June 17, 2022
Next week is the Presbyterian Church in America's 49th annual General Assembly (GA), held this year in Birmingham, Alabama. If you're new to Presbyterianism, the GA is the highest church court, consisting of all teaching elders in the PCA and ruling elder representatives from each local congregation (a church our size can send three ruling elder representatives - this year, Ken Haynes, James Clark, and Eddie Moran are attending). It exercises jurisdiction over such matters as concern the whole Church, while Presbyteries exercise jurisdiction over the ministers, Sessions, and churches within a regional area, and Sessions exercise jurisdiction over a single church. We call these bodies "courts" because as we see in Acts 15, they are called by God to judge and make decisions about the matters that come before them, whether related to doctrine, discipline, or the direction of the church. Members of a lower court can formally complain and appeal to the next higher court regarding decisions that have been made by the lower court. In this way, the unity of the church is maintained even as the church spreads out geographically, and each congregation and Presbytery is accountable to the whole church.
The GA gathers each year in June, to worship God, to hear reports from the various permanent committees and agencies, and to handle the business that comes before it by way of recommendations from the permanent committees and agencies, and overtures (requests for action) from Presbyteries. This year there are forty-seven overtures that we will be addressing. Some deal with arcane matters of judicial process, while others deal with pressing and urgent questions facing our denomination, such as the question of homosexuality and same-sex attraction in relation to officers of the church. The overtures that failed to be approved by a sufficient number of Presbyteries this past year have come back before us in altered form; hopefully we will be able to settle on language that is clear and effective to the end of communicating the holiness that is demanded in those who serve as elders and deacons in the church. You can see all the overtures that will come before us here. One of the most important things we do at GA is to elect those men who will serve on permanent committees and agencies, since these men will in large part determine how faithful these bodies will stay to the Scriptures and our polity. In addition, this year we will also hear the report of the special committee on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault, which you can read here.
Please be in prayer for the PCA this week. Ask the Lord to grant the 2400+ commissioners safe travel. Ask Him to give us understanding, righteous speech in debate, and unity in the truth. Ask Him to be with the man who moderates the Assembly (our first order of business will be to elect the Moderator), as well as those who help him keep good order during the meeting. Ask Him to appoint men to our permanent committees and agencies who will lead according to the Scriptures and our constitutional standards. Ask Him to keep us faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission. Ask Him to bless our fellowship and to grow in love for Him and His people.
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This Sunday is Father's Day! I thank God for the joy of being a father, and and I thank Him for my own father, Dale. My dad was wonderfully present in my life as I was growing up. He had played football at LSU from 1970-1973, so sports was a big part of my childhood. I had the privilege of having him as my coach in all the sports I played, which meant more often than not I was able to be the pitcher, the quarterback, and the point guard. He would wrestle with us, play "knee football" and balloon volleyball with us in their bedroom, jump on the trampoline with us, play "buckin' bronco" in the pool with us, read with us. He led us in family devotions, and set an example in hospitality, ministry to international students, evangelism, Bible study, and friendships. He encouraged me in every thing I did, whether academic, athletic, or avocational. After my parents divorced when I was in junior high, I grew more distant from him. But after college, and especially as I married and started a family of my own, we have been able to continue to grow in our relationship. I am thankful for his example and love for me, and I know that in many ways I have not been the dad to my children that my dad was to me and my brothers. Because I didn't see him every day during my teenage years, I've struggled at times to know how to be a father to my older children, not having had the same example I had of fathering younger children. But it encourages me to know that in the Bible God compares Himself to a human father, whether in His discipline (Hebrews 12:3-11) or in His compassion (Psalm 103:13). No matter what our growing up was like, fathers can look to our heavenly Father as we seek to love our children. One of my favorite comparisons is in Deuteronomy 1:31, "...the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son..." What a great picture! This is how much God loves us and cares for us - as we walk along our windy roads, our heavenly Father is with us, bearing us up, carrying us when we are weak and burdened.
If your father is still alive, make sure to reach out to him and tell him how much you love him. And thank God for adopting you as his sons and daughters, for disciplining you for your holiness, for having compassion upon you, and for carrying you everywhere you go.