Monthly columns featuring GA Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons

October 2009

Connected when hope is needed most

by Bruce Reyes-Chow

As I write this, my heart is heavy from recent global tragedies. In a span of days, Indonesia was hit with a massive earthquake; Samoa, a tsunami; and the Philippines, two typhoons. Unfortunately, in some ways because of our own recent flooding episodes, the amount of devastation, finger-pointing, and loss of life is truly heartbreaking. These kinds of episodes impact generations of people, wreak havoc on local economies, and plunge many on the fringes of survival into lives of desperation.

As one who has church members in Indonesia and friends in the Philippines, I am sure that I am not the only one who struggles with what to do with our feelings of helplessness and how to channel our sorrow, compassion, and solidarity. We can choose a few reactions: Hide away in the safety of our own personal bubbles and become overwhelmed by the nature of the situation,  or find ways to best respond out of what God has given to our care. I think at our best, the body of Christ will respond with the latter — we will choose generosity of spirit and resources.

We choose to live out of hope.

This has happened in two ways for me that have reminded me of the great gift our connections bring. First, the joy of technology: Through email-blasts from organizations, twitter updates from friends in impacted areas, and conversations on Facebook, I know I have felt the power of the Holy Spirit that can move people to amazing words and actions through any medium. Second, the work of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), which I much appreciate: PDA has worked with our partners in each country to find the most effective ways to support their work with our collective resources. What a gift.

Yes, great pain is all over the world, highlighted by recent events. However, I trust that our lives of hope have been, and will continue to be, lived out through it all.

The Reverend Bruce Reyes-Chow is Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Read the Moderator's column in Korean. 

A feeble spark

by Gradye Parsons

October 2009

One Sunday last month, Holston Presbytery (where I am a minister member) invited me to preach. The lectionary text was Mark 7:24-37, which includes the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophenician woman in Tyre and the healing of a deaf man in Sidon.

When I have preached on this text in the past, I have done what many do — work to explain why Jesus seems to be tough with the woman.

However, that is not where my mind took me with this story last month. As I reflected on the passage, it spoke to me very clearly of how something we would consider useless or maybe leftover could be used to change someone’s life. Thus, I titled my sermon, "Crumbs and Spit."

In Jesus’ encounter with the woman, it is her willingness to accept crumbs that prompts the healing of her daughter. John Calvin says of her, "The greatness of her faith appeared chiefly in this respect, that by the aid of nothing more than a feeble spark of doctrine, she not only recognized the actual office of Christ, and ascribed to him heavenly power, but pursued her course steadily through formidable opposition."

We are called to witness to people with the good news of Jesus Christ. But we sometimes talk ourselves out of it. We do this by building the case in our minds that we need to have every theological detail nailed down before we say a word for the Lord. We are a modern-day Moses arguing with God that we are slow of speech and slow of tongue.

But in this passage, I see that people are not always waiting for us to become eloquent or theologically proficient. They are not looking for all of the answers. They are looking for a glimpse of a genuine Christian life, a hint of a compassionate spirit, and a listening ear.

Perhaps just that glimpse or hint will light a tiny spark of faith.

The Reverend Gradye Parsons is Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Read the Stated Clerk's column in Korean. 

Read the Stated Clerk's column in Spanish.