PRESENTATION BY JOHN M. BUCHANAN
PASTOR, FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

TO

PALOS PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
PALOS PARK, ILLINOIS

MAY 9, 1989
WHY I AM STILL A PRESBYTERIAN

Thanks, greetings and best wishes...
Good process - but wonder about your endurance - 3 preachers,
TT ees
same topic -

Old sermon definition - 3 steps

Tell 'em - what you're going to tell 'em

Sane

-then tell thi.
-then tell them what you just told them
Wouldn't blame you if you came to that conclusion

Never heard of “O-—Dirg on‘ Reformed Tradition, but you may

be close - Wonduded ate Chat Dretoy + BC.
Six Questions:, Partha

1. What does Reformed mean?

2. What is the "Reformed" world and life now?

3. Who are Presbyterians?

4, What is our Presbyterian heritage? (where have we been?)
5. How achieve unity through diversity in our history?

6. Where are we going?

A, -A quick time line

-After Jesus, friends, unorganized, part of Synagogue
-Deepening disputes, a rift and ejection

-Now what shall we do?

aq - €57°

Da
-Gathered privately, in homes, on Sabbath
-Persecution - secrecy- Presbyters -

rt ne

-Paul and missionary growth

-First Cons./Lib. argument over whether Christians y
had to be Jews -

-Liberals won - Big decision — diursct, ~ Urawrsl
-Gentile Churches

—— EE

-Persecution

-323 Constantine and Maélwerw Bridge

-Constantiné*Christianity - Bishope - Pope

ree Declus Church Emerges

-Papal Empire
-A hierarchical super-structure
“™ supported theologically by system of salvation by
works, obedience

Luther's reformation - based_on Scripture

Romans -
also a political revolution -

spread rapidly

France, exiles - John Calvin to Geneva -

=,

much like Luther intellectually -

but more orderly

-one major difference - the Kingdom of God
Luther said 2 Kingdoms as

as Augustine had before and Acquainis

—,

Calvin - not so sure:/Kingdom of God growing in world,

ee —

i —

sovereign over world, bashed in - not a clear line -

So while Luther said who ever is in charge - God wills it

———

and our job is to obey

-3-
nile GOP hesitated and said, if Prince is not responsible, FoiY hi, you
fertfifal have responsibility not to obey
~\

-Revolution! seeds of dangerous notion of Democracy

-a new order in Geneva
Church order come
V
City life Wis
Public Education a a
a eer 5
Child Labor Se

Molec gidaun - Justice

-That is what distinguishes us, this relationship of faith

to life —
_
-To Scotland via Knox,
wr
contra Romanism and Anglicanism and aa ee ony
-To Northern Ireland ean hnene™
-And to America - (oer
Conde ee SAM ADAMS

—€onctusier to revolutionary ideas of Seint—-A~de—t? , Thomas
Paine and Thomas Jefferson
is Bot +
--A Presbyterian vevotutienist said William Pitt.
in Parliament
Scotch/Irish - wanted liberty - freedom of religion

and conscience and a society that reflects God's will...

ow —s niskorsc -
“aS Reformed means to stand vwettr that tradition.

It's not always admirable...we did not handle slavery
very well -

But to be Reformed is to know that religion and life
interface dynamically and that religion that doesn't - is irrelevant:
i.e. religion that calls its adherents away from the world, either

physically or theologically.

\

\

*~

aN

«i «

C2") What is Reformed world and life sew? View ?

Good question!

A. God's sovereignty

ee

1)

2)

God as creator:
creation is good.
though fallen...the tragedy and evil is

not there originally

as JA-
It is God's world, not ours: we are the stewards _ Ww ia
of the place... Aw

All sorts of implications, mainly ecological

(now a_ survival issue)

B. The Human Condition -

Reformers delved deeply into the topic of human
sin...which Calvinists sometimes called "total
depravity"...

A helpful understanding + i.e. an essential
egocentricity from which we are quite in capable
of escape

...it serves us very well, actually

...it enables us to put a premium on our
own well being and survival

..-but it does make a mess of relationships,

great and small.

We live in a time that wants not to hear this -

our quaint, obsolete, dismal, self flagelating belief...

But - Menninger thinks it is most helpful thing

about us - "What Ever Became of Sin?"

-We ought to be very realistic about human nature

and

--
We know that we live by grace of God and
one anothers:

C. Society

—_—_—_—_—"
1) God is sovereign: not the king or government...

_————

So Reformed view is not conducive to a political
system that demands absolute allegiance...

American Revolution is example...

Today - Allan Boesak's challenge to Sout African
government is Calvinist based challenge to unjust

——

and illegitimate political power...

He asks basic Reformed Question of government -
* ‘ =
in whose name do you rule? 0 der \

Who give you authority?
-Reformed view is The people - not monarchy
or race...

2) God's Kingdom and World interface

-so there are political implications to our religion
-politics is where religion is expressed

D. Sanctity of human life and conscience

-emphasis on human rights

-emphasis on right of each to live out dictates

of conscience, | so we defend unpopular causes...
and while it get us in occasional trouble -

it is very Reformed.

E. Providence/ Predestination

-not fatalism, but a sense of God's participation
and ultimately things are in God's hands...
-a trust that all will be well, even if in

ways we do not understand.

3. Who are Presbyterians?

a. Depends who you ask -

3,000,000 - mostly white, middle class, middle of the
road, mostly successful - but there are delightful and redeeming
exceptions to all the above

b. We are arguably the original American Church -

-We came early to the colonies from English Puritanism

Scottish and Northern Ireland Presbyterianism -

-brought hard work, respect for education, love of

freedam_and absolute distru¢gt_of concentrated authroity...

...and by 1750 we were biggest and best organized
church in new world...
-education was our gift...| colleges and schools everywhere
——————,

-and our next gift was our political views which helped

ee

inspire a revolution... ‘
P wlaha Witherspoum

Presbyterians fought, jone of ours signed Delcaration
of Independence
-were chaplains - see Tombstone in Upper Octorora -
—-- a
1776
_
-New Jersey chaplain - used Hymn books for musket-

packing {naive em Watts, boys!" /
~ , Supreme — .
-and cc a tat - The Constitution whcih among other

things reflects Calvinist view of humankind.

-our rights need to be preserved from others and from
the states

-checks and balances

ee

-people are sovereign
-and a tiered, representative form that looks remarkably

like an older yard - i.e. The Presbyterian General Assembly.

-8-
Those are very important...can't imagine our society without
them...

Our future health is a matter of very great importance. ts An Crrtbow

I regret our remove from Mainstreat - Dow ow Tee of 4
Di, Bush cheld ul Fels ~ vor

I'd rather have those values at spiritual center than Pes iL, Bula. 4
Mr. Falwell's We ouw cht.
Swaggarts
Bakker
Robertson

or even Mr. Schuller's

And one thing further - and this may be most important of
all...the word itself ~ Reformed

Motto of Reformed/Presbyterian Branch of Reformation

was
WA,

fy

Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformada -
The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed

It is part of our heritage to live with a little umease even

with our own institutions, structures and traditions -

Another way of saying it is that part of our tradition is to

be a little suspicious of tradition...
Not in casual, flippant sense - which makes of religion a

trivial thing...but deeply - as we ask always...

a\
Is this reflection of our deepest faith - or are we doing it
4,

simply because we always did it this way.

Martin Marty - Last 7 Words of the Church

"But we always did it this way"

That's a very Biblical posture, by the way -

prophetic traditions or Old Testament

Jesus and religion of Pharisees -

--9g--
By its nature Presbyterianism should be innovative and_ creative.

-significant that we have a disease named after us Presbyopic -

a hardening of eye, restricting sight -

' 5. / How have we achieved unity through diversity and where

are we going?
OPenne s >

A. We are diverse because of our theological opmiens...you

don't have to subscribe to a certain position: Room for all, big
co

unbrella » CW: & kb. ' Auwrsuwh Lats Vandana --

B. We try_to make that a unifying principle - not always
successfully...but it is our genius and we must not lose it...people

Foods me See:

C. Other side is that we are not terribly Cliverse

who Airayre but still belong to one another.

We still don't know much about racial inclusiveness..
and sociologically the very existence of denominations is a barrier
to diversity ~i.e. people who think alike and are alike tend to
cluster... So, toa degree, we sacrifice diversity to the true

diversity of the wnole church of Christianity.

6. Where are we going?

We are losing members... and we've looked at that from every
conceivable angle -

-in fact we're not losing members who quit and go to other
churches, \even some perversity_in us seems to want to describe
it that way.

We simply aren't making new Presbyterians as quickly

as old ones are dying -

-Our birth rate is low... 1.5 clitares

-Growth in past has come primarly from starting new churches...and

we're not doing that much any more...

-10-
-because we're broke...
-and we're broke for several other reasons: \ the places where
churches decline are typically older, neighborhood churches -
75 years old, neighborhoods have aged, changed...sometimes ethestically...
and church continues to age and become difficult to sustain
at same time - cost of Ln ‘for minimum staff has increased.
Takes all a church's energy to survive adds up to dismal
future -
many won't
in meantime many are -
Central cities and suburbs -

We need to strengthen and cultivate those and organize

new ones - intentionally - and learn all over again how to be the

church in urban neighborhoods and towns...
A resurgence of spirituality and interest in values, beliefs...quality

of life question

-a sense that this is a pivotal time yt
ie * awe”
-technological revolution (3s! LL eS

-end of cold war i, {1 se wr Fook ys

I look for a reneWed and re-energized Presbyterians -

-ecological crisis ~-r, _—

Once we get used to our new home and new structure

and a very bright - and as always, lively future.

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