Tornadoes

 

     The devastation caused by flooding and tornadoes over these past weeks – most recently in Joplin – has been unimaginable.  Lives lost, lives changed -- all by forces that are outside our ability to control. 

     Our prayers go out to all who have had their lives unalterably affected.  Prayers are also lifted up to  those who put their own lives in danger to help and serve others, including all those who are responding on behalf of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

    We know, on an intellectual level, that our lives are transitory -- that we are here but for an instant. To view the devastation in Joplin puts that reality front and center on the most basic emotional gut level.

    I won’t say that I dislike change, but when I admit that I have worked for the same employer for almost 40 years, and have lived in the same house for 25 years, you will know that I don’t seek out change.  I admit that I would be totally, overwhelmingly, daunted if the office, the home, that I have known for all these years would vanish in an instant.

    Tornadoes attack physical structures. What if they attacked organizational structures?

    If a massive tornado bore down upon the Presbyterian Church (USA), tearing it to shreds, leaving shards in its wake, what should we seek to salvage?  What family photos, what memorabilia, what wall art, of the PC (USA) should we grasp and take to shelter so that it can be saved as the winds come roaring in?

    And isn’t that – the essentials, the things we would take with us to whatever seems to be the safest haven in the face of the storm --  what we should be focusing on as we seek to be the PC (USA)?

Comments

[Thomas L. Fultz, Elder, Westminster. Mobile]

It is most interesting that the Presbyterian Outlook has the Moderator's call to the Big Tent, but it is not here on her blog. Perhaps she realizes how few ever post a comment here and she sees the Outlook always gets a great response. I take exception to her observation that Ruling Elders are not living up to their calling. The Elders I know in our presbytery and in the two adjacent presbyteries are eagerly serving the church as they joyfully submit to our Lord Jesus Christ. As our Pastor reminded us in a sermon on qualities of officer, The call to Ruling Elder is a noble one of faithful discipleship to Jesus. Our pastor relayed this message - "Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He earned a law degree and was admitted to the bar. He earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. He was President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey, and a two-term President of the United States. As President he pushed through legislation against child labor. He kept the country out of World War I for three years, then guided it through to victory. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Near the end of his life, a reporter asked him to name his greatest honor. His answer still has the power: “The greatest honor ever bestowed upon me was my election to be an elder in the Presbyterian Church” [Charles Elliott “The Officer’s Calling,” in The Presbyterian Outlook, April 8, 1985]. NOW as to attending the Big Tent Event - no way - Ruling Elders around here will be too busy writing organizational manuals and reviewing Scripture and the Confessions to see how the guide us in authoritative ways as we prepare for officer examinations.