May 19, 2007
News Briefs for April 2007
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“Covenanting”? – What’s That< All About?
We’re occasionally asked why we have “covenanting” in our name. It’s an important question, and it deserves a careful answer. (Our full name is “The National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations within the United Church of Canada”. Impressive! You can see why we use “NACC” most of the time!)
A covenant is, of course, an agreement, a promise, a kind of contract. For us it means that our members promise to support each other in faithful worship and service of God, testifying to the truths he has given us. And that we have agreed to do that, even if and when it puts us at odds with our denomination.
At Christian weddings, a man and a woman make critical promises to each other – and they do it in front of God. He’s an integral part of the covenant of marriage - and he’s also part of the covenant we in the NACC have with each other. God’s into covenants; they’re scattered through the Bible; typically, it is he who proposes them.
His first covenantal proposal comes early in the Old Testament, and now, thousands of years later, here we are, apparently in our own covenantal relationship with him. Why us? – Who knows! Millennia ago, he chose to go into partnership with a dispirited bunch of slaves. Why them? Now he’s chosen a little group of mainly small congregations in the United Church. How come? And why’d he choose your congregation, my congregation? . . . It’s all a mystery.
What does seem indisputable, though, is that he has spoken to us, has called us, has chosen us. (Note: we didn’t do the choosing.) These times may feel a bit like Israel’s trials in the wilderness, but God makes us the same promises he made them: to provide and care for us, to protect us, to keep us close to him.
And what does he ask in return? – That we love and obey him, and that we love others and serve their needs in as Christlike a way as we can.
To enter into such a covenant makes us what Peter calls “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God”. (1 Peter 2:9,10) And that’s quite something.
As I write this, it’s Monday of Holy Week. Does it cost us anything to be covenanted to God in that way? Sure, but this coming Friday will remind us again of what covenanting cost him. There’s no comparison, friends.
God bless -- Geoff
Voices United
From time to time, NACC congregations report feeling outside pressure to buy Voices United as a pew hymnary. In the most recent case, the congregation was told a very significant number of other NACC churches have gone this route, so why hold out?
Your Executive was startled to hear that claim, and we did a quick check of our approximately 75 active congregations. Of the 51 responses only five reported having Voices United in their pews. (And two of those five made a point of saying they feel manipulated into having them.)
Since this may come up again, be assured NACC does not recommend Voices United. Our reasons include:
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Its virtual elimination of “Father”;
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The virtual elimination of “Lord” from the Psalms;
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The virtual elimination of the Trinitarian name of God;
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The introduction of Mother Goddess language.
Significantly, we have precisely the same concerns over “A Song of Faith”, the UCC’s recently approved faith statement. (You will likely hear more on that matter.)
Snappers:
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The next series of EFC Christian Leaders Connection seminars will be in Alberta – April 10 (Calgary), April 11 (Red Deer), and April 12 (Edmonton). Highly recommended for pastors and congregational leaders wanting a heads-up on issues currently facing Christians in Canada. For more information, go to www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/calendar/index.asp.
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Periodically, clergy (and prospective clergy) contact us for help, advice, or comfort when facing difficulties with their congregations, Presbyteries, or whatever. The issues seem to be many, but several have reported they’ve been told they don’t fit the United Church’s “ethos”, whatever that is. The accusation seems an odd one in a denomination that celebrates how it accepts a very wide range of theologies and religious practices. Anyone care to describe this “ethos” for our Chairman, who takes a lot of these calls? (Email him at nacc@csolve.net.)
Fluff: More word fun from the Washington Post, whose readers were asked to alter, add, or subtract one letter in a word and provided a new definition –
Giraffiti (n): Vandalism, spay-painted very, very high
Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you’re running very late
Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness
Beelzebug (n): Satan, in the form of a mosquito, in your bedroom at 3 a.m.
Karmageddon (n): It’s like, when everyone is sending off these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and, like, it’s a serious bummer
Caterpallor (n): The colour you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’ve just bitten into.
Posted at May 19, 2007 06:08 PM