Perspectives offers an exploration of issues facing the church as well as some reflective analysis of our life together as a denomination through the lens of scripture, our Reformed theology, and a constitutional and confessional framework.

This month’s issue is particularly full. Here’s a glimpse of the contents:

The World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010): Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace is well underway. The geographical focus of the Decade in 2004 is the United States, with the specific theme, “The Power and Promise of Peace.” Beginning with this issue and continuing through the rest of this year we will be featuring an aspect of this important focus. This month, Mark Koenig, associate for resources and publications with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, shares information about the launching and overview of the 2004 focus.

A few short days from now, Sunday, May 15, is the celebration of Presbyterian Heritage Sunday. Each year, the Presbyterian Historical Society provides resource material for this celebration. This year’s focus is on the involvement of Presbyterians in the “One Great Hour of Sharing” offering. A snapshot of that history is featured here.

Last month, the Office of the General Assembly continued its series of Common Faith, Common Mission conferences with a one-day event co-sponsored with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and held on the seminary’s campus. (Previous conferences have been co-sponsored with Columbia, Princeton, San Francisco, and Fuller seminaries.) The event centered on the core values of our Reformed faith as they are articulated in our Constitution and included discussion about how these values might shape the future mission of the PC(USA) and serve as a resource for the renewal of our congregations. We share in this issue the keynote address that was delivered at the Pittsburgh event by Cliff Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.

What does it mean to be a stated clerk? Catherine (Cathy) Ulrich, stated clerk for the Presbytery of Arkansas, writes that it means more than being the taker of minutes and the keeper of records for the presbytery. For Cathy, it involves the prophet Micah’s words to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Read what Cathy has to say in “Perspective of a Stated Clerk.”

The Spring 2004 issue of the Journal of Presbyterian History features a number of interesting items, including an article about the Confession of 1967, the person of Frances Pickens Miller, and a look back at the debates over Calvinist theology prior to the Civil War. The “Editors’ Message” provides us with a birds-eye view of this entire volume of the journal, which is published by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For more information on PHS, go to www.history.pcusa.org.

“The truth of resurrection, my friends, is simply that God is in charge—creating us, recreating us, chastening us, challenging us, chastising us, cherishing us with fresh surprises every morning. And either we can resist and rebel, trying unsuccessfully to wrest that control from God. Or, we can yield with joy and yearning, trusting that our God is a good God, a generous God, a graceful God who always has our best interests at heart.” This is an excerpt from the Easter sermon preached last month by Susan Andrews, Moderator of the 215th General Assembly (2003). The sermon, “Telling the Truth,” is featured here in its entirety. The Moderator reflects on her term as she nears its end in an interview with the staff of Presbyterians Today. Click here to read the interview online.

We finish this issue by joining a number of other sites that are featuring the Pentecost message of the World Council of Churches presidents. The tradition of the Pentecost message from the presidents dates back to 1950. The message is a joint effort of the eight WCC presidents who represent the different regions within the WCC constituency.

In the words of hymn writer Jane Parker Huber, “O Spirit, sent from heaven on that day long ago, rekindle faith among us in all life’s ebb and flow” (# 128, The Presbyterian Hymnal).

Items marked with are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing.

We always appreciate hearing from you. Simply drop us a line at OGA_Communications@ctr.pcusa.org.

Sharon K. Youngs, Editor