Encouraging, challenging and equipping congregations to thrive spiritually and be apostles for reconciliation
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Breathe on us, breath of God and fill us with life anew. God, Divine Love, we come to you anxious, fearful, sorrowful, and angry. We are surrounded by hatred, violence, greed, racism, war, disease, and systems of oppression. The air we breathe is filled with the soot of uncontrollable wildfires and the ground beneath us […]
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 […]
From the General Presbyter Going Back to the Way it Was I doubt any member of our Presbytery intends to return to “the way it was” once the pandemic is over. The time away from church, brought to you by COVID-19, has many evaluating and re-evaluating their call to ministry, their regular participation as congregation […]
From the General Presbyter Happy New Year!! I believe I speak for us all when we pray that 2022 will be a safer, healthier year. As I bring you this greeting, I also bring with it some protocols we need to put in place for the next two months as we navigate the Omicron Variant […]
Choose Insanity In 2017 Howard County Maryland mailed out bumper stickers that read “Choose Civility,” as a response to behaviors emerging across the country. The other day, I saw one that read “Choose Insanity!” After I nearly wrecked my car laughing, I thought about the deep social and theological significance of these words and would […]
