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Home > News Service > Biographical information released for Youth Ministries Task Force
09396 May 12, 2009 Biographical information released for Youth Ministries Task Force Fifteen-member panel will report to next summer’s General Assembly by Bethany Furkin Presbyterian News Service LOUISVILLE — The members of the sixth and final special committee named by the moderator of the 218th General Assembly have varied experiences but are united by their interest in youth and young adult ministries. The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow announced the 15 members of the committee earlier this month. The group comprises 10 youth and young adult members (ages 15-21) and five adult mentors. It will hold its first meeting June 11-15, during and after the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Big Tent event in Atlanta. The task force is charged with seeking input from youth, young adults and adults and with finding and presenting model programs that focus on the needs and development of youth ministries. The group will report back to the 219th General Assembly in 2010 with specific recommendations for designing youth ministries under a new vision for youth for the PC(USA). The biographical information on force members: Jordan Akin: Akin attends Central High School in Little Rock, AR, and is a deacon and member of the Youth Ministry at Second Presbyterian Church. She also serves on the Presbytery of Arkansas Youth Council and is on the 2010 Montreat Youth Conference planning team. This summer, Akin will travel to Turkey and Greece, following the steps of the apostle Paul as part of a camp called “Footsteps in Faith.” G. Jacob Bolton: Bolton is the director of family ministries at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. He is a graduate of Kalamazoo College and Union Theological Seminary. Bolton is a member of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators, the Presbyterian Writers Guild and the National Eagle Scouts Association. Elder Karen Ceaser: Ceaser serves part time in youth ministry at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Lomita, CA. She is also on the Mission Interpretation & Promotion Committee of the Presbytery of the Pacific. In 2007, she served as a Presbyterian Youth Triennium Adult Advisor and has led many youth mission trips across the country. Ceaser has been active in youth ministry since 1990 with organizations like Young Life, Youth Specialties and Habitat for Humanity. Rev. Rex Espiritu: Espiritu is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in New Castle, IN. He is part of the inaugural fellowship of the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program. During seminary and after graduation from Princeton Theological Seminary, Espiritu was associate director of music and later served on the pastoral staff at Faith Church in southern New Jersey. Hakeem Jerome Jefferson: Jefferson is majoring in political science and African American studies at the University of South Carolina, where he is a University Ambassador and the secretary of Minority Affairs for the school’s Student Government Association. Jefferson is a member of Goodwill Presbyterian Church in South Carolina and has served on many levels there. Since the age of 13, he has had a public speaking career. Austin Lane: Lane is a high school sophomore and is from a small town in the middle of Texas. He is very active in his church and presbytery and has strong leadership, musical and speaking skills. Kristy Lauron: Stockton Presbytery, Synod of the Pacific. Additional biographical information not available. Jessie Light: Light is an incoming freshman at Vanderbilt University, where she will study human organization and development. She has served as moderator of her youth group and as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate to the 218th General Assembly (2008). She has been on several mission trips and was on the Montreat Youth Conference Planning Team for the summer of 2008. Alex McDonald: McDonald is a high school sophomore in Atlanta and a member of Central Presbyterian Church, where he serves on the youth ministry committee. He has been on several youth mission trips and worked with his youth group to perform “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” At school, he is involved with the Student Government Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the tennis team. Madison Munoz: Munoz is a junior at Florida State University, where she is pursuing a dual degree in international affairs and English literature, with a minor in psychology. She is a lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church in Ocala, FL and is active with FSU’s Presbyterian University Center. She has studied abroad in Panama and China and spent a summer working with the Clubs Program at Montreat. Elder Clara Pauw: Pauw is a sophomore at Emory University, where she is majoring in history and French. She plays rugby, writes for the student newspaper and is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and a Christian group called Reformed University Fellowship. She was a Young Adult Advisory Delegate to the 218th General Assembly (2008) and is a member of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY. Brittney Shook: Shook is a high school sophomore in Solon, OH, where she is a member of the cross country team and the Key Club. She served on her church’s Educator Nominating Committee to help find a new director of Christian education and youth ministry. She has also worked with the Vacation Bible School for four years. Rev. Michelle Thomas-Bush: Thomas-Bush is a minister of youth and young adults at Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, FL. She has worked in youth ministry for more than 20 years, serving as a preacher and keynote speaker at Montreat Youth Conferences and conference dean and small group leader at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium. She is a charter member of the Presbyterian Youth Workers Association. Elder Rachel Van Marter: Van Marter is a senior at the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, KY, where she studies theater and musical theater. She has been to 15 General Assemblies, as well as the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, Montreat Youth Conference and various mission trips around the U.S. and Guatemala. Van Marter is an ordained elder at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church. Rev. Kelly Wiant-Thralls, chair: Wiant-Thralls is associate pastor at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, PA, where her main responsibilities are with youth and young adults. She earned a master’s degree in Christian education and an M.Div from Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education. She has also served as a Young Adult Volunteer in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she worked with an agency that addresses the issues surrounding homelessness.

Pasted from <http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09396>

Health 2.0 - health2con: The Next Generation of U.S. Healthcare

• Posted by Rex Espiritu on April 13, 2009 at 9:24am in Health & Healthcare
• View DiscussionsAnyone familiar with or planning to attend the Health 2.0 Conference?http://www.health2con.com

  http://www.Twitter.com/health2con

  #health2con

  http://www.Facebook.com/group.php?gid=4153244634

  They’re exploring ideas about the role of patients in the transformation of health care April 22-23, 2009 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

  The theme: “The Great Debates on the Next Generation of U.S. Healthcare.”

  * Health 2.0 & Ix: Tensions & Synergies

  * Knowledge creation: Experts vs User-Generated Care

  * Navigating the health care system: Human intermediaries vs. automation & algorithms

  * How do you build Health 2.0 into the delivery system?

  * What is the future role of the doctor?

  * What are the incentives for Health 2.0 and Ix?

  As one participant among the inaugural fellowship of the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program who has served as a chaplain in the medical setting, I along with my fellow colleagues are learning about a range of topics, including statewide efforts to strengthen public education, Indiana economic initiatives, government responses to property tax and other issues, the impact of immigration on local communities, and advances in medical research and their impact on health care. (I have also previously worked in IT for a former AI firm providing software services for the health care industry.) We are scheduled to focus on Community Health and Well-Being later this year.

  http://www.wabash.edu/news/displayStory_print.cfm?news_ID=6539

  Tags: health2.0

  Inserted from <http://www.smallerindiana.com/forum/topics/health-20-health2con-the-next>

Home > Office of the General Assembly > Youth Ministries Task Force April 3, 2009

Youth Ministries Task Force membership is announced

Task force is the last of six groups named by GA Moderator

Members of the sixth and final special committee to be named by the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), have been announced.

The action of last year’s assembly directed the moderator “to appoint a task force to seek input from youth, young adults, and adults … find and present model programs; and focus on the needs and development of youth ministries, and report back to the 219th General Assembly (2010) specific recommendations for designing and conducting various youth ministries under a ‘new vision’ for youth.”

One of the committees at last year’s assembly focused on youth ministry, with the task to discern God’s vision for youth and the PC(USA). In its rationale for proposing the task force, which was approved by the assembly, the committee wrote, “It is undeniable that investing valuable General Assembly time and energy to consider youth, a crucial generation in our faith communities, was an essential exercise and is one that merits more time, attention, and resources that could be offered in the short time available at the General Assembly.”

The rationale continued, “Though the committee sought to discern God’s vision for youth and the PC(USA), this is a task that will require more time and more intensive youth involvement for its adequate completion. The Assembly Committee on Youth has begun an important dialogue that should be continued in a task force with a two-to-one youth-to-adult ratio. We became convinced that youth are best equipped to articulate the needs and possibilities for effective youth ministry and for a more comprehensive inclusion of youth in the life and mission of the church, but also that intergenerational collaboration contributes to fruitful discernment.”

Named to the task force are the following youth, ages 15-21: Jordan Akin (Arkansas Presbytery), Hakeem Jerome Jefferson (New Harmony Presbytery), Austin Lane (Grace Presbytery), Kristy Lauron (Stockton Presbytery), Jessie Light (Heartland Presbytery), Alex McDonald (Greater Atlanta Presbytery), Madison Munoz (St. Augustine Presbytery), elder Clara Pauw (Mid-Kentucky Presbytery), Brittney Shook (Western Reserve Presbytery), and elder Rachel Van Marter (Mid-Kentucky Presbytery).

Adult mentors are G. Jacob Bolton (New York City Presbytery), elder Karen Ceaser (Pacific Presbytery), and the Reverends Rex Espiritu (Whitewater Valley Presbytery), Michelle Thomas-Bush (St. Augustine Presbytery), and Kelly Wiant-Thralls (Carlisle Presbytery).

Wiant-Thralls will serve as chairperson of the group.

Staffing the task force will be Adrian McMullen and Gina Yeager-Buckley, both of whom are General Assembly Council staff associates for youth ministry in the Office of Theology Worship and Education.

The 219th General Assembly will meet in Minneapolis, July 3-10, 2010.

Inserted from <http://www.pcusa.org/oga/newsstories/youthministries.htm>

“Heifetz” from:RexEspiritu - Twitter Search

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Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:07:?? PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)is listening to Harvard’s Dr. Ron Heifetz @ Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana with the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program fellowship

Pasted from <http://twitter.com/RexEspiritu/statuses/1135031113>

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:11:?? PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu Heifetz - initially reflecting on today’s inaugural address

Pasted from <http://twitter.com/RexEspiritu/statuses/1135040034>

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:16:?? PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu Heifetz: why do [even gifted, talented] people experience failure? –capacity to face; and change quickly, get key perspective

Pasted from <http://twitter.com/RexEspiritu/statuses/1135050176>

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:19:27 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: importance of view from balcony in addition to dance floor. distinction between leadership and [position of] authority

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:23:53 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: leadership = telling people what they NEED to hear vs. what they WANT to hear. What about problem w/unknown solution?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:26:51 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: speaking from experience of cardiac surgery, skill involved to address technical challenge; postop advice no smoking..

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:29:42 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: easier to fix the heart than to change the heart, behavior; eat right, exercise ..; recommendation vs. actual solution

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:35:43 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz:people look to professionals/leaders inauthority w/expectation, desire to be comforted/consoled; tough bind, don’t know

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:40:57 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: even best, brightest don’t know how to fix economy; Obama setting the scene for what real challenges we have before us

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:46:37 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: exercising leadership without 1st being given authority; freedom to risk, experiment; (ordinary folks from grassroots)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:50:54 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: recounting progression of civil rights movement, march - Alabama, Martin Luther King; learning adaptively, effectively

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:53:21 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: leadership is something that is available to all of us; most change is not change

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:59:24 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: Biology: cloning vs sexual reproduction –identical vs diversity/fy risk toward increased survivability; dinosaur bird

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:04:09 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: adaptability key; generating new, unique, innovation

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:14:42 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: win-win creativity. Leadership entails, also requires honoring the pain of [the prospect and ramifications of] change

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:24:02 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz: uncertainty of knowing? can’t live only w/ measurement to determine worth, value; comes down to humble personal affect

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:31:17 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz:in dealing w/real, tough sources of pain, need to discover, identify areas requiring renegotiation of loyalties to heal

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 9:36:37 PM | RexEspiritu (Rex Espiritu)

@RexEspiritu
Heifetz:primary mistake=to neglect quick debrief to effect immediate corrective, refine toward lasting, effective change4better

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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Religious perspectives - A pastor reflects with hope on Thanksgiving
By REX ESPIRITU First Presbyterian Church

Saturday, November 22, 2008

During the months of November into December, there are two scenes I envision at times that give me pause for reflection. One is marked by a frenzied business observable on black Friday after Thanksgiving Day. Another by contrast is more subdued and somber to the eye. In the economic climate of this election year, the latter view draws my heart and mind toward further exploration.

These days, I can imagine folks trudging slowly through the commercial marketplace of life in the cold arctic tundra of the North American holiday season. In my mind’s eye, I can see people just going through the motions, trying to get by and make it to the other side of their current financial predicament.

If I were able to probe more deeply into the psyche, I can maybe even perceive of myself or a neighbor nearby in the world of our emotional thought life doing the same. In a mystical moment, I turn to look and stare outside the window of the pastor’s study. And I wonder to myself, thinking, you know, this could be a picture of any two of us: a neighbor next door, and me. There we are, just getting by, attempting to make it through the winter of our discontent, hoping the heating and utility bills remain low enough with today’s price of gas.

As the freshly fallen snow comes to rest upon the frosty frail ground, I think about what has befallen us in recent days, not only as a country first, but also as a planetary population of humanity. In the ongoing global saga of the human race, it appears we now face especially in the U.S. the consequences of our consumerism, materialism, greed, and neglect of stewardship.

In an ever-expanding quest for more to satisfy our insatiable thirst for instant gratification, we can now conceive of ourselves being undesirably and undeniably depleted of resources, burned out in the never-ending pursuit of “happiness” and “the good life” of a sought after American dream at others’ and one another’s expense.

In a self-centered, self-serving, increasingly individualized and secularized culture of entitlement, we may search for a quick easy fix where none exists for our rescue no matter what kind of planned bailouts our elected officials and expert economists may devise and attempt to implement. And skeptically, cynically some might suspect these unparalleled propositions could once more be earmarked on their and their cronies’ behalf.

While the wearying winds and wintry weather wears on, the opening words of that timeless classic English novel among the writings of Charles Dickens comes to mind from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…”

Sometime after Election Day, when fires were burning in southern California, I read of one pastor from the west coast who shared a curious phrase with the rest of the virtual universe. I was intrigued by their short thought provoking statement, promulgating over the internet through their status update comment in the electronic realm of the world wide web portal sites of Facebook and Twitter notifications that “it is a fecund time.”

A time in which we are - as a multicultural, multinational, globally interconnected people on earth - at a crossroads, with many burdens to bear and much fruit-bearing yet to be borne, if only, for the time being, in our imagination(s). And yet, something has been a brewing. Change is a coming, and has now already come.

In the midst of an unprecedented economic downturn upon our 232 years young democratic republic, accompanied by its intricate effects on the global economy while wars on terror continue, did we really just now, only a moment ago, amidst all the suffering and chaos, witness the increased rising of voting by a generation of citizens, young and old alike, exercising their civic duties anew toward the breakthrough of service in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people with the advent of the first African-American President-elect in the new millennium?

This is huge! This is big! This is heavy! In the tsunami’s wave and wake of centuries following a dominant Western culture of enslavement and intercontinental prejudice, it is in a word, monumental.

Those among us of different colors who, in this society of wealth and privilege, have personally experienced bigotry in their lifetime are faced with a new reality. In the face of one cross-cultural person of prominence with whom we may now find ourselves identifying as a transforming, presiding influence, we could very well be experiencing a paradigm shift toward a new political and even newer religious landscape.

Our lives and life together in this multi-national country of firsts, I sense, has turned a proverbial corner and will now and forever, never be the same again. This is first, in a sense, an undiscovered country. There is yet more to be fully revealed and realized in its larger ramifications for the dawn of a new era in inter-national leadership and human relations. This, I believe, is a God-given opportunity of a new and great adventure for us all to consider and experience together as a people being and becoming transformed by grace.

As I heard Dr. Martin E. Marty remark from his theological distillation of Niebuhr last week at a seminar and luncheon in Indianapolis with Senator Richard G. Lugar on the subject of religion and politics, we are as sober-minded leaders in community, together tasked with renewed zeal and fervor to approach the times with “hopeful realism and realistic hope.”

And biblically, the apostle Paul’s writing in Scripture informs us that as a people of God, we are called to such a hope that does not disappoint. Especially on the occasion of the first major holiday weekend celebration following a historic presidential election during a uniquely American season of Thanksgiving, I cannot do otherwise, but find myself giving thanks.

For such a season as this, I am beginning to believe that we have been raised and blessed to seize the day and make for a fruitful, fruit-bearing time. With stark challenges to tackle, wonderfully awful agendas to aspire toward, and massive obstacles to overcome, we shall indeed, Lord willing, overcome as a nation, indivisible.

It starts with the audacious optimism of expressing our profound gratitude for not only what we have and where we are now, but also for what we do not have and where we are not now in a place to be. It is a decision over a contrast of choices in which we can choose to acknowledge and submit to the sovereign Lord of history, or acquiesce and submerge into a sorry state of ungodly affairs, void of purpose or direction.

In this day set aside for giving thanks, we are afforded an opportune window of time in which to pledge anew our allegiance for one another’s better future under the Almighty in Whom alone as our currency suggests we would trust, even as the early pilgrims did with their newfound friends on that first Thanksgiving celebration together upon a New England terrain.

May we, each and every one of us, find ourselves appreciating where and when we are with this truth in mind: That we are all children of a loving God - our ever-caring provider whose grace is sufficient and whose mercy abounds.

In view of this, it is appropriate for us once again to recount our blessings with grateful, thankful hearts. As we continue to wait in the hope of Advent, let us renew our commitment to the Lord, ourselves and neighbor alike in the redeeming and reconciling work of ministry and mission for the common good. As the Word of Scripture imparts comfort, may the Lord bless us and keep us to find favor and peace with one another on earth as it is in heaven.

The Rev. Rex Espiritu serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New Castle.

Content © 2008 the Courier-Times

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http://thecouriertimes.com/print.asp?ArticleID=229862&SectionID=25&SubSectionID=42

During the months of November into December, there are two scenes I envision at times that give me pause for reflection.  One is marked by a frenzied busyness observable on black Friday after Thanksgiving Day.  Another by contrast is more subdued and somber to the eye.  In the economic climate of this election year, the latter view draws my heart and mind toward further exploration. 

These days, I can imagine folks trudging slowly through the commercial marketplace of life in the cold arctic tundra of the North American holiday season.  In my mind’s eye, I can see people just going through the motions, trying to get by and make it to the other side of their current financial predicament.  If I were able to probe more deeply into the psyche, I can maybe even perceive of myself or a neighbor nearby in the world of our emotional thought life doing the same.  In a mystical moment, I turn to look and stare outside the window of the pastor’s study.  And I wonder to myself, thinking, you know, this could be a picture of any two of us: a neighbor next door, and me.  There we are, just getting by, attempting to make it through the winter of our discontent, hoping the heating and utility bills remain low enough with today’s price of gas. 

As the freshly fallen snow comes to rest upon the frosty frail ground, I think about what has befallen us in recent days, not only as a country first, but also as a planetary population of humanity.  In the ongoing global saga of the human race, it appears we now face especially in the U.S. the consequences of our consumerism, materialism, greed, and neglect of stewardship.  In an ever expanding quest for more to satisfy our insatiable thirst for instant gratification, we can now conceive of ourselves being undesirably and undeniably depleted of resources, burned out in the never ending pursuit of “happiness” and “the good life” of a sought after American dream at others’ and one another’s expense.  In a self-centered, self-serving, increasingly individualized and secularized culture of entitlement, we may search for a quick easy fix where none exists for our rescue no matter what kind of planned bailouts our elected officials and expert economists may devise and attempt to implement.  And skeptically, cynically some might suspect these unparalleled propositions could once more be earmarked on their and their cronies’ behalf. 

While the wearying winds and wintry weather wears on, the opening words of that timeless classic English novel among the writings of Charles Dickens comes to mind from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’:  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…” 

Sometime after Election Day, when fires were burning in southern California, I read of one pastor from the west coast who shared a curious phrase with the rest of the virtual universe.  I was intrigued by their short thought provoking statement, promulgating over the internet through their status update comment in the electronic realm of the world wide web portal sites of Facebook and Twitter notifications that “it is a fecund time.”  A time in which we are—as a multicultural, multinational, globally interconnected people on earth—at a crossroads, with many burdens to bear and much fruit-bearing yet to be borne, if only, for the time being, in our imagination(s).  And yet, something has been a brewing.  Change is a coming, and has now already come. 

To say what one might contemplate about our community, nation, and world at a particular time like this in human history seems on one level to be very dauntingly surreal.  In the midst of an unprecedented economic downturn upon our 232 years young democratic republic, accompanied by its intricate effects on the global economy while wars on terror continue, did we really just now, only a moment ago, amidst all the suffering and chaos, witness the increased rising of voting by a generation of citizens, young and old alike, exercising their civic duties anew toward the breakthrough of service in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people with the advent of the first African-American President-elect in the new millennium?!?  This is huge!  This is big!!  This is heavy!!!  In the tsunami’s wave and wake of centuries following a dominant Western culture of enslavement and intercontinental prejudice, it is in a word, monumental. 

Those among us of different colors who, in this society of wealth and privilege, have personally experienced bigotry in their lifetime are faced with a new reality.  In the face of one cross-cultural person of prominence with whom we may now find ourselves identifying as a transforming, presiding influence, we could very well be experiencing a paradigm shift toward a new political and even newer religious landscape.  Our lives and life together in this multi-national country of firsts, I sense, has turned a proverbial corner and will now and forever, never be the same again.  This is first, in a sense, an undiscovered country.  There is yet more to be fully revealed and realized in its larger ramifications for the dawn of a new era in inter-national leadership and human relations.  This, I believe, is a God-given opportunity of a new and great adventure for us all to consider and experience together as a people being and becoming transformed by grace. 

As I heard Dr. Martin E. Marty remark from his theological distillation of Niebuhr last week at a seminar and luncheon in Indianapolis with Senator Richard G. Lugar on the subject of religion and politics, we are as sober-minded leaders in community, together tasked with renewed zeal and fervor to approach the times with “hopeful realism and realistic hope.”  And biblically, the apostle Paul’s writing in Scripture informs us that as a people of God, we are called to such a hope that does not disappoint.  Especially on the occasion of the first major holiday weekend celebration following a historic presidential election during a uniquely American season of Thanksgiving, I cannot do otherwise, but find myself giving thanks for a fecund time.  For such a season as this, I am beginning to believe that we have been raised and blessed to seize the day and make for a fruitful, fruit-bearing time.  With stark challenges to tackle, wonderfully awful agendas to aspire toward, and massive obstacles to overcome, we shall indeed, Lord willing, overcome as a nation, indivisible. 

As woeful as the weightiness is of our current circumstances, we are called again to address our situation with fervent gratitude for the blessings of providential provision in today’s frontiers with liberty and justice for all.  It starts with the audacious optimism of expressing our profound gratitude for not only what we have and where we are now, but also for what we do not have and where we are not now in a place to be.  It is a decision over a contrast of choices in which we can choose to acknowledge and submit to the sovereign Lord of history, or acquiesce and submerge into a sorry state of ungodly affairs, void of purpose or direction.  In this day set aside for giving thanks, we are afforded an opportune window of time in which to pledge anew our allegiance for one another’s better future under the Almighty—the One in Whom alone, as our currency suggests, we would trust, even as the early pilgrims did with their newfound friends on that first Thanksgiving celebration together upon a New England terrain. 

May we, each and every one of us, find ourselves appreciating where and when we are with this truth in mind: That we are all children of a loving God—our ever caring provider whose grace is sufficient and whose mercy abounds all the more in times of need and plenty, alike.  In view of this, it is appropriate for us once again to recount our blessings with grateful, thankful hearts.  As we continue to wait in the hope of Advent, let us renew our commitment to the Lord, ourselves and neighbor alike in the redeeming and reconciling work of ministry and mission for the common good.  As the Word of Scripture imparts comfort, may the Lord bless us and keep us to find favor and peace with one another on earth as it is in heaven. 

The Rev. Rex Espiritu serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Indiana

He has a number of blog sites on the web at RexEspiritu.net and can be reached via e-mail to: rev.rex@espiritu.net 

I recently had a brief e-mail exchange with a brother in Christ with whom I have been friends in our adult lives as husbands and fathers for over sixteen (16) years. As Christians, both he and I have come from more conservative, evangelical, reformed backgrounds. Somewhere within the somewhat lengthy reply/ies in our conversation(s) over e-mail, the discussion touched upon the notion on my part of “everyone being on a journey…” and how [it is that] God would have us treat others [pastorally and graciously] as led by the Spirit of the Lord according to God’s Word.

After our last communication, I read the following quote attributed to German theologian Karl Barth in his seminal work(s) of Church Dogmatics which provides food for thought along a similar, if you will, eschatological vein–that is, in referring to the sense of “the now, and the not yet”, all of us are at the same time throughout our lives lived for God’s glory both 1) not yet now what we will be; and yet, also in a sense 2) now already what we are to become. Barth speaks to this in terms of referring to those who are called and as yet “uncalled“, and uses this line of thinking to lead us to consider “an openness towards others”.

April 26 — “… our calling to be Christians, as plainly shown in the New Testament in the figure of Peter, must take place again and again. No man who is called does not also have to see and understand himself as one who has still to be called and therefore as one who stands alongside and in solidarity with the uncalled. Is it not inevitable, then, that our self-understanding as Christians should constrain us on this side, together with our knowledge of the existence of Jesus Christ in its universal significance, to an openness towards others in which we reckon with the fact that they are what we ourselves still are even as Christians, namely, those who are not called but are still to be called?” — Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV,3,2 page 494

One might also relate this to [the ecclesiology in] Calvin’s writing(s) on the visible and the invisible church–that the practical application of our theological idea(s) of, in more contemporary terms, “who is in[side], and who is out[side]” of the church, the “called out ones” (EKKLESIA), could prove at times to be somewhat problematic. This is where one might begin to find one’s self approaching [if not already over] the edge of what critics of Barth’s theology regard to be [among/in concert with] universalist ideologies.

reformata, et semper reformanda
At this point in my own journey of faith and formulating/developing/reforming theology of/on ecclesiology, the bottom line for me here is praxis–the practicing of my faith. (As James tells us, faith without works is dead.) The practical outworking of my biblical understanding in how I perceive, or maybe more accurately, how I choose to perceive of others becomes paramount. In order to work out [the process of] my [own] salvation with fear and trembling, I might believe the Lord my God to be more concerned in the end about the practice of how I loved and continue to love others, how I believed in and continue to believe for the best in others, and how I prayed and continue to pray for the calling of others who are now and/or yet to be called in Christ. As the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13, it matters more how and that we have love(d) well in, through, and for our Lord God Who is love (1 John). Paul prefaces his treatise on love with these words: “And now I will show you the most excellent way….” (1 Corinthians 12:31)

2 Corinthians 5:16 (NIV) So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 

As the praise songs go: “JESUS, You’re the Center of my joy…” ”Jesus, Be the Centre…”  How many times have I sung these lyrics in varied settings for several Christian services of worship at various venues….    I’m unable to recall exactly. 

What does it mean to have Christ be the center of one’s life?  How would I articulate such depth of meaning for Christ being the center of my very being?  How shall we then live with Christ as the center of our living together in Christ-centered community?  In what way does this affect my pastoral ministry and particularly our parenting of our own children as we are thrust into the calling and responsibility of raising them through their teenage years? 

The Navigators’ scripture verse memorization system from the Growing in Christ (Colossians 2:7) discipleship training series with topical references helps me remember a related Bible verse I committed to memory years ago: 

CHRIST THE CENTER

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.  –Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

The above wonderings ensued through reflection upon the following: 

February 25 — “It turns out when you look at the structure of teenagers’ lives, and their schedules, religion fits in a very small piece of all that.  It’s actually amazing to me that religion has any effect in teenagers’ lives.  Part of the structure, too, is that what really matters to teenagers is their socially significant relationships.  If teenagers have socially significant relationships that cross at church, that cross with other families of believers, then that helps out a lot.  But many teenagers have their socially significant relationships almost exclusively through school; even if they have friends at church, the youth group is a satellite out there on the fringe of their life, rather than at the center.” — Christian Smith, in “What American Teenagers Believe: A Conversation with Christian Smith, Interview by Michael Cromartie” 

http://www.pcusa.org/pastorselders/dailyquote.htm#february5

Pastoral Perspective — On New Beginnings: a Fresh Start, a Filling Passion

As I have been meditating and reflecting upon the lectionary passages for this sermon series toward the end of these summer months (2007), I have also at the same time been enjoying my own renewed personal daily devotions.  This has been particularly so for me while becoming reacquainted with the classic devotional work of Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest.  During one of my morning readings, a startling question resonated anew with my current experience:  Are you fresh for everything?  Oswald Chambers continues “Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale…?  Freshness is not the result of [our] obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit.” 

Among the attributes of God for which I have recent renewed appreciation is the Lord’s steadfast, ever enduring, never failing loving-kindness.  The Hebrew word, HESED encompasses a larger sense of meaning regarding this quality which God alone has toward God’s people.  Through thick and thin, come what may, no matter what situations we may encounter, regardless of whatever circumstances we might find ourselves in, as the Word of God tells us, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.  That is One Truth that would indeed continually set us forever free.  In the final analysis, as children of the Lord we can stand firm and rest assured of God’s faithfulness to us in the sure promise and hope that does not disappoint—that Emmanuel, the Spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord God is ever with us.  And not only is God with us, but God is for us.  We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to God’s purpose.  And if God is for us, the apostle Paul wrote, who can be against us? 

In and through our journey of life, we will have trials and difficulties for sure.  But we are empowered by the very Holy Spirit of God to forge ahead over any obstacles, press on forward in faith through trying times and rise above anything that would seek to hinder us in our prayers.  No weapon formed against us shall prosper.  Nothing will thwart or deter God’s higher purpose(s) for us as God’s own people in this world. 

As Jesus said, in this world we will have trouble.  But take heart, our Lord says to us, for He has overcome the world.  He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.  In time of need, we can come boldly before the throne of grace, knowing God hears and answers our prayers.  With the compassion of the Christ on the cross, the Lord is gracious to give us renewed opportunities to begin again.  His mercies are new every morning, providing us with another chance for a fresh start, and imparting unto us a filling passion for Him and His powerful presence in our lives.  He wants over and over again for us to fix our eyes on Him, the author and completer of our faith.  As Moses told the people of
Israel to gaze upon the serpent on the pole, we will find healing and salvation in looking to Jesus alone.  Peter could only keep above the water, walking toward the Lord, when he kept his eyes on Him. 

 Again, Oswald Chambers writes: “Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning.  It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God.  …Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think.  It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.”   

Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself?  If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.[1]   

Words from a song of praise based on Asaph’s Psalm, comes to mind…  Whom have I in heaven, but You, O Lord?  There is nothing on earth I desire besides You.  My heart and my flesh, many times they fail.  But there is One Truth that always will prevail.  God is the strength of my heart.  God is the strength of my heart.  God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever and ever.[2]    May this be so for each and every one of us in the Lord God Who is ever with us and for us.   In the Spirit of Christ, Pastor Rex

[1] http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php?day=20&month=01

[2] Words and Music by Eugene Greco © 1989 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music