuing effort to encourage the use of inclusive language. Each of them still faces the reality of being ignored by the male leadership within the church.

I met with them at a remarkable place in Guatemala City – the Centro Evangelico de Estudios Pastorales en Centro America – known to one and all simply as CEDEPCA. In its modest yet functional offices (thanks to the Presbytery of the Peaks for helping to make that happen), CEDEPCA, which is an independent, ecumenical ministry and a validated mission partner of the PC (USA),  seeks to encourage and inspire women’s leadership in the church, as well as to provide men and women in Central America with a flexible, inexpensive approach to theological training. In addition, it designs and hosts mission and work teams, bringing together people from different cultural backgrounds to focus on issues such as health, education, free trade agreements, and the situation of women in church and society.

I am uplifted by what these five women ruling elders have accomplished.