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Tornadoes
The devastation caused by flooding and tornadoes over these past weeks – most recently in Joplin – has been unimaginable. Lives lost, lives changed -- all by forces that are outside our ability to control.
Our prayers go out to all who have had their lives unalterably affected. Prayers are also lifted up to those who put their own lives in danger to help and serve others, including all those who are responding on behalf of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
We know, on an intellectual level, that our lives are transitory -- that we are here but for an instant. To view the devastation in Joplin puts that reality front and center on the most basic emotional gut level.
I won’t say that I dislike change, but when I admit that I have worked for the same employer for almost 40 years, and have lived in the same house for 25 years, you will know that I don’t seek out change. I admit that I would be totally, overwhelmingly, daunted if the office, the home, that I have known for all these years would vanish in an instant.
Tornadoes attack physical structures. What if they attacked organizational structures?
If a massive tornado bore down upon the Presbyterian Church (USA), tearing it to shreds, leaving shards in its wake, what should we seek to salvage? What family photos, what memorabilia, what wall art, of the PC (USA) should we grasp and take to shelter so that it can be saved as the winds come roaring in?
And isn’t that – the essentials, the things we would take with us to whatever seems to be the safest haven in the face of the storm -- what we should be focusing on as we seek to be the PC (USA)?
May 17, 2011
Mystic Chords of Memory
One week ago today, Twin Cities Presbytery became the 87th vote in favor of Amendment 10-A, thereby ensuring its adoption. In the week since, I have been heartened by the discussion going on across the Web about what this means...- Posted at 1:50 p.m.
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May 13, 2011
Ordination Standards
Months ago, Nancy Grittman, the Stated Clerk of Twin Cities Presbytery, invited me to attend a Twin Cities Presbytery meeting. After consulting calendars, we agreed that the date that worked best was May 10, 2011. Twin Cities, in planning its...- Posted at 12:06 a.m.
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May 4, 2011
A Letter to Commissioners to the 219th GA
Vice Moderator Landon Whitsitt and I sent the following letter on May 2 to all who served as commissioners and advisory delegates to the 219th General Assembly: Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord Jesus...- Posted at 9:23 p.m.
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May 3, 2011
A Prayer for the Church
Harry Emerson Fosdick's God of Grace and God of Glory is one of my favorite hymns. Below is a prayer he wrote that resonates as powerfully with me as that hymn, especially in terms of our life together as the...- Posted at 2:53 p.m.
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