GA Thoughts Pt. 2 (Congrats to BRC!)

I failed to mention that our new PCUSA Moderator is Bruce Reyes-Chow, a pastor of the emerging Mission Bay congregation in San Francisco. As I told friends in an email last week, "I’ve known Bruce for a few years (through Montreat Youth Conferences) and believe he has the enthusiasm, theological vision, and sense of humor (gasp!) we desperately need in a moderator today."

Bruce's candidacy was fueled by his blog and a huge Facebook group with over 700 members. Simply awesome.

The next two years will be hectic (for lack of a better word) for Bruce, his wife Robin, and their three girls. If you're a praying type of person, please keep them in your thoughts.

GA Thoughts Pt. 1

This week the General Assembly (GA) of the PCUSA, my life-long denomination, kick-started a process that may lead to the open ordination of practicing GLBT folks. For this to happen, 2/3 of Presbyteries will have to approve a new wording of the (in)famous Book of Order statement known as G-6.0106b. To avoid hearing me hash out the details you may read the “official” article, a conservative response, and a brief progressive response. Or if you're familiar with that upstart website, Google, you can find info through their internet search engine. ;)

Four or five GA’s ago (circa 2002/2003) I would’ve supported this decision, but I would've supported it with a lingering fear of ‘what may come’ for the denomination. Cue visions of a conservative church exodus dancing through my head. I would've been fearful that many churches would leave, and the PCUSA's numbers would continue to decline. I would've reluctantly met grace with mental pettiness.

Today, I face the GA’s decision with hope. Hope for the future of the PC(USA) as Presbyteries discuss the issue and vote to proclaim where God is calling us. Hope for those who oppose the decision to enter a process of discernment about the role of GLBT folks in the church. And, hope for those who agree with the decision to meet opposition with graceful dialogue and a fair-mindedness.

Some will preach and blog of the demise of "true faith" in our denomination. Some of those will leave the denomination. Others will preach and blog of justice, grace, and love triumphing.

I will preach (this Sunday) and blog of hope. Hope for 'what may come' in our denomination and hope for an expanded role for all of God's children in the church.

More to come on this issue in the future, for now I'm exhausted after a fun and long wedding weekend in Asheville.

Michelle Obama in NY Times

The NY Times has a solid article on Michelle Obama today. It's clear (as if it wasn't before) that she's incredibly passionate and has some strong principles. Two quotes I really liked...

"I looked out at my neighborhood and sort of had an epiphany that I had to bring my skills to bear in the place that made me," she says in the interview. "I wanted to have a career motivated by passion and not just money."

Like Barack she spent her time in the "trenches" in South Chicago, despite an Ivy League degree. In many ways the passion/money issue is a big part of why I'm doing what I do.

And one that requires reading the whole article for context...

"I hate diversity workshops," she says. "Real change comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable."

I think that gives some insight into some of her quotes that have been blown up by the media. In a more direct sense, it challenges those of us who seek change to be willing to face the uncomfortable, especially when the uncomfortable is the face in the mirror.

Preaching Postmodernity (whatever that means...)

Well, I'm now slated to preach on July 6. For my general anxieties with preaching, go here. The good news is that I've been in the pulpit so much recently that I'm much more comfortable with the whole process...

Honestly, this time I'm pretty excited. I've read and re-read the passages I've selected, Matt: 16-30 (ignoring that the lectionary cuts out v.20-24) and Romans 7:15-25, and have gone through several commentaries. I've even written some thoughts out and could easily 'finish' the sermon in a couple hours. We commission our Montreat crew that morning so I have a great opportunity to talk about my theology of youth ministry, which I haven't really done since my first sermon.

My new anxiety is whether I try to spend time talking about postmodern thought and theology to an unapologetically modernist congregation. Is it worth it to even mention that you're wary of Truth claims and putting God in a box, or is it better to "play it safe" and just talk in broader terms about my youth ministry approach? What about when your theology is shaped by an emerging worldview that many could care less to hear about? What about when that worldview isn't definable, when so many want explicit definitions.... The questions go on and on.