Advent: Day 2

The Presbyterian Welcome blog, Psalms Modern, in a Special Project for Advent, asked contributors to think of the elements and experiences of church that mean the most to them personally and complete the sentence: “When… , I know that the kingdom of God is near.” I submitted a few responses. One of them is running today as the meditation for Advent: Day 2. Head over to Psalms Modern and take a look.

Acrostic Adoration

The Psalm for this coming Sunday, August 16, 2009, is Psalm 111. It is an acrostic Psalm. To help worshippers hopefully better understand and appreciate the acrostic form, I have quickly written my own acrostic adoration. It is not very polished but I think it illustrates in English the acrostic form.

Acrostic Adoration

Awesome God!
Benevolent LORD!
Covenant Maker!
Dearest Creator!
Ever-loving Redeemer!
Faithful Sustainer!
Great and wonderful is our LORD.
Honor is due God’s holy name.
In the sanctuary sing our Sustainer's praise.
Joyfully praise the one who frees us.
Kneel before the one who forms us.
Lift your voices to the Holy One.
Make a joyful noise to the Holy One of Israel.
Never forget God's praises.
Open your mouths in praise of our LORD.
Praise the Maker of heaven and earth.
Quail and manna our Creator gave us in the wilderness.
Reigning over us is our Redeemer.
Sing praises to our Sustainer.
Think often about our awesome Lord.
Understand the Great I Am.
Vast and awesome is our Sustainer.
Worthy of praise is the one who frees us.
eXcellent is the one who forms us.
Yes, the Holy One is excellent and awesome.
Zealously we worship the Holy One of Israel.

© 2009 John Edward Harris

Your Heart's Desire

In the 20th Psalm the Psalmist wrote “May God grant you your heart’s desire, . . . ”

Last Sunday the Lectionary Psalm was Psalm 20. After the reading of the Psalm I passed out 3x5 index cards and asked worshipers at North Church Queens to write the answer to the question “What is your heart’s desire?” Here are some of the responses.

To get well again

To have inner peace, love & joy

Peace to all

Going to the zoo

Family’s love

Good health for family members

To have a real truthful faith heart based relationship with God, not just the head intellectual meaningless excuse for real faith that I have always had

To go to heaven to be with the Lord and my husband

Share

Unity

Peace ... in my family and with all

To keep on ticking, my dream is for peace

Peace and Healing

Healthy

What is your heart’s desire? Write a comment and add to the list.

Bumper Sticker-less Evangelism

(The following was recently published on Presbyterian Welcome’s weekly devotional blog called “Psalms Modern”. It has beens lightly edited for posting here.)

By the early 1980’s the Presbyterian Church had been declining in membership for years. Thinking that I would need a theological grounding in and programmatic familiarity with Evangelism in my ministry, I enrolled in Richard Stoll Armstrong’s “Service Evangelism” class at Princeton Seminary. I was one of only a few students to enroll in the course, a course which was one of the few Evangelism offerings. A few years later and early in my ordained ministry I participated in the Evangelism Consultant Service Training which was part of the PC(USA)’s old New Day Dawning Evangelism Program. Energized and informed by my training, I led the church I served in a “Friend Maker for God” visitation evangelism program and consulted with another congregation to help them think about and plan for evangelism.

A few years later the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) produced a vinyl peel-n-stick bumper sticker. In bold white letters on a deep Presbyterian blue background it proclaimed “Open-Hearted Open-Minded” on the top half and “Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)” on the bottom half. I have never thought of myself inclined toward “bumper sticker theology” but as the proud Pastor of an open-hearted and open-minded congregation that was one of the fastest growing congregations in the presbytery at that time, I put that bumper sticker on the bumper of my car because I thought it was true. It was my own subtle form of evangelism.

All that changed the day the presbytery of which I was a member voted to send a form of G-6.0106.b to the General Assembly for approval. After hearing vitriolic and misinformed arguments for why we needed such a constitutional provision, and unable to believe that we had actually approved the overture (I officially dissented), I peeled that “Open-Hearted Open-Minded” bumper sticker off my car’s bumper because I no longer believed it was true. I was no longer proud to be a Presbyterian. I could longer engage in ministries of evangelism with passion because while I still believed that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life that will set us free, I no longer believed that the Presbyterian Church knew such a Jesus.

Over ten years later I am still waiting for us to once again be an “Open-Hearted Open-Minded” church.

How long, O Lord, How long?
How long must we wait for justice?
How long must we wait to once again be proud Presbyterians?
How long must we wait to evangelize in good conscience?
How long must we wait to put bumper stickers back on our cars?
How Long?