Church Conflict devotion: We All Suffer - 1 Corinthians 12:26

1 Corinthians 12:26   If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

For almost a year, I've been part of a Presbytery team that has been in discussions with a small country charge which is seeking to leave the denomination. It’s been a heart-breaking process and one of the most painful pastoral duties I have ever had to do. The congregation wants to leave the PCUSA because the people cannot abide recent policies and decisions that the denomination has established. The wee church wants to cut all existing ties with our Presbytery and go elsewhere.

I understand how they feel, but I also grieve their eventual loss to the Presbytery. At a time when the brokenness of the world needs healed, the disunity of the overall church is making us ineffective across society. When one part of the body of Christ suffers and dismembers itself from the whole, pain is felt throughout the entire body. Instead of concentrating on our strengths, we are highlighting our differences. Instead of celebrating the unity of the Church, we are displaying a disunity that fragments witnessing to our faith.

I grieve the loss of the good people in that small congregation. I wish and pray that we could find areas of common ministry that would enable us to remain together. Sadly, pride gets in the way and passion for religious righteousness hinders any healing. In my heart, I believe that Jesus weeps over what we have become. Instead of truly being the body of Christ, we have created our own bodies; instead of advancing the peace, unity, and purity of the church, we have become enslaved to pride, unrest, and polarization. It’s a crying shame because together we have so much to offer to the world.

Questions for personal reflection

Why did Jesus establish the Church? Why does the world need us to be united in our work for God’s Kingdom?

Prayer:            Lord Jesus, we are all sinners and not one of us is perfect or pure. Despite our failings, You still call us to serve You in the world. Please help us to stop focusing on the issues that divide us by making us celebrate the beliefs that we commonly share. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is a sinner who is grateful for His Savior. John serves Erin Presbyterian Church as its pastor. If you would like to comment or ask questions about today’s message, please send him an email to traqair@aol.com.

Today’s image is one of John’s latest drawings called “Butterfly.” If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2859/10216052974_b61fb498af_b.jpg

Daily Devotions: The Great Lafayette - Proverbs 16:25

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. 

One hundred years ago today, the Empire Theatre, which stood in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland, accidentally caught fire after a kerosene lamp was tipped over. The scenery was quickly set ablaze and most people escaped the flames.

During that week, the Great Lafayette, a German magician who was also Europe’s highest paid performer at the time, had brought his travelling mystical show to the theater. At first, he escaped the fire but then decided to go back through the flames in order to rescue his horse. Lafayette never made it and when the fire was eventually put out, the authorities found his body in the ruins. He was buried in one of the city’s cemeteries, along with his little dog which also perished in the blaze.

Lafayette tried to rescue his animals, but it was a decision that cost him his life. It was an act of courage, mercy and kindness, but was also one which ended up killing his famous career and taking away of his life. He probably thought that he was doing the right thing at the right time, but turned out to be the most fatal mistake of his life.

This week our denomination will do away with biblical ordination standards and be less circumspect about who become our elders and pastors. Instead of a national standard, we will have different boundaries established by different presbyteries and local sessions. Rather than follow biblical ethics, we will be guided by cultural conditions which ultimately will lead to a libertine church that the Father of Presbyterianism, John Calvin, sought to avoid.

Some people, younger than me, believe that this is the right way for the church to proceed in the 21^st century and the right path to follow. Only time will tell, but if Biblical history is anything to go by (and I believe it does), the Church will decline overall and it will only be a call to revival that will ultimately save it from itself.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, these are troubling times and our churches are experiencing a lot of emotional and spiritual turbulence. Keep us from following paths that lead us into dead ends. Help to find Your Way in the midst of all of our confusion. In Your Holy Name, we fervently pray. Amen.

John Stuart is currently the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask questions of today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is my Easter Window for 2011. It features four drawings that I created for Holy Week. If you would like to see a larger version of the drawing, please visit the following link:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5147/5651268701_f8c5f048aa_b.jpg

Devotions - After 25 Years - Proverbs 14:15

Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. 

At the end of this week, I will have been a pastor for 25 years. I was ordained on April 30^th, 1986 and began my pastoral duties on May 1^st. I was the first graduate of my class to be ordained in Scotland and I have tried to serve God well in the congregations to which I have been called.

Throughout the last quarter of a century, I have sadly seen Presbyterianism decline in both Scotland and the United States. I have made my views known on this from both the pulpit and through the devotions that I continue to write. I have seen the caliber of pastoral ministry diminish and divinity degrees being discredited. I have watched churches die and ministers burn out. I have tried to keep the churches under my care alive and growing. I have tried to be faithful to God’s word in preaching and pastoring, even when this has become unpopular.

I feel that I have failed. I feel that the words I have written, the sermons I have preached, and the studies I have led have not changed anyone or anything. People believe anything and Presbyterians are headed down a dead end street. There’s nothing I can do to reverse this and so I feel like the weeping prophet Jeremiah, who preached the Word of God faithfully to a people who believed in anything but the Word of God.

A new dawn is beginning for the Presbyterian Church which will see its demise in this century. By the time I retire professional pastors, denominational seminaries, and parish congregations will be relegated to the ecclesiastical history books. They will be replaced by part-time preachers, online courses, and community centers. Dinosaurs like me will eventually become extinct, along with denominations. Independent, post-denominational, charismatic and missional fellowships will grow because the True Word of God will be not only preached but practiced by all of the people. It will be a time of renewal and revival, but at least three generations will be lost because the large majority of them will believe anything but the Word of God.

So, on Sunday, I’ll be commemorating 25 years of ministry, but I won’t be celebrating it. It will be low key, simple, and for me very, very sad.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, when did we go off track and wander so far away from the Truth? How long will we stay on this dead end path that leads to nowhere? Why are we so afraid of our cultural peers? What makes our generation so certain that we have it right and every preceding one for two thousand years has been wrong? How long, O Lord, will it be before the Church awakens from its slumber and shakes off its dust? In Your Holy Name, we lament and pray. Amen.

John Stuart is currently the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask questions of today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

A Disappointing Day

Last Saturday, the PCUSA Presbytery of East Tennessee, at Farragut Presbyterian Church, voted 81-66 in favor of ordaining gay people, in an active relationship, to eldership and ministry.

Although I value the democratic process, I must confess that the decision was disappointing to me.

Over the years, several issues have smothered mainline churches with what I call ‘theological kudzu.’ This issue of gay ordination is just another layer. The world has influenced the Church so much in recent decades ( abortion, stem cell research, and gay ordination) that it is no longer distinguishable – what we used to call ‘holy’ – from the world.

IMHO, I believe that if this trend continues, mainline churches will make themselves insignificant, both to the world that they crave, and to Christ’s True Kingdom.

O Lord, Your Church is broken,
And I am wounded, too.
I come to You for guidance
To show me what to do.
The world has been unceasing
To make the Church the same;
Yet we were made for praising,
And worshipping Your Name.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.