The Five Solas: The Power of Conviction

As we approach the 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation, I am reminded of the power of conviction to create energy for transformation. One may suggest the genius of Martin Luther was his conviction. One sees in Luther there exists a link between the ability to state clearly one’s convictions and the effects on self, others and society those convictions have to impact the good.

            Or ill.

If it is true that the stating of convictions has power, the dunamis unleashed impacts in all directions; Ghandi and Hitler are a kind of photographic negative of one another, the good Kirk and his evil twin both had influence (for those of us who are Star Trek fans). Thus, in today’s church and in today’s world, it is not only that we have opinions but the values and principles expressed by these opinions matter. Are our opinions worthy of Jesus?

The genius of Luther was the genius of conviction in a particular direction. Simply put, Luther had a grace obsession. Luther’s “five solas” – that salvation is through the work of Christ alone, offered by grace alone, received through faith alone, as communicated in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone – are infused throughout by the transforming reality of grace.

For Luther, the power of the Gospel is found in the free gift of God, the Divine Initiative to love, keep loving, and persevere in love even at the ultimate cost. This love which will not let us go is the good news that, in Jesus, God is reconciling the world to restore the creation’s original shalom. It is to this good news that Luther’s convictions spoke, and these convictions still have power.

We do not need more people speaking with conviction in today’s polarized world but rather more people speaking good news with conviction. In our churches, over tea or coffee, on our Facebook pages, and on walks around our neighborhoods, the Church – written with a capital C to include all of us – is God’s chosen instrument to speak good news. Is there a way to speak of the call for justice as good news? Is there a way to speak of deeply held values as good news? Is there a way to speak the life-giving, culture-transforming, hope-offering, suffering-sharing work of Jesus Christ within our world today and speak it as good news? If we cannot answer the above questions in the affirmative, then may God have mercy upon us all.

Now that’s a prayer to which Luther would say yes.

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe

P.S. Don’t forget the 500^th Anniversary Reformation Celebration in Douglas / Agua Prieta on November 10-11! Register by emailing office@fronteradecristo.org.

Celebrating 500 Years of Reformation: An Invitation to Fiesta on the Border November 10-11

This year marks the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Celebrations will abound in many of our churches, commemorations will be marked, even the Roman Catholics and Lutherans have moved from “agreeing to disagree” to “agreeing to agree.” Love is in the air.

The power of the Reformation, at least in part, is the power unleashed when God’s people speak from a place of core conviction, speak to the timeless truths revealed in  God’s Word, and stand upon these truths and convictions for the sake of people’s freedom, justice, and salvation. To speak truth to power unleashed God’s Spirit then, as we do so again God’s Spirit will be unleashed now.

There are several ways to describe the foundation upon which the Reformation was built, one of which is to highlight was in known as “the five solas”:

·         Sola Christus (Christ alone)                *Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)

·         Sola gratia (Grace alone)                    *Sola Gloria (God’s glory alone)

·         Sola fide (Faith alone)

These five solas form a kind of short-hand to describe the theological foundation upon which the Reformation was built, but the genius of the Reformers is that they knew better than merely to settle for a Church with only a foundation.

Upon the foundation of the five solas, the Reformers instituted a change mechanism that requires growth, engagement, discernment, reflection, and transformation. I am speaking, of course, of the mantra The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed according to the Word of God. Neither Luther nor Calvin would likely recognize our congregations as too similar to their own, but I trust they would recognize our congregations as Spirit-inspired great-great-grandchildren whose common life is a faithful response to the crucible of history, culture, and missional needs with which we are confronted.

Celebrating how we got from there to here, from Luther and Calvin to who we are today, is the theme of a 500^th Reformation Anniversary celebration to which you and all your friends are invited. This celebration is co-sponsored by the presbytery, Frontera de Cristo, and our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church of Mexico. It will take place in Douglas – Agua Prieta on Friday evening and Saturday morning, November 10-11 (click on this flier for full details).

The theme of Reformed and Always being Reformed will be conveyed through two keynote presentations by distinguished speakers from the PCUSA and the PCM. The Rev. Dr. Jose Luis Casal, Director of PCUSA World Mission, will present the first keynote: 500 Years of Reformed Missiology: How We Came to Our Understanding of Mission Today. The Rev. Dr. Ramon Garcia from the Presbyterian Church of Mexico will present the second keynote: Reformation and Migration: A Social-Theological Reading. I will preach at our bi-national worship service, (though my sermon will likely be a wee bit less scholarly than either of the Revs. Drs. Casal or Garcia). A good time will be had by all; even more, the Spirit will move and we will continue to be Always Being Reformed.

Ven a la frontera,

Brad Munroe

The Gospel of Lament: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

“My soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.”

            My wife, Laura, took a class on Scripture interpretation this summer, and at the beginning of a lecture on psalms of lament the professor read from Psalm 88. In her written response to the lecture, my wife commented on how life-giving and soul-refreshing were the words of the psalm. Laura’s colleagues were startled by her response: “How can lament such as Psalm 88 be life-giving and soul-refreshing?” In a summer of family tragedy, and with her family living in Houston, and with my family living in Florida, she found the unflinching, unapologetic honesty of Scripture to be the balm in Gilead.

“I am shut in so that I cannot escape, my eyes grow dim with sorrow.”

 This week I had the privilege of meeting the new class of Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs). One of the YAVs, Leah Bishop, asked my thoughts about the pain and suffering they had already encountered, even in their first week: parents locked in detention centers, homeless families, the list continued, even as they knew they would bear witness to more pain and more suffering. Our conversation swirled around the notion that the Christian life invites a cruciform spirituality. In Christ, through Christ, and with Christ, we do not avoid the darkness but move through it to encounter the light. We do not escape brokenness but accompany it - within ourselves and others - trusting we are accompanied by Golgatha’s most famous resident who himself bore our suffering. One expression of cruciform living is the ability to rise to the occasion in times of crisis, to allow the Spirit’s life to be expressed as tangible compassion. As a people, we respond.

“They surround me like a flood all day long; from all sides they close in on me.”

 Many of you have reached out to the presbytery asking about our denominational response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. You want to respond! Let us also remember the fires in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and California. And, yes, help is needed and your response will be appreciated. Here is the good word from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which is funded through your gifts to the One Great Hour of Sharing:

• Put together Gift of the Heart kits, especially hygiene or clean-up buckets: pda.pcusa.org/page/kits.
• Contact the PDA Call Center about volunteer opportunities: 866-732-6121.
• Give directly to the crisis of your choice: pda.pcusa.org
• Stay aware by getting connected: Facebook.com/PDACARES.

“O Lord, God of my salvation...incline your ear to my cry.”

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe

Sexual Misconduct Prevention Training Face-to-Face in Casa Grande September 29

One COM initiative in both presbyteries is to broaden the opportunities (and requirements) to participate in sexual misconduct prevention training. The core values that lay behind these initiatives include (a) everyone needs training and (b) the more expansive the training the better equipped we will all be to protect our children, youth and adults by creating safe environments physically and structurally through our policies, procedures and observance of safe practices.

Training is required of all active Ministers of Word and Sacrament, CREs, candidates and inquirers each year. Online training is offered through our insurer Hugh Wood / Insurance Board and can be accessed rather easily by sending an email request for access to Carolyn McBurney in the presbytery office. (if you have used the online system before, your user ID and password will be the same)

For those who prefer a face-to-face training, we will host a combined presbyteries training at First Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande from 9:00 – 12:00 on Friday, September 29. Please RSVP to Carolyn if you plan to attend on September 29. This training is open to anyone who desires to attend and will include a discussion of the dynamics of abuse, best protective practices for keeping children, youth and adults safe, issues for crafting a congregational policy, and a review of legal issues related to churches.

Mary Jo Norton, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Superior, will be our presenter. Mary Jo is an experienced presenter on this subject matter. Her initial impetus to learn more and become “the local expert” relates to her being a member and in leadership at a church where abuse happened within the congregation. Because of that experience Mary Jo sought out training, then became a trainer, and has consulted with congregations on policy creation and implementation of best practices. I am confident she will help us all add to our depth and breadth of understanding. Thank you, Mary Jo!                                                    

Brad Munroe

Metrics in Ministry: The Gospel According to Harvey

How does one measure the impact of Harvey? What measurement adequately describes what the nation witnessed this past week? Scientific exclamations of millennial flooding do not capture the heart of Harvey’s devastation; economic forecasts even less so. It is rather the stories we are witnessing that tell the tale.

            Witness.

It’s a funny word in some ways. A biblical word but not one we Presbyterians are very good at using; or perhaps it’s just we are not very comfortable using it. We often think of witnessing as a synonym for evangelism, yet its connotations merely suggest a willingness to speak truth regardless of the situation: to bear witness.

We bore witness to pain and devastation this week. And we bore witness to the indomitable human spirit among those who had lost everything they owned, the fathomless wellspring of human compassion in neighbors, and the undaunted courage of first responders. How does one measure the impact of Harvey? Let me respectfully suggest we measure it by bearing witness.

My wife’s cousin, Travis, lives in Kingwood, Texas where flood waters rose to the bottoms of STOP signs. Travis posted a video of him taking his jet ski through the streets in search of people in need of help. I bear witness to Travis.

Our friend Shirine’s home was flooded, but neighbors helped her escape to safety. I bear witness to Shirene’s neighbors.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has sent out a link through which you and I can give to help the flood victims in South Texas (pda.pcusa.org). The American Red Cross will make more headline news in Houston but PDA will be there long after the Red Cross have closed up their emergency operations. It’s just how PDA rolls. I bear witness to PDA.

Last week I introduced the distinctions between different kinds of metrics from Gil Rendle’s book, Doing the Math of Mission: inputs (the resources we put in: money, staff time, etc.), throughputs (the things we do: worship, Bible study, mission project), and outputs (the numbers: people who attend). The metric that matters is outcomes: what change is affected by our inputs, throughputs, and outputs? How are our people different? What impact is made on the community?

Many will measure the outcome of Harvey by the numbers: economic indicators, meteorological records, or, tragically, its death toll. All these metrics are fair enough and valid in their own way. Yet I choose to measure Harvey according to the response it evoked in the human spirit: to care and to share, to pray and then to act, to grieve and yet remain unbroken. I bear witness to these things. I bear witness to you.

Knowing you will step up,
Brad Munroe   

Metrics in Ministry: Small Churches with BIG Impact

We have a “Butts and Bucks” problem: our B and B anxiety often leads us to a B and B theology, which devolves into a B and B idolatry. Too often we worship at the altar of big dollars, filled pews, and the alleged security these things bring.

I can almost hear some of the internal debates swirling around the presbytery as these words are read: “Yes, didn’t Jesus say, ‘Where two or three are gathered, there I am present also’?” “What are you talking about, Brad? In Acts, God ‘added to their number daily those who were being saved.’”

This past week, in the midst of the swirl of the national news frenzy (I’m still against white supremacy, by the way) and the swirl of hurricane images heading for Texas (I’m still concerned about my son, in-laws and all other Texans, by the way), I have been blessed to encounter Camille Josey of the Presbyterian Outreach Foundation. Camille organizes the POF Small Church Initiative and got me to join POF’s Small Church Initiative Facebook page. What a blessing!

On the Outreach Foundation Small Church Initiative Facebook page (you can join, too, by the way), I read stories of small churches making big impacts in their communities. I read stories of one church creating a brew pub that invites patrons to fund community ministry (now that’s a church I want to attend), another church replacing Christmas poinsettias with a butterfly garden, and still another church creating a public park. In my own travels, I have noticed the far more intimate expressions of connection that occur in small church worship versus large church worship.

In Gil Rendle’s book, Doing the Math of Mission, he talks about helpful and unhelpful ways churches monitor metrics. As noted above, our prevailing anxiety leads toward the metrics of Butts and Bucks. But is there another way? Rendle believes there is. He suggests a distinction between metrics that matter and metrics that don’t. Metrics that we measure don’t tend to tell us much: inputs (the resources we put in: money, staff time, etc.), throughputs (the things we do: worship, Bible study, mission project), and outputs (the numbers: people who attend). The metric that matters is outcomes: what change is affected by our inputs, throughputs, and outputs? How are our people different? What impact is made on the community?

I will talk more next week about the distinctions between these different metrics, but for this missive it strikes me that the outcomes in small churches suggest a prophetic challenge to our prevailing B and B anxiety. There is a place for the kind of fellowship where one cannot hide in anonymity, where “anonymous Christian” is the oxymoron it is. There is a place for the kind of church where “everyone knows your name,” where care is extended in personal and relational ways. There is a place for the kind of Christian faith nurtured by communities where accountability is not really optional.

Some of you from larger churches who are reading this missive may be thinking to yourselves, “But, Brad, large churches can create small group opportunities, too, you know!” Point taken. But what all y’all from larger churches have to create, small churches already are: let’s honor, affirm, and celebrate them for all they do for the sake of Jesus and the people Jesus’ loves.

Not being ornery, just sayin’,

Brad Munroe   

When Tragedy Strikes

Tragedy struck twice last week, and I was left to wonder, "Where does grace reside?" One tragedy is known to all, public in every respect, while the other tragedy is private, known and felt and mourned by a much smaller number. In both the public and private tragedy, the question of God's grace was a living concern.

        The public tragedy to which I refer is, of course, Charlottesville. This tragedy is both the loss of three lives but also the failure of some to speak truth: white supremacy is inherently and intrinsically violent. Even in the absence of any physical violence, there is moral violence and spiritual violence in its presence. Full stop. Breathe. Question: where does grace reside?

        The private tragedy to which I refer occurred when my wife's 24 year old cousin and her 4 year old daughter were victims of a double homicide. The fact that their murderer has been captured does not and cannot lighten the shadow of grief, anger, and despair to which our hearts have been invited. Full stop. Breathe. Question: where does grace reside?

        Living in the shadow of these twin towers of tragedy my mind has wandered a bit. I find myself wondering what went through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's mind in the 1930's. At what point did he think to himself, "I must speak, must act, yet must seek to live into costly grace." I remember Karl Barth who reminded us that we can live without knowing the answers to all of life's questions but not without knowing if what we proclaim is true, if the Gospel really matters: the love of God, the resurrection of the dead, the promised new creation.

        This week I am finding grace resides in the shadows of these twin griefs. For some, clarity has been found, courage discovered, and with these gifts of Holy Spirit the truth spoken in love. For others, the lament of their soul has been accompanied by a "peace that passes understanding" even while an unquenchable fire has been lit that will, I believe, prove to be the refiner's fire. For still others, the still, small voice of the Spirit has spoken and in the whisper repentance invited.

        For me, I am finding grace in the company of family and the compassion of friends. In the darkness of shadows the light of our Savior's promise becomes more authentically felt; at least, such is my experience. I am finding grace in the comfort of our shared conviction: it is all true, and the Gospel really does matter. And because the Gospel matters I will speak. Full stop. Breathing. Yes, I will speak.

In the eye of Jesus,

Brad Munroe