From the General Presbyter The other day I was driving by the community center near my home and noticed some children playing under two basketball hoops. They could not have been more than four or five years old, and they looked tiny compared to the tall basketball hoops designed for adults. One or two of […]
May 3, 2023
From the General Presbyter Connectional vs. Relational The Presbyterian Church USA boasts of being a “connectional church.” From a practical perspective, it means each “council” of the church supports each other. The congregation supports the Presbytery who supports the Synod and General Assembly. On a good day, we then practice a kind of trickle down […]
February 22, 2023
From the General Presbyter Last week, I did what I always do, and asked myself, “What am I going to do for Lent?” Am I going to give up something, pray more, read a devotional, what? And every year, I look around for inspiration or hope that something will drop in my lap, and I […]
January 12, 2023
From the General Presbyter “We Is The New Me” (from the movie Khakee: The Bihal Chapter) So how was it? Christmastime worship, I mean. Did folks come back on Christmas Eve? Was the sanctuary fuller? What about Christmas Day? Did your “friends at home” as my yoga teacher would say, experience the celebration of the […]
November 30, 2022
From the General Presbyter The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Do you remember that ghost from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol? Shrouded, mysterious, creepy, silent. Scrooge was afraid and if we stop for a moment and think, so are we. What will this Advent/Christmas season be like? Will people come back to church? Will […]
October 27, 2022
From the General Presbyter Enter the Dinosaur I love to watch archaeologists at work, but I get really impatient when I see them slowly brushing off unearthed bones with a paintbrush. I want to yell at the screen: “Hurry up and free the dinosaur!” Our Strategic Planning progress is much like this. Though it is […]
July 12, 2022
From the General Presbyter Bad Karaoke On my recent vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I reserved an oceanfront condo located within a resort. From my balcony, I could hear children playing in the swimming pool, people laughing while dining outdoors and….bad karaoke! Okay, there were a few people with good voices but for the […]
May 24, 2022
From the General Presbyter I want to first address the faithful pastors in this Presbytery of Baltimore. Please hear me; there is no way you can possibly carry the heavy burdens this world has put on us in these violent and terrible times. Words often fail in the face of today’s shooting in Texas. There are not […]
April 20, 2022
From the General Presbyter “With your whiskey and your water, your sugar and your tea. What are all these crazy questions you’re asking me?” Mama Told Me Not To Come, Three Dog Night I have a colleague that always says, “you have not because you ask not.” When the women went to the tomb to […]
February 3, 2022
From the General Presbyter Black History Month In 1807, the Presbytery of the Union Synod of Tennessee recommended to the General Assembly in Lexington, Kentucky, that a “slave should be licensed to preach among colored people.” Enter the Rev. John Gloucester, who founded the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1807. I guess that […]
