What a clever April Fool’s joke is to be found on three unnumbered pages following page 40 marked “advertisement”! It is quite an anomaly for Holy Week—an anonymous church-member paying the Record 30 pieces of silver to publish it.
St. Andrew’s, Mansfield, Ont., decided to “authenticate” their 145th Anniversary Service, last October, by wearing fashions from a bygone era. Enclosed, you will find some of the members enjoying the moment. Rev. Robert Graham (singing, not yawning), Gary Brown, Meghan McGuire, Josh McGuire, Lynda Garner, John Franklin, Ed Garner, Louise Gallaugher, Blaunshe Ciach, Katie Thurman, Debbie Bennett, Norma Gallaugher, June Little, Eldon Armstrong.
A recent cover of Time asked, “What Scares You Most?” How would you respond? Hundreds of phobias were listed including Arachibutyrophobia, which is fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth! My dog has this fear, but I do not. However, I do experience the number one fear among humans—speaking in public.
After the release of my first book, the phone rang. I answered. “Phil, we would like you to speak to our high school graduating class,” said a sweet voice from a nearby school. “You went to high school once, so we thought you’d have something to tell the graduates.”
“Um …” I stammered, “I would rather crawl across molten metal in a loincloth.” No, I didn’t say that. But I did say, “Well … uh … let me think about it for a minute. There, I thought about it. I can’t. I just get too nervous. My lips quiver. My knees knock. My liver hurts. I drool. But … um … thanks anyway. Please call me again. In about four hundred years.”
The Holy Spirit has sometimes been referred to as the Cinderella of Christian theology; when the other two “sisters” of the Trinity were taken to the party, the Spirit was left at home.
We begin, therefore, by asking whether the Holy Spirit is an invited (dare I say welcome!) guest in our churches. The Canadian Presbyterian theologian Walter Bryden once offered this friendly provocation: “The average church member would not be a little upset were a fellow worshipper to insist on speaking to him in regard to the ‘joy’ to be had in the Holy Spirit.”
It is true that speaking about the Holy Spirit, even amongst ministers, elders, and theological students, is sometimes met with an awkward silence or a blank stare. But perhaps we come by this honestly. Our creeds and confessions are frequently silent on the subject, with the result that we ignore what the Bible says. (Have you ever noticed, for example, that the Westminster Confession of Faith has no chapter on the Holy Spirit?)
These young Presbyterians, with some help from their parents, prepared a Spaghetti lunch in April for the congregation of St. David, Halifax, raised $395 and forwarded that to Presbyterians Sharing. The benefactors are, from back, Katie, Lila, Amanda, Margaret, Katie; front, Rebecca, Brianna, William, Ian and Alissa.
Rev. Dr. McLelland wrote: “Instead of assuming that Christianity is the centre, with other religions moving around it as error, what if we see them all as moving around God, with their own varieties of faith and truth?” and “Is there the same truth in their [Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism] devotion as in ours?”
Dr. McLelland replies: My vocation as philosopher of religion is to test and stretch the theories of theology. This demands speculative thinking. It is only through such “speculative” theorizing that we can appreciate the implications of our doctrines.
McLelland’s comments are a blasphamous denial as to the person and work of Christ.
After thorough revisions by members of the Han-Ca presbyteries, a church doctrine subcommittee and a publisher in Korea, a Korean version of Living Faith is expected to come before General Assembly later this month.
Jayne Self, author and wife of moderator-elect Rev. Harvey Self, is among six finalists contending for this year’s Word Guild prize for best new Christian author.
The Presbyterian Record received four first place awards at the annual Associated Church Press conference.
Mt. Zion, Ridgetown, Ont., got the blues one Sunday as Rev. Paul “Blues Brother” Shaw strummed out a few riffs with his son Adam, and, along with the Ray Whaling Band provided a classic rock and blues repertoire. Other performers filled in with classical, sacred, celtic and show tunes. On our website: David Trinca and Alysson Storey lead a jig!
Sorry to see that unusually prominent advertisement written by a cardinal. Just as the Record was improving in all respects, especially in theological content, we are given a one-sided presentation on an extremely serious, contentious and divisive subject, presented like an American Madison Avenue ad.
I was extremely disappointed to see the March front cover caption describing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the place “where Jesus’ body was placed before his resurrection” and to realize that the author missed what, to me, are the most precious places in the entire world: Golgotha, the place of the skull where Jesus was crucified, and the nearby Garden Tomb, the Protestant site, discovered in 1883 by the British officer Gen. Charles Gordon. Many believers consider this the biblically accurate place where Jesus was buried and rose again.
Patriotism or faithful citizenship can be an admirable. Being a Roman Catholic can be an admirable. Being a “member of The Presbyterian Church in Canada” who hides behind someone else’s words is not admirable; nor is publishing a pro-life argument just to receive some needed advertising money.
“In 27 years of ministry, I have never been able to work in a building so well suited for native ministry, that we could call our own,” said Rev. Stewart Folster, director of Saskatoon Native Circle Ministry, referring to the new building in downtown Saskatoon.
The Marxists were right about some things. Sixteenth century Geneva under Calvin was the storm centre of the Bourgoise revolution against the Feudal order, much as Moscow was the gathering point for Communist revolutionaries in the twentieth century. It was certainly not the only factor in the birth of the modern world but it was one of them. Robinson Crusoe is the patron saint of mercantile Puritanism and it is no accident that the cities in which the Reformation took firmest hold – Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow – became centres of early global capitalism.
Eventually this affinity would have consequences for Canada. The Presbyterian Scots who dominated the 19th century Montreal business community and built the C.P.R. conformed to type.
I would like to see the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Presbyterian Record refer to Calvin’s Christian name as Jean instead of John, as he has been called in the English-speaking world since the Reformation.
There’s the church—top left—open the doors and here’s the people: The Archie Hardy Hall, named after the generous benefactor who posthumously left Knox, Vankleek Hill, Ont., a “sizeable amount of money,” opened in November. Inside the hall is a fundraiser for a Guatemala mission. Over $20,000 was raised for the mission, which was spearheaded by Knox’s Dave and Brenda Godmere.
Several decades ago, my wife and I took a tour to Israel and we visited both that church and the Garden Tomb, where I had the honour of conducting a communion service. It seems obvious to me that both sites can’t be the right one.