Tag Archives: Christianity

PCA GA Day 1

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This week I have the privilege of serving as a commissioner to the 51st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, meeting in Richmond, VA. This is my 4th time to attend the PCA-GA, and I thought it would be helpful to share what’s happened so far, what I’ve been a part of, and some of the great things that are happening in our Church.

First, I was sent by the Siouxlands Presbytery to serve on the Committee of Commissioners for Reformed University Fellowship. Here’s what that means… Each Permanent Committee of the General Assembly (MTW, MNA, RUF, etc…) meets through the year and conducts their business and makes their recommendations to the General Assembly. Then commissioners meet before the Assembly starts and review the work of the Committee, and either give consent to the committee’s recommendations, or propose substitute motions instead. The RUF Committee of Commissioners met on Monday afternoon and heard a very positive report on the work of RUF (the college ministry of the denomination) and gave overwhelming support to the permanent committee’s report.

Most of today was spent networking with other presbyters and learning about different ministry opportunities through the organizations that are present in the Exhibition hall. One of the fun things to do is gather GA Swag, and I think I scored some pretty nice T-Shirts and a great MTW Cap.

This evening the General Assembly began in earnest with our opening worship service and preliminary business.

Worship was excellent! Over 2,000 men, women, and children, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to the glory of God, confessing their faith and reading the scriptures together. TE Fred Grecco, the outgoing Moderator, preached a powerful message on the Blessing of the Bible, based on 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5.

Ruling Elder Steve Dowling was then elected moderator of the 51st PCA General Assembly. The technology executive from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Auburn, Alabama, was chosen by unanimous acclamation.

Most notably, the Assembly voted to receive and adopt 3 amendments that had been approved by the 50th Assembly, then affirmed by a majority of the Presbyteries. This was the final step in these three amendments becoming finalized in our Book of Church Order. The amendments passed this evening were (amended portion underlined):

ITEM 1: Amend BCO 7-3, regarding titling of unordained people, by the addition of a sentence 7-3. No one who holds office in the Church ought to usurp authority therein, or receive official titles of spiritual preeminence, except such as are employed in the Scripture. Furthermore, unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or deacon.

ITEM 2: Amend BCO 8-2 and 9-3, to require officers ’conformity to Biblical standards for chastity and sexual purity in self-description, by the addition of the underlined wording.
8-2. He that fills this office should possess a competency of human learning and be blameless in life, sound in the faith and apt to teach. He should exhibit a sobriety and holiness of life becoming the Gospel. He should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct. He should rule his own house well and should have a good report of them that are outside the Church.
9-3. To the office of deacon, which is spiritual in nature, shall be chosen men of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly spirit, warm sympathies, and sound judgment, conforming to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in their descriptions of themselves and in their convictions, character, and conduct.

ITEM 3: Amend BCO 38-1, regarding confessions and offended parties (adding the following text)
In any instances involving a personal offense (BCO 29-3), the court shall attempt to inform the offended person(s) of that part of the Confession the court deems pertinent to the offense against him or her. The court shall invite the offended person to provide the court comment on the Confession prior to final approval of the Confession by the confessor and the court. The court shall encourage the offended person to enlist the help of an advisor in preparing any such comments. In all instances, the court shall report the way such offended persons were informed of the parts of the Confession pertinent to them.

Tomorrow will be a full day of business at the Assembly. We will hear many reports, and vote on several overtures that have been brought before the Church. Overall, there is a tremendous feeling of brotherhood, fellowship, and love for God, for one another, and for the Church. It is such a blessing to be part of a Church that is committed to being Faithful to the Word of God, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission.

SDG

Bemoaning Inconsistency

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“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
(Colossians 3:2–3)

Sometimes it is really amazing – and desperately heartbreaking – how people will justify sin and ungodliness and see no contradiction with their Christian testimony.

I may have matured (or devolved, whichever your perspective) from being a “snarky Presbyterian pastor” to a full-fledged irascible and peevish grump – and that’s something that I guess I’ll have to deal with – but seriously folks there are just certain things that as Christians we should know better.

Here’s my list of grievances for the week:

  • Christians and 50 Shades – Folks, the book and the movie are straight-up porn, there’s no way around it. The book (and I’ll admit I haven’t read it, nor do I intend to) glamorizes an unhinged sexual lifestyle that includes bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism. I hear women claim that it can spice up the romance with their husbands – but I wonder, is that what they want from them? If that’s the case, do they let their husbands subscribe to Hustler?

Just today I read an argument for the moral  equivalency between 50 Shades and the Song of Solomon in Scripture. Are we seriously to compare the literary values of the Song of Solomon – the love song between a husband and a wife of exclusive passion, pleasure, and purity in one another – with the aggressive erotic exploits of unmarried and uncommitted individuals? It would be one thing to hear this kind of equivocation from someone hostile to the Christian faith, but this was coming from a professed believer.  Sigh!

By the way – that noise you are hearing is me banging my head on the desk.

  • Take Me to Church – I will readily admit that my iTunes music library could use a going over. There are some songs which, carrying over from my teenage years, are fun to listen to, but I don’t think I’d want my kids to come up to me and recite the lyrics.

That being said, there is a video circulating of a Presbyterian pastor doing a cover of Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church.”  Just looking at the title, you might ask, Well, what’s so wrong with that?  Then you read the lyrics:

My lover’s got humour
She’s the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody’s disapproval
I should’ve worshipped her sooner

My Church offers no absolutes
She tells me, ‘Worship in the bedroom.’
The only heaven I’ll be sent to
Is when I’m alone with you—

Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

I heard this song on the radio once and knew it was not something I needed to hear again.  For a Pastor to express his enthusiasm, and even do a cover of a song that supplants the worship of God with the worship of sex is just mind-boggling.  What’s next?  Shall we reopen the office of Temple Prostitutes?  I can grant someone might hum along with the tune – it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.  But once you’ve read the words, wouldn’t you think, especially as a pastor, that at some point you might stop and say, Maybe this isn’t consistent with the gospel that I’m preaching…  Then again, maybe it is.

  • Facebook Assassinations – I don’t really know how else to describe it.  It is sad when Christians go to social media (Facebook, Twitter) and openly berate, slander, and ridicule others. We mock and deride our president, our congressmen, or teachers or school administrators, our brothers and sisters in Christ without any thought or regard to how our words kill and destroy. “Christians” have launched campaigns to impugn and destroy the reputation of others, never knowing or attempting to understand all the facts, or to work toward reconciliation and restoration. It is an assassination attempt, for Jesus said, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment.”

To paraphrase Darth Vader, “I find your lack of consistency disturbing.”

VaderAs Christians, we have by definition died to sin, and are alive in Christ.  We are, therefore, called to set our minds on things above, to set our minds on Christ.  The movies we watch, the songs we listen to, the way we speak to and treat one another – these are to be influenced by the fact that our lives are hidden in Christ.  We live because he lives in us. That’s not to say that the only book we can read is the Bible, but we should ensure that what we read uplifts and encourages our walk with Christ.  We don’t have to listen only to hymns and spiritual songs, but we must discern whether the music that we’re listening to is glorifying to God and promoting holiness?  To live consistent with our faith does not mean that we cannot be critical of those in authority over us, but it does mean that we will be prayerful, respectful, and ultimately, that we will “seek to outdo one another showing honor.”

If you know that your life is hidden in Christ, then you will set your mind on the things of Christ, and not on the things of this world.  The truth of your life in Christ will radically transform everything else you do.

So I guess I’ll end with, of all things, a quote from the Presbyterian Book of Order, which states:

That truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to promote holiness, according to our Savior’s rule, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” And that no opinion can be either more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and represents it as of no consequence what a man’s opinions are. On the contrary, we are persuaded that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise, it would be of no consequence either to discover truth or to embrace it.