A handful of news articles have caught my eye this week, and I thought I’d pass them along:

If the leader of the free world can do it . . .

An article in Monday’s New York Times, “White House Sweats, and He’s the Cause,” introduced the first family’s personal trainer, Cornell McClellan, and described the emphasis on good health in the current White House. Turns out White House staff are required to work out and get in shape, and the boss himself keeps track of who’s keeping up and who’s weaseling out. But here’s what grabbed me: according to the article, President Obama does cardiovascular and strength training for at least an hour every day. So if the leader of the free world can find an hour a day to keep in shape, what excuse do the rest of us have?

Al Qaeda: watching itself become irrelevant . . .

Another article from the Times analyzed the momentous changes taking place in the Middle East from the perspective of Al Qaeda. Here’s an excerpt:

“For nearly two decades, the leaders of Al Qaeda have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall. Now, people in country after country have risen to topple their leaders—and Al Qaeda has played absolutely no role.

“In fact, the motley opposition movements that have appeared so suddenly and proved so powerful have shunned the two central tenets of the Qaeda credo: murderous violence and religious fanaticism. The demonstrators have used force defensively, treated Islam as an afterthought and embraced democracy, which is anathema to Osama bin Laden and his followers.”

Kind of nice to think that Al Qaeda might be becoming irrelevant, isn’t it? To read the whole article, click here.

(And by the way, if you’re really interested in keeping up with events in the Middle East, you can’t go wrong by tuning in to Al Jazeera’s English language network.)

The lengths to which Bible scholars will go . . .

Here’s an article about the color blue–or, more specifically, the mystery surrounding the “exact shade of blue represented by ‘tekhelet,’ which the Bible mentions as the color of ceremonial robes donned by high priests and ritual prayer tassels worn by the common Israelite.” Turns out that what scholars have always thought was a pure blue may actually have been more of a bluish-purple. If you find yourself instantly fascinated by this biblical mystery, click here to read more.

And finally . . .

News from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

One of the controversial issues that the presbyteries of the PC(USA) have been voting on this year is whether to replace paragraph G-6.0106b of our Book of Order with an amended version. First, the proposed change: the current text reads as follows:

“Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.”

The proposed new text goes like this:

“Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

Our own presbytery, the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, voted to approve the new language. How are the votes going in other presbyteries around the country? Click here to read a recent summary from The Presbyterian Outlook.

Happy reading!

–Dwight Christenbury

There were a number of contentious issues on the agenda at the recently concluded 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): civil unions and marriage, ordination standards, Middle East peacemaking, a new denominational Form of Government, and a response to the immigration law recently passed by the state of Arizona.

For details on these and all of the work of the General Assembly, click here.

–Dwight Christenbury

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has issued an emergency appeal for Haiti, where millions of people have been affected by a major earthquake that struck the country on Tuesday, January 12. PDA is rushing an initial $100,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing and designated funds to help provide immediate emergency relief to the affected people. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker Carlos Cardenas is joining an ecumenical team through the Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance going to Haiti to help with the response and needs assessments.

To stay informed about the situation in Haiti and to support PDA’s efforts, go to PDA’s website (follow the link to the PDA account designated specifically for relief in Haiti). If you don’t have Internet access or would prefer not to give online, write a check made out to Trinity Presbyterian Church, designating on the check that it is for “Haiti PDA relief DR000064.”

–Dwight Christenbury

Ever dreamed of reading John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion from cover to cover? No, seriously—stick with me . . .

I’ve recently discovered, thanks to my wife’s parents, that the Foundation for Reformed Theology, in honor of the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, has come up with a plan by which one can read the entire Institutes in the course of one calendar year (sort of like one of those read-the-Bible-in-a-year programs), and you can do it by reading only about seven pages per day. (You even get weekends off!) To get a copy of the plan, click here.

Institutes of the Christian Religion is Calvin’s major work—really his life’s work. It is the foundational work of Reformed theology and an important basis (some would argue the entire basis) of Presbyterianism. If you’re Presbyterian and you’ve always wondered who this Calvin character was and what he had to say, then this is your chance to find out!

If you’re interested and could use some help getting a copy of the Institutes, post a comment to this entry, send me an e-mail (dc [dot] trinity [at] mac [dot] com), or give me a call. And if you can’t quite picture yourself actually reading the Institutes but wish that someone else would, I’m going to give it a try and will occasionally post reflections on my reading on this blog.

Happy new year!

—Dwight Christenbury

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,

the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,

while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. . . .

Genesis 1.1-2

First, some definitions . . .

blog noun : a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative; verb (blogged, blogging) : add new material to or regularly update a blog (ORIGIN: a shortening of weblog)

web•log noun : another term for blog (ORIGIN 1990s: from web in the sense [World Wide Web] and log in the sense [regular record of incidents])

FAQ noun : a text file containing a list of questions and answers relating to a particular subject, esp. one giving basic information for users of an Internet newsgroup; pl. FAQs (ORIGIN 1990s: acronym from frequently asked questions)

So now that we’ve dispensed with the definitions, on to the FAQs . . .

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“What is this?” The blog you’re reading, On Faith and Life, is Trinity Presbyterian Church’s new vehicle for sharing and discussing reflections, thoughts, and ideas of a theological nature (and for a theology geek like me, that means reflections, thoughts, and ideas on just about anything!) and perhaps even for building community in a new way. Words have always been the “currency” of the church, from the Scripture readings, sermons, prayers, and hymns of worship services to the articles, calendar listings, and (sometimes) editorials of church newsletters to the reflections and meditations found in devotional pamphlets. The currency of this blog, too, is words—they just happen to be words on a screen. And, more importantly, they are words that invite your response—for more on that, keep reading.

“Can you be a little more specific?” In no particular order, here are some of the things you might find in On Faith and Life:

• News about and reflections on events in the life of the church—both here at Trinity and in the church at large, most often the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
• Reflections on local, national, and world events
• Meditations and devotions (maybe even poetry)
• Discussions of particular biblical or theological topics

And here are some of the things we expect that you’ll never find in On Faith and Life:

• Screeds advancing a writer’s pet agenda—worthy as it might be
• Reviews of last Sunday’s sermon
• Personal attacks on any individual or group or viewpoint
• Anonymous posts (the writer will always sign his or her name at the end of each post)

Is it possible that something inappropriate for On Faith and Life might slip through the cracks? Absolutely—we’re only human. So please e-mail me (Dwight) if you find something that you feel doesn’t belong.

“Who’s writing this blog?” The ministers of Trinity—Mark Stanley, Joe Gernoske, and Dwight Christenbury—will be the most frequent and regular contributors. From time to time, we’ll invite guest bloggers to contribute; if you have a topic in mind or an idea for a post, please e-mail me (dc.trinity [at] mac.com). And appropriate comments are always welcome; there’s a place to leave comments at the bottom of each post.

“Is anyone else in the larger church doing this sort of thing?” Strangely enough, yes—turns out the church is more cutting-edge than you might think. One of the most prominent Presbyterian bloggers these days is our current Moderator, Bruce Reyes-Chow, but Bruce is hardly alone. For some of the other Presbyterian and church-related blogs, see the list of links (“Blogroll”) on the left side of this page.

“How can I contribute?” If you have a topic in mind or an idea for a post, please e-mail me (dc.trinity [at] mac.com). And appropriate comments are always welcome; there’s a place to leave comments at the bottom of each post. (But remember: all comments, once approved and posted, are visible to anyone reading the blog.)

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Finally, as good Presbyterians, it’s appropriate that we end this inaugural post with a quotation from our brother John Calvin that captures a bit of the searching spirit of On Faith and Life:

“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern” (Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.1.1).

Thanks for reading—stick with us, and join us on the journey!

—Dwight Christenbury