Thursday, April 24, 2014

Are The Changes Pending In The Game Of Golf Also A Model For CPC?

Golf has always clung to strict standards and a rich tradition.  But, as reported by The New York Times last week, it may have become a victim of its own image and hide-bound ways.  The Times quoted a National Golf Foundation estimate that golf has lost 5,000,000 players in the last decade, with 20% of the existing 25 million golfers apt to quit in the next few years.

People under age 35, according to The Times, have especially spurned the game, saying "it takes too long to play, is too difficult to learn and has too many tiresome rules."  The new goal, says The Times, is to alter the game's reputation in order to recruit lapsed golfers and a younger demographic.

At this point in the story, I thought I could already see some parallels between the plight of modern golf and the plight of modern churches like CPC.

Hoping to find some "silver bullets" for churches, I took a closer look at what golfing changes were being proposed.  For golfing beginners, how about holes which are 15 inches wide, about four times the width of a standard hole?  It was suggested that a 15-inch hole would help beginning golfers and older golfers score better, play faster and like golf more.

Other proposed changes would relax the rules and allow do-over shots, or mulligans, once a hole; teeing up the ball for each shot; and throwing a ball out of a sand bunker once or twice a round.

Still other advocates of change, The Times continued, have focused on adapting to the busy schedules of parents and families.  In recent years, golf courses have encouraged people to think of golf in six-hole or nine-hole increments.  The Times says soon about 30 golf courses across the country will become test cases for a system of punch-in-punch-out time clocks that assess a fee by the minutes spent playing or practicing rather than by 18- or 9-hole rounds.

Golf is one of the top ten recreational sports in the U.S., so not everyone will favor changes to encourage it to be more participatory.  Some say they do not want to rig the game and cheapen it, even for beginners.  Many golfers believe that the charm of the game is a single set of rules for beginners as well as for skilled golfers.

I think I have heard some of the same discussions at CPC has we tried to recruit lapsed members and a younger demographic.  It was interesting to see the substantial attendance last weekend at our two Easter Sunday services.  At other times of the year we usually have only 150 - 200 people attending worship at our 10:00 a.m. Sunday service.  Just as with golf, participation could be better.   National golf tournaments draw thousands of spectators and a TV audience of millions of people, but where are the 5,000,000 players the National Golf Foundation says are not golfing participants any more?  Later, what will become of the people who fill our church pews on Easter?

Changes CPC has already gradually introduced in hopes of increasing participation, include more music offerings, but not just the old-time favorite hymns ---- now we also have contemporary praise music at least once in the Sunday Sanctuary service.  That service is now followed at 11:15 a.m. each Sunday with a "contemporary" service in less formal surroundings, which we call "The Wave."

And we have done other things at CPC to make it easier for people to get to know us.  In the old days, it took a number of classes before one would be ready to become a new CPC member.  Today, membership can come after a brief Sunday meeting with the Senior Pastor and an expressed desire on the new member's part.  Today, Bible study is of less interest, but short-term mission engagement is actively supported. Today, the time available for church participation in anything, even in worship services, must compete with many other community and school activities.  Somewhat like the golfers, those seeking our involvement in their offerings are faced with our already tight daily schedules.

As in golfing, there are some church members who have habits and expectations formed many years ago.  They may not understand why church practices must change.  But, there are outside social and cultural forces at work which simply require us to be flexible and see the good possibilities in practical changes that keep us relevant.

For us at CPC, our daily practices of faith may change form, but the fundamentals of our faith stay the same ---- just as in the game of golf.
______________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal growth this year at CPC.
_______________________________________________________________________ 


Friday, April 18, 2014

Where Did We Come From? Let's Connect The Dots . . .

In 1640, a Presbyterian congregation was organized at Southampton, Long Island.  It is generally considered to be the oldest Presbyterian church in the United States.

Before that, however, in Scotland, reformer John Knox (1510 - 1572),was the primary author of the Scots Confession.  He is considered the founder of the Presbyterian Church.  But it was John Calvin (1509 - 1564) in Geneva, Switzerland, who had developed the system of Christian theology from which the Presbyterian Church evolved.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the first presbytery in the American colonies was organized in 1706 in Philadelphia by Francis Makemie.  He is sometimes referred to as "The Father of American Presbyterianism."

Almost 50 years later, in 1746, William Tennant, a minister and educator, established a cabin academy, dubbed the "Log College," which evolved into the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).  John Witherspoon, president of the College of New Jersey signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  Witherspoon was the only active minister to sign that historic document.

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, met in Philadelphia in 1789.  Again, in Philadelphia, the First African Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia was organized in 1807, being the first African American Presbyterian church in the United States.

Then in 1812, back to New Jersey, a Theological Seminary at Princeton was established by the General Assembly as its first national school for ministers.

The General Assembly spoke again in 1818, pronouncing against slavery and calling for a gradual emancipation.

Soon after, the Presbyterians began to look beyond the borders of the United States. In 1833, John B. Pinney sailed for Liberia as the first American Presbyterian missionary. Then, in 1837, the Board of Foreign Missions was established.

Later, in 1853, the first Chinese Presbyterian church was organized by William Speer in California.

The growing divide between the Northern and Southern states created some problems for organized Presbyterians.  In 1861, the General Assembly pledged loyalty to the Federal government.  Southern commissioners protested and withdrew. The Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America (renamed the Presbyterian Church U.S. in 1865) was organized in Augusta, Georgia.  This divide would not reunite for 122 years, in 1983, forming the Presbyterian Church (USA).

In the intervening years, Margaret Towner became the first woman ordained, in 1956, as a minister in the PCUSA.  In 1972, the first woman was elected moderator of the General Assembly.

Finally, in 2011 Presbyterians approved an amendment allowing for the ordination of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals called to ministry.

Do you think the PCUSA was leading the social changes in our American society over the last centuries, or were we following? Remembering that Presbyterians deliberate on a congregation-by-congregation basis, perhaps it was a little bit of both.  Perhaps this mixed bag of social change sets a good pace ---- it satisfies the "change leaders," while supporting others who are slower to accept that social change doesn't really mean abandoning our principles.  Today the PCUSA faces new challenges as membership and active participation have declined in recent decades.  But are not challenges what we should expect in a healthy church that actively engages the dynamics of the real world?
_______________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC.
_______________________________________________________________________

Friday, April 11, 2014

What Would Jesus Tell Us?

At the time Jesus was crucified, Christianity was an insignificant Jewish sect, centered around the city of Jerusalem.  Soon after, the disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go, and there they encountered Jesus again.  Jesus said to them:
          "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
           Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them 
           in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 
           and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
           And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
           (Matthew 28:18 - 20)

Down through the centuries, this became known as "The Great Commission," and it has been the inspiration for missionaries and teachers of many Christian sects.  Indeed, the disciples Peter and Paul, and others who believed in what Jesus taught, took risky journeys among the Gentiles to teach and preach about Jesus.  Christianity eventually became the standard for the Roman Empire, converting much of Europe and the Middle East, sometimes by military force.

With my somewhat simplistic knowledge of the spread of our faith, I was surprised when I read recently that the place where this all started seems now to be moving in the opposite direction.

In the December 16, 2013 issue of the Christian Science Monitor Weekly, there was a lengthy article entitled "A Middle East Without Christians?"  The author was a Monitor staff writer, reporting from Bethlehem, West Bank.  She wrote, "Two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, Christianity is under assault in the Holy Land and across the entire Middle East, more than at any time in the past century."  She quotes some informed observers as speculating that one of the world's three great religions could vanish entirely from the region within a generation or two.

The Monitor staff writer continues:  "From Iraq, which has lost at least half of its Christians over the past decade, to Egypt, which saw the worst spate of anti-Christian violence in 700 years last summer, to Syria, where jihadists are killing Christians and burying them in mass graves, the followers of Jesus face violence, declining churches and ecumenical divides.  Today, fewer than 500,000 Christians remain in Iraq from a prewar population of 1 million to 1.4 million.  As many as 450,000 of the 2 million refugees fleeing Syria today are Christians.  Christians now make up only 5% of the population of the Middle East, down from 20% a century ago."

It would seem that as political Islam has gained support, Christians can no longer find refuge in a shared Arab identity with their Muslim neighbors, but are instead increasingly marooned by an emphasis on religious identity.  Calls for citizenship with equal rights are punctuated with stories of Islamist extremists demanding that Christians convert to Islam, or pay an exorbitant tax, or die, prompting many Christians to flee their country.

Historians tell us that there have been many cycles of Christian persecution and prosperity over the centuries.  But those who study these trends see three major differences between the problems Christians face today in the Middle East, and those of the past.  First, jihadist groups have access to weapons on a scale unknown in history.  Secondly, propaganda can be more easily spread than ever before.  Thirdly, because of Western involvement in the Middle East, local Christian communities are more easily accused of disloyalty to the own society, given the appearance that their loyalty is to the West. Whether today proves to be yet another ebb in the flow of Christian history, or something more fundamental, remains uncertain.

For those Christians whose families literally live in the present turmoil of the Middle East, what would Jesus tell them to do? We know from Matthew 5:44 that Jesus told his disciples, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."  Many Christians believe that the centrality of forgiveness in Jesus' teachings could, in fact, play a role in helping to reduce sectarian violence across the Middle East.  Could Christianity bring a new role model?  After all, Jesus and his immediate disciples were not warriors, and were not trying to establish political power.  If forgiveness is truly lived, would it keep Christianity vibrant in the Holy Land and beyond?  This is an approach that hinges more on the quality and fidelity of their faith than on the number of adherents. 

 Does this sound a bit like the story of the early Christians who started out as a tiny, persecuted minority, 2,000 years ago?
________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC.
_______________________________________________________________

Friday, April 4, 2014

What's The Point Of Personal Prayer?

I have a few questions about personal prayer.  Is God listening?  Why should God care about me?  If God already knows everything, what's the value in prayer? Why do answers to prayers seem so inconsistent, even capricious? Does a person with many praying friends stand a better chance of physical healing than one who also has cancer but with only a few people praying for her?  Why does God sometimes seem so close and sometimes far away? Does personal prayer change God, or change me?

Most people pray at moments of crisis ---- when a child is ill, or when death approaches.  But those who pray only at such moments usually experience great difficulty figuring out what they are supposed to say or whom they are addressing. Sometimes dying men and women try to bargain with God.  They say, "I'll live my life in a righteous way God, if you will have mercy."  They struggle with their preconceived notions of God.  Sometimes they are afraid to lay themselves out to God. But, prayer is no insurance policy against adversity.  Nevertheless, we pray for forgiveness, for strength, for contact with the Father, for assurance that we are not alone.

Talking about God, which is what theologians do, is not the same as learning to talk to God.  There are many ways of talking to God.  Prayers learned in childhood or read from a book, are often used to break the conversational "ice" with God. However, perhaps this is the best advice: the most important aspect of personal prayer is to "shut up and listen."

It seems to me that what matters most is not the frequency of personal prayer, but whether those who pray experience inner peace, a feeling of being led by God, or finding other forms of "divine intimacy."  I also wonder if those who do, are more likely to be forgiving of others, and satisfied with their lives?

Many Americans are raised without any habits of personal prayer, and cannot conceive of a God who would listen if they did address Him in prayer.  Not really understanding personal prayer, perhaps they will intellectualize the idea of prayer to such an extent that they "bleach-out" any emotional significance.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of the best-selling "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," says he is tired of prayers that sound like a list of grievances.  "We've confused God with Santa Claus," Kushner charges. "Every time you have to do something hard and you are not sure you are up to it, that's cause for prayer."  Nevertheless, petitioning God for favors may be one of the oldest ---- and most human ---- forms of prayer.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself is said to promise his disciples that "Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name will be given to you."  Most Americans who pray believe that at least some of their prayers have been answered, though not always in the ways in which petitioners have sought.

Clearly, there is a difference between turning to God for help and expecting Him to meet our every want.  Jesus' own prayer to the Father was "thy will be done," meaning that God wants us to have whatever promotes our participation in His life ---- our union both now and in eternity.  Yet, it is precisely this distinction that is lost when television evangelists regularly claim miraculous healing through the power of on-air prayer.  Indeed, there is every reason to believe that prayer sent their way, checks enclosed, are posted to the wrong address.

I have also been told, and my experience confirms it, that personal prayer requires making time for God.  Someone once said, "If you're not as close to God as you used to be, its because you moved, not God."

Since no one has seen God, people who pray inevitably draw on their own imagination and experiences.  However, it would seem that this internal representation of God changes throughout one's life cycle in response to other significant people and events.  For example, finding a loving spouse or holding a newborn child, may alter an earlier, more distant representation of God.

So, what's the bottom line for those who want to draw closer to God through personal prayer?  Beware!  The religious purpose of prayer ---- communing with God ---- can be lost when people use it only for therapeutic side effects;  that is, if my conversation with God is merely a Santa Claus list of wants.  The challenge seems to be moving from trying to control God, to letting God direct us
______________________________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this winter at CPC.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________