Retired & Thinking

So this the sermon preached August 9 at Kenton Church as part of the summer sermon series on Galatians This past week a pastor, Rev. Gretta Vosper, of the United Church of Canada may face questions about her effectiveness to pastor. Her denomination is the most liberal in the world but they have to determine if “she has gone too far” (Perkel) . At issue is that, she is an atheist. “I don’t believe in... the god called God...Using the word gets in the way of sharing what I want to share.” This isn’t new as she went public with her belief in 2001. She’s not alone. Portland has an atheist Presbyterian minister and in Austin Texas a Presbyterian church allowed an atheist to become a member. These sort of issues are not new to Christ’s people. In fact, it was similar issues that Paul faced among the Galatians which is why this letter is so important for 21 st American Christians. At the heart of chapter 3 is the question of how one obtains God’s grace. Are the ...

Eighteen months ago Wordle showed this blog like this: 2009 brought about a change as you can see. We have changed the direction of the church. We are now able to move ahead without worry that the latest "denominational drama" will threaten our church and it's members. We have changed the vision of the church. Our urban congregation is on the verge of doing great things for our community. There is a new confidence as we step out in faith that the structure is there to help not hinder such work. We have changed the energy level of the church. We're not bigger and we're certainly not younger; but there is a new found vitality to attempt to tackle bigger things for the sake of Christ. No longer is our energy used up in fighting against heresies disguised as truth and promoted as God's will. Today I don't make excuses for the General Assembly or Presbytery, nor do I have too. Today my stomach doesn't know up when I read Presbyweb, Outlook or read "Pr...

It's been hard to get this post up due to HTML errors and not a clue as to what they meant.... Sunday Kenton took a major step toward it's new incarnation as an Evangelical Presbyterian Church. About 2/3rds of our active membership [46] stayed for a congregational vote on Session's recommendation to seek dismissal to the EPC. The vote was 44-2 in favor, so letters will be written this week to Presbytery conveying the official request and we will be on the docket for November's meeting. What I want to do is take this opportunity to thank two groups of people. First is the Presbytery's Resolution Team. They did a great job working with Kenton. Soon into the process they realized that what was best for us was to see us dismissed with grace. They continue to work toward being our advocates during the upcoming Presbytery meeting. They were scattered over a wide distance which made some face-to-face meetings hard but they got the work done. The second group is Kenton'...

I have to send you to read the GA Junkie's latest post on "Modern Echoes of the Adopting Act". It won't be for everyone but if you're at all interested in the current unrest of the PC(USA) especially following the PUP report it's a good read. If you're interested in early Presbyterian history, how we got to where we are it's a good read. And if you've ever wondered what the who "scrupling" stuff was about it's a very good read. Thanks for the post Junkie. Alan

WOW , and I'm not talking about the Vista release , this was on presbyweb.com January 23, 2007 and shows the difference between the next/current generations. Nothing on the site says anything about the sample size but a little searching on the Pew website and I found out it's based on 1501 interviews done September and early October last year. Quick thoughts. 1. If this is valid then the parents of Gen Next have done as bad a job as other parents in instilling the care for others into their children. I am the father of three Gen Next'ers and I apologize for my role in any of these findings. 2. If this is valid then it's probably a good thing the Democrats won so that the state can take care of people because it seems the people don't give a rip about others. 3. If this is valid the vast majority of those in Gen Next are going to be sadly disappointed with their life. That means the opportunity to reach them for Christ will happen whe...