hope
I was recently quoted in an article by Jodi Craiglow entitled, "Is there hope for PCUSA evangelicals today?" I thought I would bump my old article to the top of my blogs in case anyone wants to read the quote in its fuller context.
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In mid-January 2012, Moderator Cynthia Bolbach and a group of
other ruling and teaching elders posted a video entitled, "Hope for the
PC(USA)." They invited others in the church to share with the church
why we believe "this to be the beginning, not the end, of what God has
planned for us." What follows is my answer to that invitation...
I
have great hope and conviction that God is alive and well and at work
in this world in which we live. That was just confirmed in person as I
sat at the corner coffee shop and had a conversation with the manager
who has become a friend, who shared some of her own personal burdens,
the help she gains from her recent faith, and her desire to follow God's
leading in her work and life. That she had no church background or
desire to know God did not stop God from pursuing and finding her.
Thankfully. Mercifully. Gloriously!
I have great hope
that God is alive and well and at work in the part of the Church called
the PCUSA. I see it as I share stories with friends across the
presbytery and across the country. For instance, I see it in my good
friend's church - a "transformation church" that has struggled to cling
to life, battled the prospect of change, and embodies new life in
Christ. Despite struggle and tears, even accusations and opposition, I
have heard and seen the Gospel of Jesus Christ SHINE through her and
those remaining to become God's church in their neighborhood. I see our
presbytery responding to a vision of becoming less about institutional
maintenance (survival?!) and more about asking what God is already doing
through the congregations of our presbytery. Despite resistance to
change, guarding of territory, and fear of the unknown, I have seen the
Spirit stir and move in and among our presbytery.
I am not ignorant or indifferent to the challenges before us. John Vest's "Pathos" post
was piercingly truthful about the ways we fail and fall short. But my
hope is not pinned to institutional "success," human merit, or
theological position. Honestly, I have been disappointed by people all
across the theological spectrum; I have also been greatly encouraged,
challenged, and witnessed to by people all across the theological
spectrum. People are people... and they sure aren't God. My hope comes
from a conviction that God's ability to move, work, help, and save is
not dependent on human success or faithfulness. That doesn't let us off
the hook in terms of faithfulness or obedience, but it sure keeps me
from becoming hopeless.
Finally, I have great hope
because of my own congregation and ministry. And lest that seem obvious
or self-promoting, that hope comes precisely because of my own keen
awareness of my limitations and failures. One of the ways I describe our
congregation is "ordinary people; extraordinary God" - and I mean every
bit of that. There is nothing I would deem good or bad, faithful or
unfaithful, Jesus-centered or wayward as Hell, in the denomination that I
don't also encounter in my own congregation and my own life. And God
keeps showing up, stirring us up, calling us back, cleaning us up, and
sending us out under the Word, sealed in the Spirit, and following the
Son.
Thankfully. Mercifully. Gloriously!