Living Faith declares the mission of the Presbyterian Church is to recognize and act on the truth: “As God sent Christ to us, so Christ sends us into the world. We are here to proclaim Christ in word and deed.” It goes on to say that mission is evangelism, the offer of salvation to all people in the power of the Holy Spirit, to be received through faith in Christ.
The question we all need to ask as Presbyterians is: How are we doing? According to the statistics printed in the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly, every year there are fewer people being baptised and fewer new members. These are the signs of people making a faith commitment. The stats can be interpreted to mean that we are doing a poor job of fulfilling our mission of getting the word out. I know there are those, even amongst ministers, who in spite of what the Bible and our confessions teach, feel that people don’t need to actually confess their need for salvation in Christ. They think that Jesus will save everyone.

I wish there were more liberals in the church and in the world! I don't mean that I wish there were more left-wing fundamentalists, who sometimes call themselves liberals, but true liberals. Liberals are those who are generous in spirit towards others. Originally it came from the Latin word liberalis which inferred that it was something suitable for a freeman. In other words there is a sense in which not only does the person exercise his freedom, but also respects the right of others to choose or to act freely according to their conscience within certain limits of civility. Each organization needs to determine the limits of its liberality. The amount of latitude given will depend on how the organization defines its identity. Presbyterians, for example, have decided to be identified as a people under the authority of God's word as given to us in holy scripture and as defined by the creeds and reformed statements of faith called 'confessions'. There are some who resent us for this, but this is our heritage, and we believe that it has ongoing value for us in guiding us to fullness of living.

Advent is a strange season in some ways because its focus is both looking backwards and looking forwards as we stand in the present. It is a time when we look back to remember that God's people looked with anticipation to the coming of the Messiah (the actual birth of the saviour which we celebrate at Christmas time). But Advent is also the time of year we are to begin life anew with the deep awareness that Jesus Christ will come again in a surprising future to judge the living and the dead as the Apostle's Creed reminds us.

July 8th was my 30th wedding anniversary. On reflection, there are a lot of joys and laughter shared, sorrows endured and lessons learned. Three important lessons I've learned about a successful relationship in our marriage were all found in the Bible; but the experience of life makes the text come alive in a new way when life experience says, "That is so true!"

July 8th was my 30th wedding anniversary. On reflection, there are a lot of joys and laughter shared, sorrows endured and lessons learned. Three important lessons I've learned about a successful relationship in our marriage were all found in the Bible; but the experience of life makes the text come alive in a new way when life experience says, "That is so true!"

The rest of the magazine will no doubt give greater detail of the Assembly in Ottawa, so I have picked just a few highlights to share with you.

I Believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins…'

As we enter the season of Advent and Christmas often we hear, read (or sing in Handel’s Messiah) Isaiah’s passage about the child born to a virgin. He is Immanuel and the promise is that at some point in the future this supernaturally born child will become ruler of the people in the kingdom of God. The passages in chapters seven and nine can hardly be read without our hearts soaring in expectation and hope. For to us a child is born and to us a son is given … and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end … the zeal of the house of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

I was speaking with a commissioner at General Assembly who lamented that so much of the business seemed routine. He felt that what we needed to do was to set aside all the routine business and spend the time dealing with pressing issues like the serious and ongoing decline of the church—which wasn't even mentioned. I remember number of years ago attending The Presbyterian Church in Canada's national thinktank and one of the amazing conclusions was that there should be regular days of prayer and discernment across the whole church. For the sake of convenience and manageability, it was suggested that they be held on a regional basis. I think someone even suggested that they might take the place of synod meetings. It is hard not to agree with such suggestions. If ever we decided to do such a thing, it would take a discipline and even a depth of devotion that most are not used to. (When was the last time you and your congregation were involved in a three or

Now retired, the famous civil rights pastor Bishop John H. Adams in a recent Web article notes that progressive Christianity is not limited to a single theology. Dr. Douglas Ottati of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., speaks of progressive theology as a conglomeration of theologies, among which are process, liberal, Christian realist, liberationist, feminist, black, womanist and Minjung, a Korean philosophy that is a radical re-interpretation of Christianity. However, while it is named progressive Christianity, it is in no way committed to the traditional creeds and expressions of Christian faith revealed in Scripture. In fact, it is considered a sign of your “maturity” if you leave all that behind and make up your own mind.

A sense of belonging is at the core of Christian experience. It includes not only the grace-filled belonging in the personal fellowship within the Godhead, as John speaks of in Chapter One of his first letter, but also belonging to the fellowship of believers. In the Apostles' Creed, which outlines the essentials of the faith, we declare our belief in the Holy Catholic church and in the communion of saints. These confessions affirm our basic human need to belong. Even in the creation story we are reminded that in the Creator's perspective, even though He was pleased with all He had made, yet it was not good for the man to be alone and so Eve was created from Adam's side to be a companion and helpmate.

It is interesting to reflect that faithful followers of both Islam and Christianity can confess that according to their scriptures Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. But at that point their theology diverges. Orthodox Christians believe that the virgin birth, which is confessed in all the historic and widely used creeds, is a clear declaration that Jesus is not only Son of Man but Son of God — that Jesus has co-existing natures and that it is accurate to say he is truly human and at the same time truly God. Christians do not believe he is half God and half man, but as Living Faith tries to explain it: “God's nature is expressed in Jesus, the very Word of God … Jesus Christ is Lord. He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.”

The media has made much of the Conservative government's promise to crack down on violent crime and impose mandatory sentencing on perpetrators. The arguments in the press usually focus on whether the proposal is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors or whether it will be effective in stopping violent crime.