Cloud Of Witnesses: Growing Deep In Christ

When I came to faith as a high school student – many, many years ago – I thought that our Youth Group was living the next chapter of Acts to be written.  I’m thankful for the sense of close connection to New Testament life which that represented.  I’m embarrassed by the sophomoric self-righteousness that caused me to think that we had the best handle on God and His Kingdom in the nineteen centuries between the Book of Acts and me.

The Father has been at work extending the Gospel of grace to all nations across those centuries.  That history and accumulated wisdom becomes a rich resource for better understanding and serving Jesus in my own day and setting.  I now look at the church across history as fellow believers who have much to teach me.

Beginning this February, I will be leading a group designed to dig into that rich understanding of Christ and His Kingdom.  Our Steering Committee will be using the Leadership Training Material developed by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church for Elder training and would like to open the opportunity to everyone interested.  Here’s how it will work.

You Are Equating Voting Rights With What?!?!

Seneca Falls: “We demand that women have the right to vote, like men!”  Stonewall: “We demand that men have the right to dress like women!”  Thank you, President Obama.

I have been stunned by the line in President Obama’s second inauguration speech: "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still," said Mr. Obama, "just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall."  I’m troubled by those who have supported this assertion of equivalence, and baffled by the many - women and ethnic minorities in particular - who remain silent at the connection of their voting rights with the sexual practices of a few.

Stop and think about what events and outcomes are being equated here.