Conversations with Joe Small

Last month I was privileged to participate with other pastors and CREs in the Synod Kaleidoscope at Ghost Ranch Retreat Center. Joe Small, retired director of General Assembly’s Theology and Worship Unit, was the keynote presenter: a beautiful soul in an inspiring setting with delightful fellowship. Our conversations with Joe throughout the week asked the question, “What is the Gospel?” and “How can we proclaim the Gospel to a world (and a church) that thinks it knows it already?”

In an early lecture, Joe outlined the new secularity in which we try to communicate Jesus Christ:

• An absence of God from our public spaces both in terms of reference and relevance - (with the exception of politicians’ token prayer of “God bless America),
• The emptying of meaning in religious belief and practice, - (no more Blue Laws in the South or meatless Fridays for Catholics),
• The shift from a culture in which one’s highest moral and spiritual aspirations were to seek God to a culture in which God is subordinate or even unnecessary to support one’s highest moral goals - (the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a great charity without God talk),
• The decline of corporate and community life and the rise of individualistic and interior practices - (“spiritual but not religious”).

How can we proclaim the Gospel to this world and in these kind of communities? For Joe, the answer seemed to be: Move Forward to the Past!

Joe’s prescription for church renewal is for us to rediscover the rich tradition of our theological heritage, not for the sake of “subscriptionism” (the list of beliefs to which one must give cognitive assent in order to be “in” the club) but for the sake of being able to enter more deeply into a dynamic relationship with God in Jesus Christ. What do we mean by what we say? Why is confessing the faith in a certain way vital for our life together? How do our beliefs connect with our real, actual, lived experience of being in Christ Jesus?In the coming weeks, I am going to review a few of Joe’s thoughts on theology, baptism and communion, but I invite you to reflect upon what is central to your faith. So often we argue the periphery and neglect to celebrate the tremendous centrality we share together in Jesus.

Finally, let me point the teaching elders and commissioned ruling elders toward the next Synod Kaleidoscope, which will be led by Andy Dearman, professor of Old Testament at Fuller Seminary’s Houston campus, and formerly of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Andy will be teaching on proclaiming stories from the Old Testament as well as looking at some of the ways our methods of biblical interpretation lead to different results with the text. A good time is sure to be had by all in Tempe, October 19-21. Registrations can be found at synodsw.org.