If there weren't a Presbyterian Church in your neighborhood...

I've been pondering recently Cynthia Campbell's question to me a few months ago. She asked, "If there weren't a Presbyterian Church in your neighborhood, why would there need to be one?" This seems to pose really two issues.

First... We need to know our neighborhood! We need to be aware of the people in our neighborhood, the demographics of our neighborhood, the needs of our neighbors. In other words, we need to be involved in our neighborhood! It used to be, of course, that most all congregations were "neighborhood churches." But as mobility has increased exponentially in the past several years, this usually is no longer the case. To be sure, we have many folks in the neighborhood of Central Pres. that come to church here. But our members come from all over Omaha, and even neighboring communities. As a result, our church is not in touch with our neighbors. I sometimes wonder, what do our neighbors think of us? What do they think - if anything - as they walk and drive past our church each day? What I know is that our church needs to explore ways to get to know our neighbors and to know what their needs are. Then we need to design ways to meet their needs, not always expecting (and certainly not requiring) that they come into our church building, but that we reach out to where they are.

Second... We need to understand who we are uniquely as Presbyterian Christians. What do we have to offer our neighborhood and community, not just as a church, but as a Presbyterian church? We need to celebrate and live out some of those things that are distinctive to our tradition. Those things include a belief that the church is a community of individuals that live in a covenant relationship together. It includes a belief that the world and its concerns matter to God, and they therefore matter to us, and they demand our involvement in the affairs of the world. It includes a belief that God took the initiative to love and claim us as God's own children, and God's love is both unilateral and unconditional. It includes a belief that we are to live our lives in a response of gratitude and faithfulness to God, being good stewards of all that we are and all that we have. It includes a belief that we also are stewards of God's creation, and we therefore have a responsibility to care for the world that has been entrusted to us. It includes a belief that faith is a matter of our intellect as well as of our heart, and that it is not antithetical to question, examine, debate, and discuss issues of faith that are dear to us. It includes a belief that we do not demand a uniform code of belief in order to be a Presbyterian, but that we are free to differ in our beliefs, as long as we are still within a Reformed understanding of the Christian Faith, and that those differences make us stronger.

We Presbyterians offer unique perspectives to God, faith, Scripture, worship, and the world, and we need to claim and celebrate those perspectives as we go into our neighborhood and get to know the people around us and their needs.

Felipe Martinez

On my way between Louisville and Chicago this spring, I stopped in Indianapolis to visit with Felipe Martinez. Felipe was a candidate under care of Blackhawk Presbytery years ago when I chaired that committee. He was an exceptional candidate, and became an outstanding pastor. He now is the Associate Executive Presbyter of Whitewater Valley Presbytery. Felipe is a native of Monterrey, Mexico, and I wanted to get his perspective on how churches might do things in new and different ways. Here are some of the things that Felipe shared with me during the course of our conversation.

Whitewater Valley Presbytery is in a partnership with a group headed by Stan Ott, called Acts 16:5 (www.vitalchurchesinstitute.com). It is a program to help congregations consider how they are the church. What are they here to be and do? The Presbytery has entered into a contract with the group, and then invited congregations to participate. The cost is $1,300 per year, and about 14 churches are participating.

The Presbytery also is in an international partnership with a presbytery in Cancún. That Presbytery has a strong expectation of the leadership of their elders, which is something that the churches in WWV Presbytery are learning about.

Felipe mentioned that it might be worth looking at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia (www.riversidechurch.com). They are a congregation that has intentionally chosen not to own a building. I will definitely follow up by contacting this congregation during this extended part of my sabbatical study.

Joanne Lindstrom

Joanne is the Director of Experiential Education and Field Studies at McCormick... what I've known as a Field Ed. Director. Here are some of my notes from my conversation with her.

Scripture says that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Word shapes and forms our culture. We have to keep our faith language and culture alive, and not be shaped by the business model of our culture.

She's very familiar with the Church in Ghana. She told me that the churches there are in the business of planting other churches. That's their mode of, and passion for, evangelism. For example, a church of 1,000 members might have 7-10 "daughter churches" of 100-200 members each, and the 200 member churches each might have one or two "daughter churches." In other words, instead of expecting people to come build up one congregation, they go to where the people are and begin a community of faith there! That reminded me of how Central Pres. ended up located where we are now. The congregation was downtown, but began a Sunday School mission in a small chapel at our current location. As that mission grew and grew, the congregation decided to move to the site. We went to where the people were. What can we learn from that attitude as we move into new ways of being the Church?

Joanne then asked a fascinating question: "Are we interested in 'growing' or 'swelling'?" In other words, do congregations just want to get bigger (i.e., have more members), or do we want to figure out what it means to grow in faithfulness and discipleship?

Cynthia Campbell - McCormick Seminary President

In the midst of her busy schedule, Cynthia Campbell was gracious enough to sit down and visit with me about my sabbatical work.

She began with what to me is an intriguing, compelling question: If there weren't a Presbyterian church in your neighborhood or community, why would there need to be one? This is a question worth pondering... and worth finding an answer for!

Cynthia was also very helpful to me when she asked what it was that sparked my sojourn in this area. I replied that, although I've been thinking and studying and praying and reflecting for years on different ways of being the church, the specific thing that sparked this sabbatical was our financial situation at Central. And, I said, chief among the drains on our finances is our building... with utilities alone costing us between $25,000 and $30,000 each year! Then there is the usual upkeep and repairs, but there are the long-term, major needs that we need to address in our building: the heating system (not just the boiler), deterioration of some of the stained glass windows, the continual moisture problems that we have, etc.

Cynthia replied by saying that if the church building is problematic, then we need to deal with the building! That helped bring things into focus for me. Merging with another congregation in our building, or bringing in other non-profit corporations in our building is not going to solve the building problems that we have. We either need to fix the building permanently, or else abandon the building and come up with something new. I know this sounds radical, but it makes sense to me. I already have passed this along to our Long-Range Planning Committee and to our Session. I also just shared this in my newsletter page at church that will be mailed out this week. We'll see how this "plays" in the congregation in general - although this seemed to make sense both to the LRP Committee and to the Session.

Conversation with David Esterline and Ken Sawyer from McCormick Seminary

David and Ken were both very gracious, and came at our conversation from their very different perspectives: Ken as a church historian, David as a cross-cultural professor and a child of missionary parents. Among other things, they offered some extremely helpful questions to consider.

Do we want to focus on pastoral leadership or plural leadership? In other words, in this study I'm doing, do I want to explore further dimensions of pastoral leadership for a new day, or do I want to expand the conversation and explore further dimensions of plural leadership... or developing multiple leaders in a congregation? It's clear to me that both aspects of the question are important. However, I think that plural leadership is something that we, as a Church, are going to have to concentrate on more and more. What gifts, skills, and support can we provide the elders and deacons of our congregations in order to help them exercise their gifts for ministry in a congregation that is moving into a new way of living out its faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

One of the things Ken and David asked is if congregations want to be ethnically diverse or homogeneous? As our society continues to evolve into a rich mosaic of cultures, I think that most of our congregations will need to explore what it will mean to welcome - not just into worship, and not just into membership, but also into leadership - a broader spectrum of ethnic people.

They identified three pre-corporate models for the church: intentional communities in covenantal relationships, house churches, and store-front churches. I've got some leads on some of these kinds of congregations, and will be following up on conversations with them during this part of my sabbatical.

When you look at two or more organizations sharing a building, it's important to remember that sharing space is not the only issue. Sharing time is also a critical issue to work out.

From David's international perspective, he asked a fascinating question: "If you want to look at alternative ways of being church, then where are the Africans in your community, and what are they doing?" It makes me realize that I need to have some conversations with our Sudanese Presbyterian brothers and sisters.

Sabbatical resumes - as do posting here

The second, and longer, part of my sabbatical began on Sunday, and so I resume this blog, sharing learnings and ideas, and beginning to formulate possible ways of being and doing church differently - both for the congregation I serve as pastor, as well as for the Presbytery I serve as Stated Clerk.

I'll begin by posting some of the ideas that came out of conversations with people from the latter part of my short-term sabbatical in April and May.

After those posts, then I'll begin with the new things. This part of my sabbatical extends through September 5, so I probably will not post every day, but will add new things here as my conversations with others and my study and reading progress.

As always, I would welcome responses, ideas, challenges, and suggested resources from anyone who would be so kind as to offer them here.

Claudio Carvalhaes

Last Wednesday afternoon, I had a wonderful conversation with Claudio Carvalhaes. Claudio is Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching at Louisville Seminary. I first met him at the Louisville Seminary Lunch at the 218th General Assembly in San Jose. After he was introduced, and as he talked for a bit, he walked around the room, casually discarding his note papers as he walked and talked. He was passionate about preaching... and about worship... and about theological education... and his passion was contagious. I had mentioned a little at that luncheon what I was interested in exploring in terms of a different way of being the Church, and he came up to me afterwards and asked me to keep in touch with him. Needless to say, I knew I wanted to spend some time with him while I was in Louisville.

As we were talking, he said something fascinating to me, with which I wholeheartedly agreed, but which I hadn't heard that succinctly before. He said that, in our culture, the enemy of the church is individualism. It is the old adage of "I can do it myself, thank you very much" that is the antithesis of the Gospel where Jesus calls us into community.

I asked him about the Church in Brazil. He told me that the Church there, as the Church here, as the Church in South Africa, inherited the same model from Europe - 1 congregation, 1 pastor, 1 building, etc., etc. However, Claudio said that where the church is growing in Brazil is among the poor. And it is growing among the poor because the poor know that they NEED the church. They need the church spiritually, to be sure... but they also need the church because the church is where they go to find help with jobs, health care, food, for finding the intersection of their stories with God's stories. He then asked me a key question for the congregation that I serve to consider... for ANY congregation to consider: What are people in need of in our neighborhood, and how can we meet that need?

What do we need to do to help people be passionate about the Church and about faith? What tools are we giving people to live passionately about their faith: songs, prayers, liturgy, etc.?

Young Adult Ministry

At the last meeting of the Quad-Presbytery Consortium (April 16), it was announced that the Nebraska United Ministries in High Education, which funds the ecumenical campus ministries across the state, was getting out of the business of campus ministry. However, many of the agencies that have supported UMHE - including the Synod of Lakes and Prairies - continue a commitment to campus ministry. The announcement was that there might well be a possibility that the Synod would be open to funding congregationally-based campus ministries. Since Central Pres. in Omaha is so close to UNO, that sure seems to me to be something we ought to consider.

I mentioned this to Kris Adler, our DCE, before I left for this mini-sabbatical, and we'll discuss this more thoroughly after we both get back from our respective study leave trips. However, moving her position at Central to part-time in order to expand her ministry to include work with UNO (and possibly UNMC) students, seems to be a logical thing to explore... in terms of her gifts for ministry, in terms of the needs that are there, and in terms of the financial needs at Central.

This is one way in which we ought to explore a new outreach for Young Adult Ministry through our church. Another option came up when I talked with Adrian McMullen at the General Assembly offices this past Tuesday. Adrian is an Associate in the Office of Ministries with Youth at G.A. We had a delightful conversation. One area in which Adrian said is a growing ministry around the country in university settings is housing ministry. That is, congregations provide space for university students to live in an intentional Christian community. This might be particularly important to explore with UNMC students, as Adrian observed that ministry with graduate students is a particularly overlooked area of ministry. Is this something that we could do, perhaps even easily, in our existing space on the 3rd floor of our church building? It's worth considering.

Allan Boesak and Africa - part 2

In reflecting more on my notes during lunch with Cliff Kirkpatrick and Allan Boesak, a few more things come to mind to write...

The Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa (a continuing effort to unite the former Dutch Reformed Church in Africa and the Dutch Reformed Mission Church) struggles, as does the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with how best to provide ministers to serve small, especially rural, congregations. Allan said that fully one-half of the rural URCSA congregations have no pastors, and, in some presbyteries, they only have TWO installed pastors in the entire Presbytery! So, they still are looking for different ways to provide pastoral leadership.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Cliff had suggested I get in touch with Jon Chapman (I spelled his first name incorrectly earlier). Jon now is our Church's Coordinator for Europe/Central Asia and Ecumenical Councils within the General Assembly Mission Council. I was going to get in touch with Jon after I returned from this part of my sabbatical. However, God had another plan... as God so often does, it seems! The day after lunch with Allan and Cliff, I was sitting in the seminary Chapel with my dear friends, Rick and Amy McClain, waiting for the worship service to begin. Amy leaned over to say "hi" to a person in front of us. They chatted for a moment, and then Amy turned to me and said, "Steve, I'd like you to meet Jon Chapman." I love how God makes "coincidences" happen like that! Jon and I chatted for just a minute, and I told him that Cliff suggested that I contact him about the Church in Kenya and their pattern of encouraging elders in their ministries in and with congregations. Jon said, "Give me your email address, and I'll put you in touch with the Moderator and the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. I know them, and they'll be glad to help you however they can." Wow!

So... clearly... more to follow.

Seminary interns?

Yesterday I had a delightful conversation with Leah Bradley, who is the Director of Alum and Church Relations for Louisville Seminary. Among other things, she was the primary person responsible for putting on the Festival of Theology and Reunion this week at the Seminary, a truly herculean undertaking!

But the conversation Leah and I had was on a different subject. I had a crazy idea, and I wanted to talk with her about it. What about if we formed what might be called a Learning Community in our Presbytery? This is what I envision at present... A few congregations, a few experienced pastors, and a few seminary students who are willing to spend a year's internship, covenant to be an intentional Learning Community together. The students come to gain hands-on experience in pastoral ministry. The seasoned pastors have opportunities to share their experiences and also to learn from the students. The congregations begin to see themselves as teachers as well, offering their faith community as a learning lab for someone who soon will be ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

Leah reminded me that there is a similar program for students who are finishing seminary and looking for a first call - a program called "For Such a Time as This." (http://www.pcusa.org/vocation/residency.htm) However, the program that I envision would intentionally be for people still in seminary. I did an intern year between my middler and senior years in seminary, and, I discovered in our conversation, so did Leah. What we both found was that that experience made our senior years inestimably richer; we knew questions to ask that we otherwise wouldn't have known, we knew things to concentrate on in our studies, and on and on.

I'm excited about the kinds of things this kind of program could offer the Church. It could do amazing things within the life of our Presbytery. It could even be expanded and done within our Quad-Presbytery Consortium (Missouri River Valley, Prospect Hill, Central Nebraska, and Homestead). There is, of course, this minor practical consideration of funding... but I think this could be addressed in some realistic ways without having to get too "creative."

In any case, I certainly want to pursue this when I get back home, and to continue the dialogue about this with Leah. She also mentioned that she gets together with other Field Education folks at the other Presbyterian seminaries, and that some of them might be open to considering this as well. Who knows? The idea just gets more and more intriguing to me!

And for lunch today, I had...

conversations. Okay, I first have to get this out of the way. I had lunch today with Cliff Kirkpatrick and with Allan Boesak. Just the three of us. Sitting around a table in the dining room at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. I have known and admired Cliff for a few years, and had the honor of introducing him at the annual COM/CPM Training Event sponsored by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies in January 2007. I have followed the life, teachings, and preaching of Allan Boesak for decades. His outspoken, non-violent opposition to the South African system of apartheid was an inspiration to me. To sit at table with him today... to share ideas as brothers in Christ... to laugh together... to shake his hand... it touched my soul.

I described for both of them the thrust of my sabbatical ponderings: i.e., we simply must find a new way of being and doing church other than the corporate model of each congregation having its own building, running its own programs, overseen by its board of directors (the Session), and implemented by its CEO and mangers (the Pastor and staff). When I asked Allan about possible models that we might draw from in South Africa, he shrugged his shoulders. "We are in the same unstable boat as you, because we inherited the same European model of how to be the church as you all did. And we are struggling to find new ways just as you are outlining." So they struggle with the costs of educating their pastors... how small, and especially rural, congregations can ever afford to hire pastors... the necessity of pastors being tent-makers (bi-vocational is the new term for this old, biblical term referring to someone who has a "regular" job that pays the bills, but also serves as the pastor of a (usually) small congregation).

When I asked Cliff what he knew of the Church in the global south, he immediately thought of the Presbyterian Church in Kenya - which, I believe, is the Presbyterian Church in East Africa. He said he knew of a congregation there of 5,000 members... who had one - yes, one - pastor! The bulk of the ministry of that congregation was carried out by the elders. In addition to preaching and sacramental ministry, the job of the pastor there was to train, equip, and encourage elders in their ministries. On holidays, everyone understood that that was when the elders gathered for a meeting of the College of Elders to study, pray, and worship together. Cliff gave me the name of John Chapman, our denomination's Mission Liaison contact person with the church in Kenya. I'll be getting in touch with John soon to follow up on this.

I've thought of something like a College of Elders - or a Lay Institute of Theology - for a long time. Our Director of Christian Education, Kris Adler, and I have talked about this on and off for a few years. Our Book of Order is clear about the responsibility of elders in ministry, and in developing their gifts and calling for ministry. The proposed new "Form of Government" is even more explicit about this. This may be a model worth exploring more.

Louisville panel discussion

This morning there was a panel discussion among the three lecturers of the Festival of Theology: Allan Boesak, Cliff Kirkpatrick, and Kathryn Johnson. Here are some of the things I gleaned from their discussion.

One of the strengths of the Churches that came through the Reformation is that we realize that the Church is not some ethereal, spiritualized, immaterial thing. The Church is the corporeal, lovable, yucky, holy, broken, tangible community of faith. It is the Body of Christ here.

The thing that helped turn around the situation in the Reformed churches in South Africa when they were struggling in the midst of the battles with and against apartheid was when they opened themselves up to ecumenical conversations. It was when they learned from other churches that they were able to make a peaceful transition away from apartheid.

This is at the very heart of what I am attempting to do during this sabbatical study, discernment, and reflection. What are some things that we can learn from other churches... other churches around the world, other churches in our country, other churches in our denomination, other churches in our Presbytery, other churches in our own communities? I'm not convinced that we will find the answer any other place. But I am absolutely convinced that we will find answers that we need. Why? Because I am a Calvinist! I believe in a sovereign God. I believe that the final answer belongs to God. I believe that God is in the midst of our struggles. I believe that God wills for us to be successful in our efforts to be faithful.

What will this answer - or some sort of answers - look like as we discern what shape the Spirit is calling the Church of Jesus Christ to grow into as we move into the future? I'm beginning to envision some models of what this might be, but I don't know for sure. But I do know that God is with us in the discerning, in the journey, and in the efforts. And that is all I need to know for now.

Cliff Kirkpatrick - part 2

A follow-up to something that Cliff mentioned yesterday...

He talked about his observations from visits to Reformed churches throughout the world, particularly in the global south. He said that the churches that are the most vital are the ones who emphasize mission outside of their walls.

The thing that sparked the initial conversations that led to my sabbatical this year was finances at Central Pres. We still struggle, and, in the long run, finances are the reason that we must do something different. That's the reason that most of our congregations must do something different.

However, I'd like to propose a switch in emphasis.... or at least a switch in how to look at the implications of doing something different in our churches. If - no, when - we find ways to do things differently in our churches, by cooperating in terms of buildings and staff and programs and the like, that will free up financial resources so that it will be possible for us to reach out more beyond our own walls, our own needs, our own facilities, to meet the needs of others in our communities, our nation, and our world.

When I first came to Central Pres. in 1999 to serve as the Pastor, we were giving something like 8.5% or 9% of our budget to mission. That would have amounted to something like $15,000 or $16,000 each year to mission beyond our doors. In 2000, we made a goal that, within 5 years, we would be giving 12.5% of our budget to mission. Last year, in 2009, we gave $0. Unfortunately, I didn't make a typo there. Zero dollars. I'm embarrassed by that. I'm angry about that. I don't think we had a choice at the time, but I don't like that one bit. I am convinced that we have to figure out a way to do things differently at Central, not just because it's irresponsible to continue to pay $35,000-40,000 per year for utilities alone, but because we must return again to an active, financially faithful support of mission causes outside of our own church.

And the challenge for the broader Church? Central Pres. is not alone in this condition.

Cliff Kirkpatrick - part 1

This afternoon's lecture was given by Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk Emeritus of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Cliff spoke about the Accra Confession, a document which came out of years of study, and which was adopted by the delegates of WARC at their 24th General Conference in Accra, Ghana (2004). The subtitle of this Confession is "Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth."

So much of what Cliff said grabbed my attention... and grabbed my heart and mind. Here are snippets of some of those things.

Two-thirds of the world's Christians live in the global south! Their experiences challenge our North American understandings of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. So, I wonder, what kinds of things do they have to teach us... what kinds of things do we need to learn from them... and how willing are we to dare to be open to learning from them, and from God, those things that we need to learn?

Being a former Stated Clerk, Cliff said that it would be unthinkable for him to deliver a lecture and not quote from the Book of Order! Here was the quote he gave us from that part of our Church Constitution:

"The Church of Jesus Christ is the provisional demonstration of what God intends for all of humanity." (G-3.0200)

So, how well are we doing in demonstrating to the world God's intentions for the world?

Cliff is firmly convinced that a church's vitality is based upon the reality of mission that reaches beyond the congregation's walls.

Another surprising fact... 60% of Presbyterian congregations have fewer than 100 members! That means that seminarians who graduate this year and go out to serve those churches, if they do everything right that they've been taught, will see those churches die probably within 10 years. That hits home for me, as the father of one of those seminarians! That hits home for me as the Stated Clerk of a Presbytery. That brings home for me the urgency that our Committees on Ministry need to begin now to help congregations have conversations about how to do things differently. This affirms for me the importance of why the Presbytery in which I serve as an officer decided to help fund my sabbatical this year, and impresses upon me anew the importance of this work for my resourcing our Committee on Ministry.

Allan Boesak and Africa - part 1

Allan Boesak - pastor, prophet, anti-apartheid activist, author.

I have read and followed him for years, often moved by his passionate appeals to the social demands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, after hearing him speak, I was moved again.

The occasion of his lecture at Louisville Seminary's Festival of Theology was the topic, "To Stand Where God Stands - The Confession of Belhar." This confession (pronounced bell-har') was written by the Church in South Africa during the years of the final, intense struggle of the overcoming of apartheid, and is currently being considered to be included in the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at this year's meeting of the General Assembly. Boesak believes that, although its initial focus was parochial, its impact is global.

Boesak stated that the system of apartheid dehumanized black people and accorded an idolatrous position to whites. That particular statement got me thinking about the implications for my sabbatical questions. What is it that is idolatrous for us in the church today? Are our buildings idolatrous? Is having a full-time pastor idolatrous. For us pastors, is being able to work full-time as a pastor idolatrous? In other words...

• Is Jesus Lord, or is our ecclesiastical paradigm lord?
• Is Jesus Lord, or are our structures lord?
• Is Jesus Lord, or are our buildings lord?
• Is Jesus Lord, or are the ways we do our programs lord?

He believes that the Belhar Confession helps us discern the difference between the Gospel and idolatry, between truth-telling and myth-making.

I realize, after his talk, that I need to go back and read this confession again. If you'd like, you can read this at http://www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship/confession/belhar.pdf.

There is so much more, and I'll write more later. I'm also going to have lunch with Allan tomorrow, during which time I'll be able to talk about some of the specific concerns of my sabbatical work.

In Louisville

Finally arrived in Louisville tonight. The Seminary's Festival of Theology begins tomorrow, and I plan to set up appointments with two of the lecturers.

Kathryn Johnson is the Paul Tudor Jones Professor of Church History and Professor of Historical Theology at Louisville Seminary, and is currently on a three-year leave to serve as Assistant General Secretary for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I have gotten to see so many different contexts” and have a broader understanding of the world Church, Johnson said of her role with LWF. Her duties include coordinating LWF’s relationships with other Christians around the world.

Kathryn was my advisor when I was working on my D.Min. years ago.

The other lecturer I plan to set up an appointment with is Allan Boesak. Although out of the spotlight of much of the world after personal and family problems years ago, Boesak was a major player in the Christian struggle against apartheid in his homeland of South Africa.

Both Johnson and Boesak will be able to offer a much larger view of the world Church that I think will be helpful in my exploration. I look forward to the conversations, and trust they will be able to make time.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, it will be more lectures from them, but also visits with some folks at the General Assembly offices.

Grace and peace - Steve

Beginning in earnest now

The last post I wrote was one that, quite obviously, had nothing to do with my sabbatical ponderings about the Church... although the Church historically has had a lot of involvement in the area of people's health. After all, as I remember my Greek (although I'd have to check this), the word for "healing" is intimately connected with the words for "wholeness" and "salvation."

That said, I begin my trip to Louisville, KY after the Presbytery meeting on Saturday. I'll be talking with several people at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, as well as some folks at some of the General Assembly offices. We'll be exploring all kinds of questions about what it means to be the Church.

As Quad-Presbytery conversations are done, General Assembly commissioner training completed, sermon written and delivered, a wonderful Inquirers' Class held, a Finance meeting held, a Session meeting done, a fun meeting of our church's 125th Anniversary Committee, and, in just a bit, a Nominating Committee meeting to complete... well, then there will be our Presbytery meeting on Saturday, and I hit the proverbial road. I'm getting excited about the prospects before me and the conversations that lie ahead.

I hope others read along and share comments as well.

Blessings to us all.

House vote

Health care reform is actually on the way to becoming the law of the land. Do I think that this is the best possible law? Probably not; I have to really find out more about it. However, it's been clear to me that health care is not working for people... for far too many people in our still-affluent nation.

It does make me think, however. I'm grateful that health care is being expanded so that more people than ever will be covered. I'm grateful as a Christian for this, since Jesus told us again and again - by his words as well as his actions - to care for those most in need. The thing that gives me pause, though, is that this kind of compassionate care for those in need in our society is really the job of the Church, not of our government. We too long have abandoned our responsibilities and left them to the government. That's what gives me pause.

Overall, though, I thank God for what seems to be a long-needed reform of our national health care system.

plans

In just over a month, I'll be starting the first part of my sabbatical this year. I'm looking forward to the people I'll be talking with, and to the ideas that we'll share and develop.

One of the things I decided to do is that I'll be blogging my ideas and conversations all during my sabbatical this year: the short part in April and May, and then my extended time being gone in August (with a week or so on either side of that month).

I'd welcome people's responses and interactions.

A beginning... again

I've had mixed feelings about blogging over the years. There are times I think it's a very neat thing. There are some (a very few) blogs I've followed from time to time, and some of those have been informative and entertaining, occasionally even inspiring and thought-provoking. There are other times when I think it's just an exercise in journaling that probably is best kept in a journal, not posted for anyone to read.

Clearly, though, I'm now coming down on the "public" side of the equation. I began a blog about 4 years ago, and made one whole entry! :-) But I think it's time to try again.

So this is, indeed, "a beginning... again."