Socio-Political Commentary?

Or perhaps there’s a religious message here? In any case, I’ve found myself more and more fascinated by this song and video. Try to ignore the French sub-titles…and please leave a comment about your thoughts on this.

Filed under: Culture, Philosophy

The PCUSA At It Again…

Hmm…

Presbyterians Move to Allow Gay Clergy

At its general assembly, the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to remove a clause in its constitution that requires clergy to be either married and faithful or single and chaste.

The action still needs approval by a majority of the denomination’s 173 regional bodies, called presbyteries. Similar moves in recent years have twice failed to win ratification on the local level.

Delegates approved an “authoritative interpretation” of church rules on gay clergy, a move meant to piece back together a delicate compromise forged two years ago that was rejected by the church’s highest court.

Under the new interpretation, gay and lesbian clergy would be allowed to declare a conscientious objection to rules that would otherwise prohibit them from serving. Local bodies could then choose to ordain them or deny them access to the pulpit.

“It is more than we expected from this General Assembly,” said Jon Walton, co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which supports gay and lesbian clergy.

Not all delegates, however, were happy with the outcome.

“I think the word that best describes what we feel is ‘grief’,” said Terry Schlossberg of Presbyterian Coalition, a group that sought to preserve the ordination standards. “We think the implications are very serious and will do a great deal of harm to the church.” (RNS)

You can find the actual article here.  What d’ya think?

Filed under: Church, Leadership

Banner Article Update

From tme to time I’ve made comments on here about an article I submitted to The Banner in April 2007.  This article is basically a summary of the “Taking Your Faith Next Door” personal evangelism seminar I led for an while.  At one point, the article was slated to come out in April ‘08.  It was then bumped to June ‘08 until they realized that was Synod month and moved it to August ‘08.  But anyone who reads the Banner and this blog my have noticed that August was all about election stuff (and Banner staff failed to notify me about the change – so I was a little irritated when I oopened my copy and didn’t find the article).

The other day I received a phone call from an assistant editor saying that they have officially placed my article in the October “mock-up” in the “Reformed Matters” section.  This is the most detail I’ve heard from them yet and suspect that this time – given the phone call and details – they’ll actually follow through with it this time.

I haven’t posted the article on the blog because I technically don’t own the copyright any more – I had to sign it over when they accepted it.  However, they have given me permission to post it in late September in conjunction with the publication of the October issue.  So be looking for it and buy extra copies to help a poor starving seminarian and his wife buy groceries with what little royalties they’ve promised me .

Filed under: Random

Laniece & Other God Moments

This summer has been an excellent opportunity for my wife and I to learn how to do what we’ve been talking so much about: loving people unconditionally and “being Jesus” to them.

When I took a summer job in landscaping (and W. Michigan), I never expected to be working with a gay man (I’m being a bit vulnerable and letting everyone in on an area of my life that I have truly been working hard to adjust…so please refrain from any hate mail you may want to send my way and read this post and any stupid remarks that may come out of my mouth and see this post for what it is: a person who desperately wants to be better at loving people and become a bit “blind” toward certain lifestyles and personalities.).  But what I ended up with was a gay who looks and acts in no way gay (again a little personal bias that has been shattered) and another man who is transgender (although to be honest I have no idea what he/she/it is aside from the fact that this person does not define themself by traditional terms).

It was better for me to get to know these people before finding out their secrets (which is exactly what things like that are in W. Michigan).  I would have gotten to know them even if I knew this early on, but admittedly it would have been a pretty large barrier for me to actually caring about them and forming, what church planting guru Danald McGavran calls, a “meaningful relationship.”  In these cases, ignorance was bliss.

Filed under: Christian Living, Culture, Ministry

Mars Hill Post Rob Bell?

Inevitably Rob Bell will step down from his role at Mars Hill.  But when exactly that will happen, is anyone’s guess.  Or is it?

My wife and I attended Mars Hill’s evening service last night – largely to hear (and be very disappointed in) Brian McClaren – and a member of Mars Hill’s staff stood up and made an announcement.  His announcement included leadership concerns regarding the decline in overall quality of the ministry, the suspencion of evening services, the scaling back of Rob’s role at the church (citing noticable inconsistency in his preaching), and the formation of a search committee to hire a new Teaching Pastor.  (UPDATE FOR CLARIFICATION: THE FORMATION OF THE SEARCH COMMITTEE IS NOT TO REPLACE BELL OUTRIGHT, BUT MERELY TO ALLOW HIM TO DIRECT HIS ATTENTION TO OTHER AREAS OF MARS HILL’S MINISTRY.)

Mars Hill is just short of 10 years old.  And they are already experiencing atrophy.  There was a time when Mars Hill and Rob Bell seemed an unstoppable force…but now they’re facing the same realities that many North American church are facing.

Without a doubt the quality does seem to have declined even in the year since we moved here and attended Mars Hill for the first time.  But yesterday evening was a bit of a shock for me when we walked in a few minutes late, the place looked pretty much the same in terms of attendance, but then I noticed that the chairs in half the sanctuary had been removed.  I applaud the leadership of Mars Hill for recognizing the problem and taking action to turn things around before it’s too late.  Over the years Mars Hill has become synonymous with Rob Bell and at times its hard to tell who’s what.  There are certainly some people who will leave Mars Hill for a new church home following this announcement (because they won’t get their weekly dose of Bell).  And unless the leadership handles this situation very, very wisely, Mars Hill may shrink to just a few hundred people, as opposed to nearly 10,000.

Filed under: Church