Happy to be a Presbyterian

I’m happy to be a Presbyterian … and here are a few reasons why:

We may be a little pedantic, now and then … even a little dry, but we care about what we know, and we know some mighty important things.

Several months ago, I had lunch with an associate pastor from a large SoCal church … a good guy who came to Christ from a life of drugs, etc. – and I have no doubt of his conversion, and God be praised for it.

As he tried a time or two to “convert” me, and I light-heartedly parried his moves, he laughed. We enjoyed our lunch, but both knew how far apart we were, in spite of both being Christians. We commented on the hard reality: folks like us rarely ever get together for lunch. We just talk about each other at a distance.

At one point, I commented on the two essential views of the atonement: Anselm and Abelard, of which he had no knowledge. I’ve since set him some websites to explore both of these theologians.

That someone in the pew might not know such things is permissible, but someone who wear the tag, “pastor” or “rev” ought to know such things.

Recently, I accessed the church’s website and checked out the “sermon outlines” from the sr. pastor – to say that I was aghast is to put it lightly. The outlines were typical of a pattern emerging in some traditions in the last ten years – the hand-out outline, for folks to fill in the blanks, along with PowerPoint.

Sure, preaching needs to be accessible to the people, and not so “intellectual” – but I couldn’t help but think: “This is really shallow” – a few miscellaneous thoughts strung together will Scripture tacked on without any apparent effort to plumb the text.

The other outlines were similar, and I thought again, “If this is what they’re feeding the flock, the calorie intake is terribly low – a starvation level diet.”

Anyway, we Presbyterians have a long and worthy tradition of prepared preaching. We know something about Anselm and Abelard, and it’s reflected in our proclamation and in the stories of our churches.

The gospel is simple, but not simplistic! Jesus and the love of God take us on a profound journey in a vast landscape of ideas and characters, leading us to a life-long effort to make this a better world.

The fact that we’ve not been hugely popular in recent decades should call us to attention, but not undue alarm.

The sun is already setting on the megachurch phenomenon, and folks who are attracted to the simplistic Powerpoint and fill-in-the-blank Christianity are already on the move to the next whatever-it-is they’re looking for.

Where it goes from here, though, hard to say. Can anyone ever predict the future?

But this I know, the heart and soul of the church is all about good thinking about God … which is nothing less than prayer.

The gospel is both greater and less than human estimate – greater than our meager expectations, and less than the hype often associated with the silly promises of “Jesus can do everything.”

Good thinking will always be central, and good training for those who hope to wear the tag, “pastor” or “rev.”

Our commitment to good thinking and good learning is a part of our worthy heritage and a pathway for our future.