Happy Happy Joy Joy !!

OK ... I happen to have liked Ren and Stimpy, it was mindless entertainment, and that song of Happy Happy Joy Joy was the most mindless of all.

That said, when I got the news that Crimson-Rock Presbytery examined and passed my friend from PTS, that tune just popped up in my head. Happy Happy Joy Joy!!.

... and so it goes!!

Perhaps it won't go ...

The nFOG that is.

Most of those who track Presbyterian polity and what comes out our the PCUSA GA's will know that the nFOG is the acronym for New Form Of Government. This is the revision of our current FOG that is supposedly going to make the PCUSA more missional and foster our connectivity, but will probably cause more dissension, lack of trust and member losses.

Most of the dislike of the nFOG by many moderates and conservatives in the PCUSA is due to the fact it does away with a lot of previously fought over procedures that have been put together over the years in order to govern the various levels of the PCUSA. There's a reason there's a book entitled Blood on Every Page which has a history of how the BOO was put together. The conservatives see it as another loosening of the biblical standards that the procedures were put in place to prevent. The moderates see it as something that will upset the status quo, and heaven knows we don't want that to happen.

However, in a link from Church and World (previously Presbyweb), there is a story from the Layman that talks about how three different GA Advisory Committees (and some of the most liberal) are upset because the nFOG does away with some procedures that they don't want to see removed. Its fine with them to do away with others, but not these.

I guess the nFOG is good until your ox gets gored. Its ok if THEIR ox is gored, but leave ours alone. However, with negative comments from all sides, will it get off the ground ??

Again, there's a reason why there's Blood on Every Page.


.... and so it goes !!

I hope the PNC meant what they said ... !

In my last post, I mentioned that a friend was being called to her first pulpit. Evidently the PNC was very enamored and made her feel very welcomed. While not all felt the same way, most of those she met before the congregational meeting were happy to have her come to shepherd their church. I pray that the PNC reflected what the rest of the church thinks.

I regularly read the blog Kopp Disclosure. I find that his insights on church life are always dead on. While reading his post of Jan 13th, I came across this line: Churches and countries can't move forward if they're always looking at their, uh, behinds.. Which makes me reiterate, I PRAY that the PNC reflected what the rest of the church thinks.

This reminded me about a conversation I had with a former pastor. He was telling me about a pastor friend of his that believed the PNC's ideas about the future of the church. Unfortunately, those ideas were not reflective of some in the church, the some who happened to be the movers and shakers (or sneaks and submariners, take your pick) in the church.

Needless to say, that didn't turn out too well. Again, I PRAY that the PNC reflected what the rest of the church thinks.

..... and so it goes !!

Good News .. but somewhat bittersweet

The readers of this screed (and you know who you are, all three of you) know that I have a few friends who attended Plodding Theological Seminary. I mentioned that one of them was in the middle of the call process, and was going to do her candidate sermon before the congregational meeting to vote whether to call her as the Pastor at Cannoli P.C.

The meeting and vote happened this past Sunday, and she accepted the call. This is a time for celebration, but the vote was bittersweet. During the discussion prior to the vote, someone brought up what Paul said in 1 Timothy. While I understand that the moderator handled the question well, it obviously did not impress a few people sitting in the pews.

The vote was not unanimous. She had accepted the possibility that there may be a few people who are opposed to women as Pastors, she didn't expect that about 12 to 14% would vote no. It was a minority that couldn't be overlooked. It didn't help that some of the people had to leave before the moderator could arrive, those 10 or so people would have made the minority look smaller. That said, she looked at how the Spirit has guided her to Cannoli, and came to the conclusion that God wanted her here at this time.

Next stop, presbytery meeting for her examination. She fully expects that there may be questions about the vote, but she knows that the Spirit would not have led her this far for her to be examined and rejected at the last minute.

So she'll be ordained at 'Nother Completely-different Presbytery, then installed at Cannoli in February.

God be praised !!

Being "Inched" to death !!

For the past 15 days (except for Dec 30th) Plodding PA has had snow. It may have been a flurry, it may have come down in a steady fall, but we had snow. Along with the rest of the country, we've also had the arctic cold coming in from the lands of our neighbor to the north.

The past day we had 4 inches come down, primarily due to the storm front and low pressure area that sailed across the country from the midwest to the east. We're supposed to get another 2 or 3 overnight into Saturday evening. Areas around here have seen from 5 to 25 inches; depending how close to Lake Erie they area. Yes, its mostly lake effect snow, but we didn't see as much last year as we are this one. Our unofficial measurement outside my wife's office window measuring the amount of snow on the roof of our patio, shows about 10 inches.

I can handle snow, I can't handle idiot drivers, which is why I stay home until the roads are clear. Which is the same reason I think this deer has decided to rest in my backyard until the snow stops. I fully suspect that they are safer from the hunters, than the drivers around here.

.... and so it goes!

A New Year ... and an old problem.

Its now the year 2-thousand and ten, or as some would have us say, twenty-ten. In either case its the beginning of another year.

While most people say its the end of the decade, geeks like me say we have one more year to go. After all, we don't start counting from the year zero do we !!

Now that I have that off my chest, its time to look forward to the new year. There will be changes coming up, one of which is that I will probably have to leave my job at TJ's due to complications with my left hand.

The left thumb surgery went fine, that joint is doing quite well. However, due to some unknown cause, my left hand cannot grasp as well as it used to. It is one third as strong as my right, and is very achy and stiff. While I'm doing occupational therapy twice a week, along with exercises at home, it does not appear to be doing all that much better.

I'm not sure if the problem was due to the hand being in a cast for six weeks, and my trying to do something with that hand while in that cast, or that the joint pain was so bad, it just overwhelmed the other problems in that hand. In any case, I will have to give up my job as I've run out of leave time. I can reapply to TJ's after everything is healed, but the date of that is unknown.

I really wanted to start off this year with something that wasn't about me, but this has become a constant in my life lately, and its hard to think about much else. That said, I'm in pretty good health otherwise, just need more exercise.

Enough of me; now, back in December I remarked about a friend coming up for a call. The congregational meeting is coming up soon, and I'm asking all three of my readers to keep her in your prayers. While the congregational actions are normally pro forma, there is always that gadfly that seems to show up to cause ripples. Please pray for clear sailing!

Finally, I wish everyone a happy and safe 2010.