Presbyteries Have to Hear Scruples, Court Rules

Via the GA Junkie comes word that the PCUSA Permanent Judicial Commission has handed down rulings in three cases that dealt with ordination standards. All three went against presbyteries that sought to reaffirm the necessity of adherence to PCUSA’s constitutional ordination standards. He says that the central holding is embodied in this statement from the opinion rendered against Pittsburgh:

Restatements of the Book of Order, in whatever form they are adopted, are themselves an obstruction to the same standard of constitutional governance no less than attempts to depart from mandatory provisions.

I’m going to take a look at them when I get some time tomorrow. In the meantime, you can find them here.

Mississippi Defeats Overture

It doesn’t seem to be in any local newspapers or Presbyterian sources yet, but Pastor Steven Bryant of Grace Chapel Presbyterian Church has reported here that the presbytery defeated the overture that proposed severing ties between the PCUSA and EPC. Well done, folks.

I expect, though, that this will come up again in more than one presbytery, and will eventually pass somewhere (Heartland. anyone?). When it does, it goes to this summer’s General Assembly, where it will no doubt be one of the most contentious issues.

Islamifying Lent

If anyone ever tries to tell you that Christianity isn’t dying in Europe (it’s true that there are still pockets of vitality, but on the whole the picture is getting worse by the day) or that Islam isn’t ascendant in at least some parts of the continent, show them this from the London Telegraph:

Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the “Christian Ramadan” in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.

The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation.

“The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent,” said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil.

Vastenaktie organisers hope that by linking the festival to Ramadan they can remind Christians who may be less observant than Muslims of the “spirituality and sobriety” of Lent.

“The agreements are more striking than the differences. Both for Muslims and Catholic faithful the values of frugality and spirituality play a central role in this tradition,” said Mr Van der Kuil.

Do you suppose it ever occurred to the organizers that, rather than an attempt at “re-branding” Lent, perhaps the best way to remind Christians of the season’s “spirituality and sobriety” would be to actually observe it, and take seriously the events in the life of Christ upon which it is supposed to focus our attention? Or to teach their ignorant offspring about one of the great spiritual traditions of the faith?

Nah.