WEEKLY COMMENTARY: The Mystery of CPC Session Teams

While our governing body ---- the CPC Session ---- usually meets monthly
(except in July and August), much of the work for our church programs and
strategic planning is developed by 19 specialized Session teams.  These
teams function separately, under the guidance of our Senior Pastor, Rev.
Don Steele.  The teams are intended to ensure that basic church functions
operate dependably, and within Session-approved budget limits.
 Importantly, the Session teams also are a source of many new ideas and new
methods for accomplishing CPC's important missions.

If some CPC members are unaware of the important work done by the 19 teams,
here are the teams by name:

---- Alternative Worship & Music                   ---- Membership Engagement
---- Traditional Worship & Music                   ---- Emerging Mission
---- Adult Spiritual Development                   ---- Members In Mission
---- Children & Young Family Ministry              ---- Finance & Investments
---- High School Ministry                          ---- Stewardship & Planned Giving
---- Middle School Ministry                        ---- Planning & Implementation
---- Care Giving                                   ---- Building & Grounds
---- Christian Fellowship                          ---- Communication & Technology
---- Welcoming & Outreach                          ---- Personnel & Admin. Support
---- Community Alliances

Church members not involved in Session team activities need to be aware of
these behind-the-scenes activities on your behalf.  If the following
information arouses a reader's interest in joining a Session team, team
membership is not limited to Session Elders.  Tell any of our 21 CPC Elders
of your interest.  Joining a team that really interests you, is a great way
to give back to CPC, and will probably help you make some new church
friends.  Your participation is always welcome, both as you join a team,
and later as you help that team accomplish its mission.

As we approach the start of a new CPC program year, perhaps it would be
helpful to review some of the factors which make our Session teams
effective.

Defining specific goals and objectives is the first step for Session teams.
 Sometimes the team's goals and objectives are defined by Session, but
often the team is given a broad functional area of responsibility, and the
team defines it's own specific objectives for the program year.  Goals and
objectives for a team are always subject to change, as Session or team
members discern new or more important priorities.  The goals and objectives
become a compass for the team's work.

The teams which make the greatest contribution have been those which
actively communicate among their members and with the congregation.  Some
teams have weekly notes in the Sunday BULLETIN or in the Friday E-mail,
and/or the monthly KEY.  Other teams have reasons for less outreach.  Some
teams have regular sit-down meetings; others seldom meet, but communicate
regularly by e-mail.  The team's functional responsibility should determine
how and when to communicate with the congregation and others, but
communication is very important.

Experienced team members emphasize the importance of experimenting with new
ways of doing things to improve team effectiveness ---- even if some of the
new ways turn out not to work. Achieving team goals comes down to how the
team was put together, and how well the past experiences of the team
members are drawn upon.  In other words, it depends on the team's
leadership and on team member participation.

When *individuals* learn, the process is trial and error (something is
proposed; one tries it, then we accept or reject it).  The learning process
occurs *privately*.  But on a *team*, people may not want to risk appearing
ignorant or incompetent when they suggest or try something new.  They hold
back initially. Neutralizing that fear of embarrassment, therefore, is
necessary in order to achieve the robust back-and -forth communication
among team members required for real achievement. This is the job of the
team leader, working with each team member.

Teams whose members feel comfortable making suggestions, trying things that
might not work, pointing out potential problems, and admitting mistakes,
are the most successful at implementing their goals and objectives.  By
contrast, it is when people feel uneasy in acting this way, that the
creative process is stifled.  Of course, it is the congregation that is the
loser if Session teams are not creative and effective.

The learning that should take place on a Session team is not just
technical.  Issues of status, and deeply ingrained old habits of
communication and behavior may be a roadblock to progress. How often have
you heard someone say,"We have always done it this way!"

It takes time for teams to learn how decisions should be made and who
should speak for them and when.  It takes even longer if people don't feel
comfortable speaking up.  It is the team leader's job to ensure that no one
feels blocked.  However, when open interaction is achieved,
the team's work is fun and gratifying!

High-achieving Session teams share three essential characteristics:
     ---- Their goals and objectives are given continuous review,
refinement and discussion.
     ---- Their leaders frame the challenge in such a way that team members
are highly motivated
           to learn and to promote the team's goals and objectives.
     ---- The leader's behavior creates an environment of psychological
safety that fosters
           communication, innovation and a sense of accomplishment.

Importantly, the monthly CPC Session meeting is a regular opportunity for
each team to explain briefly major new developments, and their progress
toward achieving the team's goals.  Each team is invited to submit a brief
written report which includes a statement of any impediments in reaching
goals and objectives, with specific requests for direction from Session, if
necessary.
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*These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development
Team, hoping to encourage your spiritual growth at CPC this fall.*
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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: I Am So Lucky!

Back in July, I went to a family wedding in Pennsylvania.  I drove, and my cousin Sally rode with me. We were fairly close in earlier years, but I hadn't had much recent contact with Sally, so it felt good to warm up that friendship again.

A while after we passed through the Delaware Water Gap, I began thinking about a T.V. program I had seen the night before.  It had shown vivid pictures of people in some Middle Eastern country struggling to survive for another day.  I had been deeply touched, and I told Sally what I had seen.  "Children were starving, with empty bellies," I said.  "They had nothing to eat, and were able to retain only the clothes on their backs.  All around them they heard the sounds of gunfire and bombs going off.  And it made me realize that we are so lucky.  We are so lucky to be living here and not there." I had tears in my eyes when I said that.  I was sort of overwhelmed with gratitude.

Sally listened quietly, and then said, "You have so much gratitude, but then what?"

"We're just so lucky that we live here instead of there," I said.

"Really?  That's it?"  Sally went on to say that I sounded like a person who fills up on the deep-fried appetizers and doesn't order anything else from the menu.  Perhaps I did not feel hungry for dinner now, but that snack, she said, would not sustain me for anything like real exertion.  "It tastes good," she acknowledged, "but it's just not enough."

Then Sally really challenged me.  She continued, "I am guessing that you give to charity and have a good supply of PBS tote bags.  But when you witness pain and declare yourself 'lucky,' you have fallen way short of what Jesus would do."

I turned her words over and over in my mind.  She seemed to be telling me that when I witnessed suffering and then declared myself to have achieved salvation in the "religion of gratitude," that I have fallen way short of what God would have me do, no matter what religion I was called to.

Sally resumed:  "And by the way, while I think God does want us to feel gratitude, I do not think God particularly wants us to feel 'lucky.'   I think God wants us to witness pain and suffering and, rather than feeling 'lucky,' God wants us to get angry and want to do something about it."

Sally said that 'feeling 'lucky,' is like saying that the gods pick one person to live in the suburbs of the richest nation on earth, and another person to starve.  In a worldview of 'luck,' righteousness is really not at home.  It suggests that we are powerless and unable to change anyone else's "bad luck."

"Furthermore, at some point the worldview of luck just doesn't pan out.  At some point one realizes that this religion of luck isn't enough, and we long for something as outrageous as a new heaven and a new earth."

"What is missing from the"religion of luck" worldview is the perspective that we might get in a Christian community, that would take us from thinking ourselves merely 'lucky,' to actually doing something about the hardships of other peoples' lives."

"At some point, if one thinks about it at all, the person with the self-made religion of luck, will use his God-given brain and the wisdom of hard experience, and start to ask angry and provocative questions, and see holes in this spirituality of status quo."

Sally paused to catch her breath.  "The civil rights movement didn't happen because people felt lucky.  The hungry don't get fed, the homeless don't get sheltered, and the world doesn't change because people who are doing okay feel lucky.  We need more."

"No," said Sally, "as Christians we expect more, way more, like a new heaven and a new earth, and because we follow Jesus, we had better expect to be involved in making it happen, alongside other people."

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

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Meet The Chaldean Christians

Since June, our U.S. news media has been reporting daily about the armed conflict in Iraq.  The ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), a militant Sunni armed force, has been sweeping across northern Iraq and large areas of Syria.  Their rapid success has been surprising and alarming.

The stated purpose of ISIL is to restore the caliphate and thus create a new nation with all-Muslim rule.  ISIL members believe that all non-practicing Muslims are infidels, and worthy of being beheaded or otherwise killed.  For each town or village they capture ISIL immediately imposes the rules of Shriah Law, including many anti-Christian rules, like ordering Muslim employers to fire all Christian workers.  The homes of Christian religious leaders are ransacked and occupied by militants. Many Christians, especially men, are killed outright. 

The slaughter is not limited to Christians.  Other non-Muslim minority religious groups such as the Yasidi are subject to the same brutality and ethnic cleansing.

ISIL regularly orders non-Muslims to convert to Islam or pay a stiff tax (one source says that 75 grams of gold is required).  For their failure to comply with one or the other of these alternatives, the person would face "death by the sword."  Actually, many of those who pay the stiff tax, nevertheless are executed, we are told.

In one small city, the Christian population shrank from 3,000 families to several hundred in weeks, as Christians fled.  The deadline set by the militants for paying the tax, or converting to Islam, has forced people to abandon homes and businesses, often with little more than a car and some clothing, says a Catholic priest who lived in the largely Christian city of Mosul.

The Associated Press reports that the entire country of Iraq had more than one million Christians before 2003, but now church officials estimate that fewer than half that remain in Iraq --- a result of repeated acts of persecution, including church bombings by Islamist groups.  In Mosul, the most important Iraqi city for Christians, before 2003 the Christian population numbered 130,000.  Until early this June, there were 10,000.  Since ISIL took over the city, only 2,000 Christians remain, estimates the Associated Press.

One of the largest groups of Christian believers are the Chaldean Christians.  Chaldeans are the indigenous people of Iraq who speak a form of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. Chaldeans are Eastern Rite Catholic, affiliated with the Roman Catholic church, but they maintain their own separate Bishops and Dioceses.  Like many ethnic groups, Chaldeans began immigrating to America in the 1920's, in search of better economic, religious and political freedom opportunities.  San Diego has the world's second largest Chaldean population outside Iraq, with an estimated 71,000 people.  Today, an estimated 6 of 10 food stores in San Diego are owned by Chaldeans.  Another 200,000 Chaldeans/ Assyrians reside throughout the United States, particularly in the Chicago, Detroit and Phoenix areas. 

As for the origins of the Chaldo-Assyrian people of today, it is thought that they descended from the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations, and the Aramean legacy of Mesopotamia.

A British journalist recently wrote,"This is the final scene in the grotesque, theatrical death of Iraqi Christianity.  A people who once numbered more than a million, who just a decade ago enjoyed the use of more than 300 blossoming churches, now faces extinction."

However, in towns outside Mosul and closer to Kurdistan, local religious leaders say the they must resist the urge to leave or risk losing their centuries-old identity. For Christianity to endure in Iraq, "we must stay until the end," says Archbishop Basile Caasmoussa of the Syrian Catholic Church in Mosul.  With his exiled flock in the town of Qaraqosh, he laments that Mass is not now being celebrated in Mosul, for the first time in 1,600 years.  He draws hope, however, in the fact that churches in Qaraqosh are still drawing crowds.  "Our faith is being tested," he says.

The Kurds of northwestern Iraq are not militant Muslims, and were friends of the U. S. during the effort to remove Saddam Hussein and thereafter.  The Kurds and their well-trained military may be the blessing that threatened Christians in Iraq will need.  This story is far from over.

QUESTION:

The Christian faith is being tested dramatically today in Iraq.  Do you see that the Christian faith in our lives is always being tested, too?  It doesn't have to be the testing of armed militants.  But, some of the testing we receive is just as deadly for the faith.  In American secular society there are both unarmed "militants" and secular trends seeking to crowd out our Christian faith.  Be on your guard!                                 

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

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Interpreting Scripture ---- Who Does That For You?

For the Protestant reformers of the Reformation, there was a central principle:  All human life stands under the direct judgment of God.  This meant specifically that mankind gives direct allegiance to God, and only to God.  No pope or church might legitimately claim an absolute or final allegiance of that sort.  The source of this principle was the biblical teaching, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  For the Protestant reformers, to give to Church hierarchy the allegiance and trust due only to God for the interpretation of the Bible, was idolatry or blasphemy of the worst kind.

In a general sense, one could say that the supreme or final religious authority for Protestants was and is the Bible, read by the individual in the light of his or her conscience.  However, for the Roman Catholic that authority was and is the Church speaking through clergy, hierarchically organized under the pope.  While Protestants read their Bibles with their own understanding, the Catholic reads it under the authoritative guidance of the Church.

Since the Bible was seen as centrally important in all forms of Protestantism, it was not by chance that the Reformation was accompanied by great activity in the translation of the Bible into the various languages of Europe, so that it might be directly accessible to common folk.  The interest in language translation was enabled by the development of modern printing.  Gutenberg built his first printing press in 1450.

One history of the Reformation suggests that making the Bible directly accessible to "the people" may be compared in its social and cultural effects to a vast irrigation project which provides water to dry land.  "Men's religious natures were provided with life-giving water," it was said.  "People could now read their Bibles for themselves and found directly such truths as the sovereignty of God, salvation by faith, and the proper conduct of the Christian life.

Martin Luther was a leader in articulating what would become Protestant thought during the time of the Reformation.  By 1510, Luther had been ordained a priest, but he was deeply troubled by feeling personally alienated from God.  He sought relief through the rigors of monastic discipline, and by every means of grace in the Roman Catholic system ---- seeking to put himself "right" with God.  He was not successful.  But, as he did further Bible study he began to see that justification ---- being put "right" with God ---- was not a thing to be earned by human effort.  Instead, it was a free gift from God which sinful mankind alone cannot earn or deserve.  This free grace, Luther concluded, can be appropriated only by mankind's inner trust or faith in God.

Faith, for Luther, was simply an inward act of saying "yes" to God, turning with trust and loyalty to God as the center and source of one's life.  This was a new way to look at religion, rendering useless and trivial much of the elaborate medieval Roman Catholic system.  In 1519, Luther debated publicly with Roman Catholic leaders.  Luther argued that the Scriptures are an authority above the Church.  The following year he was excommunicated.

The natural state of mankind, Martin Luther said, is alienation from God, and proud self-worship.  By man's own acts he is powerless to save himself.  Luther placed little confidence in the capacity of reason to turn mankind to God.  Because mankind is "fallen," Luther believed, man's reasoning is itself depraved and sinful, and thus  leads man away from God.  Faith, not reason, was for Luther the way man approaches God.  By "faith," Luther meant neither the use of intellect, nor so-called mystical experiences, but rather a trust of the heart and commitment of the will, born of a sense of mankind's complete helplessness, and evoked by God's grace and love.

For Luther, the Gospels (the message of the Word of God) showed precisely the deep conviction that, apart from reason and ritual, God has acted in Christ to heal the alienation between himself and mankind.  Christ is the reconciliation between God and man.. Mankind's role is to turn to humble but confident faith for God in Christ.  The joyous acknowledgement that mankind is reconciled to God has become known as "justification by faith," and became a central doctrine for Protestants.

The good news of this reconciliation is revealed to us by the Bible, Luther believed, which assumed for Luther a place of supreme authority.  For Luther, the direct teaching of the Bible was the final authority in all matters of religion ---- not tradition, nor the Church nor the pope.  Luther believed that one had only to read the inspired pages of the Bible with an honest and seeking mind, guided by the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The riches of faith to be had in the Bible, in Luther's view, not only make philosophical speculation unnecessary, but the direct accessibility of the Bible leads straight to the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers," as Luther put it.  God's truth in Christ is not the exclusive prerogative of a priest or the pope.  Rather, each person may and must guide their own life by Scripture and right reason, interpreted according to their best judgment.  Finding this truth, or rather being found by it, the Christian is a free man, Luther believed.  A part of the exercise of this freedom consists in bearing witness to this truth to others.  For Luther, the priesthood of believers meant not only that every man is his own priest, but also every man is a priest to every other man.

Following Martin Luther's teachings, Scripture reading is always part of our worship services at Central Presbyterian Church.  While our Senior Pastor may illuminate an interpretation of the Scripture reading for that day, in the last analysis, as Luther said, it is up to each of us to find within ourselves the intended message of that Scripture passage.

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

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