Currency -- a New Novel

Our son, Todd Wood, has just published a new novel, entitled Currency.  It is available on Amazon Kindle.  It is an incredible story of power, romance, revenge and international finance spanning three centuries. The issues could not be more timely!  


Todd is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has been an aeronautical engineer and an Air Force pilot. In the Air Force he flew for the 20th Special Operations Squadron which started Desert Storm.  For the past eighteen years he has been an international bond trader with expertise in Emerging Markets. He has conducted business in over forty countries.  Todd has a keen understanding of politics and international finance. He has been published in the Armed Forces Journal.  He lives on a 300+ year old farm in Connecticut deeded from King George of England with his children.

Here is one review of the novel:  "Wow!!! Can this guy see the future? I bought this on a whim but so glad I did! A must read!"

I hope you get a chance to read it.  

If I could only more closely follow his admonitions...

Those who know me are aware of the influence the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer have had on my ministry and, indeed, my life.  I read Bonhoeffer several times a week.  Since I gave away my entire library when I retired -- several thousand volumes -- I don't have in my possession many of the treasured Bonhoeffer books.  When you live fulltime in an RV travelling the country as we do, with only 300 square feet of space available, you choose to give up things, even some things dear to your heart.  I am able to read a lot of Bonhoeffer on the net.  That hardly satisfies having the hard copy in your hands, but it has to suffice.  I do have a copy of A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer which offers a reading of his work each day of the year.  Today I read the following from A Testament to Freedom.

One day, at the last judgment, he will separate the sheep and the goats and will say to those on his right: 'Come, you blessed, ...I was hungry and you fed me....'  (Matt. 25:34ff).  To the astonished question of when and where, he answered: 'What you did to the least of these, you have done to me....'  (Matt. 25:40)  With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks ....  He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing.  He confronts you in every person that you meet.... He lives in the form of the person in our midst....'

What would it be like to live that way every single moment of every day?  What would it take for me to do that, to live like that?  To see Christ in the woman at the checkout counter, in the man on the corner holding a sign asking for food, in the person I pass on the sidewalk, in the man and woman sitting with me in the doctor's waiting room, etc.  How do I see Christ in Obama,for whom I hold little respect?  What about seeing Christ in the form of the minister colleague who has made a decision to flaunt his or her misinterpretation of Scripture in the face of Jesus --someone with whom I significantly disagree? 

What would it be like to live like that every day?    These questions trouble me.  You...?

Bonhoeffer on the Church-splitting PCUSA Conflict

“Two factors, which are really one and the same thing, reveal the difference between spiritual and self-centered love. Emotional, self-centered love cannot tolerate the dissolution of a community that has become false, even for the sake of genuine community.  And such self-centered love cannot love an enemy, that is to say, one who seriously and stubbornly resists it.  Both spring from the same source: emotional love is by its very nature desire, desire for self-centered community.  As long as it can possibly satisfy this desire, it will not give it up, even for the sake of truth, even for the sake of genuine love for others.  But emotional, self-centered love is at an end when it can no longer expect its desire to be fulfilled, namely, in the face of an enemy.  There it turns into hatred, contempt, and slander.”          

                                                               

       -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Life Together

Musings, November 9, 2011

** Thinking about a 'stewardship sermon' I'm to preach this coming Sunday at a church in western Idaho.  On the net I notice most 'stewardship sermons' I read are thinly veiled efforts by pastors to persuade their people to give more.  Why can't pastors just come out and say it instead of trying to manipulate their people?

** I'll never forget the elderly couple in First Presbyterian Church, Savannah, GA, who, in the midst of our stewardship season, visited me in my study and said, "We can't give much, but here is our father's gold pocket watch.  Sell it and use the money for our church's mission." 

** An elderly neighbor of ours died last night.  He was a quiet, pleasant man who often puttered around his rig fixing things.  Another of God's children gone into the night and the world goes on. 

** Joe Paterno is fired at Penn State (for good reasons!), but Barney Frank, a crook from Mass, stays in Congress and continutes to dine at the table of public funds.  Can somebody explain that to me?

** Obama promised an open administration, 'transparent' in his words, but you and I know the reality is anything but transparent.  Anyone want to defend his betrayal?

** White House aides say there's no plan to produce documents on now-bankrupt solar firm Solyndra.  Now that's transparency, right?  Anyone doubt the reasons for this refusal?

** Democrats are pushing to repeal the Defense of the Marriage Act.  Our forefathers are turning over in their graves (again and again!)

** Anyone wondering who is behind the Herman Cain attacks?  Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago. But you know who has? David Axelrod! And guess who lived in Axelrod's very building? Right again: Cain's latest accuser, Sharon Bialek.  Just asking....

** Does Rick Perry remind anyone of a comic?  When you step in 'it', don't keep doing it!

** 20,000 children starved to death today.  And Ms Obama takes a $$$$$$ vacation trip to Paris!  Oh my...!

** Billy Graham's new book, Nearing Home, is an inspiring, encouraging book, especially the chapter that describes Ruth's final days and death.  Get a copy.

** Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words about the Christian community in his book, Life Together, indicts the far left, pro-gay ordination group in our PCUSA.  But that group would never admit same.

** Now the PCUSA is helping produce a curriculum that encourages youth to consider gay marriage.  O Lord, when will such garbage stop?

** After 45 years of active ministry I retired three years ago.  I think much about my life as I enter my 73rd year.  I was good at some things, never great in any thing.  I failed in ministry many times, and in being a father and husband, a friend to others and in many other areas of my life.  So, what is my hope when I stand before my Lord in judgment?  Grace...God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin!!!

Buffalo Bill's Kin

My neighbor, several sites down from us, is Karl, a true westerner, a former bullrider and now crippled from riding ferocious bulls ... and hard, demanding work at west.

Karl's great grandfather owned a 46,000 acre ranch in Wyoming and was a close friend of Buffalo Bill, the western folk hero.  When Karl's grandfather was married, Buffalo Bill was his best man and gave Karl's grandfather a wedding gift of one of his pearl handled revolvers. 

Karl was supposed to get the gun in his grandfather's will.  His  uncle took the gun and never gave it to Karl.  Karl says he would love just to hold the gun that Buffalo Bill used daily.

Karl is now using a walker and is bright intellectually and a fun conversationalist.  I wish you could meet him.
________________________________

Friends are leaving us...for a time.  Ken left for Seattle.  Snarky left for Arizona.  Jim and Pat left for Colorado.  Monte and Carol leave tonight for Desert Gold park in Arizona.  Don leaves soon for K&N park in Sierra Vista, Arizona.  Doug and Alice leave in a few weeks for Yuma.  Others will be leaving in the next month or two, heading for warmer weather for the winter.  The resort here is still relatively full with many overnighters who are passing through.  Soon, however, in November, the snows and cold weather will come, the winds will blow and this resort will have many empty sites.  Dozens will ride out the winter here, several feet keep in snow.  Helen and I will leave January 1, 2012, for Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada and stay there for a month  before heading for Texas to visit with dear friends in Alpine, TX.  Donna and Manning are there and Floyd and Rubye are coming over from the San Antonio area.  The six of  us will join hundreds for the Annual Cowboy Music and Poetry Symposium in late February.  Meanwhile we continue to enjoy our daughter and granddaughters nearby in Nampa (ID).  Golf is great here and Helen loves the pool and hot tub.  Boise offers many avenues of interest.  Mission Aviation Fellowship is headquartered in Nampa.  The Birds of Prey reservation is nearby, as is Bogus Basin, the beautiful snow skiing resort. We attend the Nampa Bulldogs football games and are proud of our two cheerleading granddaughters.  We really enjoy our 'new' church family at Covenant Presbyterian led by pastors Phil and Brian and many capable, committed volunteers.  Many fine restaurants, too, in Nampa and Boise.  The fishing in Idaho is fantastic (if I could just find more time to fish!)  I'm reminded of the sketch framed and hanging in our Roamer RV, given to us by Dick and Doris.  It reads,"God does not deduct from the allotted time of man those hours spent in fishing". 

Confusion At All Levels

Since the PCUSA's deletion of its "fidelity and chastity" requirement for ordination, confusion reigns at most every level of the denomination.  I know, the Fellowship of Presbyterians offered four alternatives for congregations to ponder: stay and seek reform, leave and fight in court for your property, form a new denomination or presbyeries within presbyteries, etc.  But those choices only lead, at this point, to more spintering and more confusion.  Just read the numerous blogs and subsequent post/responses and you easily see how confusion reigns.

Small congregations with severely limited resources have little choice but to stay in the PCUSA.  They don't have the funds to fight in court for their property and the large churches aren't going to 'fund' them.  Medium size congregations dont' want to exhaust the funds they might have to engage in court fights.  Hostile presbyteries, who care only for protecting their boundaries and funds, will make life miserable for any congregation with limited resources that seeks to leave.  Congregations of all sizes have at least a percentage of members who favor the 'progressive' wing and  will vote NOT to leave, thus splintering the local church and producing ill-will at home.  More overtures will land in the General Assembly's 2012 agenda seeking to overturn the 2010 vote on the 10-A amendment, or create presbyteries within presbyteries, etc.

Pastors of congregations with limited resources will fear loss of or drastically reduced income.  Pastors of congregations with great resources will make sure they are protected in any new venture, thus leaving the smaller church pastors on their own and 'out on a limb'.  Presbytery executives will follow the lead of the power-brokers in their presbytery and allow the attacks on smaller churches considering leaving the PCUSA. 

Meanwhile, higher judicatores will face increasingly shrinking dollars.  (The only action that got the attention of the hierarchy was the massive designating of benevolent dollars.)  Mission dollars will be increasingly directed to para-church or independent mission organizations, thus straining our already strapped international missions ministries.

It's just a mess!  And the immediate future promises a greater mess church-wide.

For many, at present, there ares no clear-cut choices, only to leave and give up property and shelve local history, leave and fight court battles, wait for the Fellowship to propose even more options and wait to see if a new denomination is formed and what options/choices that offers.

I was birthed, nurtured, educated and ordained by the PCUS/PCUSA.  I have no plans nor desire to leave the PCUSA.  I grieve over the present state and the ill-advised decisions that brought us this mess.  Now retired, I have little influence other than encouraging those pastors under stress and praying for the Holy Spirit to raise up some wise, courageous voices to lead us out of this 'mess' that is quickly becoming messier.

Do I have hope?  Of course I do, yet I believe it will be DECADES before clarity and resolution is achieved.  By then I will be in the Church Triumphant.  Thanks be to God.

Some Voices of the PCUSA as it races to insignificance

From David Fischler’s blog:

The PCUSA has in effect chosen schism as well as heresy by passing Amendment 10-A. The denomination will just have to learn to live in the tiny ghetto it has moved into, along with the other dying mainline American churches.


From Viola Larson’s blog:
The San Francisco Theological Seminary has produced a document, “SFTS Inclusive Community Statement,” that directs students and faculty to “walk according to the course of this world” and to keep adding sin to sin. It promotes antinomianism which is heresy because it belittles the grace of God.


From Gary Miller’s blog:
I remember feeling, after every General Assembly I attended that no glory resulted. We brought vain glory to the wicked cause of the Libertines. We brought vain glory to those of who called ourselves Renewalist. The Libertines have won their battle to license sin.


From Mateen Elass’ blog:
By our action we have now alienated ourselves from the vast majority of our brothers and sisters around the globe. Already many of our sister Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in other parts of the world had warned us that they could no longer partner with us in mission should we take this step. Some of the same denominations informed us that in making this decision we would break fellowship with them because of our endorsement of homosexual behavior as normative while they remain convinced that it is a sin.


From my blog (Larry Wood):
The once influential PCUSA has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members). The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination. Many more are sure to leave soon.  Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually. Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies. Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomination with their property.  We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church. Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures. It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.


(Note: I will post my thoughts on The Fellowship of  Presbyterians after its meeting in Minneapolis this week and include the thoughts of many other bloggers.)

Some Excepts from Blogs, Articles, etc.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

-- 1887, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, re the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior.

"Not only can we look back to the pagan proclivity in parts of our denomination to do away with unwanted children but now the general push toward accepting sexual deviancy is affecting all else causing further sins of greed, manipulation and lies. Deviant sexuality and the sacrifice of children for the good of society are pagan values and just as they brought God’s judgment on ancient Israel, so they will bring God’s judgment on a denomination. Since it is supposedly okay to ordain those involved in unrepentant same gender sex, unrepentant sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage and unrepentant adultery, a different slant on morality may engulf much of our leadership."

--  Viola Larson, in her blog, Naming His Grace

"Since the watershed event passage of the provision to ordain homosexuals, is just now a present reality. Since we have declared that the Bible is no longer the ultimate authority in the PC(USA) and that human wisdom is superior to God's wisdom, many of us are resolved to distance ourselves from the Church body that nurtured and ordained us. It feels like the Presbyterian Church (USA) has changed the terms of the covenant I committed myself to honor in 1979, when I took vows of ordination."

"There is serious talk of a “New Reformed Body” – that is, a new denomination based on the theology and structure of Presbyterianism. It is impossible to know precisely where such plans will lead. It is certain, that God hates the breaking of any covenant relationship – a marriage or a denomination. As much as God hates divorce He hates faithlessness more. That is why Jesus declares that God’s law “allows” divorce because of the hardness of the human heart."

-- Gary Miller, in his blog, Reforming Gary

"I will not participate actively nor passively as any presbytery or congregation within the PCUSA ordains or installs anyone who persists in behavior defined by the Bible as sin. As one who knows God’s righteous decrees I cannot approve of those who do not practice them and thereby place myself under the same condemnation (Romans 1).

"Recognizing that this stand puts me at variance with the PCUSA, I know not what else to do but to set aside my ordination until my denomination repents of its corporate sin and returns to a shared standard of ordination aligned with the Scriptures. When the PCUSA changes its position on this matter, I look forward to the reinstatement of my ordination."

"Until then, I will joyfully serve as your sister in Christ in the PCUSA without the benefit of institutional ordination credentials and without the burden of a denomination’s corporate guilt. I hereby humbly set aside my ordination as a matter of conscience before the Lord."

-- Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the Presbyterian Layman

The Practice of Prayer

Prayer Expertise
Romans 8:26-27



Like many of you I have heard prayers offered in most every imaginable locale, prayers in many languages, prayers in a countless number of circumstances, and prayers from young and old.

When I was a child, Dr. McInnis’ pastoral prayer was longer than his sermon. When I was in seminary I would often worship at First Presbyterian, Atlanta, not only to hear Dr. Fifield preach, but to hear Dr. Howell pray. I’m sure Moses sounded just like Dr. Howell. I sat on a log in worship in Kananga, Zaire, and listened to a Zairian pray in Chuluba and marveled at the beauty of the words. I’ve heard persons pray in ‘tongues’ and understood not one word. I’ve heard prayers that made no sense and I’ve heard prayers that cut to the point in a hurry. I’ve heard lofty, magnificently worded prayers that seem to be ‘other-worldly’. I’ve listened to an illiterate black man murder the King’s English in his prayer and believed it to be the most honest prayer I’d ever heard. I listened to my dad’s prayer when we all thought my little brother was dying. (He did not.) I’ve listened to mothers and fathers, husbands and wives pray for their children, and I’ve heard children pray for their parents. Those prayers were usually powerful expressions of faith. I’ve heard a few sentences spoken in a prayer that seemed to me more from the heart than a long winded prayer. I’ve heard prayers that informed God of a situation as if God didn’t know what was going on. I’ve heard prayers that sought to impress those who listened. I’ve heard prayers that made me angry and I’ve heard prayers that reduced me to tears. Once, in a nursing home, when I was a student in seminary and had come to preach at that nursing home, an elderly gentleman prayed for me after the sermon and said, “God, this boy is full of himself. Put him in his place.” Some of you have heard my story about Mr. Alex, the oldest elder in my first church. I asked him to open a Session meeting with prayer and he said, as he spit tobacco in a can, “Pray yourself. That’s what we pay you for….”


I relate these memories because I want to ask, “Are there any real experts in prayer?”


Years ago I began collecting books on prayer. I had a full shelf of such books. Books on prayer by famous names, by pastors, by laypersons, by persons of many different faiths. Some of them were very helpful. Some were not worth the paper they were printed on.


I value today the prayers of Peter Marshall, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth and some by persons whose names you have never heard. I like to read the prayers in the Psalms, and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and the prayers of Sister Teresa and those of Martin Luther King. I’ve read insights into prayer that have stuck with me through the years. Like Fosdick’s admonition that if you only have three minutes to pray, spend two of them ‘listening’. Or Barth’s words, “If you have something you really need to say to God, you’ll not take forever to say it. It won’t be a long prayer.”


Are there any experts in prayer from whom we can learn ‘how to pray’, learn what prayer is all about, why prayer is so difficult or so easy for some?


What about Jesus? In John 17 we have what is referred to the ‘high priestly prayer’ of our Lord. It a lengthy prayer in which he prays for himself and then for believers. It is a prayer that soars from the lips of our Savior. In Mark 14 we have his breathless, three-sentence prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. That prayer leaps agonizingly from the mouth of Jesus.


In Mathew 6 we have a beloved prayer we pray here every Sunday – the Lord’s Prayer.


Who are the experts in prayer?


In our Roman 8 lesson, we are told “We are weak and we do not know what we ought to pray for.” Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it, “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.” The RSV puts it like this: “The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” The NIV reads, “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”


Then, Romans gives us this huge promise: “The Spirit intercedes for all the saints.” The Spirit takes our stumbling, inadequate efforts to pray and infused them with his power and takes them to God the Father for us, in our behalf. What a promise!


The truth is, there are no experts on prayer. Only Jesus knew how and what to pray. We are weak, conceited, arrogant and illiterate when it comes to prayer. Still, in scripture, we are commanded to pray. We are invited to pray. We are encouraged to pray.


Rachel Henderlite, the first woman ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament, wrote a book entitled “A Call to Faith.” In it, she talks about prayer. I found her remarks helpful. Henderlite reminds us what ‘prayer is not’. Prayer is not, she reminds us, a practice session; rather it is warfare. Prayer is not a letter to Santa Claus, a litany of things we want. Prayer, she writes, is not a theological discourse, but an earnest conversation with Almighty God.


Yes, there are books on prayer that can be helpful, and some books on prayer that can be dangerous to our spiritual health. Yes, there are helpful acronyms others have found helpful. There are many suggestions about how and when and where to find your prayer time most effective. Bookstores are full of such help. Libraries overflow with volumes on prayer.


But there are no experts on prayer, except Jesus.


Yet, we have these words of the Apostle Paul; “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Thank God for that. Let us not forget that we have scriptural helps for our prayer lives. Both the Old and New Testaments provide us many insights into a meaningful, effective prayer life.


Read of the life and writings of Brother Lawrence, author of a little book entitled “The Practice of the Presence of God”. His name was Nicholas Herman, born in France in about 1605. He came from a humble background and was not a learned man. In 1629 he was converted and gave his life to Jesus. After some time as a soldier, he entered a religious community and took the name Brother Lawrence. Though he worked in the kitchen the rest of his life and died in 1691, his influence became widespread. He had discovered an aspiring way of prayer which consisted of a simple and constant practice of the presence of God. Though not many of us will be able to practice his unceasingly high thoughts of God, he can teach us something terribly important about our prayer life. Brother Lawrence was not an expert in prayer, but he taught me, 400 years after his death, that prayer is not primarily ‘something I do’, but rather, prayer is an attitude -- an awareness of God’s presence in all of my life. Prayer is not made proper by being on one’s knees, or folding one’s hands, or speaking correct and acceptable words to God.


Prayer is first of all an attitude, an awareness of the presence of God, a practice of continually being open to the Holy Spirit.


Yes, it is important to find time to be in a posture of prayer, to say words, to fall before God in praise, confession, intercession and petition. But, listen to Brother Lawrence: "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it. The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”


Let me repeat that last line: “The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”


In his last letter Brother Lawrence wrote these words: “God knows best what we need. All that He does is for our good. If we know how much He loves us, we would always be ready to receive both the bitter and the sweet from His Hand. It would make no difference. All that came from Him would be pleasing.” Brother Lawrence died within days of his last letter.


The last words of Jesus on the cross were a prayer: “It is finished.” Within moments he was dead. His promise to his disciples and thus to us was that he would give them and us his Spirit to empower us. That same Holy Spirit takes your stuttering efforts at prayer, wraps them in his perfect will, and takes them to God the Father for you.


So, pray. There is no perfect way to pray. Just pray. It doesn’t matter how you pray. Just pray. Better yet, develop an attitude of prayer. Become aware of the presence of God.


Practice being there.

I Just Don't Get It!

In 1983, the PCUS (southern Presbyterian church)  and the UPUSA (primarily the nothern Presbyterian church) denominations merged and produced a national church of more than 4,000,000-plus members.  The merger secured for the united denomination a national presence with considerable influence in social, political and religious circles. 

Now, in 2011, twenty-eight years later, the once influencial PCUSA (the united denomination) has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members).  The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination.  Many more are sure to leave soon.

Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually.  Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies.  Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomonation with their property. 

We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church.  Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures.  It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.

What happened to the once great PCUSA?

Consider: (1)  The liberal approach to interpreting Scripture -- 'make it fit your personal biases'.  (2) The failure for decades to fund missionaries -- from 1000 missionaries world-wide to a few hundred.  (3) The questioning of the lordship and saving power of Christ -- 'most any religion will do'.  (4) The approval of the ordination of unrepentant, practicing gay and lesbian elders and ministers -- see A-10!  Etc, etc!

My liberal friends say, "You just don't get it.  It's a new day.  We won.  Get over it."

I remember the day when we stood for something noble.  I remember fighting the good fight for racial justice.  I remember standing proudly for the rights of women and children.  I remember when we spoke with one voice and the nation listened.  I remember when I was once proud to be a PCUSA minister.

Once there was a great effort to 'renew' the PCUSA from within.  The multi-group effort has failed.  Now there is wide-spread talk of wholesale schism, of starting a denomination within the denomination (how laughable is that?), of starting an entirely new denomination made up of congregations that leave the PCUSA to join a new denomination, and of many local churches leaving to join with the EPC or the PCA or whatever!

There are many clerypersons fearful that leaving the denomination will cost them their pensions.  Not so, but it causes anxiety among many of them and stops them in their tracks. 

After 45 years of ministry in the denomination, I have no intentions of leaving the PCUSA.  I'm retired, but supplying pulpits and engaging in presbytery and local missions.  This is the church that birthed, nurtured, education and ordained me.  But it is not the same church today.  If I live longer enough, I may be around to help 'turn off the lights' of the PCUSA.  I pray that is not the future. 

The ordination of practicing gays is, in effect, come July 10, a 'local option' for congregations.  Litigation of properties, per capita payments, etc., will fill our denomination's court agendas.  More wasteful spending in a denomination of shriking members and dollars will occur.  Conservative congregations will lose members, even if they choose not to ordain practicing gays, because some members will not want to be associated with a denomination that ordains unrepentant gays even if their local church refuses to follow the liberal policies of the PCUSA. 

It is a sad, sad day in the PCUSA. 

Another word/view...from Mateen Elass:

"...in Americanized ethnic Christian communities, one finds extremely high percentages of resistance to our denomination’s capitulation to the nonbiblical world view on sexualtiy which infuses our culture. Look at the Korean Presbyterian churches, the Hispanic, the Native American — all of them are largely united in their opposition to the direction our church has now taken. If such ethnic believers, immersed in our permissive culture, can feel so strongly, you can imagine what their compatriots back in their homelands think of this matter."  (see Elass' blog below)


Blogs worth reading:

http://reforminggary.blogspot.com/2011/06/where-is-church.html

http://mateenelass.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/historic-moments-part-2/

SAD DAY!

Sad day for the PCUSA for approving the ordination of practicing gays and lesbians as pastors, elders and deacons. Our once great denomination is, in the words of many prominent church leaders, 'deathly ill'.

How do we handle the PCUSA grief...?

From The Layman, by Carmen Fowler:

The season of our humiliation


How do you live through a season of grief? How do you cope? Where do you turn?  The pain is not going away. 
The doctor asked, “on a scale of one to ten, what’s your pain level?” Good question. How acute does the pain have to get before you act? Many of us have lived with so much acute denominational pain for so long that we’ve simply learned to live with it. We’ve developed a host of unhealthy coping mechanisms including avoidance, fits of rage and threats of amputation. Like a patient avoiding a very dire diagnosis, we deny the root causes and deal exclusively with surface level presenting issues. Many in our family have become exasperated with our inability to deal with truth and reality and have simply gone on with their own lives. One thing is certain, although changing the standards of ordination are viewed by some as “the” answer to the problem, Amendment 10A is not going to alleviate the pervasive pain of division in the body anymore than adding G-6.0106b has done. We cannot legislate the body back to health.


The bones are out of joint

It could be described as a cancer or as heart disease, but the analogy that seems most fitting is that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a body out of joint. If you’ve ever dislocated a finger, a shoulder or a knee, you know the agonizing pain that results. Left uncorrected, dislocation results in deformity, dysfunction, immobility and sometimes, paralysis. In many ways, the PCUSA has become paralyzed. Notably, before doing what the friends of the paralytic desire (restoring him to physical health), Jesus deals with the underlying sin issue. The real question that paralyzes us is sin and a corporate unwillingness to submit to the revealed will of the one true God of the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to genuinely conform our deformed body to the perfection of Jesus Christ. Without Him, we remain cut off from the possibility of wholeness, healing and genuine life.


The grief is real


We tend to think of grief as being related to death, but grief is produced by loss of all kinds. As Presbyterians, even if you find yourself in a healthy, growing congregation, we have collectively experienced massive loss.  The obvious losses are: the loss of millions of members, hundreds of congregations, our generational effectiveness, many national staff. But there are other less obvious losses: the loss of a sense of who we are, the loss of standing and influence in the world, the loss of dignity and civility and respect, the loss of a sense of ability and purpose, usefulness, fruitfulness and blessing. Finally, there is the loss that comes by being left and the loss exacerbated by being disabled. All this loss produces genuine grief.


This grief is being experienced across the theological spectrum. We know well its myriad manifestations and we know the process: denial, anger, projecting blame, acceptance, healing. Maybe what we need is a national effort of denominational “grief recovery” through which we could seek the life-giving, renewing, transforming power of the Great Physician to do for His body what we cannot do for ourselves: give us new life.

My response (Larry):  We've read these kinds of observations many times, but nothing changes.  The pro-gay, anti-Scripture, anti-Lordship of Christ advocates grin and say, "Deal with it!  We're in charge now.  Love it or lick it.  You can't stop us now!"
It's a truly sad time in our beloved, once great denomination. 

A Footrace to a Miracle

From Jerusalem to the Cross

Scripture Lesson: John 20:1-18

Finally, Easter morning! And the disciples cannot believe what the women tell them. Alive? You have to be crazy. He’s dead. We saw him die. We know he is in a grave. Wouldn't you know -- Peter must see for himself. So he and John take off running to the cemetery. John wins the footrace, but stands outside the tomb, peering in, staring in unbelief at the grave clothes neatly folded where a body should be. Peter arrives, panting, and races into the grave. Finally, John goes in, also, and his Gospel records these words: “He saw and believed.”

Friday was bad news. Sunday brought the Good News we have wanted to hear: HE IS ALIVE! Now everything Jesus said, taught and did comes back to us with power! What we sinners needed so desperately, God has given us in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Praise God!

What's Good About 'Good Friday'?

From Jerusalem to the Cross

Good Friday

“That Awful Cry!”
Scripture Lesson: Mark 15: 33-34

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?”


Have there ever been words spoken of greater, more profound, utterly awesome consequence? Jesus takes your sin and mine upon his own heart and soul! For those awful, terrifying moments he is separated from his heavenly Father. All the sins of humankind came crashing down upon his soul. Your sins and mine. Your shame and mine. Hell reached up and caught him and held him captive. The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. Thunder and lightning pierced the afternoon. The sky turned black. Then, in words that insure our salvation, Jesus announced it all finished. And, “with a loud voice, Jesus breathed his last.” He was dead. BUT! In the words of the preacher, “It was Friday, but Sunday was a-coming!” We wait, now, for God’s next spectacular act. Jesus lay in a cold grave, but God was about to work another miracle. If the next miracle did not work, all that suffering would be in vain. Lent ends tomorrow.

Are you ready for the next miracle?

Helpful note...I hope!

If you are a Presbyterian and concerned about the direction, conflicts and future of our denomination, here is a site to help you think through a lot of the issues and possibilities.

http://www.fellowship-pcusa.org/

After going to the site, click on the many articles there...and check it out regularly.

Maundy Thursday April 21, 2011

From Jerusalem to the Cross
Maundy Thursday

“This Is My Body”
Scripture Lesson: Mark 14:22-26

Reflections:

Simple elements. Bread and wine. As always, Jesus took the simple things of life and made them sacred. In this powerful Upper Room meal, Jesus shares the depths of his soul with his disciples. Shortly after, he was arrested and murdered a day later on a bloody hill outside the Holy City. Remember, my friends, it was all done for you. “When he was on the cross, you were on his mind.”

Our celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion is an act of remembering that evening Jesus shared with his disciples. Let us not take the bread and wine without serious thought about what it cost Jesus to win our salvation and empower us day by day to work for justice and live by divine love. We were without hope and only by his sacrifice do we have hope again. Hope of eternal life. Hope of his Spirit empowering us every day. Hope that the grave is not the end, just the beginning. Hope to act for justice in an unjust world. 

Do not eat the bread nor drink from the cup casually. This sacred meal brings us near the end of Lent and the beginning of Eastertide. Remember!

Goings on in Southern Arizona

We are parked in Brenda, AZ, at Desert Gold RV Resort. Huge park with mountains all around (see earlier blog for photos).

We have enjoyed the chapel services here, the music jam sessions with at least 20 musicians, the bingo nights, the golf in Blythe, AZ (20 miles west of us), the Gospel Jam sessions, watching the really pro horseshoe 'throwers', shopping in Quartzsite and Parker, AZ, hiking the desert trails, eating out at Steve's (a roadside open air dinner across the highway), working out in the gym here, visiting with folk from all over the west and Canada, checking out free novels and movies at the Resort, the swimming pool and hottub, taking photos of the multiple and fascinating cacti, travelling to Vegas for a Nascar race, etc.

Quartzsite is an interesting place...if you are a RVer. It's a town of 1900 that, in February, swells to a million people as RVers from all over come to enjoy warm weather, frequent acres of tent shops, and check out the RV sales. Here's some info re Quartzsite I found interesting:

Quartzsite, in western Arizona, just 20 miles east of the Colorado River on I-10, Quartzsite has been a rockhound's paradise since the 1960s. These days, it is also a mecca to well over a million visitors each year, most of whom converge on this small town in a wave of RVs during the months of January and February. At this time of the year, 2,000 vendors of rocks, gems, minerals, fossils and everything else imaginable create one of the world's largest open air flea markets in Quartzsite. Eight major gem and mineral shows as well as vendors of raw and handcrafted merchandise peddle their wares to snowbirds, collectors and enthusiasts, making Quartzsite the place to be the first two months of each year. Quartzsite has a classic low desert climate with extremely low relative humidity and very high summer temperatures. On the average, it receives less than 4 inches of precipitation a year. Stores, shops, restaurants, theaters and homes are air-conditioned year round in Quartzsite. In 1856, settler Charles Tyson built a fort at the present site of Quartzsite to protect his water supply from attacks by Native Americans. Fort Tyson soon became a stopover on the Ehrenburg-to-Prescott stagecoach route. It had become known as Tyson's Wells by the time the stage stopped running and the town was abandoned. A small mining boom revitalized the town as Quartzsite in 1897 and it remained thus until 1965, when the Pow Wow Rock, Gem & Mineral Show began the rockhound winter migration to Quartzsite each year. These days, the population can swell to almost a million during January and February as rockhounders, jewelers and vendors, mostly in thousands of RVs, attend the eight major gem and mineral shows.

Met a guy here who says he has a cache of arms and ammo buried in the mountain; another guy who is a ham radio operator and has his own radio shop next to his motorhome and talks to other hams around the world; another guy from Canada who is a former Vietnam sniper, etc.

We see animals everywhere...rabbits, lizards, chipmonks, deer, coyotes, etc. We are surrounded by the most fabulous mountain ranges!

We will be moving west early next month to be nearer a golf course. Check out this course in Mesquite, NV that I'll play soon.

Our 'preacher' here at the chapel services is not highly educated but he is a highly skilled communicator. I am much impressed with his delivery and his messages. He leaves little doubt where he stands on the gospel message, which is not something I can say about some of the preachers we have heard in our travels. The chapel services are attended by at least 300-plus people with a Gospel/country band of 15 musicians who are really skilled.

Every morning streams of 'desert rats' head out of our RV park on their ATVs, women and men with bandanas covering their faces to ward off the desert sands and dust, to ride the desert trails. Some are out to search for gold nuggets, others to find unique rocks and still others to photo the magnificent scenery and desert animals. Most of them are in their 70's and staying young by being very active. There must be at least a 100 ATVs in this park parked next to their RVs.

What are the downsides of full-time RVing? Well, we miss our extended family, our dear friends in the Atlanta area and colleagues in ministry. I also miss puttering around in my shop and playing golf with my buddies(I do meet interesting golfers as I play at various courses in the west.)
We ususally east in the late spring, but fuel prices are limiting our long treks across the U.S.

But, make no mistake about it: we are loving the full-time RV life. How long we'll keep on keeping on we don't know. If Obama kills the economy even more and we lose our savings, or Social Security or our pension, we'll just park it. Or, if our health fails, we'll make changes as necessary. At present we are both healthy and our resources are adequate to keep on moving the Molly II.

In the Arizona desert ... photos

Taken from up on the mountain:

They play 'desert golf' here; no grass, mostly rock:

RUNNING COMMENTARY -- Latest March 2 -- The Tide Has Turned -- Sad, SAD Days

My denomination (PCUSA) is currently voting by presbyteries (districts) on whether or not to ordain to ministry practicing, unrepentant homosexuals. The vote is currently 45-30 in favor of changing the long accepted ordination standards. Meanwhile, a group of pastors of large PCUSA churches has described the denomination as "deathly ill". Here a news note from a blog that reveals the illness:

Are we more outraged over what might happen to undocumented illegal immigrants than we are outraged over what is happening right now to our children? Does child pornography, the sexual exploitation of children and the taking of the Lord’s name in vain not raise our ire? All of these are condemned by the social witness policy of the PCUSA and yet denominational leadership, which is vociferous in its outrage over immigration, is deafeningly silent about the broadcasting of child sex acts.

Sad day in our Presbyterian history.

This quote I saw on the net says a lot:

The votes on Amendment 10-A are growing very close with 10-A ahead at the moment. There is a kind of bravery that, perhaps unintentionally, lends itself to darkness in the face of such a victory for sin.

Meanwhile, U.S. states are in turmoil amid massive protests over state debt and the means to stop the economic bleeding. Countries the globe over are experiencing violent dissent and uprisings. Greed on all sides runs rampant. Sad day for us all.

Making things even worse...think about these facts: 50% of the world's hospitalization are water-related illnesses; 2.5 billion people do not have adequate water sanitation facilities; 800 million people do not have access to clean water; and worse -- 1.5 MILLION CHILDREN DIE OF WATER-RELATED ILLNESSES EVERY YEAR! And we pay pro athletes millions upon millions annually AND we pay college coaches millions. Wonder what God thinks of our priorities? Sad day for millions of kids!

And check out this site: http://www.reclaimbiblicalteaching.org/ord_standards/Bailey_on_G6b.pdf

The PCUSA's race to approve the ordination of practicing homosexuals is spitting in the face of Jesus!

March 2, 2011

Then this, from Naming His Grace by Viola Larson, March 3, 2011:

One of the more troubling aspects of the possibility of Amendment 10-A winning in the Presbyteries is the thought that some are voting yes because they are weary of the battle over GLBT ordination standards. And in fact this was one of the issues that Sacramento’s presenter for 10-A brought up. That is the need to get beyond all of the conflict and simply do mission. Those Presbyterians who feel this way have no knowledge of the monstrosity waiting out beyond the boundaries of gay ordination and same gender marriage.
…
So the monstrosity that will enter the church with the passage of 10-A is a worldview founded in deviant sexuality with an emphasis on justice as it grows out of such sexuality. Combined with such a worldview is a pagan view of spirituality that insists that all sexuality is a door and connecter to God. A yes to 10-A will almost immediacy set aside the authority of Scripture and even the Confessions, it will eventually sit aside God’s revelation in Jesus Christ.

To lay aside this battle is to enter a far bigger one which can only end in a denomination shattered in every direction. And rightfully so-it will be the judgment of God. It can only end with the sheep of God’s pasture wounded and wandering. How can anyone refuse to be bothered by the very battle which belongs to God’s calling?

China Date Farm (Near Death Valley)

The China Date Farm is 30 miles from the Nevada and California border, in CA only a stone's throw from Death Valley. It looks like Death Valley. You drive down a cavern miles long to enter the lush oasis where the date farm is located in the middle of nowhere!

Date tree with hanging dates. Farm produces 30,000 lbs of dates annually, majority of which are Iraqi dates.

Helen outside shop where we buy date shakes.

Info on dates.

Friend Floyd and Larry.

Our friends Floyd and Rubye,fulltime RVers from Texas.

Many variety of dates grown at China Date Farm.


Also grow cacti in many varieties.

Surrounded on three sides by mountains.

Pahrump, Nevada

We're settled in in Pair-a-Dice Escapees RV park in Pahrump. Warm days, cool nights.Pahrump only got electricity in 1963. Kinda seedy town, but many amenities. Thank the good luck we have a fine Walmart. (Just a note: cost of bottle of UV Auto Conditioner at RV store = $20. At Walmart, same bottle $6.95. Go figure.)

We're going with friends Floyd and Rubye to UMC church this morning. Worshiped there in the past. Monday we four are off to Death Valley and the China Date Farm. Later in the week to Scotty's Castle in DV. Lots to see in the area.

Pictures later. Blessings, Larry

Four Days Until We Escape the Cold!

Sunday morning, February 6, we will pull out of Ambassador RV Resort (our residence since August, 2010) and head south. Three days later we'll set up 'camp' at Pair-a-Dice RV park in Pahrump, Nevada. Pahrump is on the Nevada/California border, so we will be only 20 miles from Death Valley where we enjoy sightseeing, going to Scotty's Castle and the China Date Farm among other sites.

This Saturday at the meeting of Boise Presbytery I will be received into membership, transferring from Greater Atlanta Presbytery. Presently I'm in limbo between the two.

We will return to Ambassador RV Resort here in the greater Boise area in mid-July, coming back a bit earlier than usual because I'm preaching at Covenant church (Helen's church)the last two Sundays in July, covering for the two pastors who will be away. Then, in the fall, I'm teaching a SS class on the parables, mirroring the pastors' sermon series on the Parables of Jesus.

I've turned down an invitation to serve as the Interim Pastor in a southern Mississippi town and, too, a southern Arizona town. Going to work at an office every day, visiting hospitals, directing a staff, preparing new sermons every week, etc., just doesn't appeal to me...but who knows, maybe later if God prompts me. More importantly, I really enjoy being 'fed' from the pulpit and just being "one of the guys" at church.

I'm really looking forward to playing the Mountain Falls Golf Course in Pahrump, NV. It's a beautiful, manicured course lined by desert sand. I can play there after two p.m. for $25. Otherwise, it's nearly $70!

This morning we woke up to "NO HOT WATER!" Seems one of the pipes is frozen or blocked. I have an electric heater running in the storage bin near the pipes and, as a friend suggested, the furnace is set on 80. Hopefully, the lines will break loose in a couple hours and we'll have hot water again. Plenty of cold water, but I'm hanging for hot water in the shower!

We are hosting some pastor friends and spouses this Wednesday and going out for dinner Thursday evening with good friends here in the park. We'll get together with Anna and the girls before we leave Idaho.

Looking forward to seeing our good friends, Floyd and Rubye, in Nevada in a few days, and likely visiting other friends in Arizona.

We are very blessed...and grateful. Blessings, Larry

Getting Ready to Head to the Southwest

Preparations for our 2011 travels in the southwest have begun.

The Molly II has 3/4 of her skirt off and stored. Several bins of supplies not needed in the southwest are now in storage. Cabinets have been cleaned out of unnecessary items. The tool chests have been prioritized. The propane tanks are filled (and will be topped off before we leave.) Mail forwarding has been scheduled. And numerous other tasks are almost completed.

Larry will be received into Boise Presbytery on February 5, then we leave for Pahrump, Nevada on Sunday, the 6th, pulling the Molly II to Jackpot, NV, for the night and then on to Ely, NV for a second night, and then it's on into Pahrump, located 40 miles west of Las Vegas. Pahrump only got electricity in 1963. It's located on the edge of Death Valley and we will take some extended trips into the desert. My favorite golf course in just outside of Pahrump -- the Mountain Falls Golf Course. Beautiful landscaping, luscious fairways and greens and lots of sandy roughs and traps. A lake guards to 18th green. Toughest hole of the course and in a dozen rounds there last year I only parred the hole twice.

Our dear friends, Floyd and Rubye, are meeting us in Pahrump. Will be wonderful to see them again and do some things together.

After a month in Nevada, we will head on down to southern Arizona to the Desert Gold RV Resort in Salome, AZ. Come April we're not sure where we might go (though we know we are not heading east this year.) Likely, we will move into northern Arizona to see friends and then into a portion of California.

My brother David and wife Beth will be in Vegas in mid-April and we hope to see them while they are there.

We will return to Idaho in mid-July.

We have enjoyed a six month stay here in the Boise, Idaho area, specifically parked at Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell, ID. We've had some wonderful times with our granddaughters, Emily and Molly; we've volunteered at West Canyon Elementary (where daughter Anna teaches), at the Boise Rescue Mission, and at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Boise where Helen, Anna and the girls are members and where we all worship. We flew to New York for Christmas with Todd and his kids -- Erica, Aaron, Ollie, Graham and Audrey -- great time there in the snow. Larry played golf weekly with buddies here until the snow and cold set in. (That Mississippi bayou boy is looking forward to some warm/hot weather!) We've both read dozens of novels when nestled in front of our fireplace.

Now it's time to move into the southwest. New travelling adventures await us.